Safeguarding Miley

by Melissa Kay Clarke

  Loran ignored her. "Sit," he motioned toward the bed. "We should talk."

  "I don't have anything to say to you," she hissed and crossed her arms over her chest.

  "Suit yourself." He said with a shrug as he lowered himself into the chair by the window.

  Miley glared at him, waiting to hear what he had to say. Not that it really mattered - she would still be pissed at him. Pissed was good -- it kept her focused. If she was going to get out of this situation and help Cowboy find her, she needed to keep her wits about her. After several tense moments, he began. "I hope you're finding your room comfortable."

  "No. I prefer my own bed."

  "Soon. This is only a pause. Your departure was discovered a little sooner than I had expected. We're staying here in this cabin for a few days. When it is safe, we will continue to Salt Lake. Once we are there, we will be married."

  "Married?" Miley stared at him. "Why are you still insisting on this?"

  "Because I said you would," he retorted.

  They had repeated this argument, ad nauseam, for more times than she could count. Rather than broach it again, she simply sighed and shook her head wearily.

  Loran snorted. "You will be obedient and beautiful, and you will give me strong sons and beautiful daughters as we build an empire worthy of my new station."

  "Loran," Miley began but was cut off.

  Loran shot to his feet. "It is a condition for my return to the fold. My brother was delusional. He thought he could run from Kreshnik Bushati. One cannot run from a man like that. I have convinced Kreshnik I was misled and wish to return home. He has given me one year to earn my way back. I must repay the ten million taken from him plus another two million in compensation. I must show him that I will be a value to him, with ties that will not let me run as Tariq did. That means a family - a wife and either a child newly born or on the way. I had intended to marry you before, but now, it is imperative. You will be my assurance, my forgiveness. Once I have accomplished these tasks, all will be as it should, and I will be allowed to stay here in the west, king of my own kingdom, paying a tithe for Kreshnik's continued good will."

  Miley stared at him with her mouth agape. Was he serious? She had no love lost for Loran, but how could he trust the man who had put such a large bounty on his and Tariq's heads? "How can you possibly think he will forgive you?"

  "He cares about money; a trait that I understand and share. Anything may be forgiven if enough payment is made." Loran stood. "I will have food brought to you soon. I regret it is a poor offering, but I will rectify that soon. Kreshnik is sending supplies and protection. Once they arrive, we will continue our journey. Until then, we must do as we must." He turned and left, his two goons falling into step behind. The sound of the door closing and locking was extraordinarily loud.

  Alone again, Miley tried to think her way through this. She had to get away before reinforcements arrived, as escaping from three would be easier than from a handful. As much as she wanted Alcide to find her, she wouldn't stand around and wait for her future to be decided for her. Becoming the wife of a mobster was not part of her five-year plan.-

  She went to the window and looked out. They were in a mountainous area full of scrub, conifer trees, and large rocks. She could see clouds floating in a sea of blue over the top of a hill nearby with higher peaks stretching to the sky beyond. Her gaze dropped to the bars, and she picked at the screws with her nails. She had never seen bars mounted on the inside of a window. It had puzzled her when her captors had installed them earlier this morning. Maybe they were lazy, or perhaps the hill that dropped below her window was steeper than it appeared. Either way, she was grateful that the presence of the bars allowed her to be untied so she could walk around the room freely. If only she could find a way to remove the screws holding the bars in place. She searched the room again, checking every nook and cranny with no luck. Even the bathroom yielded no help.

  Sitting back on the bed, she laid back and stared at the ceiling. Once again, her thoughts turned to Alcide. Was he okay? Had he finished his mission? Was he thinking about her, missing her? Was he counting the time until he was home again? She knew what she wanted now - a life with him and everything it represented. If she were going to have that life, Miley would have to get out of this situation. She had no idea where she was, and gauging from the desolate wilderness outside her window, she was probably miles from civilization. If she somehow managed to get out of this room, where would she go?

  Better out there than stuck in here with a lunatic mobster.

  Miley nodded to herself. With renewed determination, she made another sweep of the room and the accompanying bathroom. Once again, it yielded nothing.

  As she finished, the door opened, and one of the men brought her a sandwich on a flimsy paper plate along with a few chips and a bottle of water. He dropped it on the seat of the chair then retreated. In defeated silence, she ate her lunch and waited.

  As the sun began to set, the air became noticeably cooler. Retrieving her raincoat from the chair, she slipped her arms in and continued her endless pacing. Thrusting her hands into her pockets, she shivered. If it got much colder in here, she would have to retreat to the bed. Apparently, the cabin only had a single fireplace for heat, and it was in the other room.

  Something cold touched her fingers, frightening her and causing her to withdraw her hand quickly. The object flew out, landed on the floor and rolled under the bed. Getting down on all fours, she reached for it, shuddering when she touched a mass of cobwebs and dust bunnies. "You've had your arm up the business end of a cow, Miley. Don't get all girly wimpy now," she admonished herself. Stretching, she felt the edge and pulled it out. Sitting back, she studied the disk in her fingers. It was the seated liberty quarter she found last month at Yancy's; back before all the craziness her life had become. A part of her wished she could go back to that time, but then it would mean going back to barely knowing Alcide and even avoiding him. It would mean never meeting Annabeth and Olivia or the other women. She had friends, good friends that she didn't realize she needed. She smiled and closed her hand around the coin. While this reality was difficult, she wouldn't give it up. She wouldn't give up those memories for anything.

  Miley returned to the window, watching the stars appear over the treetops. Was he out there, watching the same stars, thinking about her? She flipped the coin in her fingers absently. Miley smiled. Yeah, something told her he was. It was almost like she could feel him.

  Her eyes fell on the screws again, and she frowned. If only... She froze then drew her hand up, looking at the coin. She tried the coin in the slotted head, but it was too big. She studied the coin, trying to figure out if there was some other way to make it work without doing what she was about to do. "Dammit," she growled, feeling vindicated to using the unfamiliar word considering how desperate the plan was. Gritting her teeth, she pressed the edge of the coin on the crossbar and with a moment's hesitation, started to rub it. She winced at the minute squeal of metal on metal. It was her first seated liberty coin and destroying it sickened her. However, if it got her away from Loran and back to Alcide, she'd gladly sacrifice it. She rubbed and scraped the face near one edge to thin the metal. It had to work, it had to because the alternative was utterly unthinkable.

  "Come on, lucky coin, do your thing!"

  Chapter 25

  Staring at the ceiling was getting Cowboy nowhere. However, sleeping wasn't an option either - not with her still missing. He'd gotten a couple of hours rest out of pure exhaustion, but now his sleep was filled with nightmarish phantoms of Miley and the thousands of ways Loran could be hurting her. Realizing sleeping was a lost cause, he got up and took a shower. Throwing on some clothes, he went into the living room which had become a makeshift headquarters. Olivia was in the kitchen, putting together breakfast while Bruiser, Finch, and Railroad talked low among themselves. He raised an eyebrow in surprise to see Digger on the sofa with two laptops open in front of him.

  "When did you
get here?"

  "About an hour ago. Figured I could do more good here than there," he grunted. Looking up he remarked, "You look like shit."

  "Thanks." Cowboy dropped into a chair and thrust his face into his hands. "Any news?"

  "A little," Bruiser answered. "Tex has the search area narrowed down to about a hundred square miles. He said something about waiting for a satellite to be in position." He stood and refilled his coffee cup. "I'm waiting on Hick and Toad to get here so as soon as we have confirmation, we head out. Was trying to let you get some rest." He handed another cup to Cowboy before sitting back at the table.

  Cowboy sipped the hot brew. "Couldn't sleep."

  He looked up as Livy came to a stop beside him. Her face was drawn as she handed a plate of food to him. Her hands shook, and he took it from her before she dropped it altogether. "Cowboy, I'm sorry. I let you down. If I hadn't left her there..."

  "It's not your fault, Livy. It happened. There's nothing you could have done."

  "But--"

  Cowboy stopped her. "No, Livy, it's not your fault. Please stop beating yourself up over this."

  Bruiser put his arms around her and turned her away. "I told you, he's not going to blame you so you shouldn't blame yourself. This bastard had it in his mind to get her. It's not your fault. We'll get her back." He gently kissed her cheek.

  Cowboy didn't blame the ladies; they had done everything right. They stuck together, keeping in groups whenever possible. Miley was abducted while at work when she was away from them. It wasn't their fault. He was angry at Wolf at first, but then he learned Wolf had arranged for another SEAL team to help keep an eye on things while he was gone. Miley had the day off and was having a sleep-over. Loki, the SEAL who was supposed to be watching them, had gotten to the house right after Livy and Miley left. He had no way of knowing his charge was gone. However, once he realized she had been taken, he immediately contacted Dixon and the authorities. If not for that, it may have been several more hours before they knew she was gone.

  "Gotcha," Digger muttered.

  Cowboy jumped to his feet and hurried to the sofa, his breakfast forgotten. "You found her?" He could hear the hope in his voice.

  "I don't know where she is right now, but I think I found where she's heading to," Digger told him.

  "Explain?" Railroad peered over Digger's shoulder at the screen.

  "Spending habits." Digger pulled up an invoice and pointed at it. "Loran Hoxha has very particular tastes. Cowboy, you said something on the phone last night about him looking like a peacock trying to be a rancher. So, I did a little digging into things that were purchased for the Double H Ranch. I backtracked a few trails until I found a place that makes exotic animal skin boots. Being raised on a ranch myself, I know boots are functional. You step in all kinds of crap, literally. Nobody who actively works with horses is going to wear handmade Nile crocodile boots unless they either have no clue or don't care. Same goes for $400 jeans and so on. One company out of Italy supplied both to the Double H. I got into their order files, and found an order placed three days ago for the same size to be delivered to an address outside Salt Lake City."

  "That's got to be him," Cowboy clapped him on the back. "Good job, Digger," he grinned.

  Digger nodded but continued to type on the keyboard. "I'll contact Tex and see if he can get a sat image on the area. I know the tracker still shows her in the mountains, but it needs to be checked in case something happened to it. They could already be there." He punched a button on his Bluetooth earpiece. "Call Tex," he called out to his electronic assistant.

  With a renewed sense of hope, Cowboy's appetite returned. He barely finished before Livy appeared, took the dishes and washed them. He wanted to say something to assuage her guilt but knew she wouldn't listen. According to the ladies, Livy and Miley had become very close. Once Miley was home, and Livy could see she was safe, things would be better. At least, that's what he hoped.

  He stood to get his go bag together but was stopped by Digger's comment into the cell phone. "Yeah, let me put you on speaker."

  Tex's voice filled the room. "Okay, here's the thing. The location in Salt Lake is empty according to recent satellite images. There's a house and a couple of buildings, but nothing has moved in a couple of weeks. No current heat signatures. That tells me they're probably still in the mountains. I've managed to tweak the reception and have narrowed the search area to a relatively small area of about twenty square miles. That includes six cabins and who knows how many caves. Given what we know about Hoxha's comfort level, I think the cabins are a more likely choice. Two cabins have heat signatures, that's where I would start."

  "Thanks, Tex," Cowboy said.

  "Welcome. I'll stay on this and let you know if I have anything else."

  The line went dead, and Cowboy noticed that Hick and Toad had arrived while Tex was on the phone. "Everyone get your gear," Bruiser barked. "We're out of here in ten."

  "Uh, guys," Digger got their attention.

  "What is it?" Bruiser asked.

  "Good news and bad. Good news, I know where she is. Bad news...she's about to have company. And not good company at that."

  Cowboy felt a shiver of dread run down his back. "How do you know?"

  Digger lifted an eyebrow smugly. "Information is my thing, and since hooking up with Tex, he's taught me a few new tricks on how he moves through the dark web. I set up an algorithm to look for certain words and it led me to a chat room Bushati used to coordinate movements. The room was deleted but I was able to retrieve pieces of the chat that I ran through a translator." He threw his hand up to stop the protests that were surely about to fly. "Don't worry, I covered my tracks. Nobody will know I was ever here - it's the digital equivalent of rummaging through a trashcan on the curb. Besides, finding Miley is our first priority. The FBI probably already know about the chatter but it could be days before they act, and by then it could be too late." He pointed to the screen and glanced up at Bruiser. "Look at this."

  "Shit," the big man muttered. "That's going to be a problem."

  Chapter 26

  Every scrape on the edge of the quarter made Miley grit her teeth. "It's the only way... it's the only way..." She chanted over and over again. Thankful to be left mostly alone since Loran's exposition earlier, she was able to get the quarter thinned down until the rim fit in the slot. It had taken a lot longer than she had hoped since she had to go slow as not to make too much noise and call Loran's attention to herself. She didn't know what he was doing, but she heard the three men arguing in Albanian several times in the other room. As long as they let her be, she didn't worry about it.

  By the time the quarter was thin enough to fit in the slot, she was about to drop from exhaustion. The sun was up, and the noises coming from the other room indicated they were all awake and busy. Even though her hands shook, causing her to drop the quarter constantly, she continued to work on the screws, slowly inching them out of the wooden window frame. Once, when one of them hit the floor, the door was yanked open by one of the goons. "What was that?" he growled at her.

  "What was what?"

  "Why are you by the window?" He joined her and looked out.

  "I'm bored," she retorted. "There's some squirrels playing that I was watching." Her hands clenched tightly around the coin, hoping he would not test the bars and discover the missing screws.

  He glanced out the window then turned, leaving her room, but not closing the door. Instead, she could see him drop into a chair across the way so that he could watch her.

  So much for her big escape plan.

  She turned back to the window, trying to figure out what to do now. She couldn't continue working on the screws with him watching and closing the door would just make him more suspicious. Her sleep deprived mind wasn't coming up with any solutions, so she lay upon the bed and ran over her options. Within moments, she was asleep.

  When she awoke several hours later to a closed door, the sun was already making its descent toward th
e distant peaks. She had been served lunch at some time during her nap, and the bowl still sat on the chair. Looking inside, she saw what was some type of soup had turned into a cold, congealed mess. She slurped it down anyway, knowing she would need her strength because come hell or high water, she wasn't staying here much longer.

  As she finished her meal, the door again swung open and Loran appeared. "Miley," he exclaimed with a huge smile on his face. "Good news. Our new friends will be here soon, and they will escort us to Salt Lake City and our new life together. Only one more day and we will be away from this hovel."

  Miley dropped the spoon to the bowl and straightened. "Yay?" she asked sarcastically.

  He moved over to where she was and sat beside her. When he attempted to run his fingers through her hair, she drew back in revulsion. A frown appeared on his face, but he dropped his hand. "You should be nicer to me, lule e vogël. When we are married..."

  "I told you, I'm not going to marry you. Get it through your skull. It's not happening, not now, not ever," she interrupted.

  His face fell. "Still you don't see what you mean to me? Miley, you are to be my wife. It's your destiny to be with me. Can you not see how much you mean to me?"

  Her laugh was hollow. "Mean to you? Like how you stabbed me?"

  "Yes, exactly. I stabbed you where it would not kill you. I knew getting away was important so I only harmed your shoulder. That is how much I love you."

  Her jaw dropped. "You love me so much that you only stabbed my shoulder? Oh my God, you're insane. Don't you hear what you're saying? That's ludicrous!"

  He shot to his feet and stood over her, fury darkening his eyes until they became black holes in his face. "I'm not insane. I don't need my brother or his meddling in my life. Do you hear me Tariq? I don't need you!"

  He shook his fist toward the door then began to pace. After several moments of mumbling to himself, he stopped in front of her. "Yes, we'll get married before we get home. That'll show Tariq who's insane and who's not." He stopped and shook his head. "No, no, he's gone, murdered. Tariq is dead." He ran his fingers through his hair and looked at her. "Everything will be all right, soon. You'll see."