She didn’t get to finish, as the phone was snatched from her hand.
“Señor Collins,” the leader said to her father, his eyes still on hers and a smirk in place, “I have left a letter for you at reception. Follow the instructions in it and you’ll get your daughter back in one piece.” He hung up. “Well done, Señorita, we are going be good friends—this I know.”
The leader handed the phone to Beast. “Your turn, big director.”
Beast had no choice but to play along. He had absolutely no doubt that if he didn’t, there would be a bullet lodged between his eyes before he could take another breath. He stabbed Harvard’s number into the phone, his eyes never leaving their captor. With bound hands, he held it to his ear. “I’ve been kidnapped. Pay the ransom.” He tossed the phone to the leader, who narrowed his eyes.
The man held the phone up. “Is this the director’s agent?” There was a pause. “That depends on you. I didn’t plan for two captives. You will follow the instructions given to Señor Collins or your client will die.”
Belinda shrank behind Beast and started to sob. Crocodile tears. Great.
“You’re going to regret this,” Beast told the leader when he’d finished the call. His voice lacked emotion of any kind. He was imparting fact. Nothing more.
The man stood and turned his back on them. A clear message that the man didn’t fear Beast. His threat meant nothing to him. “What’s he going to do?” he said to his men. “Go on TV and complain about me? Americans! Always complaining about something.”
No, Beast thought, I’m going to hold your head and twist until I hear your neck crack. That’s how I’m going to make my complaint.
“Rest,” the kidnapper said. “This will be over in the morning.” He turned towards the door but looked over his shoulder with a chilling smile. “I wouldn’t try to escape. We’re in the middle of the jungle. There are no towns for miles. Your chances of making it out alive are non-existent. Trust me, you are better off dealing with me than the jaguar who prowl this area. And to prove I am a businessman and not a monster.” He ordered one of his men to give them provisions.
The man reached outside the hut and came back with two bottles of water. He tossed them on the mattress beside Belinda.
“We will bring more in the morning. Now rest. You have had a stressful day, no?” And with that, he was gone.
Beast turned to find Belinda grinning at him, her eyes dry. She reached for the bottles and handed one to Beast. He ignored it.
“You need to drink,” she said. “You dehydrate fast in this humidity.”
He felt his eye begin to twitch. There was a good chance that if the kidnappers didn’t rid the world of Belinda Collins, he might do it himself.
“What the hell did you think you were doing?” he demanded.
She blinked at him with confusion and twisted the lid back onto the bottle. “I was establishing your role. It will be much more fun for you if you’re a famous victim too.”
Beast was pretty sure a vein popped at his temple. “This. Is. Not. A. Game. This is a real kidnapping. Those were real guns. You are in real danger.”
She rolled her eyes. Dramatically. “I’ll admit, for a second there, I doubted. That guy was such a good actor. He totally gives me the creeps. Like De Niro in Cape Fear. He’s wasted in the jungle. He should be in Hollywood; he’d make a fortune. Anyway, I thought it through, and really, this couldn’t be anything but fake. Think about it logically. There was too much security at the hotel, Brian would never betray me, and my brother threatened to arrange this experience for me. I’m sorry your friends roped you in too, but you should suck it up and make the best of it. Think of this as training for when you take the job with Benson Security. They do a lot of hostage retrieval work. This way, you get to see things from the victim’s side, and it will help you become a more sensitive security specialist.”
A rumbling growl was the only answer Beast could give her.
“Do you have to growl at me? How about you use your words instead. Huh?”
Beast could have sworn a blood vessel popped behind his eye, because he was definitely seeing red. “How’s this for some words, Hollywood? This is a real kidnapping and we’re in a fuckload of trouble, which you just made worse. You put us on a deadline. As soon as you opened your mouth and gave him a name he could look up on the internet, the clock started ticking. Now, we have no option but to escape tonight. Which means hiking through the rainforest with no resources, no idea of our location and no experience in this terrain. Basically, we’re up shit creek and I’m your only paddle, because somehow, I don’t think you have the skills we need to get out of this alive. So, listen very carefully to what I say—this shit is real.”
She stared at him for a long time before she smiled. “That was awesome! I actually had goosebumps. That’s some of the best acting I’ve seen in years.”
Beast couldn’t help it. He growled again.
Chapter 4
Ryan Granger, security specialist and ex-soldier, was on round two of his own private party with a waitress called Esperanza, when the Batman theme blared from his dress trouser pocket. The trousers were on the floor, where he’d kicked them off in his rush to get naked. Unfortunately, he’d forgotten to switch off his phone before he’d undressed, hence the very loud and very annoying music.
As the sound grew in volume, Ryan knew he couldn’t ignore it. It was the ringtone he’d assigned to his boss. And if he didn’t answer, Callum would come find him instead. Reluctantly, Ryan rolled off the gorgeous woman beneath him. Esperanza was made for sex; she had curves in all the right places and inky-black hair that fell in waves to her hips. Separating from her, even for five minutes, was damn hard to do.
She groaned, grabbed his hand and pulled him down for another kiss. Damn, but it was tempting to pretend he didn’t hear his phone and instead concentrate on the very needy woman in his bed. After all, he was technically on an enforced vacation. And this was what he did on vacation—he found a willing woman and lost himself in her until it was time to return to reality.
With genuine regret, he extradited himself from Esperanza’s arms, rolled to the edge of the bed, put his feet on the ground and reached for his phone. Esperanza sat up behind him, pressing her lush breasts against his back. Ryan mentally cursed his boss and prayed Callum had a genuine reason for interrupting one of the best nights of his life.
“Don’t answer it,” the temptress said as she kissed Ryan’s neck.
She spoke English as though she was born to it, but with the sensual accent of a native South American Spanish speaker. Compared to the flat tones of his London accent, every word Esperanza uttered was an invitation to sin. Just hearing her talk made him hard all over again.
“I have to answer. I wish I didn’t, but it’s the bat signal.”
“You’re a superhero?” He felt her smile against his skin.
He smiled back, even though she couldn’t see it, as he glanced at his phone’s screen. Yep. It was his grumpy-arsed boss, Callum McKay. A text appeared on the screen while he held it: Answer your bloody phone! Callum seemed madder than usual, which only happened when Ryan did something particularly dumb. He glanced over his shoulder at Esperanza. Could she be considered a dumb decision?
“You didn’t answer my question,” she said as she nibbled his shoulder. “Are you a superhero?”
“One of many. I’m on a team of superheroes,” he told her. “We’re all ex-military, or ex-law enforcement. It’s our job to fight the bad guys.”
He felt her tense behind him. “I knew you were security, but I thought you installed cameras and made sure shopping malls were safe.”
“Nope, baby, we’re the real deal. We’re the guys the cops call in when their hands are tied. We do a lot of bodyguard work, hostage retrieval and investigative work. Think A-Team rather than mall cop.”
Before she could say anything else, Ryan answered his phone. “Yeah?”
“We need you in the ballroom.
Belinda and Beast have been kidnapped.”
A burst of adrenalin shot through him, and just like that, his mind wasn’t on sex any longer. “On my way.”
He ended the call and reached for his pants. There was no time to dig around looking for jeans, in the bag he hadn’t bothered to unpack. The dress clothes he’d worn to the party would have to do. Belinda and Beast were as much a part of Benson Security as anyone employed by the company. Belinda was the sister of the London office manager, Julia. And Beast was one of Joe’s best friends. That made them family.
As he buttoned up his crisp white shirt, Ryan looked at Esperanza. She was kneeling in the middle of the bed; the sheet was pulled up to cover her breasts, and her hair was wild about her shoulders.
“I need to go.” Ryan didn’t bother tucking in the shirt. “Something’s come up. You don’t need to leave, but I don’t know when I’ll be back. This could take a while. Make yourself at home, huh? Have a shower, or there are snacks in the fridge.” He leaned over, clasped her nape and pulled her in for a kiss that quickly turned desperate.
With great difficulty, he pulled himself away from her. Damn, he’d never seen anything sexier than this woman. With her kiss-swollen lips and gorgeous golden skin, she was temptation personified.
But she was a temptation he had to resist.
“I really don’t want this to be the end of things. I’m here for a few more days, maybe longer. Leave your number on the nightstand, and I promise I’ll take you out for a five-star meal.” He snorted. “Somewhere where you don’t work.” His phone beeped and he looked down to see another text from Callum. Get your arse down here!
After one last kiss, Ryan headed for the safe in the room’s closet. He punched in the code and retrieved his pistol, tucking it into the back of his pants, under his shirt.
“Don’t leave here without giving me a way to contact you,” he ordered the lust-dazed woman, and then he forced himself out of the door and ran for the little golf cart that would take him back to the main hotel building.
As soon as he was moving, he regretted that he’d ever answered his phone. Leaving Esperanza in his warm bed was tantamount to torture. He actually felt like he was being pulled apart the further he got from her. He was never this soft over a girl. It had to be the wedding. Or the champagne. Or the rainforest. Something was affecting his brain, because he never gave a second thought to a woman after he left her bed. He’d made a fine art out of being carefree when it came to sex.
Why then couldn’t he get the sight of her dark eyes watching him leave out of his mind? Why was he thinking about Esperanza when he should have been focused on their missing teammates? Bloody Peru. He hated the country. Every damn time they were in it, things went balls up. And now, instead of enjoying the woman in his bed, he was running off to deal with another South American crisis. He should have stayed in England.
Chapter 5
Belinda felt sorry for John. The stress of the situation had to be hard to deal with if you believed it was real. And she was sure it wasn’t. What else could it be other than the fake kidnapping her brother had threatened her with? There was just too much evidence against it being real. Although she would have been a tad more confident if the kidnapping guy had broken character for a couple of minutes to reassure her things were fake.
“Don’t worry, John, everything is going to be fine,” she said to the man who was glaring at her.
“Don’t call me John.”
She blinked several times. That was not what she was expecting him to say. “Why shouldn’t I call you John? It’s your name. Did the drugs they gave us affect your memory? Have you forgotten your name? How many fingers am I holding up?” She held up two.
He did that annoying growling thing again. “I’m not concussed. I know who I am. What I’m telling you is simple. See if you can follow along. Don’t call me John. Call me Beast. Or nothing at all.”
Belinda gaped at him. “Call you what?”
He held out his bound hands and made a fist with the right one. Sure enough, tattooed on each knuckle were letters that made up Beast.
“B.E.A.S.T. Beast,” he said. “You memorise lines for a living; one word shouldn’t be too hard to remember.”
She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times. “Beast? You want to be called Beast?”
“This isn’t hard, Hollywood. Say it with me—Beast.”
This was just too, too funny. Belinda grinned at him. “This is priceless. My name is Belinda, but people call me Belle…and you’re Beast!”
He stared at her. “Are you one of those actors who takes a pill to get through the day, and another one to get to sleep at night? Did you miss some meds?”
Belinda started to giggle. “Don’t you get it?” She burst into the theme from Beauty and the Beast, which was hard because she was still laughing.
Beast didn’t even crack a smile as Belinda wiped tears from her eyes. This was too good not to share. As soon as she was done being kidnapped, this was going on Instagram.
“Just use the name,” he snapped. “Now, stop laughing and untie me. We need to get out of here.”
She shook her head as she struggled for composure. “We can’t.”
His eye twitched and his jaw clenched and unclenched. “Why not?”
She pointed at the tiny, glassless window. “It’s dark o’clock. Didn’t you hear him? We’re in the middle of the rainforest, and you don’t want to be out in the jungle at night. Especially when you don’t have a clue where you are. Don’t you watch the Natural History channel? Didn’t you see the movie Daniel Radcliffe made? Four men got lost in the jungle; only two of them made it out. Daniel was one of them. That’s how bad it is out there. Everything can kill you in the jungle at night. Everything.”
He gave her a look that made her think he might turn out to be one of the things that could kill her.
“Untie me,” he said very slowly. “I have a plan.”
“Oh.” Her eyes went wide. “I get it. You think we should do what kidnap victims would actually do. I agree. We should definitely escape. We should make this as hard on them as possible.”
“Then untie me.”
She considered him. He was a loose cannon. He could get himself hurt if he freaked out and ran off half-cocked. “Tell me the plan first, and if it makes sense, I’ll untie you.”
Yeah, he was definitely going to kill her. It was there in his eyes.
“Hollywood, you wouldn’t recognise a good plan if it bit you in the ass.”
She shrugged. “Then I guess you stay tied up until someone comes to rescue us.” A rescue had to be part of the package Daniel paid for? Surely, she wasn’t expected to rescue herself? That seemed like way too much work.
They waited in silence. She folded her arms over the silver dress that was little more than a long T-shirt and wished she’d been kidnapped when she’d been wearing jeans and sneakers.
The silence stretched, and it became clear that Beast had a stubborn streak to match hers, which was impressive.
“Fine,” he snapped at last. “I was going to get you to put your acting skills to good use and send you outside to see what their camp looks like.”
“I’m going to ignore the fact you sneered the word skills and say that’s a great idea.”
Before he could say anything else, she was on her feet and thumping at the door. “Hello, anybody, I need to use the bathroom. Hola, tengo el baño.”
“I wasn’t finished detailing the plan,” Beast snarled at her.
“What’s to finish? I agreed with this stage. If it looks like we might be able to escape, we’ll discuss the next step. First, we need to see what we’re up against. Right? And I can totally do this. I have kidnap victim experience. Although the woman I played was kept in an apartment in Manhattan. But I can adapt. Don’t worry. I’ve got this.”
She beamed at him. Beast leaned back and hit his head on the wall. Repeatedly. She would have told him to stop before he hurt himself, but the
door opened and a man with a gun appeared.
“Baño?” Belinda flashed her movie-star smile.
“Vamos.” He motioned for her to follow.
“Oh wait, my shoes.” She ran for her silver high-heeled sandals as the guy followed her into the room. He sneered at Beast as Belinda tugged her shoes on. Then the two men watched in bewildered wonder as she fluffed her hair and adjusted the strap of her tiny cross-body bag. “I’m ready.”
Both Beast and the guy with the gun just stared at her.
“What?” she said as she tottered towards the door on four-inch heels.
She heard Beast groan as the door closed behind them.
Chapter 6
Ryan jogged down the long corridors of the overpriced resort and slammed through the ballroom doors. The party was well and truly over. The lights were on full and the tables had been pulled into the centre of the room to form a makeshift command centre. His team were at the tables. Elle Roberts, their IT expert, was busy tapping at her laptop. She’d dyed her hair lavender to match her party dress, rather than the usual electric blue she preferred.
“Any word?” Ryan asked her as he pulled up a seat beside her.
“The kidnapper called and spoke with Belinda’s parents and then Harvard.” She pointed at the giant black man who was one of Joe Barone’s childhood friends and, if rumours were right, ex-CIA and about to become part of the Benson Security London team. “Her dad said Belinda wasn’t making any sense. He thought she was drugged. I’m trying to pinpoint the location the call came from, or at least narrow it down.”
“Why’d they talk to Harvard?” And what was it with Americans and nicknames? On Joe’s side of the wedding party, there was a Grunt, a Beast and a Harvard. Ryan felt sorry for the fifth guy, Noah, and wondered why he didn’t have a nickname too.
Elle let out a tense sigh. “Belinda told her captors that Beast was really John Favreau, the movie director, and that Harvard was his agent.”
Ransom (Benson Security Book 4) Page 3