Backlash

by Traci Hunter Abramson

  The corner of his mouth lifted as though he were amused at the way Marilyn had positioned herself on the bed. “Good to see that you’re awake.”

  Marilyn could only stare. “Who are you? Where am I?”

  He ignored Marilyn’s questions, instead retrieving a cell phone from the pocket of his slacks. “It’s time for you to make a call.” His eyes hardened now, giving Marilyn a glimpse of the evil lurking behind the polished surface. “Do exactly as I tell you and you won’t get hurt.”

  Marilyn swallowed hard, and then she nodded. Slowly, she reached out and took the phone.

  * * *

  Kel stood on the back deck and stared out at the water without seeing it. The panic had settled deep within him, the illusion of calm glossing over it as the hours wore on. Prayers tumbled over one another in his head, prayers that Marilyn would be okay, prayers that somehow he was wrong about why she wasn’t home. Silently, he prayed for the miracle that they would find the clue that would lead them to her.

  The house behind him had turned into a hub of activity over the past few hours, especially after Jay had found a witness who had seen a man leaving their cul-de-sac shortly before Kel got home. The woman had apparently been in her yard at the top of the street watching her kids play when an unfamiliar car had driven past her. She hadn’t noticed much except that a dark-haired man had been driving and that someone had been in the passenger seat.

  Steinert from NCIS hadn’t been terribly concerned with the witness’s report until his own search had turned up some material fibers on the fence. Added to that little piece of physical evidence was the call Steinert had received from Admiral Mantiquez insisting that this case be given top priority.

  Even though he didn’t want to believe it, Kel knew it was Halim Karel who was responsible for Marilyn’s disappearance. What he didn’t know was whether Karel had been after him or if he had specifically targeted Marilyn.

  How was it possible, he wondered, that he had taken so many precautions but still hadn’t been able to protect his wife? Even more disheartening was the reality that the profession Marilyn had been begging him to abandon for so long had come back to threaten her in a way he had never thought possible.

  He didn’t try to fight the guilt that rushed through him. Since joining the SEAL teams, he had always thought of his involvement as a sacrifice he was willing to make for his country. Now, he could only see how selfish he had been to put a career he loved before his family.

  The door behind him opened, but Kel didn’t turn as Brent stepped beside him.

  “Here’s your phone back.” Brent handed Kel his cell phone. “NCIS put some kind of transmitter inside your phone so they’ll be able to hear any conversation you have on it.”

  “Assuming he calls.”

  “He’ll call,” Brent assured him. “He probably doesn’t even know that we’re already looking for him. Normally, you would just be getting home from work right now.”

  “I still can’t believe this is happening.” Kel shook his head. “I keep expecting to hear Marilyn walk in the front door and wonder why we have all of these people over.”

  Brent stood beside him in silence for a moment. Then he said, “I called Seth. He and Vanessa will be here in an hour.”

  Kel turned to look at him now. “You interrupted Seth’s honeymoon?”

  Brent nodded. “Seth knows more about Ramir’s organization and the men inside it than all of us put together. Vanessa knows even more than Seth does.”

  “That may be true,” Kel said, his voice tight. “But they aren’t going to have any idea where Halim would be holding Marilyn.”

  “Kel, you taught me years ago that we should always take advantage of all of our resources. Besides, they volunteered to come back. Seth feels responsible for all of this. He insists that if he hadn’t been in that photo with you, none of this would have happened.”

  “None of this is his fault.”

  “I know, but we’ll never convince him of that. I only called to see if they had any ideas of where Halim might be hiding out.”

  Kel drew a steadying breath. “Did they?”

  “Vanessa said that Halim doesn’t like credit cards, so we’re probably looking for someplace that’s either abandoned or would accept cash or a wire transfer for payment,” Brent told him. “She also said that in the few terrorist attacks she has seen him attempt, he normally has his men hide in well populated areas or where there are a lot of civilians nearby. Apparently, he figures that local law enforcement is less likely to strike if there are innocent civilians around.”

  “Still, there are hundreds of places that fit that description.”

  “I know.” Brent nodded. “NCIS is trying to locate the car your neighbor described on the traffic cameras, and the locals are checking out the area hotels for anyone who may have rented a room and paid in cash.”

  “How’d they get the locals to help?”

  “Apparently, they jumped at the chance when they found out it was your wife in trouble. You made quite an impression when you broke up that bank robbery yesterday,” Brent told him. “Not to mention the fact that they don’t like the idea of having terrorists operating here in their backyard.”

  Kel rubbed at the knot in his stomach as the memory of his last conversation with Marilyn crowded his mind. She had seen him use a gun to protect her, and his actions had driven a wedge between them. Yet, here he was, ready to kill again if it meant saving her life. He couldn’t lose his family again, not this way.

  Beside him, Brent put a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll let you know when Seth and Vanessa get here.”

  Kel nodded. And then his phone rang.

  37

  Kel turned to face the house as he watched the men inside his living room spring into action. When Steinert nodded, Kel answered the call with a simple, “Hello.”

  “Kel?” The voice was shaky, but Kel recognized it immediately as Marilyn’s. And the relief that she was still alive breathed strength and determination into him.

  “Where are you?”

  “I don’t know.” Marilyn hesitated, and Kel thought he could hear someone speaking to her in the background. “I’m supposed to tell you that I’ll be okay if you can get the government to release Lina Ramir.”

  “Lina?” Kel’s eyes widened with surprise. He didn’t know what he expected in the way of a ransom demand, but the request for Akil Ramir’s niece was definitely not it, especially since the woman Halim Karel believed to be Lina Ramir was really Seth’s new bride, Vanessa.

  “That’s right. Lina Ramir,” Marilyn repeated. “You’re supposed to have her released from prison and then taken to La Guardia Airport, along with a man named Seth Billaud. As soon as they get there, Lina is supposed to call this number for more information.”

  “I’ll do everything I can to make it happen,” Kel promised. “It will take a few hours for me to find who can help me get Lina and Seth released.”

  “I’ll tell him,” Marilyn said tensely. Then she added, “Tell Dad and Maggie I love them.”

  Kel swallowed hard as the line went dead. Slowly, he turned and walked inside to face a wall of people staring at him.

  Brent spoke first. “Who’s Maggie?”

  Kel felt the breath rush out of him. He forced himself to look at Brent and say the words, “My little sister.”

  Brent didn’t mention that he had been unaware of Maggie’s existence. Instead, he asked, “Why would she talk about your sister and her father?”

  “I don’t know.” Kel rubbed a hand over his face. “Her father was a cop. He died in the line of duty when she was little. And all she knows about Maggie is that she was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing.” Kel looked up at his men, felt their surprise and unspoken horror. He took a breath and added, “She was in the day care center in the Alfred P. Murrah building that day.”

  “Maybe she’s at an office building or a day care center,” Brent suggested. “Where was her father when he died?”

&nb
sp; “It was an armed robbery that went bad.”

  “Where?” Brent pressed.

  Kel shook his head, and his eyes lit with understanding. “It was at a single-family home.”

  “She must be telling us that she’s being held in a house somewhere.”

  “Near a day care center,” Tristan added as he shifted the laptop computer on the kitchen counter in front of him and rapidly tapped on his keyboard.

  “There are dozens of day care centers around here, but how do we know that’s what she’s trying to tell us?”

  “It’s a place to start.”

  Steinert hung up his phone. “We triangulated the signal from the cell phone your wife called on. She wasn’t on long enough to get an exact location, but we narrowed it down to a two-mile radius near the beach.”

  A little slice of hope cut through Kel. “Tristan, get me a list of all of the day care centers in that area.”

  “I’m on it.”

  Kel turned to Steinert now. “When the time comes, we’ll be the ones going in to get my wife.”

  “You’re out of your jurisdiction here.”

  “Right now, I’m having a hard time caring about jurisdiction,” Kel said in a controlled voice.

  Before Steinert could retaliate, Brent stepped forward. “Special Agent Steinert, I have to agree with the commander. No one knows Ramir’s organization the way we do. Once Seth Johnson gets here, he and Vanessa will be the only ones who will even have a chance at identifying the kidnapper.”

  “If you know Ramir’s men so well, tell me this. What are the chances that Halim will let Mrs. Bennett go if we cooperate?”

  Kel lifted his eyes to meet Steinert’s. “None.”

  * * *

  He wasn’t going to let her go. Marilyn didn’t know how she knew it, but she knew. She was going to die. She had wasted so much time wishing her life were different, that things were easier. She had let herself fall into the same trap her mother had, always too afraid to really live life, instead always looking for the safest route in every situation.

  Kel had stalled for at least a couple of hours. Did he know that she wasn’t going to survive unless somehow he found her?

  She thought of the way Maggie’s name had popped into her head when she had been talking to Kel. Had she been inspired to mention Maggie and her father to give him that clue? It was a small one, but just maybe . . . Marilyn took a deep breath, and her eyes flooded with tears. She knew Kel’s squad was good. They had to be with all of the medals they had received. But this wasn’t just one of their missions. It was her life.

  She didn’t know how long Kel’s squad usually had to prepare for a mission, but she was pretty sure it was normally more than the few hours Kel had mentioned. A few hours. Marilyn’s breath caught as logic broke through her sobs. As soon as Lina Ramir called, as soon as her captor gave her the information to pass along, she would no longer have any value as a hostage.

  Would Kel know that? Had he even known she was missing before she had called?

  She swiped at the tears and recalled the phone call. The only question Kel had asked her was where she was. That would have been a normal question if he had come home to find her gone, but then he had taken everything else in stride so easily. Too easily?

  She shifted on the bed she was still chained to and considered. He knew who Lina and Seth were. She was sure of it. It hadn’t been until her captor had told her what to say that everything had started making sense. Kel had gone to such lengths to hide her from the terrorist he had told her about. The man’s name hadn’t been important to her when Kel had first tried to explain the dangers, dangers she hadn’t truly understood.

  Now she understood. The moment she heard Lina Ramir’s name, she realized that Kel hadn’t exaggerated the dangers they had been hiding from. Undoubtedly, Lina was somehow related to Akil Ramir. Marilyn didn’t know how, and she didn’t really care. She was still trying to work past the realization that she was in danger because of Kel’s career.

  For so long he had kept his secrets, and now one of them had marched right into their home and dropped her straight into an unimaginable nightmare. It would be easy enough to blame Kel for what she was going through, but for now, all she cared about was how she was going to get out of this place alive.

  Swiping at her tears once more, she closed her eyes and began a litany of silent prayers.

  * * *

  Seth Johnson gave two quick raps on Kel’s front door before he pushed it open and led Vanessa inside. Together, they hurried toward the back of the house where they could hear the movement, voices, and the underlying hum of electronic equipment. Seth looked past the men who were in various stages of planning in the family room and quickly honed in on Kel, who was standing by the kitchen counter with Brent.

  “What have we got so far?”

  “Thanks for coming.” Kel put a hand on Seth’s back and gave a brief nod to Vanessa. Then he motioned to the photos spread out on the counter. “It’s a long shot, but we think Marilyn was trying to tell us that she is in a house near a day care center.”

  “How many day care centers are in the search grid?”

  “Eight.”

  “That’s too many.”

  “I know.” Kel picked up a printout and held it out so Seth could see it. “NCIS is still analyzing their recording of the phone call, but they did say that they didn’t hear any traffic in the background in their initial screening. That suggests the day care center is one of these two residential locations.”

  Brent quickly shifted two photos on the counter as Vanessa moved forward to study them.

  Seth glanced down at them, but his voice was skeptical. “Are we sure they weren’t just calling from a well-insulated room? You can’t always hear traffic if you’re inside a building.”

  “They could hear seagulls in the background, so we know the outside noise was audible.”

  “Okay.” Seth nodded, relieved. He put his hand on Vanessa’s back and nudged her forward so she was standing beside him. “What do we know about these two so far?”

  “They are both single-family homes that were converted into day care centers.” Kel shifted one photo forward. “This one is about four blocks from the beach. The other one is almost two miles inland. We’re checking on rental properties Halim could be using nearby.”

  “How much more time do we have?” Vanessa asked.

  “An hour. Maybe two.” Kel glanced across the room and then motioned to Seth and Vanessa. “Come outside with me for a minute. Maybe one of you will see something we missed.”

  “I doubt that,” Seth started. Then he noticed something in Kel’s eyes and found himself nodding. “But we’ll certainly give it a try.”

  Kel opened the back door and led the way onto the deck and then down to the porch. “We know Marilyn was taken out through here . . .” he started, pointing at the gate. Then he turned as Vanessa closed the door behind them and joined them on the lawn. As soon as she stepped beside Seth, Kel spoke once more, “NCIS hasn’t said anything yet, but I got a call from Admiral Mantiquez a little while ago. They’re going to try to negotiate, or at least pretend to.”

  “What do you mean, ‘pretend to’?” Seth’s eyes narrowed.

  “NCIS found out that Halim believes Vanessa is Lina Ramir,” Kel told them. “Since we’ve narrowed the search area significantly, they think that when she calls, they’ll be able to track the call and move in before Marilyn gets hurt.”

  “Are they optimistic or just stupid?”

  “Both.” Kel shook his head. The muscle in his jaw twitched before he added, “We all know that the second Marilyn hangs up the phone, Halim is going to pull the trigger. And we both know that there is only one reason Halim would ask for you to be released along with Lina.”

  “He’s looking for revenge. He wants me dead.” Seth nodded. “What do you want me to do?”

  “NCIS doesn’t know that Halim uses cash when he travels. Tristan checked with all of the rental compan
ies in the area. Two houses near the day care centers were rented using cash, one beginning on Saturday and the other two weeks ago.”

  “What do we know about them?”

  “One is across the street from a day care. The other is a couple of houses down from one,” Kel told them. “Jay is out right now doing a drive-by of both of them.”

  Seth’s eyebrows lifted. “Jay?”

  Kel shrugged. “He’s the only one of us Halim wouldn’t recognize.”

  Vanessa stepped forward and asked Kel, “Are you sure it’s a good idea to keep NCIS out of the loop?”

  “I’m not sure of anything right now, but I know when it comes to my wife’s safety, there isn’t anyone I trust more than the Saint Squad.”

  Seth put a hand on Kel’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “We won’t let you down.”

  38

  Jay navigated through the residential streets, going exactly the speed limit. He wanted to slow down, but he knew he couldn’t afford to draw attention to himself. This was the first time his squad had trusted him to do a job without one of them looking over his shoulder, and he was determined to do it right. His car was the same one he had bought during his third year at the Naval Academy, and he was dressed casually in a pair of khaki shorts and a plain white T-shirt in the hopes of blending in.

  He reached a stop sign and checked the house numbers as he started to pull forward. His eyes shifted to the fifth house up on the left and saw three blond kids playing out front. Surprised to see kids there, he glanced down at the paper beside him and double-checked the address Brent had given him. As he passed by the house, he saw another kid come bounding out. Then he saw the house number posted beside the door.

  Satisfied that this house wasn’t Halim Karel’s hideout, Jay continued down the street and headed to the other location he was supposed to check out. Convinced that this had to be the one, Jay parked his car two blocks around the corner from his intended destination and chose to go out on foot so he could get a better look.