Captive Lies

by Victoria Paige

  “Orlov couldn’t get to you, so he asked my boss for some help. We needed you alive and it was the perfect setup to alienate you from them.”

  “You fucking bastard!” Grant’s sister leapt up from the cot, but Rex turned the rifle at her.

  “Wow! And then you marched me out to the slaughter,” I derided.

  “You’re a survivor though. You’ve ruined my chances for greater things.”

  I sat up straight and cracked my neck from side-to-side. “What do you mean?”

  “Blaire, do you think I wasted years going to law school, years building my reputation as a political advisor, just to be a thief? No. The plan was to infiltrate the administration of the next president. Then you proved to be too difficult to abduct because your damned boyfriend was too paranoid. There was a change of strategy. It wasn’t my preference, but my backer was making it worth my while.”

  “You work for the Russians? Are you a spy for the Kremlin?”

  Andy burst out laughing. “No, I don’t work for the Kremlin.”

  He did not deny working for the Russians.

  A large clanging gate slid open somewhere and a rush of footsteps echoed through the warehouse. Two men appeared, both armed with carbines.

  “One of the carriers is down,” one of them said. “It’s being hacked.”

  “By whom?”

  “We’re not sure, chief. But the location markers are down to seventeen. What do you want to do?”

  “If we try to move out of the tracker’s range, they’ll locate us before we reach a safe house. BloodTrak is using satellites, so there’s no guarantee they won’t find us.” Andy glanced at Valerie. “We’ll send a message. What do you think, sweetheart? Shall we see who’s more important? Will your daddy stop me from chopping off your finger? Or maybe we should go straight for the jugular?”

  Val’s eyes widened in terror and I wanted to kick Andy’s ass.

  “You wouldn’t,” Val said, her chin trembled but she tilted it up in defiance.

  Andy smirked, before he turned to Eric. “Get the webcam up and make sure our IP redirectors are activated.”

  “Andy, don’t do this,” I appealed to my former friend. “I’ll get this done faster.”

  “You’re not even halfway done, Blaire,” Andy told me. “I’m buying you more time, sweetie.” His smile was maniacal as he considered Val. “I’ll do this side-show in another area.”

  “No!” I shouted.

  “Rex.” Andy tilted his head in my direction and his guard pointed his carbine at me. He then grabbed Val’s arm, but she yanked out of his hold and refused to budge. It took three men to pull her past a section of stacked crates.

  “Get to work,” Rex ordered.

  “You can tell Andy I’m not going to—”

  Rex swung the butt of his rifle toward me and smacked me at the tip of my chin. Pain erupted on the whole side of my face as my eyes watered. Refusing to let him see my tears, I turned back to the paintings and grabbed the cutter and solvent.

  I tried to block out Val’s cries and struggles on the other side of the rows of boxes, but I couldn’t.

  “Shut up!” I heard Eric shout. His outburst was followed by the sound of flesh hitting flesh and Val suddenly stopped crying.

  “That was harsh, Eric, but thanks,” Andy said. “She was getting on my last nerve and I would have shot her.”

  Asshole.

  “Do we have contact yet? Good.” Andy paused. “Ah, Senator.”

  “You sick son of a bitch. What have you done to my daughter?”

  “Oh, you mean, this daughter?”

  “Daddy …” Val croaked.

  “Oh my God, what have you done to her? I’ll kill you, Spencer.”

  “She’s been a handful,” Andy said.

  “Where’s Blaire?” Grant!

  “She’s busy earning us billions. Don’t worry—she’s still in one piece,” Andy said. “Now, I want you all to back off. We have no use for the women. Once Blaire gives us what we need, we’ll let them go.”

  “Your word is shit, Spencer. You work for Yashkin,” Grant growled.

  “Stop hacking the carriers,” Andy warned.

  “Chief, we lost another one. We’re down to nine locations,” Eric said.

  “Damn it, I’m warning you, Senator.”

  “No!”

  Val screamed.

  I clenched my fist around the cutter and spun around. Rex didn’t see me coming because his attention was on the drama unfolding on the other side of the crates. I jumped on his back just as he was about to turn toward me. With my left hand covering his mouth, I sank the cutter into his neck and jerked it up. Valerie was still screaming and her father was yelling, so no one heard us hit the floor. Blood pooled like a river around us. My body and mind went into survival-attack mode with a single focus. I heard Liam’s voice in my head.

  Fight.

  I grabbed Rex’s carbine, checked the magazine, grabbed his extra ones, and went to get Valerie.

  43

  Grant

  “No!” the senator yelled.

  That motherfucker had one of his men hold Val down, while the other started to cut a finger.

  “Stop it! All right!”

  Andy’s face filled the screen while Val was crying hysterically in the background. “Now, Senator.” He threatened.

  “Grant, please,” his father turned to him. Grant was conflicted. He had just received an update from Viktor that his analyst was close to isolating the carriers. The AGS men took a chopper out and were hovering around the location dots that were within a twenty-mile radius of each other, so as soon as the real coordinates were identified they could quickly respond. In his mind, Val could survive with one less finger if that meant they could be saved.

  “Maybe I should just slit your baby girl’s throat,” his father’s former aide said silkily.

  “Chief, they’ve got us!” One of Andy’s men shouted.

  “You just killed your daughter.” A cruel sneer twisted Andy’s face.

  “Stop!” the senator lunged at the monitor.

  A loud cracking noise was heard from the screen. The man holding Val fell over, and Andy and two other men ran for cover leaving Val sitting stunned in her chair. Gunshots? Who was shooting?

  “What…?” the senator whispered. Grant’s mind raced, trying to figure out what was going on. Viktor and his men couldn’t have gotten there this quickly.

  “Dammit, Val, get over here!”

  Blaire!

  44

  Blaire

  Cursing Grant’s sister to the high heavens, I left the cover of the stacked crates and ran toward her. With my carbine set in fully automatic, I shot in the direction where Andy, Eric, and their other man disappeared and grabbed Val.

  “Come on,” I shouted and wished to God she’d snap out of her daze.

  “Oh my God, Blaire, you’re bleeding. You’re bleeding!”

  “Not my blood,” I muttered.

  When a bullet kicked up concrete beside her feet, I turned my weapon and fired in the direction where the shot came from. Val was a crying mess and if I didn’t calm her down, she’d get us both killed. My own courage was hanging by a thread, and if I thought about our situation too much, I would doom us both. I fisted Val’s shirt and dragged her behind the metal containers.

  To her credit she was trying to stop the sobs rising up from her throat. “I need you to suck it up,” I growled, glancing around the crates to check our immediate surroundings. “Can you do that, Val?”

  “You got us into this mess,” she blurted out.

  Good Lord. “You can go back to hating me later,” I told her. “Right now, we need to work together to get out of this mess.” A bullet ricocheted off our steel hiding place. She jumped but didn’t scream. “Are you with me, Val?”

  She pressed her lips together and nodded.

  “Okay. You saw that open gate on our left?” It was serendipitous that the two men who reported the tracking hack l
eft the warehouse gates open

  “Yes.”

  “We’re going to weave through these crates, but when I tell you to run, you run like hell. Don’t look back. Don’t see if I’m following you. They’ll try not to shoot me because they need me for the paintings, but they are going to kill you. Understand?”

  Val scowled at me.

  “Ready?”

  Again, she nodded.

  “Go!”

  We ran between a series of shipping crates. Sporadic gunfire followed us. When we had to break cover, I had to blast the carbine at full auto. The gate seemed too far away, but I was running for my life—thinking that next second would be my last with each second lasting an eternity. I reloaded magazines in the middle of our sprint to freedom and, during that moment, a bullet nicked my arm. I cried out, feeling the burn, but, thank God, Val listened to me and continued running. We made it to the exit and that was when I noticed that it locked from outside.

  “Help me push this!” I yelled. This should buy us some time. There were side doors and folding gates all around the warehouse, but I was hoping they’d have trouble opening those. We sealed the sliding gates and I threaded a chain with the padlock to secure it.

  The sun was shining high in the sky and I took a moment to look around. The warehouse was in the middle of farmlands. The driveway and parking lot were not paved. There were several parked vehicles—newer SUVs, an older model pickup truck, and a Jeep. I quickly checked the SUVs; they were locked. The Jeep didn’t have the keys, so that left the truck. It wasn’t quite vintage, but it was a model before transponders were installed in cars that prevented hot wiring. I just hoped it didn’t run like a clunker.

  The pickup was unlocked. I handed the carbine to Val. “Here. Make yourself useful. It’s set on full-auto… just press the trigger.” Luckily, this was the version of the carbine that didn’t have a lot of kickback so I didn’t bother warning her of it. Recoil was worse when anticipated. The steering column cover came off and exposed the housing of the wiring. “Shoot anything that moves!” I yelled over my shoulder. Twisting the black wire to the ignition wire together, I started flicking the starter wire to the battery one. The engine sputtered and came to life just as Val screamed “Motherfuckers!” and sprayed the warehouse with bullets.

  I pulled her to the front of the pickup. “Can you drive?”

  Her eyes were bright from her adrenaline rush. “Oh my God!” she answered.

  “Val, can you drive?” I shouted to get her back in the moment.

  Her grin was cocky. “I’ve got a few speeding tickets.”

  Fantastic.

  “Keep your head down. Get to the driver’s side. Close your door. Open mine. Go!” I grabbed the carbine from her and shot at Andy and his men trying to make their way toward us. I circled the hood and dove into the passenger seat.

  “The steering is locked,” she muttered.

  “Shit. Hold on.” I removed the ignition wiring harness to reveal the pin, then used the butt of the carbine to knock off the lock cylinder. “Pull the pin!”

  “It’s free!” Val answered.

  A shot broke through the rear of the pick up and went through the windshield.

  “Floor it!” I screamed and we shot forward.

  We sped through dirt and gravel, bouncing like a rickety ride in an amusement park. The shocks on the pickup should’ve been replaced long ago, but at least we were getting out of that hellhole. I spied a main road up ahead at the same time I noticed the Jeep and the SUV in pursuit. Another shot through the rear windshield caused the cracks to spread like a spider web. Using the butt of my carbine again, I chipped at the glass until the whole section fell away, giving me a good vantage point against our pursuers.

  “Left or right!” Val yelled.

  “It doesn’t matter!” I shouted. “Choose!”

  She swerved left, barely slowing down and I slammed against my door. Val cackled with euphoria. I wondered if we would survive the chase only to crash in a ball of fire.

  “Keep your head as low as possible,” I reminded her as I saw the Jeep follow our turn. I sighted the tire of the Jeep and was about to squeeze the trigger when the pickup veered right. “Keep it steady!”

  Val mumbled something in return. My pulse was pounding in my ears as I fired again. Missed. I tried again and kicked up pavement far from my target. Sounds receded into a vacuum until all I heard was my erratic breathing. Okay, Blaire. Focus! It’s now or never. I took a couple of cleansing breaths then aimed again. I inhaled, held my breath, pulled my belly button to my spine, and squeezed the trigger. The Jeep careened to one side and then the other until it spun one hundred and eighty degrees and stopped at the shoulder facing the opposite direction. The black SUV following it avoided a collision by inches.

  “Okay, okay,” I told myself. “One more. Hold it together, Blaire.” I tuned everything out, but the blunt rhythm of a chopper invaded my consciousness. “What the—?”

  “Choppers!” Val yelled.

  I looked to the front of the vehicle and sure enough, I saw three helicopters closing in fast. Shit, were they for us or for them? Just then, our tire burst or it got hit by a bullet.

  “Oh, no! Oh no!” Grant’s sister tried her best to control the vehicle. She had the presence of mind not to slam on the brakes, and, after a harrowing swerve toward an oncoming vehicle, she righted it back in our lane, letting it crawl to a stop. Another bullet bounced on the top of the pickup.

  “Keep down.”

  But then something happened, the Black SUV made a u-turn and started driving away from us. Two of the choppers flew over us and went in pursuit while another was landing on the open farmland right beside us. The powerful rotors flattened the grass around it. Two men jumped down.

  “Stay inside,” I ordered as I hopped out and pointed the barrel at the approaching figures. They removed their helmets and I was almost certain they were on our side. One had striking white blond hair. The dark-haired man reminded me of Grant.

  “It’s Viktor Baran!” Val shouted over the noise of the choppers as she scrambled out of the pickup from my side. She pushed the barrel of my rifle down. “They’re the good guys, Blaire. I’ve seen him at Dad’s committee hearings.”

  I pressed my lips together, still doubtful.

  “These men are incorruptible, trust me.” She was grinning like an idiot. I had no chance to second-guess her because they were upon us. Their clear paratrooper goggles did nothing to mask the baffled look on their faces.

  “Did you ladies just shoot your way out of there?” the dark-haired guy asked. His eyes were gleaming with awe and amusement.

  “Blaire was amazing. She’s like the female version of Rambo,” Val gushed.

  I squirmed under the intense scrutiny of both men. “And Val drove like a maniac.”

  “Louise,” Val corrected. “I’m Louise to your Thelma.”

  Uhm, did Grant’s sister just become my BFF?

  The blond guy introduced himself. “I’m Viktor Baran. This is Gabriel Sullivan. We’re here to take you home.”

  45

  Grant

  Grant stood at the heliport. That day was a wake-up call. A day of admitting that power, position, and money couldn’t do a damn thing to ensure the safety of his woman. There were always people more powerful and loftier than he was, and those with more money than he had. That day was indeed a lesson in humility. It was people who mattered. It was his faith and trust in people of strength and integrity that would bring his woman back. As the cold wind of the Hudson River whipped his trench coat around him, the words of Viktor Baran replayed in his head. Grant had wanted in on the rescue mission, but the lead guardian was firmly against it.

  “Mr. Thorne, I understand what you’re going through. Most of us have experienced it. We understand how important it is for you to be there for Ms. Callahan, but we’re a rapid response team. We conduct our missions with surgical precision. We put hours into training to be the best and function as a unit. We
trust the other to have our back. We can read each other’s moves without hesitation. For the safety of my men and the success of this mission, we can’t babysit a civilian. You want Blaire and Val back—you have to trust us to do our fucking job.”

  And that was the end of it. Grant had no reason to be stupid. He checked his ego at the door of his penthouse. He stood beside his dad with his hands shoved in his pockets. He found it the only effective way to keep from pacing the heliport like a deranged madman.

  Details had been coming in, but they were sketchy. Apparently, Blaire and Val had escaped and were found speeding down Route Nine in Columbia County.

  The BlackHawk appeared in the horizon and his father patted him on the shoulder in a gesture of mutual reassurance. Their agonizing wait was almost over. As the chopper descended, the blades kicked up stinging mist from the river, but he refused to back away. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion like a dream. It was hypnotic. The rhythmic sound of the engine, the rotation of the blades, the chopper landing, and its door sliding open. Grant’s pulse and breathing quickened as two Guardians hopped off and helped the women step out.

  Then he saw her face.

  His Blaire.

  She had a blanket wrapped around her. She looked so lost and her face was pinched as she struggled in those first few steps. And then she saw him and a glow of happiness lit her face, her stunning smile filling his chest with a riot of emotions.

  His Blaire.

  She ran toward him while his long strides shortened the distance between them. He caught her in his arms and lifted her up. Hazel eyes brimming with tears stared down at him and he lowered her slowly and kissed her with all the desperation and anguish of the past day and replaced them with all the love, yearning, and joy of her return.

  “Teddy!” Val shouted and his sister leapt into his arms. Not letting go of Blaire with his left arm, he hugged Val with his right and planted a kiss on top of her head. And then a miracle of miracles happened. Val grinned at Blaire.