Only You

by Francis Ray

  He understood and motioned Luke to join him and Shane in his office. Morgan, Pierce, and Brandon followed. So did Daniel and his brothers-in-law, Kane and Matt Taggart, and their cousin, Trent Masters.

  “My banker will have the money this afternoon,” Blade told them.

  “If he can’t, let me know,” Daniel said, his mouth hard.

  “It’s covered.” Blade’s head lowered, then lifted. “I wouldn’t blame you if you hated me.” He looked at Luke. “I told you I’d keep her safe. I should have realized this would happen when the newspapers started running stories about us. I should have stopped seeing her.”

  Luke’s hand settled on Blade’s rigid shoulder. “Could you?”

  “No.”

  “I didn’t think so,” Luke said. “Blame the scum who took her.”

  The shrill ring of the phone was loud in the room. Everyone in the office crowded around the device, but it was Blade who, after getting the signal from Shane, picked the receiver up. “Blade Navarone.”

  “You got my money?”

  “I want to speak to Sierra,” Blade demanded.

  Ruth came into the room, her arms wrapped around her waist, her eyes pleading. Blade motioned her closer and lowered the receiver.

  “I give the orders.”

  “I have the money, and that’s my condition.”

  There was silence, then, “Blade, I’m sor—”

  Blade heard a man howl. “What is it? Sierra! What happened?”

  People closed in on Blade. He held up his hand for quiet. Ruth’s hands were pressed against her mouth. “Sierra. I want to speak to Sierra,” Blade demanded.

  “You stomped on my foot!” a man yelled.

  “I stumbled when you jerked the phone away from me,” came Sierra’s answer.

  Blade heard the shouted discourse through the receiver. The man responsible would pay for that and more.

  “Just—”

  “Touch her again and I’ll make you wish you were in hell a thousand times before you die.” His voice cold and deadly, Blade cut the kidnapper off.

  “Y-you just bring the money to the rock quarry off Highway Sixty-seven at eight in the morning.”

  “I’ll bring the money, but I won’t leave it unless I see she’s unharmed.”

  “Just bring the money.” The line went dead.

  “What happened?” It was Luke who asked the question.

  Blade curved his arm around Ruth’s shoulders before answering. “While she was talking, one of the men jerked the phone away and she stepped, I think intentionally, on his foot.”

  Ruth looked from Luke, to Daniel, to Blade. None of their faces were comforting. “What’s the matter?”

  “When men are cornered, they are unpredictable. Sierra is baiting them and—” Blade couldn’t go on.

  “Luke? Daniel?” Ruth asked. Neither answered. It was her brother who said, “It would be better if she didn’t. It could backfire on her.”

  Blade couldn’t take any more. He felt like screaming, howling his pain. Neither would help. He was living a nightmare all over again, this time a hundred times worse. His love for Sierra eclipsed that for Mary. They had been so young. He was a man now, but he couldn’t handle the situation any better.

  “Excuse me.” Blade walked out onto the terrace. When Daniel would have followed, Ruth shook her head and followed.

  “She was always headstrong and impetuous,” Ruth said softly to Blade.

  Blade’s hands clamped and unclamped on the steel railing on top of the concrete. “She doesn’t know fear.”

  “I remember a young man at the powwows in Oklahoma the same way. He had the heart of a lion and the courage of an eagle. Fearless and proud.”

  Blade frowned down at her.

  “I knew you would grow up to be a man who would soar with eagles and walk among the lions unafraid,” she told him. “You stood out among the other young men, just as you stand out now as an adult.”

  “You have a long memory,” Blade said slowly. “Sierra mentioned her coming with her family to the powwows in Oklahoma. Forgive me if I don’t remember you”

  “It is only important that I remember you,” she said cryptically. “I knew somehow that when the time was right we’d meet again.”

  Blade’s frown deepened.

  “We’ll bring Sierra back. You can have a few more minutes alone, then come inside. Those of us who love her should be together.”

  “I—” He didn’t know what to say to this strong, wise woman who knew him from a time he had almost forgotten. He did know he loved Sierra and his love had put her in danger just as he had feared.

  Ruth patted his arm affectionately. “We’ll be waiting for you.”

  “Why aren’t you screaming at me?” he wanted to know.

  “Because this isn’t your fault. But I refuse to believe the Master of Breath and God won’t bring her home safe.”

  Blade’s face contorted in rage. “I prayed once. It didn’t do any good. All that I loved was taken brutally from me.”

  Ruth nodded in understanding. “So did I when my husband’s plane crashed in Brazil. When they came with the news that he wasn’t among the survivors, that there wasn’t even a body to bring back, I was angry for a long time.” Tears glistened in her eyes. “It wasn’t until the children made me realize how much I still had to live for that I knew life could still offer happiness.”

  For the first time in years, he saw Mary’s face, not as she had been when he had found her, but laughing and urging him on. She would have wanted him to be happy. But some things weren’t meant to be.

  “On second thought, why don’t you come back inside now so we can pray,” Ruth said gently.

  Blade didn’t protest when Ruth took his arm and led him back inside. Nor when she joined her hand with his and the extended families formed a circle. He lowered his head out of respect for her. Catherine, on the other side of him, took his hand.

  Prayer wouldn’t bring Sierra back safely, just as it hadn’t brought Mary and their child back to him.

  Even as the thought formed, he realized he had to believe that this time would be different, had to believe that perhaps God and the Master of Breath that Sierra’s mother prayed to would grant them their request. He’d go crazy if he didn’t.

  Please, bring her safely back to her family. Please. I know she can’t ever be with me again. My place is alone. I won’t forget again.

  TWENTY-ONE

  “I can feel the money. By this time tomorrow, I’ll be a millionaire,” Frank said with a wide grin as he sat at the kitchen table that night.

  “You are awfully sure of yourself,” Sierra said. “You sound as if you’re the only one who’ll get any money.”

  Frank shot her a nasty look. “Nobody asked what you thought.”

  “I’m just looking out for my interests,” Sierra said. “If you get the money and get lost on your way back, your partner isn’t going to feel too kindly to me.”

  “That ain’t gonna happen,” Frank snapped.

  Gus, sitting at the table, frowned. “Sometimes you do sound like you’ll be getting all the money. We planned this together after you showed me the newspaper.”

  “You aren’t falling for her crap, are you?” Frank asked.

  Gus glanced at Frank’s angry face, then away. “She makes sense.”

  “Bull!” Pushing to his feet, Frank marched over to Sierra. “I ought to fix it so she keeps her mouth shut. Permanently.”

  Gus jumped up and caught the other man’s arm. “He said he won’t pay unless he sees her and she’s all right.”

  Frank’s menacing stare drilled into Sierra. “That’s what he says, but we’re running things.”

  “And if you’re wrong, we come out of this with nothing,” Gus said. “I want that money. I’m tired of minimum-wage jobs and taking crap from people.”

  “You always were a pansy.” Frank twisted away from his partner. “I’m going to get a beer.”

  The door had
barely closed before Sierra asked, “What’s to say he doesn’t call Blade and change the drop-off site? Frank appears greedy to me.”

  Gus, who had been about to take his seat at the table, shot straight upward and ran to the door and outside. “Leaving in that truck is asking for trouble. What if someone recognizes it or has the license plate numbers?”

  “Nobody did. I don’t know why I asked you to come in on this with me,” Frank sneered. “You have the spine of a jellyfish.”

  “I don’t want to take any chances that that man with the plant got any numbers off the license plate,” Gus placated him. “You saw him looking until we got out of sight. You might lead the police back here.”

  “All right.” Frank slammed the truck’s door. “I thought you would stand with me because the man is on us all the time at the plant. I wasn’t meant to clean toilets and mop floors all my life. I’ll be glad when this is over so I won’t have to see you again.”

  The men came back inside. Frank gave her a murderous look, then went back to eating his cold dinner. Gus took a seat across from him. She hoped and prayed Jess had noticed something was wrong and that even now Blade and Luke were coming to rescue her.

  Tears pricked her eyes when she thought of her mother and Blade. They would feel it the most … with a mother’s love and a lover’s guilt. But Ruth had Luke to lean on. For Blade, there would be no one. Worse, he’d blame himself.

  Her eyes tightly closed, Sierra prayed for him, for her family not to shut him out or blame the man she’d love through eternity.

  Her eyes opened to watch the lengthening shadows across the dusty faded linoleum floor. Gus and Frank had left the kitchen to watch the TV. She tested the ropes at her wrists once again. Gus might be a sloppy housekeeper, but he’d tied a knot that wouldn’t give.

  “Hey, in there. I need to go again.” She didn’t really, but it was the only way to get them to untie her hands and get the circulation going again.

  As expected, Gus appeared, a frown on his rotund face. “You got a bladder problem?”

  “Nerves,” she said, managing to make her voice tremble. Hearing it, she knew it wasn’t all fake.

  “It happens to me, too,” he whispered, and quickly untied her.

  Rubbing her wrists, she went to the bathroom, counted to thirty, and flushed the toilet. After washing her hands, she left and almost bumped into Frank. She stepped back. He was too unpredictable and mean.

  “That was quick,” he said, a leer on his face.

  She didn’t say anything, just waited. If he tried anything …

  “Everything all right?” Gus asked, coming up behind them.

  “Just checking on our golden goose.” Frank grabbed her arm and shoved her past Gus.

  For a split second, Sierra lifted her arm in a defensive move, planning to come around with the heel of her other hand. Common sense prevailed. She might outrun them; she couldn’t outrun a bullet. Snickering, Frank went back to vegetate in front of the TV.

  She slowly went to the kitchen. Gus picked up the rope and waited by the cane-backed chair. “Could I have a glass of water?”

  Gus watched her for a few moments, then took a glass from the cabinet and filled it with tap water. “Here.”

  She made her hands tremble, splashing water over the rim, down the side of her mouth. She gave him the glass back. “The ropes cut off circulation. Do you think they could stay off for a while?”

  “Frank wouldn’t like it.”

  “You’re partners and I bet you’re just as smart as he is. Can’t two men guard one unarmed woman? Shouldn’t what you say count?” Sierra waited a few seconds to let doubts and pride work for her. “Or maybe I was wrong?”

  Gus got that bulldog look on his face, grabbed her arm, and marched her into the living room. He pushed her down into an easy chair, and her bottom hit springs. She briefly tucked her head.

  Frank came out of his chair. “What the hell is she doing in here?”

  “She needs some time without the rope.” Gus took the seat on the end of the lumpy sofa.

  “What the hell is wrong with you? What do we care? You know what we planned!” Frank yelled.

  Gus glanced at her, then quickly looked away. Sierra’s chest felt tight. They weren’t planning to let her go.

  “Two men can guard one unarmed woman,” Gus said, his eyes glued to the TV as a wrestler pounded his opponent while the crowd roared. “There’s no reason she can’t be comfortable.”

  Until she dies. Sierra couldn’t keep the shivers from racing over her body. No! No! her mind screamed.

  Frank whirled, his jaw clenched, his gaze boring into her as if he knew she was behind Gus’s decision. She bowed her head again and thought of her family. The clock on the VCR read 8:13. The ransom drop was less than twelve hours away. She refused to think that was all the time she had left to live. Her family and Blade would come for her.

  She just had to be alive when they did.

  Blade’s great room had been turned into a police command center. He didn’t think the local police or the FBI could come up with any more than Shane could, but he couldn’t take that chance.

  Jess hadn’t been able to tell them any more about the white truck or the two men who’d taken Sierra. There were just too many trucks to narrow the search down. Luke and the two FBI agents had visited the men Jess had the altercation with and found they’d been at work all day on another site an hour away.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Navarone, Mrs. Grayson. We just don’t have any more leads,” Earl Baily, the FBI agent, said. “They were too far for the surveillance cameras to pick up.”

  “I don’t think it’s personal.” Luke stood on the other side of his mother. “Money is what drew them to Sierra.”

  Blade clenched his hands. He was the cause of this.

  “I agree.” Earl nodded his graying head. “Once they have the money they’ll release her. With the kind of power she’s connected to, they would be fools not to. We’ll follow Mr. Navarone to the drop-off point in the morning and move in on them once Ms. Grayson is safe.”

  “We’ll be waiting,” Luke said.

  “Let’s wrap it up, men.” Earl put the little spiral pad back in the inside pocket of his dark gray suit jacket. “I’m glad you called us and listened to reason. This is a job for professionals.”

  “Yes.” Luke walked the FBI agent and the other law officials to the door, then came back to Blade. “I admire Earl, but he’s wrong on this. I have a gut feeling they’re amateurs. Following you won’t work.”

  “Exactly. That’s why Rio and I did a little aerial recon this afternoon after the phone call.” Shane strode into the room. “Maybe it will be best if the men discuss this without the women.”

  “They have my daughter. You’ll have to drag me out of here,” Ruth told him. Her daughters-in-law, niece, and sister-in-law and the other women crowded around her. “If you have something to say that will help Sierra, please say it.”

  “I can see where she gets her fearlessness from.” Shane went to the dining room and began to clear the table. Several pairs of hands moved to help. He unrolled a five-foot-by-seven-foot color photograph of the area for the ransom drop.

  “There’s thick scrub brush and trees on either side of the quarry. Several houses scattered around. A few with trucks that we already checked out.” Rio’s blunt-tipped finger pointed out a dirt road. “One way in and out.”

  “So they plan to be there when Blade arrives,” Luke said.

  “And make sure he doesn’t leave,” Daniel bit out.

  “That won’t happen.” Blade’s expression was carved in granite. He turned to the two men he knew could be as ruthless as he when the time came. “Shane. Rio. You go in after midnight. You know what to do?”

  “Two sides of the road. Two teams,” Luke said. “Daniel and I are going with them.”

  “You—”

  “It’s not open for negotiation,” Luke bit out, cutting Blade off.

  “What’s
wrong with another team?” Brandon wanted to know from his place beside Pierce.

  “We’re not staying here,” Pierce said.

  “No way.” Morgan moved beside them.

  Similar protests came from the other men in the room.

  “I thank you, but it’s best that Daniel and I go.” Luke crossed to his brothers. “If this was out in the open, I’d like nothing better than to have you there with me. It’s not. Staying here is hard, but you aren’t trained.”

  Morgan muttered under his breath, “You can’t ask us to stay here and sit on our hands, doing nothing.”

  “You won’t be doing nothing.” Ruth leaned against her second son. “I need you here with me until they bring Sierra home.”

  “I don’t think the police or FBI will go along with your plan,” Catherine pointed out.

  “That’s why we’re not going to tell them,” Daniel said, a cold smile on his face.

  A little after midnight, Sierra watched Gus and Frank nod on the sofa, occasionally dropping their chins to their chests only to jerk upward again, then blink. If they would just nod off together, she’d have a chance to escape. Once she was in the woods, they’d never find her. She’d grown up traipsing behind Luke, who preferred dirt under his boots to concrete.

  Gus’s head fell forward and stayed. Her body tensed as Frank shifted his weight, trying to find a comfortable position. His eyes closed, he scooted down farther on the cushion and let his head rest on the back of the sofa.

  She made herself count to ten. Her hands were pressed against the arm of the chair to stand when she saw Frank’s eyelids flicker. It could have been a nervous twitch, but she didn’t think so. Her gaze dropped to his right hand under his shirt. The outline of a gun stood out. He was baiting her.

  “Gus. Gus,” she called, watching Frank out of the corner of her eye.

  “What?” Gus sat up and stared around as if he’d forgotten where he was. He looked from her to Frank, who was still pretending to sleep; then his shoulders relaxed. He stretched his arms over his head and yawned. “What is it?”

  “I’d like a glass of water,” she improvised.