She finally knew who Magpie was. She finally knew what Magpie wanted.
But this time Joshua wasn’t here to save her.
* * *
He’d dialed, the phone was ringing, but it hadn’t been answered yet. Joshua closed his eyes, leaned against the wall of the second-floor landing and prayed. “God, why do I feel like I’m making the biggest mistake of my life?”
Samantha was amazing. She was everything he could ever want for in a best friend and a beloved rolled into one. And yet—
“Hello?”
“Hey, Dad?” Joshua opened his eyes.
“Hey, Josh. What’s up?”
“There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you, but I didn’t want to disappoint you and I didn’t want it to ruin Christmas.”
“Okay?”
“I don’t want to reenlist in the army. I’m thinking of going into private security instead.”
“Uh-huh.”
He closed his eyes again. “I’ve also met a woman. She’s pretty spectacular, but I know you and Gramps used to warn me against rushing into things. I don’t want anyone’s heart to get broken.”
“All hearts get broken. They don’t always stay broken. I get off work at eight tomorrow. If you get to the house before me, feed the dog. He’ll have been home alone all day.”
Joshua smiled. “No problem.”
“You’re a smart man. Don’t worry yourself into trouble. See you tomorrow.”
The phone clicked off. Joshua started back up the stairs. Samantha was no longer on the landing. He knocked on her door. It swung open under his touch. Her apartment was empty.
“Hey, Samantha?”
Then a muffled scream seemed to filter through the walls. Samantha was screaming his name. He ran back onto the landing and burst through the door of Bella’s empty apartment. “Samantha? Where are you?”
“In here!”
He ran for the kitchen. His eyes took in the scene.
Samantha’s landlady sat on a chair in the kitchen with a black canister of powder on her lap and tears streaming down her cheeks. The young man who’d gotten away after the attack at the bridge was pressing a gun to her head with one hand and holding down a detonator with the other. A bare bulb hung from the ceiling, swinging back and forth sending shadows over the grim, gross apartment.
The picture couldn’t be clearer. A man with a gun. A woman in danger.
“Please,” Yvonne said. “Don’t let him hurt me.”
Yet, there stood Samantha, one step inside the door. Her hands were raised. But the look in her eyes was fierce, keen, almost angry. Like she could see something he didn’t see. Like she’d locked onto the missing piece of the puzzle.
“Magpie sent me.” The scarred man smirked. “You let me take Samantha to him, or this building explodes and everyone dies.”
“You’re the soldier, right?” Yvonne’s eyes met his, pleading, wide. “The bodyguard? Help me, please. This man just broke in looking for Samantha. He says he was sent by some evil master criminal named Magpie and he’s threatening to kill me if she doesn’t leave with him.”
“Yvonne, don’t worry.” Joshua felt his fists raise, ready for the fight. “I’ll save you and I won’t let Magpie take Samantha.”
“Yvonne doesn’t need saving.” Samantha’s voice cut through the air like a knife. “And that man wasn’t about to take me to Magpie.”
“Please.” Yvonne’s head shook. “She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. That man is holding down the button on a detonator. If he lets go, we all die.”
“Joshua.” Samantha’s voice dropped, until it was as calm and steady as any he’d ever followed into battle. “Trust me. The gun is real, the danger is real and if I leave with that man, I will most definitely die. But he won’t take me to Magpie and I’m almost certain that impressive-looking can of black powder sitting on Yvonne’s lap won’t do a thing when that man lets go of that button. You were absolutely right when you said Magpie was an invention. But it wasn’t Eric who invented it. Magpie is Yvonne.”
“What?” No, that didn’t make sense. Samantha’s paranoid, fussy landlady was a serial killer who’d arranged the deaths of four women and tried to have at least another two people killed?
“She’s crazy.” Yvonne’s voice rose. “You can’t believe her. I’m not whatever she thinks I am.”
“Listen to me, Joshua,” Samantha said. Confidence rang in her voice. “Yvonne is Magpie. Yvonne is Eric’s secret guardian who protected him by killing off the women in his life who don’t love him as well as she thinks they should. Think about it. It fits. It’s the only theory that fits. Yvonne used to work with youth who’d been in trouble with the law. Now she’s been using them, manipulating them into killing for her. Maybe out of loyalty or some kind of blackmail, I don’t know, but she admitted to me that she used to read their confidential files. Yvonne has to be Magpie. Who else has enough access to my apartment to know how to invent some perfect fictional criminal based on the very things I’d been researching? Who else could’ve wiped my computer? Or given those criminals the information they needed to find me, break into my work and track my movements? Why else would she harass and threaten strange visitors to the building, while practically encouraging Eric to come and go as he wanted, while pressuring me to date him?”
“Enough talk.” The scarred man pressed the gun deeper into her temple. “I was sent for the girlie. I’m not leaving without her.”
“Joshua, please.” Yvonne’s voice shook. “Convince him to let me go. It’s Samantha he wants, not me. She’s grasping at straws. She’s the one who went for counseling today because her memory was faulty! Her memory isn’t working right!”
“How did you know I was going to see a counselor today or that I was having memory gaps if you hadn’t been spying or eavesdropping on yesterday’s conversation?” Samantha stepped forward. A smile crossed her lips. “But you know where you slipped up most of all? The message you wrote on the hand grenade. Delete my ATHENA database. All this time, I couldn’t figure out why the Magpie would want my newspaper to delete the very database I created and erase everything I work on? Until it hit me. You’re the only one who had a problem with the work I do. You kept telling me that I work too much and should quit my job because it was getting in the way of my being with Eric. Then when you realized Joshua was the threat and my feelings for him could be the real problem, Magpie’s tune suddenly changed, the warnings stopped and you just sent your goons to kill him.
“See, it never made sense to couple threats with the deadly weapons like that. Unless Magpie was someone who didn’t care if I died or if I ran into Eric’s arms. Either one worked for you. As long as you gave your son what he wanted.”
Samantha reached back and brushed Joshua’s hands.
“Yvonne, the Magpie, is Eric’s mother. They have the same bright blue eyes. I never noticed until now because she always hid hers behind those tinted glasses. But the stories of their pasts match up. He’s the ungrateful son who never appreciates all she does for him. She’s the unstable mother he had to distance himself from for the sake of his career. It even explains why he’s been hanging around the building so much. She’s been killing for him, probably all his life, and using other people to do it for her. And it’s making him crazy.”
Yvonne’s eyes closed. “She’s lying. She’s crazy. She has no idea what she’s talking about. You can’t trust Samantha! She’s lost her mind.”
The man with the scar swung the barrel of the gun toward Joshua. “I’m counting backward from ten. You better push your girlie over to me and walk away by the time I get to one, or everyone dies.”
“Joshua!” Samantha’s voice rose. “Please! The bomb isn’t real. The design is wrong. The detonator isn’t even connected properly. Yvonne’s not really in danger.”
“Ten!”
I either trust Samantha. Or I don’t.
“Nine!”
He didn’t need eight more seconds to decid
e what to do.
“Samantha, get out of here! Call the police!”
Joshua charged the gunman. The weapon fired. The bullet flew into the ceiling. Joshua knocked the gunman to the ground before he could fire again. A strong blow to the head and the scarred man crumpled. He yanked the gun from his hands.
“Thank you!” Yvonne scrambled to her feet and ran toward Samantha.
“Stop!” Joshua raised the gun. “Hands on your head, Yvonne. Get down on the ground. Don’t you dare take one more step toward Samantha. I might not have a brain as quick as hers and can’t get my head around all the facts that make up the big picture Samantha sees which proves you’re the Magpie. But I trust her, one hundred percent. So, if she’s convinced you’re the killer mastermind behind all this, that’s good enough for me.”
Yvonne paused, for a long moment. Then her hands slid deep into the canister and pulled out a gun.
“I knew I shouldn’t have underestimated you.” She aimed the gun at Samantha’s face. “All those brains. All that tap, tap, tapping. But so blind to how much my Eric cared for you. How he would’ve done anything for you. I warned you to quit your job. I told his idiotic detective buddy where to find you, knowing he’d blab it to Eric, and got my boys to get Joshua out of the way to give you one last chance. I showed you mercy. That was wrong. I should’ve killed you the first time I knew you were going to hurt my boy.” She snarled. “But first, I’m going to kill the man you do care about.”
Yvonne spun toward Joshua. She fired. He dove and rolled away as the bullet tore a hole through the floor. Samantha leaped, jumping on Yvonne’s back. She yanked the gun from the woman’s hand and forced the Magpie to the ground.
Thank You, God! Prayer exploded like a firework in Joshua’s heart.
Then he looked down to where Samantha knelt, pinning Yvonne to the floor.
Joshua swallowed hard. “Nicely done.”
“Thank you. I learned by watching the best.” Her eyes ran from the crumpled form of the scarred man in the corner of the room to her landlady now pinned beneath her knees. “Can you take it from here? That’s the only move I really have.”
He chuckled. A lump formed in his throat. “I reckon that’s the only move you needed.”
* * *
They sat, side by side on her couch, long after the police had come and arrested Yvonne and her thug, just staring at the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree in silence. Samantha’s foul-smelling kidnapper had been quick to blurt out everything to the police when he’d come to, explaining that Yvonne had been blackmailing them into killing for her. Police confirmed that Hermes, Eric and the third youth who’d attacked Joshua at the bridge had all been arrested. Hopefully they’d be as quick to turn on the Magpie too, and get the help they needed to turn their lives around.
Joshua’s hand slid into Samantha’s. She squeezed his hand tightly.
“You believed me,” she said. “When the crisis hit, you trusted me over what your eyes were telling you. Even if you walk out of my life right now, I’m always going to be thankful to know somebody believed in me like that.”
“I did and I do.” His other arm slid around her shoulder. Her head fell into the crook of his neck. He took a deep breath and breathed her in. “You were right. You were right this whole time, and I needed to trust you.”
The clock on the wall chimed softly. He looked up. It was almost two in the afternoon.
“I have to go.” She pulled away, out of his arms. “If I don’t head to the train station now, I won’t make it to Montreal tonight.” She turned toward him. “I don’t want to leave you. Not like this. But you’re right. I can’t just throw all my plans out the window, cancel Christmas Eve dinner with my parents and rearrange my whole life for someone I just met yesterday. It’s too soon to know what we feel or what happens next.”
“Then how about this.” He slipped off the couch and onto the floor. He knelt before her. One hand took hers, and he raised it to his mouth, feeling the softness of her skin against his lips. “Samantha Colt, I can honestly say I don’t know where my life is headed. I don’t think I’m going to reenlist, but I still have several more months before my term is up. I think I’m going to ask Daniel if there’s a role for me in his new private security company, but I don’t know what that’s going to look like yet. But I can make you a promise, and I intend to keep it. I promise I will always be honest with you. I promise I will do everything in my power not to hurt you. I promise I will work as hard as I can to stay in your life, get to know you better and build this relationship into being the best possible thing it can be. Because you’re beautiful, extraordinary, brave and wise, and I’ve never met anyone like you. I think I’m falling in love with you. So I’ll do my best to be worthy of you and prove this thing between us is real, whatever the future holds. If that’s what you want too. Is it?”
A beautiful smile lit up her face, sending lights dancing in the tears of joy glistening in her eyes. “Yeah, it is. I really do.”
Then his hands slid up along her neck and into her hair, and he kissed her slowly. A gentle kiss. Growing stronger by the moment. A kiss that held the promise of all the moments, days and months to come.
EPILOGUE
A door slammed. Samantha woke up, her heart pounding hard in her chest. She was lying on a couch she didn’t recognize. Darkness filled her eyes. The brush of waves on a sandy shore filled her ears. Warm summer breeze danced through the windows. Where was she?
Then she felt warm, strong arms sliding around her in the darkness.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. A breeze caught the door.” Joshua’s voice brushed against her ear. His lips brushed her cheek. “It was a long, tiring day. You fell asleep on the couch while I was bringing the bags in.”
He lifted her up into his arms. The long lace train of her vintage lace wedding gown spun around her legs, then he sat down on the couch, cradling her to his chest. Her hand slipped into his. Their fingers linked and she felt the unfamiliar coolness of their wedding bands sitting side by side in the darkness.
Husband and wife. The clock chimed eleven. It was still her wedding day.
Had it really all happened today? Waking up in the morning in Zoe’s apartment, before the summer sun had even risen? Walking down the aisle at the downtown church to slide her hand into that of the man she loved?
The man who’d patiently wooed her for months, as the love that had sparked in their hearts on the frozen morning they’d met, slowly grew into a flame, strong and secure enough to dedicate their lives to. Then the drive to the country house, home base of Joshua’s employer Ash Private Security, for a wedding reception with friends, family and colleagues. Then finally, they’d driven up to the quiet, secluded cottage on the beach.
One long, incredible day, where everything in her life had changed.
She leaned back, secure in the strength of his arms, feeling his heart beating against her. He’d pulled off his jacket and bow tie on the drive to the beach. Now she could feel his white button-up shirt, open at the neck, and the softness of his arms where he’d rolled it up over his elbows.
“You falling asleep on me again?” he asked.
“Not quite yet.”
“Come on, then.” He swept her up into his arms again and carried her out to the beach. Warm summer breeze danced across her skin, tossing her hair around her face. Water rushed up to the shore. She looked up and saw hundreds of dazzling specks of light dancing in the darkness above her. He spun her around. She laughed. Then he set her back down in the darkness. Her bare feet sank into the sand.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t have a longer honeymoon,” Joshua said. “But Daniel’s still setting up the business and you’ve got that big article you’re coauthoring with Theresa about creating safer college campuses—”
“No work talk. Not right now.” She put her arms around him. Her lips brushed his neck. “I’m happy. Right here, with you, and that’s enough for today.”
“Then how abo
ut this.” Joshua’s arms slid around her waist. “Samantha, my friend, my love, my wife. You’re the most amazing thing that ever fell into my life and I can’t imagine wanting to live a day of it without you.”
She tilted her head toward him. “You won’t have to.”
“Thank You, God, for that.”
Then he pulled her closer into his arms, and his lips found hers in a long, passionate kiss as he held her to him tightly under the dark night sky.
* * * * *
If you enjoyed KIDNAPPED AT CHRISTMAS,
look for these Maggie K. Black stories
from Love Inspired Suspense:
KILLER ASSIGNMENT
DEADLINE
SILENT HUNTER
HEADLINE: MURDER
CHRISTMAS BLACKOUT
TACTICAL RESCUE
Keep reading for an excerpt from DEADLY SETUP by Annslee Urban
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Dear Reader,
Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? Maybe that’s an odd question, considering the holidays might still be months away when you read this. But I’m the kind of person who shops for Christmas all year round. If I see the perfect present in February, I buy it on the spot and then save it in the top of my cupboard. Then, on Christmas Eve, I unpack it all and suddenly find extra presents I bought that I had forgotten about. (The only time this backfires is when I try to buy books for my bookworm daughter and then discover she’s read them all!)
Right now, Christmas is two weeks away for me. My shopping has been finished since November. But still I’m worried—have I done enough? Right now the television is bombarding me with advertisements telling me to buy more, do more, be more. Sometimes it’s hard to believe I’ve done enough.
I like Samantha Colt and Joshua Rhodes because they both, in different ways, struggled with doubting themselves. Yet, at the same time God is doing so much in their lives and they have a lot to look forward to as they start this amazing new life together.
Kidnapped at Christmas Page 17