Love Inspired Suspense May 2015 #2

by Susan Sleeman

  “You’d better.”

  She scrambled up into the gray SUV and started the vehicle, then punched the remote button to open the garage door. “Let me talk to my dad!”

  There was only a dial tone. Screaming in frustration, she pressed the gas pedal and sent the truck squealing out of the garage. She barely remembered to hit the remote to shut the door.

  She tore up the long gravel driveway that led to the main road. The number to Griffin’s cell phone was entered into her speed dial. As the truck swerved and bounced, spraying dirt and gravel, she punched the number 1. Please still be at the hospital, she prayed.

  He answered on the first ring. “Hey, how’s—?”

  “They’ve got my dad!”

  “What? Who does?”

  “Vin’s goons!” She tried to speak past the lump in her throat. “They said they were in his hospital room. Did you stop to see my dad?”

  “For just a couple of minutes. He was alone.”

  “The voice on the phone said I had thirty minutes to get there or they would kill him. Are you still there?”

  “No. I left about twenty minutes ago, but I’m turning around right now.”

  “Thank you.” She nearly sobbed in relief. “You’ll be able to get to him before I can.”

  She reached the main road and turned onto the asphalt.

  “Laura, did you leave the house?”

  “I had to.”

  “Go back. Now.”

  “But they said they would kill him.”

  “I’ve got this. Go home,” he said sternly.

  She didn’t see how she could. As if Griffin knew her thoughts, he said, “Turn around. I’ll take care of him. Stay on the phone with me.”

  “Okay.” Her nerves were raw, her hands shaking. She knew Griffin would handle the situation.

  The caller would be expecting her, not an ex-SEAL. She slowed the SUV and turned the vehicle around. An old brown four-door passed her. The first car she’d seen.

  “Where are you now?” Griffin asked.

  “I can see your driveway. I’m maybe a hundred and fifty yards away—”

  Something heavy rammed the back end of the SUV, knocking Laura into the steering wheel, bending her wrist at an awkward angle. She cried out.

  “What is it?” He sounded urgent.

  “Something just hit the back of the truck.” The rearview mirror showed a car closing in fast. The tan four-door. “It’s a car! Brown. Old—”

  The car slammed her rear bumper hard, causing her to fishtail. Screaming, she tried to correct but couldn’t. “Griffin!”

  She plowed into the ditch, headed for a barbed wire fence.

  “Laura!” Griffin’s voice faded as the phone flew out of her hand.

  She fought the wheel, trying to get some traction on the rain-soaked ground. The vehicle struck a rut and slid in sickening slow motion down the fence. Barbed wire clawed the sides of the SUV in an earsplitting metallic screech.

  The truck bumped over something—a hole or a rock—and flipped halfway onto its side. The momentum snapped Laura’s teeth together and hurled her to the opposite door. She screamed as her head smacked the window. The vehicle crashed to a stop, engine still running.

  Head throbbing, she lay stunned for a moment. The driver’s-side window shattered and glass sprayed her. That door was jerked open.

  “Here, I got ’er,” a man said.

  Hard hands clamped around her ankles and yanked. She kicked as hard as she could, managing to dislodge one hand. Two pairs of hands fastened on her this time, one on each leg. As they dragged her toward them, she managed to snag the cell phone from the floor. She shrieked and struggled and punched with her feet, though she was tiring fast. She knew her efforts wouldn’t free her, but she was able to get their grip to loosen slightly, just long enough to stuff the phone into her coat pocket.

  Two goons pulled her out, whacking her head on the running board. She hit the ground with a jarring thud. Pain shot through her. Dazed, she lay motionless.

  Cursing and muttering, one thug moved up and flipped her onto her stomach, binding her wrists behind her. He rolled her onto her back and the other man latched on to her ankles. The guy at her head caught her under her arms and the two of them picked her up. She began to struggle again, trying to kick the one at her feet.

  They moved a short distance, opened the trunk of their car and pitched her inside. As the door slammed, she cried out and began hammering the side of the vehicle with her feet. The car lurched into motion and sped down the road.

  Panic nearly choked her, but she tried to stay calm. Help me, Lord. Please. She was able to think past the terror flooding her. Griffin had been on the phone with her when she was ambushed. He knew she was in trouble. He would come for her. Reaction set in and she began to tremble.

  She just hoped he found her before they killed her.

  *

  Laura’s scream had turned Griffin’s blood to ice.

  He had made the first legal U-turn he could and headed home.

  Adrenaline blasted through him. He got Boone on the phone and quickly explained what had happened. “I’m only now exiting the highway. I hope you’re closer to my house than I am.”

  “Sydney and I both are.”

  “Great!” He checked the GPS signal on his stereo display. “I’m tracking Laura’s phone. They’re headed west of my house. It sounded as if she was putting up a fight, but these injections take a lot out of her. I don’t know for how much longer she’ll have the energy to struggle.”

  “Syd and I are on the county line road right now, heading west. What are we looking for?”

  “A brown four-door. Laura said it looked old. If you catch up to them, stop them. I don’t care how.”

  “You got it.” Boone hung up.

  Whoever had lured Laura out of Griffin’s house obviously wasn’t in her father’s room at OU Medical Center. He called Ghost, who agreed to go to the hospital and report back on Nolan.

  Griffin narrowed his focus to finding her, refusing to allow the impatience or the urgency that grew out of his anger take hold. Those emotions would make him reckless. He didn’t have time for reckless.

  *

  Laura didn’t know where they were. Or which direction they were headed. Suddenly the car made a sharp right turn, spinning her around. She heard the splash of water. Then the automobile jerked to a halt. She huddled into a ball, straining to hear anything the men might say. When they’d grabbed her, she had gotten only an impression of rough male features. She hadn’t recognized either of their voices.

  The wind whistled around the car, drafts of cold air pushing into the trunk. She heard what she thought was the groan of a tree. Or a human. She shuddered.

  The trunk popped open and the sudden sunlight had her squinting into the glare.

  “Get out.” The older of the two men popped a stick of gum in his mouth. He waved his handgun at her, motioning her out.

  She tried, but with her hands tied behind her all she could manage was to get to her knees.

  “Fletch, she needs help.” The second man, who looked barely over twenty-one, smirked. Lank dark hair, highlighted with a red stripe, fell over his eyes.

  While he aimed his own gun at her, the man named Fletch gripped her upper arms and lifted her out of the trunk.

  She wobbled, then found her footing. Fletch jammed his gun into her side. “Move it.”

  She did, searching frantically for the best escape route. They were on a deserted country road, slick with red mud from the recent rain. There were small groupings of trees on both sides of the road, a couple of pines that might provide cover.

  Why hadn’t they already killed her? Was Griffin nearby? She might not have much time left. Teeth chattering from the cold, she yelled as loudly as she could, “Help! Somebody help!

  The younger man laughed. “Nobody can hear you, lady.”

  “You’re surrounded!” A masculine voice boomed. “Drop your weapons!”

&n
bsp; The kid’s eyes grew as big as quarters. The disbelief on his face would’ve been comical in another situation.

  Laura recognized Boone’s voice. It came from behind them, around the corner.

  “Do as the man says and lose those guns,” Sydney seconded.

  Thank goodness they were here. Laura started to turn toward them. Fletch grabbed her arm in a bruising grip then shoved her behind the car. The younger man moved in front of her so she was stuck between the pair of them.

  “Last chance,” a different male voice said.

  Griffin. The fear crushing Laura’s chest eased a tiny bit.

  Behind her Fletch laughed, lifted up and fired over the back of the car. Gunfire erupted. Bullets hit the car, dinging metal, shattering glass.

  Laura didn’t know what to do. Slide under the car? Try to roll away? Neither idea sounded the best. She huddled into a ball, making herself as small as possible.

  The younger of her two captors moved farther up the side of the four-door, shooting in bursts. Despite the cold, sweat prickled on her neck. The men on either side of her exchanged fire with Boone and Sydney. Laura flinched after each loud crack. She looked again for a place to run, a way to escape. It was a risk. So was staying put. She could be hit by a bullet either way.

  Bullets whizzed past. For every round of shots from her captors, Boone, Sydney and Griffin returned fire. Their shots were spaced out, sparse, aimed at the specific area from where Fletch or the other guy fired.

  Laura realized they were afraid she would be hit. So was she! How could she let them know where she was?

  As soon as her captors began shooting again, she struggled to her feet and ran past them, away from the car and down the road. She knew they would shoot, but they would also give away their position. She had no doubt that Griffin, Boone and Sydney had better aim than the two clowns who had nabbed her.

  A round plowed into the ground behind her. Another one burned past her ear. Two more shots cracked the air around her. She threw herself to the ground, flat against the mud.

  Abruptly, silence descended. Shattering silence. Even the wind stopped.

  “Laura!” Suddenly Griffin was there, bending over to cut off the flex cuffs. His strong arms helped her up and gathered her to him.

  She burrowed close, sobbing.

  “Are you hurt?”

  “No,” she choked out. “Just scared.”

  She lifted her head, seeing his concerned face through watery eyes. “Did you get them?”

  He nodded, stroking her hair. “They’re dead.”

  Maybe she shouldn’t have been relieved, but she was. She massaged her sore wrists. “Are Boone and Sydney all right?”

  “Yes.” He kept an arm around her as he turned her around.

  Boone and Sydney waved as they walked toward her.

  Laura became aware of the red mud slicked all over the front of her coat. “I’m getting you dirty.”

  He hugged her. “I don’t care.”

  “My dad?”

  “He’s fine. Ghost checked on him not too long ago.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. I figured those jerks threatened him just to lure me out, but I wanted to know that he’s all right. Thanks for sending Ghost to make sure.”

  Boone walked up ahead of Sydney. “Sorry for shooting so close to you.”

  “I appreciate y’all coming for me. It took me a minute to figure out you were trying to determine exactly where I was.”

  “You’re safe,” Sydney said. “That’s what matters.”

  “Thank you both so much.”

  The female agent hugged Laura and Boone patted her shoulder. The four of them began walking toward the corner and the vehicles they’d driven. Laura didn’t look at the bodies next to the brown four-door.

  Sydney glanced over at Griffin. “We called the local cops. They’re on their way.”

  “I guess we’ll have to answer all their questions, just like we had to at the clinic yesterday,” Laura said.

  “Yes, sorry.” Griffin put an arm around her shoulders.

  She smiled up at him. “I don’t mind at all. I’m glad to still be here to answer questions.”

  “I’m glad, too.” His arm tightened around her. “Very glad.”

  *

  Hours later, after answering questions from detectives and having Marshal Yates explain Laura’s situation, this time to Oklahoma City’s chief of detectives, Griffin and Laura headed back to his house. On the way, she asked him to stop for groceries so she could fix dinner for everyone.

  He shook his head. “I know you’re shaken up and need rest after your close call today.”

  “I am a bit tired, but I really want to do this. There won’t be another chance. Tomorrow will be my last day here.”

  Griffin looked at her dubiously but relented. “All right.”

  Once they arrived at Griffin’s, she worked on dinner while he went to get his SUV pulled out of the ditch and towed to his mechanic to fix any damage. He had told her he planned to stop while in town to see if Ghost had any new information about Hughes, Inhofe or Thompson.

  When he finally returned, Laura insisted dinner would wait until he showered. She herself had had a relaxing bath and changed into slacks and a blue sweater. Now she stood in Griffin’s kitchen and looked at the huge dinner she’d prepared. To thank him and his colleagues for all they’d done, she had made lasagna.

  It would be hard to say goodbye tomorrow.

  Even if Griffin was able to link Hughes, the nurse or the attorney to Vin, Laura didn’t see how it could help at this late date. However, she would take any help he offered.

  Footsteps coming up from the security room alerted her that the others were on their way up to eat. She slid the French bread into the oven to toast and turned as Griffin, Boone and Joy walked into the kitchen. Sydney was close behind, her wild curls down tonight. Laura had invited Alex aka Ghost also, but he’d declined.

  The aroma of savory tomatoes, meat and spices filled the air.

  Boone sniffed the air appreciatively. “Sure smells good.”

  Joy walked around Laura to check the top crust of her blackberry cobbler. “It’s hard to beat Laura’s family recipe for lasagna. She learned to make it from her mom.”

  Laura smiled at her aunt.

  Sydney chose a seat at the table that positioned her to hear most of the conversation with her good left ear. “I can’t wait. It looks wonderful.”

  Laura placed the pan of steaming pasta at the center of the table, then returned with the salad.

  The female agent rubbed her hands together, her eyes glittering bright green. “It’s a good thing Devaney agreed to let you go to the store. I have a feeling he didn’t have anything in this kitchen except bread.”

  “And eggs,” Laura added playfully.

  “Hey!” Griffin said in mock indignation.

  It was nice that they were able to joke after everything that had happened today. She needed light.

  She urged everyone to sit. Griffin pulled out her chair, then her aunt’s.

  As he took the end chair next to Laura, he explained that Alex was staking out the nurse’s house.

  “Earlier he caught her on the security feed entering the prison. He monitored it hoping to get a shot of her visiting with Arrico, but it didn’t happen.”

  Laura tried to temper her frustration.

  “The first frame showed Inhofe stepping into the visitation room. Then a guard motioned her over and she disappeared from view. She was gone for the entire time allotted to visitors. There was no more footage of her until she exited the building.”

  “So there’s no footage of her with Vin,” Laura said, struggling to keep her composure. Now what?

  Boone nodded. “Ah, they met in a place in the prison without security cameras.”

  Laura looked from him to Griffin. “The cameras aren’t everywhere?”

  “No.” Disgust was plain in Sydney’s voice. “Which means a guard or some other pri
son employee helped them.” So they still had nothing that proved Cheryl Inhofe even knew Vin. Disappointed, she shook her head.

  Sydney patted Laura’s hand. “The nurse has to come home at some point and Ghost will be waiting. If there’s the slightest thing to get on her, he’ll get it.”

  “I hope he can.” Laura found the female agent’s words encouraging. “I’ll pray about it.”

  “So will I,” Joy said.

  “What about the jerk who tried to inject me at the clinic?”

  “Still not talking,” Griffin said. “But Officer Rydell left a voice mail that their lab found pentobarbital in the syringe he intended to use.”

  There was a long moment of silence. Laura couldn’t believe just how close she’d come to death again.

  But she was alive. That was what mattered.

  She looked around the table, telling herself to savor her last hours here. There was a normalcy in sitting there listening to the sound of voices and laughter, the clatter of silverware. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had normalcy. Or dinner with friends. Who knew if she ever would again? After she assumed her new identity, this night would be a memory she would relive again and again.

  Her second identity. She pushed away the resentment, determined to enjoy the get-together.

  The meal passed quickly and Laura had the chance to see how much the Enigma operatives liked working together. They teased and complimented each other, talking about a couple of past cases. Sydney helped Laura clear the table while Joy dished up piping-hot cobbler, then topped it with vanilla ice cream.

  Everyone took their dessert and coffee into the living room. She, Joy and Griffin took the sofa. Sydney sat in one of the overstuffed leather chairs flanking the couch and Boone took the other.

  Laura wistfully thought back to the evenings she’d spent with her family before the blowup with Dad. Looking around the room, she smiled as Boone told one terrible joke after another. Sydney and Griffin disagreed about movies and her aunt commented every so often.

  Feeling a hand on hers, she looked down. It was Joy offering silent support. Tomorrow Laura would finish what she’d come to do, then leave. She would probably never see Boone or Sydney or Griffin again. She hoped she would someday be able to see her aunt and father.