I was there. Before or after this video was taken?
“If we can determine all four locations,” Keith said. “We can have four two-man teams ready to move in.”
“One man would have to be solo,” Alec said. “We need Lee in God’s Eye, working the cameras.” He paused, considering the options. “Odds are, they’ll be gone, but if each team takes one known location, then moves into position to check out an unknown, we could quickly sweep a few sections of the compound, with Lee activating cameras one step at a time.” Alec met Lee’s gaze. “Can you work the cameras from God’s Eye? It’s a lot to take in, usually a two- or three-person job.”
“If I’m activating the cameras in waves, no problem. I know the system.”
“Good. Let’s figure out the other three locations and then identify where each two-man team needs to go from there. We’ll do a systematic search.”
“We should bring in Sifuentes, Kalla, and Wells from Fairbanks.” Keith said. “Then we wouldn’t have anyone working solo.”
“No time,” Alec said. “Besides, I’m not ready to trust them until we’re certain Nicole and Westover aren’t working with anyone else.” He met Keith’s gaze. He knew the man would object, but really, there was no other option. “I’ll search alone.”
Three hours later, Alec was crouched in the trees surrounding the prove-up. There were no interior cameras in the prove-up cabin, which was why Alec had opted to take this structure after they’d cleared the training buildings. It would be hard for Nicole to ignore the lure of a safe haven without cameras.
They’d been searching for the last two hours, to no avail. Time was dwindling. Soon it would be eight a.m. on the East Coast, and Alec would transfer a massive amount of money—enough to ensure Nic and Westover could disappear and escape justice forever—into a numbered bank account. He had to find Nicole before he made the transfer. Not because he gave a damn about retaining the money, but because he owed the bitch a bullet between the eyes for what she’d done to Isabel.
Alec and Keith had decided on the search teams: Ethan and Josh, Keith and Sean, Brad and FBI Agent Matt Upton, leaving Alec alone and Lee in God’s Eye, directing.
It was far from ideal, but it was the best they could do, given the situation, and Alec had complete trust in each man.
He waited until he received the signal from Keith and Sean that they were in position. Because this structure had no cameras, which meant Lee couldn’t provide guidance, they’d agreed backup was required. At least the cabin was small and Alec knew the layout. It would take only moments to search it.
As with every building he’d searched in the last two hours, the cabin was empty. But there was one key difference. A still-warm mug of hot chocolate sat on the coffee table.
Alec stopped short, staring at the mug. His heart pounded as the meaning sank in.
They’d been here. In the last hour. Hell, in the last thirty minutes.
Isabel had been here, in the same place where he’d watched her in the firelight and had known, deep down, she was everything he wanted.
He grabbed a lamp from the side table and, with a roar, smashed it into the stone mantel. The ceramic body shattered, sending shards flying in a scatter pattern around the hearth and into the open grate. It wasn’t enough. He scooped up the side table and bashed it against the rocks. It cracked and splintered, but it took five solid blows until the table was reduced to a mess of wood fragments.
He roared again as tears of anger, frustration, and fear surged to the surface. He couldn’t hold them back any longer.
Isabel had been Nicole’s prisoner for sixteen hours. She’d suffered unspeakable pain, and he had no reason to believe Nicole would let her live after he paid the ransom. Her only hope was if he found her before the money dropped.
In the last six days, he’d somehow fallen head over heels in love with her. She mattered to him more than air, and she was suffering. Because of him. Not only had he delivered her straight into the hands of evil, but they were hurting her to break him, because they wanted his money. Because they knew what seeing her pain would do to him.
He was dying inside. He didn’t quite understand how his heart was still beating. He leaned his forehead against the mantel and let out the sob that had been building since he first learned Westover had taken her.
Twenty-four hours ago, he’d been in bed with Isabel. He sucked in a painful breath. He’d attempted to count her freckles as she drifted off to sleep, but it was impossible, as one faint orange spot blended with the next in his dim bedroom.
She needed him now, and he was failing her.
“Alec?” Keith said.
Slowly, he lifted his head and turned, meeting Keith’s gaze without flinching. He wasn’t ashamed for breaking down, and Keith, of all people, would understand, given what had happened to his girlfriend, Trina, only a month ago. “She was here. A half hour ago.”
“How do you know?”
He nodded toward the mug on the coffee table. “The hot chocolate is a message. For me.”
“What does it mean?”
He shrugged. “Beyond that she was here? I’m not certain.”
“Lee’s finished rebooting the entire system. He’s going over each structure again. I sent the others back to help him. Right now, it looks like they’re long gone.”
“Not long.” Alec picked up the mug and dipped a finger inside. “This is still lukewarm.”
“There are a billion hiding places in the woods here, but not a lot of places that have electricity and Internet. And now that Lee’s got the system up, if they access the network, he’ll know.”
“They’ll stay away from the Raptor network. Nicole knows it can pinpoint her location.”
“There’s no way to use Raptor Wi-Fi or LAN without logging in,” Keith said. “If they’re in one of the compound buildings, Lee will find them.”
Alec stiffened as Nicole’s plan crystalized in his mind. She’d kept him busy, focused on the compound, blinding him to her final destination. “I think I know where they are.”
Alec and Keith circled the meadow and approached Isabel’s cabin from the rear. On the surface, it appeared empty. Abandoned.
But Alec was certain this was it.
Nicole would feel so clever, hiding Isabel in her own cabin. It made perfect sense. Remote and isolated, yet with the comforts they needed to complete the transaction and easy egress from the compound. There were two access roads from which to make their escape, or they could take an ATV overland and disappear into the forest.
He and Keith had discussed at length the best approach. The broken living room window left the cabin vulnerable from the front, while the back door not only had a hefty dead bolt, it also had an old-fashioned two-by-four braced across the panel just above the knob. There would be no forcing that door open without a battering ram.
The front was the only option.
They crept below the window and flanked the door with their guns drawn. A slow, quiet test of the knob showed it was unlocked. At Keith’s nod, Alec wrenched the door open and dropped down to open Keith’s line of sight.
Nicole sat in the center of the couch with Isabel tight against her side. Isabel was bound—her hands zip-tied in front of her—and gagged. The muzzle of Nicole’s pistol was pressed casually against the base of Isabel’s neck. The blonde bitch flashed her wide, megawatt smile. “Drop the gun, Tiger, and come on in. It took you long enough to get here.”
34
Tiger. Isabel shivered, realizing she must’ve told Nicole the “safeword” during her interrogation. What else had Nicole asked? What else had she revealed?
“Put your gun on the floor and kick it to me.”
Very slowly, Alec crouched and set the gun down. He raised his hands in surrender as he rose then tapped the pistol with his foot, sending it sliding across the wood floor, not in Nicole’s direction but to the center of the room. Out of his reach, but out of hers too. If she wanted it, she’d have to take the gun off
Isabel and her eyes off Alec. He’d neatly taken the weapon out of play.
He laced his fingers and tucked his raised arms behind his head. “Put the gun down, Nic. You won’t see a dime if you shoot her. You pull that trigger and I’ll break your neck faster than I broke Godfrey’s.”
“But Alec, the only thing that’s keeping you from breaking my neck right now is the fact that I have the gun on Isabel. I know how lethal you are, even unarmed and barely conscious.” She nodded toward the open door. Isabel had caught a glimpse of Keith, but he’d disappeared once Alec stepped inside. “Let’s make a deal. Send Hatcher back to the compound, and we can negotiate.” She glanced at her watch. “Ten minutes until the banks release the money and you can make the transfer. It would be much cozier if it’s just the three of us when the money comes through.”
“Three? What about Westover?”
She flashed another grin but said nothing.
A scuffle outside answered Alec’s question. A moment later, Westover was shoved toward the open door, blood pouring from his temple. Keith pushed him into the room. “You lose, Nicole. We’ve got your partner.”
The pressure at the back of Isabel’s neck disappeared. Before she could draw in a breath of relief at no longer having a gun to her head, Nicole pointed the weapon at her partner’s chest and squeezed the trigger.
Isabel lurched forward from the couch as two rapid shots reverberated through the cabin. She dove for Alec’s gun and sent it sliding back in his direction.
Westover pitched backward into Keith. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the pistol glide past the easy chair, out of Nicole’s line of sight.
Both men dropped backward through the front door.
“That makes the twenty-seven million all mine,” Nicole said.
Isabel rolled, covering the spot where the gun had been, hoping to hell Nicole wouldn’t realize it was gone.
Had Keith been shot too?
She faced the woman she’d considered a friend. Nicole’s gun was no longer aimed at her. Now it was pointed at Alec.
“You can’t shoot me, Nic. Not if you want the money. I’m not stupid. I set it up so the transfer won’t go through until I enter my authorization code.”
“You’ll provide the code.” Nicole’s voice switched to her command tone. “Isabel, come here.”
Isabel twitched, ready to comply. Obeying the woman with the gun seemed like the smart thing. But her racing, panicked brain offered one coherent thought. If Nicole shot Isabel, Alec wouldn’t pay her. If Nicole shot Alec, Alec wouldn’t pay her. Nicole might have the gun, but she didn’t have the power. She wanted the money badly enough to have tortured and played games for the last several days. She wouldn’t jeopardize that now, not mere minutes before the transfer. Until the money went through, Alec and Isabel had the upper hand. It just didn’t look like they did. Obeying Nicole wasn’t the smart thing. It wasn’t even the right thing.
The gag in her mouth prevented her from speaking, so she raised her bound hands and gave Nicole the middle finger.
Nicole frowned. With Isabel and Alec on opposite sides of the room, she couldn’t cover them both. From the look on her face, it was clear she’d realized this too. She’d been so eager to take out her partner, to up her share of the ransom, she hadn’t guessed she could lose the power position so completely.
After all, she was still the only person in the room with a gun.
Isabel flicked her gaze to the floor. From her position, she could see the gun mere inches from Alec’s feet. Her gaze shifted to Alec’s and he gave her the slightest of nods. He knew.
She needed to get Nicole’s attention so he could get the weapon. Her mind raced. Gagged, how could she get Nicole talking again?
“So was this all about the money, Nic?” Alec asked.
She shrugged. “Pretty much. I figure I reached my ceiling. There was no more up for me. So I’ll take the money and bow out.”
“Do you want to know why I promoted you to director?”
“I’ll bite. Sure.”
“They say those who can’t do, teach. So I made you a teacher, because sure as hell you sucked as an operative. You don’t like to get your hands dirty.” He glanced over his shoulder at Westover’s feet, which protruded through the doorway.
Isabel’s heart squeezed with fear for Keith. The operative hadn’t made a sound after he disappeared out the door. “I’m betting shooting your partner was the first time you’ve done any of the dirty work during this whole operation. You let Westover and Godfrey be the grunts while you waited for the ship to come in.”
“That just proves I’m an excellent manager. But now I’m done. I like nice things and warm places. Twenty-seven million should get me that.”
Isabel couldn’t join the conversation, so she did the only thing she could think of and rolled again, furthering the distance between her and Alec. With her gaze on Isabel, Nicole wouldn’t be able to see him in her peripheral vision.
Nicole shifted the gun from Alec to Isabel. “Where do you think you’re going?”
She tried to keep the satisfaction from her face. She made a noise against the gag, as if her bound hands hurt, and rolled again. Nicole wouldn’t shoot. Not before the money transfer.
At least she hoped to hell not.
“Stop moving, Isabel.”
“Fugh ooo,” she said, the closest approximation she could do to telling the bitch off.
Isabel met Alec’s gaze. He mouthed the words I love you, then dropped for the gun.
Nicole jolted to her feet and spun at the noise, bringing the gun around with her.
Still on the floor, he fired, two rapid shots. Nicole’s head snapped backward, then she dropped. Her head flopped to the side as she landed, facing Isabel.
Alec had hit her clean between the eyes.
35
Isabel waited by the front door of the compound. Anxiety had her rocking back and forth on her heels. Alec and Lee had gone to pick up Keith’s girlfriend, Trina, and Lee’s fiancée, Erica, from the Fairbanks airport. They were due back any minute. In the meantime, officials from the CIA, DIA, and FBI had gathered in the main conference room, hours early for the scheduled meeting.
Keith was going to be fine. The second bullet had passed through Westover and hit Keith in the ribs. He’d been lucky it had been slowed by the journey through Westover. It had punctured his skin and cracked ribs, but it hadn’t reached any vital organs. He’d been playing possum outside the door, plotting his assault on Nicole, when Alec fired the shot that killed her.
He’d wanted to go to the airport, but Alec and Trina both had insisted he rest at the compound.
Footsteps sounded behind her. “They here yet?”
She turned to see Keith. “Not yet.” He was pale and very likely working hard to hide his pain. “You’re supposed to be in bed.”
“So are you.”
“I wasn’t shot.”
“Yeah, well, I wasn’t—” He cut himself off, not saying the word.
She let out a sharp, surprised laugh. “Tortured?” she said for him.
His eyes widened. “Sorry. That was out of line.”
She shook her head. “No. It’s okay. I don’t want to make it a taboo subject. If I hide from what happened, it will only give it more power over me. I don’t remember most of it, and I’m honestly grateful for that. But if the memories do come back, I don’t want to fear them. I survived. That’s what matters.”
He held her gaze. “You did. And you helped take Nicole down.”
She nodded. Her only regret about how it ended was what it meant for Alec’s political future. The events of the last several days hadn’t yet been revealed to the press, and it was hard to imagine he’d get votes when the truth came out. Voters would wonder how sound his mind was after facing torture and how involved he was in the experimentation. There would always be questions about how much he’d known.
On the flip side, with his shot at the senate over, they could date withou
t fear she’d destroy him politically. That card had already been played.
After the debriefing with the FBI, CIA, and DIA tonight, the plan was for Alec to fly home to Maryland tomorrow. He might even withdraw his candidacy. To say that a media circus awaited him when he arrived in his home state was putting it mildly.
“How long have you and Trina been together?” she asked to take her mind off the sorry state of Alec’s political future and how depressed the idea of his leaving made her.
“Believe it or not, only a month,” Keith said.
“A month?” she asked. “And you’re living together?”
A corner of Keith’s mouth kicked up. “Well, my town house sort of blew up, so I needed a place to stay.” Then he shrugged. “But yeah, it’s been fast. Trina is the best thing that ever happened to me.” The look in his eye reminded her of how Brad had looked at Jenna. She’d been so relieved to learn Brad was one of the good guys and that he’d helped with the search for her.
A car cleared the main gate and circled the drive. She couldn’t help but grin like a smitten schoolgirl. Alec is back.
They’d deal with the DIA, CIA, and FBI. And later, they’d return to his quarters and he’d hold her tight. She needed her anchor as she drifted through these unfamiliar waters.
The foursome entered the building, Alec and Lee carrying suitcases for the women. Isabel identified Erica as the dark-haired woman who held Lee’s hand, and Trina as the tiny spitfire who bolted through the door but stopped short of launching herself at Keith.
Keith grinned broadly and turned to present his right flank. “This is the side you can hug.” Then he scooped her against him with his right arm, lifting her from the floor.
She squealed. “Keith! Put me down! You’re going to hurt—”
He planted his mouth on hers, and her complaints stopped.
Isabel turned away from the couple and met Alec’s gaze. He smiled and pulled her to his side. He kissed her softly, then led her over to Erica and Lee.
Vote Then Read: Volume II Page 266