by Dale Mayer
“I know,” Asher said.
Both men driving the two other boats hopped out and headed up the dock, neither seeming to care about what was inside their vessels.
“Shit,” she said. “Were we wrong then?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “We must wait and see.”
Just then a group of locals came down and started to harangue Asher.
“I guess we’re in the wrong spot,” he said. He held up his hands in apology and gently pulled back and headed upriver again.
“Wow,” Ryker said. “Very territorial, aren’t they?”
“Most of this industry is,” she said. “But you should probably stay in the trees, near where we had been earlier.”
“I know,” he said, “but it’s a little harder to move here. I’ll use the engine again.” He bent down, turned on the engine, and slowly putted his way out past the dock where the two boats were. Ryker and Mickie kept their gazes on all activity on land, while Asher kept his eyes on the ocean ahead. This close to the shore, he knew it was way too easy to get his engine in trouble, which is why they had been using poles to move closer in. He moved out a little bit farther and then came back around, working with the currents and coming close up against the trees. Then Ryker threw a rope up around and caught onto a branch, at least keeping them in one place. From under the cover of the trees, they watched the two boats.
“How long are we waiting here?” Mickie asked after thirty minutes.
“As long as we need to,” Ryker said.
“Unless I go take a look,” Asher said.
“We’re wasting time,” Mickie said.
He could hear the fatigue in her voice and her frustration, turning to look at her. “You could have stayed at the hotel.”
She glared at him mutinously.
He smiled, winked at her, and said, “Don’t forget that, while we’re here, we have other people working the satellites to see if the girls were taken anyplace. Nobody has contacted me with information yet. So this is still our best bet.”
At that, Mickie subsided and nodded. “I keep forgetting you’re not alone.”
“And neither are you,” Ryker said. “Remember that too.”
She groaned softly. “Okay. I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right,” he said. “But a lot of our work is sitting and waiting. We can’t have anybody jumping the gun and giving us away.”
“You’d think they’d have seen us already,” she said.
“No, I don’t think so,” he said. “There’s no real reason for them to have noticed us.”
“Maybe. But, at the same time, it would be nice to finally get some answers.”
Just then Asher caught sight of something that had him turning around. “Looks like we got some action.”
Ryker joined him at the side, both of them peering through the brush. “He went to get help?”
“Both of them did.”
“Look at that,” he said, as they watched four extra men come down to the docks. There was an animated discussion going on. Two men disappeared into the first boat and came out carrying something all bundled up.
“And, from the looks of that, it could be anything from a dead animal to one of the twins to something just large and bulky,” Ryker said. But then two men disappeared into the other boat and quickly brought out a matching package.
“Bingo,” Asher whispered. “That’s the twins.”
As they watched, another large group of people joined them, and they all disappeared into the crowd.
Asher immediately hopped off the boat and said, “Keep an eye on it.” He ignored Ryker’s call to wait because Ryker knew that Asher had to go, and he had to go now. And no way could Ryker join Asher. Somebody had to keep an eye on Mickie.
Chapter 14
“Shit,” Mickie said. “You need to go after him. He can’t take on that many men on his own.”
“No, and he knows it,” Ryker said. “That’s a large group. He’s trying to see where the twins end up.”
“You mean, if they go to a vehicle or to a house?”
“Yes,” he said. He brought up his laptop and showed her. “I’m getting a satellite feed right now.”
As she watched, he connected to one satellite, and the feed slowly came closer and closer and closer, until she could see herself distantly in a boat. “Oh, my God,” she said. “That’s really freaky. Talk about worrying that Big Brother is watching you all the time.”
“It seems like almost anybody in the world can see what you’re doing at any point in time if you’re out in the open.”
“And that’s not something I want to ponder,” she snapped. She pointed at the large crowd moving. “There.”
“I know,” he said. “It’s almost like they’re a diversion.”
“It’s hard to say,” she said. She didn’t understand. “What are they all doing?” As it was, she watched the screen, struggling to see. “Vehicles are all around there.”
“Exactly,” he said. “They’re trying to hide what they’re doing.”
“And the crowd just became bigger and bigger and bigger.”
“Dammit,” he swore.
“Any sign of Asher?”
Ryker shook his head. “No, he’s completely buried in that crowd. He’s trying to see where the hell the twins disappeared to in there. They’ll be passed off to someone, whether into a vehicle or into a house.”
“This is just ridiculous,” she said. She stared ahead and then watched as several vehicles broke off in different directions. “And how are we supposed to track all them?”
He quickly zoomed in and took shots of license plates. “That’s how,” he said. And, for the next ten minutes, he was incredibly busy as vehicle after vehicle after vehicle broke apart and headed away. Others came in from the highway above, while more came and moved and backed around, just generally confusing the issue.
“What kind of money would it take to get so many people to do that?”
“It depends,” he said. “If it’s all family, you only tell them that they’re in danger and need help to secret these women away before they are harmed. Nobody’ll ask any questions, and they’ll all pull in to help. Particularly if they know somebody.”
“Right,” she said. “And the other option is they were paid.”
He gave a bark of laughter. “Or there’s that. In this downtrodden economy, everybody would do something like this for a few bucks. It’s not like they’re hurting anything.”
“No,” she said. “Everybody can use a few spare dollars.”
“Exactly. The question now really is, what’s the answer?”
“It’s a scary thought,” she said. “Can’t say I think very much of any of this. It’s all just puzzles and games.” Then she cried out, “Wait.” She pointed to the top of one feed where a woman stood. “Get closer to that.”
Ryker quickly zoomed it in. “That’s as close as I can get.”
“What is that twenty feet above her?”
He laughed. “Probably half a mile of sky.”
She stared at him in shock and then said, “Can you at least freeze it so I could look at it?”
He quickly took a screenshot of it and asked, “Who do you think it is?”
“I think it’s her,” she said. “I think it’s Lana.”
“Would she be here on-site?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe she would if she were supervising the removal of the twins.”
As she watched Lana, another man came up behind her. He’d been standing a little ways off, but now he stood right beside her. The woman’s body stiffened. Without even looking at him, she turned and walked away.
“What was that about?” Mickie asked, puzzled.
“Lana’s following orders,” Ryker said. His tone was dark. “This might have started out as her gig, but somebody else has taken it over.”
Just then Asher came back through the trees. “Come on. I’ve got us a set of wheels.”
“Did you see where the twins went?” Mickie asked. As she was helped off the boat, she stumbled and fell into branches that scraped at her skin and brushes that stung her face. She was then suddenly picked up and tossed over Asher’s shoulder as he trampled his way through the underbrush, carrying her up to where it was much easier to walk without getting hit every three seconds. When he set her down to her feet, she smiled up at him.
“Thanks,” she said. “I didn’t realize how treacherous the going was.” She looked down at all the scratches on her arms. Several were bleeding.
“See if you can stop that,” he said. “We don’t want to leave a blood trail.”
Immediately she nodded and used her T-shirt to press hard against the wounds. “It’s minor,” she announced. And before she even had a chance to register what kind of a vehicle he had, she was sitting in the back seat all over again. “Do you have any idea where the twins are going?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said, “but we must catch up fast before I lose the vehicle.” He hit the village roads and then up to the main thoroughfare. He turned left, heading back, and then kept on going.
“Oh, my God,” she said. “Back the way we came?”
“Yes,” he said, his voice hard. “It looks like it.”
“And what do you think the crowd was?”
“A diversion,” he said. “And it grew into more than just the initial crowd. Everybody else from the village came. A rumor went around that people were giving away free money, and everybody just piled in.”
“That’ll do it,” Ryker said.
“It looks like Lana was there too,” Mickie said. “Did you see her?”
“I possibly saw her, but I don’t have a photo for her. Do you?” he asked, turning his head and looking at Ryker.
“Yes,” Ryker said. “I’ll get you one real fast.” He quickly dug one up, and she could see Asher taking a quick look at Ryker’s laptop screen.
Asher nodded. “Yes, she was there, but a big guy was behind her. I actually wondered who that guy was before I ever saw her.”
“Super big?” she asked slowly.
“Depends what you mean by super, but, yeah, about six foot eight. Why?”
She took a slow, deep breath. “Because Chandra’s son, Edward, runs several businesses, and his head of security is a similar height. Big white bald male. His name is Sweng, I believe.”
Silence filled the car.
“Well, that could have been him,” he said. “But we can’t make any assumptions. Get an image on him for me. I got a good look at his face.”
Asher picked up his speed and raced down the freeway.
Asher had seen them load both of the women, wrapped up like mummies in blankets, into the back of a black crossover vehicle. And it had taken off among all the other decoy vehicles. Asher had watched long enough to make sure it headed back toward town.
Now he had to pick up the pace and get there fast, but he was a good ten to fifteen minutes behind. He checked his speed and then ramped it up higher. He passed several vehicles, then tucked into his lane again when he saw oncoming traffic and just kept on driving. “See if you can also bring up satellite feed to see where that vehicle is.” He reeled off the license plate number. Then he watched as Ryker quickly opened up new windows on his laptop and sent requests.
“Use the chat box,” Asher said. “It’s faster. They’ve got more men on the other side.”
Ryker quickly did as instructed.
Asher’s mind raced. “What are the chances that Chandra’s son found out what Lana was doing and decided to get in on the action?”
“I can possibly see that happening,” Mickie said. “I can’t imagine Edward starting this from the beginning, but, if he caught wind of it, it’s hard to say.”
“Especially not in light of a five-million-dollar ransom,” Asher added. “But with the second ransom note now to include the twins’ trust fund transfer—which is almost twice the money Edward needs to cover his eighty-million-dollar debt—I can totally see that happening.”
Mickie nodded. “Plus, I’ve dealt with Edward before. It was unpleasant. But otherwise, I don’t really know him and have never met Lana. I only know the bits the twins and Chandra have told me.” Mickie paused.
Asher noted her hesitation. “Tell me what’s on your mind, what has you thinking before you speak it out loud.”
“Chandra once said Edward’s out for himself. He sees things for what it can do for him.” Mickie paused again. “She liked that because she understood it. He had worked for her for years but prefers to work for himself, developing commercial properties now.” She shook her head. “I don’t think he cared enough about her brand—or even her,” she said. “But he must have come up with an angle that would work, and then I can see that being something he’d cash in on.”
“Interesting,” Asher said. “Does he know Lana very well?”
“After ten years of her being employed by the family, living at the estate with his mother and his sisters? Absolutely he does.”
“Interesting,” Ryker said. “Here’s a visual on Chandra’s son, and he’s got several of his business heads around.”
“I’ll take a look in a minute,” Asher said. He watched the traffic, and, as soon as he had a break, he quickly raced past the next two vehicles, then tucked back into line and then did it again and again. “I must find a—no—take that vehicle,” he snapped, “before we hit the town center and before I lose him. If they’re more than five minutes ahead, I’d be surprised.”
“Even five minutes is five minutes,” Mickie said.
“I know,” he said. “Just hold tight, sweetheart. It could get a little rough.” The endearment had rolled off his tongue, and he had barely even noticed. From her reaction, he didn’t think she did either. He didn’t know what the hell was going on, but having her in his life again almost felt like she was sliding right back into the same place where she’d left from.
That couldn’t be good because that meant Ryker was correct. That meant Asher hadn’t moved on. That he’d unconsciously left that place open for her to return to. But, at the same time, it wasn’t there for her. At least he hadn’t expected it to be there for her.
He was too damn confused about it to spend more time contemplating it. This wasn’t the time nor was it the place. They had to get these two women back before they were sent into the kidnapper’s ultimate scenario. But what nightmare scenario could that possibly be?
His mind kept working through it as he wove through traffic, which was getting denser and denser. Finally he could see the vehicle up ahead. He needed one more break to catch up and to get at least two vehicles behind. As soon as a break in traffic happened, he whipped fast and pulled into a lane just before the sound of screeching brakes.
“Jesus,” she said from the back seat. “Where’d you learn to drive like that? Go-Karts?”
“If you mean, That was damn fine driving. Thank you very much, Asher, then I’ll agree,” he said smoothly. “If you’re trying to tell me off for being reckless, I remind you that we have two women thrown into the back of that vehicle up there. And, from what I saw, they were either comatose or possibly dead.”
When Mickie sucked in her breath, he realized just what a shock his words were. And, of course, he’d intended it to be a shock, but he didn’t mean to upset her. “Look. I’m sure they are alive,” he said. “Otherwise, there’d be no need for all the subterfuge. They could have deep-sixed the women in the ocean.”
“Thanks for that,” she said.
He shook his head. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
“Of course not,” she said. “You just live in the moment and never think about the future, don’t you?”
He always thought about the future. It was part of his mind-set. It was needed in each and every op he went on. He knew a minefield lay behind her question, so he was determined not to go there. He wasn’t even sure where that statement came from. He didn’t know what was happening, but, just b
ecause she was so emotional, he knew it would be difficult to get her back on track. “Why don’t you just rest,” he said in a soothing voice.
“Rest,” she yelled.
He winced and groaned. “Fine. Sit back there, and be quiet then.” At that, she shut up, but he could see from the rearview mirror that she was steaming mad at him. He shrugged. “I get that you’re mad at me. You are always mad at me. That’s just one of the facts of life.”
“What do you mean, I’m always mad at you?” she wailed. “Is that what you thought?”
“Sure. You used to give me that look,” he said with emphasis, “then you’d turn away.”
“That look was because I didn’t understand what you were up to, and I was trying to figure out how I fit into your plans,” she snapped. “Which is also why I figured I never could fit into your plans because I wasn’t good enough.”
“Good Lord,” he muttered. “Sorry, Ryker. You apparently are getting another dose of our personal history.”
Ryker laughed. “It doesn’t matter. However, I must admit, something else did occur to me regarding the twins.”
“And what’s that?” he asked.
“Well, we’ve been talking about all these made-up stories of Lana’s,” he said. “Does this whole setup potentially have the makings of it coming true?”
Asher shook his head at him. “What are you talking about?”
“I get it,” Mickie said from the back seat. She leaned forward and stared up at Ryker. “I wonder if that’s what’s happening?”
“It’d be the best-case scenario for the twins,” he said.
“Maybe,” she said, “but it still puts them through unnecessary trauma. For what?”
“The for what part, I don’t understand,” Ryker admitted. “When you think about it, considering where we’re heading—and, of course, it’s too early to know that yet—I wouldn’t be at all surprised.”
“Okay, I get it,” Asher said. “You guys know something I don’t know. But what the hell are you talking about?” Just then the vehicles in front all hit their brakes, and his hands were full trying to stop the vehicle from smashing into the rear bumper of the next one. He swore as the traffic slowly resumed again. “What the hell was that?”