“Can you see who’s driving?”
Noah shook his head. “Whoever it is, they’re wearing a hoodie and glasses. I’m guessing it’s a male by the size of the driver.” He pulled out his phone and called for backup, then quickly swerved into another lane.
Sophia clutched the armrest. “This can’t be the same person who kidnapped Kylie.”
“No, this is different. This guy is driving aggressively. Somebody wants us to stop investigating, and apparently, he’s willing to go to any lengths to make sure we stop.”
Sophia cried out as the blue automobile hit them hard from behind. Noah struggled with the wheel but kept control, neatly avoiding the cars that were parked along the road. But the determined driver didn’t stop the pursuit. Instead, he punched the engine and rammed them once again.
Sirens sounded in the background, but all Sophia could think of was the driver of the blue car, who was now striking them a third time, trying to force their car off the road.
Was she going to die today, right here and now, without ever seeing her sister Kylie again?
Kathleen Tailer is a senior attorney II who works for the Supreme Court of Florida in the office of the state courts administrator. She graduated from Florida State University College of Law after earning her BA from the University of New Mexico. She and her husband have eight children, five of whom they adopted from the state of Florida. She enjoys photography and playing drums on the worship team at Calvary Chapel in Thomasville, Georgia.
Books by Kathleen Tailer
Love Inspired Suspense
Under the Marshal’s Protection
The Reluctant Witness
Perilous Refuge
Quest for Justice
Undercover Jeopardy
Perilous Pursuit
Deadly Cover-Up
Everglades Escape
Held for Ransom
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com.
Held for Ransom
Kathleen Tailer
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
—Isaiah 41:10
For all of my neighbors in Oyster Bay and Shell Point who have blessed us immensely with their kindness, warmth and friendliness. May God bless you!
And, as always, for my wonderful and ever-growing family: Jim, James, Sophia, Bethany, Daniel, Keandra, Joshua O., Bradley, Jessica, Rachel, Nathan, Joshua E., Anna and Megan.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Epilogue
Excerpt from Undercover Mission by Sharon Dunn
ONE
“I just kidnapped your sister.”
The voice was metallic and distorted, yet still managed to send chills down Sophia Archer’s spine, causing her entire body to tremble. She faltered and leaned against her car door for ssupport. An image of her little sister, Kylie, in front of the dorm at her university, a big smile on her face, flitted through Sophia’s mind. She nervously adjusted her cell phone against her ear. “What? Who is this? Is this some sort of joke?”
“My name doesn’t matter, and this is no joke.”
Sophia swallowed hard. “Is she okay?”
“For now,” the tinny voice responded. “But she won’t be for long if you don’t do exactly what I say.”
“I’ll do whatever you want,” Sophia said quickly, trying hard to keep from throwing up as fear clenched her stomach. “Just please don’t hurt her. I don’t have much money—”
“I don’t want your money!” the hateful voice interrupted. “I want your investigative skills.”
Sophia raised her eyebrow at the comment. She had been pleasantly surprised by the amount of notoriety she had gained as a reporter for the Atlanta Times during her recent exposé of an election fraud scandal. Her story had been the impetus for six arrests. What she hadn’t expected, however, was the notoriety to hurt her or her family. If the caller wanted something investigated, why not just ask through normal channels?
The distorted voice continued as her thoughts churned. “Listen carefully, Ms. Archer. Go inside your apartment building. I’ve left a package by your door. Open it and you’ll find further instructions inside. Follow those instructions to the letter or your sister dies. Got it?”
Despite the threat, a small defiant streak surfaced. “How do I know you really have my sister?”
“Kylie Archer, freshman studying English at Flint Rock University—right? Long brown hair, big brown eyes? Ring a bell?”
“So, you’ve seen her. That still doesn’t mean you kidnapped her.”
“I can send you one of her fingers if you’d like. Maybe the one wearing the high school ring from St. Mark’s? The ring with the red stone in the middle over the treble clef?”
“No!” The nausea returned and Sophia swallowed convulsively. Her sister had played clarinet at St. Mark’s high school, and that ring had been her pride and joy her senior year. She still wore it now, even in college. Sophia took a shaky breath. “Okay, but how do I know she’s still alive?”
“You don’t. You’ll just have to wonder. But time isn’t on your side, Ms. Archer. And if it turns out you don’t care about your sister, I’m sure I can find another way to properly motivate you. Don’t make me get creative. It won’t just be you that pays the price. I’ll go after every person involved in putting Arlo Prensky in prison, starting with that arresting officer. Just go open that package. I’ll be in touch.”
“Wait! Who is Arlo Prensky? What are you talking about?”
She heard a click. “Hello?” The kidnapper had disconnected. She pushed a few buttons, but nothing worked. The caller was listed as “unknown” anyway, and probably using a prepaid cell that would be impossible to track.
Sophia stowed her phone and shielded her eyes from the sun, glancing around her apartment building’s parking lot as fear made her heart beat in her chest like a bass drum. No one seemed suspicious. Four cars over, a couple was walking hand in hand away from her. Across the lot, a woman was strapping her infant into a car seat, preparing to leave as she sang out loud to a song playing on the radio. Sophia didn’t see a stranger stalking her, but that didn’t mean someone wasn’t watching from afar, observing her every move.
A jolt of electricity skidded down her spine, and her breath started coming in gasps as anxiety overwhelmed her. Was the abductor working alone or were there others? She glanced around again but saw no one suspicious. What did the kidnapper mean by threatening to properly motivate her? Were she and Kylie both going to be killed if the caller didn’t get what was asked for?
Sophia took several deep breaths and tried to pull herself together, even though it seemed impossible. She had to focus. She had to think. She needed a plan.
She glanced at her watch as thoughts spun and flittered in her mind. It was about ten in the morning, and the kidnapper had called just as she’d parked her car after returning from the gym. Did someone have a rifl
e trained on her now, prepared to shoot if she didn’t immediately follow orders? She pulled out her phone and dialed Kylie, as she paced by her car. Hopefully, this entire episode was some sort of prank and Kylie was actually alive and well and just studying at her university library or reading her latest assignment at the duck pond where her classmates congregated.
Kylie’s phone rang and rang. Sophia didn’t leave a message, instead calling a second time, then a third. When there was still no answer, she ended the last call attempt, sent Kylie a frantic text, then crammed her phone back into her bag.
Her heart pounded as she turned and raced up the building’s stairs to see if the kidnapper had actually left a box outside her door. She skidded to a stop in front of her second-floor apartment. A small shoebox, sealed with clear shipping tape, sat on her welcome mat. Her name and address had been written on the top on a bright blue label, but there was no postage and no return address. She stared at it for a moment as she tried to determine the safest course of action, but then the fear for her sister’s safety took over. She quickly lifted the box and shook it gently, regardless of the possible danger, hoping it wasn’t a bomb or some other dangerous device. On some level, Sophia knew she should call the police before opening the box, but she just couldn’t wait—not with her sister’s life hanging in the balance.
She hurried inside and dropped her gym bag on the couch as she made her way to her kitchen table. With shaky fingers, she grabbed a pair of scissors she kept in a kitchen drawer and quickly slit the tape. She held her breath as she removed the lid from the box. In the movies, the mysterious boxes never contained anything good...
This one contained newspaper clippings.
Surprised, she dug into the box with her fingers, feeling around the bottom, but there was nothing but paper. She pulled out the stack and started sifting through the pages. Each article, carefully trimmed around the edges, was in date order, the most recent on top. Some were paper-clipped together, where the continuation of the article had been printed on a different page. The clippings, she noted, were from a variety of state newspapers, and there were a couple from national sources. Each article was about the same person.
Arlo Prensky.
Just saying the man’s name left a bitter taste in her mouth as the articles reminded her of the news stories she had seen splashed across the media only a few short months ago. She sank down into her kitchen chair and sorted through the headlines.
According to the most recent clipping, Arlo Prensky was currently on trial for the murder of a college student in the downtown Atlanta area. His victim, Maggie Spencer, had been a doctoral candidate at Atlanta State University. She’d been months away from earning her degree when her body had been discovered in a city park near the aquarium.
The clippings at the bottom of the pile detailed the search for the missing girl. The middle articles were about the murder and Arlo Prensky himself, identified by DNA found at the scene of the crime. The top clippings outlined Prensky’s arrest and trial, and the defense attorney’s failed attempts to change the venue to a location where the accused hadn’t received such voluminous press coverage.
Sophia leaned back in her chair. What did this murder have to do with her or her sister? It just didn’t make sense. She searched through the voluminous clippings more carefully, and this time came up with a small envelope wedged between a grouping. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she broke the seal, causing a photo to fall out. She noted the yellow piece of legal paper that was also inside the envelope but picked up the picture.
The image was of her sister. She was sitting in a chair with today’s Atlanta Times propped against her feet so the date could easily be distinguished. Her hands and feet were tied with zip ties, and her mouth was gagged with a red bandanna. Her eyes, filled with tears, sent a silent plea for help.
Oh, Kylie.
Dear God, please protect my sister. Please keep her safe, and help me to do whatever it takes to make sure she survives this ordeal.
Sophia’s eyes overflowed and she angrily wiped the tears away. Crying wouldn’t help Kylie. Her anger couldn’t push the fear away, though, and terror suddenly pulsed through Sophia as her ears started to ring. She couldn’t lose Kylie. She just couldn’t.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and tried to settle herself. After a few moments, she swallowed hard and returned to studying the nondescript envelope. She pulled out the yellow paper that had accompanied the photo and started to read.
Arlo Prensky is innocent and I need you to prove it. If you want your sister to live, discover who the real killer is before the jury returns with its verdict. If you fail, you and your sister will die.
Sophia quickly turned her attention to the stack of clippings and found the one with information about the trial. The attorneys were to pick the jury today. She didn’t know much about court hearings, but she doubted a murder trial would last longer than a week. She ignored the threat to herself and focused on the fact that Kylie had been kidnapped.
Her baby sister might only have days to live.
The enormity of the situation felt heavy on her shoulders. She said another prayer, this time asking for strength, and then stood, reenergized, and repacked everything in the box.
This was not a problem she could handle on her own. She needed the police involved. Immediately. And she knew just who to contact, even though he was the last person on earth she actually wanted to see.
Sophia left her apartment, returned to her car and headed for the downtown Atlanta police station noted in one of the newspaper articles. At this point, nothing mattered but Kylie.
* * *
“You saw my picture where?” Noah Bradley asked as he leaned forward in his chair. He self-consciously wiped his palms on his pants and then anxiously flexed his fingers. He couldn’t believe Sophia Archer sat across from him at his desk, or that he—by all accounts, one of the top detectives in the Atlanta Police Department—was suddenly so nervous.
Sophia motioned toward the package she had placed on his desk. “This box is full of articles from various newspapers. A couple of them highlight that you were the arresting officer in the Arlo Prensky case.”
“That’s correct. In fact, I’m scheduled to testify at his hearing tomorrow. What’s your interest in the case?” Noah saw the stress lines around her mouth and eyes, and grimaced. He didn’t know what was worrying her, but he felt a sudden urge to fix it.
Noah and Sophia had been neighbors growing up, and as children, they’d been inseparable. In high school, he’d developed a serious crush on Sophia, but when she’d ignored his advances, he’d stooped to playing tricks to salve his wounded pride and had ended up pushing her away. A troublemaker during his high school years, it had taken him quite a while to straighten out his life. When he’d finally settled on a career path, he’d joined law enforcement. He was still making amends to those he had hurt during those tumultuous times.
He shifted and wondered fleetingly if Sophia even remembered him with anything beyond disdain. He had been a total cad to her. He owned it. But her distracted mannerisms and anxious gestures made him think there was more to her anxiety than just hurt feelings and memories from the past. Her cheeks were flushed, and her beautiful brown eyes were rimmed with red. Something was definitely wrong. Something that went way beyond their shared history and the disastrous way he had destroyed their relationship. Her next words confirmed his suspicions.
“Look, Detective Bradley, I know it’s been years since we’ve seen each other, and things didn’t end well between us, but I’m desperate. I need your help. My sister has been kidnapped.”
He straightened, suddenly all business. They could talk about the past later. “Kylie? Tell me what happened. Start at the beginning.”
Sophia nodded. She then explained the details of the phone call, about the metallic-sounding voice and how she had found the box on her doorstep. Finally,
she pulled out the envelope with the note and the picture of her sister that showed proof of life—at least, as of this morning. By the end of the tale, her eyes had welled with tears.
Noah didn’t hesitate or think about what he was doing. He reached across the desk and covered her hands with his own, giving them a gentle squeeze. She flinched at his touch but allowed the contact for a moment before she pulled away. A few minutes later, her tears subsided and he fumbled in his desk until he found some clean napkins left over from the fast-food meal he had choked down for lunch the day before. He handed them to her, and she smiled gratefully, leaning away from him and wiping her eyes and nose.
“I’m sorry,” she said sheepishly. “Our parents are gone, and all I have now is Kylie. I can’t imagine what she’s going through. I’m terrified that I’ll never see her again.”
“You don’t need to apologize. I’d worry if you weren’t upset.” He pulled a pair of thin latex gloves out of his desk, snapped them on and opened the box, motioning to his partner, Charles Atwood, who was studying some documents at a nearby desk, as he did so.
“Hey, Charlie, can you drop whatever you’re working on and come take a look at this? We’ve got a kidnapping, and every minute counts.”
Charles nodded and quickly closed the file he had been reviewing. He joined Noah at his desk, listening with concern in his eyes as Noah brought him up to speed. He donned his own pair of gloves, letting Noah pepper Sophia with questions as they both riffled through the contents of the box.
“When was the last time you talked to your sister?”
Sophia hit a few buttons on her phone and found her call log. “February fifteenth, which was last Tuesday. She wanted to tell me her plans for spring break. I’ve been trying to reach her ever since I got that threatening phone call this morning and learned she’d been kidnapped, but her phone just goes to voice mail.”
Noah nodded as he absorbed the information. “During your last call, did she sound worried or mention any people following her? You know, anything out of the ordinary?”
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