A Promise to Protect (Logan Point Book #2): A Novel (27 page)

“You don’t understand. I heard my mom tell my dad that having me was a mistake. She only wanted one child. Actually, as far as I could see, she never had but one child, and even Tony couldn’t keep her from committing suicide.”

A breeze chilled her skin, and she shivered. Why wasn’t the wheel moving? They’d been stuck at the top for what seemed like forever. Ben put his arm around her, and his touch sent shivers through her heart.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

“You couldn’t have.” Other than Sarah, she’d never shared this part of her life with anyone. “I don’t want TJ to ever think he’s a mistake.”

“Leigh, you are not a mistake. You are an incredible, beautiful, caring woman. A woman that I . . .” Ben groaned. “God help me, Leigh, but I love you.”

When she realized what he’d said, she waited a second for him to take it back. Instead he lifted her face until she stared into his warm brown eyes.

He loved her.

“Are you sure?” she whispered.

For an answer, he lowered his head and pressed his lips to hers, gently at first, then as she closed her eyes and leaned into the kiss, he groaned and pulled her close. He kissed her again.

The seat lurched as the Ferris wheel moved. She blinked her eyes open, and Ben laughed. “I wonder who paid the attendant to keep us at the top.”

She quirked a corner of her mouth. “Sarah, I’m sure.”

When the attendant unhooked their bar, he winked at Leigh. “Enjoy your ride?”

She felt heat rising in her face. “Did someone pay you to stop us at the top?”

He held his hands up. “I know
nothing
.”

Ben took her hand as they walked in search of Sarah and the boys. “I’d like to do that again sometime soon.”

She glanced up at him. “What? Kiss me?”

Now it was his turn to blush. “That too.”

“Leigh!”

The panic in Sarah’s voice turned Leigh around. She searched the crowd for her friend and spied her hurrying toward them as fast as her seventy-three-year-old legs would go. Leigh met her halfway. “What’s wrong? Where’s TJ?”

“I can’t find him . . . or the twins.” Sarah wrung her hands.

Leigh jerked her head around, searching for the boys in the crowd that filled the park. What if someone had kidnapped him? She never should have left him.

“Where did you see them last?” Ben stilled Sarah’s hands.

“They were right here.” Tears rimmed the older woman’s eyes. “They asked if they could get some of those frozen beads from the ice cream truck. I told them to come right back. When they didn’t, I went looking, but I couldn’t find any ice cream truck.”

“It was near the entrance earlier. Maybe they’re with Emily.” Ben took out his cell phone and dialed his sister. Leigh held her breath as Ben spoke to her. “TJ and the twins are missing. Are they with you?” His face lost some of its color. “Maybe they’re with Wade. I’ll let you know.”

Leigh tensed as Ben called his deputy and repeated the same question. Her throat tightened when he turned even paler.

Ben spoke into his phone again. “Meet me at the entrance to the park. Sarah said they went to get ice cream, and that’s where
I last saw Rich’s truck.” He turned to Leigh. “Stay here in case they come back.”

“No. I want to go with you.”

“They’ve only wandered away, that’s all,” Ben said. “You need to be here in case they return to the Ferris wheel.”

“What if someone has them?”

“Don’t borrow trouble. I’ll call you as soon as I find them.”

Leigh nodded, swallowing her fear. “Hurry.”

Two minutes after Ben left, her cell phone rang, and she yanked it out of her pocket. Maybe it was TJ.

“If you don’t want your son hurt, cooperate with me.” Slow and deep, the warbly voice screeched from her phone.

Leigh’s breath left her. No, not again. “Where’s my son!”

“I want Tony’s flash drive.”

“You’re crazy. I don’t have it, and I don’t know where it is.”

“Find it. Until then, your son isn’t safe. I can find him, no matter where he is.”

“What did you do with him? With the twins?” She gripped the phone when he didn’t answer right away. “Don’t hang up. Tell me where they are.”

“Do what I say.” The words stretched out and ended in strangled laughter.

Sarah grabbed her. “Who is it? What are they saying?”

Leigh pressed her hand across her mouth. Where could the flash drive be? She didn’t know, but she had to find it. And when she did, they could have it. Anything to keep TJ safe.

B
en jogged toward the entrance. He should’ve expected something. This week had been too quiet. When he reached the place he’d seen the ice cream truck, the spot was empty. The pimply-faced teenager hardly seemed the type to kidnap three boys. He scrubbed his jaw. He had to call Emily.

His stomach roiled as he made the call. “Keep looking and call if you find them.”

He disconnected and called dispatch for backup and issued a Be On the Lookout for the ice cream truck.

“Ben, what’s going on?” Wade yelled, jogging toward him.

“I don’t know. Josh, Jacob, and TJ are missing. Sarah said they came after ice cream, but the truck is gone. I’ve issued a BOLO for it.” He raked his hand across the top of his head. How had he lost three boys? “Fan out. Wade, you take the left, and Andre, you take the right. As soon as more deputies arrive to secure the entrances, I’ll comb the center.” Sirens sounded as he spoke.

“Ben, have you found TJ and the twins?” Leigh’s ashen face sent his heart spiraling.

“Not yet. We’re spreading out, checking all the vendors. I told you to stay—”

“I received another call. Just like the one before, but this time the caller mentioned the flash drive, said if I didn’t hand it over,
TJ would die. Ben, I don’t have it.” She gripped his arm. “What if he doesn’t believe me?”

Ben would’ve liked to tell her not to worry, but he couldn’t. “We’ll find them, Leigh. I promise. Could the voice have been that of a teenager?”

“I don’t know.” She paused. “No, too old sounding even through the synthesizer. Why?”

“The ice cream truck is missing. It’d be a good way to get three boys out of the park.”

“No. You’re looking in the wrong place. TJ would never get in some ice cream truck willingly. He knows better.”

Leigh was right. Josh and Jacob would never go anywhere with someone they didn’t know either—he’d told them enough horror stories to ensure that. “I still want to know where that truck is,” he said as police cars converged onto the park and deputies spilled out of their cruisers.

“Can I stay with you until you find them?” Desperation cracked her voice.

“As long as you stay out of the way.” He turned away from her as a deputy slapped a radio and microphone in his hand. “Get a set of these to Wade and Andre,” he said.

Half an hour later, there was still no sign of the boys or the ice cream truck. Ben spoke into his mic. “Anyone check the restrooms?”

Andre responded. “I’m near them now. I’ll check.” A minute later, he was back on the radio. “I’ve found the driver, and he doesn’t look good. Is Dr. Somerall with you?”

Ben called for an ambulance even as Leigh took off running toward the restrooms. Andre met them outside the men’s facility. “He’s in here.”

“You stay here,” Ben said to Leigh, then entered the men’s room. The driver he’d seen earlier lay unconscious on the concrete floor with his hands bound in front and duct tape around his mouth. Overhead, the fluorescent light flickered, casting the room in an eerie light.

He knelt and removed the gray tape then took his pulse. Steady. Just like his breathing. He started to untie his hands and noticed a wire from the plastic zip tie around the boy’s hands to a lump under his uniform shirt. Slowly, he unbuttoned the shirt, his fingers freezing at the second button. The wire led to two sticks of dynamite strapped to his chest.

Sweat popped out on Ben’s face. Bradford County’s bomb squad was nonexistent. As it was, Ben was the only one in the department who’d even had any training in defusing a bomb. He spoke into his mic. “Evacuate the park. We have a bomb.”

He took out his cell phone and speed-dialed his dispatcher. “Call MPD in Memphis. Get their bomb squad here.
Now.
”

Leigh tried to push past Andre, and Ben held up his hand. “Don’t come in here. The guy has explosives strapped to his chest.”

“I need to check him out.”

“No, you don’t. What you need to do is get out of here so I can assess this situation.” One wrong move, and they all could die. She glanced at him, uncertainty in her eyes. “Please, Leigh. You can’t help him. His pulse seems fine, breathing too. He’s probably been drugged. So please leave.”

A no formed in her face. “Think of TJ,” he said. “When we find him, he’ll need you.”

She nodded slowly and backed out of the men’s room. Ben turned back to the driver. A patchy beard barely covered the acne scars on his face. The kid couldn’t be over twenty. Skinny too. Probably wasn’t much of a match for his attacker.

His dispatcher’s voice sounded in his ear. “The MPD bomb squad is mobilizing. ETA is thirty minutes. I’m patching them through to your radio signal.”

Immediately another voice sounded in his ear. “What do you have there, Logan?”

Sweat stung Ben’s eyes. “Unconscious victim, his hands bound with a plastic zip tie that connects to two sticks of dynamite.”

“Do you see a timer?”

“Not yet. I’ll have to unbutton his shirt to expose the complete bomb.” Ben examined the shirt and saw no evidence of wires attached to the front of it. He took a deep breath and unbuttoned the shirt halfway, fully exposing the dynamite. “No timer. And no detonator that I can see.”

“Where do the wires lead?”

Ben chewed the inside of his lip as he followed the wires that were attached to the blasting cap in the sticks. He pinched his brow together as the wires disappeared under the shirt where it was still buttoned. The boy groaned as Ben gently tugged the buttons loose. “Don’t move,” he said as the teen’s eyes fluttered open. “You have a bomb on your chest.”

The teenager’s eyes widened.

“It’s going to be okay. Just be still,” Ben said. He unfastened the last button, exposing the end of the wire where it was taped to a card on the kid’s stomach.

BOOM!

His muscles slackened even as the boldly written letters taunted him. He sucked in a shaky breath. “I think it’s a hoax,” Ben muttered into the mic and relayed what was on the card. At least he hoped the bomb wasn’t real.

“Ben!” Andre’s voice overrode Ben’s. “They’ve found the ice cream truck. It’s parked outside the jail.”

“Are the boys in it?”

“Randy is checking now. And I’m on my way. Leigh is going with me.”

He prayed to God that this nightmare would not get worse.

“Am I going to die?” The words rasped from the boy’s throat.

Ben jerked his attention back to the boy. “Not today,” he said. “But be still until the Memphis bomb squad gets here. Can you tell me what happened?”

“I ain’t got a clue. I came in here to go to the bathroom, and
next thing I know you’re telling me there’s a bomb strapped to my chest.”

His radio crackled again, this time with Randy’s voice. “They’re here. Trussed up like calves at a branding. But Ben, they’re unconscious.”

“All three of them?” he asked and held his breath.

“Yeah, all three of them.”

If the boys were harmed in any way . . . He clenched his jaw. “Dr. Somerall will be there soon to check them out, but go ahead and untie them. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Uh, Ben, there’s a note pinned to TJ’s chest.”

“Read it, but put latex gloves on first.”

“I can read it without touching it. It’s a nursery rhyme. ‘Three blind mice, three blind mice. See how they run, see how they run. They all ran after the ice cream man who could’ve killed them with a carving knife. Did you ever see such a thing in your life as three dead mice?’”

“Are you sure they’re breathing?”

“They’re definitely breathing.” Randy paused. “Who would’ve done something like this, Ben?”

He didn’t have an answer to his deputy’s question.

The ambulance arrived with its lights flashing at the same time that Ben pulled into the county jail parking lot. The blue and white ice cream van had been parked on the side lot where it could easily be seen. Randy had the boys on the ground while another deputy rigged lights for the area, and Leigh knelt beside TJ. Ben pulled on latex gloves and took the card Randy handed him while Leigh accepted the stethoscope a paramedic handed her and listened to TJ’s chest then moved to the twins.

“How are they?” he asked.

“All pulses and respirations are fine.” She handed the stethoscope
back to the medic. “Take their blood pressure and notify ER we’re bringing them in,” she said, then turned to Ben. “How’s the driver?”

That was one of the things he admired about Leigh. Her calmness and care for another person even though her emotions had to be on a roller coaster. “Scared, but okay. The bomb was a dud.”

Her shoulders visibly relaxed. “Thank goodness.” She nodded toward the card he held in his hand. “What’s that?”

“Uh . . .” He wished he could shield her from the message. He held it where she could read it. “It’s a note from their kidnapper.”

Leigh’s face paled. “Why?” She whispered the word.

“I wish I could tell you.” He examined the note. Same type paper that was taped to the teenager’s chest, and the nursery rhyme had the same bold strokes. He sniffed it and blinked at the pungent odor. Just like the other note. He identified the scent—blue permanent marker.

The paramedic approached, and they both turned toward him. “We’re ready to transport. One of the twins is rousing from whatever they were given.”

“How are their vitals?” Leigh asked.

“Near normal. Are you riding with us?”

“Go with them,” Ben said. “I’ll call Emily and send her to the hospital.”

As Leigh followed the medic to the ambulance, he turned to his deputy. “What do you have so far?”

“Just the boys and the note,” Randy said. “No one saw the driver, so we don’t have a description. I found them on the floor.”

Ben surveyed the area. Whoever kidnapped the boys probably entered from the side street, an alley really. And he parked where the truck would be seen sooner than later, so he didn’t want the boys to die of heat stroke. The boys weren’t the target. He was. The whole setup was to make Ben look incompetent.

And only one person in Bradford County would risk going to jail to do that. Jonas Gresham. Another thought niggled Ben’s brain.
Or someone who wanted his job. That was an angle he hadn’t pursued. He shrugged off the thought, hating the suspicion that accompanied it, and followed Randy to the back of the ice cream van. The double doors stood wide open, exposing the stainless steel interior. “Go over it with a fine-tooth comb. Dust everything. If there’s a fingerprint that doesn’t match the driver, I want to know who it belongs to.”

He took his cell phone out and dialed Taylor Martin. “How soon can you meet with me?”

“I cannot believe you boys climbed in that ice cream truck.” Leigh slid the stethoscope in her pocket. The three boys had been put in a room with three beds and seemed no worse for wear from the Versed found in their bloodstream. Whoever had administered the short-acting drug used for sedation had known what they were doing. “TJ, what have I always told you about talking to strangers?”

“Yeah, Twins.” Emily crossed her arms across her chest. “I’d like an explanation as well.”

Ben stepped closer to the beds. “Did you forget those stories
I
told you?”

The boys hung their heads.

“We won’t do it again,” Josh whimpered. At least Leigh thought it was Josh.

“But the man was so nice,” TJ said. “He gave us a free cup of Dots.”

Leigh exchanged looks with Ben and nodded to the question on his face. Since she hadn’t found an injection site, she’d already surmised the boys had received oral Versed. Now she knew how—in the small BB-sized ice cream pellets TJ loved so much.

“Can you describe this man?” Ben asked.

TJ and the twins shared a look, then TJ shrugged while the twins shook their head.

“Do you remember anything about him? Was he old or young? Tall?”

The boys flinched at his sharp words.

“Biting their heads off won’t get any answers,” Leigh said. She took TJ’s hand. “Think about it. Was he as tall as me?”

He thought a minute then nodded. “Not as tall as Ben, though.”

“Good. What color hair did he have?”

“He had on a cap!” one of the twins cried. “You know, like you wear in the winter.”