BRIAN (The Callahans Book 1) (15 page)

Cassidy

“Did he call?” someone behind me asked.

“Not yet.”

“So we just sit here and wait?”

“That’s what he said.”

“This is bullshit! What if some cop comes over, wondering why we’re parked here?”

“He would have thought of that. He thinks of stuff like that.”

I rolled onto my side, trying to find a comfortable position. Something was pressing into my hip, leaving it sore. I was afraid it was bruised. At my age, even a little bruise…what the hell was I thinking about? They were going to kill me and I was worried about a bruise on my hip!

“Why do you suppose he wants her? I could almost understand that other one, the pretty redhead. But this one?”

“It’s none of our business.”

“Hey!” I said, the gag in my mouth muffling my voice. “My daughter!”

Something landed with a thud against my belly. The air rushed out of my lungs.

“Shut up, bitch!”

Brian, where are you?

I pulled my knees up. Tears filled my eyes, but the blindfold quickly absorbed them.

What was happening?

A hand slipped over my side in a most intimate way.

“Sorry,” a warm, chocolatey voice said against my ear. “I don’t want to hurt you. Despite those fools up there, I think you’re very beautiful and I’d hate to see your pale skin marred by bruises. But you have to be quiet.”

I stiffened as his hand moved lower on my belly, touching the place where I’d been hit. I suddenly wished I’d put on something more substantial than a thin t-shirt when I was rushing to get to the airport. Like a chastity belt. His hand was under my shirt, sliding up over my ribs, his fingertips brushing the bottom of my bra. I protested with a low moan, but he must have taken it as permission to go higher rather than a protest because his fingers pushed under my bra.

Please, please, please!

“Cut it out, Ricky,” one of the voices from the front of the van said. “You know he wouldn’t like it if he knew what you were doing.”

“Can’t help myself,” he said, his lips close enough to my ear that I could feel the heat of his breath. “She’s gorgeous.”

“She’s as old as my mother!” the other boy said, disgust clear in his voice. “Quit touching her, man.”

“I’d fuck your mother, too,” the one they called Ricky said. But his hand moved away from my breasts, sliding slowly down my belly and brushing against the top of my jeans before he was gone. “Older women know what they’re doing, buddy.”

“Yeah, well, I still prefer the firm, tight-assed bitches. A hell of a lot more fun fucking a tight cunt over a loose one.”

“I don’t know how guys do it, fucking the same girl every night for their entire lives. Must get boring.”

“Why do you think daddies cheat?”

“True.”

“I wouldn’t,” Ricky said. “If I had me a fine piece of ass like this one, I’d be perfectly happy to be with her every night of my life.”

“Because you’re a weirdo.”

I felt the wind of something moving past me and heard it slam against the wall of the van. Then there was a tussle of some sort, as if the guys were fighting. But then one of the guys from the front said, “Cut it out.”

His phone had rung. It was time for them to find out what they were going to do with me.

Brian

Brianna sat up, sliding away from me over the long bench of the back seat.

“I asked who you were,” she said.

“My name is Brian Callahan.”

“Who are you? Where are we? Where are we going?”

“We’re taking you somewhere safe.”

“I want to…I…how did you…?”

“I’m sure you have lots of questions, Brianna. And we’ll answer them when we can, but right now we have a few things we need to take care of.”

She shook her head, her eyes flashing to Kevin. He glanced at her in the rearview mirror and smiled, that crooked smile that always won him affection even from strangers. But she wasn’t going for it.

“Where’s my mom?”

That was a good question.

“I was kidnapped,” she said, her eyes wild as she shifted from staring at Kevin to looking at me to checking out the traffic beyond the windows. “My mom was coming to town, and I was cleaning my place and someone came in through the back door…they made me say things to her…they…” Her eyes came back to me. “Brian?”

“Yes. Brian Callahan. I’m an old friend of your mother’s.”

“They said your name. Are you…?” She backed up against the door. “Are you one of them?”

“No, Brianna. I’m not.”

I reached for her, but she panicked, turning and trying to open the door. Thank God Kevin had the presence of mind to lock the door and press the button that wouldn’t allow her to unlock it.

“I’m a friend of your mom’s. We came here to find you.”

“My mom…”

Tears overflowed her eyes. A sob slipped from between her lips, even as her eyes continued to move from window to window, from me to Kevin and back again.

“Your mom and I are old friends. She came to Boston and showed me the videos and the text messages your kidnappers were sending her.”

“She showed you?”

“She wanted me to get you back for her. And I did.”

She focused on me again, taking in everything about me. Some calm came to her, but tears still rolled in big globs down her face.

“Is my mom okay? I was so afraid something…they wanted her to gather information on you. I was afraid you would hurt her.”

“I would never do that,” I said, speaking without thinking. But there was something in my voice that calmed her, that made her focus harder on me.

“You’re from Boston?”

“I am.”

“My mom went to college in Boston before she married my dad.”

“I know. That’s when I met her. She was waiting for a bus on a rainy day in October.”

Her eyes widened slightly. “She would never talk much about her time in Boston. But she did tell me once about a guy with intense green eyes she met at a bus stop. Said he offered her a ride because it was raining, but she’d always been told not to get into cars with strangers.”

“She said no at first, but I convinced her I wasn’t a stranger.”

Brianna inclined her head slightly. There was new interest in her eyes as she studied me, interest that dulled the fear.

“You’re the one.”

“The one?”

Brianna reached up to run her hands through her hair, but she caught sight of the bandages on her wrists and she stopped. She touched them, almost as if she didn’t understand what they were. And then she found the bloody spot where I’d removed the IV line, her thumb brushing over the growing bruise.

“I was in the hospital?”

“Yes. But they called the police and we can’t wait around for the police to sort things out.”

“Why not? Where’s my mom?”

I took her hand and held it gently between both of mine, encouraging her to look me in the eye.

“You have to trust me, Brianna. I know after everything you’ve been through, that’s asking a lot. But you have to trust me.”

She was quiet for a long moment, her tears drying on her cheeks. Her eyes were so bright, they reminded me of my sister’s eyes. Kathleen. She’d been a beautiful girl up until the day her husband beat her to death. I would never forget her eyes, the plea in them when she asked for help three days before he found her in the room I’d put her in, until he killed her. And I would never forget his eyes, the light going out of them as I paid him back. His family still had no idea what happened to him.

I failed Kathleen. I wouldn’t fail Brianna. Or Cassidy.

“Where’s my mom?”

A little panic came into her voice then. Kevin happened to pull into the parking garage of a large hotel where we’d thought ahead and had a room reserved. Brianna followed me out of the car and let me help her to the elevator, my arm around her waist. She nearly collapsed as we boarded the elevator car, her eyes rolling back in her head.

“She needs water,” Kevin said.

I just nodded as I scooped her up into my arms. Once we were in the room and Brianna was resting on the king-sized bed, I told Kevin to leave.

“I won’t get you mixed up in all this.”

“I’m already mixed up. Besides I want to be here.”

“No, Kevin. Rent a car. Drive to Palo Alto or wherever. Go visit some friends. I don’t want you here for this.”

“Pops—”

“I won’t have another of my sons mixed up in this bullshit. Go.”

Kevin reluctantly left. I flipped the security lock on the door and grabbed a handful of water bottles from the bar before going in to sit with Brianna. She was conscious, but weak. I helped her sit up and held a bottle to her lips.

“Your mom’s been super worried about you. She was afraid they might have hurt you.”

She lay back with a heavy sigh. “No,” she said. “The worst part was the zip ties they put on my wrists whenever they took me out to make the video. But they never hurt me. They let me have a shower once a day and they fed me decent food twice a day.”

“What about the drugs?”

Her eyebrows rose. “What drugs?”

Must have been in the food.

I offered her more water, and she took it, lying back again with a heavy sigh.

“You’re my father, aren’t you?”

I wasn’t sure what to say. But I could hardly deny it.

“I am.”

“Did you know about me?”

“No.” I took her hand and pressed it between both of mine. “How did you know? She said she never told you.”

A slow smile slipped over her lips. “My dad has jet black hair and brown eyes. My mom has dark brown hair and blue eyes. Where did the red hair and green eyes come from?”

I smiled. “Maybe there’s Irish in your mom’s ancestry.”

She shook her head. “All my nieces and nephews have dark hair and dark eyes. My uncles have dark hair and dark eyes. Even my aunts are mostly dark haired with dark eyes. My mom’s eyes…I don’t know where they come from, but there’s no Irish in that family.”

I ran my hand over hers, slipping it over her wrist. “Does she know you know?”

“I doubt it. We never talked about it.”

“She did it for you, you know.”

She nodded. “I know.” She sighed, closing her eyes as she did. “My grandmother was a tough woman. My grandpa let her get away with a lot of stuff, never realizing the impact it had on my mom and her siblings. They were all afraid of my grandmother right up until the day she died.”

She peeked at me from under her lashes. “I know my mom would support me if I came to her, pregnant and alone. But my grandmother? She would have kicked her out of the house and cut her out of the family, denied her of her rightful place. She would have had nowhere to go.”

“And your dad?”

She smiled softly. “He loved her. Still loves her.”

I was glad for that. As much as it hurt to hear, I was glad for that. Cassidy deserved to be with someone who loved her even if she didn’t return the feeling.

“Was he good to her? To you?”

“Oh, yes,” she said, a soft sigh emerging with her words. “He would have done anything for either of us. We’re still close. I talk to him every Sunday…at least, I did. Before this.”

“You should call him. But not yet.”

Her eyes moved over my face. “You wouldn’t mind?”

“Why would I?”

“It doesn’t bother you? That another man was my dad?”

I took a deep breath, considering that question. “I’ve known about you for all of three days. I don’t think I have the right to make a claim on you. I’m only grateful I’m able to meet you, and that we might have the possibility of getting to know one another.”

“No wonder she loved you so much. You’re a good man.”

“No, I’m not.”

Her brows knitted together as she studied me then.

“Do they have my mom?”

I dropped my head, pulling her hand to my lips as I brushed her knuckles with a light kiss.

“I don’t know, but I’m afraid they do.”

She sat up suddenly, pushing against my shoulders so that I would look at her.

“You have to find her. You have to get her back.”

“I know.”

“You don’t understand. They’ll hurt her. One of the guys said things…” She’d paled even more than before. “They’ll hurt her.”

“We’ll find her.”

I said it firmly, with confidence. I only wished I felt that confident.

I left Brianna alone in the bedroom after a few minutes, watching as she finished drinking one of the bottles of water and began on the next. She seemed stronger even as she curled up and fell asleep. I was worried, but I was pretty sure she’d be okay.

I’d take her to see my doctor when we got back to Boston.

“What’s going on at the condo complex?”

Ian cleared his throat. “Cops everywhere. I don’t think whoever they were are coming back.”

“We’re at the hotel. Come pick me up.”

“What’s next?”

I didn’t know, but doing something was better than sitting around here, waiting.

***

We drove. There were an infinite number of places Cassidy could have gone after leaving the airport. We could drive all night and never see hide nor hair of her. But we drove anyway.

“Someone had to have taken her from the airport.”

Ian shook his head. “I called a friend. There were no disruptions at the airport, no reports of a struggle. Wherever she went, she went freely.”

“Just because no one reported—”

“This day and age? With all the increased security? You look at someone funny in an airport these days and someone will report you.”

“Did you call taxi services?”

“No one fitting her description took a taxi from the airport in that time frame.”

“What about—?”

“She didn’t pay for a ride, Pops. Someone picked her up.”

“Call the local wrecker services. See if someone’s abandoned a car recently.”

“I did. Nothing yet.”

I was trying to think of everything we could do, but it seemed like Ian had thought of it all.

“If she’d kept her phone…”

“That’s probably why they made her leave it behind.”

Ian nodded. “Whoever’s doing this, he’s smart.”

“Brianna said there were several people.”

“But I’d bet there’s only one leader. And he’s the one making the plan, the one sending the messages, the one doing the videos. He’s the one making sure we can’t trace him.”

“And he’ll be the one who’ll want to show me how smart he is. He’ll contact me.”

Ian glanced at me. “He will. I’d guarantee it.”

I nodded, my thoughts spinning like a top.

“Let’s go back to the hotel and wait for him there.”