Authors: Ribbon of Rain
Chapter1 (30 page)
A look of suspicion replaced Carl’s smirk.
Her heart thudded loud as a pileated woodpecker hammering on a dead spruce tree.
“We’re getting married soon and plan on having an extra long honeymoon.”
She forced herself to laugh.
“No, Liz, we don’t want any company.
I’ll call you when we get back from the honeymoon.
I promise.
Love you.
Bye.”
She ended the conversation quickly, not giving Liz a chance to ask any more questions.
Carl leaned back in his chair and grinned.
“Well done, Katherine.
I’m glad she called.
Another loose end tied up.”
“I’m feeling woozy,” Kat murmured.
“I think I’d better lay down.”
“Of course.”
Acting the gentleman, he stood and held out his arm to her.
“I had my doubts about you drinking those two glasses of wine.
I’ll see you to your room.”
*****
A flurry of energy whirled within Frank’s office.
“Did they get the trace?”
Frank bellowed into the phone.
“Damn it.”
Jude’s hope of a trace evaporated at the look on Frank’s face, and the familiar ache of missing Kat wormed back into his heart.
Hearing her voice had been bittersweet.
“Jude?”
Elizabeth’s voice interrupted his miserable thoughts.
“Kat wasn’t making sense.”
“What do you mean?”
“Our father never said anything about big bends in life.”
Excitement surged through him.
“Where’s that list of Winter’s properties?”
“Over here.”
Cody sat at Frank’s desk, flipping through the stack.
Jude hurried over to the pile almost tripping over Red, who had been under his feet since they returned to Frank’s office.
He grabbed half of the pile.
Did Winter own property in
If he did, then that’s where Kat was.
Half way through his pile, the word
His fingers shook in his haste to pull the sheet.
“
Here it is.
Kat’s in
Winter purchased it a year ago.
Used to be a honeymoon resort.”
Cody jumped out of his chair.
He pulled
At the astonishment on her face, he grinned.
“Never been kissed by a black man?
Well, we’re even.
First time I’ve ever kissed a Native American woman.”
“What are we waiting for?
Let’s go.
Frank, have a tactical team meet us at
“What about the dog?”
Frank asked, warily eyeing Red.
Jude had a moment of indecision.
Red panted and gazed at him.
“We’ll take him.”
“Jude?”
Elizabeth grabbed hold of his sleeve as he started for the door.
He sighed, impatient to be on his way.
“What is it?”
“Be careful.
Carl is a cruel man.”
She dropped her eyes and lowered her voice.
“He put me in the hospital once.
Because I refused to do something he wanted me to.
He’ll hurt Kat, as well.”
“I know.”
Kat’s fiery temperament could bring out the worse in a man who abused women.
Would she play along with her captor?
The phone call gave him hope that she would.
*****
Kat paced the confines of her small room.
If her sister understood the message, help should be here in eight or ten hours.
She leaned against the windowsill and stared at the sunset.
The sun reminded her of a huge, red, and orange hot air balloon against the distant black mountains.
A different landscape from
Excitement at the thought of soon seeing Jude increased her breathing.
Would he still feel the same way about her?
She loved him, but she wouldn’t be anyone’s yo-yo.
The next time he retreated from her would be the last.
Why was she thinking so pessimistically?
Of course, he still loved her.
The sky was darkening when she lay down on the bed.
Shutting thoughts of Jude from her mind, she searched her memory for what she knew about the
It was a National Park with several mountain ranges and some desert areas.
The
This hacienda must sit close to the border.
If she escaped, she could cross the river into
Even if that were possible, she might find herself in worse trouble than she was in now.
She’d be wise to wait for Jude and Cody.
A creak in the floor in the hall outside her room gave her a chill.
For several minutes, she strained her ears, but all was silent.
Every house had its odd noises.
She closed her eyes, feeling her muscles relax as sleep claimed her.
Marunga.
Wake up.
Now is the time to prepare for battle.
“Grandmother?”
Instantly awake, Kat swung her legs from the bed and put her feet on the floor.
She hurried to the bathroom and retrieved the can of hairspray.
The sound of footsteps in the hall brought a prickly heat to her skin.
Just as fast, the heat receded, leaving her cold and clammy.
She pulled off her peasant skirt and stuffed it under the covers, before climbing back in bed.
Curled in a fetal position, she feigned sleep when the doorknob turned.
As the door creaked open, she peeked through her lashes.
Carl walked in.
She doubted that he was coming to check on her well-being.
The risen moon created shadows across the floor.
Carl stopped by the side of bed, staring down at her.
Just as he reached out his hand to touch her, she sprang from the bed, aiming the can of hairspray at his eyes.
Her finger depressed the nozzle.
The spray hit him square in the face.
His scream was as much of outrage as pain.
Clawing at his eyes, he backed toward the door, his head leaning forward.
“You bitch.
I’ll kill you.”
“Not if I kill you first.”
Spurred on by adrenaline, she grabbed two handfuls of hair, yanked his head lower and kneed him in the face.
Kat heard the blood gurgle in his nose as he breathed.
Carl staggered backwards.
She grabbed his shirt, pulled him toward her again and kneed him twice in the groin.
He grabbed his crotch and whimpered like a baby.
Kat felled him with a fast, powerful side-thrust kick to his knee.
He went down hard, his head hitting the floor with a loud crack.
Instinct told her the bastard was down for the count, but she approached his prone form with caution.
His breathing was shallow, but he was alive.
She frisked him, finding an automatic Glock, his cell phone and a single key.
She took everything.
She pulled on her skirt, ripped the left side seam and tied a knot, making it shorter so it wouldn’t interfere with her movement.
Tucking the Glock in her waistband, she left the room without a backward glance at the unconscious man on the floor.
Chapter 16
Kat crept down the hallway, stealing from shadow to shadow.
This part of the hacienda appeared deserted, but she passed each open door fully prepared to takeout anyone who emerged.
At the first closed door, she stopped and turned the knob.
It was locked, so she used the key she’d taken from Carl’s pocket.
Bingo.
She quickly scanned the room flooded by moonlight.
A huge roll-top desk on the other side of the room caught her attention.
Moving swiftly to it, she made herself comfortable in a chair.
The lemon scent was strong and the wood felt oily.
Must have been cleaning day.
A small reading lamp strategically sat on top of the desk.
Kat turned it on.
The roll top was open.
Pens, pads of paper, some loose paper clips and two unopened cigars littered the desktop.
No notes were written on the pads.
On one side sat a laptop.
No sense fooling around with that.
Hacking into computers was not on her repertoire of talents.
The first drawer she opened contained nothing but normal odds and ends, scotch tape, duct tape, pens and pencils, a box of thumbtacks.
Carl didn’t appear to be an organized individual.
She looked in three drawers and found nothing.
The last drawer she tried was locked.
Her heart raced.
She tried to pry the lock with a letter opener, but it wouldn’t budge.
Think, Kat
.
The key hadn’t been Carl’s pocket.
Where would he leave the key?
It had to be somewhere in this room.
Her father had taped the key to his desk on the underside of a drawer.
She felt inside and underneath all drawers.
Nothing.
Where would she hide a key?
Somewhere obvious.
Hidden, but in plain sight.
The paper clips?
Her hands trembled as she retrieved the box and dumped it on the oak desktop.
Mixed in with the one hundred paper clips was a small silver colored key.
She inserted the key in the lock and turned.
The drawer opened.
Her heart thundered in anticipation.
Several packets of papers neatly held together by rubber bands were stacked on top of one another.
She removed the top packet and leafed through.
A pile of birth certificates.
All with official looking seals from various states.
At a quick glance, she guessed there to be at least fifty birth certificates.
The second pile consisted of manila envelopes bound together.
She opened the first envelope.
Her breath caught in her throat.
With shaking fingers, she pulled out passports and driver licenses, all sporting pictures of men of mid eastern descent.
She opened a second envelope.
Same type of documents, different men.
On each envelope a date was handwritten on the outside.
The top one was dated today.
A group of terrorists were entering through
Her discovery made drug smuggling a petty misdemeanor.
How could any American be so sleazy as to bring potential terrorists to their own country?
Kat’s throat went dry at a muffled noise in the hallway.
She replaced the documents, locked the drawer and tucked the key in the knot of her skirt.
She readied the Glock and waited.
The door opened, and Carl stumbled into the room, then stopped and hung onto the doorjamb for support.
“You’re dead meat,” he rasped.
The hatred in his eyes could cause nightmares.
She laughed softly and aimed the Glock at his chest.
“I don’t think so.
I should have killed you when I had the opportunity.”
She gestured with the gun.
“Get over here and sit down.”
“Not likely.”
Kat shrugged, and released the safety.
“Your choice.
Makes no difference to me.”
