Dangerous Attraction: Part Three (Aegis Group) (9 page)

Bliss pushed her door open and stood. The bitter breeze bit into her limbs, leeching the warmth away.

It was the mountains and snow all over again.

She slid the gun into the waistband of her jeans like she’d seen Travis do. It felt weird and unnatural pressed against her spine, but at least this way her hoodie wasn’t hanging down to her knees from the weight of it. She slid the Taser out of her pocket and gripped it in the safety of her pouch.

The street was empty, probably due to the holidays. She almost wished someone would happen along to stop her. This plan was crazy. There was no way it would work, but she had to do something.

Daniel hadn’t given her instructions for how or where to enter the warehouse, just—the blue and white one. She reached a door with a faded red Exit sign stenciled on it and tried the handle.

It didn’t budge.

“Shit,” she mumbled.

Glancing up and down the street, all she saw were the big, rolling doors she couldn’t possibly get through. She took a chance and jogged to her left, around the corner.

Double doors. One, jostled by the breeze, swung a few inches.

Scratch the crime show setting. This was a horror movie, and she was the stupid chick in high heels going out the front door.

At least she had a Taser, some mace, and a gun.

Bliss took a deep breath and reached for the door.

Wendy could already be gone. Carlos could be dead. But she had to see for herself.

She stood at the door, peering into darkness so thick even the daylight only penetrated a foot or two. Listening did her no good. The ambient sounds blocked out anything helpful, like cries for help from her sister.

Did she call out hello? That seemed like asking to be murdered.

She stepped into the darkness and ducked to her right, squinting and praying her eyesight adjusted.

There. That sound. Was that a foot step? It was hard to tell with the way things echoed inside the building. She was starting to make out shapes and lighter bits of darkness, but no Wendy. No Carlos. And no Daniel.

She clutched the Taser and edged forward.

A flashlight would have been super useful. But why should she have expected to need that in the middle of the day?

Tall shelves lined her path from the door into the cavernous space. It was cold, and the occasional breeze still caught her off-guard.

Shit. The place was big. If she had any hope of meeting up with Daniel after being late, she was going to have to do it.

“Hello?” she called out. “Wendy? Carlos? Are you there?”

Bliss turned in a circle, gripping the Taser so tight it hurt her knuckles.

That.

That scraping sound was not because of the wind.

“Bliss, run!”

Wendy.

Bliss whirled toward the voice, somewhere to her right. There was just enough light filtering in through opaque panels to make out the form of a man. A very large man.

He shook a body—Wendy—like a ragdoll and then dropped her. Wendy scuttled backward on her bottom until she ran up against the metal shelves.

There was no sign of the boy. Was Carlos dead? Was she too late?

Her body reacted without her consent. Palms went sweaty and cold, her stomach tied in knots, and her limbs ached with the memory of snow and ice. For a moment, she almost swore she felt the drip of warm liquid on her face. She couldn’t breathe, and her heart pounded in her throat.

Daniel took two steps toward her.

Panic set in. She could run. Flee now. It’s what her instincts said to do. This was her in way over her head.

She’d made a huge mistake.

“Stop!” Bliss yelled. She forced herself to let go of the Taser and hold her hands out.

“You’re late.”

“You know how far this is. You knew I’d never make it in time.”

“Not my problem.”

“Where is Carlos?”

“I killed him.”

“Then we have no deal.” She took a step back. What were the chances she could run faster than him? Daniel still had that leg wound, he wasn’t a spring chicken, but it wasn’t like Bliss was used to doing a fifty yard dash.

“Brat’s alive.” He took another step toward her.

“Stop right there. You agreed if I came, you would let Carlos go.” She kicked her right leg back. Hopefully the Taser bulge wasn’t obvious.

“I’ll let him go after we cross the state line.”

When they were all under his control.

“That’s not what we agreed on.” It was hard to hear over the pounding of her heart and the clang of metal.

“That’s what’s going to happen.” Daniel pulled out a gun and pointed it at Wendy. “Now, get over here or I shoot her and kill the kid.”

Oh, God, she’d made a mistake. A really big mistake...

Travis unclipped his seat belt and leaned forward, gun in hand.

The cell phone signal was close. They had it narrowed to a four block radius. Now, to find Bliss before something else bad happened to her. If Daniel hurt her, if she died, Travis would never be able to forgive himself. Her blood would be on his hands, because he hadn’t protected her.

Connor’s phone rang and once more he shoved it at Travis.

“It’s Lali. Answer it.”

He flipped the phone to speaker and held it between them.

“What’cha got?” Connor eased them around a turn. The shopping strip was busy with post-holiday traffic. Anyone could blend in here.

“An address. Gavin—I don’t want to know what he did—but he got the texts off Bliss’ phone.” There was furious typing in the background, a lot like what it sounded when Travis had Gavin on the line.

“What is it?” Travis glanced at the street signs.

Lali rattled off the address.

Travis brought it up on his phone and his vision hazed red.

“That’s ten miles from here,” he said.

“I know. I’m alerting the rest of the team, Gavin is communicating to local law enforcement. There’s more.”

“Hit me.” Connor whipped the SUV around and gassed it, on the fastest path to the blinking red dot.

“Daniel sent a message to her that said if she wasn’t there in thirty minutes the kid would die. That was forty-five minutes ago.”

“They could already be gone,” Travis said.

“Bliss would be hard pressed to get there in under thirty minutes.” Even Lali’s soothing voice broke with tension.

“And it takes time to sneak out of a house full of people there to protect you. She’s late to that meet.” Connor grinned and swerved around slower moving traffic, lights on.

“How long until the closest patrol gets there?” Travis had to hope there was someone closer, someone nearer than they were.

“Uh, hold on, chatting Gavin...” The keys clacked and clicked. “Best guess? Eight minutes. That address is in the middle of a bunch of warehouses. Since the recession a lot of them have become vacant, transients have moved in, and the rest appear to be on hiatus until after the holidays.”

“Suppose that’s where he picked up his victims?” Connor asked.

“You’re the profiler,” Lali replied.

“What about finding his evil guy lair?”

Lali sighed into the receiver.

“Talk to me, Lali.”

“Gavin has dozens of pings off the cell number registered to Daniel in that area. I’m cross-referencing utility costs, wireless capability, but it’s not a fast process. This isn’t TV. It’s going to take a while.”

“It’s safe to say his secondary base of operations is in the area though?” Travis asked.

“Yes. Connor, Ryan is beeping me. Hold on.”

“Tell Ryan to fuck off.” Connor spoke too late. Lali was gone.

It was strange being the outsider on this operation. He was so accustomed to working with his SEAL brothers that riding along with the feds was a unique experience of being on the outside again.

He never much cared for being on the outside. Too bad his federal record meant jobs like this were out of the question for a guy like him. He’d stick to what he was good at, tracking down the bad guys and protecting people, and leave the serial killers to the professionals.

“How close are we?” Connor asked.

“Take a left up here. Five minutes.”

“The cops should be there any minute. She’s going to be fine, Travis.”

Travis didn’t respond. Connor didn’t know if Bliss was alive or not, he was simply trying to give him hope. It’s what Travis would do if their situations were exchanged. He’d say whatever it took to keep the client calm. The less hysterical or upset they were, the easier they were to manage. No one wanted a screaming customer, unless it was in bed, and then the only screaming that should happen was in pleasure. Not that he ever intended to bed a customer again.

“Shit!” Travis braced his hand on the dash and grabbed the door to keep from being hurled across the SUV.

“Sorry, man, didn’t see him.”

“Slow the fuck down.”

“Buckle up.”

“Are you trying to kill us?”

“You Americans drive too slow.”

“Another left, there.”

They made two more turns and it was as if they entered an urban desert. No cars. No pedestrians. It was barren and desolate. Trash and refuse lay piled up in the gutters. The buildings were worn. Most had seen better days. A few company logos were painted or bolted to the structures, but few were recognizable.

A police cruiser turned, heading toward them, flashing their red and whites at the SUV. Connor waved at the cops and kept going.

“Right,” Travis said.

Connor turned, and they rolled slowly down the street to the next intersection.

“There. That’s Bliss’ car.” Travis pointed to their right.

Another cruiser eased to a stop behind the car, followed by another SUV. In moments the place would be swarming with uniforms and guns.

“You’ll have to stay here,” Connor said.

“The fuck I am.”

“Listen, I know she’s your girl and everything, but facts are you are not a law enforcement officer. You don’t have a vest. Right now, you are a liability to her. Stay here. Let us do our job and bring her back safe. Cool?”

Travis ground his teeth together.

“Fine,” he said.

“Good man.”

Connor left the SUV running and got out, dragging his heavy Kevlar vest with him.

Travis waited for the feds to cluster before slipping out of the truck.

If Connor was stupid enough to think he was staying put, Connor clearly had something coming to him.

The police officers on scene paid him no mind. At this point, they might suspect him of being with the feds. All he needed was the badge and vest. He pulled out his phone and paused close enough to the cruiser he could listen to the radio. Ryan was on the horn, directing officers to spread out around a particularly beat-up warehouse. If Daniel was still around, he had to have a getaway car somewhere.

Travis prayed the feds were right. That Bliss might still be here.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and waited. Watching. They didn’t have long.

The buildings all had slanted roofs. Bad for snipers or making a getaway. They knew Daniel had at least one leg wound, and his lingering handicaps from the accident years prior meant he probably didn’t move fast. Which was why he had to be smart. Daniel might have the physical strength to snap someone’s neck, but the rest of him wasn’t as mobile.

Travis strode the width of the building, putting the cops and feds to his back.

If Daniel was as smart as the feds thought he was, he’d probably know Bliss’ directions would lead her to that spot and that entrance. But where would Daniel park, and where would he enter the building?

What would he do in Daniel’s place? Wasn’t that how Connor puzzled out the killer’s actions?

Travis would go for something up high. A vantage point to watch for the arrival and entrance, and then he’d sneak up behind his target and take them out. But Daniel likely couldn’t do stairs.

The cameras.

That would make sense.

Travis craned his neck and looked up.

If Daniel’s hideout was here, then the chances of the area being covered with cameras was high. He could be watching them now on a mobile device. A camera would also eliminate the need for a vantage point because he could watch her from a blind.

He jogged down the side of the building. A passing cruiser hailed him with a wave, and drove on past.

Sixty feet down he found a door. An unlocked door.

G
et over here now,” Daniel said again.

Bliss’ body shook. She had to take that step, but it was the snow and the motorhome all over again. Pure terror. She’d never known such fear. The kind that paralyzed her body and set her mind on a mental loop of those horrible hours she’d spent terrified for her life.

Daniel took a step toward Wendy. She cried out and covered her head with her hands, but he reached past her into the shadows. Daniel dragged a small, kicking form out into the open and backhanded the boy.

“No!” Bliss took a step.

“Carlos!” Wendy reached for the child, but Daniel lifted the kid by his shirt until his toes barely touched the ground.

Think.

She had to be smart.

Fear could not win. Not now.

“I’ll go with you, just leave him alone,” she said.

Whatever he wanted to hear, she had to say it. She needed him to lower the gun enough so she could stun him. Then she had to hope her sister and Carlos could run.

“It’s your fault I had to do that anyway.” Daniel shoved a whimpering Carlos away from Wendy. Her sobs were muffled, her figure shuddering.

“I’m sorry, okay?” Bliss took another step toward them.

Her eyes were adjusted better now. Bits of light filtered in here and there, making it easier to see her surroundings, gauge where the rows were.

“Get over here.” Daniel pulled a long, flexible zip-tie from his pocket.

He’d used one to bind her wrists until he could get the handcuffs on her. It was a vague, almost-memory stuck in the back of her head. She’d been drugged, passing in and out of consciousness for a bit. A passenger in her own body while he kidnapped her.

Not this time.

She took two more slow steps.

Metal on metal screeched, echoing inside the warehouse.