Dark And Dangerous (26 page)

 
"He's careful," Klein commented.

 
"There's a main room with a kitchen, a
dining nook and a large seating area. That's where the two guards are going to
be. Now, on the lower deck is where
Schnyder
will
keep Kayley." Joe drew a map of the lower deck. "The first room is a
workroom, and the second is
Schnyder's
bedroom. On
the other side of that, there's a bathroom, and beside that is where you'll
find Kayley." Joe pointed on his sketch.

 
"So we will have to go through ham and
fist before we can get down to Kayley?" Damian said.

 
"Yes."

 
"And you're sure that's how he's going
to do it?" Nathan asked.

 
"Yes. It isn't the first time he's taken
someone as a hostage. And he doesn't want to waste his best men on
baby sitting
," Joe told him.

 
"If you're wrong and Kayley ends up
hurt, I'm holding you responsible." Nathan gave Joe a hard look.

 
"I don't give a damn what you do."
Joe was up in a second, ready for a fight.

 
"If the two of you can break that up, we
can get to business," Klein said, stepping between them. "It's time
to leave for San Diego if we're going to be there at sun up."

 
"Fine." Nathan shoved his hands
into the pockets of his jeans. He was sick and tired of just standing around.
He needed action.

Chapter 28

 
Kayley
curled up, wrapping her arms around her legs. She had to stay calm, she told
herself. Keep her control. There was just two men. If she was fast, she might
be able to catch them off guard when they opened the door. She was going to get
away, she told herself. Panic made her throat close tightly, and she had to
force herself to relax. She felt the car pull to a stop, and scrambled to her
legs. If she was just quick enough she would get away, she promised herself.
The engine shut off, and she heard the men jump out and slam the doors shut
behind them.

 
When Kayley heard a fumble for the door and
the soft click as it opened, she jumped forward, slamming into the short man
that had held Damian. Kicking as hard as she could, she aimed for his crotch.
He stumbled backwards, groaning. She took one running step before she was
caught by the other man
,,
and swung back against the
side of the van. Her head knocked against metal, and her vision grayed
dangerously.

 
Then stars exploded in front of her eyes, and
the world went black and empty, as she was struck with a force that made her
head snap back.

 
Kayley came back to consciousness with a
jerk.

 
"Now, there. Don't be afraid."

She looked into
Schnyder's
face and saw his cool eyes and deceptively
charming smile.

 
"Where am I?" She lifted her chin
defiantly, refusing to show her fear.

 
"You're on my yacht."

Kayley looked away from
him to study her surroundings. She was sitting in a soft leather sofa.
Schnyder
sat in front of her on a gleaming walnut coffee
table. Two chairs flanked the other side of the table, and the walls were made
of walnut panels that gleamed with luster.

 
"I've wanted to show you my treasure for
some time now. But you're a very elusive woman." He smiled again.
"But that's all behind us now." Leaning back a little, he folded his
hands comfortably. "Where is the thing your brother sent you?"

 
"I don't have it," she said
honestly.

 
"That's too bad. I had hoped we wouldn't
have to do it this way." Without warning, he struck her so hard and quick
that her head snapped back. Her head reeled and Kayley had to bite her lip to
keep from whimpering.

 
"Where is it?" he asked again.

 
"I don't have it." Her cheek
throbbed with pain. "But if I had, I wouldn't give it to you anyway."

 
Schnyder
smiled,
cool and overbearing. "Believe me, there are ways I could make you do
anything I wanted." His cool eyes watched her closely. "But I can see
you're telling the truth. So tell me who has it."

 
Kayley stuck her chin out in a defiant move,
and said nothing.

He smiled coolly.
"Why don't we try that
again.
Who has it?"

When she still said
nothing, he leaned forward.

 
"You better tell me. I'm not a patient
man."

She knew he was going to
hurt her if she didn't answer, but her mind simply refused to form a lie.
"If you try to hit me again, I'm going to hit back," she warned
meaning every word.

Schnyder's
lips quirked up at one corner in a sarcastic
smile.

 
"You're a wildcat. I like that. But if
you don't tell me what I want, I'm not going to like it for long." He
stroked his chin thoughtfully. "The man that was with you at my office,
does he have it?"

 
Kayley thought quickly and decided he had
just served her with the perfect lie. All she had to do was go along with it.

 
"Yes," she lied coolly, meeting his
eyes dead on. "But you'll never get it," she added. It was important
to make him believe he was right. And the best way to do that, was to act cool
and sure of herself.

 
"Oh, just watch me."
Schnyder
smiled satisfied.
 
He reached out to touch her cheek and had her jerking back her head, out
of reach.

 
"I'm sorry about your face. But you
didn't give me any choice." He gestured explaining.

"I'll get you some
ice for your cheek."

 
Kayley would have protested, but as he stood
up and walked to a small bar, she realized it might give her a way out. She
couldn't see the two men that had brought her here.

Jumping up, she ran for
one of the glass doors and pulled at it desperately. It was locked.

She couldn't help her
whimper as she fumbled for the lock.

 
She screamed terrified when she was grabbed
from behind and thrown through the room. She hit a chair, stumbled over it and
fell to the ground. Panicked, she turned around and tried to scoot herself back
away from him when
Schnyder
came towards her with a
smile on his face. She had never seen a smile so cold and so cruel. Her blood
froze.

 
Schnyder
shoved the
chair out of his way with enough force to make it fly through the room and
crash against the wall. He knelt beside her and grabbed her by her hair,
yanking her head up hard enough to have tears stinging her eyes.

 
"You shouldn't have done that. I had
looked so much forward to having you here." His eyes burned with a cool
insanity. The kind she had only seen in her
fathers
eyes when he had had way too much to drink. "But now you've ruined it
all."

 
Kayley bit back a scream off pain as he
dragged her up by her hair. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

 
"Bastard," she hissed, and stumbled
again when he slapped her so hard her ears rang with it. Blood welled from her
lip, and the only thing that kept her upright was his painful grip in her hair.

 
"Bitch." He dragged her after him,
down a flight of stairs and past a couple of doors, until he reached a third
door. Pushing it open he dragged her after him into the room.

 
"Now you're going to pay." He
kicked the door shut behind them and shoved her towards a bed. Kayley panicked.
There was no doubt what he intended to do. It was written clearly in his eyes.
He grabbed her by her shirt front and yanked. She heard the fabric tear, and
that sound had her snapping back into focus.

 
Kayley went wild, kicking and screaming. She
struck out, catching him hard on the cheek with enough force to have his head
whip back. Using her advantage to strike again, she lashed out at him. She
caught him on his chin and grazed his nose. Blood flew, spattering the floor.

 
Schnyder
stumbled
back against the door and wiped his hand over his mouth. When his hand came up
covered with blood, his eyes glinted furiously.

 
"Bitch," he spat out and lunged
toward her again.

 
This time she didn't hesitate, and struck out
again. But he was ready for her now and easily outmaneuvered her, flicking off
her attempts to hurt him like she held no more punch
then
your average fly. Kayley saw the light in his eyes and knew he meant to hurt
her. She retreated, but not
quick
enough. Just enough
to take off the worst of the punch as he caught her across her cheek. She
stumbled back into the bed and barely managed to right herself, before he
struck her again. Her head snapped back and her world spun as she slid
helplessly to the floor.

 
Schnyder
bent
towards her and smiled viciously.

 
"Now, that was a mistake. I would have
taken you as my mistress when you had fulfilled your purpose, but you've made
your choice." He stroked a finger over her burning cheek, with a
gentleness that didn't match the violence in his eyes. "Now I'm simply
going to kill you slowly."

 
His voice was cool and silky as ice.
"And believe me, I'll enjoy every second of it." He stood up and
brushed invisible lint off his pants. "It's too bad I still need you,
otherwise I would have done it now. But the wait will just make it all the more
sweet."

 
He walked to the door and opened it, before
stopping to look back at her. "Your scream will be the sweetest sound I've
ever heard." He closed the door behind him with a click.

The door locked with a
smooth finality.

 
Dizzy from his onslaught, Kayley stayed where
she was and looked around the room. There were no windows and the only
furniture in the room was the bed she sat leaned against.

 
She was caught, she thought.

She couldn't prevent the
tears that spilled down her face at her realization. There was no escape and no
one knew where she was.

.....

 
Nathan sat in a small federal owned private
plane and studied the prints Brown had laid out on the table in front of them.
They were digital images taken from a satellite of the boat harbor where
Schnyder's
yacht would dock.

 
"Are we going to take cover on the
surrounding boats and stake them out until we move, or are we going to watch
them from a distance until the time comes?" Damian asked from beside
him.
        

 
"You're not going to do anything,"
Klein cut in from across the aisle, where he was sitting studying more photos,
these of the spot where
Schnyder's
shipment would
come in.

 
"Try to stop us." Nathan's voice
was cold as ice and harder than diamonds.

 
"This isn't an operation for civilians.
You could jeopardize the whole operation, not to mention get yourself
injured," Klein objected.

 
"It's your only option. You can either
let us be a part of your operation, or we'll do our own." Nathan gave him
a look that said he meant every word. "I don't care how I get her out, as
long as I do."

 
"You could bring her in danger,"
Klein said, hoping that would be the right button to push.

 
"Believe me, it wouldn't be her I
brought in danger." Nathan's face was grim.

 
"Shit." Klein could see he wasn't
going to be able to sway Nathan no matter what he did.

 
"You know I could have you locked up in
custody."

 
"My lawyer would have me out again
within an hour."

Klein rubbed his hands
over his face. "Fine, but you're going to follow our orders."

 
"If they're reasonable," Nathan
countered. He was used to driving hard bargains. "But if you just try to
keep me out of your way, I'm not taking it."

 
"You're becoming quite a nuisance,"
Klein commented. Not that he didn't understand. If anyone had kidnapped his
wife or one of his girls, he would be doing the same.

 
"Whatever
works.
"
Nathan turned his attention back to the pictures.

 
"So how are we going to go about
it?" Damian asked.

 
"I'm in charge of this operation."
Brown pointed to the images spread out in front of them. "And Klein is
covering our capture of
Schnyder
. It's important that
we don't move in before Klein's team does. We don't want to risk tipping
Schnyder
off."

 
"So we wait until midnight," Nathan
said unhappily. He wanted Kayley out of
Schnyder's
reach as quickly as possible. Every minute she had to spend with that bastard
was one minute too much.

 
Brown nodded. "We'll stake it out from a
distance. We can't risk securing the area, or we might
—
"

 
"
—
risk tipping him off," Damian cut in,
finishing his sentence.

 
"Yeah. And then it's just a waiting
game." Brown cast a glance at his watch. "We'll have to set up our
operation before he docks. We'll go there immediately when we land."

 
"It's going to be a long day," Joe
commented dryly from across Klein.

 
"It wouldn't have been if it hadn't been
for you." Nathan gave him a searing look.

 
"I might have started it, but you're the
one that didn't look out for her," Joe shot back. "If you had,
Schnyder
would never have gotten his hands on her."