Love Inspired Suspense July 2015 #2 (52 page)

He pulled her into his chest. His fingers ran down the small of her back. “Don't you get it? You rattle my brain, Olivia. You cloud my senses and keep me from seeing things clearly. I never should have let myself lose focus enough to escalate things with Trent. I never should have been sleeping in the garage loft, which allowed the Faceless Crew to sneak up on my house in the middle of the night without me knowing. I...”

He took a deep breath. She was so close now that all he'd have to do was lower his head and his lips would brush against hers. He gently pushed her back. “I never should have allowed myself to get emotionally compromised by getting close to you. I should have been smart. I should have kept my distance. Now all I can do is keep from making the same mistake again.”

Please tell me you understand...

“Three minutes.” She held up the timer. “Time's up.”

* * *

They walked in silence down toward where Trent was standing by the tree line. Hot tears pressed against Olivia's eyelids with every step. But she refused to let them fall.

Daniel could have left it at no. Instead, he'd felt the need to tell her he regretted ever letting her close. How many times did Daniel need to show her that he didn't want her in his life? It was about time she believed him. And it was time she finally accepted a man like him had no place in her life, either.

All that mattered now was getting Sarah back safely.

“Chloe says the perimeter is clear,” Trent said. “No people and no vehicles, as far as we can see. Inside the fence, though, is a different story. She's pretty sure she saw motion through the window of the smaller building. But we don't know how many people are inside.”

“So it's probably a trap.” There wasn't even a question in Daniel's voice.

“Likely.” Trent nodded. “Either way, someone's going in. We can't take off and risk Sarah's life. Our top priority is getting the hostage out safely. You sure you still want to do this?”

“Absolutely.” Daniel didn't even flinch. “I'm going in alone.”

“Okay, then, Olivia, you're with Ricky. Your sister's scouted a location for you. Stay there. Stay silent. Stay hidden.”

Something brushed Olivia's arm and she barely managed to stop herself from screaming. It was Ricky. He'd taken the laptop out of the bag and turned it on. The screen was open with the pictures showing. If she looked closely, she could see a video chat icon glowing in the corner.

“Guess this is when I hand over this,” he said, “and you and I go hide.”

“Yeah.” But still her eyes lingered on Daniel. The thought of anything happening to him was almost unbearable.
Lord, please give him wisdom. Give him strength.

His eyes met hers. Her voice broke. “Stay safe.”

“You, too.” Suddenly, Daniel was reaching for her. Strong arms pulled her tightly into his chest. Her hands slid up into the hair curling at the nape of his neck. He leaned his forehead against hers. She felt his breath on her face. “You stay out of the way and don't get hurt, okay? Promise me, regardless of what anyone else does, if I give you the signal, you'll grab Ricky and run back to that motel. You'll get yourself out of harm's way. Whatever it takes.”

“But—”

His voice grew thick with emotion. “Promise me.”

But... But... But...

Olivia, either you trust him or you don't.

She took a deep breath. “I will. I'll grab Ricky and run. What's the signal?”

He looped his finger around a strand of her hair and tugged gently. “Wildfire.”

His lips hovered over hers. Her eyes closed.

The timer buzzed.

Daniel let go of her and took the laptop.

Ricky grabbed her arm and pulled her into the trees. “There's a flipped picnic table just around the corner. It's concrete. Chloe wants us to hide behind it.”

Trent raised his weapon. Daniel stepped out of the trees and slipped through the gate.

“Hello? Hello?” Daniel walked slowly through the shambles of broken equipment, holding the laptop out in front of him. The soft light of the laptop screen lit the ground at his feet. “I'm here and I have what you want.”

“Come on!” Ricky was practically running deeper into the woods now and yanking her after him. They reached the picnic table and slid down behind it. He pressed the walkie-talkie into her hand and held up his smartphone. They watched the screen. It was like some kind of small terrifying home movie. A broken swing set loomed in front of the screen's view, followed by some broken riding toys shaped like clowns.

“Daniel? Is that you?”

The camera spun and Sarah's face came into view.

“Thank You, God.” Daniel's whispered prayer crackled softly through the walkie-talkie.

Olivia pushed herself up in a crouch to look over the top of the picnic table but couldn't see anything but fence and trees. Her heart ached to see his face.

I have to trust he'll be okay. I have to trust that Chloe and Trent have his back.

Then she glanced at the leafy darkness above her and felt her inner worries turn to prayer.

Lord, You know how hard it is for me to trust that anyone can keep their cool when things get tense. And You know that I'm always expecting every good thing I find to be snatched away. Please help me have faith. Please save them now.

Ricky tilted the screen toward her. She sat back down. Sarah was walking toward the laptop. Her hands were in the air. A mass of wires and what looked like a brick-shaped block of explosives were duct-taped to her chest.

She'd been rigged to explode.

Another camera shift and she saw tall, thin Rake, the so-called leader and brains of the Faceless Crew, holding a gun to Sarah's head. They were standing so deeply in the fairgrounds now there was no way the cops could get a clean shot through the fence.

“I have what you asked for.” Daniel's voice echoed loud and clear. The camera shifted closer and higher, as if he was holding the computer up. “See, here are all the pictures. Every single one of them. We met our end of the bargain. Take them and let Sarah go.”

Sarah's eyes darted past the camera. “Where's Olivia?”

“She's not here. Just me and the pictures. That's all they're getting.” He took another step toward her. His voice dropped. “It's going to be okay. Are you all right?”

“Yeah.” Sarah nodded. “I'm still alive anyway. But if they don't get what they want, this bomb is going to blow.”

The camera swung to Rake. “You asked for the pictures. Here they are. Take them and let Sarah go.”

Rake hesitated.

“But they don't just want the pictures.” Sarah's voice rose so high she practically wailed. “They want Olivia.”

“I know,” Daniel said calmly. “I know she's what they want. But she's not up for negotiation.”

He knew they wanted her? She'd thought he'd totally dismissed her hunch that the Faceless Crew wanted her, specifically, to make the exchange. But he hadn't been dismissing her. He'd been trying to protect her. Olivia could feel her heart shake inside her chest like an earthquake. Daniel took another step toward Rake. But Olivia turned her eyes away from the screen, lifted her gaze to the sky fading to light gray above her and focused her ears on the sound of Daniel's voice.

“It was Olivia who realized it first,” Daniel said. “Her instincts are sharper than mine about some things. She realized your kidnappers wanted her here, trapped inside the fence in this pen. Now, I still don't know what whoever hired the Faceless Crew wants with Olivia. But I do know he wants to hurt her. I knew when I decided to take the risk of coming in here alone.” He took another step forward. “No matter what you say and no matter what you do, know that
I won't let them hurt her
.”

“Is that what Olivia wants?” Sarah raised her voice until she practically screamed. “I know you're out there, Olivia! I know you can hear me! Do you want me and Daniel to die while you hide in the bushes? Once this bomb goes off, you're dead anyway. It's big enough to take out the whole area.”

Olivia's limbs were shaking so hard she could barely move. She looked back at the screen. Rake raised his gun.

“Enough of this.” Rake sounded angry. “I'm gonna count to five. Then I'm going to shoot Sarah in the head if that other chick doesn't come out here. And if she falls, she explodes. We all die. Got it?”

“Yeah,” Daniel said. “I think I finally do get what's going on here.”

Olivia closed her eyes and tried to pray. Ricky squeezed her hand.

“One...” Rake counted. “Two... Three... Four...”

“Wildfire!” Daniel slammed the laptop shut. The screen went blank.

Rake swore.

Sarah screamed.

A gun rang out.

But there was no explosion.

Olivia jumped up. Her hand clutched Ricky's. “Come on! We've got to run. Now!”

“But I didn't hear Trent give the order—”

As if either of them could hear anything now but shouting and chaos.

“Daniel gave it. Come on. For all we know this place might still explode.”

For a moment she started toward the path. But Ricky yanked her back. “That'll take us right past them. We should take the road. It'll be faster.”

He changed course and pelted toward the tree line.

“Hey, wait!” She ran after him. Daniel's words echoed through her mind.
Sometimes running is what keeps you alive. But sometimes running can get you killed.
Shouting and static crackled down the walkie-talkie. Sarah was screaming, but Olivia couldn't make out her words. The trees parted and they tumbled into a ditch beside the highway. A faint sliver of red brushed the horizon. A car was coming down the road.

“Hey! Hey!” Ricky started up the embankment. He waved his hands high over his head. The vehicle slowed. He glanced back, grinned. “It's the cops!”

The car screeched to a stop. Were the roads finally reopened? Had Sarah managed to call the police after all? A cop got out of the car. Large shoulders, terrible blond beard, mirrored sunglasses even though dawn had yet to break.

“I'm so glad to see you!” Ricky ran toward him. “There's a situation at the playground. We need your help—”

The uniformed man pulled out a gun and aimed at the young photographer. He fired. Ricky fell. Olivia opened her mouth to scream.

A hand clamped over her mouth.

Someone had sneaked up behind her.

The smell of something sweet filled her lungs.

The world began to swim out of focus.

Large hands lifted her into the air.

Desperately, she flailed at the man holding her.

The sunglasses fell off, showing a pair of cold gray eyes.

The fake beard came off in her hands.

“Told you I'd get my hands on you, sunshine.”

Her body was tossed into the trunk of his car.

He locked her in.

SEVENTEEN

“O
ne...” Rake was counting. “Two... Three...”

Daniel felt the world freeze around him. The bomb wasn't real.

He knew it deep in his gut with absolute certainty.

Maybe it was because Rake's posture was far too relaxed for someone standing next to an explosive he knew was live. The so-called head of the Faceless Crew had always made sure he was far away from the blast radius before. Maybe it was because the mass of tangled wires looked too much like someone's uninformed idea of what was supposed to be scary. Or maybe it was that even though Sarah's cheeks were wet with tears, her eyes had that same defiant, petulant stare she'd adopted when she was barely more than a toddler.

Instinct is nothing more than your brain suddenly catching up with what your subconscious already knows.

The Faceless Crew didn't want Sarah.

They wanted Olivia.

“Four...”

Daniel slammed the laptop shut and shouted for Olivia to run.

Rake froze. Daniel gripped the laptop with both hands and swung hard.

The blow caught the faceless thug on the side of the head. Rake stumbled back. His gun shot off into the air. Sarah screamed. In fear? No, rage. One swift punch to the jaw and Rake fell to the ground. The gun dropped from his hands. Daniel threw the laptop at Rake and leaped for the gun.

Then Daniel wheeled around, the gun safe in his grasp. “On your knees. Hands on your head.” Rake knelt. “Now take off the mask.”

The faceless thug pulled his mask off and tossed it into the dirt.

The sallow face belonged to a stranger.

Another stranger.

Where were the rest of the Faceless Crew? The back of his spine tingled.
Lord, what am I'm missing here?

“Daniel, hand me the gun.” Sarah reached out her hands. “I'll point it at him while you find something to tie him up.”

“No. I'm sorry.” He shook his head. The wire contraption had come loose from Sarah's chest during the struggle and was hanging sideways. No timer. No detonator. No explosives. Just wire, duct tape and an empty box. It was all just a sick and violent charade. He yanked it off and she grabbed for the gun. But his other hand held it back at arm's length. “I don't know what kind of game you think you're playing, Sarah. But it ends here and now.”

A sound like a gun blast echoed from beyond the trees. Then the distorted sound of Ricky screaming took over the walkie-talkie hidden by his shoulder. “Hello? Hey, Ricky? Is Olivia okay?”

Too late he heard the click of a gun. He turned back.

Sarah clutched a small handgun. Her arms shook, but she kept the barrel pointed straight at him. “Sorry, Daniel. I won't let you ruin my life anymore. Now just keep quiet and let me walk out of here.”

I promised to be her guardian. No matter what. Lord, help me keep my promise now.

“Trent!” he yelled. “This whole thing's a setup. Sarah's working with the Faceless Crew.”

Sarah swore. “Trent's a cop?”

Rake took advantage of their distraction to leap up off the ground. He started for the fence.

Trent ran through the gate after him.

Daniel threw himself at Sarah. The gun went off in her hands.

The kickback sent the bullet flying over his head.

Daniel tackled her, bringing his ward to the ground.

She dropped the gun. He reached for it.

Sarah kicked him in the jaw, squirmed from his grasp and ran deeper into the broken fairground.

“I've got him.” Trent was standing over Rake. With his one good hand he'd somehow managed to pin the thug in a headlock. “Doesn't look as though the rest of the crew are here. Chloe's gone to find Olivia and Ricky. Try to catch Sarah.”

This time, she wouldn't be getting away.

Daniel turned and ran after her. She darted into the warped and broken remains of a mirror maze.

“Enough.” He caught her by the arm and spun her back around. “No more lies. You were the one who lured Brian into the parking garage that night, weren't you? He told you he'd made a deal with the authorities.”

The rising sun was brushing the horizon now, rays of light hitting the fractured reflections around them. Sarah wouldn't meet his eyes. “You don't know anything,” she argued mulishly.

She tried to pull away. But his grip held her fast.

“No, I know plenty. I just never put the pieces together until I saw you stand there and demand Olivia come out and turn herself over to killers to save your own selfish neck. Brian was never smart enough to pull this off on his own. But you, Sarah. You had all of your mother's street smarts and your grandfather's business savvy. Brian probably didn't know half the things you'd gotten the company into. I'm right, aren't I?”

“So what?” Sarah shouted. Her fists beat against his chest. “What are you going to do about it? Everyone knows you won't let me go to jail. You think Mom stayed married to you because she cared about you? She wanted you to be my guardian because you're nice. Because you're a pushover. She told me, when she knew she was sick. She promised me that if I agreed to live with you, as my guardian, just until I could inherit my money, you'd protect me from Brian without messing up my life.”

Yeah, Mona had never understood his wedding-day promise to love her unconditionally. So she never would have understood what lengths he'd go to love and protect her daughter, too.

The fierce, anxious need to protect her that he'd felt ever since he'd first laid eyes on the tiny baby in Mona's arms broke like a cresting wave and flowed like sadness over his chest. Her shouts rose until they were nothing but a wail of fury. Her hands beat against him, harder and faster, until so much anger surged through her frail form that she tried to claw at his face. Gently but firmly, he pushed her back against the mirrored wall. Then he turned to the walkie-talkie. “I've got her, but I need a cop to take over now.”

Her face paled. “You're not going to tell on me or let them arrest me. You promised to look out for me.”

“I'm going to keep that promise by seeing you face justice.”

Her jaw dropped. “This is Olivia's fault, isn't it? He told me not to trust her. When I wasn't sure I could go through with helping him kill her, he showed me a picture he took of the two of you all cozy inside the diner, holding hands. Told me if she didn't die, she'd sway your heart, poison your mind against me and ruin everything.”

“Who, Sarah? Who's
him
? What does he have against Olivia?”

“He's the man who's going to catch her and kill her. And I won't tell the police anything to help stop him unless you agree to meet all my demands. You're going to help me, you're going to make sure I don't go to jail and you're going to promise me you'll never speak to Olivia ever again.”

“I'm not going to be blackmailed, Sarah. You're not calling the shots. Not anymore.”

Sarah spat in his face. Daniel just wiped his cheek with his shoulder without loosening his grip.

“Daniel!” Chloe appeared around the corner, gun in one hand, badge in the other. “We've got a situation. Ricky's been shot and Olivia's gone.”