On Thin Ice (Special Ops) (5 page)

Her father hired Demetri then. Whenever she went anywhere Demetri went with her. Out of the state or out of the country didn’t stop her bodyguard from being by her side. When she was at home he wasn’t really needed but her father kept him on anyway. He put him up in the apartment over the garage because Keiko already had the one over the rink. The apartments were large and fully equipped with all the latest and greatest technologies. When she was practicing Demetri would check the grounds to make sure everything was secure. He would do a walkthrough of the rink and then he would go back up to his apartment where he would spend the day until his second rotation. Her father had told him it wasn’t necessary, but he had said that he was being paid still and while there were no threats on site he wanted to at least walk the grounds to be sure of it. When she was at competition and in areas where he was not allowed then she relied on Keiko to be her guard. The locker-room and other backstage areas were completely forbidden to any outside personnel and that included him. He wasn’t happy, but he had found a way to work around it. And of course when her father had his parties Demetri always had the time off so he had a tendency to disappear. She wondered what he did during those times, but he would never say. She had asked him once or twice and he would always say, “mind your own business, kid.” She would remind him that she wasn’t a kid and he would remind her that she looked like one. Now he was gone. It was so unfair. Keiko had left her when she stopped competing because she wanted to train the next Olympian, but losing Demetri the way she had hurt her more. He had died trying to save her. If it weren’t for her he would still be alive.

Now that she was strapped to a chair she didn’t even stand a chance of finding a way out. Maybe her first reaction had been too impulsive, but she saw a window of opportunity and she had to take it; she had to try. Now what was she going to do? She was stuck. She was being held hostage, a prisoner, and she wasn’t going to be able to go anywhere while she was bound to the chair. Then it occurred to her. They would have to let her up for a bathroom break at some point and then she would have a chance. Unless they weren’t planning on affording her that luxury and they expected her to just go where she sat. She wouldn’t put it past them.

Did they want money? Her father would pay, but somehow she didn’t think that was it at all. There was no way they could leave her alive. They had worn masks when they were at the television station which meant they didn’t want their face seen, but they hadn’t used masks when they came into the room with her, which meant they didn’t care if their face was seen. Not caring meant they weren’t expecting any witnesses left behind to give a description.

Aaron rushed into the Squadron headquarters. He had been in a meeting when he got the call from his wife. She was frantic and it took a good five minutes to get her to calm down and remember to speak English. He didn’t speak Japanese even though she and his daughter did and that put him at a disadvantage if ever she wanted to say something without him knowing what it was. She rarely did that, but when she was angry, or panicked, she often forgot to use her perfectly good English. When she settled enough to tell him Akira had been taken and that the others had been killed that was all he needed to know. He couldn’t make out the rest of what she was saying and it didn’t matter; he had heard the most important part and he knew then there was only one man who could help him.

Aaron had been in San Antonio at the time but that didn’t stop him from hauling tail back to Austin. He didn’t know if Alex was on his way out or not, but the young man was opening the door so he assumed he was on his way out and not in. He didn’t care. He needed to speak with Jet.

“They have my girl. I need Jet to go find her. I’ll pay whatever you want. The cost means nothing to me.”

“Mr.—”

“Name it?” He pulled out his checkbook. “A half million? A million?” Had the price gone up that much since they saved him? Maybe, but he didn’t care. “Two million.”

“Mr. Bowman would you just stop for a minute?” Alex scowled at him.

“You won’t help me?”

“Mr. Bowman—”

“Look. I’ll pay him whatever he wants. Please?”

“Mr. Bowman!” Alex’s harsh tone caught his attention this time. He didn’t think they would turn him down, but maybe they would. “Jet is already on a plane headed to Anchorage. He saw them when they took her and he left right after that. He’s going. It’s not about the money for him.”

“He’s already on his way?”

“His plane took off about forty minutes ago.”

Aaron stroked his fingers along his go-tee. “That’s expensive…the flight. I’ll pay. I’ll pay anything to get her back.”

“This isn’t about the money for him. Do you understand me?”

Aaron felt his heart pounding in his chest. “He’s like family to us. I know that sounds crazy, but my wife thinks of him like family and Akira is fond of him. They always got along when we had him over.”

Alex nodded. “He’s going after her, Mr. Bowman.”

“Aaron,” he corrected him. “You’ve known me long enough to call me Aaron.”

Alex nodded again. “I’ll keep you posted as I know something, but for right now there’s really nothing you can do here.”

“Yes there is,” he pulled out his cell phone. “I can make the way for him.” He scrolled through his address book and then hit the send button as soon as he found the number he wanted. He waited for the party to answer. The chief owed him favors. The mayor owed him favors. They were both about to deliver on those favors.

“Mayor, this isn’t about what you’re doing now it’s about what you’re going to do. I have a guy coming. His name is Jethro Jackson and I want you to give him anything he wants.”

“Well this is a—”

“Anything,” Aaron cut him off. “You and I both know you owe me a heck of a lot more than this. We’ll call it even when my baby girl makes it home safe. You help him no matter what he needs. Understand?”

“I do,” he said. “He’ll get no trouble from us. In fact, I’ll make sure an active detective on this meets him at the airport. Don’t worry Mr. Bowman; everything is going to work out just fine.”

“It better,” he nearly growled. If it didn’t there was going to be hell to pay. He disconnected his call and returned his attention to Alex. “He won’t have any trouble getting whatever he needs. Weapons, a vehicle or even armed men—it’s all there for him.”

“Thank you,” Alex looked taken aback. Well he never said he didn’t know people in all the right places, nor that people in high positions didn’t owe him favors. A lot of people owed him; he just rarely came to collect. When he did something it was because he wanted to do it; he wanted to help. But he wasn’t resistant to the idea of calling in a favor to save somebody he loved. He would call in every favor he had if it would bring her home safely.

“God, I can’t lose her.” His legs were barely holding him up at the moment.

“Jet’s the best man for this and I think you already know that.”

“I know. I’m just hoping it’s not too late. I haven’t received any demands…”

“Have you even been home yet?”

“No. I came straight from San Antonio.”

Alex nodded. “Have your home phone calls forwarded to your cell and we’ll wait for the call. I want to be there when you get it and I can’t leave the office right now. I need to be here when Jet tries to contact me and if Preston tries to contact me too. I can forward calls, but I think everything I need is here. I should be here.”

Aaron nodded and fiddled with his phone. He called his wife first to let her know he was transferring the calls to his phone in case a call came in, but also to let her know that somebody was working on it. He needed to calm her and since he wasn’t going to be home any time soon he wanted to let her know why. When he hung up with her he forwarded his home calls to his cell. She had a cell so she could call him from that if she needed to, and of course she could still make outgoing calls. At least this way she wouldn’t get any calls from reporters who may have somehow gotten a hold of their phone number. The number was private and unlisted, but that didn’t mean reporters didn’t have ways of getting it anyway.

“If a call comes through I’ll put the phone on speaker.”

“I think you’ll be more comfortable in the conference room. Come on in.” Alex guided him into the conference room.

“Aren’t you going to lock up or something? You know, if you’re back here, the front is left open.”

“The door is always locked from the outside. I saw you coming through the lobby so I knew you were on your way up here.”

“Oh,” he nodded. That made sense. Maybe if he were still thinking with complete clarity he would have thought of that. “What if they don’t call?”

Alex sat down in the chair across from him. “They always call,” he tried to assure him.

“If the hostage is still alive;” he mumbled. “They always call if the hostage is still alive.”

“She’s still alive.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Because if they wanted her dead they wouldn’t have gone through the trouble to take her. They would have shot her along with everybody else. She’s still alive.”

Right; because what would be the point of taking her if they didn’t want something?

“Let’s talk about enemies you have. I need to know anybody who has threatened you lately. We’re also going to have to go over any bad business deals, business takeovers, employees fired, and if there’s any residual from when you were being held captive. I need it all. No holding back.”

Aaron knew he needed to keep a level head. When he was being held hostage he hadn’t panicked. He had remained calm and kept his head clear so that he could process his options for escape. But this was different. This was his little girl and for some reason he couldn’t remain calm. Or maybe he was a little calm. He was at least calm enough to go to find Jet instead of getting on a plane to Alaska. He was at least thinking clearly enough to know that these guys were the best option, maybe even the only option.

“I’m a rich man, Alex. I’ve done things the right way, the legal way and the morally upstanding way, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t people who don’t like me. I get letters sometimes from people who are angry simply because I have money. I used to get letters about Kira, but I never showed her those.”

“What kind of letters?”

“Oh, just the ones that make a father want to bash somebody’s head in. Things about how good she looked on the ice, and there was one about her changing in the locker room. I don’t know if you know anything about that, but when she was sixteen some guy with a camera stalked her for a little while. It’s why I hired Demetri. A picture of her changing in the locker room at one of the ice skating rinks made it into a tabloid.”

“She was sixteen?”

“Yeah…sick I know. What bothered her and me even more was that we knew that wasn’t the only picture. That meant the guy had naked shots too. The tabloid got in trouble for the picture, but they didn’t know who the guy who sent it was. He hadn’t even asked for pay apparently. They took it, published it and went on as if they had done nothing wrong.”

“They never caught this guy?”

“No, but we never saw anybody fitting his description hanging around again either. And with Demetri on staff she felt safer. I was able to breathe easier too.”