Taken (3 page)

THREE

T
hey’d found them.

“Marcus!”

Kate could hear the edge of panic in her voice. Gripping the armrest with her fingers, she tried not to hyperventilate as the car rammed into them a second time. She winced as her head hit the side of the car. Marcus would get them out of this. He had to. And she had no choice but to trust him. They were just trying to scare them. But why? None of it made sense. They already had Sophie. What else did they want?

Please, God...all I want to do is find Sophie and make sure she’s safe. But I don’t even know what is going on.

“What do they want?” Kate spoke her question out loud, her arms braced for another impact.

“I don’t know. Are you sure it’s them?”

She glanced back again and caught sight of the bald head of the man who’d tried to grab her off the street. She’d recognize him anywhere. “Yes. Besides, I can’t believe this is just a coincidence.”

Marcus’s jaw tensed, the vein in his neck pulsing, as he sped down a one-way street lined with bikes and motorcycles. Pedestrians strolled down the sidewalk, casting glances as they sped past. He slowed down as he came to a busy intersection, and managed to merge into traffic without stopping.

Kate dug her nails into the armrest, willing the car to go faster. “We need to lose them.”

“Not yet. Keep your eye on them. I need a license plate.”

“A license plate?” She craned her neck so she could see out the back window and squinted as she tried to read the plate. The car behind them sped forward, hitting again.

Her seat belt caught as her body snapped forward.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. I got the license.” Kate scrambled for a pen then wrote down the number on her hand.

“Good, because now I need you to make a call.”

“The police?”

“I’m working with French intelligence. They’ll be able to get us some backup.”

Her hands shook as she grabbed his phone, which was sitting between them.

Marcus kept his eyes on the road beside her, weaving in and out of traffic, with the car still on their tail. “Scroll through the favorites contacts and look for Pierre. Make the call, then put it on speakerphone so I can talk to him.”

A moment later, a man with a heavy French accent answered. “Bonjour?”

“Pierre, it’s Marcus.”

“Did you find Chad?”

“No, but I did run into his sister-in-law.”

Kate felt her fear morphing into anger as Marcus explained the situation while speeding through the heart of Paris. She glanced out the back window again. This time there was no sign of the other car.

“I’ll let you know what I find out about the license plate,” Pierre said.

“Good,” Marcus said. “I’ll meet you at the safe house in thirty minutes.”

Pierre hung up and the line went dead. Kate clicked off the phone and set it down. “We’ve lost them.”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded as she caught the hint of anger in his eyes. He’d warned her not to come. Told her to stay in Dallas and let him and the police handle the situation. And she’d done the opposite.
And
potentially almost got them both killed.

“I’m sorry,” she started.

“Sorry? This fiasco you just involved us both in could have got us killed.”

* * *

Marcus drove around the block three times until he was certain they’d lost their tail—and his anger had managed to subside slightly—before heading toward the safe house.

He glanced at her expression out of the corner of his eye. He could tell she was upset. Her hands were still shaking and her face had paled to a snowy-white color. At least she’d found the courage to do what he’d asked her to, but that didn’t excuse the fact that she’d disobeyed his instructions and flown halfway around the world on some mad quest to save her niece. If the police hadn’t been able to find the young girl yet with all of their resources, why in the world did she assume she could?

And how had her situation somehow managed to penetrate his normally fortified heart?

He mentally discarded the last question to deal with later. Or not at all. His focus was on closing this case. Period.

“Do you know where we are?” Kate asked.

He fought back a sharp retort. Before she jumped on his navigational skills, she had some explaining to do. “Yes. And I’m taking you to a safe house.”

“I checked into a hotel this morning. I’ll be fine there.”

“If they can find you on the street, don’t you think they can find you at your hotel?”

The question silenced her.

He gripped the steering wheel, regretting the tone of his response. He needed time to think, because he didn’t have time to take on her responsibility on top of everything else. But now he was going to have to arrange to send her back to the United States and ensure her safety in the meantime.

He kept his gaze straight ahead, watching the maze of cars around him while at the same time glancing frequently into the rearview mirror to ensure they weren’t being followed again. “I know you’re scared, but I need some answers. Start from the beginning. What in the world are you doing in Paris?”

“I—”

“Because I remember specifically telling you to stay in Dallas with your sister,” he continued, not giving her a chance to answer. “And yet somewhere you got the crazy notion that you could take care of things by yourself.”

A taxi flew past them, forcing him to swerve into another lane, adding to the tension in his gut. The next time he went out he was going to forget driving, stick to Pierre’s advice and use public transportation. Because if whoever was after them didn’t get them both killed, driving in Paris certainly could.

Her voice matched his own frustration when she finally answered his question. “What did you expect me to do? Sit in that hospital and wait? The doctors aren’t sure Rachel will ever wake up. And no one has found Sophie yet.”

“Listen.” He worked to soften his voice. “I really do understand that this is hard for you, but it’s not your job to go running after a bunch of felons. You’re lucky you’re not dead, because these guys mean business.” He glanced at her again, fighting to hold in his irritation. “You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself involved in.”

“I didn’t choose to get involved in this.”

She might be right, but his anger had yet to fully alleviate. “Even so, it didn’t mean you should just hop on a plane to track down a man with known criminal ties.”

She stared straight ahead out the window at the passing shops, her frown deepening. “It seemed like the right thing to do twenty-four hours ago.”

“This isn’t a game, Kate. You saw your sister. And you saw what happened just now. These guys play to win.”

“Do you think I don’t realize that?” She gripped the door handle and turned to him. “They just tried to grab me off the street in broad daylight.”

“I saw them grab you. That’s why I came after you.” Marcus slowed to a stop, waited for the pedestrians to cross, then turned into the underground parking garage and proceeded down the narrow entrance, which explained why all cars in this city were compact.

“Tell me what I should do now.” Her voice shook, despite the determination in her voice.

He squeezed into an empty parking space, then shut off the motor, his mind still running through his options regarding what he was going to do with her. His first choice was to send her back to Dallas on the next flight.

“We’ve got a safe house set up. You can stay there until I can get you a flight back to the States.”

“I’m not going back.”

He frowned, but he hadn’t expected an easy fight. “You don’t have a choice, and besides, you’ll be safe—”

“Safe?” She unbuckled her seat belt and turned to him, the panic in her voice back. “I’m not sure there is anywhere safe. They found Rachel. And now, for some reason, they think I’m involved and found me here. And the crazy thing is that I don’t even know who I’m running from. But I do have a choice as to whether I stay or not.”

“I told you not to get involved, and from what I’ve seen this morning, I was right.”

“And you think I’ll be safer in Dallas? My sister wasn’t safe.”

“Listen, Kate. I know you’re scared.” He pulled out the keys from the ignition and clutched them between his fingers. Arguing wasn’t going to get them anywhere for the moment. He needed to change the subject. “Can you think of any reason why they would come after you?”

Marcus’s phone rang again. He picked it up. Pierre.

“Give me a second,” he told her. “I’ll walk you up to the apartment.”

He stepped out of the car. “Hey. What have you got?”

“The car you asked me to look up was stolen.”

“Figures.”

“And the girl?”

“She’s with me. Safe for the moment.”

“What are you going to do with her?”

“My plan is to ship her out on the next flight back to the United States. I don’t have time to babysit.”

“Not so fast. We might need her.”

Marcus leaned against the car and shook his head. “Why? She’s just arrived in the country and brought me nothing but trouble.”

“My point exactly. Why are they after her? Neither of us believe in coincidences, so she has to be connected to the case somehow.”

Marcus tapped his fingers on the side of the car, unconvinced. He’d meant it when he’d told her she should leave things up to the authorities. He started pacing the small space between his car and the next. “I don’t know.”

“You know I’m right. Bring her to the safe house, and let her stay there. You can try to find out what she knows. Use her as a bridge to find Chad.”

“I’m not going to assume responsibility for her.”

“What’s wrong with playing the hero who saves the damsel in distress, as you Americans seem to love so much? We need a break in the case, and she might be exactly what we’re looking for.”

Marcus rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand, ignoring the hero-damsel comparison. According to Kate, she didn’t need a hero to sweep in and save her. Which was fine with him. But maybe Pierre did have a point. If she stayed in Paris, he might be able to get some information out of her
and
keep his eye on her at the same time. For as much as he didn’t like the idea, as far as he was concerned, Kate Elliot needed someone to look after her.

* * *

Kate watched Marcus pace outside the car, cell phone pressed against his ear, his frown deepening. She knew he was talking about her. More than likely, he was having his friend book the next flight out of the country for her. But if Sophie was here, she was going to do everything in her power to help find her niece. And there was nothing Marcus could do to stop her.

When he finally slipped back into the car, she was ready to argue her case. “I’m not leaving Paris.”

“That’s fine.”

“That’s fine?” Kate paused. “You’re not taking me to the airport?”

“That was my first choice, but Pierre convinced me that we might be able to use you.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Whoever tried to grab you today clearly thinks you are connected to the case somehow. I want to know how. And in exchange, you get a safe place to stay.”

Five minutes later, Kate stepped out of the small elevator onto the fourth floor of the apartment building, into a lit hallway with three doors, still unsure if she was happy with the situation. But if it kept her safe and in Paris, maybe it was time to stop arguing.

Marcus pressed the buzzer of apartment 403, then waited beside her until a man wearing a suit opened up the door and ushered them inside.

“This is Pierre Durand.” Marcus introduced the man. “He’s with French intelligence, working on the same case I am. He also speaks perfect English.”

The older man pushed back his glasses and grinned. “From living in Boston for three years.”

Kate shook the man’s hand and realized her own was still trembling. She pulled her hand back then glanced around the tiny apartment’s living room with its mismatched table and chairs and eclectic collection of artwork on the walls. Even the late-morning sunlight streaming through two large windows wasn’t enough to lighten her somber mood.

Her gaze shifted back to the other agent. The reality of why she was here hit afresh like an aftershock. She needed a few minutes alone to get her emotions in check.

“You’ll find the apartment small, but sufficient. And safe,” Pierre assured her. “It’s completely off the grid.”

“It’s...perfect. Would you mind if I used the restroom?”

“Of course not.” Pierre nodded. “It’s straight ahead through the door on the left.”

Once inside the narrow room, Kate sat down on the closed toilet seat and rested her hands against her thighs, trying to stop her legs from shaking. Marcus might be used to going after the bad guys, but she wasn’t. Which was why he’d been right. Maybe she should be on the next flight back to the United States. She could still feel the man’s steel grip on her arm and hear the cars whizzing past her as she’d fled through the heavy traffic.

If she hadn’t escaped the vehicle... If Marcus hadn’t rescued her... No. She shook her head. She couldn’t let her mind go there. They might still be after her, but for now she
was
safe—even if she wasn’t completely comfortable with her rescuer.

Clearly, she had trust issues, springing from the fact that most men in her life hadn’t exactly lived up to her expectations. That group primarily included Kevin, who she’d once seen as her hero.

She clenched her fingers together. The bottom line was that she was scared. Scared that her by and large orderly world had spun out of control to the point that no one—not even the far-too-handsome Agent O’Brian—would be able to set it right again.

Her phone rang, disrupting her tremulous thoughts.

She answered the call, determined to keep her voice even. “Mom?”

“Kate? You sound like you’ve been crying.”

Kate wiped her cheek then pressed her palm against her thigh. “I’m okay. What time is it there?”

“Around five. I couldn’t sleep, and I wanted to make sure you arrived safe.”

“I did. I’m...I’m fine.” She wasn’t going to tell her mom what had happened. The last thing she needed was a second daughter to worry about. “What’s the latest news on Rachel?”