The Darkest of Shadows (26 page)

“Exactly,” Lawrence said quietly, and he didn’t need to explain further. Charlie and Frost moved into action and were gone seconds later.

“Would she have left on her own, Lawrence?” Felix asked.

“No.” Lawrence dragged himself back into the present. “And even if she did, she would have taken Charlie with her. She knows better,” he told them, praying it was true.

Frost came back into the room. “There’s a service elevator back there,” he stated. “Where’s the video footage of this place?”

“It’s on its way,” Felix said.

“Charlie is scouting around the exits to see if she just stepped out for moment,” Frost said, but both he and Lawrence knew it was unlikely.

Felix’s own security team arrived a short while later with a laptop and several disks. They settled on a side table, and moments later they were scanning through the security footage, trying to find the right timeframe.

“There.” Frost pointed to an image of the lounge, and they all watched as Lilly walked across the room and disappeared down a hall. “Is there an image of that hall?”

“This one.” The screen changed, and they watched as Lilly came face to face with her attacker.

Frost had to put a restraining hand on Lawrence’s shoulder to stop him from reacting. It was hard to watch and harder still to know that Lilly was even now in that man’s custody.

“Felix!” Lawrence called, and then the security tapes were replayed when he arrived.

“What the hell was that?” Lawrence ground out.

“I don’t recognize the man,” Felix said apologetically. “Is it a personal attack against you, her, or all of us?”

None of them knew, and it didn’t really matter at that point.

Things moved quickly after that. The only good thing that could have come out of this was that whoever had taken Lilly had to be either the smartest man alive, or the dumbest. He chose to take someone from a party that contained some of the most powerful men in America, including several high-level CIA agents.

“Lilly has a tracker in her phone,” Frost told them, and within moments they had a trace on her location.

Things move very effectively in the world of the CIA, and finding one of their own was an extremely high priority. Hundreds of men were out looking for her, and Lawrence wanted to be out there, too. It took several long, calming statements from his friends before he saw the wisdom of their words and remained where he was.

Charlie had gone off with some of the agents, but Frost and a fair contingent of other security remained in the penthouse with the guests. Until they knew what this was about, they weren’t exposing anyone to the dangers outside.

Lawrence paced; he couldn’t help it. He was wound so tight and was so furious that he wanted to explode. How dare they touch Lilly? How dare they come into his world and take her?

His phone rang; it continued for a long moment before he realized what it was. He pulled it out of his pocket to reject the call but paused when the ID read Lilly’s name.

He snapped his fingers at Henry as he stood nearby and then accepted the call.

“Lilly?” His voice shook.

“Lilly isn’t here right now, but I’d like a moment of your time, if you’re not too busy,” a man’s voice said over the phone.

Lawrence wanted so much to kill him right at that moment. “What the fuck do you want?” A score of CIA agents swarmed around him, trying to listen to the conversation, but he pushed through them to get more room.

“Lilly is a lovely name for such a beautiful woman,” the voice went on.

“You touch her, and you die,” Lawrence hissed back.

“Oh, I’ll do more than touch her. I’ll kill her, and make it long and painful, unless you do exactly as I say.”

Of course, there was always that. “What?” Lawrence asked quietly.

“You are going to accept the offer on Lane Cove.”

“What the hell?” Lawrence exploded. “This is all about a fucking business deal? Jesus Christ, you can have the thing if it’s that fucking important to you.”

“That’s very generous of you,” the voice said quietly. “But it doesn’t really work that way. And besides, I need you to accept the deal, because the others won’t sell unless you do.”

“Fine. Whatever.”

“It’s a shame you weren’t so reasonable when the offer was made the first time. It would have saved us both a great deal of trouble.”

“Where is Lilly?” Lawrence asked.

“She will be returned to you when the papers are signed for all four of the offers.”

“That will take time,” Lawrence protested.

“Then I suggest you get moving. You wouldn’t want me to get bored and take out my frustrations on your pretty little woman, now would you?” Then the call disconnected.

“How long?” Lawrence asked one of the men, as he struggled to control his rage. “How close are you to finding her?”
How long does she have to be with that man?

“Ten minutes, sir.”

Lawrence nodded and sat down beside Henry on the lounge.

“She’ll be OK,” Henry assured him. “You can’t ask for better people to get her back.”

Lawrence knew that, but it didn’t make it any easier to sit there and wait. It was the longest, most harrowing ten minutes of his life, and it gave him a startling insight into the life that she lived every day. He only had to get through ten minutes fearing the worst; he couldn’t imagine what it would be like to know your worst nightmares had already happened.

Phillip Marlow, one of the brightest minds in the CIA, sat down beside Lawrence and spoke very quietly and calmly to him. “They’re at the location.”

Phillip had an earpiece in that was clearly relaying the operation through to him, because he continued his commentary. “They didn’t take her far. They got her in a car and drove downtown. There are three people in the car—four, including Lilly. She appears calm at the moment, maybe unconscious; they can’t get close enough to determine. There are two men in the front seat and one in the back with her. They aren’t paying her much attention, just waiting in the car.”

It was easier when he talked, Lawrence thought. Phillip was such a calming strength. There wasn’t anyone else he would trust more to get her back than the men in this room.

“The snipers are in place.” Phillip rested a hand on Lawrence’s shoulder. “The order has been given to take them out; they’re not going to try a ground assault with Lilly in the car. It will be quick and clean.”

Lawrence held his breath for a minute, longer, however long it took for those shots to be perfect, for the precise moment when the three men in that car died. He wished he was there to see it.

“It’s done.” Phillip said quietly.

Lawrence turned his gaze to meet his friends, the question clearly in his eyes.

“Lilly is with Charlie,” Phillip said finally. “She’s safe.”

A knot of hard steel loosened from Lawrence’s chest. “Thank you.”

Lawrence placed a hand on Phillip’s shoulder. “Anytime.” God, Lawrence hoped not.

“I have to go.” Lawrence shot up from the lounge and, with a nod of appreciation to Henry and Felix, he and Frost left the room.

Lawrence called Charlie as soon as they were in the car. “Take her to the apartment,” he ordered. A moment later, he was again on the phone, this time to a friend of his, Craig Evans, who was a surgeon at one of the hospitals in New York.

“Lawrence,” Craig answered. “Is everything all right?”

“Can you come to my place?”

“Sure. I’ll be there in ten.”

Lawrence and Craig had built a strong friendship over many years of hospital fundraising events. Lawrence was a long-term supporter of the hospital, and Craig was the only one he would trust to take care of Lilly.

Lawrence beat them all back to the apartment. Craig arrived a few minutes after him.

“Are you all right?” he asked, coming into the room and giving Lawrence a thorough look.

“It’s not me,” Lawrence responded. “My friend. Lilly.” His voice shook over her name. “It’s a long story. She should be here in a minute. I just need you to make sure that she’s OK.”

“All right.”

Charlie came in a moment later, and wrapped tightly in his arms was the still form of Lilly. She was barely visible through the blankets wrapped around her body.

Lawrence leaped forward and took her out of Charlie’s arms and walked into the bedroom with her, the others following.

“She hasn’t spoken since I grabbed her out of the car,” Charlie offered. Both he and Frost stayed against the wall, their part in this over.

Lawrence laid Lilly down on the bed, her body limp, her eyes unfocused and lost. “Lilly?” He smoothed the hair back from her face and kissed her on the forehead. “You’re safe,” he whispered, and sat down beside her on the bed.

Craig moved over to sit on the other side of the bed. He picked up her wrist and felt for her pulse. “I need to know what happened, Lawrence,” he said quietly.

Lawrence was silent for a moment as he struggled to get the words around the knot in his chest. “Someone drugged her and then kidnapped her. Held her for ransom.”

Craig reached out and rested a hand on Lawrence’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“So am I.”

“Her pulse is strong,” Craig said. After a few more quick tests, he added, “I need you to leave, Lawrence. I need to check her over, to make sure that there are no injuries we can’t see.”

Lawrence knew what he was saying. He needed to make sure that they hadn’t raped her. Without a word, Lawrence, Frost, and Charlie left the room, but they only went as far as the hall outside her room.

It felt like a long time, but eventually Craig let them back in the room. Lilly was sleeping on her side, wearing one of Lawrence’s shirts.

“She’s fine,” Craig told them, and all three of them relaxed some of the strain from their bodies. “She isn’t hurt, just in shock; and with the drug still in her system, she’s a little out of it.”

“She’ll be OK?” Lawrence asked.

“She’ll need a while to recover. It was a pretty terrifying thing, and she’s only just coming back to herself.”

“Did she talk to you?”

Craig nodded. “I might have lied and told her that I was your friend.” He smiled a little to lighten the mood, “So if she remembers later, you have to back me up on that. I gave her something to knock her out. It should last a good twelve hours so don’t be surprised if she sleeps away most of the day. It will do her good to heal a little before she has to face reality again.”

“Thank you,” Lawrence said sincerely.

“It’s what friends are for,” Craig responded. “I’ll be back tonight to check on her. Just give her time, and she’ll be fine, Lawrence.”

He was familiar with giving Lilly time, so that shouldn’t be too difficult to manage.

.

Thirteen

I had a strange hollowness to my head when I woke, and it took me a long moment of quiet before the events of the party came back to me in all their shattering clarity.

I flinched against the images and the fear that rushed through me, and my abrupt movement disturbed Lawrence, who lay beside me—and that startled me even more, because I hadn’t realized he was there.

“Shhh, Lilly. Baby, I’m here,” he crooned softy, his arms tightening around me. I surged up out of his arms and scuttled across the bed to sit against the headboard, my legs curled up against my chest. I held onto them to stop the shaking that rocked my body.

“Lilly,” Lawrence said evenly, from where he sat on the other side of the bed, but he didn’t make an attempt to come any closer. “I’m so sorry.”

Why is he sorry?

I was confused and disoriented. I remembered bits and pieces of what had happened, some hazy and some horrifying; but in all that, I couldn’t see anything that was his fault. Maybe there were bigger gaps in my memory than I realized.

“What time is it?” I whispered the words.

“It’s nine-thirty at night. First of January,” he said.

“I don’t…” I faltered over the words. “I don’t understand what happened. I don’t remember.”

“You were kidnapped.” Lawrence explained. “The people who wanted to buy the casino took offense when we rejected their offer and decided to use you as leverage. My friends at the party, they arranged to get you back.”

“I remember being in a car.” I had disjointed memories, confusing memories.

“The snipers took out the people in the car with you, and then Charlie grabbed you and bought you back here.”

“OK.” Those pieces I could place in some sort of order.

“My friend, Craig, he’s a doctor,” he added. “I asked him to come here this morning and check on you. He gave you a sedative to help you sleep. He’s coming back tonight to make sure you’re all right.”

He must have been the strangely peaceful man I remembered. That was all I needed to put the whole picture together in my head.

I remembered too clearly the fear and confusion that I felt when I realized that I was being taken, and I remembered the horrifying vision of blood when the snipers took their shots. I remember the numbing effects of the drug on the cloth that they kept putting up to my mouth and the pain that I felt deep inside me at the thought of not seeing Lawrence again.

But overshadowing all that was the joy that I felt at the possibility that I might see
them
again. That this might be the end for me, and that it might be time for the agony to end, my time to join them in eternity. I’m not sure if I was more terrified of the kidnapping, or of the fact that I had so nearly gotten to the place I had been seeking all this time.

“Lilly?” Lawrence’s hesitant question finally drew my attention. I moved my gaze up to his face and saw him for the first time.

He looked frightened, and that wasn’t an emotion that I was used to seeing with Lawrence. Nothing affected him, especially not fear. He was scared for me, for what had happened, and I was sure that he blamed himself for all of it.

That wasn’t right or fair. I was OK, if a little shaken and confused. I wasn’t harmed, and I was sure nothing like that would ever happen again. One thing Lawrence was not, and that was slow to learn. I would never be in danger like that again.

I pushed everything to the back of my mind, where I had learned to store all the wrong things in my life. I was good at it by now and found that it came easier this time. In reality, what Lawrence didn’t understand was that what had happened, according to my scale of horrible things, didn’t even really rate. It was minor, and definitely more easily forgotten than many other things in my past.