Bound To Love (22 page)

Pain was etched in the lines above his eyes, around his mouth. His voice was emotionless, like a newsreader reading the news of a disaster, bare facts. ‘Dad was standing in line in the bank when two guys decided to rob it. They told everyone to lie on the floor, but a pregnant woman started to argue with them, saying she couldn’t lie on her stomach, it would be bad for the baby.’ His hands clenched tight at his sides. The telling was its own type of agony. She had to let him tell the whole story without interrupting, but longed to put her arms around him, to comfort him somehow.

‘They aimed right at her and pulled the trigger. My father pushed her aside, and took the bullet in the heart. He died at the scene.’ Silent tears started to pour down his cheeks as he continued, oblivious. ‘Dad acted on instinct. He just jumped right in there, didn’t stop to think about it. If he had, he would have remembered he had a wife and a child at home who loved him. Who
needed
him. I never forgave him for that.’

He wiped away tears with the back of his hand.

‘There was a state funeral attended by thousands of strangers. They called my father a hero, and gave my mother no privacy in her grief.’ He stood up and started pacing. Just as he had when his mother was in danger. His tormented body unable to stay still while the memories held him in their grip.

Tempest groaned. He’d been through hell. At least when her father died she had Skye, and the ability to grieve in private. He was such a fiercely protective man. And his words revealed that he’d been the same as a kid. Seeing his mother hounded and being powerless to stop it would have tormented him.

His pacing slowed, and he sank back onto the chair again.

She stroked the back of his hand with her thumb. ‘It must have been awful.’

Jake’s deep voice was no louder than a whisper. ‘My father was a brave man who sacrificed his life for a stranger and her child. I couldn’t see that though, I only knew my life had been torn to pieces, and I blamed him for it. Before we left New York to live with Céleste and Jean Luc in France, Paul was my only confidant.’

Tempest’s heart softened in sympathy. ‘I’m glad you decided to talk to me about it.’

Céleste had said he never talked about his father’s death, and she was sure he hadn’t even been aware of the tears streaking down his face. It was humbling that he’d chosen her to share his tortuous secrets with. He must trust her. The knowledge warmed her deep inside.

‘It wasn’t easy to talk about it, but I needed to. I needed to talk to you about it.’ He stood and pulled her into his arms, enveloping her in his warmth. ‘I wish I could go instead of you. I don’t want you walking into danger.’

Warmth diffused through Tempest’s body as she stood silently in the circle of his arms. She’d been alone. He had too. Now, their souls seemed to tangle and become one. There was nothing to do but wait. She burrowed her head closer into his shoulder and breathed in his familiar scent. Waiting for that phone to ring.

****

Dark clouds filled the sky as the little convoy drove towards the drop point. Tempest, Smith and Daniel sat in silence as they wove through tree-lined roads. They reached the top of a hill, and the lead vehicle pulled in to the verge. They followed suit, and the engine noise faded away to silence.

‘This is as far as we go,’ Smith said.

They climbed out. Tree branches whipped in the strengthening wind. Tempest looked around. The place was eerily deserted. They hadn’t passed another car for miles. She shivered, and hugged her arms around her body.

‘There.’ Smith pointed down the hill to a dark building crouched in the valley’s dip. ‘That’s the warehouse.’

Tempest looked for any sign of movement but didn’t see it.

Daniel put his arm around her, and spoke quietly. ‘They’re in place. And everything you say in the car will be picked up by the team’s in-ear monitoring system.’

Smith stood closer. ‘Come on; we’ll go through it again.’

Jake would be listening. Somehow the thought gave Tempest strength when she had none. The nightmare that had sprung into life with the dream was still vivid, and she was running on automatic, following the precise instructions that Jake and Smith had drilled into her.

‘I’m in the car, setting off now.’ It was strange talking to the microphone Jake had fixed under the steering wheel. She wished Jake could speak back.

She drove slowly and carefully down the winding road. The headlights swung out in an arc over the bracken as she took a corner. There was no sign of life in this desolate wasteland. No houses, no wildlife, nothing.

She muttered under her breath. ‘I sure hope you’re out there.’

The ruined building squatted in the valley’s dip. Irregular dark grey stone slabs, undamaged by the elements, unlike the black empty sockets of smashed windows. The car slowed, then stopped. Tempest turned off the engine. 

‘I’m here.’ She forced a calm tone into her voice for the mike. Jake was wound up so tight he’d shatter if he heard the fear that coursed through her. ‘There’s no activity at all. No cars, nothing.’

The team had been adamant. She wasn’t to leave the car, but rather to wait until it was approached. Her gaze travelled over the dark building. There were no lights and no sign of recent activity. The ground was wet from the rain earlier, and there were no telltale tyre tracks around the building either. The moment the team learned of the location, they’d staked it out. There’d been no activity since. Skye wasn’t in there.
Nobody’s in there.
Tempest pulled in a deep breath. Paul would be arriving in a car. She just needed to hold tight, and wait.

She gazed out of the windscreen, hairs raised on the back of her neck. Then, there - movement.

‘I see something.’ She peered closer, then puffed out. ‘It’s a bicycle. A kid on a bicycle.’

A lanky boy, hoodie pulled up, cycled quickly to the car. He stopped at her window, and tapped on it with a hard object.

She wound down the window, heart hammering.

‘What …’ Before she had a chance to finish her sentence, he thrust a small dark object into her hand, and turned quickly, cycling back the way he’d come. As she stared at the phone, it rang.

The voice was pitched low, angry. ‘You brought the cops. What sort of an idiot do you think I am?’

Saliva dried in Tempest’s mouth. Her eyes darted to the building. He must be watching, must have seen them somehow. ‘I…’

‘Can it, sweetheart. Get out of the car.’

Her legs were jelly, but somehow she managed to climb out, closing the door behind her.

The voice continued. ‘Do you want to see your sister alive?’

‘Of course I do!’ Tempest cried, as control vanished in a heartbeat. ‘I’ll do anything, just don’t hurt her.’

The voice was cold with deadly intent. ‘You get one more chance. If you tip them off, I’ll kill her. Listen carefully. You’ve got five minutes to get to your next location. Any longer, and she’s dead.’

****

The cold dampness of the ground seeped through Jake’s chest. He’d thought lying here listening to Tempest’s disembodied voice as she arrived at the warehouse was the worst thing he’d ever felt, but he’d been wrong.

The cyclist had given her something, and before she could tell them what it was, she’d stuttered something and climbed out of the car.

‘She’s got a cell phone.’ Smith’s voice bled through the earphone. ‘She’s talking to someone.’

‘It’s gone wrong, get her!’ Jake was on his feet, but too late. Tempest climbed into the car and accelerated away, wheels spinning on the rough surface. All hell broke loose as the team scrabbled to their feet.

‘Get a car, now!’ Jake shouted, as Daniel’s BMW disappeared around the curve at the bottom of the hill.

It only took minutes for the cars to reach them. Minutes that seemed like hours. Jake’s body burned with frantic energy. He pressed the receiver to his ear but heard nothing. Either the mike had stopped working, or Tempest was staying silent.
Talk to me!
Frustration burned a hole in his gut. She couldn’t hear him, but she must know that all she had to do was speak and they’d know what was going on.

The car door flung open as it slowed, and Jake clambered inside. ‘Are you getting anything?’

‘Nothing. The kit’s working, but she’s not talking. Whatever Paul said to her on the phone has her spooked.’ Smith said, driving at breakneck speed after her. ‘We’re only a couple of minutes behind her.’

Jake cursed himself for an idiot. ‘Paul must have changed the drop point.’ He glanced over at Daniel, who was gripping the back of the passenger seat.

Daniel spoke through gritted teeth. ‘Just get us there, Smith.’

There were lights up ahead, a small fishing village on the coast. Now, for the first time in hours there were people and the occasional car.

‘Where did they go?’ Jake shouted.

‘I saw their headlights, they’re headed for the marina.’ Smith said.

The marina. Jake’s stomach clenched.
If he got her onto a boat…
‘Hurry up!’ Traffic lights turned red, but the car didn’t slow for a moment, as the convoy shot through the junction, wheels squealing.

Jake could see the BMW now, skittering to a halt. ‘There!’

The road ahead was blocked by a car reversing awkwardly into a parking spot. Smith leaned hard on the horn, but rather than drive, the man continued reversing, shock written all over his face. Precious minutes, and she was getting away. Jake couldn’t see around the car, couldn’t see where she’d gone.

‘Dammit!’ He pushed the car door open, and ran.

Blood thundered in his ears and he ignored the shouts of the others as he ran. By the time the cars caught up with him, Jake was standing on the jetty, watching a small yacht as it powered out into the harbour mouth. His worse fears had taken form. Paul had taken her, and Jake hadn’t stopped him.

Chapter Fourteen

A subtle glint of metal glittered on the bleached wooden boards of the jetty. Jake reached down and picked it up. A faint trace of blood stained the links of the handmade chain. The delicate golden ball always hung around Tempest’s neck. The chain wasn’t broken, but had opened somehow. Jake closed his hand over it, breathing deep. Paul had hurt her. He fastened it around his neck.

Then Daniel was there. One of the cars was dispatched to follow the boat’s progress around the headland, while Smith shouted into his walkie-talkie. Jake scanned the marina. There. A little yacht bobbed in the waves, with a middle-aged couple aboard. Weekend sailors.

‘We need a boat.’ Jake pointed to the small craft.

‘The police launch is on its way.’ Smith glanced at his watch. ‘They haven’t far to come, they’ll be here in a minute. And I’ve called for a chopper.’

‘How long is all that going to take?’ Daniel asked.

‘Too long,’ Jake answered shortly. ‘There’s blood on her necklace. We’ve got to get after them.’ He gazed at the boat as it made for the headland, in mere moments it would be out of sight, and then… Jake’s heart thumped. There was no way he was going to stand here and wait. ‘We need that boat.’

Daniel nodded. ‘Let’s go.’

They ran down to where the yacht was pulling up.

‘Sir, we need to borrow your boat,’ Jake called, heart sinking as he recognised the stubborn look on its captain’s face. ‘There’s been a kidnap, and the women in that boat,’ he pointed to the small craft disappearing from sight, ‘are in danger. We’ve got to get to them.’

Jake glanced at Smith and the others. Dark smudges of camouflage grease was smeared over their faces, and the dark clothing that had been so necessary on the stake out made them look like a team of mercenaries, or even worse, terrorists. All of the vehicles were unmarked cars too. There was no way the older man was going to believe their story.

His muscles tensed. If the couple didn’t get out of the yacht, he was going to have to take it from them. By force.

A blonde woman dressed in jeans and a polo shirt, with a cotton jumper slung around her neck stilled, staring intently. ‘Aren’t you…’ She was staring at Daniel.

‘I’m Daniel Adams.’ Daniel nodded, and a smile spread over the blonde’s face.

‘Mike, it’s Daniel Adams!’

‘My wife is in that boat, sir. And her sister. We really need your boat. There isn’t much time.’ Daniel urged.

The older man threw a rope, and Daniel fastened it quickly and efficiently. He held out a hand to the woman, and helped her out.

‘I’ll come with you.’ The older man offered.

Jake shook his head. ‘The man we’re chasing is dangerous. I can’t allow you to put yourself in danger. We’ll take good care of your boat. Is there much fuel aboard?’

‘It’s practically full. We were just pottering around, and we had no need to fire up the engine, there’s a good wind for sailing.’ Mike clambered out.

Jake pointed at Smith, and waved to get his attention. ‘That’s the police officer heading up the investigation. Go to him and give him your details, he’ll keep you in the loop.’

Daniel gave them his best ‘movie star’ smile, albeit a pinched version. He kissed the woman’s cheek. ‘Thank you.’

Then they were off across the bay, pushing the small craft to its limit.

****

Tempest lay in the bottom of the boat unable to move. She stared at her sister, who was similarly bound with a wide band of silver tape across her mouth. Paul had held her tightly to him as he powered the boat out to sea, then flicked the autopilot on while he trussed Tempest up like a turkey and shoved her brutally down into the cabin. She’d fallen heavily on her side, unable to use her arms to cushion her fall, and her leg ached from hip to ankle from the hard contact with the floor. Her head had caught the edge of the bench, and blood trickled into her eye, blurring her vision.

Skye was uninjured, her eyes wide in shock.

Tempest glanced around, looking for something she could reach to try and work on their bonds, but it was hopeless. They were both tied up so tightly there was no possibility of reaching anything. She couldn’t even get to her feet.

She heard footsteps on the steps that lead down into the cabin, then felt hands grasp her underneath her armpits, as Paul hefted her to her feet. Rough fingers grasped the end of the tape and pulled brutally.