Chasing Victory (The Winters Sisters) (10 page)

“There you are, we thought you were going to stand us up.” Tristan’s warm, soft voice floated into her thoughts. Suddenly her controlled façade fell away and panic set in. She frantically started signing about her run in with Sarah and having to meet with Braxton in two hours.

“Calm down Victory. We have a plan. Everything is going to be alright.” Tristan said.

“We? Who’s we?” She signed.

“All your questions will be answered. But right now we are short on time, we have to make this fast. I hoping you will be able to retain everything I need to tell you,” Tristan said.

“I’m one of the best research specialists in the world, what do you think?” She flashed a glance in his direction.

“I’m glad to see you still have your sense of humor. Take your left hand and slid it down the inside leg of the bench until you find a small--”

“Yuck,” Victory said out loud. “Sorry about that.” She whispered.

“No worries. There is no one within one hundred and fifty feet of you, and yes you have found what I want you to. That is a synthetic chewing gum. Pull it free and be careful, it is encapsulating a tiny ear piece.”

Victory pulled apart the gum and found the ear piece. She looked around and then quickly placed it in her ear.

“Its sound activated. Say ‘go’ when you want to start the recording; ‘Back’ to rewind, and ‘stop’ to end the recording. Got it?” Tristan asked.

Victory hand signed the instructions back to Logan and Tristan verbatim.

“Okay. You need to memorize the plan recorded in this ear piece before you go back to the lab. We can’t take the chance that they might have sensors that can detect electronics. So when you are done with the ear piece put it back in the gum and throw it out into the ocean.”

“Tristan, who are you, you’re certainly not a botanist.”

“We’re the good guys Victory. I told you, part of a U.S. military team. It will all become clear after you listen to the recording. Learn the plan, and stick to it, verbatim, don’t deviate from it at all, and Victory?” She hazarded a brief glance in his direction. “Good luck,” he murmured.

***

It was a few minutes before her meeting with Braxton. She got up from the bench to walk back to the lab and took a few steps towards the edge of the cliff to toss the gum into the water.

She had to get back to her room in time to splash water on her face and take a breath without fear of being watched. She was wiping the water from her face when there was a knock on her door.

“Man, they are nothing if not prompt here.” Victory hung her towel and headed for the door. There was a second knock.

“Ms. Winters, Mr. Braxton doesn’t like to be kept waiting.” Dave said from the other side of the door.

Victory swung the door open before he finished his sentence. “Ah Mr. Anderson, my favorite kidnapper, shall we go?” She walked right past Dave without a second glance. For the first time since she walked into the coffee shop two days ago, Victory had a feeling of control about her situation.

They got out of the elevator on the top floor and walked down the same stunning black marble hall to Braxton’s office. Dave knocked on the door and opened it for Victory to enter, closing it behind her. Lawrence Braxton snapped closed his cell phone and was working on his computer. Victory had picked up a few words of his conversation as she approached the door, but none of it made any sense to her; something about a meeting with kaleidoscope?

“Good afternoon, Ms. Winters. I trust you have enjoyed your time on my lovely island,” Lawrence Braxton said from behind his antique cherry desk without bothering to look up from his computer.

“Considering the fact that I can’t leave the island, it was fine,” she responded.

Her abrupt response caused Braxton to stop typing, but his gaze remained on his screen. “Good. Have you made your decision about coming to work for me?”

“I will give you three weeks under one condition,” she said.

That got his attention. For the first time Braxton looked up and actually made eye contact. “And what might that be?” He raised one eye brow and asked more out of curiosity than compromise.

“I need my lab assistant. He has been with me since the very beginning of my research. He understands my short hand, my train of thought, and my idiosyncrasies. It will take me longer than three weeks to get any of your people up to speed.”

Braxton sat back in his oversized leather chair with a sneer on his face. He didn’t say a word for almost one whole minute. Then he asked, “is that all?”

“Three weeks. That’s it. And you have to leave my sisters out of this.” Victory stared Braxton in the eye.

“No problem.” He had no plan of honoring his promise, but being the smug man that he was, Braxton was sure he would be able to convince Victory to stay of her own accord before the three weeks were up. If not, then he would again threaten her sisters.

“I need to able to speak to my sisters. I will tell them that I was called away on research.”

“Of course, as long as you don’t give them any of the details of the project you will be working on. And as far as your assistant, it would be best for him if he was also kept in the dark.”

“My thoughts exactly, the less he knows the safer he will be,” Victory responded casually.

“Good, I’m glad we are on the same page. Give Sarah all the contact information regarding your assistant on your way out.”

“I need to call him first and let him know that he will be coming out here to work for three weeks.”

“Yes, you do need to contact him. But he won’t be working here,” Braxton said.

“We need to work together,” she quickly responded, slightly less brazen.

“And you will be. Call him on your way out and tell him to pack for warm weather. He is to go to the airport tomorrow morning at nine, there will be a private helicopter waiting to bring him out here. Good day Ms. Winters.” Braxton returned to his computer and Dave entered the office.

“I’ll see you back to your room.” Dave said as he nodded towards the hall. Victory gave one last scowl in Braxton’s direction and headed out of his office.

“I need to give Sarah some information, and then I have been given permission to make some calls,” she hissed at Dave. Sarah looked up ready to receive her instructions. “Sarah, I will be joined by my lab assistant, Tristan Grant.” She recited from memory, every exact word that had been on the recording.

“Thank you Ms. Winters. I’ll take care of all the details,” Sarah responded. Victory prayed that his cover was good and would hold up to Sarah’s scrutiny. At this point she didn’t trust anything Tristan told her.

“That’s fine. Mr. Braxton said that I could phone both Tristan and my sisters.”

“Yes, there’s a phone right over here.” She led her across the hall to a chair and side table with a phone sitting on it. Victory looked at the phone then back at both Sarah and Dave. Obviously they weren’t going to let her speak to anyone privately.

“Is this the only phone that I can use?” she asked.

“It’s this or nothing,” Dave snapped before Sarah spoke up.

“Fine.” She sat in the chair, turned her back to them, and dialed Payton’s cell phone. Payton answered on the second ring. She was aware of the plan, but in case their call was overheard, Payton was to convince the kidnappers that she was in the dark.

“Hello,” Payton answered.

“Hey sis.”

“Victory! Thank god you’re safe. Where are you? Why did you disappear? Are you okay?” She rambled on, it wasn’t a stretch trying to act upset. Knowing the plan didn’t make her any less distressed that her sister had indeed been kidnapped.

“Calm down Payton. I’m okay. Seems there was a bit of a misunderstanding with one of my business associates. They insist I stick around and help them work out a problem.” Dave gave her a bit of a frown. “How’s Dax?”

“He’s okay. He was really agitated for the first day or so that you were gone, but he is settling down now.”

“Give him a kiss and a big hug for me and tell him I’ll be home in three weeks. Tristan will be heading out to join me tomorrow. You know how I can’t get anything done in my lab without him.”

“Ahh, yes, I do know. I’m really glad that he will be there to help you,” Payton answered.

“I need to still call him and Willow, so I guess I had better get moving.”

“Okay, Victory...”

“I know sis, I miss you too and all the doberkids.”

“Please, take good care of yourself and call again when you can,” Payton said.

“I will.”

“I love you, Victory.” Payton whispered into the receiver.

“Right back at you, bye for now,” Victory hung up the phone. For a short span she sat, her eyes closed, centering herself, replaying the recording in her mind. Then she opened her eyes and picked up the phone, punching in Tristan’s number as if she had done it a million times before.

“Yep, what’s up?” Tristan answered.

“Hi Tristan, I’m sure you’ve missed me.” Victory said as if they had known each other for years.

“Hey Doc. I haven’t heard from you in one whole week. That’s a change; you must actually be enjoying your vacation for once.”

“About that. I have a new project for us, starts tomorrow.”

“Of course it does. You never have been one to give much notice,” Tristan said.

“Nature of the beast, why change now. Make sure to drop the boss an email to let him know that we will both be out of the office together. Pack up all our gear. If you could make a stop at my place and get me some clothes, we’ll be in a warm climate so pack accordingly.” She glanced over her shoulder to see if Dave was still there, he was chatting with Sarah but was glued to the same spot. If she was going to do it this was her chance. “I also have a small jar of crystals next to my bed, can you bring those too. They look like a kaleidoscope.” The last part she barely breathed out. “Thanks,” she said in her normal voice.

“Will do, name the place and time,” Tristan said.

“Nine tomorrow morning at Boeing Field, there will be a private helicopter waiting on the tarmac for you.” Victory thought this first conversation was going very smoothly, as if they had indeed worked together for years. This wasn’t as difficult as she had imagined it would be.

“Wow, this one sounds like a first class kind of job. I think I’m gonna like this,” Tristan replied.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Tristan.”

“See you tomorrow Doc, take care.”

ELEVEN

Tristan hung up the phone and looked around the Situation Room. “She seems to be keeping it together. She gave us a couple of good leads. They will be moving us to somewhere warm. She also mentioned kaleidoscope.”

“Are you sure she said kaleidoscope, I could hardly hear her,” Jack responded.

“Yes, I’m sure. I heard her plain as day. She said her crystals remind her of a kaleidoscope,” Tristan said.

“Jack, get on your computer and pull up all of Biotec’s properties and labs,” Wyatt said. “That might give us a starting point as to where they will be taking Tristan and Victory. But the real problem is we still don’t know who else is involved with this group. You could be shipped anywhere in the world depending on who Lawrence Braxton is in bed with. Logan you work on the term “kaleidoscope,” see what you can come up with. Tristan, you need to head out to get all your stuff together. Spend some time at Victory’s place and see if there is anything there she might need or that you can use. That’s it guys, let’s get started.”

Four hours later the group was back together for an update in the Situation Room.

“Give us an update Jack,” Wyatt said.

“Captain, seems Biotec owns or has shares in a vast number of properties, over three hundred of them. I have compiled a list and ranked them according to the likelihood of priority. Then I took the top twenty that are located in a warmer climate.”

“Let’s hear your educated guess,” Tristan prompted, trying to wait patiently while Jack rambled on.

Jack handed them each a page of the top twenty locations. Each location had a detailed accounting, containing the number and type of projects, specific buildings, and number of employees currently working at each site.

“Great, this gives us a starting place,” Wyatt said.

“Wait Captain, it gets even better than that. Tell them what you came across in your search Logan.” Jack said, pushing at Logan’s shoulder with a big smirk on his face.

“Logan,” Wyatt said.

“I input kaleidoscope in all our search engines, to see what kind of hits we would get. We pulled up thousands, but one that really jumped out at me.”

“We’re all ears,” Wyatt replied taking a sip of his coffee.

“Biotec owns one of the smaller Hawaiian Islands where they recently completed a hi-tech lab last summer. Two months ago they sold their island and lab to the Kaleidoscope Group.”

“There you go,” Tristan replied. “We finally have our first big lead.”

“The Kaleidoscope Group is very clandestine. I can’t get a real lead on any of the players in this group. If they can keep themselves this under the radar, I believe we are working with people who have, or are being backed with, a lot of money,” Jack said.

“They would have to have a lot of money to be able to purchase an island and build the facilities you are talking about,” Logan responded.

“No, you don’t understand. I don’t just mean have money. I mean unlimited amounts of money,” Jack said.

“Seems like that should help us narrow the playing field,” Wyatt replied. “There are a limited number of people that have that much money. I think the island looks like our best target.

I’m going to call Noah back in. I’ve lined up a four man team for Payton; she will have two guards twenty-four hours a day. I think she is safe for now, but if anything changes with Victory, we will move Payton to a safe house. Noah and Logan will head out to this island tomorrow and do some recon.”

“If this is the place, I should be touching down utterly the same time the guys hit the shore. Should I try to make contact?” Tristan asked.

“No. Your priority is to keep your cover. I don’t want to give them any reason to doubt you are who you say you are. Okay, go through the gear that you will be taking. Our next job is to integrate some must-have equipment into that gear. Remember guys, they have a couple ex-military working for them, so we have to be extra careful and extra clever.” Wyatt said.

Victory was sitting out in the gardens when she heard the distant sound of the helicopter approaching. As if on cue, Sarah walked up to her.

“Ms. Winters, your helicopter will be here in five minutes. Would you like to follow me to the helo pad please?” Sarah asked.

Victory rose and followed Sarah to the other side of the gardens. They approached a twelve foot tall chain link fence with a locked gate that Sarah opened by imputing a combination into a keypad. They both stepped through the open door and it swung shut and locked behind them. A shiny black helicopter came into view with gold letters spelling Biotec on its side panel. It touched down scant yards away from where they stood. Sarah escorted Victory to the helicopter, the door slid open, and Tristan jumped out to greet her.