KIDNAPPED, A Romantic Suspense Novel (30 page)

Great. Just when you need a man, where are they? Off playing cops and robbers with no way to contact them.

She couldn’t shake the feeling they should’ve known this piece of missing information before they’d set up the ambush.

* * *

“Ready when you are, Jake.” Dave’s voice rumbled through his headset again. That meant he’d secured his side of the room.

Jake inhaled and exhaled, gripping his gun tight, then relaxing his hold. “We go after the charges.” He slid out of the crate and eased himself into a crouch. He’d removed his night vision goggles with the first gray rays of light. Now he saw Petrov’s back less than two feet in front of him. Ivan sat a few feet away. They both concentrated on the door, where two of their minions flanked it to ambush whomever came inside.

He glanced to his right to where two more men flanked the side entrance. “Matt? Can you see the rear door?” 

“Two back there, Jake.”

Including the five they’d already taken out, that made thirteen. Two more lay in wait somewhere in the building. The odds wouldn’t get much better.

“Doyle. Now.”

Jake closed his eyes, counting to ten for the delayed charge.

An explosion sounded at the side of the building, quickly followed by another at the rear of the building. Gunfire erupted from both areas, as well as shrieks of pain as debris from the now disabled doors fell on their enemies. Jake tossed two flash-bang explosives into the center of the room, turning his head away from the sense-numbing phosphorous light that filled the area.

Jake moved in behind Petrov, laying the barrel of the gun at the base of the big man’s skull. “Move, and I’ll blow your brains all over the floor.”

Petrov lifted both arms and froze. “So the traitor shows himself.”

Dave appeared behind Ivan, who held both hands to his eyes temporarily blinded from the explosives. Jake scanned the area. Matt or Luke had taken out the missing gang members, their bodies lying prone on the floor. Doyle had entered with the first explosions and had cuffs on one guy at the front door, the second lay unmoving at his feet.

“It seems you and your brother are out of options, Boss.”

“You think you have game won, Carlisle, yes? But it is not checkmate just yet. I have, how you say, ace in hole.”

Jake locked cuffs on both his wrists. “You mean your inside man?”

The big man laughed. “You do not know who it is, no?”

“How about you fill me in? Exactly how does your man keep you out of jail?” Jake asked, watching Dave cuff the younger Kreshnin. Matt moved through the room, securing the wounded gang members. “He conveniently loses the evidence before trial? Or is he a cop who keeps the arrest from actually taking place?”

Doyle’s voice rumbled through the headset again telling Jake he’d called in the local cops. He only had a few more minutes to find out the identity of Kreshnin’s contact.

“He isn’t cop, idiot. He has more power than that.”

     “Federal agent, then.” Jake felt like a mole digging in the dark. Kreshnin didn’t seem the least bit fazed about his impending arrest.

“Your FBI is joke. Tell me where you hide my little Nicholai. You have kidnapped my, how you say, ward.”

“Nicky is safe. And he doesn’t belong to you. He’ll be in protective custody soon and his testimony will put you on death row.”

“The boy won’t see courtroom alive.”

Jake resisted the urge to pistol-whip the bastard. He hauled him to his feet by the cuffs, shoving him toward the front entrance. “As soon as we get your partner in custody, the boy will give his story to the District Attorney. Looking at the death penalty should take some of the hot air out of you, Petrov.”

Ivan laughed from behind them, just as they went out the door. “Nicholai’s problem just begins with the DA, right brother?”

“Shut up, stupid!” Petrov growled at his brother.

* * *

Stationed across the street in his old Lincoln, the man had watched the procession of Kreshnin’s guards into the building earlier in the night. Now in the daylight he heard the explosions, one after the other.

With any luck, they would all kill each other or the building would collapse and wipe them all out for him.

Of course that still left him the problem of the brat.

Through the gray morning light, he saw a figure slip into the main entrance of the building. Someone he hadn’t seen since his earliest days on the force. His body moved in a herky-jerky manner with one bad hip.

Doyle.

He should have known! Carlisle would go to his old partner for help. The one thing they had in common, being former partners of Doyle. Only the old man tried to blame his injury on him as a rookie. It took all his mother’s influence to get him cleared of any wrongdoing and out of the police force.

An idea popped in his head. Suddenly he knew where they had the kid stashed. First, he needed to sever his association with the Russians. They’d served their purpose. His Swiss account held six figures now.

Lifting his rifle he trembled with anticipation. 

* * *

Jake pushed Petrov out the door. His eyes took a moment to adjust to the dim morning light outside the building. “Your contact is in the DA’s office?”

The big Russian clamped his jaw shut.

Jake and Doyle exchanged looks. No wonder Nicky couldn’t find the guy in the police pictures.

Dave pushed Ivan outside to join his brother.

A high pitched whine sounded in the air.

Boss’ body jumped up and backward out of Jake’s grasp. A dark red circle spread across the crime boss’ chest, his eyes stared vacantly at the flakes of snow falling gently out of the gloomy sky.

A thud followed by another whine split the morning peace. Jake, followed by Ivan, Dave and Doyle all hit the dirt next to the dead man’s body.

An engine roared to life across the street.

Jake scrambled behind a mailbox, his weapon drawn. He didn’t have time to get off a single shot before the big black Lincoln peeled away from the curb.

He ran into the street behind it. Squinting, he read the licence plate on the car swerving down the snow-covered street.

MAD*SON.

 “Rookie?” Doyle’s low-gravelly voice caught Jake’s attention. “Did that say MAD-SON?”

“Yeah, Doyle. It’s a vanity plate. I wonder if that’s what Nicky saw that night. The kid remembers details.”

Doyle fished his keys out of his pocket and threw them at Jake. “If so, those two are in big trouble.”

“How so?” Jake’s heart skipped a beat then stepped into double time.

“My old partner used that as his plate.”

“The one who caused your injury? The one who left the force to join the District Attorney’s office?” Jake yelled over his shoulder, already running to Doyle’s car.

“The same one. And he knows where I live.”

* * *

Snow fluttered down to cover the driveway and yard outside Doyle’s kitchen window. Sami refrained from sighing as she handed Nicky a plate to wash. She wondered how the meeting with the Kreshnins had gone. Was anyone hurt? Did they find out information on the mysterious person who set Jake up?

This waiting would kill her.

Sami shook her head. She wouldn’t think about death. Not now, not today. She’d lived in its shadow for far too long. Before she awoke in her car, bound and gagged, she couldn’t remember the last time she wanted to live.

Ever since she’d felt alive. Intense sensations flooded her as she thought back over her time with Jake and Nicky. Not once did she have the urge to sleep forever. Now she wanted to grab hold of life and hold on with both hands.

Nicky slid the plate into the cupboard next to the window. “That is last dish, yes?”

“You got it, kiddo.” Sami released the water in the sink, then wiped her hands. “What do you want to do now?”

“Another car race?” The excitement in his eyes made her laugh. Nicky mastered the NASCAR video game in Doyle’s den as quickly as any other nine-year old American. So far he’d beat her five games to one.

“Okay, but you have to be Dale Earnhardt, Jr. this time, and I get to be Jeff Gordon.”

He jumped backward down the hall in front of her. “It not matter, Sami. I still beat pants off you.”

“Oh, you think so, huh?” She started to chase him down the hall.

A knock on the front door stopped them in their tracks.

Sami laid her hand on Nicky’s shoulder. “It’s probably the paperboy or something. But just in case, you stay back here until I make certain.”

His eyes wide with fright, Nicky nodded.

She gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze, then headed for the door. Edging herself to the side of it, she peered out the peephole. She blinked twice before looking again.

Standing on Doyle’s front porch in his long black overcoat, hands clasped behind his back, stood Thomas Madigan. The assistant district attorney, poised to break through the political foray into the mayor’s race for next year, appeared very official outside the door.

Sami wasn’t taking any chances. “May I help you?”

“Ms. Edgars? This is ADA, Tom Madigan. Detective Carlisle asked me to bring you and Nicholai to meet him at police headquarters. The Kreshnins gang has been captured.”

Relief poured though her and she sagged against the doorframe. They were all right. Jake was all right.

Sami took a deep, calming breath. Surely, if the ADA knew all those details, Jake had sent him. God, all this intrigue had her seeing conspirators at every turn. She opened the door, and allowed Madigan into the house. “Pardon my hesitancy, but the past five days have been a bit harrowing, to say the least.”

“I’m sure it has.” He smiled that confidant, politically savvy smile she’d seen on TV so many times in the past several years. “And where is Nicholai hiding?”

Sami laughed and called Nicky. She put her arm around his shoulders. “This is Mr. Madigan. He’s going to take us to see Jake and Doyle.”

Nicky nodded his head shyly.

Madigan gave her another of those television-spot smiles. “Get your coats. We don’t want to keep the others waiting.”

Grabbing her coat out of Doyle’s closet, Sami shook her head. The guy apparently didn’t know the difference between reality and a campaign opportunity. As long as he took her to Jake and her brothers, she didn’t care how phony he acted.

Before joining Mr. Madigan and Nicky again, she stepped into Doyle’s den and retrieved the disc with Nicky’s taped testimony on it. Slipping it into her purse for safekeeping, she shrugged on her coat and hurried to the door.

The cold wind whipped snowflakes around them as the trio stepped out onto the porch. Sami’s sneaker caught on a hidden patch of ice. She stumbled, starting to tumble face first toward the concrete porch.

Two hands grabbed her by the elbows. From behind she felt herself steadied on her feet again.

His grip on her tightened. “Careful. We wouldn’t want anything to happen to you now.”

The DA’s breath brushed her neck. A shiver of cold ran through her. Sami gave him a smile in thanks, pulling one of her arms out of his grasp.

He held onto her by one hand and Nicky with the other, leading them around to the passenger side. As they rounded the front of the car, Nicky froze. His eyes widened. Sami followed his line of sight down to the plates.

Her heart jumped into her throat.

MAD*SON.

 “You’re him!” That sounded stupid. Of course it was the mysterious man chasing them. Now it all made sense!

“That’s right, lady.” He gripped her arm tight, hauling Nicky against him with his other hand. “You and the kid are going on a little ride with me.”

She struggled to get loose. “We’re not going anywhere. Jake will be back any second.”

Madigan gave an evil laugh. “The good detective has his hands a little full at the moment. Unless you want me to kill the kid right now, you’ll do exactly like I tell you.”

His eyes narrowed, the smiling placating politician gone. In its place stood the evil behind the mask. For whatever reason, he didn’t want to murder them here in a neighborhood where he’d be easily recognized, but he would if he had to. She didn’t doubt if for a second.

“Okay. I’ll do whatever, just don’t hurt Nicky.”

He released his hold on her to jerk open the passenger side door. “Climb into the driver’s seat from this side. No funny moves, or your young friend won’t live to see the city limits.”

Sami scooted across the leather front seat, glancing at Nicky to try and reassure him that they would survive this. She only wished she believed it herself.

Madigan shoved Nicky into the seat between them, not relinquishing his hold on the scared child as he shut his door.

“Now,” drawing a gun out of his pocket, he pointed it at Nicky’s mid-section. “Ease us out of the driveway, and drive toward High Street. We’re going to take a little tour of the North side, then head out of town.”

With care not to give Madigan any reason to get nervous, Sami followed his directions and headed down Doyle’s street. The snow started to fall thicker. A drab brown Chevy approached them, almost swerving into the front of the car, but quick movements by Sami prevented a collision. She glanced up as the car passed.

Piercing blue eyes met hers.

Her pulse quickened.

Jake. Jake was here.

Sami focused her attention on driving.

Stay calm. No need to give Madigan warning that help just arrived.

For once her little voice made sense and she heeded it. In her rear-view mirror the Chevy did a U-turn in the road, its back end fish-tailing for a moment, then it followed them at a good distance.

“Turn left onto High street, Ms. Edgars. Stay within the speed limit. You really don’t want to do anything to attract the attention of the police.” He pulled Nicky just a little closer to his side.

His threat crept along Sami’s spine. From the wild look on Madigan’s face, she knew he wouldn’t hesitate to kill the boy and her before a cop could get to the car. She had to do something. They weren’t likely to live past the city limits, either.

To avoid the cars parked near the curb, Sami changed lanes. The car slid on a patch of ice. Sami gripped the wheel, fighting the urge to hit the brakes, remembering the advice Matt gave her years earlier.