Love & Redemption (31 page)

Shelley opened her eyes, blinking to focus them. She stared into the anxious face of the girl she remembered from the picture. “Emma?”

The girl’s brown eyes glowed with excitement. “You know my name? Yay! You can take care of me now.” Emma turned away, grabbing the water again and thrusting it toward Shelley. “The bad man said to drink this.”

Water. Of course. That was the only thing that helped the side effects of MG-37. Shelley struggled to prop herself onto an elbow, accepting the bottle from Emma. She took several large gulps. “Thank you.”

“Did you come to rescue me, Mommy?”

She
was
calling her mommy. Why? Shelley knew she should be careful with Emma. The girl had been through a lot in the past few days, but Shelley needed to understand what was happening.

She looked around the room, trying to figure out where Paul had taken her. The room was significantly larger than the one she and Gavin had been held in—her heart clenched with worry about Gavin, but she woke up so hopefully he had too.

Instead of metal walls, this room seemed largely unfinished with one wall comprised of nothing but rocks and dirt. She hoped the ceiling was stable. They were obviously still underground, so presumably this room had been standing a long time and would continue to do so.

She rested on a blow up mattress close to the ground, and Emma sat next to her in the dirt. The girl herself looked pitiful. Grime covered her face and her black hair was greasy and full of snarls. A distinct odor filled the room as well, and Shelley figured Emma used the corner of the room as a bathroom.

Not able to put it off any longer, she asked what she really wanted to know. “Emma, you know I’m not your mother, don’t you? My name is Shelley. I did come here looking for you, though, and I hope I can help you get away.”

“I know you’re not my real mom.” Emma grinned and slipped her hand inside Shelley’s. “But Rose told me these bad men would send me to my mother. She must have meant you. You’re my new mommy.” Her face clouded as her eyebrows drew together. “My other mom went to heaven a long time ago.”

Sighing, Shelley returned the pressure on Emma’s hand. It couldn’t hurt to indulge the girl’s fantasy for a while. After all, if Emma had understood what Rose really meant, she would have been waiting to die and meet her mother. Instead, she decided a new mom would come for her. Shelley couldn’t disillusion her. She wasn’t that heartless.

Emma’s sadness cleared as quickly as it came. “Can I lay down with you? I’m cold and Rose used to cuddle me when I was scared.”

Speaking of the wayward nanny...

Shelley did a better sweep of the room, propping herself up further to look around. There was a table with more water bottles and the lamp on it against the far wall, but nothing else.

“Where did Rose go?” Shelley tried to ask as gently as possible, fearing she knew the answer.

Emma bit her lip and crawled onto the mattress, bouncing Shelley slightly as the girl climbed over her and crawled under the covers. Emma curled against Shelley’s side, and Shelley did her best not to cry out when Emma kicked her knee. The pain flared so strong, it made her forget entirely about the discomfort in her head. Something was seriously screwed up with her leg.

Emma threw her small arm across Shelley’s stomach and snuggled in. “Rose yelled at the bad man, and he put something over her mouth.” Emma sniffled. “She didn’t wake back up even though I slept four times. They took her away when they brought you inside. She was still sleeping.”

After smoothing the girl’s dirty hair from her face, Shelley wrapped an arm around her and held her close. She wondered how long they forced Emma to share a bed and this room with her nanny’s body. She slept four times. That could have been a few days. Maybe right after Stephen abducted them. Did Emma even understand that Rose was dead?

Shelley shuddered. She sure hoped not.

Emma’s small body relaxed noticeably. “I’m glad you came for me, Mommy. Are we going to leave soon?”

Hating to lie to the girl, she also didn’t want to scare her more than she must already be scared. “I’m not sure how long we’ll have to stay,” she said slowly. “I think my friend will get us soon.”

With any luck...if he was alive.

***

Gavin blinked his heavy eyes, trying to figure out where he was and why his head pounded. A metallic taste in his mouth made him want to wretch, but that would require moving. It was cold in the room and his teeth chattered together. A light on the wall showed the metal walls surrounding him.

Suddenly, it all came back. Terrance drugged him and Paul took Shelley. Gavin had tried to get up to fight him off, but Terrance covered his mouth and that’s all Gavin remembered.

Next to him on the cot was a one-liter bottle of water. ‘TELL NICK’ written in bold letters marked the side of the container and reminded Gavin of Paul’s threats. Torn between need for a drink and worry Paul might have done something to the water, Gavin finally decided if Paul wanted him dead, he would already be that way.

He cracked the seal and gulped large mouthfuls of the cool liquid. It washed the awful taste from his mouth, and the pain in his head slowly receded. He needed to follow whatever trail the men might have left. He had to rescue Shelley.

That thought goaded him from bed. Gavin lurched for the door, grabbing the lantern off the wall that the men left behind. He searched the ground, looking for any sign of footprints to tell him where they headed. Unfortunately, every print was quite scuffled and the trail ran cold about ten feet from the doorway.

His only chance was to get above ground and find Jenessa. Ken Travers was involved in this. Somehow, they’d make the man talk. Paul just thought he had a problem with Nick hunting him. Gavin wouldn’t stop until he was reunited with Shelley.

If he hurt her, Paul would pay.

Chapter Thirty-Two

As Gavin made his way onto the 2nd Avenue station platform, a few people waiting for the subway glanced at him but quickly looked away. No one wanted to be involved with a bloody, dirty man emerging from the shadows of the tracks. He probably looked crazy or homeless or both.

Not bothering to speak with any of them, Gavin pushed through the crowd and up the stairway, heading for the exit. It took several minutes to find a cab willing to stop for him.

After Gavin climbed inside and gave the address to the hotel, the cabbie eyed him suspiciously in the rearview mirror. “You got enough money for that ride?”

Gavin reach into his pocket, retrieving a hundred from his wallet. He flashed it over the top of the seat. “Will this work for you?”

The cabbie smiled. “I don’t have change for bills that big.”

Of course not. “Get me to the hotel quickly, and you’ll get one hell of a tip.”

The driver pulled out, careening around other cars to make his way up the street.

Gavin pressed his head against the glass of the window. He had no clue what to do next. He couldn’t call Nick until he found Jenessa, since he didn’t have Nick’s number written anywhere. Besides that, every second that passed made him worry what could be happening to Shelley.

He prayed Stephen wasn’t the one in charge of her. With her knee the way it was, she might have a hard time fighting him off.

Gavin shuddered with dread. The list of people he’d have to pay back if they did anything to her was growing. He just wished he had an idea what to do. The spy life wasn’t for him.

He just wanted to get Shelley back, keep her safe, and live a quiet, happy life together. Hopefully Nick would help make that happen, even if it meant handing over the diamonds.

***

The door creaked open and Shelley watched it warily, waiting for her captor to enter. She and Emma had drunk more water and Emma helped her to the makeshift toilet, but they needed food. And a way out of this room. Emma had finally fallen into a fitful sleep, but the girl was obviously worried that Shelley couldn’t immediately free them.

Stephen stepped in, beaming down at Shelley as though happy to see her. Maybe he was—happy to see her vulnerable, in pain, and in his control.

“I see you’re awake. Good. I’ve come to make a video as incentive for your friends to give us what we want.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and fiddled with the screen. “What can I do to make them hurry?” He stared at the wall in apparent thought, but Shelley figured he already knew what he planned to do.

As he paced slowly toward the mattress, Emma woke up and saw him. Her small hand tightened around Shelley’s arm and her breathing turned erratic. “He’s a bad man, and the bad man hurt Rose.” Her voice was high and quiet. “Don’t let him hurt you, Mommy.”

“Emma, you aren’t part of this.” Stephen pointed toward the corner of the room. “Go face that wall until I tell you not to.”

The girl shook her head. “No.”

Shelley struggled to sit up on the air mattress, the plastic shifting beneath her making it difficult. She did her best to smile at Emma. “It’s okay, sweetling. Go over there. He’s not going to hurt me like he hurt Rose. He needs me. But I don’t want you to peek, okay?”

Emma’s mournful brown eyes regarded Shelley and an obstinate look crossed her face. Shelley was sure she would refuse to do as told, but then she got up and went to the wall. One thing about being held captive, she’d learned to do what they said. Hopefully that would keep her alive long enough to get her safely home to her father, and one day she could forget about this nightmare.

Shelley couldn’t say the same thing for herself—she probably wouldn’t survive. “Look here, dickhead,” she said, keeping her voice low and full of as much venom as she could muster, “if you ever want a chance at those diamonds, hurting me is not the answer.”

With a shrug, Stephen took another step closer, dropping back into a karate stance. “We’ll see.”

Though Shelley tried to throw herself out of the way, Stephen’s knee came up and he planted a heel stomp to her head. His heel clipped her jaw and the coppery tang of blood exploded in her mouth. Ignoring the wrenching pain in her knee, Shelley lurched sideways, biting back moans of pain for fear of Emma turning around and seeing Stephen attack her.

She threw her arms over her head to shield her face, knowing she had little recourse to fight back. The expected second blow didn’t land. Instead, the bed bounced slightly up as weight settled on the other side of the mattress.

“Look at me, Shelley. Let’s see the damage.”

Shelley cowered away, still protecting her face. She needed to wait until Stephen put himself in a vulnerable position, and maybe she could punch him with enough force to do some damage.

Stephen clenched down on a pressure point in her hand. “Come on, damn it. Don’t make me do something to the girl.”

Taking a shaky breath, Shelley lowered her hands to glare at him. She couldn’t fight him. Even if she managed to protect herself with punches, she’d be unable to help Emma. All Stephen had to do was attack her in the corner. With Shelley’s banged up knee, he could do real damage before she managed to reach them.

He tilted her face toward the light, smiling at the results. “Nice. A few minutes for the bruising to set in, and we can send a message to your boy toy of the week. Wish I could send it direct to his phone, but I’m sure someone will pass it along.”

My boy toy? But that has to be Gavin!

Shelley kept her face expressionless, not wanting Stephen to realize he’d made an error. Gavin was alive. Even if Nick gave up and didn’t save her, she knew Gavin wouldn’t stop. He was a thief, even if he was a bit out of practice. If anyone could find their trail and break her and Emma out of here, she put all her faith in Gavin.

Despite the blood dribbling from her mouth, Shelley had to struggle against smiling.

Stephen had given her a powerful weapon and didn’t even know it.

Hope.

***

Gavin grimaced through the pain while Jenessa sealed the cut on his face with butterfly bandages. Showered and in fresh clothes, he wanted to head to FBI headquarters, but Jenessa advised against it.

“I think it’s better if no one knows you’re here. Nick’s flight will land any minute. He can decide what to do.” She rose, throwing away the cotton ball she’d used to clean his cut. “Ken is in on this, and we still think someone in the FBI is involved. If you go to the office, whatever plans we do come up with could be passed to S.A.T.O. I think it is better if we keep this between us agents.”

While he wasn’t sure if that made sense, Nick could make the final decision. “What about Brent Walker? Have you been in contact with him?”

Jenessa nodded. “When you and Shelley didn’t check in, I called him after speaking with Nick. He’s pretty broken up, says he hasn’t heard from the kidnappers again and is worried Emma might be dead. He kept closed mouthed about things, not offering any helpful information to figure out where they took you. I think he’s afraid if he talks and Emma is still alive, that’ll be the end of her.”

Gavin understood his fears, but if Brent had told them what happened, Jenessa might have found them before they took Shelley away. Now they were left with no leads. Presumably they’d hear from S.A.T.O. soon enough with demands for the diamonds, but how long would they keep Shelley safe?

He glanced at Jenessa. “Is there any chance Nick will give them the diamonds and rescue Shelley?”

Jenessa sat on the bench in front of the vanity mirror, her lips pressed in a thin line. “Whatever the ultimate plan is for those bracelets, we know it isn’t good, Gavin. Whether it’s microchips to hack secret files or something less complex like a simple spying device, either way, Paul plans to use them to the detriment of our country. How can Nick just hand them over?”

“Why doesn’t S.A.T.O. give up on these diamonds? If they need a high clarity or something, wouldn’t a fake diamond give them what they need? It seems like a lot of trouble to go to for a bag of jewels worth a few million dollars.”

She frowned. “You didn’t listen to my explanation very closely that day at the precinct, did you?”

“Well, honestly, Ken talked about making moves on Shelley, I thought he meant you, and I was distracted by plots of how to warn you away from him.”