Taken (15 page)

“Where are the diamonds?” he said, grasping her wrist. “I know you have them.”

“Marcus!”

The man pulled her toward him. Music pulsed as he leaned close to her. “Do you actually think he can hear you in all this commotion?”

Kate’s jaw tensed. “What do you want?”

“The diamonds.”

“I don’t understand. You set the details for the exchange.”

He pulled back slightly, his hand still gripping her wrist. “What exchange?”

“I told you I would keep my side of the deal.”

“There is no deal. I want the diamonds.”

The music pulsed louder. Lights of the city blurred in the distance.

“I’ll be at the tower,” she said. “Just promise me Sophie will be safe.”

Or had her theory been right, and they knew nothing about Sophie?

Kate felt someone else shove against her. She breathed in the pungent smell of alcohol as she lost her balance. The man lost hold of her wrist and grabbed for her as she screamed, but it was too late. She fell backward over the side of the boat.

For a moment Kate felt nothing, then the sharp impact of the water engulfed her as she plunged below the surface.

FIFTEEN

M
arcus jumped up from his seat at the sound of someone screaming, and ran toward the commotion. His heart pounded as he tried to convince himself this had nothing to do with Kate.

A crowd had gathered at the rail. Someone yelled for the boat to stop. He scanned the deck for Kate. She was probably in the restroom, and he was panicking for nothing. But convincing himself she was fine wasn’t working. He pushed his way through the passengers. He never should have let her out of his sight.

“What’s going on?” he shouted in French, trying to be heard above the music.

“Some woman,” a tall, blond man answered. “She was arguing with a man, then... I don’t know what happened. She fell into the water.”

Fell into the water... No, God, please.

“What did she look like?”

“Late twenties...ponytail...”

Kate.

Marcus searched the murky water. A spotlight from the boat caught her struggling a few meters from the boat. Without hesitating, he dived into the river after her.

The cold impact of the water sucked his breath away. He swam to the surface, filled his lungs with air, then tried to find his bearings. People were shouting at him from the boat. He drew in another deep breath and followed the beam of the spotlight. But all he could see was water, and beyond the spotlight, darkness.

Time was running out. Where was she?

“Kate?”

The spotlight shifted. He turned toward it again, squinting. Nothing. He’d lost her.

If she’d gone under, finding her in the dark would be almost impossible.

No, God, please...help me find her.

He couldn’t lose her. Not again. Not this way.

She surfaced a half-dozen feet from him, spewing water then sucking in air. In three broad strokes, he was beside her. He pulled her against him, ensuring her head was above the water.

“Kate?”

She was shaking, her teeth chattering.

“Kate, can you hear me?”

She nodded.

A bruise had already started forming on her forehead. She must have hit her head when she fell. He glanced back at the boat. A life preserver dropped into the water beside them. He grabbed onto it, then started swimming toward the boat.

Someone helped hoist them up onto the deck. The music had stopped, and the rowdy crowd had fallen eerily quiet. They laid Kate on the deck on a pile of cushions. Someone dropped a blanket over her.

Marcus knelt down beside her, water dripping from his clothes, and pushed back a strand of wet hair from her forehead. He needed to get her warm. Needed to get her out of here. “Kate...talk to me. What happened?”

She shook her head, her chest heaving, eyes wide as if trying to orient herself.

“Give yourself a minute. You’re going to be okay.” He pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders and rubbed her arms with his hands, then signaled one of the crew to get them something hot to drink.

A moment later someone handed him two mugs of coffee.

“Thank you.” Marcus helped her take a sip. “Tell me what happened, Kate.”

“He...he grabbed me and started asking me questions about the diamonds,” Kate said finally. “He said he knew I had them. There were so many people around us. They were loud...drinking. The next thing I knew someone pushed me against the railing of the boat and then I was falling.”

“Who was he?”

“He...”

“Kate?” He needed to find whoever had pushed her over. He glanced up, surprised that the boat was already at the shore... In a few more minutes it would be too late. “I need you to focus. Did you recognize him?”

“Yes... He was the driver of the car who tried to grab me,” she said.

“Did he push you?”

“There were so many people... I don’t know... I think it was an accident.”

Marcus turned to the blond man he’d spoken to earlier. “The man she was talking to. Did you see where he went?”

“Sorry, but there must be two hundred people on this boat.”

“Can I get you something else?” The woman who’d been doing the live commentary on the boat knelt down beside them.

“I’m a federal agent working with French intelligence. I need you to ensure no one gets off this boat until I say so—”

“I’m sorry, sir, but we’ve just docked and the passengers are already debarking. But we did call for an ambulance. It should be here any minute.”

Marcus glanced at the dock, his fists clenched beside him, and tried to restrain his growing anger. If they’d already docked, whoever was responsible for this was long gone.

Kate struggled to sit up. “I don’t need to go to the hospital, Marcus. Please.”

“It’s just a precaution,” Marcus assured her, focusing his attention back on her. “You’re going to be fine.”

* * *

He told her she’d be fine. And maybe she was. Physically. Emotionally she was falling apart. Someone had given her dry clothes to change into, but she was still shivering from fear as much as the cold. They’d asked her questions, tested her reflexes and determined that she didn’t have a concussion. All she wanted now was to go back to the safe house, take a shower and sleep for the next twenty-four hours.

Except she couldn’t.

Kate looked up as Marcus entered the small exam room, his clothes still damp.

“You ready to go?” he asked.

“Yes.” She grabbed her purse from the side of the exam table. Someone had managed to pick it up for her.

“Kate, wait. Before we go...” He templed his hands in front of him. “I’ve been thinking about something.”

Her gaze narrowed. “What’s wrong?”

Marcus looked at her and paused.

“Did they find him?”

“No... It’s not that... I want you to return to the US. I can get you on the next flight out of Charles de Gaulle. It wouldn’t give you a lot of time to sleep tonight, but you could sleep on the plane—”

“Forget it.” Kate started for the door, wishing the pain medicine they’d given her for her head would kick in. “I don’t want to talk about this again. You know I can’t return. Not now...not until I find Sophie.”

He stepped in front of her, blocking the door. “After tonight, hasn’t it been made completely clear that it’s not safe for you here?”

“Sophie isn’t exactly in a safe place right now, either, Marcus. I promised my sister I’d find her, and I’m not leaving her behind.”

“I understand how you feel—”

“Do you?”

He took her hands, but she pulled away from him. It didn’t matter what he thought. She was staying, and she was going to make the exchange.

“Kate, this is bigger than your sister and your niece. Chad was involved with diamond smugglers who are financing military-grade weapons for rebels. They don’t play by the rules, Kate. They don’t care if someone like you gets hurt. But I do.”

She looked up at him and shook her head. “You need me here, Marcus, and you know it.”

“I need you safe. I don’t want anything to happen to you, Kate. What if the next time you run into them you’re not so lucky?” His gaze softened. “I don’t want you a part of this—”

“It’s too late for that, Marcus. I’m already a part of it.”

His jaw tensed as he focused on something on the wall behind her.

“Marcus?” She wanted—needed—him to understand. “I can’t just walk away from this.”

“I know.” He bent down and kissed her gently on the forehead. “I know.”

She reached up and ran her hand down his arm, wishing they were somewhere else. Anywhere else but here. Because despite her words—and his protection—she still had to fight the urge not to run. Men who didn’t blink at snatching a young girl from her mother
didn’t
care about who got hurt. They’d diminished the value of human life to a handful of shiny rocks.

“What will you do now?” she asked, thankful he wasn’t still arguing with her.

“I’ll have Jocelyn take you back to the safe house. I’m going back down to the station to talk with Davin Bernard. See if I can find a way to get some information out of him. I’m still convinced he has to know something about Sophie. If we can find out who’s involved it will up the odds that things go our way tomorrow.”

“Do you think she’s okay?” It was a question she shouldn’t be asking, but she couldn’t help it. She needed reassurance. Something positive to hold on to.

“I don’t know the answer to that, Kate, but I do know that they need her until they get the diamonds.”

Kate repositioned her purse strap on her shoulder, trying to control the constant worry in her gut. That would have to be enough for the moment. “Sophie turns five next week. Rachel was planning to throw her a party. She let Sophie pick out the cake, and the plates and cups. Sent out invitations to her friends. If they hurt her, Marcus...”

He pressed his finger gently against her lips. “Don’t go there. You saw the photo. They need to keep her safe.”

“But she has to be so scared. The time she’s not with Rachel, she’s with me or my mom. She’s never been away from home like this.”

“I know this is hard, Kate, but we’re going to get her back. And as for you, I want you to get to the safe house and get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.”

* * *

Marcus walked into the police station, where he’d arranged to talk with Davin Bernard. On his way, he’d called Jocelyn to ensure Kate was settled into the safe house. At least Kate hadn’t argued this time about staying behind. Knowing she was safe for the moment would allow him to concentrate on putting an end to all of this.

“Heard you took a little swim.”

Marcus glanced down at his rumpled clothes, frowning at Pierre’s comment in the dingy hallway of the police station. “Yeah...not exactly how I intended to spend my evening.”

“I can imagine. Sailing down the Seine with a beautiful woman in the most beautiful city in the world. That’s not how I’d want it to end, either.” Pierre chuckled, but his grin quickly faded. “How is she?”

“Holding on.” Marcus ignored the other man’s implications. He might be on track, but he wasn’t interested in giving Pierre fuel for the fire. “Jocelyn drove her back to the apartment to get cleaned up and hopefully get some sleep. This hasn’t exactly been a great day for her.”

Or a great week for either of them, for that matter. As far as he was concerned, things had continually gone from bad to worse. He was hoping that the man sitting inside the interrogation room was about to change all of that.

“She seems to be quite a woman,” Pierre said as they started down the hall to interrogation room three.

“Kate?”

“As if you didn’t know. I can see it in your eyes.”

“It’s my duty to protect her.”

“Your duty or your desire?”

Marcus frowned. “It’s the same thing, isn’t it?”

“Like I said, I can see it in your eyes.”

“I’ve known her a total of what...four days? And most of that time has been spent running.”

He wasn’t claiming he didn’t have feelings for her. But neither was he going to ignore the possibility that everything could change when they returned home. When emotions died down and things went back to normal. When she didn’t need him anymore as her protector.

“Days, weeks, months...” Pierre said. “Sometimes it doesn’t matter. Sometimes you just know. I felt the same way about my wife when we first met. Took me a while to admit she was the one for me, but I knew it.” Pierre tapped him on the back as they stopped in front of the interrogation room door. “Besides, you are in Paris.”

Paris.

Marcus pulled the door open, wondering if he’d ever see Paris the same way again if he didn’t have Kate at his side.

Inside the small, drab room, Marcus forced his mind to concentrate as he slid into one of the two empty seats across from their suspect. Davin Bernard rubbed his goatee, clearly annoyed to have been brought in for questioning at this time of the night.

“It’s good to see you again, Davin,” Marcus began in French. “You remember me?”

“I remember I had nothing to say the last time I saw you.”

“Well, things have changed. We thought we’d give you another chance to tell us why you took a woman at gunpoint this morning.”

“What exactly has changed?”

Marcus slapped down the man’s file onto the table in front of him. “We ran into your partner tonight. Thankfully, he’s not quite as stubborn as you are. He’s considering making a deal in exchange for telling us what we want to know about the diamonds and giving us names.” He kept his gaze steady. There was no reason why Monsieur Bernard needed to know they didn’t yet have his partner in custody. “You, on the other hand, will be charged with the kidnapping of four-year-old Sophie Laurent, the attempted murder of Rachel Laurent, along with a long list of other crimes we plan to pin on you, including what happened this morning with Kate Elliot.”

“No way.” The man smacked his hands against the table. “You’re lying.”

“Really?” Pierre asked. “I don’t think so.”

Davin rubbed his hands across the sides of his head. “I admit to grabbing the woman from the apartment this morning—and even trying to grab her off the street yesterday, but that is all. I didn’t kidnap no kid or try to murder the man’s wife.”

“Then tell me what you know, or you’re going to take the fall for all of it,” Pierre said.

Davin dropped his hands and started drumming his fingers against the table. His gaze dropped. “I knew Chad. Worked for him a few times.”

“Doing what?” Marcus asked.

“I’m a...a businessman? I have resources people need.”

“Like?”

Davin hesitated again.

Marcus leaned forward. “This is a limited deal we’re offering you, so I’d make up your mind quickly as to whether or not you’re going to save your skin, or if your friend is going to get the deal and let you rot the rest of your life in prison.”

Davin shoved back his chair. “Fine. Chad hired me to steal six music boxes from his wife’s house in Texas.”

“Why?”

“He didn’t tell me. I didn’t ask.”

“But you were curious. It was a strange request.”

“Chad worked with diamonds. I figured they must be worth something. He promised to pay me a hundred grand if I found them.”

“And so when you got to the house, you decided a hundred grand wasn’t enough? That if you took Chad’s daughter you could use her as leverage and make him pay a whole lot more—”