A Billionaire's Redemption(42)

She yanked her bike off its hooks in the garage and headed through her backyard. At least it would blend in on the campus and be hard to spot in the crowd of students pedaling to their eight o’clock classes. The bike had the added advantage of letting her go cross-country and not having to stick to streets that were no doubt already crawling with freaked-out security guards.

Eyes watering from fear and from the wind whipping past her face as she pedaled for that poor baby’s life, she managed to reach the edge of the campus. She guided the bike toward the broad, grassy park surrounding the tall brick clock tower in the middle of campus.

A few fat raindrops splatted onto the pavement around her. What else could go wrong today? She was about to get drenched. As the reality of facing the psychopath at the other end of the phone in person loomed, common sense finally began to kick in. Or maybe that was panicked survival mode kicking in. She overrode the impulse by reminding herself that a child’s life hung in the balance. Her life was worth nothing in the face of that. If she had to sacrifice herself to save an innocent, so be it.

Still, meeting this person on her own was unquestionably stupid. She had no skill at talking down a deranged lunatic. She should have called the police. Told her guards. Gotten some sort of backup. But the sound of crying echoed in her ears, and spurred her onward despite her doubts. She’d figure out something.

Now what? She was almost to the bell tower. One more street to cross, then she’d have to get off her bike and walk it across the grass to the base of the bell tower.

And then she spotted it. A beat-up white van parked at the curb to her left. It started to roll forward directly toward her. The driver had seen her. Desperation and a very belated sense of fear for her life finally penetrated the fog that had enveloped her since she’d heard Melinda Grayson accept Gabe’s proposal in the hall outside her room.

The van pulled up beside her. She wasn’t getting in that thing unless the driver turned that child loose this instant. The passenger door swung open and she stared into the maw at the familiar face.

Get in,” the driver snapped.

Let the kid go,” she retorted.

The driver laughed and tossed a tape recorder outside at her feet. While she stared in shock, the driver clapped once, in loud imitation of slapping someone, and then let out a perfect rendition of a small child wailing in pain and fear.

She’d been tricked? Willa took a step away from the door.

Ah, ah, ah. Not so fast, Willa.” The small black circle of a pistol barrel came into view, pointed directly at her. She stared in horror at the promise of death staring at her. “Get in the van. Now.”

Everyone knew never to get in a car with a criminal. It was infinitely smarter to get shot in a public place where medical help and police would be summoned rapidly than it was to allow oneself to be taken someplace isolated where the kidnapper could torture and kill at their leisure and there was no hope at all of rescue.

Thing was, Gabe didn’t love her. He was going to marry Melinda. This person could still kidnap and kill her students at some later date, and Willa firmly believed the threat. Her or the kids? She had nothing left to live for, and the children had their entire lives in front of them. It was a no-brainer.

If I go with you, you have to give me your solemn promise that you’ll never hurt any of my students. That you’ll leave them completely alone. Promise?”

Fine. Whatever. I promise.” The driver looked around outside nervously. “Now get in.”

She stepped off her bike, laid it down on the grass and slid into the passenger seat. The van pulled away from the curb.





Chapter 18

Gabe started when one of Willa’s security guards burst into Melinda’s room. One look at the man’s tense face, and Gabe dumped Melinda unceremoniously on the bed and strode toward the door, ignoring her squawk of outrage.

What now?” he bit out as he and the guard headed out into the hall.

The guard broke into a run and Gabe’s alarm climbed. This guy panicked was not a good sign. As they raced for the exit, the guard reported in snatches, “She ran. Got a call in her room. Went pale. My guy was suspicious. Doctors came in just then and sent her for an emergency MRI. Guard figured she was sick. She went to the restroom, climbed out the window and disappeared. We need you to go to her house. See if anything’s out of place or missing. Some clue as to where she’s gone.”

Why her house?” Gabe asked as he jumped in the passenger side of the guy’s black SUV.

The vehicle peeled out of the parking lot in an aggressive move that had him grabbing the armrest as the guard answered, “She was wearing a hospital gown. She needed clothes. If she’s running, she needs money. Women rarely flee without stuff—a change of clothing, makeup, a purse.”

Gabe nodded and didn’t further distract the grim man from concentrating on his driving. The SUV screeched to a halt in Willa’s driveway in about two minutes flat.

Take the front,” the guard ordered as he tore around back.

Gabe leaped the front steps and pounded on the front door, shouting, “Willa! Let me in!”

Nothing. But a few seconds later, he heard the sound of shattering glass, and moments later the guard let him in the front door. “Not here,” the guy announced. “Hospital gown’s on the floor of her bedroom, so she was here.”

Gabe raced through the house looking for something, anything, that would tell him where Willa had gone. A quick circuit of the cottage brought him back to the living room in frantic frustration. The guard was talking fast into his cell phone. He identified himself as Cade McGrath, the team lead on the Merris job.

Gabe scanned the cozy room. A faint scent of gardenias drifted to him and nearly brought him to his knees. Where the hell was she? What made her run? Fear for her safety roared through him. As sure as he was standing here, something was terribly wrong with her. He felt it in his bones.

His gaze landed on the remote control that turned on her white-noise system. Had the bastards from that secret government program snatched her to silence her about their shenanigans? Icy terror flowed through his veins at the thought of Willa in the hands of cold-blooded killers. She’d been so afraid of them. They’d been tapping her phone, for God’s sake....

He leaped for Willa’s telephone, which lay on the coffee table beside the white-noise controller. He snapped at the guard, “If someone was bugging this phone, would they hear me talking into it if I didn’t dial a number?”

Probably not,” McGrath answered, frowning. “It would be an automated recording system activated when a call came in or went out. The recordings would typically be reviewed later. If there’s a direct surveillance op running, there may be a couple of guys sitting in a vacant house across the street beside the recording device. In that case, they would listen to the calls in real time.”

Gabe punched in the first phone number he could think of—his apartment. He waited impatiently until his computer picked up. Then he spoke loudly and clearly, “I know you guys are bugging Willa’s phone. The senator has been kidnapped and her life is in danger. If it was not you guys who took her, I need you to pick up this line right now.”

He paused, but no one came on the line. He continued grimly, “If it was you guys who took her, I swear I’m going to blow your little program sky-high. By tonight, I’ll have you sons of bitches splashed all over the national news. Willa told me all about you, and I remember enough names and places of your operations and killings to make your lives a living hell—”

A male voice spoke abruptly in his ear. “Is this Mr. Dawson?”

Yes, it is. Who is this?”

We did not kidnap Senator Merris. What do I have to do to convince you not to reveal our existence? I assure you, it’s a matter of national security.”

Whether or not you add to or take away from national security is a discussion for another time,” Gabe snapped. “What I need right now is for you to tell me if any calls have come in to this phone number in the past half hour.”

One call, Mr. Dawson.”

Do you have a recording of it?”

We do.”

I need to know who called Willa and exactly what was said.”

The recording hasn’t been reviewed and transcribed, yet. I will have to pull up the actual recording. This will take a moment.”

Gabe waited impatiently and caught the thunderstruck look Cade McGrath was throwing him. He murmured at the guard, “Have you got weapons in your vehicle?”

Of course.”

Gabe nodded, and the anonymous voice was back in his ear. “It’ll be quickest if I play the recording for you.”

Gabe put the receiver on speakerphone so McGrath could hear, too. They listened in dismay at the electronically altered voice. A child had been kidnapped to force her cooperation? No surprise, Willa was throwing herself on her sword to save the kid. Then the caller mentioned the Vacarro Field. Gabe and McGrath looked at each other in relief. That was where they’d find Willa. If they were in time.