Captive, p.13
Captive, page 13
Past tense. A shiver ran through Jane. “I do care about her. She’s my good friend. Look, send me the photo. I’ll see what I can do.” Her hand tightened on the phone. “I’ll get back to you as soon as I can, Wilma. Look, don’t stay there alone. Go visit Penny, or Felicia told me you have neighbors you spend a lot of time with. This doesn’t have to be bad. Try not to worry.” Lord, that sounded lame. “I won’t stop until I have an answer.”
“Thank you, Jane.” Wilma was openly sobbing now. “I’m desperate. All I can do is pray. Like I said, I’m sorry I had to bother you.”
“It’s no bother, you’re both my friends. I want to do this. Bye, Wilma.” She cut the connection.
“Shit,” she whispered.
“Trouble?” Rodland asked. “I heard a bit of it. How can I help?”
“My agent, Felicia, disappeared four days ago and her mother is going crazy. Her phone was disconnected. She no-showed a business appointment, and she wouldn’t have done that. Wilma notified the police but they’re not taking it seriously yet.” She heard a ping. “That should be the photo of the man she was seen with at the gallery.” She pulled up the photo. “Sleek, well dressed, not a very good shot of his face.”
“May I?” He took her phone. “He’s probably trying to avoid the cameras. He didn’t do a very good job. There may be a way we can make it clearer.” He typed in a number on her keypad and pressed TRANSMIT. “It shouldn’t take long.” He handed the phone back to her. “This really scared you. Why?”
“Besides the fact that she’s disappeared off the face of the earth for the last few days? Because Felicia would never do anything to hurt her mother. And she wouldn’t ignore a client appointment to go somewhere with a stranger.”
“Good enough reasons for me.” He took her elbow and nudged her toward the hall. “You promised to get her answers. Let’s go back to the castle so we can discuss it with MacDuff right away.”
“You’re in a hurry.” Her eyes narrowed on his face. “And it’s not usual for you to be so eager to involve MacDuff. Tell me why.”
“Did your agent, Felicia, know where you were going when you left London?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Then you should know why I want you behind those castle gates with MacDuff and his little army.” He pushed her toward the front door. “And I believe you know why you should be there.”
“You think she’s dead.” She felt sick at the thought. “You think one of Bohdan’s men took her to find out where I was. Then he killed her when he no longer needed her.”
He nodded. “When he got his information. I’m sorry. Bohdan would have only considered it efficient.”
Jane closed her eyes for an instant. “Efficient? Felicia was so good.”
“Jane.” He had opened the front door. “I think we should hurry. He’s evidently known where you are for the past few days. I don’t know why he hasn’t struck yet. Perhaps if he’s had eyes on the Run, he’d know it wouldn’t be an easy victory. MacDuff’s men might have intimidated him. Or he could have been waiting for Caleb to show. Or maybe he’s just sitting like a cat outside a mouse hole seeing if he could scoop you up.”
“I’m not a mouse,” she said through set teeth. She shook her head to clear it. “Let’s go!”
She ran out into the darkness and down the formal path. Then she shouted at Fergus as she passed the Range Rover he and the marines were occupying. “We’re going back to the castle. Move, Fergus! MacDuff might need you.” She dove left into the trees where she’d tied the horses.
Rodland was already there and throwing her art case over the pommel. “You should have gone with Fergus.”
“I’m fine. It’s not as if we’re even sure there’s a threat yet. We’re just on edge because of Felicia.” She swung onto the stallion. “But you’ll have to be a little more stern with Maisie. I’m not going to wait for you this time.”
“I’ll rise to the occasion.” He was on Maisie’s back and following Jane out of the forest onto the road. “Stop talking and get the hell out of here. Fergus is already halfway down to the gates. Caleb wouldn’t like you to be in this situation. He’ll have my ass.”
“He thought there was a chance it might happen. That’s why he arranged to get extra agents here at the property.”
“He’ll still blame me.”
“No, he’ll blame himself, and that’s much worse.”
“It depends on how you’re looking at it.”
“I can’t worry about that now. There are few things more—”
Jane suddenly pulled her horse’s reins and drew to a halt. “Stop!”
Rodland stopped alongside. “What?”
“Listen.”
They sat in silence for a moment. In the distance, there was a high-pitched buzzing sound, like a swarm of bees.
Rodland nodded. “I hear it. Where’s it coming from?”
Jane turned her head. “That’s just it. The sound isn’t coming from just one place. It’s coming from…everywhere.”
The buzzing grew louder.
Jane spun around. “They sound like—”
“Drones!” Rodland pointed behind her, where dozens of small drone helicopters roared over the hillside, silhouetted by the twilight sky.
The ground exploded in front of them!
“They’re dropping bombs!” Jane tightened her grip on the reins as her horse, Jocko, grew agitated and started bucking.
Waves of fire leaped into the sky, illuminating the drones as they swooped down and dropped another round of explosive charges.
“Move!” Rodland said. “Now!”
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Jane and Rodland turned their horses and raced across the grassy field, desperately trying to outrun the wave of explosions roaring toward them.
“Faster!” Rodland shouted.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Jane felt heat from the blasts on her back. She turned toward Rodland. “We have to get to the castle!”
“We’ll never make it.”
“We have to!”
Another swarm of drones appeared in front of them. Jane braced herself for more explosions, but the drones banked left and sped into the darkness.
“Oh, my God,” Jane said. “They’re headed for the castle and the main residences. We have to warn them!”
“Way ahead of you.” Rodland’s phone was in his hand. “But I can’t get a signal. Those drones must be jamming us. We need to get clear of those things.”
Jane tugged the reins. “First we need to get there and help those people.”
“MacDuff already has a small army there, Jane.”
“They’re under attack because of me.”
“Because of Caleb.”
“Exactly!” She snapped the reins and took off toward the castle. “Same thing.”
“Jane!”
But she wasn’t listening. Rodland followed Jane as their horses galloped across the pasture, the animals’ muscle memory enabling them to navigate every depression and jump every gully even in almost total darkness.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.
The explosions were coming from up ahead.
At the castle, Jane realized. The second wave of drones had found their target.
Dammit.
They rode to the hilltop and saw that the residences and surrounding grounds were ablaze.
In a matter of minutes, this beautiful retreat had become a fiery hellscape.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.
More bombs from the sky, destroying the once magnificent gardens. Another blast laid waste to the automotive garage and MacDuff’s classic car collection.
The staff had emerged from their burning residences and were running across the grounds in a panic.
The buzzing sound returned. More drones, all around them.
RAT-AT-AT-AT-AT!
“Guns!” Jane shouted.
The latest drone wave was equipped with automatic rifles, firing at the already panicked staff. The gun drones swooped low and zeroed in on their targets.
RAT-AT-AT-AT!
Two mechanics went down, followed by a housekeeper. Blood spurted from their wounds.
Jane raced down on her horse, yelling to the others, “Take cover! Now!”
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
Jane ducked, but she realized that the last series of gunshots had come from MacDuff’s people, who had taken positions with their weapons and were firing upward at the still-shooting gun drones.
Rodland joined in the assault, leaning forward in his saddle and firing his handgun alongside them.
Jane heard a child’s scream. She turned. God, no…
A housekeeper was running across the circular driveway, clutching a little girl against her chest. The girl was wailing, terrified of a low-flying gun drone pursuing them just a few feet behind.
Jane snapped her horse’s reins and galloped toward them. As she passed a tall hedge, she grabbed a gardener’s rake leaning against it. She turned back toward the drone.
RAT-AT-AT-AT-AT!
A trail of bullets followed the woman and her crying daughter.
Jane swung the rake upward and struck the drone. It wobbled, and she turned back for another swing.
WHAP!
This blow took it down, and it smashed onto the driveway.
“Get away from here,” Jane called out to the woman. “Take cover!”
Jane rode back to join Rodland and the line of gunmen. “Where’s MacDuff?”
“Pinned down at the castle,” one of the marines replied. “We have a squad rendezvousing with him there right now.”
Rodland exchanged gunshots with a drone that had descended just a few feet in front of them. It splinted apart and crashed. He turned back to Jane. “I have to get you out of here. Right now.”
She shook her head. “Not until everyone else gets away.”
“Look around you. MacDuff’s people are on it.”
Jane looked at one of the other residences, which she knew housed the head groundskeeper and his large family. The roof was on fire, and the blaze was descending to the rest of the house. She turned back to Rodland. “Come on. We have to make sure everyone made it out of there.”
“Then we get you out of here,” he said grimly.
“We’ll see.”
They rode around to the burning house, where the groundskeeper and his family huddled outside.
“Is everyone okay?” Jane called out.
The groundskeeper nodded and spoke in his thick brogue. “Fine. But if you have an extra gun, I’d like to take a few shots at those things.”
“Just stay here and take care of your family,” Rodland said.
BLAM! BLAM! POW! More gunshots rang out, and the family ducked behind a tractor.
Rodland turned. “Those didn’t come from the air.”
BLAM!
Blood spurted from Rodland’s shoulder, and he slumped forward.
“Shit,” Rodland grunted.
Blood on the front of his shirt. He pitched forward over Maisie’s head and hit the ground!
“No!” Jane reined in her horse and jumped off him. She held the reins as she ran back to where Rodland lay crumpled on the ground.
Another bullet plowed into the tree next to her as she fell to her knees beside Rodland. His eyes were closed and his forehead bloody. Dead?
No, he was opening his eyes. “Get out—of—here,” he said hoarsely. “You can’t help me. Sniper…”
“Shut up.” She was looking at the wound in his shoulder. “I think it’s only a flesh wound. It’s not bleeding much. But I don’t like the way your head looks. And you’re slurring.”
“That’s because I’m talking to…three of you. Tell the other two of you to go away.” He reached out and grabbed her hand. “No, all of you go away. That sniper will be on top of us soon. He doesn’t…want me. They’ll have orders to grab you. And it might be dead or…alive.”
“I’m not going without you.” She propped him up. “Now stand up and get back on Maisie. You’re strong. I’ll steady you.”
“She doesn’t like me that much. She’s not going to stand still.”
“Just get halfway up.” She had to use all her strength to get him even half mounted on the saddle. Then he fainted. It was just as well. She arranged his body facedown over the saddle and gave Maisie a sharp slap on the buttocks that sent her running down the road toward the castle.
She was praying Maisie wouldn’t start bucking again as she dialed Fergus. “It’s Jane. Stop going toward the gates. There’s a sniper on this side. Rodland’s been shot. He’s on Maisie. Come back for him and take him to the village to be treated. But call MacDuff and warn him that there are snipers on the grounds. I don’t know how many or where they are. We just ran into one here at the groundskeeper’s house. The drones were only the first wave of attack.”
“Are you all right, ma’am?”
“Fine. Just take care of Rodland.” She cut the connection.
Then she mounted the stallion and, avoiding the road, took the route through the forest that led south. The sniper’s bullet had come from the north, and she would have to be super careful because Rodland was right. The chances were that the sniper had been after her because Bohdan would figure that she could lead him to Caleb. That was what this nightmare was all about. Her friend had been killed, a wonderful castle that had survived centuries was in flames, and she had no idea how many people had died today. Bohdan didn’t care what pain and suffering he caused if he got what he wanted. And what he wanted was Caleb’s death. She could feel the anger start to burn within her at the thought.
Screw you, Bohdan. You’re going to start losing. I’m tired of hiding. I’m not letting you take another thing from me. I’m keeping everything that’s mine.
And the first thing you’ll lose is that sniper you sent after me. First I track, then I take him out. How do you think he’ll stack up against the SEAL training Joe gave me…
Chapter
9
Maggiano Lake
Italy
Bohdan didn’t show,” Caleb said tightly when he reached Palik. “Neither did any of his top mobsters. The entire valley is filled with his meth and drug hierarchy screaming and blaming each other, but no Bohdan. I thought sure that I’d be able to zero in on him here. Where the hell is he?”
“Maybe he had something better to do,” Palik said. “Have you heard from MacDuff lately?”
Caleb tensed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I can’t get in touch with Rodland or MacDuff, and I don’t like it.”
“Shit!” Caleb cut the connection and dialed MacDuff.
No answer.
But he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that he was getting an incoming call from Jane. “Everything okay? I couldn’t reach MacDuff.”
“He’s probably a little busy,” Jane said shakily. “The last I saw was that he was trying to keep the Run from burning down. And then of course there were the drones that were dropping explosives. That could have been a distraction.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about Bohdan. Who else could it be? I only called you because I couldn’t imagine that if you knew about the attack you wouldn’t have been here. But it’s pretty clear you didn’t know.”
“Are you all right? Where’s Rodland?”
“He was wounded, and I sent Fergus to take him to the village.”
“Rodland is supposed to be taking care of you.”
“Isn’t everyone?” she asked wearily. “It doesn’t seem to be working out, does it? You’ll pardon me if I bow out. Too many people are getting hurt and dying. I won’t let it happen any longer. I’ll call MacDuff after I hang up from you and find out what damage I’ve done to him. But after that I’m on my own.”
“That’s crazy,” he said roughly. “Where are you?”
“At the moment, I’m still at MacDuff’s Run. But you know what a huge property it is, and I can’t promise I’ll stay here.”
“Are you trying to shut me out, too? You know I can’t let you do that. I’m coming after you.”
“And you might find me, but I’ll try my best not to let you. Because you’re the one I most need to keep away from. Bohdan will kill you if he uses me as bait. That’s what we’ve been trying to avoid.”
“No, it’s not. And I don’t care anymore. I won’t have you out there by yourself. I have to be with you.”
“You will be.” Her voice was suddenly soft. “Always. But the stakes are suddenly much higher right now. I can’t risk you, too. Goodbye, Caleb.” She ended the call.
Caleb’s hand clenched on the phone. “Son of a bitch.” He dialed Palik. “I suppose you’ve heard what happened at the Run?”
“Yes, I got through. I don’t know all the details. Rodland was still a little out of it. Something about drones and explosives. It probably took place about the same time you rigged your meth explosion. Bohdan must have found out about Jane and where she was located. He probably had his own attack plans ready to initiate.” He added, “I believe you got your response. Jane?”
“Alive. Well. With a guilt trip that’s going to cause me a hell of a lot of trouble.” He added hoarsely, “And may get her killed. I’m heading for MacDuff’s Run right away.”
“Might be a mistake. He could be waiting for you.”
“Then make certain that there are enough men up in those hills. Get me an army if you have to.”
“If she’ll go with you.”
“She’ll go with me.”
“Such confidence.”
“I’ve no choice. I’ve seen what Bohdan does to captives.” He was already heading for his rental car, parked on the road. “I’ll see you at the Run, Palik.”
* * *
Bohdan’s Yacht
1:40 A.M.
“The drones worked.” Chiswick climbed out of the speedboat on board the yacht. He strode toward where Bohdan was at the rail gazing out at the castle. “I told you that it was the best way to access that castle. Between MacDuff and MI6, the property couldn’t be touched any other way. The explosions made it possible for us to send forces into the courtyard and attack their forces.”
