23

It took the team at Scanguards a mere thirty minutes to create several pictures from Isabelle’s original photo, upload them to the photographer’s site and add a client file with a fake address.

“Now we wait,” Thomas said.

“How long?” John asked.

“No idea. It’s the middle of the night. Not sure if the hacker is up right now monitoring his spiders. If he is, it may be just a few minutes. If not, it could be hours.”

“Okay. I guess you don’t need us right now,” John said and upon Thomas’s confirmation looked at Savannah. “There’s something I need from your flat. And you need to pack a bag.”

“A bag? Why?”

“Because you can’t stay at your place anymore. Knowing what we know now, I don’t think it’s safe. They’ll try again.”

“Okay.”

To Thomas, he said, “I’ll be back soon. If you get a location on the hacker before that, call me.”

He led Savannah out of the computer lab and back to his car.

After leaving the garage, Savannah said, “Isabelle seems to be a very well-adjusted young woman, despite what’s happened to her.”

John gave her a sideways glance, guessing what she was thinking. “With the right help and support a kidnapping doesn’t have to leave permanent scars. Isabelle went through a traumatic experience, but she’s come out of it a strong young woman.”

It had helped that all of Scanguards had been mobilized to find her. During her capture, she had held onto the belief that her father would move heaven and earth to save her. And he had. Buffy didn’t have a father to protect her. Instead, John would now move heaven and earth to save her.

“It’s given me hope,” Savannah admitted. “And your colleagues… they are all amazing. Smart, and skilled. Without them—”

“Don’t sell yourself short. Your idea to upload new pictures was brilliant. I’m confident that it will lead us to the hacker. And once we have him, we’re almost there.”

“I hope you’re right.” She sighed. “You said you wanted to get something from my flat. What is it?”

“The ransom note.”

“Why? There’s nothing on it. And I believe the kidnapper when he says there are no fingerprints.”

“I agree. He wouldn’t be so stupid. He would have worn gloves, but there’s a strange smell to the paper. It’s very distinct.”

“I didn’t smell anything.”

And she wouldn’t have, because it was too faint for a human’s nose. But his vampire sense of smell had picked it up. “I’m going to have our forensics guys check it out. It may help us in narrowing down where our kidnapper is holing up.” Because if the paper had been kept in the same location as the kids, its smell might give them clues as to the type of building the children were in. “I meant to bring the ransom note earlier, but—” Crap! He didn’t want to remind her of what they’d done in her flat earlier. “—when I saw Buffy’s photo, I forgot all about it.”

Had she noticed his pivot? He cast her a quick sideways glance, but couldn’t detect what she was thinking about. Maybe he was the only one who couldn’t get their passionate encounter out of his mind.

Once they were inside her apartment, John said, “Pack only what you need for a couple of days. I’ll get the ransom note.”

“Okay.” She walked toward her bedroom, when she suddenly looked over her shoulder. “Do I have time for a quick shower?”

He nodded. “Go ahead.”

When she disappeared, he walked back into the living room, pulled out a small Ziploc bag and put the ransom note as well as the photo of Buffy the kidnapper had sent in it. Maybe his team could find out where the photo was taken, though at first glance the room Buffy was in looked too generic to provide any clues. But maybe somebody else had a better eye.

John pulled his cell from his pocket and scrolled through his contacts, then pressed Benjamin’s number.

“Hey, John. What do you need?”

“How far are you from Savannah’s flat?”

“About five minutes, why?”

“Is Damian still watching Alexi?”

“Yep.”

“Good. I want you to come to Savannah’s flat. I’ve got something for you to deliver to HQ.”

“Be there in five.”

A click in the line, and the hybrid was gone.

He listened for Savannah, who was opening cupboards in the bathroom, and then heard the water of the shower running. He pressed another number, walking farther away from the door to the hallway.

A sleepy male voice answered his call.

“John, what the fuck?”

“Hey, Wesley, I need a favor.”

“At three in the morning?”

“You know the hours I keep. Can’t be avoided.”

“Yeah, whatever. Make it snappy.”

“I need you to take in a guest for a few days.”

“What kind of guest?”

“A client, a woman.”

“Did her place burn down or something?”

“No.”

“You need me to protect her?”

“Yep.”

“I’m assuming there’s a reason you can’t do it yourself.”

One reason? Hundreds of reasons. “Yep.”

“I’m assuming that’s all the information you’re gonna give me,” Wesley said dryly.

“Afraid so. Can you do it?”

“Sure. When’s she due to arrive?”

“In about half an hour.”

“Gee, thanks for the advance notice.”

“Oh, and Wes,” John added, looking over his shoulder to check that Savannah was nowhere near. “She doesn’t know who we are.”

“Okay, I’ll keep things under wraps.”

“Owe you one.”

“Don’t worry, I’m keeping track.”

John disconnected the call and slipped the phone back into his pocket.

A few minutes later, Savannah was ready. John walked to the window and looked outside. A black Porsche was just turning into the street. Perfect timing.

“Let’s go.”

He took Savannah’s travel bag and walked downstairs ahead of her. As he exited, Benjamin was already coming up the steps.

“Hey, John,” the young hybrid said. His gaze fell onto the bag in John’s hand, then drifted past John to Savannah who was exiting behind him and pulling the door shut.

She let out a gasp when she saw Benjamin stand there as if blocking their exit.

“This is one of my colleagues,” John said. “Benjamin LeSang. He’s been checking up on Alexi and Rachel and some of the other people Buffy had contact with.”

Savannah seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “Hi, Benjamin.”

“Hi, Sav—I mean, Ms. Rice.”

Savannah made a dismissive gesture. “Savannah is fine.”

Benjamin nodded politely. “You had something for me, John?”

John pulled the plastic bag with the ransom note from his inside pocket and handed it to the hybrid. “Have this analyzed right away. I smelled something really pungent. Some sort of chemical. It’s faint, but I think it’s significant. It could lead us to where the children are kept.”

“Alright. Not a problem.”

“And once you’ve got the results for it, let me know. And contact Detective Donnelly. He might be able to help us find where in the city this chemical is used, if indeed it is a chemical.” And if the kids were indeed being held in San Francisco and hadn’t already been transported somewhere else.

“I’ll be in touch,” Benjamin promised and, with a nod to Savannah, walked back to his Porsche and got in.

John motioned to his Mercedes, unlocked it and put Savannah’s bag behind the seat, while she sank into the passenger seat. He joined her seconds later and drove off.

“Where are we going?”

“I’m taking you to a friend’s house where you can stay until all this is over.”

“A friend’s house?”

There was an edge to her voice that made the hairs on his nape rise. Why did he suddenly have the feeling he had to tread carefully? “Yes, Wesley and his wife will protect you.”

“I see.”

She might as well have said fine, because it sounded just like it. Fine, when a woman used it, meant anything but. It meant she didn’t agree, didn’t like what he’d arranged. He felt he had to explain.

“Listen, Savannah, you can’t stay at your place. I thought you understood that. The kidnapper knows where you live, and now that we’re certain that he wants you too, I can’t risk you being without protection. Wesley is a fully-trained bodyguard.” And a witch to boot. And he had a wife who could make people invisible. He and Virginia were the perfect people to watch over Savannah.

“And what’s wrong with you protecting me? I hired you.”

“Please understand, I can’t.”

It was too risky. If she stayed with him, how could he resist the temptation to touch her again? And who knew what would happen this time? For both their sakes, he couldn’t allow it.