Chapter 24

 

Ryan and Elle studied the latest satellite photos of the mining area, and what they saw wasn’t good.

“There are way more boats at the mine than there was yesterday,” Elle said as she looked up at Ryan. “Is he assembling an army?”

“Looks like it,” Ryan said.

Something was going on for sure. But what? He was missing something important. He knew it. He had that tingly feeling in his gut that told him something more was going on. For a long time, Ryan had thought that feeling meant he was hungry. Now that he’d lost his appetite, he knew it meant something else.

“Can you zoom in on the mine?” He stood close to the image on the wall. “As close as you can get without losing sharpness.”

Elle did as he asked. Ryan studied the close-up, hoping the answer would jump out at him.

“What’s worrying you?” Elle came up to stand beside him, laptop in hand.

“Apart from the fact he’s amassing an army?”

“Apart from that.”

Something caught Ryan’s eye. He pointed at the wall. “Zoom in on that, will you?”

As the image became clearer, Ryan froze.

“That’s a satellite uplink dish,” Elle said, sounding just as worried as Ryan felt. “It’s attached to a mobile broadcasting unit.”

“Yeah,” Ryan said. “The son of a bitch is going to broadcast whatever he does to Belinda and Beast.”

“He’s using them to build his reputation,” Elle said.

“No, he’s going to use them to make people fear him.” Ryan turned his back on the image. “He’s taking a leaf out of the ISIS playbook and he’s going to televise their torture.”

“He wouldn’t…” Elle trailed off, because from what they’d learned of the guy, that was exactly what he would do.

“We need a new plan,” Ryan said. “I don’t think we’ll get to Belinda and Beast before they hit the river. That’s a lot of ground to cover, and the rainforest is dense. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.” The last time he’d heard from the team, there hadn’t been any sign of the couple. He checked the time: two hours until sunset. The chances of finding them now were slim. Soon, Ryan would have to make the call as to whether the search teams camped in the jungle for the night or he brought them home to regroup for the morning.

A regroup was beginning to look like the most feasible option.

“This is going to turn into a massacre on the river, isn’t it?” Elle said as Isobel, Callum’s wife, stomped into the room, clearly furious.

“Not if we can stop it,” Ryan said, with his eyes on Isobel.

She strode up to them and held out her hand. There was a phone in it. “I took this from the entitled idiot.”

As if she’d summoned him, Belinda’s brother crashed into the ballroom. “Give me my phone back,” he demanded.

Ryan ignored him and took the phone. “Why did you take it?” he asked Isobel.

“Because I overheard him arranging a press conference.”

Ryan’s stomach fell as he turned to the actor. “You want to explain this to me?”

The kid at least had the sense to realise he was treading on thin ice. His face paled and he took a step back, away from a tightly coiled Ryan.

Daniel held out his hands as though to fend Ryan off. “I was helping.”

“Tell me you haven’t already called in the press.” This whole operation was going to hell in a handbasket.

“Having the world’s eyes on Belinda will keep her safe. If the kidnappers get her again, they won’t dare hurt her with everyone watching.”

Ryan could barely contain his rage. He strode to the image on the screen and pointed at the mobile broadcast unit. “They want the world to watch what they do to your sister. You’ve played right into their hands. Now nothing will stop them from putting on a show where Belinda is the star.”

Daniel lost all colour, bent over and started to gag.

“Get him some water,” Ryan snapped at Isobel, who had the good sense to realise he wasn’t mad with her. She went to the bar, grabbed one of the water bottles the hotel kept there for them, unscrewed it and thrust it under Daniel’s nose.

“Drink,” Ryan ordered him. “Then tell me exactly who you called so we can figure out how much damage control we have to do.”

“I thought I was helping,” Daniel whined.

Ryan didn’t say anything at all. It wasn’t worth the energy he would expend doing it. Things had just become a whole lot worse for Belinda and Beast. And Ryan feared that there wasn’t a whole lot Benson Security could do to stop it.