Chapter Eight
Stone couldn’t shake the dark cloud of foreboding that hung over him. Gut clenched and every muscle drawn tight, he scanned the crowd. He’d let Jack and Soph talk him into this, into bring her out for another day of festival fun, and with each tick of the clock he regretted it more. He knew most of his anxiety stemmed from the fact Soph was no longer just a client.
He’d fallen in love with her.
It didn’t matter that it was only days since they’d met. They’d connected. Deeply.
Last night had cemented that connection. She’d let him inside her with no barriers. He was too old and cynical to be awestruck by that alone, even if it was a first for him. And her. They’d taken that step together and in spite of common sense telling him whatever relationship they were forging couldn’t be real under the circumstances, it was the most real he’d ever been with a woman.
“See anything?” Jack’s voice rumbled in Stone’s earpiece.
“Nothing yet.”
“Sophie?”
“No signal yet.” And he’d been watching for it. His eyes hadn’t left her since she’d arrived with Karen. “She’s talking with some local women Karen introduced her to.”
“How close are you?”
“Not close enough if something goes wrong,” he barked.
“Suck it up, lover boy. She knows what to do if he gets hold of her.”
“He better not breathe on her, never mind touch her.” Stone struggled to remain in place. The conversation alone had him on the brink of racing over to Soph, grabbing her and getting out of here. His gut told him things were going to go south and he’d never ignored his instincts before.
Jack laughed. “You’ve got it bad.”
So what if he did? It didn’t change what they were here to do. Protect Soph. “Focus.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m not seeing things through lust-fogged glasses.”
“I can do my job.”
“Never said you couldn’t but if you don’t dial back those emotions, you’ll be distracted, and that’s the last thing Sophie needs right now.”
Stone knew Jack was right, knew he had to push his feelings aside and find his usual stone-like calm. “She’s on the move.”
“Got her.”
He could trust Jack. Had done so on numerous occasions, but this time the stakes were higher and they both knew it. “I’ve got eyes on her.” Stone moved around a family with three small kids. Almost tripped over the littlest one as she darted away from her father.
“I’m to the north of you both.”
Stone spotted Jack among the many faces. “I got you. Any sign of our target?”
“Nothing.”
“Where the hell is he?” he growled.
“Give it some time. We haven’t been here an hour yet.”
It felt like days. “They’re stopping again.”
Stone paused at the stall of a local artist. Pretended to admire the sculptures covering the booth’s table while he kept an eye on Soph. She didn’t seem nervous. In fact, she was laughing and talking as though she didn’t have a care in the world.
“At least one of us is having fun,” he muttered.
“That’s made from locally sourced timber and scrap metal.”
He glanced up to find an old guy smiling at him. His weathered face spoke of years in the sun, many hours smiling. “They’re good,” Stone offered without much enthusiasm. He didn’t want to start up a conversation. He had to stay on task.
“My grandson is the artist. Never really got into art myself, but the kid does alright with it.”
Stone smiled and turned to see Soph and Karen moving again. “I’ll come back later.” He tried to be polite but a group of teenagers moved between him and Soph, and Stone’s heart damn near beat right out of his chest when he lost sight of her.
Darting around the rowdy group, he picked up his pace. “I’ve lost visual.”
“I’ve got her. They’re heading for the haunted house.”
“Haunted house?”
“Affirmative.”
Shit. “Jesus. How the hell do we keep eyes on her in there?”
“I’ll go in right behind. You need to stay back. Hagar saw you with her yesterday so you’re a known entity.”
He didn’t want to let Jack take the lead but it made sense if they wanted to give the illusion Soph was on her own—defenseless. “Roger,” he agreed reluctantly.
“There’s a crowd. Not sure I like this…”
The uncertainty in Jack’s voice ramped up Stone’s anxiety another notch. “Should we abort?”
“No. I’m right on her.” Jack’s voice lowered. “No one between us.”
“Don’t hesitate to grab her and pull her out,” Stone ordered.
“Guaranteed.”
“You want me inside or near the exit?”
“Outside.”
Jack didn’t say ‘just in case’ but Stone heard it and his inside spiraled tighter. He spotted Soph’s high ponytail with its bright red ribbon and his nerves took a jolt before relief flowed through him. Just the sight of her made breathing easier. “I see her.”
Jack moved behind her, blocking Stone’s view.
“And you.”
“We’re going in,” Jack said in spite of the fact he knew Stone could see them now.
“Talk me through it.” If he couldn’t be inside with her, he’d use Jack as his eyes and ears.
“Shit.”
Stone lurched forward. “What?”
“All good. A headless dummy dropped from the ceiling.”
Stone could hear screams, rattling chains, moaning wails, as well as the hiss of fake smoke through his earpiece. “You still with her?”
“Yeah. We’re moving into the next room.”
“Keep talking.” Stone paced a six-foot span at the side of the building. “I need to hear what’s happening.”
“Someone has gone to a lot of effort to try to scare the pants off people but all your girl is doing is laughing her ass off.”
Stone smiled.
“Shit.”
“What?”
“Dammit. She’s through to the next room but I’m caught behind a group of old ladies.”
“Get in there!” Stone cursed under his breath, spun around to charge inside—
And came face-to-face with his boss.
What the fuck was he doing here?
“Stone.” Ford tipped his chin.
He cleared his throat. “Ford.”
“Where’s our client?”
“Inside. Jack’s on her.”
“I hear you are too.”
Crap. Stone didn’t know how to answer that. He’d thought about what he’d say to Ford when he and Soph returned to Australia, but he hadn’t nailed down the words yet.
“We’ll talk about that later. Right now, fill me in,” his boss demanded, all business, the subject of Stone and Soph off the table for the moment.
“Hagar showed his face yesterday. We’re attempting to draw him out today. Soph is here with the woman who runs the Rise and Shine. Jack’s within reach while I’m backup.”
“Do we have a sighting today?”
“No.”
Ford frowned. “So we’re still running blind?”
Stone hated to admit they didn’t have a clue where Hagar was or where he’d been holed up, but the situation called for nothing except the truth. “Blind as a bat.”
Ford nodded. “Chip and Aiden are mingling. We’ll have more luck with the increase in eyes.”
“Stone! She’s gone. I can’t find her. I’ve got Karen. She doesn’t know where Sophie is.”
“What?” Stone pressed a hand to his ear. “Are you shitting me? How could she not know? They were together!”
“We’re coming out the exit. Meet me there.”
Stone was already heading around the building, Ford at his back, barking orders into his phone.
“What the fuck happened, Jack?” Stone growled as he quickened his stride, his eyes glued to the door Jack should be coming through.
“Don’t know. When I got through to the next room, Karen was calling out to Sophie. We’re coming out now.”
Stone spotted Jack and Karen the second they cleared the doorway and jogged to meet them.
“I don’t understand, she was right there, then she was gone,” Karen was saying to Jack.
“Karen. Did you hear her scream or call out?” Stone demanded as he stopped in front of them.
The older woman looked at him. “No. There was so much noise in there but she never uttered a word. We were laughing one second and she was gone the next.”
“We need to shut down the house. Start the search here,” Ford barked behind him. “I’m bringing in the local law on this. Screw what her manager wants. My gut tells me this isn’t a woman lost in a haunted house. This is a snatch.”
Stone turned to look at his boss. “No. I—”
Ford held up his hand. “Do what I tell you, when I tell you, or I’m locking you down.”
Instead of reprimanding him, Ford’s words gave Stone a sense of relief. With fear eating at his insides, Stone couldn’t think beyond what Hagar might be doing to Soph. Every instinct told him his boss was right. The fucker had her. And he’d been the one to let her talk him into putting her at risk and his worst nightmare had come true.
He’d known. From the second he’d agreed to Jack and Soph’s plan, he’d known the situation wasn’t under their control. Too many variables. Too many places where their surveillance would be compromised. Too many chances for Hagar to get close to Soph.
Anger and fear rose up inside him until he vibrated with energy. Before he registered what he was doing, he’d formed a fist and slammed it into Jack’s stomach.
Ford’s arms banded around Stone as Jack doubled over.
“You let him take her!” he yelled.
Jack straightened. “I’m giving you that one as a freebie.”
He eyed his colleague, his friend, and struggled against the urge to punch him again.
“Take a breath, Stone. You’re no good to her if you panic,” Ford said in his ear.
“Fuck!” He broke out of his boss’s hold and paced away. Ran both hands over his head and pulled at his hair. “We have to find her.”
“We will.” Jack moved beside him. “This fucker got her on my watch. Don’t think that doesn’t grind at me. We’ll find her. We’ll find him. And when we do, the fucker is going down.”
“Hard.” Stone took a deep breath and held it for a second. “The fucker is going down hard.”
***
Sophie’s head hurt and her stomach churned. Moaning, she rolled to the side, her hands flying to her head as it spun to match her belly. Swallowing the bile rising up her throat, she licked her dry lips and retched at the fowl taste that coated them. Fighting to keep from throwing up, she squeezed her eyes tight and tried to remember what the hell she’d done last night.
Stomach somewhat under control, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. When that didn’t bring about the threat of vomiting, she drew in another one. And another. Feeling steadier, she decided to brave moving again.
With great effort, she cracked her eyelids and tried to focus. Her vision was blurred but even that didn’t disguise the dirt beneath her.
Where the bloody hell was she?
Looking up, she took in the wood wall opposite and raked her memories for some kind of recognition. The timber boards were grayed, the gaps between them widened with age. Neither of which triggered a memory.
Deep silence surrounded her. Nothing moved. Nothing breathed and the dead quiet—and her steadier belly—gave her the courage to turn her head and look around more.
She pushed up to her hands and knees and rode out the woozy sensation that followed. Using the wall beside her, she climbed to her feet. Her head pounded.
“Bloody hell,” she whispered, setting off another beat inside her skull. Her throat felt tight, raw, as though she’d spent hours and hours singing. But she couldn’t recall doing a concert or being in the studio. Other than her aching head, tumbling stomach and sore throat, she seemed unharmed. Well, as unharmed as having a blank memory made her. Had she hit her head?
With her head still spinning, the possibility of being in an accident seemed plausible. It also made it difficult to concentrate. The last thing she remembered was… Moving through the haunted house? Laughing with—
Karen!
Head whipping around, eyes wide, Sophie lost her balance. Crashing to the ground, she cried out as pain stabbed through her hip. Crumpled on the dirt, she panted and whimpered, focused on getting her breathing even, her stomach still.
When the nausea and dizziness finally passed, Sophie rolled over and eased into a sitting position against the wall behind her. Supported, she glanced around the cavernous building and discovered she was definitely alone.
Wherever she was, and it appeared to be some sort of an abandoned barn, it hadn’t been frequented by people or animals in a long long time.
Dirt and dust lay in piles where she imagined the breeze blew through the cracks in the walls. Sun streamed in through holes in the roof above her and the large doors at the far end of the building sat crooked on their rusty hinges.
The place was a death trap, waiting to collapse at the first strong wind or go up in flames at the drop of a match.
Regardless of the fact she still had no idea where she was or how she’d gotten here, she had to get out. Waiting around wasn’t her style. It was how she’d ended up in the States, why she’d finally had enough of the madman following her…
She sucked in a breath and choked on the dust in the air.
Hagar.
Her gaze zipped around, searching for any sign of the man who’d followed her for weeks. The man she was one hundred percent certain was the reason she was here.
The creak of metal and the scrape of wood had her focusing on the doors meters away. With dread, Sophie watched, air stuck in her lungs, blocked by her heart pounding triple time in her throat.
He came through the small gap he’d made, the welcoming smile and tray of food doing nothing to extinguish her fear. “Oh good, you’re awake. I was starting to worry I’d given you too much Rohypnol.”
“Bloody hell.” He’d drugged her. No wonder she couldn’t remember what the hell happened. A shudder of revulsion ripped through her. What had he done to her while she was under the influence of the date-rape drug?
“I brought you some food. I wanted to make your favorite but the kitchen in the old house doesn’t work so I’m using a camp stove which isn’t the best,” he babbled as he drew closer. “I wish I could offer you a shower to go with the clean clothes I bought for you but there’s no running water here either. I promise to stop at a hotel as soon as we can so you can freshen up.”
Sophie wasn’t sure how to take this guy. He seemed harmless until she looked at those weird eyes. She’d never seen a color like them before and wondered if they were real or contacts. The crazy lurking in them was definitely real though.
“Here.” He put the tray down in front of her. “Eat up and I’ll get our things together so we can leave.”
“Leave?”
He smiled, the turn of his lips creepy when you added in his ice blue eyes. “Yes. We need to get going or we’ll miss our plane home.”
“Home?”
“Of course. You didn’t think we would stay here did you?” He glanced around the barn. “I’m no opposed to living in the country but I’ve got us a nice beach house on the coast of northern Queensland. Eat up. We’ve got a long trip ahead.”
She didn’t want to go anywhere with him. He’d drugged her, taken her, dumped her in this abandoned barn and acted as though he cared? Her head might still be spinning from the drugs but she wasn’t stupid enough to go with him. She just had to find the right moment to get away.
“Eat, eat,” he said from the barn door. “I’ll be back soon.”
Eyeing the sandwich and glass of water he’d put in front of her Sophie contemplated the odds he’d drugged them. She was little dehydrated but didn’t want to risk ingesting more of the sedative he’d used and she didn’t feel hungry so pushed the tray away and waited for her kidnapper to return.