Chapter 4
Terrified, Kat sat on her own kitchen chair as the man behind her held a gun to her head and a finger to his lips. A cloth rag was tied around her mouth to keep her from screaming. She didn’t know what they might have seen or heard, but, all of a sudden, instead of leaving her as she was, they tied her up. As soon as she was secured, the two men split in opposite directions, both with weapons out, checking the lower floor of her house. They’d already checked it once, but obviously they were looking for something different now. She didn’t know who they were. They’d accosted her as she was getting into her vehicle at work.
She’d been picked up, tossed in the trunk of their car and taken home. That they even knew where her home was, was terrifying. She’d tried to contact somebody for help on her phone by hitting Redial. Whoever the hell that was. But she’d lost her phone when the vehicle had careened around the corner.
She leaned her head back, thinking. She didn’t know who the men were, but they obviously knew who she was. The obvious conclusion was this had something to do with the letters. But it could just as easily have something to do with the three men who came to her office earlier. She was well aware Badger was on a dangerous mission. Were these men after Badger? Or were these the men Badger was after?
Not that it made any difference to her right now. She had to get through this. The last thing she wanted was to die in her own home as a captive.
She didn’t know if these men knew she was missing a leg herself. She hoped not. While she’d been designing others’ prosthetics, she’d been working hard to improve her own. She still had a few tricks to play, but she had to get her legs free first.
The larger of the two gunmen who’d been looking out the front windows came past her and headed toward the kitchen. She could hear them whispering that they heard sounds in the backyard and thought they saw somebody peering over the fence. That could be anything from nosy Dorothy down at the end of the alley to Badger, who had, for whatever fictional tale she wanted to conjure up in her head, come looking for her.
Her mouth was so dry. She was desperate for some water. She was also exhausted after her long day. She didn’t realize how much those letters were having a negative effect on her system. Just dealing with the issue was depressing.
The two men came through the kitchen, headed for the stairs, then ran to the second floor. She watched them, frowning. The second man was much slimmer, smaller. She’d call him more of a monkey of a man. He reminded her of one of the old-style chimneysweeps. Something was creepy and dirty about him. The larger of the two men was better dressed, had better diction, appeared to have a little more money and a little more self-care. But something about his exaggeratedly large teeth sent shivers down her back.
They hadn’t touched her other than to pick her up and tie her down. But she knew, with night falling, their minds would turn to something else. And that was when she would get her chance. In order to rape her, they’d have to untie her from the chair. She just needed a few moments with her leg free; then she could possibly save herself. She didn’t think anybody was coming to rescue her.
Just as she figured that, she glanced around, hearing something behind her. Twisting she caught sight of a face in the glass panel of the door that led to the garage. She froze.
She didn’t know if she should be happy or terrified. She didn’t think her two kidnappers were expecting a visitor. The last thing she wanted was to consider a third asshole was party to her kidnapping. But she couldn’t imagine who else it could be at her door.
When she heard a snick, she realized the door was opening. She knew the men had locked it behind them because the bigger guy had ordered the little one to do it. She presumed he had followed that order; otherwise, how did they pull off these kinds of criminal acts?
Her neck was really hurting. She couldn’t keep looking around the corner. But when she heard footsteps ever-so-slight behind her, she twisted again. Her gaze was wide and terrified, and her gagged mouth opened a bit in shock, but no sound came out.
Badger stood beside her. He put a finger to his lips and whispered, “How many?”
With her hands tied behind her back, she lifted two fingers and squeezed the rest into a fist. He noted her actions and held up two fingers. She nodded. He pointed up the stairs, and she nodded. He held his finger back to his lips and disappeared out the door, the way he’d come in.
Her heart pounded; hope raced through her bloodstream, but she didn’t understand why he was leaving. And without her.
But she sure as hell hoped it was to get some help. No sooner had that thought entered her mind when two men came through the door. Had they been seen?
Erick stood in front of her. Pulling out his pocketknife, he quickly cut the ties around her ankles and wrists. At the same time, Cade loosened the gag on her mouth. Cade helped her to her feet and tugged her toward the door. She twisted to look at the other two men, not wanting to leave without them. Badger waved her off. And she realized his focus was already on the men upstairs. Just then she heard running footsteps. Cade pulled her out of the house and into the garage. He took the knife and plunged it into the tire closest to him and walked around to do the same to the others. With the vehicle disabled, he tugged her to the back of the garage and out the door. He helped her over the fence and then hopped the fence into the neighbor’s yard with her. Within seconds he gently pushed her into the back seat of a truck.
She slid inside, her voice and breath raspy and harsh. “How did you guys know?”
“Didn’t you call Badger?”
She stared at him in surprise. “I hit Redial. But I never got a chance to say anything. They turned a really hard corner, and I got slammed up against the inside of their trunk and lost the phone in the darkness.”
“Did you hear it ringing again?”
“I don’t think so. They were probably already dragging me into my house by then.”
“We need to get your phone back. Is it in the trunk?”
“Yes. You should help Badger and Erick.”
Cade laughed. “They’d consider that an insult, by the way.”
She stared at him. “What? Why would that be insulting?”
“The two of them against two kidnappers. That’s easy odds for our guys.”
She shook her head. “The kidnappers are armed. I forgot to tell him that. They have guns.”
“That’s all right. Our guys do too.”
Her jaw dropped open as he pulled a pistol from a shoulder holster under his jacket. “Are you allowed to carry that?”
“Yep, we are. It’s one of the reasons we were contemplating going to Texas. Working for Levi. It would help us continue to do the same work we’ve always done, and we get to carry guns.” He plastered a grin on his face.
Was it to make light of a job that allowed him to carry guns? She shook her head and leaned back. “You guys are crazy.”
“You are the one who got kidnapped.”
She reached a hand to her temple. “I certainly didn’t mean to. They grabbed me when I was getting in my car.”
“So obviously you were targeted. They caught you just after you left the office and before you made it home. They could have caught you in your office, or they could have also caught you at your house. So why the vehicle?”
He spoke in such a contemplative voice that she realized he was seriously trying to figure out the kidnappers’ thought process.
“I was just about to start my car when,” she admitted. “I realized I forgot to set the alarm.”
“Yes, you did. We’ve already been through your office.”
She stared at him in shock. “How did you get inside?”
He gave her a droll look. “Have you forgotten what we used to do?”
She shook her head slowly. “No, I just hadn’t considered the applications in today’s world or how it might impact me.”
“Well, now you have firsthand experience,” he said cheerfully.
But she knew the whole time he was talking to her in that light pleasing tone, his gaze was searching all around the area. “Are you expecting them back right away?”
“Of course I am,” he said. “But I’m not expecting any trouble taking out the kidnappers.”
“Of course there will be trouble,” she said wearily. “We’ll be lucky if there isn’t one or two of them sporting bullet holes.”
“I don’t give a damn about the two kidnappers. But my boys, they had better not be sporting any.”
Just then Cade’s phone went off. He pulled it out, gave a nod of satisfaction and said, “It’s Badger.” He hit the Speaker button and said, “Badger, what’s up?”
“You can bring her back in. We have two kidnappers trussed up in the kitchen. Would be nice if we had some information from her so we know how to proceed.”
She was already out the door and standing on the sidewalk, waiting for Cade. Together the two walked around the corner and in the front door. As they walked to the kitchen, Kat realized that the two men were now sitting on kitchen chairs tied up like sheep. She grinned at them. “Fancy meeting you here like this.”
The two men just glared her.
“Do you know these two men?” Badger asked.
She shook her head and quickly brought him up on the details of how she’d been kidnapped.
He nodded and tossed her a wallet. “The big one’s name is Paul Keiling.”
“If you can believe that. Isn’t it easy for them to get fake IDs these days?” She studied the driver’s license in the front window of the wallet. It was well done and looked passably close to him. “Maybe it is him?” She went through the rest of his wallet, hoping he had a couple credit cards, but inside, tucked in the back, was one of those secret flaps. And in there she pulled out a note.
Paul struggled against his bonds when he saw her do that.
She waved it in front of him. “Oh, is this something you don’t want me to see?” She handed the wallet to Erick for him to peruse. She quickly opened up the note and let out a silent whistle. To the rest of the men she read, “I know what you did.” And she held it up for the others to see. She glanced down at the big man. “So, are you the one who’s been sending me those notes?”
From the blank look in his eyes, she realized he didn’t know anything about them. But something else was going on in the back of his gaze. What would make a man kidnap her like he had? On a hunch, she pulled up a chair and sat in front of him. “Have you been getting these?”
He nodded slowly.
“So have I. Are you getting one a week?”
The big man nodded again slowly.
She nodded. “Yeah, me too. Mine comes every Wednesday. What about yours?”
He nodded.
She sat back, her fingers dancing up and down on her arm as she contemplated him. “So, I guess the question here is, what did you do?”
This time he just glared at her, that same bullish look coming back into his eyes as she’d seen before, and his lips pinched shut.
Badger wanted to laugh at the sour look on the kidnapper’s face. But that same sense of laughter was a very thin cover over the anger that fired through his system. What kind of an asshole would kidnap a woman, especially one like Kat? She did such good with her work; everybody needed her skills. And these assholes were hell-bent on taking her out of the picture. He leaned forward and gripped Paul’s throat in his big fist. “What were you going to do with her?”
Paul gasped and choked, but Badger didn’t relent. He knew the asshole would have shot Kat. Badger had to get to the bottom of this, and he had to get there now.
The other man spoke up. “We were following orders.”
Badger stepped back slightly and looked at him. “Whose orders?”
Both men shrugged. Paul said, “I got a letter. I was told to kidnap her and keep her prisoner in this house. Otherwise he’d tell.”
“And what was he going to do with her?”
Silence.
Kat got up and walked nervously around the kitchen. She had her arms wrapped around her chest as if to keep warm.
But Badger knew the chill wasn’t on the outside. It was on the inside. He gently stroked her back. “Remember that it’s okay. We found you in time.”
She gave a small nod and a grateful smile. “But how do I handle the nightmares when I wake up realizing how close I came to not being found?”
He understood because he woke up with nightmares consuming him over the bomb that blew apart his truck. There really was no good answer for her. “Time. It will ease back with time.”
She gave him a small smile and looked back at the two kidnappers. “How did he give you your instructions?”
The smaller man answered. “He’s had seven letters. Today he got an eighth one. But this one told him that he needed to snatch you off the street and bring you back to the house and keep you here until we receive further instructions.”
Badger immediately checked the time on his watch.
“We?” Erick asked, pouncing on his turn of phrase.
The smaller man shrugged. “Paul’s a buddy of mine. I wouldn’t leave him to deal with this on his own.”
Badger studied the two of them. Even in the darker side of life, everyone needed to have friends. Maybe Kat was right. Maybe he should consider friendship over vengeance. But it was damn hard.
Cade studied the two kidnappers. “Were there any other instructions?”
The smaller man shook his head. “Not yet. We only just got here.”
Badger studied his face for a long moment, wondering if he was telling the truth. Finally he decided there was no deceit in the man’s voice or eyes. Then again they’d been caught. No point in lying at this stage. He glanced at his buddies and caught their slight nods. He looked back to Kat to see her frowning at him.
“What are you up to?” she asked in a harsh tone.
He just grinned at her. How she knew so much about him and could understand who he was on the inside, he didn’t know. Maybe it was because she was the doc. Maybe it was because she dealt with guys like him all the time. On the other hand, he’d like to think there weren’t a ton of guys just like him. But, for whatever reason, she got under his skin and seemed to understand who he was. He motioned at the two men tied up on chairs. “The man pulling their strings hasn’t checked in yet to see if they were successful.”
She tapped her foot on the floor and gazed at him. “And …”
“And …” he said, crossing his arms over his chest as he studied her, “if we all stay where we are, there’s a good chance he will contact them with further instructions of what they’re supposed to do with you.”
Her gaze widened into understanding. “And you’re thinking we can capture him then?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know about the timing, but capturing him would obviously be the end result we would like to achieve. He might just give them more instructions.”
She turned to look at her two kidnappers. “Do we trust them?” Both men tried to put trustworthy looks on their faces. She snorted. “Of course we can’t trust you.”
“Hey,” Paul said, “I wouldn’t have laid a hand on you if I hadn’t had my back pushed to the wall.”
She glared at him. “But you did lay a hand on me. And I won’t forget that kind of terror easily.”
Cade stepped forward and held out her phone. “In all this mess, I forgot I retrieved this for you.”
Her face lit up as she reached for her phone. “Awesome.” She swiped the top glass, and her smile fell away.
In two seconds Badger was at her side. “What’s wrong?”
She shrugged irritably. “I didn’t say anything was wrong. I missed a text.”
“I didn’t text you, but I called your phone, and of course you didn’t answer.” He watched her face as she went through her phone.
She clicked on something, and her lips thinned. “This is the first text communication I’ve had from him.” She held up her phone so Badger could see. It was the same messages as on the letters. I know what you did.
He read that statement out loud. Then turned to look at the two kidnappers.
Both focused on Kat with an interested look on their faces.
Paul said, “I am not talking about that, but I’d sure be interested in knowing what you did.”
She raised both hands. “I wish I knew what he was talking about too. I didn’t do anything. I’m not a thief. I didn’t sleep with anybody’s husband …”
Paul snorted. “Well, I don’t know that I believe you. He obviously thinks he has something worth doing this for.”
She tapped her foot on the floor. “How long ago did whatever you did happen?”
Her question was a little convoluted, but Badger understood she was figuring out a time frame here.
Paul said, “Last summer.”
She frowned. “Do we know anybody else affected by this guy?”
Paul shook his head. “No. Why?”
“I’m looking for a time frame that I could search my diary and see if something went down that maybe he’s thinking I did. I honestly haven’t a clue what he’s talking about.” She turned around and said, “Where did my purse and keys go?”
The two kidnappers shrugged. “Probably still in your car where we picked you up.”
She frowned. “That’s possible.” Suddenly she looked nervous. She turned to Badger. “I need to get those as soon as possible.”
Cade stepped forward. “Your car wasn’t in its usual spot at the office. Where is it now?”
“I was about to turn the car on when these two idiots grabbed me.” She glared at the smaller man, the one prone to take orders.
“I drove your car here, following Paul, but it’s parked down the block.”
Cade nodded. “I’ll be a few minutes.” He slipped out the back way.
Badger loved working with these two. They didn’t have to be told how or why or what to do. He wished he had some idea what was going on here. He knew the general logistics, but, if she couldn’t come up with something she’d done, then it made him wonder just how severe an incident this guy was talking about. He checked his watch for the time once more. “Do you guys have any idea what the blackmailer’s ultimately looking for?”
Paul shook his head. “No. I was pretty pissed when I started getting the letters,” he admitted. “But, the bottom line is, I just wanted him to go away. When I was told to collect her, I was hoping that would be the end of it.”
“But you know it’s not going to be. Chances are good he might have wanted her killed.”
He ignored the soft gasp of dismay from Kat. She was holding on, waffling between anger and tears. He wanted the anger to win. He was no good when it came to women in tears. The other men seemed to look at her sideways, like she was a bomb about to go off. He figured they couldn’t handle crying women either.
Paul shook his head. “I don’t think there’s any point in that. The only reason to do something like this is if he could get something from us. Obviously he needed somebody to kidnap her. But what can he get from her?”
Everyone turned to look at Kat. She shrugged. “It depends.”
But her tone had changed. Badger stepped forward, reached out a hand and tilted her chin so she looked at him. “It depends on what?”
She sighed. “It depends if he knows about the rare coins I inherited.”