Darke Heat (25 page)

“So how come you ended up with Sharon?” Colt interrupted.

“Sharon knew what my thoughts were concerning Paige, and she knew I was not going to do a damn thing about it. Paige came around to say goodbye before I left. Then she kissed me and about blew my head off. It was a little too heated and I needed all the strength I could muster to stop things from progressing too far. It was a close call. I think Sharon must have seen it and figured out where my thoughts were headed.”

“One night she came by my house. I was drinking because the time was getting close for me to go off to State and I wouldn’t be around to protect Paige. I’m not sure how it all came about, but I ended up sleeping with Sharon and she came back a few weeks later and told me she was pregnant. So I did the right thing and married her. She lost the baby. By then we were up at State. I tried to make things work, but she got deeply involved in drugs, and after paying for her to do rehab, she walked out and I filed for divorce. By then she’d told me the baby wasn’t mine anyway.”

“Wicked, just like her mother,” Colt said.

“I think she was in love with someone else that her mother didn’t approve of, and I made a nice scapegoat.”

“That’s just wrong in every color,” Dane said.

The Sheriff came out and walked over to where they were waiting.

“We caught Libby and George on the property. They were in Paige’s house looking for a drop schedule for a drug run. We got the list and are making a copy to go with Bryce to the DEA.”

“George is ready to roll over on everybody. Seems some out-of-towner dropped a big wad of cash on George to search the property. The dead guy found on Paige’s property, Levi Hershey, was the middle man who was brokering the drug deals when the man decided to take him out. George swears he had nothing to do with the murder. He figures it was the money man who shot him or had him shot.”

“The dead guy had been Libby’s newest plaything. When he came up dead, she tried to get in good with the man who hired George.”

“Who hired George?” Bryce asked.

“A man named Van DeMere,” Sheriff Markham answered.

“Colt, this all seems to lead back to you and your arms dealer,” Dane said.

“Yeah, and he’s got big money and firepower to get the job done,” Colt added.

“Which means, we really need to get hold of Paige. She is in serious danger,” said Dane.

“Oh, so almost getting blown up at my house in Detroit, and then getting blown up at my house here, and getting kidnapped and shot at, and stumbling into a pit bull dog fighting operation, isn’t serious danger?” Bryce asked.

“Well, there is that,” Dane agreed.

“Where is Paige now?” the Sheriff inquired.

“We don’t know, because lover boy here got her back up and she fled their date,” said Colt.

“Call all her friends and Jamie, her employee, and see if she’s been in contact with them. We need to find her before Colt’s bad guy does.”

“Will do, Sheriff,” said Bryce.

They divvied up the calls and started systematically trying to locate her. Finally, Shelby, the vet, let them know she was at a hotel downtown. She gave the number from the caller ID on her phone.

Dane called, but got no answer when the hotel operator tried the number.

“I’m going down to the hotel and find out what the problem is,” Bryce said.

“It’s four in the morning. Why don’t we get some sleep and pick her up tomorrow?” suggested the Sheriff.

“You all go ahead and get some sleep. I’m going down to the hotel and getting a room. That way I can be there first thing in the morning.”

“Okay, we’ll all meet down there around nine,” Sheriff Markham said. Each of the men made their way to their cars.

Bryce got into his SUV and rubbed the grit out of his eyes. He was tired, but so concerned about Paige, he knew he’d have a hard time sleeping if he wasn’t close to her. The drive to the hotel took over twenty minutes. He felt dead on his feet by the time he made it to the reservation desk.

An equally tired hotel receptionist took his information.

“I’m Agent Bryce Prescott with the DEA. There’s a woman staying here by the name of Paige Conner. I’d like to be in a room close to hers for her protection.” The man taking his reservation seemed to come more alert at his explanation.

“Miss Conner is on the tenth floor. I can put you in ten twenty-two, right across the hall.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it.”

Bryce took his key card and headed for the elevator. He was dead tired. Once in his room, he kicked off his shoes, took off his shirt, undid his belt, dropped his pants, and crawled between the sheets. He was out immediately.

Paige woke up and saw she’d had several missed calls on her cell phone from her brothers and Bryce. Well, tough! She wasn’t in the mood to talk to any of them.

She decided to go down to the gift shop and buy herself a tracksuit. She’d rinsed out her underwear the night before, and they were dry, but she didn’t want to wear the dress another minute. Dressed in her outfit from the night before, she went down to the salon and gift shop. She soon found what she was looking for.

“Would it be okay if I wore this out of the shop?” she asked the clerk who rang up her purchases.

“Sure. Would you like a bag for your other clothes?”

“Yes, please.”

The lady was agreeable as long as Paige handed over her credit card. She bought some flip-flops to go with her new ensemble and felt free to explore.

She walked through the hotel lobby and into the casual dining area where you could make your own breakfast, loading up on all her favorites and grabbing a cup of coffee. The area was full of patrons doing the same as she was, and the seating was limited, so she took her breakfast out to the poolside cabana area. It was going to be another scorcher of a day. Maybe she’d buy a swimsuit and take advantage of the pool.

She’d only been sitting a short while when a man dressed in elegant attire asked if he could join her.

“Sure.”

“I’m Victor Van DeMere. May I ask who you are?”

“Paige Conner,” she said and extended her hand for a shake.

“Nice to meet you, Miss Conner,” he replied in a slightly European accent.

“Nice to meet you as well, Mr. Van DeMere. Didn’t you call about one of my dogs?” Weird that he was here. It made her nervous.

“Why, yes. I recognized you from your picture in the paper for the dog-training award. The reason I’d called you is because I had business in town and it would be a perfect time to come see your dogs. I’ve been staying in this hotel.”

While they were eating, another man came up to speak to her table guest in another language.

“Well, my dear, it seems it is time to go.”

“It was nice meeting you. I’ll see you on Tuesday when you come out to look over my dogs.”

He stood, seeming to tower over her in the small space. “You don’t understand. You will be coming with me.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s not possible.”

The other man pressed what was undoubtedly the butt of a gun into her neck.

“No, you misunderstand. I’m not asking. I’m telling. And don’t cause a fuss or a lot of innocent people will get killed.”

She looked around at where the overflow of patrons had filled in most of the tables around the pool. She couldn’t endanger them. She needed to think and figure out a way to get free from this crazy man without getting anyone killed. She stood up and left her bag with last night’s clothes in it, under the table. Someone was bound to notice them.

The man with the gun to her back nudged her to follow Mr. Van DeMere. They made it look like she wasn’t feeling well. They turned the corner of the terrace, and there was a van waiting for them. The door opened as Mr. Van DeMere approached. Paige saw her chance and made a dash for the parking lot. Then her world turned black.

Bryce woke and felt an urgent need to find Paige. He dialed the operator to connect him to Paige’s room, but there was no answer. It was after eight thirty. She should be up. She may have gone down for breakfast. He’d forgotten to leave a message for her to call him here in the hotel. He dressed hurriedly and headed to the front desk to talk to the manager.

“I’m Agent Bryce Prescott of the DEA. A person of interest in one of my cases is staying in this hotel and may be in danger. Can you check and see if she’s in the hotel? Her name is Paige Conner.”

The hotel manager brought up the records for Paige’s room. “Miss Connor purchased an outfit in the gift shop and shortly after bought the build your own breakfast. She should be in the atrium dining area.”

“Thanks.”

Bryce rushed into the dining area and scanned the crowd. He didn’t see her, but saw several people taking their food out to the poolside patio. He walked through the door and noticed one table empty with a bag from the gift shop under it. He pulled out the bag and looked inside. There was Paige’s dress from last night. This was all wrong. He turned to the nearest table.

“Did you see a woman sitting here with a track suit on?”

“Yes, she left when the gentleman’s friend came. She seemed to not be feeling well. They took her over toward the parking lot.”

Bryce pulled out his phone while moving quickly to the parking area.

“Colt, this is Bryce. Someone grabbed Paige from the poolside area of the hotel. She was last seen leaving with two men, and she seemed to be unwell.”

“We’re on our way.”

“Bring Deeogee. We may need to follow Paige’s scent.” Bryce could feel his heart rate gallop as all the possible scenarios played in his head. He shouldn’t have let Paige stay by herself. He knew she was in danger, and someone was after her specifically. He looked through everything in the bag and then went in to confirm with the gift shop cashier what the tracksuit looked like. The suit was a royal blue with white piping and a hood.

He’d returned to the lobby when Dane and Colt came through the hotel entrance. Deeogee was on a leash held by Dane.

“Out this way. They took her from the pool around to the parking lot.”

“If they drove off in a vehicle, Deeogee won’t be able to find her scent,” Colt said.

“No, but he can tell me where the guy came from, which may give us an idea of where he is going,” Bryce explained.

“I’m going to ask people in the parking lot if they saw anything. The owner would have had to get a tag to park in here, so we should be able to get a plate,” Colt said.

Bryce took the dog over to the chair next to where the bag was. He figured the man had sat across from her while she was eating, so he had Deeogee sniff the chair. He’d seen how good this dog was with small amounts of trace fibers. With the culprit having just left, the dog should have a clean scent.

“Where is he boy? Where does the guy come from?” The dog sniffed along the chair and then headed back into the hotel. He walked over to a house phone. Bryce signaled for Dane to check it out as the dog headed to the stairwell. Deeogee stopped in the vestibule beside an ashtray with a cigarette butt.

“Good boy, Deeogee.” He gave the dog a big hug and scratched behind his ears.

“Call the police and let’s get this area checked,” Bryce said while he kept moving with the dog.

Colt and Dane continued to search after placing the call to the police. Before the police showed up, Bryce took the dog and left. He had a good idea where they would have taken Paige. Somehow, he just knew they would take her back to the pit bull farm. It made sense to take her somewhere the police would be least likely to look, and yet hole up in the area they were familiar with. He didn’t know anything about the Van DeMere guy, but if he was in with Willy, then it stood to reason that Willy would want the home field advantage. Since he was known to have run a dog-fighting ring there, the pit bull farm was the logical place to take Paige and make demands.

Bryce figured Colt would be getting a call anytime now to come to that very location. He had the advantage of having figured out the site, and having Paige’s specially trained dog gave him an edge. He made sure to park his truck well back off the road, so anyone coming to the farm wouldn’t see it. Then he slipped Deeogee out and put him on a leash. He didn’t want the dog tearing off and ruin their surprise.

He had gotten in place where he could just see the area in front of the barn. The sun was sweltering, but he was motionless, waiting out the afternoon until all the players showed up. He wanted to go in, guns blazing, and get her out of there, but as long as no one did anything stupid, she was safe until Colt arrived.

Finally, his wait was rewarded. A vehicle pulled into the drive and up toward the barn. It wasn’t Colt’s or Dane’s. As he watched, Willy got out along with three other thugs. They were all packing semi-automatics. Bryce needed a plan. While he sat there, he heard a slight rustle in the grass behind his position. Slithering up close to him was Deputy Blake. He made the signal to let Bryce know he’d been watching the proceedings. He gave out that there were four maybe five men inside. With Willy and his goons, that made possibly nine men. All armed, according to Blake, and they had a hostage.