F-Stop (14 page)

She rode his tongue and his finger, little cries of “Oh, oh, oh,” bursting from her.

She fisted her hands in the sheets as the release built inside her yet again. She was nearly mindless now, the heat of erotic desire blasting away despair and tension. One last push of his tongue, one more press of his thumb on her clit, one deeper insertion of his finger in her ass and another orgasm shook her.

And then, before she could catch her breath, Mike was sheathing himself, lifting her with his hands beneath her ass and driving himself home deep inside her. Kat opened her eyes to see his face above her, filled with an explosive combination of lust and love.

Wrapping her legs around him, she arched up to him, feeling the huge thickness and heat of his cock. His eyes still locked with hers, he pumped into her, slow then fast, faster, his balls slapping against her ass.

He pounded into her, the tip of his cock bumping the mouth of her womb each time, his thickness rubbing all the little nerves in the sensitive walls of her cunt.

Until he finally took them both, shuddering and shaking, over the edge.

“Think that did it?” Mike’s voice, when he could finally catch his breath, was still ragged but held a hint of amusement.

She smiled back at him, completely limp and boneless. “And if I said no?”

“I’d say you were telling a big fib.” He kissed her nose. “Your color’s a lot better.

I’m calling room service. You may not be hungry but I can sure use some fuel.” She pressed her hands to his cheeks. “Thank you, Mike. I feel…better able to handle things now.”

He brushed his mouth over hers. “Happy to help any time. And I mean that with all my heart.”

She trailed a hand over his shoulder and down his arm. “Thank you, Mike. For everything. And now I think I need to get to work.”

* * * * *

As soon as the second three-way conference call had been completed, Rip picked up his secure cell and punched the speed dial for Nando.

“Everything went exactly as you said with the FBI,” he told the man. “The basic message is they’ll do what they can but Mexico is a problem for them.”

“As I told you.” Nando’s voice held the hint of a smile. “And this way everyone’s hands are clean. No one can point a finger and say you didn’t do everything possible.”

“When you get the money, you’ll release the hostages, right?” Rip had begun to have a bad feeling about the situation.

Now the laugh was loud and lusty, with the tinge of evil Rip had heard far too often. “We will do what the situation dictates.”

“
Don’t
harm them.” Rip tightened his grip on the cell phone. “We made an agreement.”

“Our
agreement
,” the man enunciated slowly, “was to arrange a situation where I could recover the money you owe me and you could put enough in your pockets to keep out of future trouble.”

“Damn it, Nando.” Rip felt his gut tighten.

“Just do as you’re told, make sure the others do the same and there will be no problems.”

“Did you explain to them that they should not contact the people from the Phoenix Agency?”

“Yes.” Rip ground his teeth. Did the man think he was a total idiot? “I made it very clear that if those people got in the way, all the hostages would probably be killed. And I was appropriately concerned about that. But that’s just for effect, right?” He wanted a definitive answer from the man.

“It’s not something we want to do,” was all Nando said.

Rip forced himself not to let his anger overtake him. How the hell had he gotten involved with a man as unstable as this one, anyway? But he knew the answer all too well. “When are you sending the email with the specific demands?”

“Shortly. Have patience. The greater the anxiety we create, the easier and faster the payoff.”

Rip snapped his cell phone shut and slammed it down on the desk. If this thing fell apart he could see his entire life going down the drain.

“Shit!”

* * * * *

The Wrights and Mari had finished the second tray of tortillas and water.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at a tortilla again,” Sydney said, trying to ease the tension by joking.

“There’s a method in their madness,” Eli told them. “We don’t need any utensils to eat. No knives or forks. So no possible weapons.”

That sobered everyone again and they fell into a tense silence.

One by one they used the filthy bathroom, doing their best to touch things as gingerly as possible. Mari was making a valiant effort to help Eli keep his family from freaking out. Sydney was putting on a brave face but it was obvious she was hanging on by a thin thread. When Pedro had slapped her Mari could almost see her control fracture.

They’d washed the slashing cut on her face as best as they possibly could but without antiseptic of any kind and in all the filth of the adobe hut, everyone was worried about infection.

Mari scanned Lissa with an objective eye. She also was putting up a good front but this was a lot more than a seventeen-year-old should have to deal with.

And Eli, doing his best to be stoic and comforting at the same time. Strain lined his face and his body was stiff with tension.

They were in big trouble, everyone knew it and no one wanted to come right out and say it.

Mari took Lissa’s hand and tugged her toward one of the corners. “Why don’t you come sit down with me and tell me all about what’s going on in school.”

“School?” Lissa looked at her as if she was crazy. “You want to talk about
school?

Now?
”

“Your dad is going to figure out how to get us out of here and it won’t help him if anyone falls apart while he’s working on it. So let’s talk about something besides what’s going on right now.” She sat in the corner, legs drawn up, and pulled Lissa down with her. “Now. School. Classes and boys.”

She finally got Lissa talking, although she literally had to pull the words from her.

She looked up once and saw Eli throw a grateful glance in her direction. She smiled at him, trying to convey her confidence in his ability to handle this. Whatever this was.

But even she knew Eli Wright wasn’t a miracle worker. And no one could rescue them if they didn’t know where they were. She let her mind wander away from Lissa’s recitation for a moment, thinking of Kat and wondering if mental telepathy also happened to be one of her sister’s gifts.

She’d read a lot about remote viewing when Kat’s ability was discovered. Even gone to a couple of the training sessions with her to understand exactly what it was her sister could do. She knew in order to “view” something, Kat needed something to begin with—coordinates, an object, a person, a—

A person!

Kat, think of me. Picture me. Focus on me. You can do it.

Mari concentrated as hard as she could, sending mental messages, hoping somewhere in Kat’s psychic makeup was a receptor that would pick it up.

The slamming open of the door startled her out of her deliberation. Pedro again, in his now rather dirty fatigues and still brandishing the deadly looking gun.

“Up. Everyone. More pictures.”

Mari took her place in line quickly, squeezing Lissa’s hand to let her know it was going to be all right.

Yeah, right.

Pedro studied Sydney’s face, then cupped her chin with his massive hand and turned her head so the slash on her cheek was visible.

“Good. They should know we mean business.” He looked at everyone else. “But not quite good enough.” He reached for Lissa, who let out a small scream.

Mari stepped forward. “Whatever you’re going to do, do it to me,” she told him with a bravado she didn’t quite feel. “Do you need to hurt children too?”

“Children?” Pedro leered at her. “She looks like a full-grown woman to me. But if you insist.”

He raised his gun and Mari held her breath, waiting to feel a bullet slam into her.

Instead it was the butt of the gun hitting the side of her head, stunning her and knocking her to the floor. Everything spun around her and she had to clench her teeth to keep from vomiting.

“You bastard.” Eli’s voice was tight with anger. She felt his hand on her, reaching to help her up.

“Leave her,” Pedro spat. “And if I were you I would not say another word,
Señor
Wright, or you could be the next victim. And then who would protect your women?” Someone—Enrique, she assumed—yanked her to her feet. She stumbled into place, gritting her teeth against the powerful surge of nausea and praying she wouldn’t fall down. She could already feel a bruise swelling on her temple.

“All right,” Pedro said. “Just a few seconds of video and we’ll be all set.” Somehow she managed to stand in place until she heard the door slam shut, before crumpling to the floor. The last thing she heard before she passed out was Eli Wright’s concerned voice calling her name.

* * * * *

“I’m going to try Ron Pelley again. He should have called us by now.” Kat listened to Mike hold onto his temper while he spoke to Pelley but his frustration was growing and she didn’t blame him. If Pelley had nothing to do with the disappearance, why would he avoid them? Unless he’d gotten word it was a full-blown kidnapping and he was ducking them.

A shiver of dread skated over her as she tried to push the thought away. She needed to try another remote session, this time using Mari’s picture to see what she could pick up. But Mike was right. She needed some nourishment in her first, along with the extra something in her tea. Right now she was too shaky to try anything.

While Mike was still on the phone, she got up and fished hers out of her purse.

Scrolling through the messages, she saw another half dozen from Brent. If this didn’t stop she would have to tell Mike about it. The one thing she had to contribute to the hunt for her sister and the Wrights was shaky because of the anxiety Brent was causing her.

She put the phone down on the coffee table and sat back down on the couch. Just as Mike hung up on his call room service arrived. Giving her his crooked smile, he poured bourbon from the minibar into her tea and made sure she drank every bit of it. She dutifully ate a tuna sandwich while he worked on a hamburger and iced tea.

“You know,” she said, setting down the empty cup, “I don’t think Mari and the Wrights are still in the San Diego area.”

Mike raised his eyebrows. “Honey, we don’t know that. When Mark gets here we’ll find out what the local cops know but we have no clue as to who took them, much less where they are.”

She ran her finger around the edge of the cup. “I know it doesn’t make sense but I just—”

The knock at the door interrupted her. Mike touched a finger to his lips, pulled his gun from the small of his back and walked softly toward the door.

“It’s us,” Mark called. “You can put away the hardware.” Mike replaced the gun and opened the door to let the Hallorans in. Mark sat in the big armchair while Faith went to sit beside Kat. Her eyes were full of questions but Kat dredged up a weak smile and mouthed, “It’s okay.”

Kat turned away from them, picked up her phone and without making a big deal out of it, scrolled through the messages and missed calls again. Nothing from Mari. Too much from Brent. She could feel the strain of dealing with it sapping her energy and she couldn’t afford to let that happen. Tamping down her anger, she systematically highlighted and deleted every call from him. Then she snapped her phone shut.

Damn him, anyway. What would it take for him to get the message? If her gift failed her because of the pressure of dealing with hi… No. She didn’t even want to think that way. Surely he’d give up soon.

“What did you find out?” Mike asked.

“I’ll give you the short version. The Wrights and Mari left the airport in a car driven by a young man who works for their San Diego office. The security team followed in another vehicle. No problems at lunch, apparently. The last anyone saw of them, they’d retrieved their vehicles and pulled away from the restaurant.”

“Nothing suspicious?” Kat pushed. “Nothing that caught anyone’s eye?”

“One of the two kids handling the valet parking thinks he remembers a black van and another car pulling into line behind them as they pulled away.” He shrugged. “But he can’t give us any kind of description. He wasn’t paying all that much attention.”

“My best guess,” Mike said, “is that the van and the car followed and waylaid them. Someplace. Certainly not on the road where the SUVs were found but someplace out of the way.”

“But then what?” Faith asked. “Don’t tell me the trail just stops there.”

“I told Mike I don’t think Mari and the Wrights are in San Diego anymore. I know, I know,” she said as Mike started to argue with her again. “It’s just a…oh, call it a sense of feeling. I can’t be more specific than that.”

Faith gave a little laugh. “You won’t get anyone in this room to argue about unexplained feelings. But do you have any idea where they might be?”

“I told her we don’t even know
who
has them,” Mike repeated. “So how could we know
where
they are? And nobody I called is telling me anything. Damn,” he banged a fist on the table. “It’s almost as if they want us just to go away. Which doesn’t make sense. They know Kat’s worried about her sister.”

“Nothing adds up here,” Mark put in, “unless it’s a kidnap for ransom and whoever got the message was told not to say anything.”

Mike nodded. “Or is involved. We need to call Andy and see if he’s been able to hack into that video email.”

“I’ll do it.” Mark flipped open his phone and pressed one speed dial number.

“Yeah, Andy? You were? Good. Then I saved you the trouble. That must mean you have something. Uh-huh. Uh-huh Yeah. Damn. All right. Now that you’re in, I want to know the minute the next one comes through.” He disconnected the call.

“He got something,” Mark guessed.

“Yes. Wait until I tell you what it was. We were right about this. It’s definitely a kidnapping.”

Kat was glad Mike grabbed her arm to support her or she was sure she’d have fainted. He eased her down on the couch, poured the rest of the liquor from the tiny bottle into her cup and held it up to her.