Heather Rainier (34 page)

A police officer came out of the house, calling out to Seth. “Your laptop is ringing, Mr. Carter!”

Loping back inside, he activated the mouse pad. The Skype video call continued with its distinctive ringtone as he recognized Mimi Durand’s profile picture on the screen. He accepted the call, and Mimi appeared on screen.

“Mimi, have you talked to Jayne today?”

“I was hoping Jayne would answer.” An edge of panic was in her voice as she brushed her hair back from her pale face with shaking hands. Her English had improved somewhat with practice on these calls, but it was still thickly accented. “Where is Jayne? Is she there? I must speak to you both.”

“She’s not here, Mimi. She’s gone. Do you know something?”

Her face crumbled, and between sobs, she spoke. “I’ve been out all day! I didn’t know he was gone until just now.”

“Who?”

“My employer, Henri Broussard! One of the other maids heard him talking with Phillipe in the salon. They’ve located Tobias. I didn’t know they were searching or I would’ve warned you. They’ve been searching for him, and for Tamar. He plans to kill Tamar if he finds her for risking this deal he has.”

“What deal?”

“To
sell
Tobias. To repay Tamar’s debt he claimed she owed to him. He plans to sell Tobias!”

Cold, vicious fear tore through his chest. “Jayne’s gone too.”

A conversation occurred outside of his line of sight, and a moment later an older woman appeared on screen next to Mimi. “Monsieur Carter. I am Mimi’s friend, Joy.” She swallowed nervously. “I am the one who overheard. Please forgive Mimi. She loves Toby, and…” She looked at Mimi, and Mimi whispered tearfully to her. “And Jayne very much. She speaks of you all constantly. We thought Tobias was finally settled where he would be safe. Monsieur Carter”—she glanced at Hank and Ace, who both hovered behind Seth—“Monsieur Broussard and his bodyguard, Phillipe, are involved in many things. Many bad things…go on in this house. We are paid help and, for the most part, ignored, but we have ears. Monsieur Broussard and Phillipe left on his private jet in the middle of the night and I couldn’t reach Mimi today, on her day off. I finally came, after work, and found her to tell her. He has dealings with…” She waved her hands as though searching for the right word. “Traffickers?”

Ace provided, “Human traffickers?”

“Yes. If he has taken Jayne, she is in very serious danger.”

Not while I’m still breathing.
Just then his cell phone buzzed in his hand with an incoming text message. Looking at the screen, Seth wanted to hug his girl, hard. “
‘Black Cadillac SUV. Lusty. Airport. Help us.’
” He sighed in relief as he handed it to Hank. “It’s Jayne. She has her phone with her.”

Good girl!

Hank handed it to Ace. “I know who to call.” He pulled out his cell phone, searched for a number, and then put it to his ear. “Kendall? Hey, this is Hank Stinson. I have a situation and need your help.”

Seth said, “I know someone in Lusty.”

Ace nodded. “So do we. Several folks. Your girl’s got smarts, Seth. I like that.”

Hank ended his call. “If they’re headed to Lusty, we’ve got your family covered on that end. They haven’t been gone that long and Lusty’s sheriff, Adam Kendall, will be waiting for them. It’s time to get on the road and tighten the noose. They’re letting them get to the airfield where it’ll be harder for them to escape. Adam Kendall and his deputies are already on the way over to detain the pilot.”

Jayne stared out the window at the oak trees and huisache bushes lining the edge of the state highway they sped down. Phillipe was behind the wheel, glancing at her in the rearview mirror every so often. Henri had spent most of the drive on his cell phone, carrying on a rapid, heated conversation in a French dialect that she recognized but had a hard time following. He might try to pass himself off as a metropolitan businessman but the foulness of his language gave away the other side of his slimy nature, even if she couldn’t understand every word.
His mama must not have washed his mouth out with soap often enough.

Realizing they’d get suspicious if she showed too much confidence, like she had when she’d taken Toby from Phillipe without thought for the consequences, Jayne released the grip on her emotions enough to summon up waterworks. She needed them to believe she thought her situation was hopeless.

Toby’s chin wobbled as he watched her. She stroked his cheek and took his chubby little hand in hers. Praying that Seth had received her hastily sent message, she rested her forehead against his tousled black curls. Toby responded with tears and wailing of his own. Casting a venomous glance over his shoulder as he continued his phone conversation, Henri turned in his seat and raised the back of his hand to Toby. The baby froze like a rabbit staring at a hawk. Jayne recognized that expression and now she knew where he’d learned to respond that way.

He turned his black stare on Jayne. “If you don’t keep him quiet, I’ll drug him. Shut him up and keep him happy.”

Toby clung to her hand with both of his. She glanced at him, and the wariness and fear in his eyes made her heart ache. Seeing him blossom in the last two months and lose his hesitancy had been a triumph for her, and for those emotions to be present in his expression again stirred righteous anger in her gut. But she kept her emotions to herself as she wiped her eyes and reached in the diaper bag for a toy.

Phillipe’s right hand flew back, capturing hers in his hard grasp. “What are you doing?” The SUV swerved.

Jayne whimpered as his grasp tightened and nearly panicked when the cell phone slipped to the floorboard with the movement. “I’m just giving him a toy, you bastard! You’re hurting me!”

Henri lost it, slammed his phone down, turned in his seat, and made good on the earlier threat of violence. The back of his hand crashed across her left cheek. She froze as bells rang in her ears and her hair fell across her face from the strength of the blow. Henri didn’t look as though he worked out, but he was stronger than he seemed. Her breathing echoed in her ears, and she nearly started crying again when she heard Toby’s hysterical sobbing.

She threw her body over Toby when Henri prepared to give the baby the same punishment. “No! If he’s bruised they’ll wonder why! Don’t! I was just reaching for his toy!” She held up the stuffed teether toy with her free hand and grasped desperately with the other hand Henri couldn’t see, feeling for the phone.

If I get the chance, I’ll kill you myself, you inhuman bastard!

Her fingers settled on the rubber case of the phone, and she closed her eyes so they wouldn’t see the relief in them and give herself away as she slid the phone between her legs. Brutal they might be, but it was obvious these two weren’t well acquainted with
Abductions 101: Make sure your victim doesn’t have a means to communicate.

Resolved to survive and save Toby, she held up the toy so Phillipe could see and then handed it to a sobbing Toby. “He’s teething. I didn’t do anything wrong. Please don’t hurt him.”

I plan to hurt you if I get the chance though.

Henri settled back in his seat as she shushed Toby and glared at Phillipe. “Just drive and calm the fuck down.”

A telltale vibration between her legs got her attention. Careful to not betray herself, she whispered soothingly to Toby and held her finger to her lips. Evidently overwhelmed by the fright, Toby’s eyes drooped even as he kept them glued to her face, fighting sleep but remaining quiet. When he dropped off finally, she slipped the cell phone from its hiding place. There was an incoming message.

“Cooperate, baby. We’re tracking you and authorities already know in Lusty. Do what you have to do to stay safe. I love you.”

Wishing she could reply but not willing to take the risk of Phillipe seeing, she slipped the phone into the front pocket of her jeans and covered it with Seth’s shirt which swallowed her.

Toby woke two hours later, cranky and red-faced. A few minutes later, everyone in the SUV knew why as the noxious odor of his diaper filled the air.

“
Merde!
The stench! Pull over!”

Phillipe made a gagging sound and obeyed, then looked at Henri for further instructions. Henri groused and fiddled with the window controls as the SUV rolled to a stop on the shoulder of the two-lane stretch of highway. They had to be close to Lusty by now.

Henri climbed out and then jerked open her door. Glancing in both directions, he brandished the revolver at her. “One false move and I leave you a bloody mess on this road. Change him.”

He pocketed the gun and allowed her to climb out. Standing in the open doorway on the grassy side of the shoulder, she unlatched Toby’s harness and lifted him from the car seat. She placed a changing pad on her seat and laid him on it to clean him up and changed Toby’s diaper as Phillipe glared at her from the driver’s seat.

Henri adopted a harmless demeanor as a truck approached them heading in the direction they’d just come from. Jayne handed Toby a toy to keep him from fussing. She glanced at the vehicle and had to bite down on the inside of her cheek to keep from betraying herself. The driver of the truck bore a startling resemblance to Julián Alvarez. He pulled over on the opposite shoulder and rolled his window down. Phillipe rolled his window down and nodded. Chills rippled up her spine as she heard the gun cock.

Henri whispered, “One false move, you die, and that driver dies too.”

“Y’all broke down? Need help?”

Phillipe shook his head and did an amazing job at sounding American. “Nah. Jus’ changing a diaper.”

The driver nodded and grinned like he’d been there and done that. “Y’all have a good day.” He had dark sunglasses on, but she knew it when his attention shifted to her through the opened windows. He didn’t betray himself as anything but a helpful rancher running an errand. He rolled the window up and proceeded down the road.

Attending to her task, she changed the diaper with all speed and packed the diaper bag up and put Toby back in his car seat. Wondering at what the rancher’s purpose had been in stopping, Jayne didn’t complain when Henri shoved her to get her in her seat, bruising her shins on the doorframe.

Once on the road again, Jayne said, “He didn’t eat lunch. He’s going to get fussy. May I feed him?”

One word from the front seat as Henri paid attention to his cell phone. “Yes.”

She carefully unzipped the main compartment, pulled out his spoon, and chose one from a dozen junior-sized jars of baby food. Because Toby was growing so fast, she’d recently stocked up on the larger-sized baby food jars. Chills went up and down her spine as she listened to his call. Henri sounded suave and metropolitan as he made plans to sell her to the highest bidder, after he’d given her a try
.

Over my dead fucking body, asshole.

* * * *

Seth willed the SUV to go faster as Ace spoke with Kemp on the phone. Kemp had stayed behind to help Duke Rivers and Gage Randall monitor things from Divine. They’d called with regular updates on Jayne’s changing location. Ace hung up the phone and smiled sympathetically at Seth.

“I know how you feel, Seth. Don’t worry. This is an easy op. These guys have no idea what they’re doing.”

Given that she’d still had her phone in her possession, Seth had to agree, but he knew the type of man Henri was.

“They’re taking the back roads to Lusty to avoid notice. At this rate, we’ll beat them to the airstrip by at least ten minutes.” The phone rang again, and Ace answered it. “Yeah? Good. Okay.” He hung up again. “That was Hank. Adam Kendall said one of his men, Peter Alvarez, just checked in while doing recon. He’s a Fed. Experienced. They had to stop to change the baby’s diaper. She has a bruise on her cheek but otherwise she seems okay. He said she might’ve recognized the family resemblance between him and his brother, Julián, but she was cool as a cucumber.”

He hit her
. Fury of inhuman proportions boiled inside of him. “Good. That’s my girl.”

“We’ll get her and your boy back. Too bad we’re headed this way in an emergency capacity. There’s this place in town, Lusty Appetites. Best roast beef I’ve ever had, even better than my mom’s and that’s saying something. And their crème puffs. Mmm. I might stop by for some to take home after we get your family back.”

That was the second time someone had referred to them as his family. The words branded his heart as he sat there chomping at the bit, praying for a chance to hold them in his arms again.

* * * *

Henri relaxed as they approached the private airfield on the outskirts of Lusty, appearing to enjoy his conversation. He’d seemed awfully sure of himself and his ability to get her on that jet and make her and Toby disappear forever. He hadn’t even tried to hide where they were headed or to keep the information from her. Hopefully his indiscretion was about to backfire on him.

Her heart was pounding by the time they entered the gate leading to the private airfield. All appeared deserted around the hangars except for a mechanic with a tool belt slung low on his hips. He was standing in the wide-open door of a hangar from which a sleek Learjet, undoubtedly Henri’s, was being pulled by a work truck. Two other Learjets sat on the tarmac outside the hangar, as well as a sleek helicopter, hinting that there was more to Lusty, Texas, than just the sleepy little town it appeared to be.