Kidnapped Hearts (21 page)

Hands on the door, they heaved it open.

“Lights off,” Jake instructed.

No!

The night air and the smell of algae
filled her lungs. Coughing, she latched on to the back of the nearest shirt,
letting him drag her out of the tunnel. The dirty walls and muddy floor had
played havoc on her sinuses, not to mention her body. Her shoes were covered in
mud, making her feet feel like clay.

Jake and Steve shoved the door back in
place, then put a log across it to prevent anyone from opening it from inside
the tunnel. The guns at their sides, Jake and Steve peered into the night.
Water gently splashed on the shore.

“Where are we?” Pamela asked. Unlike the
site where they had spent their day, this area had no dwellings, just
vegetation.

“We’re on the other side of the
peninsula,” Jake said.

“We walked
under the road?”

“Yep.”

Pamela raised her eyebrows. “How come
we’re not wet?”

“You are,” Steve said, touching the top
of her tennis shoes with his boot. “You are.”

She wiggled her toes. “Gross! Can I have
a flashlight?”

Steve settled his pack. “No can do. We
have to stay in the dark as much as we can. In a second, I’ll have to turn it
on to draw a map.”

“Here, I’ll walk you to the water.” Once
again, Jake took her hand. Steve lagged behind them.

At the surf, she toed off her shoes and
dipped her feet into the water, then crossed the sandy beach to a small grouping
of trees that hid them from view.

Steve squatted, and turned on his
headlamp, aiming it directly at the sand, then picked up a stick.

Jake crouched next to him.

“I’m sure you already have the lay of the
land memorized, Jake, but here’s where we are.” He drew a map in the sand.
“Without air or water transportation, we’re trapped.”

Jake pointed to the marina on the sand
map. “Let’s get a boat there.”

“I called them on the way here. All the
rentals are gone until tomorrow.”

“We’ll hold up here.” Jake touched the
sand near where Steve drew an
M
for
the marina. “More than likely, the Black Scorpions left the area after they
blew up the helicopter.”

“Well, that’s wishful thinking. Did you
hear about the time they blew up the crooked Senator’s house in DC? The agents
on duty thought the Black Scorpions were gone. Later that night, the Scorpions
snuck back in the area, found the Senator at a neighbor’s house, and killed the
guy.”

“Wh-what?” Pamela’s mouth fell open.

“Not helpful, Steve.”

“Sorry, Pamela.” Steve hugged her to him
and kissed the top of her head. “You being in the middle of an FBI case has my
nerves on edge. I don’t mean to be an ass.”

She appreciated the affection, but
shifted closer to Jake. Steve was like a brother, and she loved him, but Jake
was something more, and she wanted his protection.

Jake wrapped his arm around her shoulder
casually, as if he had done it for the last ten years, while he continued
speaking with Steve. When the guys finally stopped talking, she asked, “Now
what?”

“Now, we start walking.” Steve pointed up
the beach. “That way.”

“But where to?”

“We’re heading to the bed and breakfast
in town. It’s late. We should be able to arrive unnoticed.” Jake interlaced his
fingers with Pamela’s.

Steve turned off his light, and they
proceeded by moonlight.

The whispering waves crashed on the shore
only to be shushed by the sea grass blowing in the gentle breeze. The air
tickled Pamela’s neck, drying the mud on her unprotected skin. She should have
changed into jeans before they left. With each stride, her legs became heavier,
as if she had spent the day getting her body cleansed, only without the luxury
of a spa. “I feel as if I’ve been coated in a mud bath.”

“You would actually put this stuff on
you?”

“Yes.”

Leading the way, Steve looked over his
shoulder. “Are you nuts?”

“Don’t start being an ass. You already
had to apologize once.”

PKCHOEWWWOOOoooooo...
.
The
explosion was deafening.

Jake pushed her to the soft sand,
shielding her with his body. Surprisingly, the majority of his weight wasn’t on
her. She spit sand out of her mouth and turned her head. The moonlight was
blanketed by a bright ray of light.

Boom,
boom
.

When it seemed the explosions had
stopped, they stood. A ball of fire escaped into the sky, leaving embers
spiraling to the earth.

“That was the house, wasn’t it?” Pamela’s
voice was barely above a whisper.

“Afraid so,” Jake replied.

Steve sighed. “Glad we decided not to
take the East tunnel. Seeing this, the probability of a bomb in the tunnel is
pretty high.”

Pamela’s legs felt weak, and her body
wavered.

“I’ve got ya.” Jake slid his hands under
her body, cradling her to him. “Steve, you’ve got a big mouth. Let’s take a
break.”

Jake and Steve sat on either side of
Pamela on a fallen tree and drank some water from a bottle Steve carried in his
bag.

“Guys, I need to tell you something.”
Pamela shuffled her feet in the sand. “I’m so going to get blisters when I put
these shoes back on.”

“Is that what you wanted to tell us?”
Steve asked, bumping shoulders with her.

“No. I saw Nicholas at the beach house.”

Jake’s eyebrows furrowed. “When?”

“After leaving the beach, I thought it
was you coming up behind me, but it was Nicholas.”

Steve leaned forward, looked past Pamela,
and scowled at Jake.

“Shut up, Steve.” Jake transformed his
glower to kindness as he refocused on Pamela. “I saw a figure near you. I tried
to get to you when a Scorpion decided to use me for a football dummy.”

“What did he want?” Steve asked.

“Bearer bonds.” She wrung her hands
together.

“Nicholas has gotten himself into a hairy
ordeal. Agents have been watching him and a man named Peter Jameson,” Steve
supplied.

“Nicholas’ business partner?” Pamela
interrupted.

“That’s the one. Until recently, we
didn’t understand their tiff with each other. Since they were small fry
compared to the sharks we wanted, the decision was made to put them under
surveillance and hope that they’d lead us to the mastermind. We waited for the
right moment to move in. Now that we have a clear picture of the situation,
both men have disappeared.”

“Which is?”

Steve lifted his gaze from the twig he’d
been breaking apart and glanced at Pamela. “What?”

“What is the clear picture? What is
Nicholas involved in?”

“He and Jameson have been stealing bearer
bonds, the older version bonds that can’t be traced. They’ve been doing this
for years. Although, it just came to the FBI’s attention within the last six
months. Jameson’s already a wealthy man, but he wanted to be in the limelight,
so he made contact with
America
’s
number one enemy, Sanjar. He’s using the money from the bonds to help Sanjar
fund his projects.”

“I don’t understand. How does that
involve Nicholas?”

“Nicholas didn’t give Jameson his share
of the bonds from the last few heists.”

A wave of dizziness hit Pamela. She
slumped forward, holding her head in her hands and staring at the ground. “The
bearer bonds were in the books he gave me.”

“Yes,” Steve affirmed. The stick he just
picked up snapped in two.

“He has a terrorist after me?” Pamela’s
voice shook as she spoke.

She felt Steve move slightly, as if
nodding. Though she couldn’t see his answer, she knew it was yes. Her hand flew
to her mouth as tears spilled. “What about the Black Scorpions? Why are they
after me?”

“The answer is kind of tricky.”

Steve pulled a handful of power bars out
of his duffel bag and handed one to Pamela, the other to Jake before biting
into the last. “It seems the gang has divided, half joined Wine, while the
other half allied with Jameson.”

“Why?”

“Heck, Pamela, you should be an
investigator with all these questions.” Steve bumped her again. “I’m kidding.”

She bit into her bar with more force than
necessary. “I’m not in the mood.”

“I know. Again, I’m sorry. I was hoping
I’d get you to laugh.”

Jake balled up his wrapper and stuck it
in the corner of Steve’s bag, then slid his hand behind Pamela’s back, resting
it on the side of her waist. “Steve, why the division?”

 
“You’ll like this. At least half of the
Scorpion gang blames Sanjar for their boss’s death. They want nothing to do
with him.” Steve grabbed Pamela’s wrapper and stuffed it into his bag.

Jake groaned. “Moving away from the
subject of the Black Scorpions, we need to talk about the leak within the
Bureau. I believe it’s in our office.”

Steve nodded. “Larry told me his
concerns.” He zipped and adjusted his bag. “What do you know?”

“During the assault tonight, I came
across an agent who told me in so many words that he had another job to do in
addition to surveillance. When it came down to it, the agent remained an agent
and couldn’t finish the job.”

Forehead wrinkling, Pamela asked, “You
mean he was corrupt?”

Jake nodded. “He started to tell me who
gave him the orders when he stopped breathing.”

“Any other information?” Steve asked.

Jake cut his eye to Pamela and crossed
his arms. “In private.”

Pamela’s back straightened. “You’d think
as much as I’ve seen there would be no secrets.”

“Not secrets. Work.” Steve chucked her
under her chin, and then motioned for Jake to follow him.

Pamela twisted her hands and watched them
walk away, her surroundings making her nervous.

Sirens blared. With every sound, she
jumped. The firefighters were probably trying to save the house. The thought of
the house being destroyed gnawed at her. Yet again, this was her fault.

She shoved the guilt away and put her
soggy shoes on. The material didn’t feel good, but judging from the terrain
they were about to walk, covering her feet would be best. With that done,
Pamela sat in silence, hoping Jake and Steve’s conversation would finish
shortly.

 
“Sanjar has to be taken out, or you’ll never
be able to live in peace.” The night was clear, and the sound drifted. Pamela
could hear Steve’s voice as clear as if she stood beside them. She leaned
closer, waiting for Jake’s reply.

“I know. Are you with me?”

Pamela gasped.

Chapter
Seventeen

The three-mile hike to town took almost
two hours. Pamela’s feet were burning when they arrived at the front door of
the bed and breakfast. If they hadn’t taken so many pit stops to give her poor
feet a reprieve, they would have shaved at least half an hour from their trek.
Not that resting helped. Her shoes were too wet. She looked at the guys’ feet.
They also had washed their boots off in the water and had no problem wearing
them. “I’m sorry I had to stop so much.”

Jake rang the bell. “Not a problem.
Convincing Mrs. Wadsworth to let us have a room might be a problem this late at
night.”

After a few seconds, Jake pushed the
doorbell again. The door creaked opened. Mrs. Wadsworth wore a plaid flannel
nightgown, covered with a terry cloth robe, and curlers in her hair. Confusion
wrinkled her face before recognition shined in her eyes. “Betty and Ed.” She
clapped her hands together as her eyes shifted back and forth between them.
“I’ve been so worried.” She hugged Pamela, then Jake. “I heard the loud noise,
saw the sky catch fire, and I woke Alfred. He doesn’t like being disturbed, but
I got him up anyway,” Sylvia rambled. “I left Alfred in the main house and came
to the bed and breakfast, hoping I might catch the news on the TV. As big as my
house is, you wouldn’t think the TV would keep him awake, but it does.”

Jake cleared his throat. “Mrs.
Wadsworth.”

“Sylvia, dear, please.” She grasped
Jake’s arm and Pamela’s wrist. “Where are my manners?” Together, she yanked
them over the threshold. “Now you two will want a room. I have the perfect one
for you.” She shut the door, and it opened.

Her eyes bulged as if she had seen a
ghost. Steve walked inside and stretched out his hand. “Hi, I’m a friend of
Pa…”

Jake elbowed him as Pamela said, “This is
Todd. He’s a friend.” She smiled, proud of herself for producing a fake name.

Sylvia clapped her hands again. “It’s a
pleasure to meet you, Todd. Any friend of Betty’s and Ed’s is a friend of mine.
Were you at the house, too? What on earth could have happened to cause such a
glow in the sky?” She held up a finger. “I’ll be right back.”