Pitch Black: A Romantic Thriller (Blackwood Security Book 1) (38 page)

“What can we do to help?”

Luke hated the thought of sitting doing nothing. He wanted to keep busy, anything but let his mind imagine what could be happening to Tia at that moment.

“Nothing. We can only wait.”

How many times had Luke been told to do that? He hated being kept out of the loop like this. It was
his
sister in trouble, for fuck’s sake. A car pulled up, and they both climbed in. Nick sat up front with the driver rather than in the back with Luke this time.

Nick put on a headset and spoke to someone. “Patch me in to the feed from the control room, would you?”

A giant’s fist squeezed Luke’s chest, and he struggled to breathe. He stared out of the window as dark streets passed by, his head filled with “’what ifs?” What if he’d spent more time with Tia? What if he’d insisted she didn’t go out alone? What if he’d lived in an area that wasn’t so isolated?

Luke had never advocated violence, but sitting alone, impotent when it came to saving his sister, he dreamed of throttling the kidnapper with his bare hands. His fingers tightened around his thigh, imagining it was the man’s neck. That wouldn’t bring Tia back, but it would stop the bastard doing the same to another girl. Luke couldn’t bear to believe she wasn’t coming home. What was he supposed to tell their mother?

“We’ve got her,” Nick said.

“What?”

“Tia. The other team’s got her.”

“Is she alive?”

“Yeah. She was tied up and dehydrated, but the only damage seems to be to her fingernail.”

Tension seeped out of Luke like water from a sponge. “Can I see her?” He wanted to confirm the news with his own eyes.

“Give it a few minutes. They’re not fully extracted from the scene. I don’t know where they’re taking her yet.”

Nick put the audio from the control room onto the car speakers so Luke could listen to what was going on. He heard Dan’s harsh New York accent, then a softer female voice, that one English.

“There were fucking cameras everywhere in there, transmitting wirelessly. Fifty bucks he knows we’ve found her, and he won’t be coming back. I’d also bet money on him being royally pissed,” the woman said.

“I’d tend to agree with you there,” came a man’s voice. “Leave a couple of teams, and the rest can come back here. We’ll start planning the next phase.”

“Next phase?” whispered Luke.

“We still need to find the bastard,” said Nick.

The soft voice continued. “I’m gonna take Tia home—it’s where she said she wants to go. Nye, can you arrange for an ambulance to meet us there? She could do with a check over.”

“Will do. Do you want the police involved now?”

“I’ll call Jason. We might as well utilise our tax dollars and get them to look for Mr. Howard, too, even if all they’ve managed to do so far is prove they can’t fill in the details on a witness statement properly.”

What witness statement? And who was Mr. Howard? Luke had a lot of questions, but right now his first concern was getting to Tia.

“Any chance of a lift home?” he asked Nick.

“No problem, buddy.”

They weren’t sharing in the rest of the team’s luck, and ten minutes after they got on the M25, traffic ground to a halt.

“There’s a lorry crash up ahead,” their driver said. “They’ve closed the motorway. We’ll have to wait it out.”

By the time they got to an exit an hour had passed, but at least Tia was safe, which was all that mattered. The team had kept them updated on events. Dan and Tia were back in Lower Foxford, along with a team of bodyguards.

Nick’s phone rang, and he passed it over to Luke. “It’s your sister.”

He grabbed for it and held it to his ear. “Are you okay? I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“I’m alright,” Tia said, although she sounded exhausted. “I just want something to eat, and then I want to go to bed.”

“Where were you? What happened?”

Luke heard the sound of a yawn. “I’ll tell you later, when you get back.”

“Okay. Are you being looked after?”

“Yeah, there’s loads of people here. Did you tell mother I was gone?”

“No, do you want me to call her?”

“No way! I can’t deal with her tonight.”

“I won’t. I promise. Just stay safe.”

It was after nine when Luke arrived in Lower Foxford, tired now that the earlier adrenalin rush had worn off. He was looking forward to seeing Tia, having dinner and getting some sleep, in that order.

Everything else could be dealt with tomorrow. Luke didn’t even want to think about the rest of the mess.

As the car pulled into the drive, he pictured the glass of wine he was going to drink after he’d seen his sister. He needed it after such a shitty day. After that, Tia’s idea of going to bed was a good one. 

As Luke’s thoughts turned to the future, one with Tia in it thanks to the actions of these mysterious strangers, he barely noticed anything outside the car. Why would he? The danger was over, right?

Wrong. That assumption meant that he was totally unprepared for the scene unfolding before him as the car came to a stop inside his gates.

Chapter 36

THE FAR END of Luke’s driveway looked like the forecourt of a car dealership. Matching black SUVs formed a row, presumably belonging to Nick’s crew, and for a bit of variety, a couple of police cars and an ambulance were parked opposite. Between them, a white van blocked the driveway, more abandoned than parked.

“Looks like Mr. Howard found us instead,” Nick said.

That was the second time Luke had heard that name. “Who the hell is Mr. Howard?”

“Our kidnapper.”

Luke reached for the door handle. He wanted to get his hands on the man who dared to touch his sister, but Nick held a hand up to stop him.

“Stay put, would you? We’ll handle it.”

“It wasn’t
your
sister he took.” Luke tried to open the door, but the handle didn’t work.

Nick grinned at him. “I put the kiddie lock on.”

Suddenly, the kidnapper wasn’t the only man Luke wanted to hurt.

Nick motioned out of the window, and Luke took a closer look at the scene outside. In the shadow of an old oak tree, a man dressed all in black held a policewoman at gunpoint. He shouted something, but Luke couldn’t make out the words.

“Would you wind the window down?” he asked Nick, fresh fear blossoming in his chest.

Nick shrugged and opened it a few inches, and Luke caught the tail end of what the man was yelling.

“…the girl back, or I’ll shoot the cop.” He sounded agitated, a man whose self-control hung by a hair.

“Not going to happen,” Nick muttered. “No way is she going to give up Tia.”

“Do you think he’ll really shoot that policewoman?” Luke asked Nick.
 

The woman’s face shimmered white in the glare from the van’s headlights.

“Who knows? He looks like he’s lost his mind. If he ever had it in the first place.”

“Somebody’s got to do something! We can’t sit here and wait for that poor woman’s head to get blown off.”

“Don’t panic. ‘Somebody’ will.”

Nick gestured to the front door, and Luke watched in horror as Ash walked calmly towards the kidnapper. She stopped ten metres away and Luke saw her lips move as she spoke. She kept her voice soft, and Luke couldn’t hear what she was saying.

The kidnapper nodded in agreement to something, then jerked his head towards his van, where the sliding side door gaped open like the entrance to the underworld.

What was going on?

Ash took her phone out her pocket and placed it on the ground, then walked in the direction indicated. When she got to the van, she reached inside and emerged with a pair of handcuffs and a length of rope.

“What’s she doing?” Luke asked, a hint of panic creeping into his voice.

“Going with him.”

“Well stop her! You’ve got to stop her.” Luke tried the handle again, but it rattled uselessly. The window wouldn’t open any further, either.

“Nobody can stop her. Sit still, would you?”

“No I won’t sit still! That’s my girlfriend facing a man with a gun.”

Nick swivelled in his seat to face him. “I thought you split up?”

“We did, but…” Luke tailed off as Ash sat on the sill of the van and tied her feet together before holding up the handcuffs.

“Put them on,” yelled Howard.

Ash shook her head and said something, again too quiet to make out. A few seconds later, the kidnapper appeared to huff and acquiesce because he pushed the police woman away and turned back to Ash, the gun trained on her instead.

Luke pounded on the window, trying to break the glass.

“Good luck with that—it’s bulletproof,” Nick said.

Luke had no choice but to watch as Ash fastened one cuff around her wrist, then attached the other to a cargo ring set into the floor of the van. The kidnapper strode over and looked in at her, his face hidden under a black hoodie. Then he slammed the side door of the van shut before turning back to the frozen crowd of onlookers, waving the gun wildly.

“If anyone follows me, she dies. I mean it,” he shouted, his voice high pitched. Nick was right; he’d lost the plot.

Howard jumped into the van and peeled out of the driveway, onlookers scattering and tyres screeching. Luke looked on, his heart pounding. Yes, he and Ash had had their problems, but he could see now she’d been trying to help him. What if the kidnapper planned to kill her the way he’d threatened with Tia?

The locks clicked as Nick released them, and Luke sprang out of the car.
 

Nick followed, muttering, “Poor bastard.”

Luke paused to stare at him. “What? What are you talking about?”

Dan strolled over, looking calm, as if she was taking an afternoon mooch around the shops.

“This is handy. At least it saves us the trouble of looking for him. Might get a lie in tomorrow,” she said.

“Yeah, although I must admit, I’m getting hungry,” replied Nick.

Hungry? The man was hungry? Luke felt like he was about to throw up.

Dan looked at her watch. “Are you joining in the pool?” she asked him.

“Count me in. What are we doing? Ten minute slots?”

“Five. The US offices are joining in too. Nate’s gone off to make popcorn.”

Luke couldn’t hold back any longer. “What the fuck are you two talking about? In case you hadn’t noticed, your friend has just been abducted at gunpoint.”

How could they be joking right now? He needed someone to tell him what the hell was going on.

One of the policemen wandered over, greeting Nick with a complicated handshake.

“Jason, it’s been a while,” Nick said.

“All right, Nick? How do you want us to play this?”

“Hold back for a bit, would you? Dan and I will head off in a minute. Could you follow behind us?”

“Sure, give me a shout when you’re leaving.”

“No worries. Will do. Your woman okay?” Nick asked.

“A bit shaken up, but someone’s taken her into the house for a sit down and a cuppa. She’ll be fine.”

Everyone had clearly gone mad. “A woman’s been kidnapped,” Luke told the policeman, as that seemed to have escaped his notice.

“Yeah, I know. Don’t worry about it.”

Luke’s jaw dropped as he strolled back to the group of other cops in front of the house. The ones in uniform shifted from foot to foot, unsure of what to do with themselves, but a couple in plain-clothes were laughing.

“What about Ash? Nobody seems to be taking this seriously,” Luke tried again.

“She’ll be fine,” Nick said.

“You don’t know that. The last time we saw her, she was decidedly un-fine.” Was he the only one who cared?

“Sure, I know. She’s just texted me.”

“What? But she left her phone here.” Luke pointed to where it still sat on the ground.

“Correction. She left
one
of her phones here. She still has another two with her.”

“But she was handcuffed,” Luke persisted.

“
Was
being the operative word there. She won’t still be handcuffed. Trust me,” Nick added, seeing the disbelieving look on Luke’s face.

“I’d better get going,” cut in Dan. “She left her coat in the car, and it’s nippy out. She won’t be happy if we keep her waiting for ages in the cold.”

“I’m coming with you,” Luke insisted.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Nick said. “Besides, you should go in and see Tia.”

Luke hesitated. He’d desperately wanted to check on his sister, but that was before his girlfriend got abducted. “I’m worried about Ash,” he mumbled.

Nick gave an exasperated sigh and relented. “Dan, take Nye with you and go on ahead. I’ll stop with Luke and Tia for a few minutes then follow.”

Dan looked as if she was about to protest, but Nick held up a hand. “Look, he was living with her for a couple of months. She’ll have got under his skin, like she does with everyone else.”

He was right. Ash had wormed her way under Luke’s skin and into his heart.

Nick turned back to him. “But Luke, you will
not
get involved. Just see that Ash’s okay, and I’ll bring you back. Agreed?”

“Agreed.” Luke understood he didn’t have much choice.

Not wanting to waste time, he hurried into the house and found Tia curled up on the couch in the den, arms wrapped around her knees. When she saw Luke, she leapt up and hugged him.