Chapter 16.
THE VEHICLE DROVE steadily, the rhythmic movement keeping her in a half hypnotic trance. She"d woken in a stupor with her mind struggling to make sense of what happened. When she figured it out, her body was too paralyzed to do anything about it.
"How is our guest?" someone asked up front. "Is she still asleep?"
"She"s asleep."
"Good. We can"t lose her."
"Maybe not, but she needs to pay for what she did to my brother."
"That"s not for us to do." The first man snapped. "We hand her and her computer over and we get paid. It"s simple."
"For you, it"s simple. You don"t care that they caught you and left you behind."
The first man sn.i.g.g.e.red. "That"s funny."
"There"s nothing funny about it. Besides, I didn"t stay caught. Sometimes you need to play possum to come out the winner."
"Ha, you weren"t playing possum. You"re just d.a.m.n lucky we found you in time. You were grandstanding. Playing the big ego role. He was your friend and you beat him. Only you didn"t. He turned the tables and caught you."
"And like the game it is, I turned the tables yet again and escaped."
Finally, Tesla understood. One of the men was Daniel. The man who"d held her captive in the cabin. The man Mason had said he"d taken care of, but when the others went to pick him up, he"d disappeared. Daniel had been behind everything. She didn"t know who or why this man was here. She"d understood he was doing this for a paycheck, a point she really hated him for, but she wasn"t surprised. There were many other men like him out there.
It was who was paying him that she wanted caught. Daniel was just a soldier.
It had occurred to her that there were few people who could know where she was now. Less than the fingers on her right hand. Making them all suspects now that she"d been kidnapped yet again.
G.o.d, that just p.i.s.sed her off.
How could she have been so stupid? Or how could her guards be so stupid. h.e.l.l, maybe the lawn mower guy did just mow lawns. Did anyone know she was missing yet?
Her staff would know. How long before they raised the alarm? She often power napped on them when they were pulling late nights. Her computer would shut down within minutes of her last stroke on the keyboard. A security precaution. And nothing was held in any one place on purpose. The program couldn"t be stolen that way.
But her computer lay in the footwell beside her. These men were serious and she was in deep trouble.
That same anger at being stupid enough to get kidnapped was firing again. This time at Mason.
He just had to go away and leave her alone.
Now look what had happened?
The vehicle slowed and turned off the main highway. She closed her eyes and started calling mentally to Mason. Where are you Mason? I need you. Please. Please find me.
"Hey look, she"s awake."
"Not good. We"re pulling in for gas. Make sure she doesn"t create a disturbance."
"Oh, she"s not going to say anything, are you, darling?"
She opened her eyes. And the biggest ugliest man in the world stared down at her, just hoping she"d make a wrong move. She shook her head.
h.e.l.l no, she wasn"t going to go up against this stranger.
But she knew Mason would.
Just as soon as he got here.
MASON DROVE THE SUV. The vehicle that supposedly held Tesla had been spotted heading south. That didn"t mean they didn"t have plans to go to a different destination, but they had a direction to start.
They also had no proof that Tesla was in that vehicle. She could be anywhere by now. Why now? Because of her presentation tonight? If she gave it, everyone would know what the program could do. And that was something they didn"t want advertised. Then again, she"d be under tight security while there. She should have been under the best freakin" security while he was gone. She should have had someone living in the d.a.m.n house with her.
He understood there were men outside watching, but somehow she"d been taken anyway. So how did that help?
He wandered through her small house. He could so see her sitting there at her computer and working away. Intent on saving the world one soldier at a time. But that didn"t mean there weren"t clues here.
She was back on her feet and mobile, if a bit slow.
Slow was good. She"d take better care if she was slow. He saw her socks off to one side. And one slipper off to the other. Was she barefoot again? That wouldn"t be good.
"She"d have left a message if she could," Swede remarked. "She"s resilient. She"ll make it through this."
Mason nodded. She would. He"d see to it. He walked over to the office. The techs were working on her desk, but her laptop was missing. The enemy had it.
After all, they were hoping for the program. "Where is the program she was working on?" he asked the techs suddenly.
The man shrugged. "I have no idea. Above my pay grade."
"Right." Likely above everyone"s in the room.
So who would know and who had access to it? If it was Tesla alone, then they were in trouble. If it was Tesla and someone else"s then that person needed help to access it. And if it was both of them together then the enemy would need both to get access. How smart was Tesla? Had she managed to hide the system from everyone else but herself? Leaving her in the ultimate position and therefore the easiest torture to get what they wanted? Or was she one of many working on small pieces of the program that would come together at the end.
And it could still be broken in less than two hours.
She"d seemed pretty sure that no one could get it from her. So she must have something up her sleeve.
However, what about the others who worked for her?
Did they have access? And if they did, were they being protected?
"We need to find the rest of her staff," he said to Swede. "Pick them up before anyone else does."
"You think they need to be present for the enemy to gain access to the program?"
"Or to use as a way to torture Tesla. She might withstand the torture they throw at her, but she would give in if they tortured her friends."
Hawk spat on the ground. "True. So let"s snag them so they have less leverage."
"And her father."
Swede grimaced. "Good luck with that. He"s already here and raising Cain. He wants to talk to you as soon as possible."
"Why me?"
"You led the last mission that rescued her."
So maybe it couldn"t be that bad to speak with him. Harry had said he"d been h.e.l.l to have as a parent, but...surely as both Harry and Tesla turned out to be great, he couldn"t be that bad.
It was way worse.
Her father was a retired Marine, a SEAL of course. And that was evident from the moment Mason walked in. His team was standing outside. He wasn"t sure if they were here for support or to share in any accolades. He could tell from the first moment that there weren"t going to be any of those. This man was ferocious.
"Lieutenant Mason Hunter?"
Mason nodded.
"Where the h.e.l.l is my daughter?"
He opened his mouth to answer then realized he had nothing to say. "I don"t know, sir."
"And why don"t you know, Lieutenant?"
"We haven"t found her yet, sir."
"And yet you"re sitting here doing nothing. Are you not?"
"No, sir."
"What exactly are you doing?"
"Searching for her through the videos, preparing to pick up her coworkers, and her house is currently being taken apart to see if there are any clues to her whereabouts, sir."
The man straightened, appearing much taller than his already overwhelming six foot four build. He might be Tesla"s father, but he was still military. And Mason realized that he"d have been a h.e.l.l of a leader. Maybe Mason had missed out on an opportunity to serve under him. He looked like he"d raise a whole lot of h.e.l.l to get the job done.
"And my daughter, are these men going to hurt her, Lieutenant?"
He hesitated. The man might be a retired SEAL, but he was still a father.
"The truth, Officer."
Mason nodded. "Yes, I believe they will."
"Then you"d better get her before that happens, hadn"t you?"
There wasn"t much he could say because he"d do his d.a.m.nedest, but after losing her the last time these guy weren"t likely to make the same mistake again. She"d be either securely trussed and likely to one of them, or she"d be unconscious or drugged. Any and all resistance kept to a minimum. He should know as he"d employed the same tactics himself. All that he could do was find her before they broke her spirit. For hurting her in anyway, they"d pay. He could just hope it wouldn"t be worse than a few scars.
But he knew men like this. If they wanted to, they"d carve her while still alive and eat her for lunch.
"Sir, if at all possible, I"ll bring your daughter back." Mason saluted and turned to leave. At the doorway, he could see Swede and the others a little way away.
Tesla"s father called out, "Lieutenant."
Mason turned.
"Are you bringing her back for my sake, your sake, or both?"
The merest of an expression crossed his features, but Tesla"s father caught it. He gave a mirthless smirk. "Right. Then you"d better get moving before you disappoint both of us."
"It"s not you or myself that I"m worried about disappointing," Mason returned smartly. "It is and always has been to avoid disappointing Tesla. Your daughter is a fine woman, doing a wonderful thing. I will do my best for her sake regardless."
And he gave the briefest of nods and retreated.
After all, in this case it was the best defense.
Chapter 17.
THE MILES CARRIED on forever. She had to go to the bathroom and soon was going to pee in the d.a.m.n car. What the h.e.l.l did they expect? She"d been trussed up like a turkey for hours. She"d done her part and had kept quiet the whole time. Well, it was time for that to change.
"I need to go to the bathroom," she called out.
There was a spat of guttural mutterings then the vehicle slowed. She watched as shiny lights kicked in overhead showing a gas station. She was happy with that. Anything to relieve her bladder. They pulled around to the back. One of the men got out and disappeared. Daniel crawled to the back of the vehicle. "If you do anything stupid, call or try to make a run for it..." he threatened.
"I know. You"ll make me pay," she said wearily. "Yes, you"ve told me several times already."
He just glared at her. The back door of the SUV suddenly popped open and the second man stood grinning down at her, and she realized he was planning on coming into the bathroom with her. Oh s.h.i.t.
"Just so you know that if you hurt me, I won"t be worth as much," she said, hoping to convince them to leave her alone.
"Ha. As long as you"re alive, you"re worth a lot." Daniel smirked.
"But if I"m not capable of working then the buyer won"t be happy," she snapped. "And I"ll be happy to tell him why I"m hurt."
The two men exchanged glances, but the hands that reached for her were gentler than any she"d felt from them up until now. In other words, they were scared of their boss. Good thing. And she was pretty sure Daniel was an old friend of Mason"s. Or maybe friend wasn"t quite the word. But she could identify him and if he cared about that, he wasn"t showing it. The other guy she tried to get a decent description of, but what the h.e.l.l. How was Mason going to find a medium height, medium build, medium brown hair a.s.shole like this one? Of course the huge hooked nose and gut helped make him unique. The busted teeth might help as well. She didn"t want anything to do with that.
Daniel might be a mercenary, but she didn"t get the idea he got off on hurting women. His a.s.shole partner, now that was a different story.
He hated women. Too many women probably turned him down on dates while he was growing up. They probably knew then he was trouble.