"d.a.m.n your hands are cold," he said.
"Cold water." She positioned her head over his heart so she could listen to it beat. He had a nice slow rhythm that sped up just a bit when she kissed his chest.
"Go back to sleep, Tina. It"s stil early," Cole said on the other side of her.
Tina smiled and tried, but after another thirty minutes of lying there, she slipped out of bed and took a shower. She tiptoed around the bedroom getting dressed. Then she closed the bedroom door behind her, so she wouldn"t wake them while she was cooking something to eat. She wasn"t used to lying in bed when she was off work. She liked to enjoy every minute of the day.
After breakfast and cleaning up after herself, she took her coffee outside on the back porch to enjoy the crisp morning air. It wouldn"t be long until fal showed its colors. Twenty minutes later, Zack walked out in jeans, bare-chested and barefooted, carrying a cup of coffee as wel .
"Morning, baby."
"Morning, Zack."
"Did you sleep okay? You"re up awful early."
She snorted. "It"s after ten."
"Barely," Zack groused.
He sat his cup down and pul ed her into his arms. He kissed her then stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her as she leaned back into him.
"Let"s go for a ride, Zack. I want to enjoy the day from the back of the bike."
"Want to wake Cole up, or just you and me?" he asked.
"Just us. Let Cole sleep in. He looked real y tired last night."
"Yeah, work"s been a real bear this week. Having that wood drop on us just topped it al off."
"Are you too sore to ride?" she asked, remembering their ordeal.
"Naw. Besides, we have to go back to work tomorrow. Sure as hel don"t need to get stove-up." They walked back inside where Tina waited for Zack to finish getting dressed. Then she pul ed on a jacket and they climbed on back of the bikes to take a ride. They rol ed the bikes to the street before cranking them to keep from waking Cole, if possible. Once out on the road, they opened them up on the highway. She fol owed Zack as he led her through the outskirts of the city into a less densely populated area.
They rode for nearly an hour before he pul ed over at a little mom-and-pop country store. They got soft drinks and sat outside on a picnic table to drink them. It was perfect weather for riding.
While they sat enjoying their drink, a brown van drove by slow enough it caught Tina"s attention. She stared after it.
"What is it, Tina? You went pale." Zack set his drink down and scooted over toward her.
"That van. I keep seeing a brown van everywhere I go. I know it"s sil y, but I can"t help thinking about the van from when that man tried to kidnap me." She shivered.
Zack put his arm around her. "It"s not stupid, you"re being alert. That"s important. Do you think you"re being fol owed?"
"I don"t think so. I think it"s just my imagination. There are probably thousands of those brown vans al over the city alone."
"Let"s get going, Tina. It"s time we head back to the house before Cole sends out a search party." Zack climbed off the table and held out his hand to help her down.
They discarded their empty drink bottles then climbed back on the bikes and headed back home. When they arrived, it was to find Cole dressed and drinking coffee on the back porch.
"Where have you two been?" he asked.
"Riding out along Campfire Road," Zack told him.
"How long have you two been up, anyway?" Cole asked.
"I"ve only been up since ten. I don"t know what time early bird here got up." Zack ran a hand over Tina"s hair.
"I got up at nine."
I"m getting too old for staying up til two and getting up at the crack of dawn," Cole complained.
"It was only one, and you didn"t get up until noon," Tina told him with a smile.
"Funny." Cole got out of his chair and carried his coffee cup back inside. They fol owed him.
They spent the rest of the day watching movies and messing around in the living room. At some point, they took a nap on the floor in front of the TV, then moved to the bedroom for some late afternoon delight.
"How about dinner at the barbecue place out on Six?" Cole asked.
"Sounds good to me," Zack answered. "You"l love it, Tina. Great food."
They rode over on the bikes and had pul ed pork sandwiches and slaw. Tina had to admit, it was one of the best sandwiches she"d ever had.
"Told you," Zack said.
"Hey, it was my idea." Cole poked Zack in the ribs.
"Behave, you two." Tina wagged her finger in mock sternness. "No fighting."
The three of them climbed back on the bikes and rode back to the house. On the way there, Tina noticed a brown van fol owing them, but it drove on by once they turned into the drive. She saw Zack watching it as wel . Maybe she wasn"t being paranoid. But Zack didn"t say anything.
The rest of her week off flew by, and she was back at work in the ER again on Thursday night. They were unusual y busy over the weekend and she came home dead on her feet each morning.
When she arrived on Sunday morning, the men were there due to rain keeping them from working. They bathed her and slipped her in the bed between them. She instantly fel asleep and never even knew when they got up.
They had dinner ready for her when she awoke and hugged and kissed her goodbye before she donned her rain gear and climbed on the bike to head to work. She barely got her things stowed in the locker before they were off and running again in the ER with car wrecks coming in.
Monday, when she rode home, the rain had pa.s.sed and it was a beautiful day. Too bad the men won"t be home, she thought. She could use a little TLC with her aching feet and back muscles.
When she got home, the garage door was closed. They always left it open for her. Maybe they were stil there because the work site was too wet. She parked the bike to one side of the drive and got off. Since it had never been a problem before with needing to open the garage, she didn"t have an opener.
Just as she made it to the front door, someone grabbed her from behind, slapping a cloth with chloroform over her mouth and nose. She struggled, but without a clear breath, she was useless to get away. As soon as she was forced to take a deep breath, she pa.s.sed out.
Cole and Zack were p.i.s.sed off when they got off work at nearly six that night. The supplies for the drywal hadn"t come in on time, and they spent three hours f.u.c.king around waiting on it. Now it was late, and they"d been there since six that morning. When they drove, up to the house and saw Tina"s bike parked out front with the garage door closed, both men knew something was wrong. Cole pressed the opener mounted to his bike and they drove into the garage. Zack walked back and rol ed Tina"s bike in as Cole closed the door behind them.
"Something"s wrong." Zack started for the door.
"Zack. Careful." He tapped just below his eyes with two fingers and put them back in the army.
They approached the garage door as if it were the enemy. Cole quietly unlocked it and they rol ed in checking either side of the door. Nothing. Cole disengaged the security system. They systematical y checked each room but found no sign of Tina or that she"d even been home. If not for her bike being parked out front, they never would have known she had been there.
"He"s got her," Zack ground out between clinched teeth. "The b.a.s.t.a.r.d has her."
"f.u.c.k!" Cole hit the door with his fist. "She"s been gone at least ten hours. G.o.d knows what he"s done to her." Cole immediately snapped back into line and pul ed out his phone to cal the police. They informed him they couldn"t do anything until they filed a missing person"s report when it had been twenty-four hours. No amount of pleading or fussing did any good.
Final y, Zack pul ed the phone from Cole"s hand and snapped it closed.
"Get a hold of yourself, man. This isn"t doing her any good."
"What in the hel are we going to do? It"l be too late in twenty-four hours if it isn"t already," he yel ed.
"Cal that investigator from the highway patrol. He knew what was going on and wil recognize the coincidence. Not to mention her picture was al over the TV for two f.u.c.king days." Zack handed Cole his phone back.
Cole pul ed out his wal et and located the man"s card. Then he cal ed and got his voice mail. He left a message and sighed.
"I think there was a brown van fol owing us the other day when we went out for a ride. I didn"t real y think anything of it til now. It kept going past the house when we turned in and I never saw it again."
"f.u.c.k, Zack. Why didn"t you say something then?" Cole demanded.
"Because I didn"t want to upset Tina and I didn"t think it was important at the time. We hadn"t seen it before. At least I hadn"t, but maybe Tina had. She seemed to have watched it pa.s.s, too. Maybe she had noticed it before. Why in the hel didn"t I say anything?" Zack ran both hands over his face and turned away.
"Hel , it"s not your fault. It"s not anyone"s fault but that b.a.s.t.a.r.d that has her. We"ve got to find her." Cole walked over to the kitchen and started some coffee. "What are our options?"
"We can cal al the guys in and get them to help look for brown vans."
"We don"t need to pul them off the work site. We won"t be going back until we have her back safe. Besides, we can"t crash through every place that has a brown van. We"l end up in jail, and not do her any good that way."
Cole"s phone rang. He answered it on the second ring.
"I received your message," a man"s voice said. "This is Investigator Todd Leany."
"This is Cole Tominel ie. We met about a month ago when my friend, Tina was attacked back at a truck stop in..."
"I remember. She"s the only one to escape the Truck Stop Kil er."
"I think he has her now, though. She"s missing. She made it to the house after work last night but her bike was parked outside the garage and she hasn"t been in the house that we can tel ." Cole explained about the brown van, and that they didn"t leave the garage door closed when she was at work.
"I"m about an hour from you. I"m going to report this to my commander, and we"l be at your house in a little over an hour." Cole hung up and sighed. At least they had someone that believed them now. He wasn"t sure what they could do, but it was something.
A little before eight that night, the doorbel rang. Cole checked the window and let in the patrolmen standing at the door. There were three of them. They each carried a briefcase. They turned out to hold computers. Everyone introduced themselves and shook hands.
"This has narrowed down our search," one of the investigators, Harry Lumpkin, told them. "We had three suspects we"ve been watching. Since he doesn"t take them across state lines, but kil s within the state he took them, the FBI hasn"t gotten involved-official y. They have lent us some resources, so we"ve been able to keep track of the brown vans reported in the areas of the attack." He pul ed up a picture of a dorky-looking man on his computer screen.
"Strangely enough, the least likely candidate lives here in Dal as and drives a brown van. He matches the description just like the others, but he appears less organized than our profile tel s us he should be. We"ve mapped out his whereabouts using the tracking device we attached to his van and he did drive through this area on several occasions over the last few weeks, with the last time being this morning around seven-thirty."
"Then let"s go get him," Zack immediately grabbed his jacket and pul ed it on.
"Wait. We don"t want to spook him or he might kil her," Todd told him.
"Every f.u.c.king second he has her he might be hurting her or kil ing her," Cole yel ed, hitting the bar with his fist. "You know where he lives. Get her out of there, or we wil ."
"Don"t make us arrest you and put you in jail while we do this," Harry said in a cool voice.
"Then do something," Cole demanded.
"We have his house surrounded right now. There is an emergency response team already in place to handle hostage negotiations if it comes to that.
We"re hoping to run a quick operation, and pul her out without that, but it"s in place should we need it," Harry told him.
"So let"s go," Zack said standing by the door.
"I need your cooperation to do it." Harry closed his computer down.
"What do you mean?" Cole asked suddenly worried.
"No matter what happens, you can"t interfere, or you"re not going with us. This is going to be tricky, because we know he isn"t averse to kil ing his victim."
"Her name is Tina," Zack yel ed.
"Zack, calm down." Cole knew what was coming.
"She could already be dead. We have to prepare for that possibility."
"She"s not, though," Cole a.s.sured him. "I"d know if she were."
Harry looked at him, then at Zack and sighed. He snapped shut the briefcase and nodded.
"Let"s go. I want you with me so I don"t have to worry about what you"re doing on your own." They fol owed them out and got in the back of Todd"s car. Cole wasn"t pleased that so many people were involved. The more people, the bigger chance someone would f.u.c.k up. He didn"t want anything to happen to Tina because someone screwed up. He refused to dwel on what might have already happened to her. Al that mattered at this point was to get her back alive. They could deal with the rest later.
Zack was staring out the window with his hands in fists. Cole knew his friend blamed himself for not saying anything about the brown van earlier. It wasn"t his fault, though. There was nothing either of them could have done. Tina would never have stayed cooped up in the house twenty-four-seven. Even that might not have saved her from this b.a.s.t.a.r.d.
Chapter Fifteen.
They pul ed up behind a tactical van the highway patrol used in hostage situations. He and Zack had to wait for Todd to let them out. The other man turned around in his seat and looked at them.
"I"m going to let you out, but the first time one of you gets in the way, I"l cuff you and put you right back in here. Got it?"