Dangerous Games (Aegis Group, #3) (18 page)

Money was the number one driving force behind things, in Zain’s experience. A great many people would do horrible things for the sake of currency. Revenge, personal vendettas, they were another. Beyond that, he could speculate other sources of contention, but it wasn’t adding up. It kept coming back to the money.

It was getting late.

They’d need to eat soon, and after today, Andrea was going to fall into bed again. She was physically and mentally worn out. Maybe worse than before, because up until now the physical threat was limited to the convention. Now it’d followed her home.

He approached Crystal and Andrea where they were standing in the cleared-out kitchen. He figured they had a day or two before the apartment complex asked her to vacate so they could complete the extensive repairs.

Crystal speared him with a none-too-friendly gaze.

Andrea glanced at him, her brow creased, the corners of her mouth turned down. He doubted they’d been talking about redecorating.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“One of Crystal’s inside-outside cats has gone missing,” Andrea said.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Shit. He didn’t like the sound of that. So far, whoever was behind this was after Andrea, not Crystal, but he doubted that would last. Who’d Crystal’s family hired for security? He’d have to look them up and have a chat. With someone after the girls, a missing cat was not a missing cat.

“October was a stray. Sometimes she goes wandering around the property and doesn’t come back,” Crystal said, but there were notes of stress in her voice.

“I was just saying—maybe I could go help look for October?” Andrea glanced at him. Her intentions were good, but exhaustion weighed on her.

“We could do that.” He nodded. “Sooner rather than later. Once it gets dark, I want you indoors.”

“Dad has people looking for October. I’m trying to not worry.” Zain knew Crystal came from money, it was evident in the financial reports he’d pulled and the vlogs he’d watched. It was the way Crystal talked about things and people. There was always someone to do a job. Like look for her cat. It wasn’t wrong, it was just a different way of living.

“How does a cat get named October?” he asked.

“It started as a joke with Miss May, but after her the cat’s first names are the month they came to live with me. They each end up with about four or five names depending on their personality and how much they’ve pissed me off lately.” Crystal grinned. “You guys want to crash at my place?”

Andrea glanced from Zain to her friend.

“I think we have that covered,” she said.

They did?

Zain pulled out his phone, making a non-committal noise.

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Crystal stared at Andrea. “We good?”

“Yeah.” Andrea smiled too bright and hugged her friend.

Zain stood by, holding his questions until Crystal was out the front door. Andrea slumped against the kitchen counter, hands over her face.

“Yes, I just lied,” she said, voice muffled.

“Want to tell me why?”

She dropped her arms to her side, the pitiful look on her face even more heartbreaking.

“Promise not to say anything?” she asked.

“Sure.”

“I mean, anything—anything.”

“Promise, and whatever you tell me is guaranteed in our contract to remain private.”

“What else does that contract say?”

“Want me to give you the overview?”

“Later.” She sighed. “Crystal is back with her girlfriend. The bitchy one that just sucks the life out of her and I’m so...” Andrea clenched her hands into fists. “I’m frustrated. I don’t want to stay there because she’s just going to try to convince me Patricia is a good person. And she might be, but I just...I hate how Patricia projects her issues onto Crystal, and then Crystal will get depressed, and they’ll fight, and there will be screaming, and the cats will start stress shedding, and work gets off schedule, and I hate watching it and not being able to stop it.”

“I...didn’t know Crystal was a lesbian.” Now he had other questions. Like...had Andrea ever considered it?

“Don’t look at me like that.” Andrea thrust her finger in his face. “No, before you ask, I’m not into women. I kissed Crystal once when we were stupid drunk after we’d just met and it was like I was kissing my mom. I don’t ever want to think about it again. And Crystal’s not a lesbian. She’s bisexual, but her parents have asked her to keep it quiet until her grandparents kick the bucket to keep the peace. It’s a thing. Like, A Thing. And I just—I don’t want to talk about Patricia or any of that right now. I just...”

“Come here.” He pulled her against his chest, hugging her to him. “I get it.”

She squeezed him tight and buried her face in his chest. On one level, he could relate. The last two years with Mason hadn’t been a cakewalk either. His issues and Crystal’s were completely different, but he knew what it was like to be stuck in the backseat, while someone you cared about made a series of wrong turns.

“My cousin made some tough choices he couldn’t tell our family about. It drove a deep wedge between them for a while. I knew the whole story, I knew they had the wrong picture of what happened, and if they knew what I knew, they’d have been on Mason’s side. But I couldn’t tell them, because I shouldn’t have known, and my cousin didn’t want them to know. He...did a lot of things because of how isolated it made him.”

“How is he now?”

“He’s good. He’s dating our boss’ daughter. It’s been quite the amusing turn of events.”

“The cousin you told me about on the plane?”

“The same one.”

“Are things okay with your family?”

“Yeah. Eventually he told them enough of it that they understood. Most of my family has been in the Navy, so they know more than an average person would when it comes to reading between the lines.”

“Mason, that’s his name?”

“Yeah. We’re not much alike, but he’s a good guy.”

“What am I going to do about this place?” Her voice was slightly muffled by his shirt, her body warm against his.

“I’m sorry this happened.”

“You were right, though.”

“I didn’t want to be.”

“But you were.” She pulled back, just enough to look up at him. “I haven’t taken your advice once. I keep doing what I want to do, and it’s been the wrong thing each time. So. What should I do?”

“It’s getting late. We should get what you think you’ll need, or what we can salvage and get a hotel for the night if you don’t want to stay with Crystal. Tomorrow, the police might know more. Miranda is giving me access to the company records and network so I can try to track down whoever had access to the security feeds, so there’s a good chance I’ll narrow our suspect pool.”

“You still think its Cliff.”

“He has the financial motivation to want you and Crystal out of the picture. And nine times out of ten, these things are motivated by money.”

“The rest?”

“Sex.”

“Sorry I asked.” She let go of him and turned to face her little dining and living room area. “I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to go upstairs. I just want to leave.”

“Then let’s go. We can stop somewhere, get you some clothes, eat and be in by the time the sun’s setting.”

“What about Crystal?” She turned.

“Her family has extensive security on site. It’s not out of the question for someone to try to attack her, too, but less likely it will work out. Maybe if she’s out by herself, but from the sound of it, she hadn’t left her house since this started.”

“No, Crystal’s cat is sick.”

“How many cats does she have?”

“You don’t want to know. Usually it’s something like nine, but it could be more.” Andrea chuckled.

“Okay, I’ll lock up and we can head there after food.”

“She’d feed us.”

“You want to eat there?”

“Not really.”

“Then we’ll pick something up.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll get the lights upstairs. Want to start the car?” He was all for keeping Andrea behind as many locks as possible.

“Sure.” She grabbed the car keys off the counter. “There’s a really great burger place across the street from an Old Navy. I can get stuff there, if that works for you.”

“Perfect.” He caught her hand, the keys clasped between their palms, and reeled her in for a quick kiss. Just because. Because he wanted to. Because she trusted him. Because with her he was more than just the guy behind the computer screen.

She grinned and ducked her head, pushing her hair off her forehead.

“Go on.” He pushed her toward the door.

Zain took the stairs two at a time. The upper floor was an open room and held what would have been her bed and office area. Andrea hadn’t ventured up here besides the first walk through with the cops. He could tell seeing her gaming and work set-up trashed hurt more than she was letting on. And that made sense to him. It spoke to an elemental part of himself. Both he and Andrea were techies. Stuff was stuff, but their computers, laptops—that was what their lives were built around. And now not only had her body been violated, but what she loved most.

He twisted the two floor lamps off. The overhead fixture had been ripped out of the ceiling, which had made working up here difficult, but they’d done what they could. He grabbed a small bag off what was left of a nightstand. Crystal had put it together from what was left of her clothes and toiletries. Stuff that hadn’t fared all that bad. It wouldn’t be enough to get by for a few days, but hopefully having some of her things helped.

A scream rent the air, chilling Zain to the bone.

He’d heard it once. Standing outside the bathrooms.

Andrea.

He dropped the bag and bounded down the stairs, drawing his gun.

His knees jarred with the final leap down to the ground floor. He pivoted, staring out the front door at the rental car. An arm reached out of the driver’s side.

Instinct kicked in and Zain threw himself to the side a moment before the blast of a gun ratcheted up the tension between his shoulder blades.

He scrambled to get up, slipping on the freshly mopped floor. He sprinted outside, in time to see his rental car peel off down the street.

He stared for a moment, fear paralyzing him.

Andrea was gone.

She’d been taken.

On his watch.

This was his fault.

The rental.

He turned, rushing back inside, grabbed his phone and buzzes his office line.

“Gavin? Gavin you there?”

“Yo, boss—”

“The client has been taken. I need you to track a rental car. Now.”

“On it.” To Gavin’s credit, the lackadaisical tone was gone. Keys clicked from across the office space. “Notifying police now.”

Zain yanked Andrea’s car keys off a hook next to the front door and sprinted to the small, Fiat out front. It was a God damned toy car, but it was all he had.

“I’ve got the GPS on the rental, tracking it now, sending the data to your phone.” Gavin’s voice was barely audible from Zain’s pocket, but what mattered was that they were on this. He knew where Andrea was. He could get to her.

Hold on, baby.

A
ndrea clung to the arm rests on either side, her feet braced against the floorboard. The man—she recognized him—but from where?

“Oh my God!” She squeezed her eyes shut as the man passed another car on the shoulder.

“Shut up,” he snapped.

He had a gun. She needed to do what he said.

But dear Lord, was he trying to kill them both?

“Watch out!” She really should not have opened her eyes, but closed—she was going to be sick.

“I said shut up.” He reached across, grabbed a handful of her shirt and shook. Threads popped and fabric ripped.

He released her, snatching the wheel in both hands.

“I’ll stop. Whatever it is I’ll stop, I swear,” she said. Andrea would promise the man anything, if he’d let her go. She wasn’t brave, she wasn’t strong, she just wanted to get away.

“You bet you’ll stop.” He stomped on the breaks and the car skidded a good ten feet, almost into the intersection.

The car was stopped.

That was important.

Why?

Because—stupid, stupid, stupid—she could get out!

Andrea grabbed the handle and pushed, throwing herself against the door. Her seatbelt snapped at the last second. The man grabbed her hair, yanking her back into the car.

He turned the wheel, cutting off the next lane, and merged into traffic.

“I’ll shoot you if you try that again,” he yelled.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry!” She gasped for air.

Great. Seatbelts. She was going to be the first person to be killed because of a seatbelt.

“Fuck.” Her kidnapper stretched, peering into the rearview mirror.

He was short. She remembered that now. They hadn’t spoken directly, but he’d been at the Dark Matter party. Asian. Probably late thirties. But she’d never seen him before in all her life. Who the hell was he? Why did he hate her so much? What had she ever done to him?

Her kidnapper jerked the wheel, sending them shooting across three lanes of traffic.

Horns blasted.

Other cars’ wheels screeched.

Andrea screamed.

Something—someone—slammed into the rental car. They jerked sideways. Andrea bounced off the door, her head snapped around. The engine whined and the scent of burnt rubber filled the cab. This was a nightmare. The car shot forward. She had the vague, heart-stopping glimpse of another car a second before the front bumper glanced off another vehicle, but they were going faster. The car jolted, wobbled and kept going.

It was hard to see now. Had she hit her head so hard she was going blind? Or were those tears?

She wanted off this ride.

Where was Zain? She wanted him to hold her. She wanted to tell Crystal that Patricia was wrong for her. She needed to tell her parents she loved them.

The car was roaring and yet they weren’t going all that fast. Something must have been broken. This was a car, not a bumper car.

She blinked, droplets hanging off her lashes.

Yup. Crying like a badass.

Her kidnapper cranked the wheel and they coasted into a parking lot. One she recognized. She always hit that bump, no matter how many times she told herself to swing wide.