Finding Kat (19 page)

Chapter Ten

KAT

Cade and I had an early morning strategy session for avoiding paps and an update from the police about my obsessed fan. They had found the guy, named Allen and his caseworker who got an earful about losing track of him. We learned more about his background and I couldn’t find it in myself to be upset at him for the scare he had been giving us once I found out about his parents and what had eventually happened to his dad.

We found out where he boarded a bus to come here and tracked him to a couple of jobs he had taken temporarily but we lost track of him after he lost a fourth job. The consensus from his employers seemed to be that he was quiet and worked hard while he was there but he had a habit of not showing up or disappearing during a shift. We didn't think it was a coincidence that all of his jobs were close to places I had been seen near or known to frequent.

But today I had to get back to work. We had a deadline to get to and I didn’t think this situation was dire enough to miss work and cost my production team a ton of money. I had already missed 4 days because of the accident and my recovery from the concussion. I couldn’t sit around anymore doing nothing or I would scream.

I left Cade a note explaining where I was going and ran to a coffee shop I went to on occasion but not often enough that I thought my fan would know about it. I was standing in line waiting on my order when Cade called.

“Hey there stud muffin.” I greeted him.

“Katherine, where are you?” He sounded a tad worried.

“Just at the coffee shop getting ready to go to work. I figure nothing will happen in a public place. I’m pretty sure I’m safe.” I placated.

“You should have woken me up so I could come with you. I don’t want you driving around alone Kat. We don’t know what could happen. I don’t want to take any chances.” He sounded more worried by the minute.

“It’s fine. Look they just handed me my order and I am going to my car.”

I pushed open the door and let out a muffled grunt when I ran into someone just standing on the other side of the door.

“Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there.” I apologized.

“Kat? What happened?” Cade’s voice rose.

I didn’t get a chance to answer him when I was struck dumb by who I had run into. It was the guy. My fan, Allen. A chill ran down my spine when I saw the knife in his hand.

“OK. That’s a really big knife you’ve got there. Let’s not make any sudden moves with that thing OK? We don’t want anyone getting hurt. Do we?” I asked in as calm of a voice as I could manage.

“Knife!? Kat. Tell me everything you can. Do whatever he wants you to do. We will find you. Just stay calm. Everything is going to be OK sweetheart.” Cade went from panic to the voice of reason in a split second.

“It’s him.” I told Cade.

“Come with me Katie. I will protect you. You don’t have to worry about them anymore. We will go away and they will never bother you again.” The crazed fan said trying to calm me down.

“I heard him. He wants to protect you. Use that. Play the damsel in distress. He thinks he is saving you. I don’t think he will hurt you. But we will be right behind you. I just called the police. I am following the tracker on your phone. Just keep it on. And don’t hang up.”

“OK, I won’t. I trust you.” I said to Cade while looking into the eyes of my captor.

I took the phone from my ear and walked forward.

“Katie. It’s me, Allen. You remember?” He seemed anxious to know that I knew him.

“Yes, of course. I got all of your letters. I’m so happy to meet you.” I tried to smile but I know it came out strained.

He grinned hugely and lunged towards me. I couldn’t help but cringe when he came too close to swiping me with the knife in his excitement.

“Why don’t we put the knife away for now, Allen. We have to be careful not to hurt each other.” I held out my hand in the hope he would hand it to me.

“Of course! I would never hurt you Katie. We have to get out of here before they come after you again. It’s all his fault. I know it is. We won’t let him find you Katie.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me into an alley on the other side of the coffee shop.

“Whose fault, Allen?” I asked trying to figure out who he pictured as a threat to me.

“Cade Walker. That rock star. I know it’s his fault you had an accident. He was trying to take you away from me. But you didn’t let him. You got away to meet me, just like I knew you would. We will get away from him Katie. Don’t worry; we will throw your phone away so he can’t trace it like they do on TV.” He grabbed my phone from my hand before I could respond and threw it down and stomped on it.

I covered my mouth with my hand and fought panic. How would they find us now? They couldn’t track my phone and he didn’t seem to want to take my car.

“How are we going to get away? We can take my car.” I tried to coax him into doing what I wanted. My car had a tracker. If we took it, they could find us.

“I have a car for us Katie. They could put out a BOLO on your car and then they would find us. But they don’t know my car. I took it from down the street. No one will know that it’s us.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me to a car waiting at the end of the alley. It was a completely unremarkable car. A few years old and with a generic white paint, color. Thinking quickly I pulled my keys out of my pocket and dropped them on the ground. My only hope was to leave some breadcrumbs and hope they found them.

He opened the door for me and shoved me in before running to the driver’s side. I looked out the window and prayed silently that Cade would be able to find us somehow. I clutched my purse to my chest and looked forward as Allen screeched out onto the road and drove quickly with an unknown destination in mind.

CADE

The second the phone disconnected I went crazy. I threw anything I could get my hands on and roared in frustration and fear. I was terrified. I don’t think I had ever been this scared. Learning about my mom’s diagnosis was scary but I had time to adjust and to hope that she would get better. But this fear was consuming. What if he hurt her? What if he killed her? Adding to the agony was the knowledge that he could literally take her anywhere. I had no way of tracking them down. So I did the only thing I could do, I called the police and I called Jake, my head of security. He was ex Special Forces and had a skill set I haven’t even begun to tap into. If anyone would know, which steps to take next it would be him.

I spent the next few hours pulling at my hair and worrying for Kat’s safety. I couldn’t turn on the TV without seeing endless reports about her kidnapping. Her mom called me sounding frantic. I hadn’t met her officially yet, but I knew from talking to Kat that she was emotionally distant. I was surprised how much emotion was in her voice when she asked me what happened. I told her everything I could about the letters Kat had received and about the phone call that happened right as she was being taken. I promised to keep her in the loop.

“Mrs. Foster.” I started

“Please, call me Audrey.” She interrupted sounding emotionally drained.

“Audrey, I am going to do everything I can to get Kat back. I will find her.” I put as much confidence into my voice as I could.

“Thank you Cade. I have to admit I was concerned about her getting into a relationship with you. I’ve heard so many rumors about your behavior in the past. But I am happy to know that my daughter’s instincts were right. I hope that after all this is over you can join us for dinner sometime.”

“I would love that. Thank you. I will update you when I can. I’m going to find her, Audrey. I promise.” I ended the call and pushed the phone back into my pocket.

I leaned against the railing of my deck and sighed running my hands through my hair and down my face. I had to find her. I couldn’t imagine my life without her now. I could only hope that when I got her back she was as whole as she was when she was taken.

KAT

Two hours later, we pulled up to a gas station. Allen had me go inside to get “provisions” while he pumped gas. I noted the music coming from the player on the counter. I grabbed snacks and drinks and used my debit card, knowing that Cade would be on the lookout for it. I leaned forward and talked to the attendant for a minute, then thanked him for the CD he handed me. I had no idea where we were going to end up but without a phone to trace, I had to do everything I could to leave him a trail to follow.

When I got in the car, I rolled down my window so I could leave my next breadcrumb in whatever direction we were driving. As we pulled left out of the gas station, I dropped the CD on the side of the road and faked a cough to make sure Allen didn’t notice what I was doing. He was pretty absorbed in looking frantically behind us every few seconds and didn’t seem to notice anything. I couldn’t hide the deep relieved breath I let out as we surged away from the gas station.

CADE