Redemption (Bennett Sisters Book 5) (24 page)

Lydia
smiled. “Certainly. I wouldn’t expect less.”

The old man nodded, and
Lydia
picked up the paper and started reading. He wasn’t kidding. They had rules galore. Stuff about standing behind red lines and wearing protective eye covering and plugs in your ears. Keeping your fingers off the triggers and the barrels always pointed at the targets. These were the kinds of rules she needed. It helped to keep her world tidy and organized. She only wished she had the same type of guidelines for her gifts as well.

Lydia
finished reading and signed at the bottom of the page. She handed Briggs the pen and grabbed the glasses and earplugs. She pointed toward the door. “Can I go in now?  

The old man picked up both papers and glanced down at the signatures. “He can, but I’m afraid you can’t, honey.”

Lydia
walked back over to the counter. “Is there a problem? I signed the paper.”

The old man pulled a clipboard from behind the counter and flipped the page. “I was told that a…Briggs and Thompson would be coming to shoot, not…” He looked down at the paper. “Stevens.”

She leaned against the counter. “There must be a mistake. Rick wasn’t planning on shooting.”

The old man shook his head. “No, the first name wasn’t Rick.” He walked over to his message pad and flipped back a page. He walked over to the counter and handed the pad to her. “Lydia Thompson was the name I was given.”

Briggs threw his hands in the air. “For the love of god. You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Lydia
picked up the book. She felt her face flush. This had to be a sick joke someone at the compound was playing on her.
Lydia
handed the book to Briggs and closed her eyes. She inhaled and quickly regretted it. The smell of the gunpowder was almost overwhelming on her empty stomach.

Lydia
patted Briggs’ arm. “I’m going to step outside for some fresh air while you get this straightened out.”

Briggs glanced out the front window. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”

Lydia
smiled. “It’ll be fine. I’ll stay where you can see me. Besides, I can take care of myself. Remember?”

Briggs gave a reluctant nod and replied in his stern, gravely voice. “Don’t go wandering off.”

Lydia
lifted her fingers to her forehead and gave a salute. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

She pushed through the door and out into the sunlight. She walked to the SUV, placed her palms on the hood, and inhaled a deep breath. The mixture of earthy smells from the green forest and exhaust from the roadway hit her nose. At least it was better than that of the gunpowder.

A hand came out of nowhere and shoved a cloth over her mouth and nose holding it in place. She inhaled a sweet scent that after a few deep breaths turned to smell like rotten eggs. Her vision blurred as she felt herself being dragged through the gravel. Tears filled her eyes.
Lydia
was helpless, and she couldn’t scream. She couldn’t even focus on her power. Her limbs and mind were failing her. A deep unfamiliar voice filled her ears. “I knew you’d leave the compound eventually.” The man’s arms around her waist and neck squeezed tight. “Now it’s your turn to pay.”

Thoughts of Rick filled her mind before
Lydia
’s world slipped into an unnatural darkness that consumed all rational thoughts.

****

Rick walked back through the compound door he’d left thirty minutes ago. A sense of déjà vu overcame him. The only thing missing was
Lydia
by his side. A situation that he was going to rectify as soon as he saw her again.

Brody walked in behind him and patted him on the back. “Wise choice, old man.”

Rick shook his head. The thought of spending eternity in the compound with
Lydia
was worth whatever ribbing Brody was going to dish out.  Rick’s new phone vibrated. The overhead alarms running through the building sounded, and red lights flashed. Rick hit the button on his phone. “Thompson.”

“We have a situation.” The general’s voice filled the line.

Thompson turned in place. Rick and Brody looked on as men in uniforms flew past them with guns clutched in their hands in a hurry to exit the building. “I can see that.”

The general hung up and hastily walked over to Rick and Brody. “I’m glad you’re back, but the reunion is going to have to wait.”

Dread filled Rick’s bones. As long as he’d been at the compound, there had never been an instant where the alarms sounded. The general’s somber look told him what he needed to know.
Lydia
.

“What happened? Where is she?”

Brody glanced from Rick to the general and back. “What the hell is going on?”

“She’s missing. I’ll fill you in on the way.” The general grabbed Rick by the arm and walked with him back out the door he’d just entered. Brody followed close behind.

The ride to the firing range was one of the longest rides of his life. It seemed the general didn’t have much more information beyond what he’d said.
Lydia
had disappeared while she was at the firing range with Briggs.

The general’s SUV skidded to a halt behind another black SUV. Briggs was bent down, studying the gravel. Rick jumped from the SUV. “What the hell happened?”

Briggs stood up and pointed to the ground. “She was taken, and by the looks of it, he dragged her.” He walked about two feet away. “To about here and then there are nothing but tire tracks.”

Rick’s heart sank into a pit of despair. He glanced around at the wooded area, unsure how they were even going to find her without some sort of trail. Brody put his palm on Rick’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. We’ll get her back.”

Rick closed his eyes and said a prayer that Brody was right. A man in camouflage pushed open the door from inside the establishment. “General, you need to come take a look at this.”

Brody patted his shoulder. “See? We already have a lead.”

They all filed in behind the general to a cramped room behind the counter. The room looked out of place from what the array of guns he’d seen coming through the entrance. The room was on the high-tech side for a normal business owner. Two monitors lined the walls, showing everyone that came and went.
Lydia
, with her palms on the SUV, filled the paused screen.

Rick’s heart sped up at the vision in front of his eyes. She looked paler than normal. She looked as if she might be sick. He couldn’t take his gaze off the screen. He was riveted to it as though it were the last time he’d ever see her.

“Hit play in slow motion.”

Lydia
looked up into the sky, her chest rising and falling as she let the sun absorb into her skin. A dark-haired man in blue jeans and a black sweater approached her from behind. He shoved a cloth in his hand over her face.

The general looked on in disapproval. One arm across his chest and his other elbow propped against it. He rubbed at the stubble on his face, “Must have been chloroform.”

Rick nodded. That was his conclusion too. He watched as
Lydia
’s hand went up to the hand around her mouth, trying to push it away before all of her limbs went limp.

Brody pointed to the screen. “Who the hell is he? That’s not Floyd. He doesn’t look anything like the sketch we have and he wouldn’t have resorted to using chloroform on her.”

The general nodded. “I agree.”

“It’s not.” Rick chimed in. “I’ve met Floyd, and that sick bastard would have done way worse.” Rick pointed to the screen. “This guy looks familiar.”

They all watched in silence as
Lydia
was dragged the two feet Briggs had indicated when they first got there. The asshole let her body fall to the ground, and he pulled the door open and shoved her body into the back seat of an old beat-up blue four-door car; the same car driven by that asshole that had bumped into Lydia at the café. That was where Rick recognized the man from. He’d been watching her.

The car on the screen backed out, and the general yelled, “Stop it here.” He patted his soldier on the shoulder. “Can you zoom in on the license plate?”

The soldier nodded and zoomed in on the numbers that could potentially save
Lydia
’s life. The general pulled the phone from his clip. “Jonah, I need you to run this tag for me and get me an address ASAP.”

The general walked out of the room, relaying the information over the phone. Rick turned toward Briggs. “Any of her sisters call you yet?”

Briggs went to reach for his phone. The clip was empty. “I used it to call the general to get her name sorted out, and I don’t know where the hell I put it.”

The old bearded man walked in the room with the phone in his hands. “You looking for this, sonny?”

Briggs snatched it out of the old man’s hands. “I sure hope Mrs. Thompson is okay.”

Brody and Rick looked at each other. Rick turned toward the senile old man. “You mean Stevens.”

The man shook his head. “No, that was why I didn’t let her in.” The man walked back to the counter and grabbed the book and handed it to him. “The person who called to give me the names said Lydia Thompson, and she signed the paper as Stevens. The two didn’t match. That was why that fellow there,”—he nodded with his head toward Briggs, who was listening to his messages—“was still inside. He was on the phone trying to get it all sorted out when he noticed the young lady wasn’t outside like she said she’d be.”

Rick handed the book back to the man and walked outside. That must have been why she looked sick. He was going to wring Jonah’s scrawny little neck. When he’d asked the guy to give
Lydia
a new identity, he didn’t mean his last name.

Brody and Briggs came running outside. Briggs had the phone to his ear. “The girls are tracking her; she’s heading east.”

Briggs, Brody, and Rick jumped into Briggs’ SUV. Briggs practically threw the phone to Brody and peeled out. “The girls will tell you where to go. I’ll drive; you navigate. We’ve got to make up for lost time.”

Rick said a silent prayer and glanced down at the watch that the Bennetts had given him. It was just like
Lydia
’s and everyone else’s the Bennett family cared about. His wasn’t studded with diamonds, but it was effective. The GPS woven in the band was their only hope of finding
Lydia
in time.

Chapter 25

Lydia
’s head felt as though it were spinning. She didn’t dare open her eyes. She could tell that she was in a moving vehicle from the bumps on the road because they threatened to throw her to the floorboard. She drew in a deep breath. The chloroform was no longer over her nose.  The man in the front seat was seething while he yelled at
Lydia
. She played possum and listened to his tirade, hoping to gain some sort of understanding of why the hell the man wanted her.

“You killed her, you bitch. She would have checked in by now. I heard the gun shot and now you’re going to die.” The dark-haired man’s phone rang once before he flipped the phone open. “Yeah.”

She could hear the male on the other end yelling.

“I’m busy. You’re going to have to get one of your other flunkies to do it for you.”

The man flipped his phone closed and threw it into the passenger seat next to
Lydia
’s pink-covered phone.
Lydia
wiggled her hands against the ropes restraining her. The knot was loose, not what she would have expected from a professional.  She wiggled her free legs. Definitely not a professional with the stupid mistakes, but glad just the same.

“You know he’s going to kill me for not taking you straight to him, but watching you die is going to be worth it.”

Lydia
peeked from beneath her eyelashes. It was do or die time. She needed to get the hell out of the car and away from this guy.
Lydia
squeezed her eyes shut tight and concentrated on the energy in the car while simultaneously wiggling her wrists free. She wasn’t at full capacity since her fight with Brody, but she damn sure would find enough energy to get away from this crazy man. The car started to sputter. The man hit the steering wheel. “Not now!”

He pulled the car onto the side of the road.
Lydia
concentrated on the man himself. She needed to take his ass out. She used what little energy she still felt in her veins and smashed the guy’s head into the steering wheel and then into the dash.

He slumped over into the passenger seat and on top of her phone.
Lydia
pushed up from where she’d been lying. She leaned into the front seat and pushed the crazy man off of her phone.  Her vision spun. She pulled the handle on the door and stumbled out of the car. She had to do this. She had to much to live for. Her family, the unit…Rick. Visions of him filled her mind. Things she’d left unsaid, he loved her for god’s sake. No people were counting on her and she wouldn’t let them down, she couldn’t.  She had to get away from this guy. She stumbled to the tree line and into the dense forest. She used her hands to push against the trees to keep her upright. She needed to put as much distance between her unknown assailant and herself as she could if she wanted to live. And she did. Birds chirped in a nearby tree. Squirrels playfully ran up and down the trees and across the ground in front of her. The fresh air had started to clear her head but did little for her energy. Her throat was dry, parched from whatever that man had stuffed in her face. She would kill to have coffee right now.