Taken (7 page)

“While you played Russian roulette with your wife’s and daughter’s lives.”

He looked up and caught her gaze. “It wasn’t supposed to end up this way.”

“Of course it wasn’t supposed to end with your daughter being kidnapped and your wife in the hospital, but you decided to get greedy.”

“I’m sorry, Kate.”

“Sorry doesn’t fix anything at this point.”

Kate shook her head and tried to focus on the solemn music playing in the background. The place where they sat was more than just a tourist spot. To many, it was a house of worship. A place filled with God’s presence. A place of forgiveness. She’d always been taught to forgive, but this...this was different. How could she forgive Chad for what he’d done?

“Have you heard from the kidnappers?” she asked finally, breaking the silence between them.

Chad studied a group of tourists walking by. “They called me this morning. They are demanding the diamonds in exchange for Sophie.”

“When?”

“On the second level of the Eiffel Tower at nine o’clock tomorrow morning.”

Kate felt her stomach turn. No diamonds meant they couldn’t meet the demands for Sophie’s exchange. There had to be a way out of this. “You have to go to the police and tell them what you know.”

“I can’t.” Chad shook his head. “I have to find the diamonds myself.”

“How? If you don’t have them...and Rachel doesn’t have them—”

“I think we should go.” Chad started to stand. “If they find us here together...”

Kate hesitated as she glanced toward the entrance of the church. Marcus was here somewhere, along with Jocelyn and Pierre. She grabbed his arm. “Wait a minute. I’ve got someone who can help you.”

He sat back down and leaned toward her. “You promised you’d come alone, Kate.”

“His name’s Marcus O’Brian. He’s with the FBI, working with French intelligence.”

Chad shook his head. “The authorities will arrest me if they find me. The only reason I decided to talk to you is because I need to find those diamonds.”

“Chad, please.” Kate tried to curb the desperation in her voice. “Forget about the diamonds and think about Sophie. They can help us get her back. They just want to talk to you. They’re after the men who took Sophie. You said you had evidence. They’ll listen to you. Make some kind of deal.”

Chad drummed his fingers against the pew. “They’re here, Kate. And they’ll kill me if they find out I can’t find the diamonds.”

“Who?”

Kate studied the people filing by, looking for the men who’d grabbed her. An older couple. Some American tourists. A group of students with a guide. She glanced back at Chad. Surely he was simply jumping at shadows.

“They’re here to make sure I do what they told me to do,” he said.

“Where are they, Chad?”

“I was foolish to think I could outsmart them. If you don’t have the diamonds, then you’re of no use to me or Sophie at this point.”

“Don’t put this back on me.”

He stood up and started toward the entrance, and she hurried to follow.

“Chad, wait. What did you tell them? Where did you tell them the diamonds were?”

Chad kept walking, avoiding her gaze until they were out in the plaza again, but she wasn’t finished.

“Chad...” She moved in front of him, forcing him to stop. “What did you tell them?”

“I told them I didn’t have the diamonds, but I was going to get them. I told them... I told them that Rachel had the diamonds. I was just trying to buy myself some time—”

“Your buying yourself time might have gotten her killed!”

“I didn’t think they’d find her. And I had no idea you would show up here.”

“Wait a minute.” The jumbled pieces of the situation had yet to make sense, but something wasn’t right. Marcus wasn’t the first person who’d told her that she and Rachel could be twins. “They think I’m Rachel.”

“I don’t know... Maybe... I think so.” She’d never seen him so hesitant. So scared.

She glanced behind her. Maybe Chad wasn’t jumping at shadows. They had to be here somewhere. Watching. Waiting. And they thought she was Rachel.

She turned back to Chad. “What happened at Rachel’s house that day? Did the person you sent to find the diamonds end up shooting my sister when she walked in on them?”

“No.”

“Are you telling me the truth?”

“Yes. I’ve got to go, Kate.” He pulled away from her and headed toward the street in front of the cathedral.

“Not yet, Chad, please... There are still too many questions.”

She started after him, still not sure about who he’d seen that had spooked him. Still unsure about everything.

* * *

Marcus watched Chad slip from the entrance of the church and start toward the busy street. He was walking fast, almost running as he wove between tourists carrying cameras, peddlers asking for money and a group of street performers who were gathering a crowd with their upbeat rap.

Something had spooked Chad.

Kate followed behind him, with Jocelyn, in her gray scarf, just a few steps behind her. Either Kate had managed to scare him or someone was after him. He searched the crowd, trying to figure out what had spooked him.

“He’s running,” Pierre said.

Marcus picked up his pace. Who was Chad running from?

People exited the church, but no one who fit any of the descriptions they had. Maybe the man was just being paranoid.

What just happened in there, Kate?

He looked back at where a group of street performers were in front of the cathedral drawing a growing crowd, dancing to the music. Kate had vanished into the crowd behind Chad.

“We’re not losing her again...”

“She got caught up in the crowd watching the street performance,” Jocelyn responded, “but I’m right behind her.”

Marcus picked up his pace. “What happened inside there?”

“I don’t know. They were sitting on one of the pews, talking, when something spooked him.”

“Grab Chad. I’ll get Kate.”

He spotted her at the edge of the crowd as Chad stumbled off the sidewalk. He called out to her, but there was no way she could hear him above the music.

Marcus saw the truck a second before it hit Chad, but by then it was too late. The driver honked his horn and slammed on his brakes. Chad’s body flew like a limp rag doll, before slamming seconds later onto the pavement.

SEVEN

K
ate pressed through the crowd that had gathered in front of the church, straining to see where Chad had gone. Music blasted. A horn sounded. Brakes squealed. She turned toward the commotion just in time to see a truck slam into Chad.

“Chad!”

Kate barely heard her own scream above the music entertaining the crowd. She tried to push her way toward the street, straining to see what had happened. He was lying there, still, as the driver exited his car.

Someone grabbed her arm from behind. Instinctively, she tried to pull away as panic whipped through her. Chad had been right. They were here. And they’d found her. Ready to hurt her as they’d hurt her sister and now Chad...

“It’s okay... It’s me.“ Marcus loosened his grip, but didn’t let go as he turned her around to face him. Both of his hands rested against her arms as he caught her gaze and pulled her away from the crowd. “Kate?”

“Marcus?” Kate felt a flood of relief surge through her, but even that relief did little to alleviate the fear or the images she couldn’t erase from her mind. “Someone just hit Chad. I need to see if he’s okay.”

“I saw what happened, but I need you to come with me.”

“No. I can’t. Not yet.” She tried to pull away from Marcus’s grip. The flow of traffic had yet to stop, as the crowd of spectators turned their attention to the accident. “I can’t just leave. I need to see if he’s okay.”

“Pierre and Jocelyn are there and the police will be here shortly. I don’t want you out there, Kate. It’s too exposed. Not until I know you’re safe. Not until I know exactly what happened.”

“What happened?” Her mind struggled to follow his reasoning. “My brother-in-law was hit by a truck...”

She paused, realizing what he was thinking. What if it wasn’t an accident? What if someone had attempted to kill Chad as they’d tried to kill Rachel?

But why? Nothing made sense.

Marcus pulled her back toward the shadows of the towering church, stopping close to the cold stone structure. “Until I know if that was an accident or not, you need to stay out of sight. We need to get out of here.”

Kate hesitated, unable to pull her gaze away from the street. Marcus was right. Someone was after Chad. And that someone—if they thought she was Rachel—was now after her. The music stopped. In its place, sirens screamed in the distance. She could still see Chad’s form lying on the ground in front of the taxi. Blood pooled from his head. The driver waved his hands around, shouting something she couldn’t understand.

He had told them Rachel had the diamonds.

They thought she was Rachel.

They’d tried to grab her...

Kate shivered in the warm afternoon sun, not wanting to continue putting the pieces together. “He hasn’t moved, Marcus...”

Her heart raced. Her head throbbed. How could she simply walk away? Chad had answers to her questions. Something had spooked him, and she needed to know what.

Marcus tipped her chin slightly, until she was forced to catch his gaze. “You have to trust someone. I need you to trust me. We need to go.”

She swallowed hard, knowing she was panicking and not thinking straight. Marcus wasn’t the bad guy in this situation. He was only trying to help. And at the moment, she clearly needed all the help she could get.

Marcus pulled her toward him, his hands on her shoulders. “I’m going to keep you safe, Kate. I promise.”

She couldn’t see Chad anymore because of the growing crowd that had formed around the accident scene. She had to know what happened, and it was more than that. Chad had been in contact with Sophie’s kidnappers. Without the diamonds, without Chad, they’d lost their connection to finding her.

“He has information about Sophie,” Kate said slowly. “They have her.”

“I want you to tell me everything he said to you, but not here. Pierre and Jocelyn will make sure he gets to the hospital, and will speak with him as soon as they can.”

Kate felt Marcus pull her the opposite direction. He was touching his ear and talking to someone as they hurried away. Giving orders. Calm. Focused.

I want to know if that was an attack or an accident... Go with him to the hospital... He might be our only witness.

Her heart was racing too fast. The adrenaline pumping too rapidly.
She’d
been a witness, at least to the accident. She’d watched him step out onto the street. He’d been hit before she could scream. Had hit the ground before she could even react. No matter what Chad had done, or what he’d gotten involved in, Rachel loved Chad. How had things spun so violently out of control?

“Did you see someone following you?”

“No, but it’s possible. They think I’m Rachel, and that I know where the diamonds are.”

She searched the crowd one last time, the fear in her gut spreading as she recognized him. Chad had been right. “He’s here, Marcus. The bald one who tried to grab me.”

Marcus snatched her hand. “Then we need to lose him. Now.” Tears stung her eyes, causing the Parisian setting to blur together, as they started across a bridge spanning the Seine near the church. She could still see the faces of the men who’d tried to grab her. Felt them watching her this morning, but she’d prayed it was simply her imagination. Now she knew she hadn’t imagined seeing him again. He knew who she was. Knew her sister and Sophie. Knew how to get to her.

If they thought she was involved—thought she had the diamonds—they weren’t going to stop looking for her. They’d try to grab her again.

“He’s still back there.”

Marcus nodded. He was talking to his team again. Advising them to find the man while he got her to safety.

As they waited with a crowd of pedestrians before crossing the busy street, she tried to focus on the row of apartments above a café, with their wrought-iron balconies. The pavement beneath her feet. Anything but that too-vivid image of what she’d just seen. Chad running into the street. Chad being hit by the truck. Chad lying on the ground in a pool of blood... And now the added reality that without Chad and the diamonds, she had no idea how she would find Sophie.

She glanced behind her as they wove their way past souvenir shops selling T-shirts, backpacks and fridge magnets. Surely there was safety on the crowded streets. Busy cafés with people drinking coffee and enjoying a late lunch. But brazen enough to grab her off the street? Brazen enough to kill Chad in broad daylight?

The answer to those questions sent shivers of fear down her spine.

She struggled to keep up with Marcus, feeling as if they were walking in circles through the narrow side streets. Her heart felt numb. The only thing she could feel was the protection of his hand firmly around hers. As if they were a couple on a stroll through the most romantic city in the world. Paris was everything she’d imagined it to be, but this wasn’t how she’d expected to spend her time here.

Marcus paused in front of a postcard rack outside a souvenir shop and picked up a photo of Notre Dame.

Kate glanced at the woman sorting through T-shirts beside them. “Why are we stopping?”

“I think we lost him.”

He dropped the postcard back into the slot, then grabbed another one, looking as if he had nothing more on his mind than buying a cheap souvenir. But a deeper look into those blue eyes of his proved to her he was clearly on alert.

Fear gripped tighter as the postcard he held blurred in front of her. She blinked, trying to convince herself she was safe with him no matter who was out there. He grabbed her hand and guided her across another street. A minute later, they strolled into a small park that was almost empty, questions still refusing to leave her alone.

Had someone purposefully tried to kill Chad?

No...she had to be right. It had to have been an accident. They wanted the diamonds and expected him to get them.

“We’ll stop here, but only for a few minutes,” Marcus said finally.

“Are you sure?”

He nodded as he led her to an empty bench and sat down beside her. “We’ll be safe here for the moment until I hear from Pierre. And in the meantime, I need information.”

Kate glanced around her. After the sea of people around the church, the quiet park was a welcome relief. “Okay.”

“I need to know exactly what Chad said to you,” he said.

Kate gripped the edge of the stone bench with her fingers, not ready to answer his question. All she could think about was Chad. That he’d been hit. That he might be dead. That the marriage Rachel had tried to save might be over. That Sophie might not have a father anymore.

Her head spun. She didn’t want to think about any of those things right now.

She glanced across the open square with its well-trimmed trees, walkways, green lawns and a bronze fountain in the center. Notre Dame loomed in the distance, too close. She could hear the traffic, but the trees and hedges surrounding the square helped muffle the sounds.

“Is Paris where you learned to speak French?” she asked.

“French?” Marcus rested his hands against his thighs and shook his head. “I... Yes. I spent two years studying abroad here in Paris thanks to my grandfather. What does that have to do with Chad?”

“Everything... Nothing.” She wasn’t sure what he wanted from her. She didn’t have the answers he needed, and after speaking with Chad all she had was more questions. Which was why all she really wanted was for this to be over.

“I don’t understand,” he prodded.

She looked up at him, trying to curb her frustration. “Of course you don’t understand. You’re used to asking the right questions and finding the answers. Investigating until you discover the truth, aren’t you? You shove aside the feelings and stick to facts and numbers and everything that is concrete. But you don’t feel, because if you started feeling then you might realize that there’s a person on the other side of the question. That there’s a little girl out there who’s scared, right now. She misses her mother and everything familiar.”

“Whoa.” He shifted toward her. “Last time I checked, we were on the same side. I know what has happened today has been traumatic, but I need to know what Chad said because it might help us to find Sophie.”

Kate closed her eyes, trying to escape the pictures that kept repeating over and over in her mind. She wasn’t being fair to him. He was doing everything he could to not only find Sophie, but to keep her safe, as well. What happened to Chad wasn’t his fault.

“I know, and I’m sorry.”

But she’d still rather be asking Marcus questions about his grandfather and why he’d decided to come to Paris. Even that distraction, though, wouldn’t be enough. Her mind refused to stop replaying what had happened. The sound of the horn and the brakes. The truck tossing Chad like a rag doll.

If he died...

“Kate...I know this is difficult, but I need you to focus. I need your help.”

“It...it had to have been an accident.” She looked up at Marcus. An ant crawled across his shoulder. She reached up to brush it away, then pulled back her hand. Somehow, the gesture seemed far too...intimate.

He leaned forward, not seeming to realize her discomfort. “Why do you think it was an accident?”

“Why would they kill him at this point?” She drew in a ragged breath, still watching the entrances of the park in case the bald man managed to figure out where they were. “He told me they’re asking for a ransom. They wouldn’t want him dead before they got what they’re demanding.”

“What are they demanding?”

Kate breathed in, filling her lungs and trying to steady her breathing. “They want the diamonds he stole from them. If they expect him to get the diamonds, they need to keep him alive.”

He touched his thumb against her chin and turned her face toward him, bringing her focus back to his face. She stared at him. His eyes were so blue. Like sapphires. “Did he tell you where Sophie is?”

She shook her head. “He said they want to exchange her for the diamonds he stole, but he doesn’t have them.”

“Where are they?”

“He sent them to Rachel. Inside music boxes for Sophie. Five millions dollars’ worth.”

Marcus let out a low whistle. “He
was
smuggling them.”

Kate nodded. “The music boxes were expensive. Rachel thought he was trying to buy Sophie’s affection. Rachel tried to make Chad understand that she didn’t want things from him... She simply wanted him. She mailed them—I’d assumed to Chad—but when I spoke to him, he insisted he didn’t have them.”

“We need to speak with your sister. We need to know where she sent them.”

“I spoke with my mother a few hours ago, and she was still unconscious. She promised to let me know if there were any changes.”

“Did he tell you anything else?”

“That he was supposed to meet them at the Eiffel Tower to exchange the diamonds for Sophie.”

“And they think you’re Rachel?”

Kate pressed her lips together and nodded.

“Which explains why they tried to grab you,” Marcus continued. “Do you believe him? Is there any chance he’s lying and he’s the one who has his daughter?”

“He’s made some foolish choices, but I don’t think he’d risk Sophie’s life. Even for a fortune.”

Marcus shook his head as he caught her gaze. “If you ask me, that’s exactly what he’s done.”