Strangers in Love, page 12
Just thinking her name brought my attention back to her.
I’d been in Iraq and not Iran, but I’d been close enough to the border to hear stories that didn’t make it into national news. Kidnappings for ransom or for threats was far too common in a lot of places around the world.
I understood military contractors being taken. I didn’t like it, and I thought the bastards who kidnapped people should be held accountable, but there was a huge difference between the sorts of civilians who were armed and getting into areas of conflict and relief workers. Doctors and nurses. Teachers like Aline. Construction workers. Electricians. There were a lot of good people from all over who wanted to help those in need, no matter where they lived.
The one good thing I could say about this situation was that the people who’d taken Aline were interested in money, not making a political statement. Well, actually, two good things. The first was that they wanted money, but the second was that her parents had it to give.
Freedom had told Cain that her parents were working with an agency that handled ransom drops in the Middle East, but she hadn’t trusted that the kidnappers would actually go through with the exchange, so she’d hired us. If we found Aline before the drop-off on Thursday, she’d call off the other team. If we hadn’t found Aline by noon on Thursday, we were supposed to go to the drop-off point and make sure nothing went sideways. If the exchange went smoothly, we were supposed to follow the kidnappers back to their base, get the information, and give it to the authorities. If it didn’t go smoothly…well, that was why Freedom had hired people with guns who weren’t afraid to use them.
We’d get Aline back, one way or another.
I refused to let myself consider any other possible outcome. I didn’t care what I had to do. I would not see another family destroyed because I’d failed.
With that thought in my mind, I started the video again, this time with the sound off. I could’ve recited her speech word for word, but that wasn’t what I needed to focus on right now. I wasn’t listening for clues this time. I was looking for them.
Specifically, I was looking at the shadows. I wanted to see if anyone was moving closer or farther away at specific points in Aline’s speech. They’d given her something to read, but if she’d added or changed something, one of her captors might’ve moved in some way to threaten her. If she’d changed a word, it might’ve been on purpose and could be a clue. If she hadn’t, then we might be able to use the speech to search for other ransom videos that may have still been floating around the internet somehow. The more videos we could locate online, the better the chances that we might find something.
Without the audio going, I could hear more of Cain’s side of the conversation, and it sounded like Freedom was giving in. That was good. I had a feeling that Cain’s concentration might be a little fucked up if he thought that Freedom was in danger. I also had a feeling that was part of the reason they’d been arguing, because she was offended that he didn’t think she could keep herself safe.
Normally, I would’ve called him out for being an overprotective ass, but considering what’d happened to her sister, Freedom definitely needed to get out of the country. The last thing we needed to happen was for her to get snatched while we were rescuing her sister.
A shadow moved, and I stopped the video, backed it up, and found the part in the speech where the movement occurred. I watched it a few more times and decided that the person had moved away from Aline, not toward her, so I started the video again.
I could feel a headache coming on, but I didn’t plan to stop. I’d sleep on the flight out.
Maybe.
If I thought I’d done enough.
If this mission failed, I refused to let it be because I’d slacked off.
Twenty-Five
Aline
I didn’t know when I’d fallen asleep, only that I must have at some point because the cell door banging open was what startled me awake. The light from outside the room streamed in, blinding me so that all I could see were two dark silhouettes. One stayed in the doorway, I assumed to keep us from making a run for it, but the other came inside with long, purposeful strides that took him to where Gia cowered in only a few short seconds.
He grabbed her matted curls and yanked her to her feet. She let out a pained cry, and he just laughed. I hadn’t heard any of the guards laugh like that and realized that I hadn’t seen this man before. He started shouting at her in what I recognized as Persian. I couldn’t make out most of what he was saying, but I caught enough of the curses to know that he wasn’t happy with her. Judging by the way he was gesturing, I thought he might be angry that her headscarf had disappeared.
Another man came into the room, and the first shoved Gia at him. She stumbled, nearly falling, but the guard managed to catch her. I wasn’t sure it was a good thing, though, because something in the way these men were behaving made me think that it’d be better to have bruised knees or scraped hands from a fall than to be caught up in their arms.
The sound of flesh hitting flesh turned my attention away from Gia and over to where the Persian-speaking man was looming over Hammond, his hand raised. Hammond had turned himself so that the second blow – a fist this time – landed on his shoulder. The doctor wasn’t a big man, but the soldier was, and Hammond’s entire body rocked with the force of the punch. A kick came next, the toe of the soldier’s boot connecting with Hammond’s thigh. Another kick landed on his hip. A punch to the back of his head caught his fingers between his own skull and the man’s knuckles.
Movement out of the corner of my eye had me turning my head. Dana leaned forward, tensed, and for a moment, I didn’t realize what she was going to do. Then she was moving, and it was too late for me to try to stop her. She launched herself at the kidnapper, scratching and hitting.
“Leave him alone, you fucking bastard!” she screamed as he rocked back, surprise on his face. “He’s not doing anything!”
The soldier recovered quickly, his hand shooting out to grab Dana’s wrist to stop her from digging her nails into his face. He squeezed, and she gritted her teeth, their eyes locked on each other.
“Dana, it’s okay,” Hammond said as he struggled to his feet. “Please, leave her alone.”
Audric and I both stood up, the tension in the room palpable. Something about this new man made me think that he was more dangerous than the others. Even Audric looked serious for once, and I’d seen him smile while they made him clean our bucket.
The angry soldier was still only holding onto Dana with one hand, and he planted the other in the center of Hammond’s chest and shoved him against the wall. Hammond’s head bounced off the concrete.
Dana went nuts.
She yanked her arm, kicked at him. Cursing, she called him every awful name I’d ever heard. He spun her around and slammed her against the wall next to Hammond. His face was only an inch from hers as he released her wrist.
“Bitch.” The word was heavily accented but still understandable.
A whimper from behind me brought my head around, and what I saw stopped me cold.
The guard who’d caught Gia now had her back pressed to his chest. One hand grabbing a breast…and the other hand was down the front of her pants.
She wasn’t struggling. She was shaking. Shaking so hard that I could hear her teeth clacking together. A look of absolute terror had replaced the blank stare that’d been her only expression from the first moment I’d met her.
I stood there for what felt like forever, and I knew it felt longer for Gia. Something primal inside me snapped, and I unfroze and darted forward, grabbing the man’s wrist right above where his hand had disappeared into Gia’s pants. I glared up at him and dug my nails into his flesh.
“Let her go.”
He glared at me and barked something I assumed was a no or hell no since he didn’t move his hands. I dug my nails in more, stomach lurching when I felt the skin give. With a pained yelp, he yanked his hand away and pushed Gia to the side so he could crowd me.
I put my hands on my hips and didn’t move. The man’s arm was bleeding from four deep gouges, visible when he pointed at me, saying something that I assumed was a threat.
“If you touch me, you’ll regret it,” I said simply, making my voice loud enough that the man behind me would be able to hear me as well. “My parents will pay the ransom you asked for, but if you hurt me, they’re never let it go at that.” I gestured to the people behind me. “And if you hurt any of these people, I will make it my mission, use every connection my family has, to bring you to justice.”
The man I’d scratched pulled his arm back, but before he could land a punch, a sharp order from behind me stopped him. The guard who’d been beating Hammond over, stopping just inches from me.
“Bitch.”
I didn’t know if he understood English but only knew how to say that one word, or if that was just the only word he wanted to use. Either way, it was the one he said to me again before walking out, the bleeding man trailing behind.
Everything went dark when the door closed, and I allowed a few seconds for my eyes to adjust before I went to Gia.
“Are you okay?” I made my voice as gentle as I could, which was surprising considering how angry I was. Not at her, of course. She hadn’t done anything wrong, but she was in such a fragile place that I worried any bit of negative emotion would make matters worse.
She didn’t answer, so I reached out to touch her, but she flinched. I pulled back but crouched down next to her.
“It’s all right, Gia. They’re gone. We’re okay now.”
“Don’t be an idiot.” Dana’s voice came from behind me. “We’re not okay. We’re not going to be okay.”
“Yes, we will,” I said firmly. “My parents will pay the ransom on Thursday, and as soon as I see them, I’ll let them know about all of you. We’ll pay what needs paid and talk to whoever can make things happen. We’ll all be home before the holidays.”
“Aline, you can’t promise us that.” Audric’s voice was tight and sad at the same time. “All sorts of stuff could happen between now and then.”
I shook my head. “The money will be there. I wouldn’t be surprised if my parents will be here too. They might even be able to talk to the authorities here and get things set into motion to have you all released too.”
“You really don’t get it, do you?” Dana asked. “You caused trouble. If you keep causing it, they’re not going to give a damn about your parents or who they know.”
“And if your parents aren’t able to pay on time, for some reason or another, you can’t imagine the things those men will do to you,” Hammond said.
I could see well enough now to catch the troubled expression on his face. Dana appeared more annoyed than anything else, but while the look she sent my way wasn’t a kind one, there was concern in it too.
“We didn’t want to scare…anyone.” Dana’s eyes darted to Gia and then came back to me. “There was someone else here when Hammond and I got here. They tried to escape as soon as the door opened and were so fast that we couldn’t tell if it was a guy or girl. We were shoved inside, and the last thing we saw was that asshole that was beating on Hammond draw his gun. We heard the shot, but that wasn’t the end because then we heard screaming. It went for a long time.”
“The blood was still on the hallway floor when they took us out to shoot the ransom video,” Hammond added, his voice barely audible.
A chill ran down my spine, but I didn’t let myself give in to the fear that wanted to follow. I had to hold on to hope, not let a single thread of doubt creep in, if I wanted to survive this experience without it changing who I was.
Or at least with the least amount of permanent damage as possible.
And I didn’t only mean physical. This wasn’t an experience that someone could breeze through, set aside, ‘get over’ in some simple way. I would eventually have to deal with my feelings about what was happening, but I intended to keep my positive outlook and stay focused on the hope of my parents’ saving me. Giving in to the despair that I saw the others slipping into more and more would only make matters worse.
Despite my pep talk to myself, however, I couldn’t stop hearing the sound Gia had made, seeing the terror at the thought of what that man would do to her. Couldn’t help thinking if I would hear someone die the way Hammond and Dana had. If it would be someone I knew.
I didn’t know how much longer I could keep this up.
Twenty-Six
Eoin
Brody would’ve been better at this than me, I thought as I looked around at the rest of the team. Cain had come up with a backstory to get us in and out of Iran without suspicion – or at least with as little suspicion as possible – and my parents’ plane had been the inspiration.
The five of us were playing wealthy tourists, with me in the ‘leader of the pack’ role just in case someone decided to do a check on the plane. Since it was registered to my father, I could look like the typical rich asshole who was living off his parents’ dime.
Not that Brody was an asshole. He wasn’t. That part of the role was definitely more me than him. And I’d always been more of the partier too, but I’d never been the life of the party. I’d been more ‘the guy who sat in the corner, did drugs and drank, while glaring at everyone else.’ Even when I’d hooked up at a party, I’d still been angry.
I’d been angry at the world.
Brody wasn’t like that. He wouldn’t let people walk all over him or push him around, but he was the sort of easy-going, charming guy that everyone liked to be around. That was the part that would’ve made it easier for him to play this role. Smiling and laughing had never been easy for me. It’d gotten better in the army, which was backward from what most people would think, but after…what’d happened, it was harder than ever. And I’d never been good at pretending to be something or someone I wasn’t.
But I’d do my damnedest if it meant getting Aline home safely to her family.
“You get any sleep?” Cain asked as he sat down across from me. “Jet lag is going to be hell.”
I shrugged. “I got a couple hours.”
The look he gave me made me think he knew the reason why I’d only gotten a little sleep, but he didn’t ask me about it. We didn’t talk about shit like that unless someone brought it up themselves. Which we didn’t do.
“Thank your parents for letting us use the plane,” he said instead. “Freedom’s family could’ve rented one for us, but I don’t know how quickly we could’ve gotten it. Every minute counts.”
“The time difference bites,” I said. “We’re basically going to have two days to find her, come up with a plan, and get her out.”
“And do it all under the radar enough so we don’t get caught and have all of our asses thrown in prison,” Cain added.
“But no pressure.” Dez leaned over the back of my seat. “Just so you know, if we go to jail, I’m not anybody’s bitch.”
“I finally got Freedom’s list of people at Neutral Ground to talk to,” Cain said, ignoring Dez’s comment. “Eoin, I want you to take them. Dez, I want you talking to the cops. I have the names of the men Freedom talked to there.”
“What’s my assignment?” Bruce asked from where he was sitting.
“You’re in bars, seeing what the locals have heard.”
I assumed that meant he spoke Persian, but I didn’t ask.
“Fever, you and I are covering all the bad guys. See if we can’t get someone to turn in a rival.”
As Dave came over the intercom to tell us that we’d be making our descent in ten minutes, I told myself that we could do this. We had a plan, and we had the skills. We would bring Aline home.
And fuck anyone who tried to stop us.
Channeling my older brother while we settled in at the hotel seemed to make the right impression. Every employee we saw smiled and greeted us in English. A few added comments about us reaching out to them for various things we might want to do. They could refer us to the best attractions, bazaars and museums and cultural centers. They could find us drugs. Women. They could tell us where to go for the most fun nightlife.
Between the five of us, we got all their names, and Bruce put them on his list to talk to. If nothing else, he’d get a place to start. Granted, Aline hadn’t been here as a tourist, but Neutral Ground wasn’t an organization that required their volunteers to stay on their grounds twenty-four seven. Since this had been the sisters’ first time in Iran, we were guessing that they would’ve stuck to places that catered to tourists, which would most likely be the same places the hotel staff would send us.
It didn’t take us long to get the necessary stuff unpacked, and the important stuff made accessible but out of sight. The last thing we needed was a maid accidentally finding our weapons. We put up the ‘do not disturb’ sign, but it was always possible someone might decide to sneak a look inside to see if there was anything worth taking.
To prevent anyone from tossing the room to find shit, we put out some money, an expensive-looking watch, a throwaway phone, a credit card, and a pair of cufflinks. Cain apparently carried all of it with him on trips for this exact reason. He said the two times he’d had someone break into his room, they’d gone for the bait and taken the easy stuff, never bothering to search for anything else.
“Let’s get a recommendation for someplace to eat,” Cain said once everything was finally where he wanted it. “We can go our separate ways once we’re out of sight, start checking out our own leads.”
Since we weren’t here in any sort of legal capacity, we’d have to tread carefully, but I at least had one advantage over the other guys. A lot of the people at Neutral Ground were Americans. If I hinted at being a private investigator hired by Aline’s family, they’d most likely believe me and want to help. It was even sort of true. We were going to investigate to find out where Aline was. We just weren’t going to stop there.
