Susan Mallery: The Marcelli Bride

Paige hung up the phone. “Okay, the team’s coming. Local, state, and federal law enforcement have been notified. Road blocks will be up within the half hour. We’ll have full tactical support in less time. The president has been notified.”

Joe didn’t want to think about that phone call or what the other man must be feeling. Joe had enough trouble battling his own worry, and he was a trained professional.

“I should have known,” he muttered.

Paige hurried to the kitchen table where she stared down at Alex. “We all should have known.”

“He checked out clean,” Alex said, his voice heavy with pain.

“Too clean,” Joe said. “I never liked him.”

Someone began to cry. He turned and saw Lauren. Grammy M and Colleen hurried to her. Lauren looked at him.

“She’ll be all right, won’t she? You’ll get Darcy back.”

He didn’t have an answer to that, but he nodded. “Of course we will.” He turned to Paige. “Get her team back here.”

The extra Secret Service agents had been at the hotel in town, the same one Captain Phillips had retired to the previous evening.

“I’ve already called them. The rest of Darcy’s team will be assigned to Lauren until we can get her out of here.”

“No,” Lauren said. “I’m not leaving. I want to know what’s going on.”

Paige shook her head. “You’ll be safer somewhere else.”

“No. You can protect me here. I want to know what’s happening.”

“We’ll all be here to protect her,” Marco said. “Anyone trying to kidnap Lauren will have to come through us.”

Joe appreciated the sentiment, but it wasn’t going to be much help against trained experts.

He replaced the blood-soaked towel with a fresh one. “We don’t have time to argue,” he told Paige. “She’s staying until the team arrives. Then let them deal with her.”

“I’m not leaving,” Lauren said stubbornly.

Joe glanced at her. It was the first time she’d reminded him of Darcy.

Darcy. Fear crashed in on him. He’d never felt anything like it before. Sure, he’d worried about his team, but he’d never felt this icy, crushing sensation in his chest. If something happened to her…

Brenna limped into the kitchen. She cradled her belly with one hand and leaned against Nic. “So, ah, how is Alex getting to the hospital?”

“Helicopter,” Paige said, pressing on the bleeding wound from the underside.

“Is it big enough for two?”

Joe turned to look at her. Really looked. It was only then he noticed the dark stain down the front of her maternity dress.

“My water broke,” she said. “I guess I’m in labor.”

In the second between when the van stopped and Ian opened one of the doors, Darcy heard an odd sound. It was familiar, but she couldn’t place it. Something rhythmic and swooshy. Then the door swung open and she saw they were parked on the beach. The thick fog added a sense of the macabre to the otherwise perfect view.

Why here? Why not some airport or a freeway?

“Come on, Darcy,” Ian said. “Let’s get going.”

Her instinct was to fight them. There were only two of them. Then Ian pulled out his gun and smiled.

“I’d prefer you didn’t make trouble, but if you do, I’ll shoot you. Not to kill, you understand. Just enough to slow you down. I’ve never been shot, but I’d think it really hurts. Especially if I mess up and it goes through bone. So you don’t want to be a problem, right?”

She looked at him and nodded slowly.

“Then get out of the van.”

She did as he said, sliding forward on her butt until she reached the open door. The other man, tall, with dark hair and cold eyes, grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet.

Darcy looked between them as a horrifying thought occurred to her. She could see their faces. Which meant she could easily identify them. Which led to the logical conclusion that they didn’t plan for that ever to happen. They weren’t going to let her go.

She wasn’t ready to die, she thought frantically. Not now. Not like this. Joe was…

Joe might be dead. No, she couldn’t think like that. He was strong; she would be strong, too.

Instinctively, she twisted away from the man. She managed to get free, but with her feet tied, she couldn’t run. She teetered, then fell to the sand. Seconds later, something hard slammed into her ribs as Ian kicked her. She screamed.

“That was a warning,” Ian said coldly. “Next time I will shoot you.”

She couldn’t catch her breath. The pain was incredible. It was like fire along her rib cage. Had he broken something?

Ian stood over her. “Here’s the thing, Darcy. You’re our prisoner, and there’s nothing you can do about it. If you cooperate, I promise to make your time with us as pleasant as possible. If you don’t, I’ll hurt you. Those are simple rules, right? You can understand them.”

She nodded slowly. “What do you want?”

“To use you as a bargaining chip.”

Not good, she thought as she sucked in air. Not good at all. “The president doesn’t negotiate with terrorists.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that. I’m guessing I can change his mind. See, it’s a great policy right up until someone you love is kidnapped. We’ll start with polite requests, and if that doesn’t work, we’ll send you back to him in pieces. I know that sounds scary and I’m sorry about that. We’ll give you something for the pain, but it’s probably still going to hurt. We can’t help that. The point is when we send your finger or your ear or your hand to the press, your dad is going to be a whole lot more willing to give us what we want.”

She was going to pass out. The good news was, she wouldn’t have to listen to Ian anymore. He was speaking so calmly, she thought, unable to believe any of this was really happening. How could Ian be doing this? Ian, who had stayed at the Marcelli house. Ian, who had dated Mia and driven them all crazy with his talking.

“They’ll find you,” she said.

“I don’t think so. They won’t know where we are, and I’ve found a spot they’ll never even look.”

He nodded at the other man, who then pulled her to her feet, bent down, and shoved his shoulder into her midsection. When he stood, the pain of her bruised side nearly made her pass out. She thought she was going to throw up.

They started walking toward a small boat pulled up on the sand. She didn’t like boats, especially small ones. She didn’t like being kidnapped, either, she thought grimly.

“We’re going to a cave,” Ian said. “I found it years ago, when I went fishing around here with my grandfather. I used to think it was a really cool hideout, but I never thought I’d use it for a headquarters.”

She slipped free of the man’s shoulder and felt herself falling and falling. When she hit the boat, the impact was hard. Her head cracked against a wooden seat.

“Watch it, Jesse. We don’t want to kill her.”

Not yet, she thought as the world started to fold in at the corners and then fade to black. Not yet.

Joe stared at the maps spread out on the counter of the kitchen. Where would they take Darcy? They had an hour’s head start, which gave them a lot of leeway. Still roadblocks were already up, and the heavy fog meant all regional airports were closed.

Would they try to get distance between themselves and the winery or were they holing up close by? What would he do?

Joe touched the largest map, but he couldn’t think, couldn’t figure out the plan. Ian had done this. He’d been the enemy all along, and no one had noticed.

Had he planned this from the beginning? Joe didn’t think that was possible. No one had known Darcy was coming here more than forty-eight hours before it had happened. Which meant Ian had taken advantage of a lucky break.