Nelson, page 15
part #21 of SEALs of Honor Series
“I have no clue.” She stared down at the sandwich as if it had suddenly gone bad.
Nelson picked his up and ate. He knew how important it was to have energy for whatever was coming. And, at this point, he had no clue what was coming. “Have you tried to call him again?”
Elizabeth picked up her phone and dialed his number. She laid the phone on the table, and they could all hear it ring and ring. Finally she stopped it and took another bite of her sandwich. “We had a summer cabin,” she said. “Dad sold it a long time ago. As I understand it, nobody’s living in it.”
The two men stared at her. “How far away?”
“About a two-hour drive from home,” she said, “so I don’t really know that he would do that. But, if you think about it, he has money to get a rental car, and he could just drive home.”
“It’s a long drive, and he’d need ID for a rental. Even two thousand dollars wouldn’t go very far.”
She nodded. “Maybe a bus partway?”
“So, if he got off on a stop before San Diego somewhere, would that help him get to the cabin?”
Her jaw dropped, and she gave an enthusiastic nod. “Actually, it is south of San Diego. And, like I said, it’s about two hours away. I don’t know all the stops on the road from Ensenada, but he could have bought a ticket for San Diego and then got off early.”
“That’s what I was wondering,” Nelson said. “Any way to contact somebody at the cabin?”
She frowned. “I don’t think so. But there is a general store. It’s possible, if he’s hiding, he stopped in there to get food. He’d probably think he was safe.”
“I wouldn’t think so,” Taylor said. “But, until we know these men have been picked up, he won’t be safe.”
“Maybe he isn’t safe,” she said. “Maybe he is in extreme danger. When they said, he’d be next, maybe they meant it. Maybe he took off right then, and they’re still hunting him down.”
“It’s possible, but again we have to wait for further information.”
A text came through just then on Taylor’s phone. He checked it and said, “NCIS will be here within an hour. They want to talk to Hogarth and get the evidence themselves. They have the names of the three men, are picking them up now. The fourth man, however, is missing.”
“So that’s the guy who could potentially be tracking my brother.”
“We don’t know that anybody is tracking Skunk,” Nelson said. “Keep that in mind too.”
However, it wasn’t long before the names came through the pipeline. They’d already finished eating and were sitting with take-out coffees, surfing on the internet as they tried to figure out a plan of what to do next. Three of the killers had been picked up, but Matt Blanc was on the loose. The three others had confessed to their part in it, but Matt Blanc, they said, was the ringleader. And he was the dangerous one. Apparently the navy had been looking into catching Matt Blanc in the act for a long time, gathering an ugly record on him as to accusations. Even NCIS was more than a little anxious to put their hands on Blanc, considered armed and dangerous, with special weapons training. In other words, he would be a hard case and even harder to take down.
“Do we believe that?” Taylor asked. “It sounds to me like they’d say anything to save their sorry asses.”
Nelson had to agree. “But I think this might be somebody we need to be wary of. I wouldn’t want to be your brother if this guy is on his trail. He’s got a lot of special training. We need to find him, and we need to stop him now.”
“And how do we do that?” she asked.
He gave her a hard look and said, “It sounds like we’re heading to your cabin.”
Chapter 12
They were packed up, ready to leave, when a knock came at the door.
Nelson went to the door and opened it. One of King’s henchmen stood there with a worried look on his face.
Nelson crossed his arms over his chest and asked, “What’s the matter?”
“I think you guys need to talk to King.”
“Why?” Elizabeth asked, coming up behind Nelson.
“Why?” Taylor asked, joining them. “And why are you telling us?”
“Because I’m working for my lady,” he said in a low voice. “And that doesn’t always jive with King’s orders.”
Elizabeth understood exactly what he meant. “What’s the problem?”
He glanced down the hallway. “I got to leave.” And he booked it.
Taylor gave chase. Nelson closed the door and looked at Elizabeth. And she realized this was once again one of those times when, because she was here, they had to split up their team. “Go, go, go. I’ll stay inside with the door locked.” Nelson hesitated, but she wouldn’t let him. “Go. This might be connected to Chris. We’ll only have one chance to solve this.”
He nodded and took off.
She closed the door behind him and clicked the lock button. She sighed. “What the hell could possibly happen now?” she muttered. She walked over to her bag, which she had on the bed closest to the connecting door, and finished her packing.
An arm wrapped around her neck and squeezed tight. Panicked she kicked out and scratched, but she couldn’t breathe, and her vision narrowed to a tiny tunnel, and finally she fell to the side, almost plopping uncontrollably downward.
She was quickly picked up and tossed over somebody’s shoulder. She gasped for breath, but it was as if she was paralyzed. The air was going into her lungs but not easily. She was dimly aware of being taken down one of the staircases and out in the back alley. She had no way to signal either Nelson or Taylor, no way she could call for help. Although it was still roughly daylight, it was that half-light predusk time. And, with the clouds overhead, there was very little light at all.
As he ran with her on his shoulder, she bounced with every step. It gave her a hell of a headache, but she couldn’t do anything. Her arms were dangling past his butt, but she couldn’t even grab his belt to shift her position. She managed a light groan, not that that would do anything.
She didn’t know how long he could run like this. It seemed like forever. Her ribs were killing her from the bouncing up and down.
Finally he stepped inside another building, into the complete darkness of hell to her. She was just getting some feeling back in her arms when he stepped through a series of rooms and down a long hallway. She tried to shift, and he reached up and smacked her hard on her backside. It wasn’t just a glancing blow, and she cried out with the pain and shock.
He said, “Don’t move.”
The message was clear. If she didn’t want more of that, then she’d behave herself. The trouble was, she didn’t even know what behaving herself meant here. Finally he stepped into a small room, literally flipped her over his head and dumped her on the floor where she fell and cracked her head hard. She cried out again, shuddering in pain. Then he stepped out of the way and closed the door.
She lay here, grateful to be alone. Tears welled up as she reoriented herself from the stunning pain still searing through the back of her skull. She could only hope no permanent damage had been done. The pain was crippling.
Finally she rolled over bit by bit. Her eyes opened to search her surroundings. She was in a small room, maybe a storeroom. The floor was concrete; the walls were maybe drywall or, maybe concrete too. She couldn’t tell. But her heart froze when she saw the scratches on the walls.
She took several deep breaths to stem the shock rippling even now through her body. Had it been a setup from the beginning? She had to think so. And she had sent Nelson after Taylor. What were the chances they had both been taken too? Although she hoped not. Surely they were too smart for that. She was the idiot.
She’d locked one door, but she hadn’t checked the other one. She didn’t remember when it had last been unlocked either. But somehow the assholes had pulled a fast one on her, and there it was. She’d been taken, and now she didn’t know what the hell to do. There was no sign of her brother here with her, so she could either be happy about that or worried he was hiding out in the cabin, with the other bad guy after him. It was like they had two bad guys in this scenario.
And, with that, she frowned, thinking about Chelsea’s earlier comments. Had she orchestrated this on her own? Or was the henchman really one of King’s men who had been used as a diversion to get Nelson and Taylor away from Elizabeth? She figured that had to be it.
“God damn it,” she whispered.
Her head was still booming. But she didn’t dare not take a moment to check out her surroundings, to see if she could get out. Had her kidnapper locked the door? She hadn’t heard a click.
She gathered her energy and stood. The room swam around her. Using the wall for support, she made her way to the door. The knob turned under her fingers. She pulled it open a crack to find a bigger room. Moving slowly, keeping an eye out for anyone else, she checked for another door, and sure enough one was just to the left of her. She closed the one behind her and sidled up to the next. She listened with her ear pressed against the wood to hear if anybody was on the other side. But all she heard was silence. She crept around the door, opened it and peered out. Again it wasn’t locked, just a big long hallway in front of her. Frowning, she slipped into the hall. She could hear footsteps coming toward her, so she opened the closest door and stepped inside, closing it behind her. She waited for somebody to walk past her down the hallway. Instead, she heard a scratchy voice behind her.
“Elizabeth, is that you?”
She turned, stared in shock. Her brother lay on the floor, his hands and legs both tied. She raced to his side and dropped to the floor beside him. “Oh, my God! Chris, are you okay?”
He gave her a wan smile. “I’ve been better. And, as much as I’m happy to see you, I’m really not happy to see you.”
She understood because she felt the same way. She reached out and gently stroked the hair off his forehead.
“You want to see if you can get my hands untied?” he said, his voice raspy. “They hurt like hell.”
She glanced at the ropes. They were tied so tight that the ropes were bloodstained at his wrists. Using her teeth and fingers, she pulled the knots loose to the point the ropes gave way.
He cried out but kept the sound low. He took several deep breaths, then rubbed his hands. When he could, he reached out and gave her a hug. “Thanks so much, sis. But, Jesus, I wish you weren’t here.”
“I wish I wasn’t either,” she said shakily, hugging him back. “But when you disappeared, all hell broke loose.”
He groaned. “Help me with my feet, will you? It feels like my body’s got no blood circulation left.”
It took the two of them to get his feet untied. Then she helped him stand. He walked around, hobbling at first, and, as the blood started to move, his movements smoothed out. He could walk better and better.
Finally he gave her a fat grin. “Okay, now we’re in a better position.”
She smiled up at him. “Are we though? I was kidnapped from my hotel room when the two men I was with were used as a diversion, so I’d be alone. And it’s my fault because I sent the one who stayed behind to watch over me out after the other one as backup. I was all about how I could handle myself,” she said bitterly. “And look at me.”
“I think you’ve done damn well,” he said. “You got out of wherever you were and found me and helped me get out. So you’ve just doubled our chances of success.”
She thought about that and perked up. “I have, haven’t I?” She snickered. “The best part is, I found you. And that is the whole reason I came down here.”
He walked toward the door. “Are you ready?”
“Maybe,” she said. “Let me bring you up to speed.” She quickly, as much as she could, told him about what had happened, what they’d found, and about King.
He just stared at her. “What?”
She nodded.
“Jesus, you know how to get into trouble.”
She shot him a look. “Hey, I was staying out of trouble.”
“I don’t think you succeeded,” he said.
With an ear to the door, he turned the handle and pulled it open. Motioning to her, the two crept out into the hall.
“I haven’t seen any windows down here,” she said, “so we must be belowground.
He nodded. “We are, but now we must find a way out of here.”
There were two more doors to check. With a word of warning to her, he carefully opened the first door, finding yet another empty room. This floor appeared completely unused—except for holding prisoners.
With another shrug, he closed it again and said, “The last door’s our only other option.”
Her stomach heaved. “There’s got to be stairs behind that door, and at the top of those stairs will be a shit ton of ugly men.”
“I hear you.” He opened the other door, and, sure enough, there were stairs.
They quietly crept up the stairs, getting to the first landing, up to the second landing. There was another door at the top. And she knew that was when the trouble would begin. She grabbed his arm. “Do we have a plan?”
He shot her a grim look. “Hell no, do you?”
“No.” And that was a shitty situation.
When Chris reached for the door, she caught her breath, and he slowly pulled it open.
*
Nelson raced after Taylor, but, when he hit the alleyway, he found Taylor standing there, turning around in a circle, glaring. “No sign of him?”
“No,” he said. “None.” Taylor glanced at Nelson. It clicked just then. “What the hell are you doing here?”
The two men moved back into the hotel, racing through the front lobby to see if the man had disappeared that way.
“I have no idea where he went,” Nelson said. “But I want to get back to Elizabeth.”
“You shouldn’t have left her,” Taylor said. “You know what this place is like.”
Nelson shot him a hard look. “Believe it or not she’s the one who chased me out here after you. She wanted to make sure you were safe.”
Taylor chuckled. “I don’t know about that. She’s all about you. I’ve told you that before.”
“Maybe. I think at this point, she’s just all about her brother.”
“And we can’t blame her for that,” Taylor said.
They took the stairs two at a time back up to the room. Nelson opened the door and stepped in. “Hey, Elizabeth?” No answer. He shot Taylor a horrified look and ran through the adjoining room and then back out again. “She’s gone,” he said in a hard voice.
Taylor stopped and pointed. Her hair scrunchie, which she had put on that morning, had dropped to the floor. He reached down and picked it up. “She put this on this morning.”
“That’s not proof something’s happened to her though.”
“No, but she shouldn’t have left without telling us.”
“She wouldn’t have,” Nelson said with certainty in his heart. “Something’s happened to her.”
They both bolted from the room yet again and down the stairs. One going to the front, one going to the back, both racing out into the streets.
Nelson ran down the alleyway, but he knew in his heart of hearts he was too late. The kidnappers had had just that much of a window, and they knew this place like the back of their hands. He worried it was King. And, if that was the case, what the hell had been going on this morning with King? Or was that what the henchman’s warning had been about? To get the hell out of here because they were in danger?
Maybe not that they were in danger but that Elizabeth was in danger. Nelson knew Chelsea didn’t want anything to do with King getting Elizabeth. But would King really kidnap Elizabeth, knowing Nelson and Taylor were here and would come after King and Elizabeth for different reasons?
He pulled out his phone and gave Mason an update. “We’re looking,” he said, his voice hard, cold. “We just don’t have any answers yet.”
“Keep looking,” Mason said. “I’ll alert local law enforcement.”
“Yeah, we’re heading toward King’s right now,” Nelson said.
He met up with Taylor at the front, and the two ran down the street. As they got to the corner where King’s place was, his henchman at the front door looked at Nelson and grinned. Nelson didn’t say a word; he just walked right up, swung a hard roundhouse to the guy’s jaw, and the henchman dropped to the steps.
He slammed both doors open and walked in. King raised his head and looked at him. Instead of the nice affable man, there was a snake with a look in his eyes that told Nelson how King was ready to eat him. “What the hell do you want?”
“I want Elizabeth,” Nelson snapped. “Do you have her?”
King’s face changed. “No, I don’t.” He stood slowly. “Why would you even think I have her?”
“A couple things,” Nelson said. “One, because of your paramour, and, two, because of the guy who came and warned us a short time ago. And the fact that Elizabeth’s now missing.”
King’s face went from perplexed to a hard angry red. “The streets have been warned they can’t touch her,” he said. “That is not acceptable.”
“Why? Because you wanted her for yourself?”
King shot him a look. “You going to let me have her?”
“Over my dead body,” Nelson said.
“Exactly,” he said. “I could take you out, and I could keep her. But I also know I’d be bringing down a ton of heat. If she didn’t come willingly, she’s not one of the women you get to keep.” He turned to look around, and there was Chelsea. He motioned her forward. “Did you have anything to do with this?”
She looked at him. “Of course not. I don’t know anything about it.”
He studied her for a long moment, then turned to Nelson and said, “What do you think?”
“I think she’s lying,” Nelson said. “She loves you.” Nelson’s tone softened, even though he didn’t it want to. “And she’s jealous as hell.”
King looked from her to him and then back again. “What are you talking about?”
