Sandra slipped a reassuring arm around the younger woman’s shoulders and hugged her to her chest. She needed to convince her to remain calm and try to relax as much as possible. There were plenty of times they could have escaped. Bachmeier really wasn’t as keen of a kidnapper as he would like to think, but she was determined to find out who this other person was.“What happened to your parents?” she asked.“He caught Dad outside and they struggled by the back door,” Sabrina said, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “He shot Dad, but I don’t think it was very bad. It just looked like he caught his shoulder.”“Thank God,” she whispered.“Please, Sandra, let’s get out of here. I’m really scared.”“I want to leave too, but we can’t,” she said in a hushed tone. “We need to stay with him for a while longer. Remember, I’m armed, I can take care of him if we need to.”“How is that possible when we’re handcuffed like common thieves?” Sandra smiled brightly, raising her arms up to show Sabrina th
“I swear to God, she’s not going to walk for a week when I get my hands on her,” Creighton growled as he paced the floor of his private jet. Sitting on one of the sofas was Inspector Morris, her partner Boden Tabor, a small stalky man in his mid-thirties with bright red hair and a mustache, and Andrew. They watched in stunned silence as Creighton walked back and forth, running his large hands through his messy hair. Morris and Tabor had joined with the two after veering off their tail, allowing a second team to take their place to avoid raising Bachmeier’s suspicions. She had relayed the information Sandra told her and how she refused to leave until she knew what was happening. The news, however, did not set well with her husband.“Monsieur Ashford,” Morris began, her tone calm, hoping to gain some sense of control in the room. “Your wife seems like a very intelligent woman. She picked up on an excuse immediately when that jerk interrupted us in the bathroom. Your sister said that sh
“I would be happy to if we were unfastened.” Sandra smiled to herself as he moaned a bit louder, then walked to her side and slipped the small key through the lock and tossed it to the bed next to her. She was surprised that he hadn’t realized they were fake cuffs, and it made her wonder again where he had picked them up at.“There, now shut the hell up.” He lay back on the bed and pulled the pillow over his head. Sandra stared at him in amazement. They could walk right out the door and he wouldn’t bother trying to stop them. He had a hangover that would likely stun an ox, but she still was not in the mood to escape. Not just yet.“We need to eat,” she said, perhaps not as loudly as she would have preferred, but the words caught his attention, nevertheless.“How the hell much does one person eat?” he growled, tossing the pillow aside.“We haven’t had any real food since yesterday afternoon,” she began. “What do you expect?”“I suppose silence from you is too much to ask for?”“Let u
“Go call your parents,” she told Sabrina quickly. “Tell them to let Creighton know we changed cars.”“But he’ll catch us.”“I’ll stand watch. Now hurry. I’ll start getting the things he wants.” Sabrina nodded, swallowing hard then went to the small payphone on the wall beside two video games. Sandra collected the juice for her and Sabrina and several bags of chips, crackers and chocolate before going to the cooler with the beer. There were single bottles, cans and cartons with glass or aluminum cans, she just didn’t know which one to get. Thinking about how the coffee affected him, she smiled and took a carton with a dozen twelve-ounce dark brown bottles and carried them to the counter. Sabrina joined her barely five seconds before Bachmeier stepped up behind them. She placed a package of gum on the counter when he narrowed his gaze to her, covering her absence from Sandra’s side.They paid for the items with Sandra’s card and carried them back to the car and once again climbed into
Tabor pulled the Suburban into the parking stall of the convenience store a little while later as Creighton and Andrew jumped out of the back, before he had a chance to put the vehicle in park. Morris was right beside them as they approached the cashier, flashing badges and speaking in French to him. The young man identified the pictures of Sandra and Sabrina and grimaced at the one of Bachmeier. He told them all that happened, and that Sabrina had used the phone. Creighton began pacing the floor while Morris went around the counter to check out the security cameras.Just a half hour earlier and they would have been able to catch up to them. Why was Sandra doing this? Why didn’t she leave when she had the chance? He was angry at her relentless insistence that she stay with him. He was angry that she was keeping Sabrina in the midst of this and he was angry at himself for allowing any of this to happen. He swore, when he got her back, he was locking her in the house and never letting h
Creighton sat in the back of the Suburban and watched his phone. The swirling green dial assured him Sandra was still in contact with him and somehow that made him feel better. He knew where they were and knew who was responsible for the murders at their farm. Now all he had to do was get her back in his arms and lock both her and Sabrina in a gilded cage.“We’ll be there, but probably not before them,” Andrew said, checking his own phone. “Just get us there. I have a score to settle with that son of a…”“As much as I agree with you, I can’t let you touch him,” Andrew interrupted. “It would cause problems with the courts. Just let us take care of him and you worry about keeping that wife of yours safe.” Creighton glared at his brother, but knew he was right. As much as he wanted to break Bachmeier’s neck, he wanted him to suffer in jail even more, along with his accomplice.“I have a blueprint of the clinic from Miriam’s contractor,” Andrew said with a smile. “With this, we’ll be ab
“You don’t want to do that,” Bachmeier argued. “She’s worth money to us. Unharmed.”“She’s not worth the spit of a slug to me,” the larger man said, his tone filled with hatred and thick with accent. “Take them into the other room and tie them up. We’ll deal with them later.” Bachmeier pulled the two by the arms and forced them down the hall to the medieval room. In the center of the ancient style décor sat two chairs with thick wood bases, sitting back to back against each other. He shoved them down to the seats and snatched the cuffs from the drawer, securing their hands behind their backs.“Gag them,” Silvano said from the doorway. “I don’t want to hear that sickening American voice again.” He watched as Sandra turned an angry eye to him while Bachmeier completed his task of cuffing their feet to the posts of the chairs. He took two ball-gags from the credenza and placed the wiffle style plastic objects into their mouths, strapping them behind their heads.“Come on,” Silvano said
So, it was Silvano who had killed those guards and that prisoner. He was the mastermind behind all of this, but that still didn’t explain why. She and Sabrina sat back to back on the wooden chairs, hands cuffed behind their backs, ankles tight against the legs of the chairs. They couldn’t speak around the balls in their mouths, but Sandra’s mouth was dry, and her face throbbed with pain, making her feel slightly nauseated. She was beginning to grow very anxious and nervous as she sat staring around the medieval decorations. It was the room Miriam said was her particular favorite. Fear was an unwelcomed friend and she knew if she didn’t control it, she would lose her stance. She had to remain calm and push aside her emotions. There would be time for letting go once she was back in her husband’s arms. Closing her eyes, Sandra drew a deep breath thinking of her unborn child, her home in Yorkshire, her grandparents who would be arriving in England that same day, with her sister whom sh