Crusader (Battle Born Book 1) (24 page)

Pator snapped to attention and explained, “There’s a workshop in the garage. That’s where they found him. The area is a shambles. We believe that’s where the abduction took place.”

The person they’d found was naked, curled up on his side as if to protect himself from the violent abuse. His entire body was a mass of bruises and lacerations. Blood flowed sluggishly from several of the cuts, which meant the man was still alive. Going down to one knee beside the victim, Bandar tried to see his face without moving his head. “Shit.”

“Is that Letos?”

He glanced over his shoulder and found Ashley staring back at him, hand pressed against her throat. She’d obviously heard every word.

He nodded then reached out with his mind, sending an urgent distress call. It was unlikely the
Crusader
was back in range, but he had to try. When no one responded to the signal, he sorted through his telepathic strands and found his connection to Nazerel.

I have a medical emergency. Are you able to help?

Rather than reply to the question, Nazerel simply flashed to their location. “What’s wrong?”

“This man helped us escape and obviously paid for it. We need to help him.”

“I’m not a strong healer, but let me see if I can get him stabilized. Then I’ll summon someone who can finish the job.” He knelt beside Letos and carefully rolled him to his back. Letos moaned, but didn’t awaken. Placing one hand lightly on his forehead and the other on the center of his chest, Nazerel went to work.

Bandar dragged his gaze away from Letos and pushed back to his feet. Ashley stood back from the scene, arms crossed over her chest. “They have her,” she whispered. “They took my mom.”

He pulled her into his arms, infuriated by his own helplessness. He had to remain calm and think this through. The files were still here, so Akim must have had a different motivation for taking Abigail. If this was simple payback for Letos’s betrayal, there was no reason for the kidnapping. But why would they have taken the woman while leaving the file boxes untouched? Wasn’t information the ultimate goal? Bandar shook his head. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t make sense of the scene.

Ashley pushed away and tilted her head back so she could look into his eyes. “How did they know where to find her? What are they hoping to gain?”

“I don’t know.” She knew him well enough to spot a lie so he didn’t bother trying. “Letos is our best hope for answers.”

Nazerel emerged from his trance with a gasp. “I need help if I’m going to save him and this can’t wait any longer. We’ll be at the Bunker.”

Bandar nodded as Nazerel grasped Letos with both hands and flashed from the scene.

“How well did you search the workshop?” Ashley twisted out of his arms and looked at Pator. “Was there some sort of message? A ransom demand?”

“There was nothing, ma’am.”

“I need to see it for myself.”

Pator blocked her path. “We’ll search again. You don’t need to see it.”

“Why?”

“There’s a lot of blood. I think it’s his.” He motioned toward the spot where Letos had been. The hardwood floor was smeared with blood. “But you don’t need to fuel your imagination.”

“He’s right.” Bandar pulled her back against him. “There’s no reason to entertain dark thoughts. They have no reason to harm her.”

“They had no reason to take her either, so where the hell is she?” Her voice grew shrill before she checked herself. “I need a minute alone.” And she ran down the hall.

Hard racking sobs shook Ashley’s shoulders. This was too much. It was all too damn much. This was supposed to be a way to kill time, a routine errand to fetch some dusty old files. She’d been looking forward to introducing her mother to Bandar. Instead, she’d brought killers to her mother’s door.

She heard the bedroom door open and close, then Bandar was there, his strong arms wrapping around her. “We’ll find the
Relentless
and get her back. Nothing is going to happen to your mother.”

She turned around, tears streaming down her face. “You don’t know that.”

“I know I’ll do everything in my power to make it true. We all will.”

Now that she believed. “If Nazerel can’t save Letos, we won’t even—”

He stopped her words with his fingertips. “Don’t think like that. It doesn’t do anyone any good. We’ll find her because we won’t stop looking until we do.”

“I’ve never been this frightened or this angry. How can I be both?”

He kissed her forehead, then curled his hand around the back of her neck, gently rubbing. “Both reactions are perfectly natural. We’ll get through this. I promise.”

She wiped her tears on the back of her hand, trying not to feel foolish. Her relationship with her mother had always been strained. It was hard to be affectionate toward someone who thought you were crazy and treated you accordingly. But Ashley had made a conscious effort to improve their relationship over the last several years. Had it been enough? Did her mother know how much she loved her?

A fresh rush of tears blinded her, but she stubbornly blinked them back. Bandar was right. She had to stop being so emotional. It didn’t do anyone any good. “How did they know where to find her? This house isn’t in her name.”

“Is it in your father’s?”

She shook her head. “They started living separately when I was about fourteen, but they never bothered with an official divorce until three years ago.”

“What happened three years ago?”

“Mother thought she’d fallen in love and wanted to get married again, so she filed for a divorce. Dad didn’t take it well.”

Bandar’s dark bows drew together in a faint scowl. Was he struggling with the concept of divorce or the specifics of this particular situation? Rodytes had very different ideas about long-term relationships. “If he allowed her to live apart from him, why would he care about a document? Their life bond was obviously broken.”

His question proved her point. Choosing a life partner was instinctive for Rodytes. They either felt the pull of their mate or they didn’t and once they felt that pull, they never let go. Warmth cascaded through her and eased a bit more of her fear. Their bonding had barely begun, but it already felt completely different than anything she’d experienced before.

But this wasn’t about Bandar and her. She had to focus on her mother. “It wasn’t like Dad wanted her back. He just didn’t want anyone else to have her. Dad decided to literally make her pay for her freedom. Mother, in turn, hid all her assets with the help of a shady lawyer. She eventually broke off the engagement and paid her ex-fiancé for this house. However, he agreed to leave the title in his name until the divorce was finalized. The lawyers were still fighting over the details when Father died.”

“Letos is a technomage,” Bandar reminded. “Akim likely beat it out of him.”

She wasn’t convinced. “Letos can manipulate technology in some very impressive ways, but he isn’t truly psychic. Mom has tried to live off the grid for the past three years. She was so determined to thwart Dad that she even left her phone in the ex-boyfriend’s name and kept his greeting on her voice mail and answering machine. Anyone that doesn’t know her thinks they have the wrong number. Could they have traced the signal from your device? There’s nothing left in my mother’s name, nothing a technomage could follow. There’s something here we’re not seeing.” Bandar didn’t argue, nor did he agree. He stared past her in silence, apparently considering other possibilities. “They couldn’t have followed us. They’d been here and gone by the time we arrived.” She shook her head again, frustrated by the unanswered questions. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“I agree.” He seemed to shake away his musings and refocus on the present. “There’s not much we can do about it until Letos can tell his tale.”

She had no real choice but to agree. “So what do we do until then?”

“We need to get the files to Irron, but I suspect Morgan is going to want everyone back at the Bunker after this.”

Pator had located cleaning supplies and was scrubbing the kitchen floor when Bandar and Ashley returned. “The others are in the workshop,” he told them. No other explanation was necessary.

“Shouldn’t we call the police?” Ashley cringed as she heard her own question. Of course they couldn’t contact the police. Aliens had kidnapped her mother. Abigail was probably on a spaceship orbiting Earth. At least Ashley hoped the
Relentless
was still orbiting Earth. If Akim had left the star system, they were really screwed.

“We’re better equipped to deal with this ourselves.” Bandar’s gentle reminder echoed her thoughts. “Let’s get the files loaded into the car.” He was just trying to keep her busy, but she appreciated the effort. He picked up the heavier of the two boxes. “I can come back for that.”

“I’m not that feeble.” She lifted the box and smiled. “You haven’t seen me at my best. I’m not usually this useless.”

“Your life has been anything but usual since I arrived.” He waited until they’d left the house before he added, “Besides, I’ve found all sorts of uses for you.” His sexy smile clarified his meaning.

She’d always thought of herself as an ambitious, independent woman. She owned her own business and consistently earned enough to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle. Yet all of her skills were useless in Bandar’s world.

Emotion burned her throat, but she refused to give in to the impulse. She breathed through the unwanted swell then forced her body to relax. She would remain calm and alert. She would react with her mind, not her emotions. She’d always been good at prioritizing situations, organizing complex events into manageable tasks. If she took emotion out of the equation, the current crisis was simply a multi-location event. She needed to identify various roles and assign them to people with the right skill set to accomplish each task.

Soothed by the logic, she began to sort through the various elements of the crisis. Her mother needed to be found. No, learning Akim’s motivation for taking her would likely allow them to find out where she’d been stashed. Dr. Irron needed the files. And while she was being brutally honest, she had to add herself to the list. Ashley had to be protected. They still didn’t understand what her Dad had done to her, but it stood to reason that Akim was just as interested in the genetic anomaly as was Irron. Baiting a trap for her was the most obvious reason for Akim to kidnap her mother. So how should they respond?

Bandar was willing to protect her. And she had no doubt about his abilities. Still, she didn’t want to be completely dependent upon anyone. She wanted to be an asset rather than a liability.

“You need to teach me how to fight.”

He loaded the boxes into the trunk of the car before responding. “No. I need to remove you from danger. You’re not a warrior and nothing I could do in the next few days would turn you into one.”

She’d known the answer before he spoke, but her pride required her to make the suggestion. “I can’t stand feeling this useless. There has to be something I can do.” She leaned back against the fender, arms crossed over her chest.

“You’re smart and ambitious and you know more about Earth than any of us. I’m sure there are lots of things you can do to help, but rushing into battle isn’t one of them.”

Her eyes were even with his throat and his chest took up her entire field of vision. It was hard to argue with the obvious. Even if Bandar taught her how to fight, she would never be a physical match for a Rodyte. “Fine. So I’ll stay out of it. What are
you
going to do to get my mother back?”

“Hopefully, I’m going to talk to Letos and find out why Akim took her in the first place. Then I’ll figure out a way to locate the
Relentless
. Further plans will depend on what I find out, so I’ll have to let you know.”

“Fair enough.”

He gazed past her for a moment, expression blank. This was the Rodyte version of an incoming call. “Morgan is sending a helicopter for us, so we need to get moving.”

“Why do we need to get moving if she’s sending a helicopter?”

“Landing in the middle of the street is a bit conspicuous. Besides, we can save time if we drive toward them.”

She nodded. “What about the car and the files?”

“We’re supposed to bring the files with us and Tarn will drive the car.”

It sounded like they’d thought of everything, so Ashley tried to relax. Kidnappings and murder were enough to unravel her composure, but these people dealt with this sort of thing on a regular basis.

She made sure the doors to the house were locked before they took off. Her mother kept a spare key in a magnetic box on the drain pipe, so she’d be able to get in after she’d been rescued. And she would be rescued. Ashley refused to consider any other outcome.

They drove for almost an hour before Bandar told Ashley to pull over. Then they retrieved the file boxes from the trunk as Tarn slipped in behind the steering wheel of the car.

She heard the helicopter before she saw it. The rhythmic whooshing grew gradually louder and then the helicopter appeared in the distance. She’d been on numerous airplanes, but never a helicopter. With hypnotic grace, the helicopter descended, its massive propellers stirring up dirt and debris. A uniformed soldier slid the large side door open then motioned them toward the opening.