Fourth of July (29 page)

He glanced around the quiet apartment. He’d noticed on his previous visits how spotless her living space was. Not today. A pile of clothing was heaped on the carpet, next to an overturned laundry basket. He lifted a shirt. It smelled like a dryer sheet, clean.

“Half-pint?” he called louder this time. It was too quiet, something wasn’t right.

“Alexis, Alexis!” The request became more urgent as he noted a couch cushion at an odd angle and several books scattered on the floor. Alexis usually had them stacked neatly on an end table.

Chris approached her bedroom warily. He didn’t want to walk in uninvited if she were dressing but the fear gripping his heart told him Alexis wasn’t getting ready. Every bit of evidence pointed to her absence. She wouldn’t leave without him. He glanced at his watch. Quarter to nine. He wasn’t late.

Chris rapped on the bedroom door. Leaning into it, he listened for a second. He heard something that sounded human.

“Alexis,” he called out once again, “I’m coming in.”

Slowly, he pushed the door open. There was definitely a voice, but it wasn’t Alexis. He drew his pistol from inside his suit coat, stepping into the room.

“If you’d like to make a call, please hang up and try again.”

Chris exhaled. It was the annoying voice radiating from an off-the-hook phone land line.

This room was also messy. The comforter wasn’t straight, the pillows awry. There were books on the floor and a lamp teetered on its side near the edge of her nightstand.

Turning off the cordless phone, Chris listened to the silence. Only the ticking of the clock accompanied his breathing. Chris’ trepidation grew as he held the gun close to his body. He pushed the bathroom door open with the tip of his toe. Its creak was too loud in the silent apartment. He glanced around, knocking the shower curtain out of the way. The bathroom was empty.

“Alexis,” his voice sounded hollow.

Where could she be? Had someone broken into her apartment? Maybe he was jumping to conclusions. Maybe she’d run out for some reason and she’d be right back. Maybe, but not likely. Something was wrong.

Rechecking the small apartment, his fears were confirmed when he noticed the chain on her door had been cut, clean like someone had used wire clippers. He also found a red smear on the edge of the granite countertop. He touched the substance with the tip of his finger. Bringing his finger to his nostrils, he sniffed the salty fluid. Blood.

Alexis had been injured, judging from the amount of blood on the counter. Upon closer inspection he found several more drops on the tile floor. Chris knew it wasn’t from a bloody nose or any other natural cause. Too many things were out of place. He wondered how badly she was hurt. His stomach churned.

He raced back to her bedroom and picked up the cordless phone. Hitting redial, he waited impatiently.

“Lexie, you’re really going to make me late for church.”

“Who is this?” Chris demanded.

“Who’s this?”

“Chris Harmer with the FBI. The last call Alexis Osborne placed was to you.”

“Chris Harmer? FBI? What in the crimony? Ohhh.” She paused. “Are you
the
Chris?”

“
The
Chris?”

“The one Lexie is dating?”

Chris felt a flutter of warmth. “Yes, I am. Now, will you please tell me who you are?”

“I’m her sister, Brittany. Oh, I’ve heard so much about you,” she gushed. “Don’t tell her I said that, she’d claim I broke the code of sisterly silence. Why are you calling? Weren’t you guys on your way to—”

“Brittany!” Chris interrupted. “I just got here and Alexis was gone. When did you talk to her last?”

“But she went with you.”

“No, she didn’t. When did you talk to her?”

“I don’t know. Ten, no fifteen minutes ago. Give me a second, Steven. I’m talking to Lexie’s new boyfriend.”

New boyfriend? Chris could tell he already liked Alexis’s sister. “You talked to her fifteen minutes ago? And she said she was leaving with me?”

“Well, yeah. She heard a knock and she yelled, ‘I’m coming, Chris.’ Then she said you were coming right into her bedroom. Momma’s here, Savvy. Don’t cry.”

“Right into her bedroom?” Chris’ thoughts swirled. Who had walked into her bedroom? She’d obviously gone with someone and she certainly hadn’t gone willingly if the blood on the counter was any indication. Who’d taken her? Danielle. She vowed he would regret knowing her. Yusuf. This could be because of Yusuf’s capture as well as Danielle’s revenge.

“No!” Chris yelled. “They’ve got Alexis.” He wanted to hit something, take out his anger on someone. His breath escalated rapidly.

“Why?” Images of his parents’ bodies riddled by the bullets flashed through his mind. “I told her I’d protect her. Why didn’t I see this coming?”

“Chris, Chris?” Brittany’s voice brought him back. “What are you talking about? Who’s got Lexie?”

“I don’t have time to explain,” Chris said. “I’ll call you with more details later.”

“Where’s Lexie?”

“I don’t know. I’ll call you as soon as I know anything. Okay?”

“Okay,” Brittany whispered. “Aren’t you supposed to tell me not to worry?” Her voice rose. “Go without me, Steven. No. I don’t care what people think. Tell them I’m sick.”

“I wish I could,” Chris said.

“What can I do?” Brittany’s voice trembled. She sniffed.

“Pray.” Chris shocked himself with his response. “I’ll call you later.”

“I’ll pray,” Brittany said. “Please find her.”

“I will.” Chris disconnected.

He tried to imagine how terrified Alexis must be. He couldn’t allow the horror to happen again. He couldn’t lose someone else he loved. Whoa, stop. He sank onto Alexis’ couch. Did he love her?

He didn’t need any time to find that answer. He did and he wasn’t about to lose her. This time he wasn’t powerless. He would find her. He would save her. Think. How could he find her?

He jumped to his feet, pacing the small apartment. Danielle. They were still following Danielle. He found the phone number he needed in his contact list.

“Agent Valdez, this is Harmer. The woman you’re following, I need to know—”

“We lost her.”

“You
lost
her! How? When?”

“She went to the gym this morning. She did the same thing yesterday and stayed for hours. We waited several hours and then went in to do a scan. After a thorough search of the facility, we watched their security cameras. She left by a different exit minutes after entering. We’ve been trying to find her since.”

Chris closed his phone without saying goodbye. Utter despair enveloped him. Danielle must have realized she was being followed. She was the one responsible for kidnapping Alexis. She had taken the person who would hurt Chris the most.

Cold fear encircled his heart.
What would Danielle do to Alexis?
He couldn’t let himself think about Alexis being in pain or how scared she must be. He had to move. He had to do something. What could he do? How could he find them? There was one man who knew. Yusuf
.
Yusuf would be talking very soon—of that Chris was certain. He clamped his jaw, feeling fury steadily building inside of him. He would find Alexis.

CHRIS RUSHED OUT OF ALEXIS’ building, making a quick phone call to the D.C. police department. He informed them of Alexis’ disappearance and asked they forward any evidence to his cell phone. His phone rang the instant he disconnected.

“Chris!” Dylan’s voice was frantic.

“Dylan!” Chris’ tone matched his partner’s. “Alexis is missing. I think Danielle—”

“The terrorists took Rachel and Tyler. You’ve got to help me. We’ve got to find Rachel and Ty.”

Chris felt his world begin to spin. He stopped and leaned against the building. They’d taken Alexis
and
Dylan’s family. Why? What could they possibly hope to accomplish? Danielle. That woman had been working on her own revenge quest when she took Alexis, he was sure of it.

“You’re sure they have them?”

“I’m sure.”

“Oh, man. We’ll find them.” Chris pushed away from the brick and rushed toward his truck. “I’m heading to question Yusuf right now. He’s the key to all of this.” Chris jerked open the door of his truck and vaulted inside.

“We need Yusuf, but not for questioning. They left a note. They’ll exchange Rachel and Tyler for Yusuf. I have to meet them tonight at an address on the Potomac River. The note said I have to be alone.”

“You are not going without me.” Chris started his truck and jammed it into gear.

“Chris, this is my family. I am going alone.”

“Well Alexis is my responsibility, I’m going with you.”

“Alexis? What has Alexis got to do with anything?”

Chris cut off a red Taurus, earning himself a loud honk. “Alexis has been kidnapped. I went to her apartment to pick her up and she wasn’t there. Her door was unlocked, the chain was broken, and there was stuff scattered all over the place. I found blood on the edge of her kitchen counter top.”

“Chris, she could have cut herself or had a bloody nose. She was probably in a hurry, so she left her apartment messy and went without you.”

“Not Alexis.” Chris accelerated into a corner. “Dylan, her apartment is always spotless, always. Not today. She talked to her sister not long before I got there and the sister said Alexis thought I was coming into her apartment.”

“Even if she was kidnapped you don’t know Danielle is responsible.”

“Danielle is missing. She shook the agents at the gym. She went in one way and exited another. Someone must have picked her up. They drove here and kidnapped Alexis. Yusuf is the key to all of this. I’m going to give him one choice. Talk.”

“Chris,” Dylan warned. “Violence isn’t going to solve anything.”

The muscles in Chris’ shoulders bunched. He flew around the corner as a light turned red. “It works pretty well for the terrorists!”

“The note said Yusuf
must
be unharmed. I can’t let you jeopardize Rachel and Tyler.” Dylan’s voice bordered on desperation. “You don’t even know they have Alexis. Why don’t you go check the church? Maybe she went without you.”

Chris slammed on his brakes and his horn, almost rear-ending a silver minivan. “I wasn’t late, Dylan.”

“What about that guy who attacked her the other day? The one you told me about on the plane? Is he in jail?”

“Yeah, why?”

“What if he had a friend or someone kidnap Alexis to get back at her for pressing charges?”

Chris was glad he was sitting. The air whooshed out of him. “Do you think it’s possible?”

“We’ve seen it happen before.” Dylan’s voice was grim.Traffic started moving, Chris impatiently crept along. “How could the attacker know where she lives?”

“I don’t know but you need to check every angle before you compromise my family by threatening Yusuf.”

Chris hated feeling so helpless. He took a deep breath. This wasn’t Dylan’s fault.“You’re right. I won’t bother Yusuf.” Chris sped around the block. Changing directions, he headed for the police station instead of FBI headquarters.

“Thanks,” Dylan whispered.

“Are you okay?”

Dylan exhaled. “Not really.”

“I’m sorry, Dylan.”

“Me too,” Dylan cleared his throat. “Go find Alexis. I’ll meet you at the office.”

“Okay. We can discuss what we’re going to do when I get there.”

“All right.” Dylan sounded utterly bereft.

“They’ll be okay,” Chris reassured him, even though he didn’t believe his own words. The terrorists wouldn’t think twice about murdering a mother or a child.

“I hope so,” Dylan said.

Chris noticed his hands shook as he hit end on his cell phone. He didn’t know which was causing the tremor—his anger or his worry for Alexis, Rachel, and Tyler. With difficulty he dialed the number for the D.C. police department.

“Is Luke Johnson in?” he asked the switchboard operator.

Seconds later Luke’s voice came across loud and clear. “Officer Johnson here.”

“This is Agent Chris Harmer from the FBI.”

“Agent Harmer, your voice sounds familiar, do I know you?”

“You know me as Alexis’ boyfriend.”

“Oh,” the voice turned cold. “What do you need?”

“Alexis is missing.” Chris hated that he had to ask favors of this man. “I’m afraid her assailant from Monday morning may have something to do with it. I need you to have him ready for questioning in five minutes.”

“Missing?” Luke asked in disbelief. “How do you know she’s missing?”

“I was supposed to pick her up for church and she wasn’t at her apartment.” Chris tapped the steering wheel as he waited for a red light.

“She probably stood you up.”

“She didn’t stand me up.” The light changed and he roared into the intersection.

“Whatever,” Luke said.

“Can you help me or not?” Chris demanded.

Luke sighed. “If it’s for Alexis.”

“It is.” Chris was pinned behind a tour bus and a Cadillac. He had to wait several seconds before he could change lanes.

“I’ll get the suspect to the interrogation room for you.”

“Thanks.”

Entering the interrogation room several minutes later, Chris tried not to think what might be happening to Alexis. Luke waited, arms folded across his chest.