The Firefighter's Cinderella (17 page)

That was when he spotted Tasha's pills on the table. He nearly lost it when he realized the horrific pain she must be in. He put them in his pocket. Finding his rain gear, he pulled it on fast, then reached for his favorite hunting rifle, a .300 Winchester Magnum that he had used all his life. As an extra precaution, he packed some .416 Rigby Magnum cartridges owned by one of Jake's friends. Jake had left an arsenal here.

C.J. slung them across his shoulders, feeling their cases hit his back. Now he was ready to go and get her back—or die trying. Kidnap victims were rarely found alive after twenty-four hours. How many mothers had he had to console? Too many.

Now it was his turn to face firsthand the hell others went through. He loved Tasha too much to let her be taken away from him. He'd just stepped out the door
when suddenly he was shoved back by a group of men dressed in black, all yelling. One said, “We're too late! How long ago did they take her?”

C.J. didn't know if he was in a dream or hallucinating. He took a menacing step forward. “I'm armed and dangerous. Don't touch me.”

Jake was there and his voice broke through C.J.'s fear-induced state. “Chris, we've been trying to call you for the last five hours, but the storm prevented all communication. The moment Cole thought he could fly us out here he did. We nearly died landing in this weather.”

C.J. looked at his brother and then at Cole in panic. “They have her. Daphne, her paralegal, is the killer. She and at least one man took her by a pontoon plane to a campsite somewhere on the lake.”

“How long ago?”

“Maybe five to ten minutes ago.”

One of the other men stepped forward. “Chief Powell, we're going to take it from here. We'll be following the GPS signal on her watch, and we'll bring her back. If you need us you can reach us on the two-way radio.” In the next instant they were off like dogs on the attack.

“Where do they think they're going?” C.J. cried to his brother.

“Those men are a specially trained unit of the FBI,” Jake said in a matter-of-fact tone. “They contacted me five hours ago to warn you to hide in the woods until help came. By then the storm had hit and all communication was down.”

“How did they know what was going on?”

Before he answered, Jake and Cole forcibly led C.J. back into the cabin and made him sit down at the table. They sat across from him. “A call came in to police from the San Francisco D.A. informing them that her assistant, Anthony Reynolds, was found dead in a cleaning closet. The FBI jumped all over it. Reynolds, it seems, snuck Daphne in at around twenty-three hundred hours the same day you two flew out of San Francisco.”

C.J. nodded. “She told us she killed him. I'm just amazed the FBI figured it out so fast.”

“They looked at surveillance videos and saw her go into the office with Anthony, then only Daphne came out. They immediately began to run a background check on her. By the time they contacted me, the storm had come and it was too late to tell you.”

Jake looked as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He went on, “Tasha's dad is frantic. He thought he could trust the D.A., of all people.”

“Daphne is a terrifying woman,” Jake said.

“Tell me something I don't know. What does the profile say?” C.J. asked.

“Once the D.A. starting to delve into her background, Tasha's father was sickened that the two of them had been duped by the ditsy woman who'd become such a special friend. If Tasha had done a thorough background check, there's no way Daphne would've gotten hired. But she played on Tasha's feelings and desire of freedom for IAs.”

Cole jumped in. “So even her dad didn't check Daphne out?”

Jake shook his head. “He thought Tasha had done a proper background check. Daphne used her mom's
social security number, name and profession to get hired.”

“You've got to be kidding me!” C.J. was furious.

“Her legal name is Jessica Daphne Grant, a high school dropout. Once the FBI got a photo of her, a list of criminal activities came up.”

“I've never seen anyone look as shocked as Tasha.” C.J. shifted his weight, trying to alleviate the pain from his burns.

“When they searched the film from Tasha's office building, they found Daphne tampering with the fire sprinklers the morning of the bombing. She was the last person seen coming out of Tasha's office.”

“How exactly did the FBI track her here?”

“Since the D.A. had access to the information about the FBI's secret plans for your disappearance, they believe Daphne had it, too,” Cole replied. “They were able to track her and two men catching a flight up to Ketchikan yesterday.”

“In case they came,” Jake added, “we flew in a special force of FBI agents. I'm sorry we couldn't get here faster.”

“Don't you dare be sorry.” C.J.'s eyes had turned stone cold. “Daphne conned everyone. Now she's going to pay.”

Jake tried to console his brother. “The agents will find them.”

“You think they can find Tasha as fast as
we
can?” C.J. pushed himself to his feet.

“We need to leave this to the professionals,” Cole said.

Jake turned to him. “Damn it, Cole! We're all profes
sionals who've taken oaths.” He looked at C.J. “We'll go with you, Chris. I know this lake pretty well and have a good idea where they might've camped. But there need to be some ground rules.”

“Rules aren't going to help Tasha, Jake. Daphne's a madwoman and the man she's with deliberately rebroke her foot as they walked out the door.”

“That guy is
mine,
” Cole declared in any icy voice that surprised C.J.

“And you leave Daphne for me!” C.J. snarled. “I'm going to make sure she's locked up in some institution where she can never hurt anybody again.” He began to walk toward the door.

Jake moved in front of his brother, barring the exit. “No, Jeremiah. You can ensure the plane never flies again—I know you're good at that—and then you'll have to take care of Tasha. She's going to need you now more than ever. Let us take care of the others.”

“They hurt her!”

“Yes, and she's going to need comfort.”

C.J. looked at his brother, then at Cole, before he could see their logic.

Jake got on his two-way radio. “Roger, roger, Bravo Company. Over?”

“Ten-four, Tango Company. Over.”

“Have you found rendezvous point? Over?”

“We've lost the signal but are heading in direction. Over.”

“Bravo Company, we're coming and will let you know when we're close to rendezvous point. Over.”

“Tango Company, that is a no-go. Over.”

“Tongass and Checats Lake are in my jurisdiction as Tango Company. Over and out.” Jake shut off the radio.

Cole looked at Jake. “Can you do that?”

“I just did.”

“Let's go,” C.J. urged.

The three headed out the door.

 

T
ASHA WATCHED AS HUGE
drops of rain came at her from all directions in the cold, green forest. She could feel the temperature dropping, but she would fight to live through this.

All she cared about was the terrible pain in her foot, and staying awake. She focused on the ache, channeling it to her mind as a way to keep from falling asleep. She'd been tied to a tree for an hour or maybe more? The rain had soaked her completely. Now the cold was going to freeze her solid.

Tasha could hear Daphne laughing with the men in the tent hidden in the forest. They were planning how to kill her once they got the ransom money. Tasha had to believe the GPS would work once the clouds blew over. She felt her eyes beginning to close and banged her cast against the tree to let the pain keep her awake.

The ache was excruciating, but at least she wasn't dead. There was no way she was going to die. She had too much to live for—a life with C.J. and a family who loved her.

Daphne came striding out of the tent with a satellite phone again. “I know it's still raining, but I don't want you to get too comfortable out here. Let's see if the phone is working.” She grabbed Tasha's fingers to check how icy they were. “Lucky for you, you can talk.
Now let's get the dial tone back so we can phone your bank.”

Tasha fed her a slew of numbers.

Daphne waited and waited, but to no avail. She couldn't get a signal. She put her hand on Tasha's cheek. “I'm beginning to think that killing you might be better. Think of the pain it'll spare you. There are always other heiresses to kidnap and ransom.” With that she turned and laughed all the way back to tent.

Tasha started to cry, and her tears froze before they hit the ground.

 

T
HE THREE MEN FOUND
the camp a half hour later. “Where's the SWAT team?” C.J. asked.

Jake put his arm around his brother. “They're using the GPS locater.”

The three of them edged closer and took in the parameters of the situation. “They've got Tasha tied to a tree,” Jake whispered. “There are three kidnappers in the tent. Change in plan. Cole? You free Tasha. I'm going to get in the plane. Chris? You keep those three from getting near us.”

“I want to get Tasha.”

“No! Cole's a doctor and she's severely hurt. He'll know how to get her down to the plane in the least painful way.”

“I'm an EMT.”

“And I'm a bush doctor,” Cole asserted. “I wouldn't tell you how to fight fires.”

Jake put a hand on his brother's shoulder. “You have a wicked aim and you know it. Shoot to kill.” He sounded deadly serious.

“Is there any other way?” C.J. muttered. “Where will you be?”

“In the plane waiting for you guys. We're lucky that the storm has prevented them from taking off in this weather. You'll provide cover in case someone comes out of the tent. Once Cole has Tasha in the plane, you'll push us out into the lake quietly, where we can float back to the cabin once we're out of harm's way. We'll let the SWAT team deal with the predators—if they're still alive.”

All three nodded.

With stealth, C.J. climbed the slick mossy terrain next to the camp. He could feel the rain turning to ice beneath him and prayed he wouldn't slip and fall. The camouflaged tent was lit by some type of flashlight. It sounded like a party was going on inside. Hopefully they were drinking. Between that and the howling wind, they wouldn't be aware of intruders.

He saw a nice spruce that could hold his weight and started to climb it. He remembered how their mother was always telling Jake and him to stop climbing trees. They'd never listened. Good thing. He got about ten feet up before he found a perch in the branches. It would make a good place from which to shoot. Once settled, he made a tiny birdcall Joe Running Bear had taught them as children.

Joe, a superb local tracker, had befriended the twins when they were growing up. To think C.J. had ever thought Joe's life and the things he'd learned from him were silly kids' stuff. Because of that training, he might be able to save his future wife. That was, if she survived hypothermia.

He had to stop thinking like that. Tasha was going to be fine. Cole was a miracle worker. He wouldn't let her die.

Off to one side he saw movement, but it wasn't from the tent. It was Cole, who was holding Tasha, who seemed to be holding herself up. C.J. almost fell out of the tree in relief. Many people would have succumbed to the cold, but not Tasha. She was a fighter.
Thank God.

After a minute C.J. heard a sound. It must be Cole getting Tasha into the plane. Now it was his turn to get out of here. He climbed down the tree, silent as a ghost, surprised at how numb his fingers had become. As he backed down the hill to get to the plane, he bumped into a warm body.

I'm dead.

Panic flooded his system, but the knowledge that Tasha was okay made him happy. He knew that Cole and Jake would take care of her and that Sammi would still have a husband coming home to her.

“Chief Powell, is this rendezvous?” It was a voice he didn't recognize but whoever owned it seemed to know his brother. This had to be the detective with the FBI.

“I'm his twin brother, Captain C. J. Powell with the San Francisco Fire Department. Chief Powell is in the plane with Dr. Cole Stevens and my fiancée, Natasha Bennington. I request permission to join them to float back to the cabin and get her medical help.”

“Lieutenant Patterson?” said another voice. “Follow the captain to the plane and make sure what he says is true. The rest of you follow me and take position to capture the suspects in the tent.”

“Yes, sir,” Patterson whispered. The team took off
as quietly as they'd come upon him. C.J. and his lanky traveling companion made good time to the plane.

Jake must have seen them coming, for the door was open when they got there. “Get in and start warming up your fiancée, Chris.” Then he spoke to the other man. “Tell Detective Davis thanks for his help tonight.”

“Will do, sir.”

C.J. climbed into the plane and pulled Tasha into his arms, swearing he would never let her go again.

 

T
ASHA HEARD A KNOCK
on her door and turned to see who was entering the sterile hospital room.

“How's my favorite patient this morning?” Cole strode in, smiling as though nothing tragic had happened three days ago. His impressive size was emphasized by his scrubs.

To think he and Jake had risked their lives to save her. She still couldn't believe Daphne had been out to get her the whole time. Apparently she'd been taken to the state mental hospital, while the two men who'd helped her were in jail awaiting trial in both Alaska and California.

It was going to take time for Tasha's mental and physical wounds to heal. She was grateful she had C.J. to help her for the upcoming courtroom dates.