The Trouble With Bodyguards: Part 3 (9 page)

              Alex blew out a breath, her heart pounding in her chest from only the memory of her husban
d’
s touch. He was at work, probably sitting in his office going over paperwork while she was standing naked in the shower, daydreaming about him making love to her. She wondered if his body cried out for attention, like hers was doing now. Lifting the sponge from the basket, she filled it with body wash, using her hands to work up a luscious, richly scented lather. Dragging the sponge down her arms, over her breasts and along her belly, she smiled a mischievous grin as the suds travelled down her body and between her thighs, tickling her heated skin.

              Leaning against the wall, she slid her hand over her breasts, pulling gently on her nipples, the suds making her skin slippery beneath her palm. Electricity surged beneath her fingers as she trailed them down her belly, sliding them between her thighs. She moaned, sucking in a breath as she tickled her most sensitive places. Just because her husband was not here, did not mean that she could not have pleasure. She had known how to make love to herself long before he came along.

Alex slipped a blue sundress over her head, taking a moment to smooth out the skirt before stepping into her white sandals. She had seriously enjoyed that shower; she would need to do something nice for Gina for giving her the chance to get away, if only for a few minutes.  It really had been a great idea, hiring her to help around the house. It had taken a load of stress off, giving her the chance to focus all of her attention on Mia, while still having the energy left at the end of the day to want to spend time with her husband. She was looking forward to seeing him tonight, the time in the shower had scratched the itch, but only temporarily; she wanted to make love to her husband.

              Gently pushing the door to Mi
a’
s room open, she tiptoed into the dim space. She loved to look down on her baby while she was still asleep, the peaceful grace on her tiny face touched her heart each time she gazed at it, every single time. Stepping in to the room, she noticed the stuffed dog that Mia liked to snuggle with during her naps discarded on the carpet next to the crib. She leaned over and scooped it up, thinking it must have gotten tossed out after she had left the room.

Strange, her daughter was
n’
t normally one for throwing her toys, but she supposed that every chil
d’
s behavior changed as they grew.

              Setting the dog onto the changing table, she leaned over the edge of the crib, ready to wake her daughter and get her ready for the trip to see her grandfather.

              The smile dropped off her face. Her blood went cold in her veins as the room began to spin. Mia was not in her crib.

            
 “
Gina
,
” she called, her voice cracking with fear
.“
Gina, did you take Mia out
?
”

              Rushing from the room, she searched the house for the maid. She was not in the bathroom andnot in the office that Rick had set up for her across the hall from Mi
a’
s room so that she would be near to her at all times. Ale
x’
s heart hammered in her chest, her breath tight in her throat as she called out again and again
,“
Gina, where are you
?
”

She dashed into the kitchen, finding the bucket filled with cleaning supplies on the kitchen counter, but Gina and Mia were nowhere to be found. They were not in the house.

              She threw open the back door, screaming out into the afternoon sunshine
,“
Gina! Where the fuck are you? Mia
!
” She ran around the house, tears springing to her eyes as she continued to call for them as she ran. They were not here. Her daughter was not here.

              Turning the corner, she spotted a dark car pulling away from the curb, the windows darkened with tinting so that she could not see inside. As she came around the end of the house, her sandal caught on the walking stone in the path, and she fell, sprawling out in the gravel near the driveway, skinning her knees and bloodying her palms. She looked up, only to see Gina peering out the passenger window of the car before it drove away. She was smiling, the look on her face nothing that Alex had ever seen before. This was not the woman who had been helping her for the last few weeks. This was a vicious monster who was reveling in the fact that she had just successfully stolen another woma
n’
s baby.

              Alex screamed, blood pooling on the gravel from the torn skin of her knee, as she wept uncontrollable tears of anguish.
Somebody help,
she thought,
the
y’
ve taken my baby.

…

            
 “
W
e’
ve shown marked growth in the last few months
,
” said Rick, standing before his staff, their bimonthly meeting in full swing
.“
If we can keep this trend up
,
” he continued
,“
w
e’
ll double the profits that we made last quarter in the next month
.
”

              The door to the meeting room opened, and Ashely, the receptionist, stepped quickly into the office, interrupting their meeting
.“
Rick
,
” she said, walking to his side
,“
your wife is on the phone
.
”

              Something was wrong, he could tell from the tone in her voice. This woman was always calm and collected; she was efficient and level-headed; it was one of the main reasons that Rick had hired her on. If she was shaken, then whatever was going on was bad
.“
Sorry guys
,
” he said, looking to the group of gentlemen seated around the table
,“
I have to take this
.
”

              Rushing to his office, he yanked the phone off of the receiver, pushing the button to retrieve his wif
e’
s call
.“
Babe
,
” he said, concern in his voice.

            
 “
Rick
,
” she said, her voice broken and filled with panic
.“
You have to help! You have to come here. Sh
e’
s taken Mia
!
”

            
 “
What
?”
he said, tossing the paperwork that he had been holding on the desk andgrabbing his coat from the back of his chair
.“
Who took Mia
?
”

            
 “
Gina, with somebody else
,
” she said
.“
I do
n’
t fucking know
,
” she screamed into the phone. He could hear her hyperventilating on the other end of the phone.

            
 “
Call the police
,
” he said
.“I’
ll be right there
.
” He hung up the phone, digging his keys from his pocket, as he ran for the door to the stairwell. There was no time to wait for the damned elevator. He took the stair
s—
two at a tim
e—
crashing through the door at the bottom into the parking garage. Pushing the button on his key fob to unlock the doors and start the car, he sprinted across to his parking space.

              As he pulled out of the garage, he dialed his wife on his cell phone. She picked up on the first ring, sobbing hysterically into the phone
.“
Did you call the cops
?”
he asked. He needed to take control of this situation, every moment counted. He was as scared as she was, but he knew that she needed him to be the strong one right now.

            
 “
Yes
,
” she said
.“
The
y’
re on their way. Why would she take Mia
?
”

            
 “
I do
n’
t know
,
” he said
.“
W
e’
ll figure that out. Do
n’
t worry, babe. W
e’
ll get her back
.
”

“
Jacob
,
” called the orderly from the window in the booth
.“
You got a phone call
.
”

              Jake hopped up from the chair he had been resting in, lost in thought as he stared out the window watching the wind rustle in the upper boughs of the trees. He strolled to the other side of the room, where the phone was hidden away in its little nook near the nurse
s
’ station. Sitting down in the chair, he lifted the receiver to his ear.

            
 “
Hello
,
” he said, nonchalantly, as if he did
n’
t know who was calling, or why she was calling, or what she had to tell him. He did
n’
t want to draw attention to himself, not now, not when everything was coming to a head.

            
 “
Baby
,
” Gina said through the phone, her voice breathy, excited
.“
I did it
,
” she continued
.“
I jacked the brat
.
”

            
 “
Good girl
,
” he said, praising her for her work andoffering her a treat for doing as she was told
.“
Did anybody follow you
?
”

            
 “
Nope
,
” she said, giggling
.“
I watched that stupid bitch fall on her face trying to catch us. Idiot ca
n’
t even chase after a damned car
!
”

              Jake cringed at the image of his angel being wounded. He wanted his brother to suffer, for all that he had done to him over the years, and it was just an unfortunate side effect that she would inadvertently have to suffer as well. If he had been able to get out of this hell hole, instead of relying on Gina to take care of things, then he could have taken them both, and Rick would be left alone and destitute, searching aimlessly for the family that got away. As it was, Gina was
n’
t strong enough to take both of them, not by herself, so Jake had had to make do with the only plan that would work in this situation. Take the kid, kill it if you must, but leave his brothe
r’
s family torn and broken, never to be healed.

              A sound in the background caught his attention, a sound that Jacob recognized but could
n’
t quite put his finger on
.“
Where are you
?”
he asked.

            
 “
One word, my love
,
” she said
.“
Gypsies
.
”

…

              The street in front of his house was filled with police cruisers parked at all angles, in the street, the driveway, and on the lawn. It seemed as though every cop in the city had come to help, which was usually the case with a child abduction, even more so when the child was the granddaughter of one of the most influential men in the city. Rick jumped from his car, abandoning it in the neighboring driveway, as there was no way to reach his own other than by foot, and ran toward his house. The front door stood open, the living room filled with men in uniform, setting up equipment, waiting for someone to tell them when to jump. The first twenty-four hours in a child abduction were critical. Those first hours were there best hope of finding their daughter alive.

            
 “
Alex
,
” he called, as he walked through the door.

            
 “I’
m in here Rick
,
” she called from the kitchen. He darted toward the sound of her voice, shoving an officer out of his way as he stood frozen in the hall, dazed by the whole situation. She sat at the kitchen table, a detective on each side of her taking notes, a cup of coffee clutched in her hands. Their eyes met across the room, and he could see the fear, the absolute horror in them. Going to her, he scooped her up out of her chair, holding her tightly in his arms.
Not again, why did they have to go through this again?

            
 “
M
a’
am
,
” said the officer, breaking up their embrace
.“
We have a few more questions
,
” he continued, gesturing for her to sit
.“
You know that time is critical, and the more information that we have to work with the better
.
”

            
 “
Ok
,
” she said, sitting back in her chair. Rick stood behind her, offering her moral support with the touch of his hand on her shoulder. She reached up with her free hand, clutching at his with her own, holding on for dear life.

            
 “
So you say that yo
u’
ve only known this woman for three weeks
,
” he said, reading from his note pad.

            
 “
Yes
,
” she said
.“
I hired her from a maid service to come in and help around the house a bit
.
”

            
 “
Do you remember the name of the service
,
” the officer asked.

            
 “
Um
,
” she said hesitating, searching her memory for the name on the card.
The card
. She still had the card
.“
I put the card in my rolodex
,
” she said
.“
In case things did
n’
t work out and I needed to call them back
.
” Jumping from her chair, she dashed down the hall to her small office, frantically tearing cards from her tiny filer before finding the one that Gina had put into her mailbox that afternoon to bait her into calling for her services. Gripping it tightly, she stared bewildered at it as she walked back to the kitchen.

            
 “
Her name is written on the back
,
” she said, her voice far away, as if in a daze
.“
I should have known that something was off. Should
n’
t her name have been printed on the card
?
”

            
 “
Do not start blaming yourself here
,
” said the detective, taking the card from her and handing it over to one of the officers nearby
.“
Take this
,
” he said to him
.“
Run the names, the numbers. See if you can find me anything
.
”

            
 “
Got it
,
” said the officer, taking the card from the detective and crossing to a computer that was set up in the living room. He began typing immediately, searching for something, any clue to tell them where Gina may have taken their daughter, and why.

…

            
 “
Do you want some fresh coffee
?
” Rick asked her, plucking the ice cold cup from between her hands. She had not been drinking it, only turning the cup round and round in her hands, staring into it, her mind off in other places. The detectives had asked them hundreds of questions, about Gina, about the service, about Ric
k’
s work with the bodyguards. When they had all the information squeezed from them that they felt that they were going to be able to get, the officers had turned to their computers, gathering in the living room to work, leaving Rick and Alex alone in the kitchen.

            
 “
No
,
” she said
.“
I do
n’
t want coffee. I want Mia back home, safe and sound and in her bed where she belongs
.
”

            
 “
I know
,
” he said
.“
Me too. We have to keep hope alive that they will be able to find something on Gina, something that will help lead us to her. Somebody has to know where she lives, where she would go
.
”

            
 “
You do
n’
t think
,
” said Alex, tears welling up in her eyes. She put her hand to her mouth, unable to finish the thought.

            
 “
No
,
” he said, rushing to her, putting his arms around her and pulling her to him
.“
No, no, no. Do
n’
t think like that. Sh
e’
s going to be back home to us before the night is through
.
”

            
 “
Oh Rick
,
” she howled, burying her face in his shirt, tears flowing freely now, fear having taken ahold of her emotions.

              He held her, rocking her gently in his arms. He did
n’
t know what would happen if something were to happen to Mia. Would their relationship survive if their little girl was not to ever come back to them? He could
n’
t think about it, not now. Now he needed to have hope and faith that the officers would be able to find something that they would rescue his little girl from whatever madness this was that had taken her out of her bed.

              The officer cleared his throat, and they both sat up, unaware that he had been standing in the doorway
.“
I think that we have found something
,
” he said.

            
 “
Mia
?
” said Alex, standing
.“
Have you found Mia
?
”

            
 “
Not yet
,
” he said
.“
The number that was written on the back of the card is a legitimate cell phone number listed to a Ms. Gina Swanson
.
”

            
 “
But Gin
a’
s last name is
n’
t Swanson
,
” said Alex, confused.

            
 “
It is
,
” he said
.“
The name that she gave you, as well as her employer at the cleaning service was a false identity. It could have been easy for her to have documents forged to back it up. A drive
r’
s license, a social security card, even credit cards printed in the name of her choosing. I
t’
s not as hard to become someone else in this day and age as one would hope
.
”

            
 “
How does this help you find our daughter
,
” asked Rick, taking the man back to the point.

            
 “
Gina Swanson has an interesting history all her own
,
” said the detective, looking down on a tablet that he held in his hands
.“
Several stints in juvenile hall for random acts of violence and petty theft, court mandated therapy sessions, a restraining order taken out by her own mother. Last June she was sentenced to a year in the state hospital after attempting to run her mother over with a car
.
”

            
 “
State hospital
?”
said Rick, his eyes growing wide with realization. She would have been there with his brother, Jacob.

            
 “
Jake
,
” he said, turning to his wife, who had the same look on her face. She knew, if Gina had been in the hospital with Jacob, then he was the one that was truly behind this, and that meant that their daughter was in real dange
r—
if not already dead.

            
 “
Will you take us to the hospital
?”
said Alex to the detective, the look of determination on her face intimidating.

            
 “
You should stay here
,
” said the detective
.“
We will go and question the people at the hospital
.
”