Page 71 of Savage Obsession

“I… I am not sure. Maybe lunchtime,” she stammers. “Is there a problem?”

“Yes, there’s a fucking problem. She’s been snatched. Lily, too.”

“Snatched? I do not understand…” Her palm is plastered to her chest in the age-old gesture of shock. “How…? Who…?”

“Fucking abducted,” I clarify. “I don’t know how or who. But I do know why.”

“Señor…?”

I ignore her and reach for my phone again. This time I speed dial José.

He answers after fuck knows how many rings. Has the man no sense of urgency?

“What?” he barks. “Who is this?”

“The man who pays your wages,” I snarl. “When did you last see Lily?”

There’s the sound of lip-smacking, sighing, and general ‘couldn’t give a shit-ness’. “Well, now, I can’t be sure. I’ve better things to be doing than keeping tracks on that girl…”

I respect José more than I respect more or less anyone, but right now I could cheerfully throttle him. “Just think, man. Was she there after lunch?”

More lip-smacking and teeth-sucking. “Probably. I’m not sure.” There’s a brief pause, during which I seriously contemplate going down there myself and wringing his wiry little neck to see if that wakes him up at all. Then, “Ah, yes, yes, she was. She brought her lunch with her. Sandwiches and a bit of cake…”

“When did she leave? Did she say anything? Like, where she was going?”

I can almost hear him scratching his head. The urge to batter him senseless intensifies.

“Well, now I come to think of it, she brought Mattie back at about two, maybe half past. Got her settled, then she left with her mother. Going shopping, they were. Sì, that’s it. Shopping.”

I don’t even thank him for his trouble. Instead, I end that call and hit the speed dial again, this time for Aleksy in the garage.

“I need cars. Fast cars, now. Oh, and send out an alert for all men currently on the premises to meet me out front in… two minutes.”

“Right, boss. On it.” He has the sense not to press for details right now, just gets on with his job.

Two minutes later, I’m out on the hacienda forecourt explaining what has happened to the couple of dozen soldiers who heeded the call, as far as I know it.

“My wife has been abducted. Lily, too. Not from these premises, we think they were in town. Unescorted.”

“Boss, I—” Aleksy begins.

“I know, I know. She obviously took it into her head to go off site without protection. I’ll be dealing with that in due course. The priority now is to get the pair of them back. We’ll be rendezvousing with Mr Kaminski at the warehouse at San Miguel de Abona.”

At my signal, they all pile into the vehicles assembled in readiness, dark-coloured SUVs for the most part, all fitted with bullet-proof glass and reinforced steel bodywork. Moments later, the convoy peels out, heading for the island’s south coast.

San Miguel de Abona is a smart port, quite small, catering for yachts rather than cruise ships, but there’s a fair amount of trade shipping in and out of there, too. We find it a good base for our import and export activities, and we have an extensive storage facility there with accommodation for detaining and interrogating prisoners should the need arise. I have a similar facility at the hacienda but prefer to keep wet work away from my own doorstep. The warehouse is the usual location for larger meetings, especially when a degree of privacy is called for.

Kris is already on the premises when I arrive with my entourage, and more men are pouring in from all over the island. I’m sick with worry about my family, as well as more than a little pissed off with Julia. How could she be so fucking stupid? I told her what the dangers were, offered her a driver, a car. She could go anywhere she pleased, why would she wander off alone?

But I’m heartened by the show of support from Kris. He’s pulling out all the stops and he really doesn’t have to. Julia has made no secret of her dislike of him and all he stands for.

He meets me at the door to the warehouse. “You took your time.”

“Got here as fast as I could. I needed to find out what I could, what time they left the hacienda.”

“And?”

“Around two-thirty according to the head groom. That’s when Lily took her horse back to the stables. They went shopping…”

---