Page 57 of A Colby Christmas Rescue

“I’m sure your mom will take you shopping.” Jamie talked while she helped her make the drop onto the other side.

“I hope so,” Lillian said, her eyes wide with worry.

Jamie glanced left. Not that way because they would have to pass the kitchen window and the back door.

She pointed right and to the woods. Then she leaned close. “Keep as quiet as possible, but move as fast as you can.”

Lillian nodded.

Jamie took her hand and started moving away from the house that was to have been their prison...or maybe their grave.

Chapter Fourteen

Stonewall Drive, Nashville,

9:50 a.m.

Kenny struggled to control his anger until they had the doctor and his wife settled in the great room of Amar’s employer. Another rich guy, apparently, who had decided his life was more important than the doctor’s, the Case family’s or any-damned-one else’s.

But that wasn’t really the reason Kenny felt so furious. He was mad as hell because Amar had seen trouble coming and he had hesitated long enough that Jamie and the doctor’s kid had been taken by the other team—the other set of bad guys.

Kenny walked out onto the terrace where he could properly pace and mutter the swear words burning inside his throat.

Like the doctor’s home, there was a pool and all the usual trappings of überwealth. The home was older than the one on Lionheart Court, but the location was likely the draw. Kenny shook his head. What the hell was he doing here?

They had kidnapped a surgeon and brought him to this place.

He told himself he’d made the right decision. Jamie’s brother was being held hostage. It wasn’t like he could ignore the situation and he sure as hell didn’t trust Abidan Amar to straighten this out. So he’d come along. He’d dove in and done what he could to help. For Luke. For Jamie.

Now Jamie was missing too.

The French doors opened, and Amar joined him on the terrace. Kenny looked away, not trusting himself to look the guy in the eye.

“We have a problem,” Amar announced.

Kenny wheeled on him. “You think? Like who the hell took Jamie and the kid? Do you have a handle on that situation?”

“Unfortunately, I can’t say who took them. A competitor it seems who isn’t looking to save a life, but is positioning himself for a ransom demand.”

Kenny took a breath and told himself not to punch the guy. Doing so would not fix the situation and right now they needed to figure out how to help Jamie and that little girl. This was not the time to allow emotions to reign.

Of course Amar couldn’t say who had taken Jamie and the kid. He’d totally missed whatever happened this morning. He and his people should have picked up on the trouble in the air.

“Your people were already on the ground when the other guys showed up—and there was only three of them. Three! They came in right under the noses of your people and walked away with Jamie and the girl.”

If there was ever a situation that screamed of incompetence, this was it. Kenny struggled to regain his composure. Amar was not incompetent. Kenny knew this. He was just angry. Even the best plan could go awry. He also knew this firsthand. Rather than focus on pointing to how badly Amar had failed, they both needed to focus on how to rescue Jamie and the child.

“You are correct,” Amar agreed. “There is no excuse for what happened except to admit that someone on my team failed. However, I’ve just been told that we have some security footage that may help us nail down who these people were and hopefully find them.”

Kenny was over simply talking about this. They needed to act. To do that, he had to focus and to focus he had to find calm. “What is the problem you mentioned?”

“Dr. Case will not move forward with the surgery here until his daughter is found.”

Well, Kenny didn’t blame him. He’d been kidnapped. His family had been dragged from their home and his daughter had ended up God only knew where. Why would he cooperate? Only a fool would do so.

“What’s your plan?” Surely the man had a strategy for straightening out this screwed up mess.

“I’m glad you asked.” Amar’s sly smile was more of a smirk, and it seriously rubbed against Kenny’s last nerve. “We have someone waiting to see us downstairs in the game room.”

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