Page 48 of Be Courageous

How will he kill me?Quickly and painlessly, she hoped. Or would he torture her first to elicit the names of her sources? Of course, Katz already knew the names of the SEALs who had worked with him in Operation Lights Out, but he might wish to know ifothersknew.

No one yet. Ruby’d gotten her information by eavesdropping at her sister’s Halloween party, where James and the bald chief petty officer, Ben Harmony, had been reminiscing about their service with Team Two, not knowing Ruby lurked just around the corner, her ears pricked in hopes of hearing a juicy story.

“As long as he doesn’t name us in his book, Stasky can say whatever he wants to,”James had been saying to Ben. “What’s Stasky got to lose now that he’s retired?”

“True. And someone had better drag Katz off his mountain before he climbs any higher.”Ben’s voice roughened with disgust. “Man, I’ll never forget the way he just turned and shot that kid and his mom like it was nothing. I never dreamed he’d go into politics.”

“I hear he’s on the short list for vice president.”James’s grim tone made it clear he didn’t like that prospect.

“No way. Tell Stasky to go ahead and write his book. I’ll hand-sell it for him. We thought Katz was dangerous working for the CIA? Wait until he’s next in line to be our commander-in-chief.”

Ruby had been in journalism long enough to know Stasky’s murder was no coincidence. The coincidence was that Katz, Staskiewicz, James Monteague, Ben Harmony, and a SEAL named Saul Wade—if Ruby’d overheard the name correctly while eavesdropping on Tony’s phone call—had all worked together to eliminate Gabir al Baldawi. Only their termination of the dangerous Taliban leader hadn’t happened. Instead, some terrified kid and his mother had been shot dead by Katz for no good reason.

The SEALs must have been so reluctant to cover up the truth. Stasky, the first SEAL prodded by his conscience, had ended up dead. Which meant that Katz would stop at nothing to keep his faux pas out of the public eye.

I am so dead.

Terror gave rise to a wave of nausea. Battling the need to hang her head off the edge of the seat and vomit, she held as still as possible while drawing deep breaths. If she so much as moved, her abductor might pull over and hit her with another crippling injection. God only knew what was in that stuff and what it was doing to the fragile little life in her womb.

My baby!Oh no. I can’t let my baby die with me.

As the car veered off the highway, banking onto a tight-turning exit ramp, Ruby adjusted her position surreptitiously. Their speed slowed, giving her hope that they would pull up to a gas station where she could draw attention to herself by kicking the window. But then she remembered—Tony had topped off her tank right before arriving at Mama Anna’s on Wednesday evening. Her Rover wouldn’t need fuel for several hundred miles.

It wasn’t any wonder her assailant had stolen it. Only two years old, candy-apple red, loaded with features, and immaculate—except for the dent she’d made with Opal’s mailbox—it was worth at least fifty thousand dollars. Her kidnapper hadn’t been able to resist it.

Ruby realized she’d rolled against the seatback which meant they were headed uphill. As the car continued to climb, performing hairpin turns in the process, she consulted her inner map to determine where they were. The Pocono Mountains were about two hours northwest of Philly. Unless she’d been unconscious a lot longer than that, the Poconos was where they had to be.

And that made perfect sense. After all, her captor had a job to do, and the mountains provided him the privacy and space to do it.

I don’t want to die.The feeling overpowered her fear.

She had way too much to live for, not the least of which was a lifetime with Tony. But, more than that, her death would mean their baby would never have a chance. That wasn’t what God wanted for either of them.

I refuse to die!

All she had to do was escape before her captor killed her.

CHAPTER8

“Mama, you mind leaving us so we can talk?”

Tony’s mother, who’d been setting out leftovers for the two Navy SEALs who’d pulled up to her home half an hour earlier, firmed her lips and started out of the kitchen. With an astute glance at Tony, Corinna trailed her.

“Not you, Corinna. Actually, go get your camera and bring it down here.”

As she hurried off to fetch it, Tony gestured to the spread laid out by his mother. “Help yourselves. You must be hungry after your drive.” It was ten o’clock on Friday night. The police had scoured the city for Ruby’s stolen Range Rover to no avail. The tag-less Volvo had turned out to be stolen, itself. If its original plates had been transferred to Ruby’s SUV, that might make it easier to find her. But there was no guarantee that was the case.

Mama’s kitchen had never felt smaller with three SEALs filling the space. Monty was six-foot-three, and Ben was built like a WWF wrestler. They loaded up their plates with leftovers before taking seats at the little round table. Tony waited by the door for Corinna to bring her camera down. He’d already watched the interview with Katz, his gut churning as he beheld the man’s false charm, sensed the evil lurking beneath it.

When Corinna returned and placed the camera in his hand, he chucked her under the chin. “Get some sleep, princess.” He then listened for the sound of her footsteps on the stairs before joining his teammates at the table. He found the video, started it, then set the camera down so they could watch Katz’s interview as they ate.

Monty stopped eating with half his food still on his plate. He laid his fork down. Ben kept eating, but his eyes were glued to the screen.

The burn scar that marred the right side of the CO’s face paled to a white seam, while Ben’s ears turned a deep pink, which they only did when he got angry.

“Liar,” Monty muttered as Katz denied all knowledge of the rumor Ruby had brought up.

When the interview ended, Tony took back the camera and powered it off. “According to my sister, she and Ruby hid themselves in the hallway and overheard Katz’s assistant talk about the leak they’d take care of. Pretty sure he was referring to Staskiewicz.”

---