Page 41 of Hacker Salvation

Gabriel called Neal and had him meet us at the hotel. The drive was quick. I couldn’t stop thinking about what could be happening to her or why it had happened in the first place.

* * *

“Why can’tanyone get me a conversation with the governor?” I glanced up at the wall clock. Annabella was taken an hour ago. Time seemed to be going at the speed of light.

Neal shifted in his chair. “Nate has ties to the governor. Maybe try him.”

I couldn’t help but grind my teeth. I was still pissed at what he’d put her through. But I needed to find out where they’d taken her.

Nate answered the phone on the first ring. “Annabella?”

“No, this is John. Someone took Annabella, and we need your help.”

“Anything.”

I ran my hand through my hair. “What can you tell me about the 23andMe test you and she took?”

“Not much. Our results came in. I had one of the secretaries print them, and I took them home. I hadn’t looked at them yet. We’d planned to do it together, and then everything happened.”

“Do you have access to the test right now?”

I heard him typing on the keyboard. “This can’t be right.”

“That she’s the governor’s daughter?” I paced back and forth inside the hotel room. It felt like the walls were closing in around me. What if I was too late? “If I had gone to the restroom with her, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Gabriel rested his hand on my shoulder. “Stop that train of thought, man. We will get her back.”

“Nate, do you have an address or number for the governor?”

“Hold on a second.” Nate placed the phone on hold. It felt like an eternity before he clicked back over. “The governor agreed to meet you at his house.” Nate rattled off the address to the governor’s house.

“This is dangerous. They kidnapped Annabella. I’m not waiting for the governor to show up. I’m going into the house no matter if he’s there or not.”

“Get her back. Please make sure she’s okay.,” Nate said. “I will meet you there.” The line went dead.

“Hang on, Beautiful. I’m coming for ya,” I whispered as I ran through the parking lot to our rented SUV.

* * *

Annabella

The sound of two people screaming started to clear the fog in my head. I tried to move my hands, but they were still tied down to a chair. I wasn’t dead yet. The screaming became louder as I opened my one good eye. The other one was completely swollen shut. The room came into focus, and I noticed a new man in the room. The governor had shown up. Would he kill his own flesh and blood?

I was still in shock at finding out my mother had slept with the governor. How could she have kept my father’s identity from me? It wasn’t that I cared about him being the governor. I’d thought my father was dead all of these years. I had used the test to see if I could find his family and find out information about who he was.

“How could you do this, Isabella?”

“She will ruin everything. You had a daughter with that tramp back in school. I did this for us. You were never supposed to know.”

The governor pounded his fist against the desk. “No. You did this for you. I’m not the one pushing to be in the White House. You are. This girl might be my daughter. How could you do this?”

“Water,” I choked out. I had caked blood on my mouth, and the inside felt like sandpaper.

The man who was supposed to be my dad turned and walked toward me. He leaned down to untie my hands, when the crazy lady grabbed a pair of scissors from the desk and charged at him. I screamed, but my voice came out more like a whisper. He turned a second to late, and she stabbed him in the arm. My hands were still tied to the chair. I was helpless. I couldn’t do anything to help him as blood ran down his arm.

“You’ve lost your mind, Isabella. What do you think is going to happen next?” He gripped his arm, trying to stop the bleeding.

The crazy lady started to pace back and forth. She kept mumbling to herself and running her hand through her hair. “I can make it look like she attacked you. When she found out you were her father and wouldn’t pay, she came after you.”

---