Page 117 of It's Always Been You

“Ed,” Travis bit off. “Sam. Is Caitlin okay?”

Silence.Fuck!

“Caitlin’s gone. She knocked Sam out.”

Relief swept over Travis. Okay, she had a snit and took off. But, shit, she was vicious.

“Reece and I were on our way to your house when we saw a black sedan pull away.”

Wait. What?The anxiety returned with a vengeance.

“Reece followed them; I stayed behind.”

“Do we know where he is?”

“Still on the move, but you can track Reece. He’s driving a BSI vehicle.”

Except he didn’t have his phone. “I got nabbed at BSI by Porter’s men.” Travis ignored Ed’s barrage of curses and continued, “I don’t know what the hell’s going on, but I’ve a feeling they used me to blackmail Caitlin. That’s the only reason why she would have left with them.”

“Makes sense.”

“I’m going to figure out where I am. Then we’ll figure outa way to follow Reece. Call him and let him know what we’ve got so far.”

“Copy that.”

Travis ended the call and exhaled deeply to focus. It was a damned struggle, but losing it right now wasn’t going to help get his girl back. And he was getting her back.

They’d hadher for two hours. She was ensconced in a room with Porter, another man she knew as Belov, and Pavlo Milekhin. Porter’s man was dressed in all-black: cargos, a tee and boots, looking every bit a commando. He also seemed to be a computer expert. They were sitting around a rickety rectangular table where several laptops were hooked up together.

Caitlin had been hooded the instant she got into the car with her captors, so she didn’t have any clue where they were. Not that she was familiar with the Northern Virginia or DC area. All she knew was it took more than half-an-hour to get to their destination as she checked the time on the laptop in front of her.

The house seemed very old. Most of the furniture was covered with blankets; the smell of mildew permeating the air. Dust and cobwebs decked the corners and the windows were covered with blackout paper. It was surprising there was electricity since the house was obviously not in use.

Pavlo Milekhin was anxiously pacing the room. Either he was nervous about the money, or he simply couldn’t wait to get his hands on her.

Caitlin was torn whether to hurry up the decryption process or to delay it. If she hurried, the sooner they’d let Travis go, assuming Porter was sticking to his promise. If she slowed down, well, she was really only delaying her demise. Arebellious streak in her wanted to annoy her eventual tormentor.

“Stop fucking around, Kincaid.” Belov looked up briefly from his screens.

Damn, the man knew she was stalling.

“Give me a knife,” Milekhin sneered. “And I’ll force her to work faster.”

“Stand down, Milekhin,” Porter said. “You’re not helping matters by scaring her.”

“Too late,” Caitlin retorted. “You’re turning me over to him like a sacrificial lamb. Of course, I’m freaked out. You want me to work faster, send him to another room.” Her fingers stopped typing on the keyboard. “I can’t concentrate having him just a couple of steps away from me, knowing he’s just waiting to kill me. Haven’t you guys gone through basic psychology classes?”

Porter had the gall to chuckle. Wait. Caitlin had never heard him chuckle.

“My dear Ms. Kincaid, I believe I’m doing Travis a favor and saving him from that mouth of yours. You’d spit at the devil if you could,” Porter said.

“How do I know you’ll let Travis go?”

“You don’t.”

How could she be so stupid? “You’re killing him anyway, so, why should I help you?”

The older man’s eyes flashed angrily. “Because you don’t want to see him tortured.”

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