Page 32 of Justified Fear
“He said he found me wandering around in an office area.You know that a lot of malls have their offices in the bowels of the mall, wherever they can fit them, right?It was also restricted, he said.”
“You don’t remember him finding you?”Kap asked.
She shook her head.“As I said, lots of fuzziness.It’s why the cops were convinced I was making it up or was on drugs or whatever.”
“And you were found pretty fast, right?”
She nodded.“Please, tell me what this is about.”
Just then, she felt Maya brush up against her chair, so Keely reached down to slip her hand through her fur.
“These kidnappings were happening all over the south for eighteen months.All of the kids came from families with money, and all of them were taken from malls.”
“Those that you know about.”
Again, the men shared a look.
“Look, I don’t want to tell you how to do your job, but when something like this happens, wealthy people don’t always call the police.They hire their own people.They do their own negotiations.So there might be more.”
“You know this for a fact?”Kap asked carefully.
“Well, not personally, but they had it on Task Force Honolulu last week, and that’s what they said.I know that it’s just a show, but it has to be based in reality a little bit, right?”
“They do a lot of research, but they do have to worry about being entertaining,” Kap said.
“Oh,” she said, her voice deflating a little.“That makes sense.”
“Jakob Wulf did come here to follow us around for a week.Well, not us.Alpha,” Kap said.
She looked at Ryan.“You met Jakob Wulf?”
He nodded, trying to ignore the twist in his gut.Why was he irritated with the way she said Jakob Wulf’s name?It was all breathless, and he did not like it one bit.
“So, let’s talk more about Saturday night.I know you’ve been over this several times.”
“Yes, I have, but I will go over it as many times as you need.”
“Okay, so, start at the beginning of the day.”
He had plannedeverything so perfectly, but one thing had gone wrong.Once again, he had underestimated Keely.He rolled his shoulders and leaned on the doorbell.He glanced down the street, happy to note no one was out.When he’d picked the house, he made sure to snap up all the other houses on the cul-de-sac.
When no one came to the door, he started to pound.Finally, the door swung open, revealing Henry Chang.
“You said she would be there.”
He said nothing because they had had this conversation the night of the attack.He looked at the first asshole he’d hired.Rage slipped through his blood, but he kept it controlled.
“She was.You were late showing up.Then, you couldn’t find her.How hard is it to find one little woman?How about you let me in, so the neighbors don’t hear us?”
Chang grunted, then walked away from the door.The man had no manners.He stepped inside the house and closed the door behind him as quietly as possible.To resolve this situation, he needed to deal with Chang first.Then he would address the other two idiots.
Henry flopped down on the large white sectional as if he were entertaining a friend.One thing Chang should learn is that they would never be friends.The place was a fucking mess with cocaine scattered across the glass coffee table.He would have never hired Chang if he had known the man was a coke fiend.He had seen how the drug had torn apart some of his organization back in the day.Granted, it was one of the things he used as leverage to take over the cartel.It was also one of the reasons he would never touch any kind of substance like that—even alcohol.
The fact that this idiot fucked up his plan…it took all of his control not to beat the living hell out of him.
“Are Tony and Freddy around?”
“Yeah.They’re upstairs.”His eyes narrowed.“You look like shit.”
