Page 41 of Call Sign: King
Axel had been right to rule this strip out of his initial guess. It was a fraction the size of the airstrip his team had landed at south of the city. It probably had more lax protocols as well, or at least less authorities to enforce them.
Hopping out of the car, Ryder jogged over to see what the overweight security guard was looking at on the ground.
His heart lurched when he got close enough to recognize what he was seeing.
“I’m waiting on my manager. He doesn’t want us to touch anything…” the man said.
Ryder cut off the guard by reaching down with trembling hands to pick up the pile of clothes laying in a jumbled heap in the middle of the taxi way.
His wife owned hundreds of outfits, rarely wearing the same one in public twice, but he didn’t need to see it on her to know the designer slacks and blouse belonged to her. Lifting them to his nose, Ryder took a drag of her scent — the perfect blend of femininity and sophistication. He literally felt his heart breaking into a thousand pieces.
Falling to his knees, Ryder gave in to the darkness. He clutched her clothes to his chest, trying to hold onto the last thread of his tenuous connection to her.
Life as he’d known it ceased to exist. No matter what happened from this moment forward, he would never forgive himself. Burying his face into her clothes, his tears merged with her scent even as he felt the police officers gathered around him pulling at his arms. He shrugged them off with a growl. He wasn’t ready to hand over evidence or talk about the details of his utter incompetence. He wanted to stay on his knees, letting her scent comfort him, because standing and facing law enforcement would only make the nightmare more real.
“Ryder…. We’re going to get her back.” It was Axel’s voice calling to him through the Bluetooth earpiece he’d forgotten he was wearing.
“You don’t know that!” he shouted.
“Maybe not, but I know that you and I won’t stop looking until we take our dying breath. She needs you to be strong.”
“She needed me to never come back from Russia four years ago!”
“That’s bullshit. Your wife needs you, so pull it together, soldier. Let’s work the crime scene. What do you see?”
Unable to think straight, Ryder blindly followed his friend’s directions.
Holding the clothes away from his body, he started to go through the pile. He almost threw up at finding her bra and panties. Some fucker had made his wife board the plane naked.
Digging deeper into the pile, he found her earrings, and the white gold and diamond bracelet he’d given to her on their wedding day. He’d wanted her to have something to wear that represented their marriage even when she couldn’t be seen in public wearing a wedding band.
“The fucker stripped her before boarding the plane,” he finally choked out.
“Makes sense. Check the van. See if you can get a line on the assholes there.”
Ryder pushed to his feet, still clutching Khloe’s belongings as he walked in the direction of the white van about twenty yards away. They’d been in a big enough hurry that the assholes hadn’t even shut the back door.
“Don’t touch anything!” the security guard instructed. “My manager will be here in fifteen minutes.”
“We don’t have fifteen seconds, let alone minutes,” Ryder shot back as he stepped into the back of the van.
Several things jumped out right away; the patches of blood along the right side of the van were bright against the white metal floor.
A Toronto police car choose that moment to pull up, lights still flashing. Ryder waved the officers over as soon as they exited their car.
“We need your crime scene investigators here as soon as possible. My security team wounded the perp at the Hyatt. This has to be his blood. We need to get it tested ASAP.”
Ryder was grateful the officer was talking into his shoulder mic and not giving Ryder shit about bossing him around. Axel’s communication with Toronto police was obviously paying off.
Ryder resumed his look for clues. He didn’t know how to feel about finding the small cluster of long blonde hair on the left side of the van. He had no doubt the hair belonged to his wife because he found strands of hair everywhere at home. In their bed. The bathroom sink. Clogging the shower drain. He liked to tease Khloe that she was going to go bald one day from losing hair.
It could have been just a stray hair like those at home, but picking the strands up, he examined them to find the follicles still attached. His gut told him she’d pulled it out intentionally.
That’s my girl. So smart.
The thought did more to boost his dark mood than anything else had since he’d gotten word of the attack at the hotel. Just the tiny hope that she was thinking of ways to help him find her gave him a second wind. If she could be strong, he sure as hell needed to hold it together.
Making a snap decision, Ryder talked into the comm link. “Tell Crash and Burn to fly over. I need them to pick me up here at Buttonville. I’m going to Russia.”
