Page 78 of Secrets Along the Shore

The door swung open.

The man jerked and stumbled. A long object stuck in his neck. He grabbed for the door to catch himself, but landed flat on his back. The thud of his landing echoed through the room since there wasn’t time to ease his descent.

“You shot him in the throat!” Paul chuckled.

“Shh.” Tyler stepped over the man, probably Viktor’s chef, based on his apron. The chef hadn’t brought anything from the cellar, so maybe he’d brought food or something down to Elara and her son. He signaled for Adam to follow and for Paul to stay. One of them needed to stay up here and watch the door. The last thing they needed was to get trapped downstairs.

At the end of a short hall, stairs spiraled down to the cellar. Tyler kept his rifle ready as he took cautious steps into the cold room. Long shelves with liquor bottles lined the far wall. Not surprising, but it wasn’t what Tyler hoped to find. He checked around the wall, shiftingaway from the steps. A few barrels sat against the wall. But no sign of Elara and her son.

“They’re not here,” Adam radioed in.

Tyler worked his jaw. This spot had been the most likely to hide the mother and son. But they weren’t here. So they better be upstairs like Amir said. He headed back up the stairs.

Paul waited silently for them. “Not there?”

“No.” Tyler headed for the door.

“Tyler, there is more activity out front,” Adele warned.

“Copy.” He exited the kitchen and continued down the hall. There was no time to waste. The moment someone found the guys out back, they’d be in trouble. He passed a couple of doors and headed for the stairs.

“Wait. What about the other rooms?” Paul asked.

“They won’t be kept down here.” Viktor would keep them somewhere that no one would accidentally walk into. Like the cellar, only they weren’t there. Tyler grabbed the staircase banister and started up. The soft thuds behind him said his team followed.

At the top, a long hallway stretched out left and right. One led toward the back of the house. Tyler headed that way. Having Elara and Rian at the front of the house might draw someone’s attention if they beat against the upstairs windows. He passed by a door. His weight on the floor sent a loud creak through the space.

No. Not him. He had heard it most clearly in his left ear. The sound hadn’t come from under him. He spun around and aimed his M4, just as a door swung open.

A man stepped out. “He—” He stopped abruptly. After a second, he stiffened and fell forward.

Tyler grabbed the back of the man’s shirt before his head could collide with the wall. With a grunt, he pulled the Croatian back and eased him to the floor. He gave Adam a nod. That could have been unfortunate. Tyler resumed his way down the hall. After signaling for Adam to check the room on the right, he flicked open the door on the left. No light entered the room. There should have been a window there, but it must have been covered by something thicker than curtains. Treading carefully, Tyler moved into the room. His footbumped into something. It rolled away and the sound of it made him pause. A toy. This had to be their room. Or at least, Rian’s.

He stepped deeper into the room. In the dim lighting, he made out a bed against the wall under a covered window. Pillows had been randomly placed on the thin mattress. The stained, wrinkled sheets showed that someone was there. Once. Not now.

They were gone.

CHAPTER

SEVEN

June 8

7:05 a.m., Undisclosed Location

Elara’s heartbeat harder in her chest. Tears trailed down her cheeks as she tucked Rian closer to her. The thin blanket they laid on did nothing to soften the cold concrete floor. Their comfort didn’t matter to Viktor. He’d taken them out of a decent room with a bed and a clean bathroom and thrown them into a jail cell.

This was a cell. Minus the bars. But the walls were inescapable. She’d already broken nails and bruised her arms and legs trying to find a way out. The thick walls couldn’t be broken through. The door remained locked, and there were no windows, leaving them again in darkness. Even if there was a way to break past the walls, Viktor’s men had dragged them up to the second floor.

Elara sniffed, fighting the tears. Crying wouldn’t help Rian be brave. But they were trapped with no way out. At about noon yesterday, Viktor’s men tied them up and placed them in his vehicle. He wouldn’t tell Elara where they were heading. The eight-hour drive took them out of Dubrovnik and brought them into a more rugged area. With the blindfolds that the mobsters placed over their eyes, Elara couldn’t tell where they’d gone. If she could get to a phone, she’d have no idea what directions to give Dad. They could be anywhere.

“Momma, they didn’t forget about us, did they?” Rian trembled beside her.

She kissed his head. What was she supposed to tell him? She had no idea if her dad’s people could find them. Viktor had been so careful to ensure no one knew he’d left with her and Rian. He’d even had his men put them in black bags until they were settled in the car. She’d almost suffocated.

Viktor did terrible things under the noses of the authorities. If he could get away with murder, then he could get away with killing his child’s mother and hiding his son.

God, please, don’t let that happen.