COLE

C ole had followed the van so easily that he almost couldn’t believe it.

He just had to stay back and not make any erratic lane changes.

The entire drive, his mind was racing, imagining what could be happening to Heather.

He was at least fairly certain they wouldn’t do anything to her before they reached their location.

By the way the kidnappers drove, they clearly had somewhere they needed to be.

All he had to do was follow them and get Heather back before they had time to do anything to her.

He had never been more grateful for his military training.

There were no police on the way because he’d been a fool and left his phone behind.

At the very least, he knew he had combat skills.

He knew he was fast and strong when he needed to be.

Maybe it was him against four — which was the number he came to when he counted the arms and assumed someone else was driving — but if they were four inexperienced kids, he knew he stood a chance against them.

In fact, he psyched himself up by insisting, they would be the ones in trouble when he finally found them.

They would have to contend not only with his combat training, but also with his newfound protective instinct when it came to Heather.

The van turned into the parking lot of a once-vibrant shopping center that was clearly on its way out.

Cole was surprised it hadn’t been demolished yet.

They continued into the parking garage, and Cole followed.

The garage had several levels, only a few of which were in use.

Much of it was underground, and of course, that is the direction the van drove in — down.

Cole knew better than to follow in his car.

If he guessed correctly, they were likely going to one of the unused underground levels to do whatever they planned to do.

Cole parked a level up from the lowest and quietly exited his car.

The lower levels were completely empty, and because of the way they echoed, Cole could hear much of what was going on.

He heard Heather’s voice, and a chill went down his spine at the sound of her in distress.

She was holding her own well, talking to her kidnappers like she would if she weren’t as terrified as Cole knew she would be.

She was brave and strong, and he felt proud…

as though he had anything to do with it.

He knew he didn’t, but he couldn’t help feeling that little spike of pride.

He wanted to shout encouragement to her, to tell her to hold on just a little while longer.

He wanted to somehow signal to her that he was on his way.

There was no chance he was walking away from this without her.

But the acoustics of the parking garage that made it so easy for him to hear the goings-on below him would also make it easy for the kidnappers to hear him.

No, he had to be silent. He had taken his shoes off in order to walk more quietly.

There would be no charging in like a fool to rescue her.

He had to find the right moment. The fewer people he had to fight, the better.

Even though he knew he was capable of combat, he also knew it would be safer for Heather if the fighting was kept to a minimum.

When she finally came into view, Cole had to restrain himself from running immediately to her.

He was even more furious when he heard why she had been chosen as their victim.

The stupidity of it all had him absolutely reeling.

The carelessness was unforgivable. Also, she didn’t look that much like Jessica Johnson, in his not so humble opinion. She was far more beautiful in his eyes.

He made his way from concrete pillar to concrete pillar, trying to get closer to where Heather sat taped to a chair by her ankles. He gritted his teeth and vowed to destroy them just as soon as he could. How dare they? Her wrists were taped, too. He wanted to punch somebody.

All of a sudden, they were talking about killing her, and Cole realized he wouldn’t have the benefit of waiting for the perfect moment. The two older kidnappers gave instructions to the younger ones and then just walked away. Well, that was easy.

One of the younger kidnappers finally pulled out a gun, and Cole was immediately out of time.

He had to think fast. So he took one of the shoes he had removed and hurled it as far away from Heather as he could.

When it hit in the echo chamber that was the underground parking garage, it sounded off reliably.

Both younger kidnappers turned in the direction of the shoe.

“Did you hear that?” one said.

“Yep,” the other answered. “Should we check it out?”

“Maybe one of us should stay here.”

“Hell, no. Splitting up is the worst thing you can do in these situations. Haven’t you ever seen a horror movie?”

The first speaker shrugged. “If you say so.” And they both left in the same direction Cole had thrown his shoe.

Cole knew he only had seconds to act. While their backs were turned, he darted toward Heather.

Since he was a kid, he carried a little pocket knife around with him.

For the most part, it was just sentimental.

He would never have guessed it would become this vital at any point in his future, but right now, he was grateful to have it on him.

As soon as Heather saw him, her eyes lit up.

She must have been feeling so scared and helpless.

He was happy to show her she wouldn’t be going through this alone.

Right now, he was just giving her hope, but his intention was to get her out of this, too.

He knelt down beside her and began cutting through the tape around her ankles.

Once, he looked up to see Heather watching.

Her expression was frantic, but she didn’t say a word.

When he finished with her ankles, Cole intended to start on her hands, but the kidnappers had finished their investigation and were on their way back. He could hear their footsteps getting closer. “There’s no time,” he whispered. “Come on.”

He pulled her along behind him, guiding her back toward his car. It was lucky she was in the line of work she was in because otherwise, he would doubt her ability to run with her hands tied. As it was, he knew she could handle it, and not carrying her meant they could go much faster.

Partway up the ramp to the next level, he heard the voices start to shout.

They’d noticed she was gone. “Faster,” he hissed back to Heather, and she picked up her pace.

They had to find some kind of balance between moving silently and moving quickly.

Aside from hiding somewhere on the lowest level of the parking garage, there was really only one direction to go in.

It wouldn’t take the kidnappers long to figure it out, but there was no reason to make it immediately obvious if they could help it.

Once in his car, he opened the passenger door from the inside so Heather could leap in after him.

He sped away before her door was completely closed.

He’d seen the specter of her kidnappers running up the ramp after them.

The car tires squealed as Cole peeled out of the parking space.

He heard the familiar pop of gunfire, and stepped on the gas.

Speeding in a garage was far from ideal, but with the bullets Cole could still hear behind them, he didn’t have much of a choice.

Luckily, the garage was empty, so he wasn’t putting any pedestrians in danger.

As soon as they were out of the garage, Cole knew they had gotten away.

It would take the kidnappers way too long to get into their van and get out of the garage.

If they’d thought they could catch Cole on wheels, they wouldn’t have shot at him the way they had.

He drove quickly until he could take several erratic, short turns, and then he slowed down.

“We need to get somewhere they won’t expect us to go,” he said to Heather when he was sure he’d lost them for good.

“Somehow, they knew where we’d be eating dinner.

They’re tracking one of us. I don’t trust either of our homes or usual places right now.

” Her poor hands were turning white from lack of blood flow.

“We’ll get that tape off you as soon as we find a place to stop. ”

She looked over at him, all the unspoken gratitude still in her eyes. “How did you know where to find me?”

“Something felt off,” he admitted. “So I went out to check on you. I saw them take you. I was able to follow them here, but I stupidly left my phone at the bar. Now that I think they’re tracking us somehow, it’s possible that was a happy accident.”

“So where are we going now?” she asked.

“Right now, I’m looking for the nearest pay phone. We need to let the police know what happened.”

She nodded. “That’s definitely a good idea.”

They found a parking lot out along a desert highway that had one lone pay phone still standing.

The fact that pay phones were still around in such a sparse location was surprising to Cole; he had expected to have to go to a more populated spot to find one.

He parked alongside it and pulled out his pocket knife to cut through the tape on Heather’s wrists.

As soon as she was free, she threw her arms around his neck and murmured into his ear. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

“Leave no man behind,” he said with a grin. “Or woman.” He squeezed her tight. “Don’t worry. I will always come find you, no matter what. Okay? I won’t let anything happen to you.”