She jerked her head up and down, swallowing deeply. “I… I didn’t call the police yet. I knew she had talked of meeting Jonathan of Lighthouse Security. I’d heard of you… um… from security at a friend’s place. Oh God, did I do the wrong thing?”
“Ms. Mansfield—”
“Angela. I hate… oh, just please call me Angela.”
“Okay, Angela. Here’s what we need. The location you last saw Marcia. And as succinctly as possible, tell me the facts. I’ve got a team that I’ll send to you as soon as we know what we’re dealing with. I have a contact with the FBI. As soon as you give us the information, I’ll get ahold of him.”
“I left Marcia in my house two days ago. Her street’s water main broke, and I needed to go to Los Angeles to talk to my attorney. I haven’t talked to her since the day before yesterday.”
Carson looked at Dolby, who nodded in agreement. “Same here,” he confirmed, trying to focus on Angela’s discourse and not the pounding of his heart while praying she was wrong, and Marcia had just left early.
“When I got home, she wasn’t here, but her purse and laptop were still in the den. I went to the guest room, and that’s when I discovered her bed unmade, her toiletries still in the bathroom, her clothes still in an opened suitcase, and a small table overturned near the bathroom door.” She squinted her eyes closed, her face contorting in a grimace again. Sucking in a deep breath, she opened her eyes and her features hardened. “I ran to our security system where the house is controlled and has video monitoring. I searched but found nothing.” She grimaced again. “That doesn’t surprise me. It seems my husband has a habit of messing with the system when it’s convenient.”
Dolby’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the others in the room. Jeb was continually typing on his keyboard and on a separate screen. He had managed to get into the system located at her address.
“But I have a separate system in place,” she continued, drawing everyone’s attention back to her. “I’m beginning divorce proceedings and have to be very careful as I gather evidence on my husband. I installed my own system in each room in our house so that if he overrides our main security system to keep me from seeing what he might be doing, I can still observe. I looked at the video, and that’s where I saw her. She was attacked in the room and taken!” A wail of anguish burst forth as tears rolled down her cheeks.
Dolby rushed forward, barely hearing the bootsteps behind him. A hand clamped on his shoulder, and he whirled around to see Hop.
“Man, hang on. Let’s get the intel so we don’t waste time,” Hop cautioned.
He heard the words and believed the concept, but with his heart racing and the breath halting in his lungs, he growled, “Let go of me.”
“Dolby,” Carson called out.
His training kicked in, and he looked over at his boss.
“Wait. Then you’ll go in.”
Understanding Carson’s assurance that Dolby would be front line on the mission to find Marcia, he offered a curt nod, then looked back toward the screen.
“Angela, can you send us your security video?” Carson asked.
“Yes.” She nodded. “It’s on my computer.” Her hands were shaking, but she managed to tap the keyboard, and after only a moment, she looked up. “I sent it.”
“Got it,” Jeb said. “Putting it up now.”
Dolby and the other Keepers watched as two men entered through a door off the kitchen and made their way straight to the stairs. Dark clothes. Dark knit caps pulled low. Her system was room by room, but Jeb quickly keyed through the program so they could follow them in as they climbed the stairs and, without stopping, went directly to a door.
His heart now in his throat, he watched the video from the inside of the room where one man grabbed Marcia as soon as she stepped out of the bathroom. She began thrashing, but his hold was too strong.
The words “got her” only made Marcia struggle more, but it was easy to see the much larger man had a tight hold on her.
The kidnapper’s order to settle down was followed by him shaking her, and Dolby’s hands fisted at his side, knowing that man would pay dearly for his actions. Barely breathing as one man gave the order to hold her still, the other one jabbed her neck with a hypodermic, and she immediately slumped. “Goddammit!” he cursed, rage flooding his veins.
One of the men hefted her over his shoulder, and they retreated through the house the way they came, not taking anything other than Marcia. “Christ, who could’ve wanted her kidnapped?”
“What does she do?” Natalie asked, turning to look at Dolby.
“She’s an author. She writes mysteries and romance under the names M.B. Burns and Marcia Black.”
“Holy shit. I’ve read her work,” Natalie said, brows lifted.
“Yeah, you and just about everyone else. She’s also somewhat of a recluse, not going out very often. But this doesn’t make sense!” Dolby argued. “I can’t imagine her being held for ransom!”
“That’s what I thought,” Angela said, tears still streaming, “but keep listening.”
In unison, the Keepers turned their heads back to the screen, where the two men carrying Marcia were just passing through the kitchen.
“Make sure you report that we got his wife. The angel package is on its way.”
Dolby’s chin jerked back again in shock and confusion. “Wife? Angel? What the fuck?”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” Angela cried. “I think they were after me. I think my husband was having me kidnapped. The angel is a reference to my name.”
The Keepers immediately jumped into action. Abbie, Rick’s wife and their geospatial specialist, called out, “I’m pulling up the maps of Angela’s house and surrounding area.”
Natalie nodded. “I’ll work with you. We can get our hands on info as to which direction they went.”
“Why the fuck didn’t the regular security system pick this up?” Rick asked.
Poole, like Rick, was a former SEAL and lifted a brow as he replied, “If her husband orchestrated this, he could have had someone fuck with their security system.”
“He doesn’t know about the extra cameras I put in the house,” Angela interjected, her expression still holding terror.