Meredith lifted a hand and waved at someone. Two more big thuggish men strode forward and grabbed Pippa. She kicked out. She struck one in the throat, and he doubled over, wheezing through a collapsed windpipe. A third man took over for him.
She caught a glimpse of Meredith’s retreating back. Over her shoulder, the woman called out in a clear voice, “Bind her again. And make that hood tighter. Then put her in the crate and screw it shut. She gets the slow-boat to China. Bye, Pippa!”
The battle for her life took all her focus, skill and strength. Still, she couldn’t escape. She couldn’t fight her way to her family. Or to Ross.
They bound her hand and foot, and made damn sure little air and no noises could break through the tape and hood this time. Then they tossed her into a big wooden crate.
The sharp noises of a screw gun trapping her inside was the worst sound she’d ever heard in her life. At least she thought so, until she heard the hydraulics of the crane coming to pick the crate off the dock and load it onto the cargo ship.
She was actually being slow-boated to China. Her only saving grace was the knowledge she wouldn’t survive the journey.
Chapter Fourteen
Ross ripped off his hat and slammed his fingers through his hair. Goddammit, what had he done? Allowed the woman he loved to be kidnapped. He’d failed her—after she came to him for protection, he’d failed her.
Not only her. He broke her family. His too. If he didn’t get her back, none of them would ever be the same.
He slammed a hand off the dash. “Drive faster, Boone!”
His brother said nothing. Tight-lipped and drawn, Boone must be feeling the effects of his error the way nobody else could. He was the one stationed in front of her door, and she’d appealed to the friend in Boone and asked him to get her food.
“From this day on, we don’t take on friends or family,” Ross grated out.
Boone said nothing. He only drove, making insane turns through the city at dangerous speeds to reach the coast.
A sick dread surged through Ross. If they hurt her…or worse… Well, he’d never considered himself the serial killer type, but he would hunt down each and every person associated with this act until their DNA was scourged from the Earth.
“We’ll get her,” Josiah said from the back seat. “We’ll get her, Ross.”
He didn’t reply—he couldn’t. His damn throat was constricted, choking off all his air.
As they reached the docks, he spotted the search dogs unit first. WEST Protection had never worked with K-9 handlers before, and he hoped to hell he didn’t need to give them direction, because he didn’t have the ability to lead right now.
Boone parked haphazardly and cut the engine. Ross hit the ground first, jogging to the group gathered to help them search every inch of the docks to find Pippa.
Approaching the team, Boone pulled out a pair of woolen gloves. With a shock, Ross realized they belonged to Pippa—Corrine had purchased them for her, and somehow Boone had the wherewithal to bring something with her scent to help the dogs find her.
He stared at the gloves, thinking of Pippa’s soft fingers. The way she worked them through the strands of her hair as she gathered the mass into a ponytail. And how her hands felt on his body.
He shut down—he had no fucking choice but to bury his emotions and switch to his professional face.
The handlers passed the gloves between them, letting the dogs sniff them and imprint the scent of her on their noses. The chopper Ross had called in flew overhead, sweeping the ground below for signs of that vehicle or Pippa.
“All the ships are docked or floating just offshore, Ross.” Boone didn’t quite meet his gaze.
“None got out before we closed things down?”
Boone’s mouth tightened, drawing brackets around each corner. “One. The Coast Guard’s been called out to bring it in.”
He gave a stiff nod. “Now we search.”
The search crew already dispersed, working the dogs through shipments sitting on the dock to be loaded, and then they searched the ships themselves. Nothing would go unsearched.
Ross jerked his jaw toward Boone. “Let’s go.”
Josiah and the rest of the team split up to do the same, all of them silent and withdrawn.
Beyond the bright lights illuminating the area, the world looked black. Bleak. Darkness swallowed everything but this circle of the universe, and he hoped to hell Pippa was still in the light.
He thrust away his heavy thoughts and took off with Boone. As they reached a massive flat of heavy metal pipe, he shined his flashlight into one. It was large enough to hide a woman.
A body.
No, goddammit. She’s alive. I won’t fucking believe otherwise.
He and Boone rushed through searching each pipe and found them all empty.
Into his ear, Noah’s voice sounded. “Found two guys hiding in a truck. They claim to be homeless and sleep here, but we’re taking them in for questioning.”
“Let me know what you find out.” Ross leaped off the flat holding the pipe and Boone landed beside him. They rushed to the next shipment and the next. When they reached the crates, some of the dogs and handlers were milling around, and the spotlight from the chopper swept the area.
He pointed to a large wooden crate. “Open it,” he commanded one of the dock workers who loaded the crates onto ships.
Immediately, two men leaped to action with crowbars and screw guns. As the final screw was removed, Ross stepped up to the crate. He and Boone helped move the heavy wood side.
Holding his breath, almost dying inside, Ross shined his light on the opening.
Bags of cotton fabric filled the entire crate from top to bottom.
“Get a dog here to search.”
A handler ran forward with her dog.
It went on and on for what felt like hours but couldn’t be more than a few minutes.
“The Coast Guard just radio’d in, Ross.” Josiah’s voice flooded into his ear. “They located the cargo ship. It left an hour before the port was closed. We don’t have long before it reaches international waters.”
He and Boone exchanged a look, the first straight-on full stare since they discovered Pippa was missing.
“I’m pinning my money on the cargo ship. Meredith and whoever she’s hired would know we’d search the port and they’d get Pippa out as quick as possible. Get me on a chopper, dammit! Now!”
His team went into a flurry of activity and talk. Ross’s mind glazed over, his terror for Pippa hitting new heights. If she was on that ship, he could only guess at the traumas she’d received. Beaten, tied up…
“Ross, the chopper’s ready!” Boone’s bellow in his ear shook him from his dark thoughts, and he jerked around to see the chopper had landed on the dock. Boone gripped his shoulder and looked into his eyes. “I’m sorry, man. So fucking sorry.”
“You’re not at fault. No one is. But we’re both getting her back. You’re coming—I need you on my six.”
Boone’s eyes lost some of the strain, and he gave a nod. They took off for the chopper, and in seconds were in the air, speeding from the dock.
Toward the cargo ship. Toward Pippa.
Christ, he prayed they were on the right track. With his head bowed, he shut out the noise of the chopper and the pilots’ talk. He stopped listening to his men on the ground and word that yet another area had been searched and Pippa wasn’t found.