“I know, but don’t forget. We’ve got satellite, and we’ve got people helping us.” Sure enough, seconds later his phone rang, and they were given instructions where to pull up. They had to change marinas and go down the coast a bit.
“But we don’t even know where she is,” Bullard cried out, frustrated.
“The team is casing the entire shoreline here,” Dave assured him, “looking for the boat.”
“And that won’t be enough,” Bullard said, staring at him. “We were supposed to catch them before they got here.”
“We were hoping to, but we didn’t. Now we have to find them.”
“And that’s like hunting a needle in a haystack.” His frustration started to overwhelm him. But he pulled back, knowing he needed a clear head to help save her. And save her was exactly what he planned to do. As soon as he hopped out onto the pier, a group of men walked toward him. His land legs were not quite there yet, and he was a little stiff, but, as soon as he saw Ryland, he just stared. “Dear God,” he said, “I didn’t think there was any way you would survive.”
Ryland wrapped him up in a gentle hug, elated to see his friend. Two great big bear-size men, rejoicing, since the last time they’d seen each other, free-falling from the sky. “Ditto,” Ryland said, staring at him, his hands reaching out as he studied Bullard. “It looks like you took the worst of it.”
“Yeah, it was a pretty rough ride for a while,” he said, “and I’m not sure even yet how close I am to being where I need to be, but I’m a hell of a lot better than I was. At least I know who you are.”
“So what’s this about the missing woman who saved you?”
“She was kidnapped, not even two hours ago. They took off by boat,” he said. Just then came Fallon first, with Kano there and Garret. A large part of his main team, something he never thought he’d see. Wrapping him up, the three of them, gentle and careful, shared the moment.
“Any progress?” Bullard asked them, right back to business.
“We’ve been hunting up and down the shore,” Ryland said, “Only one person so far has admitted to seeing the boat come in, and he clammed up immediately.”
“Are you pressuring him?”
“Already have,” he said, “the pressure was money.”
“It almost always is,” he said bitterly. “And what did you pry loose?”
“He didn’t see clearly, but he saw the woman put onto another boat. Her kidnapper was carrying her, as if she were injured.”
“That would be her probably,” he said, “although she wasn’t injured.”
“He wondered because she wasn’t fighting.”
“Maybe she couldn’t,” Bullard said.
“That’s what I wondered too.”
“Did he see where they went?”
“He says he didn’t. He looked away and was talking to somebody else, and then they were gone. But he was staring out of the marina, and nobody left that way. So as far as he’s concerned, she’s still here.”
Bullard stared at him in shock. “Here?” he said, as he spun around, looking at what had to be hundreds of boats.
“Yeah,” Fallon said, “right here.”
“We’re about to set up a search,” Ryland said.
“Do we need any legal authority in any of this?” Dave asked.
“I don’t think anybody gives a shit,” Kano said. “Now that we’ve got Bullard back—but you’re not free and clear yet, it seems.”
“No, I’m sure as hell not,” he said. “That woman saved my life, and I can do no less than to help her now.”
“We understand,” Dave said. “We’ve got this.” Then he went on to fill them in on some of her history and the conversation they’d had with Ice. Everybody’s faces turned grim as they realized this had happened to her in the United States, a place that most people didn’t associate with these kinds of things.
“It’s too unbelievable,” Kano said. “And yet it’s not.”
“Right.” They split up and started a boat-by-boat search. Several men weren’t allowed to get on some of the boats; others went on regardless. And they continued with a mass search, intent to search every single boat, if they had to.
Bullard knew that the authorities would quickly step in and stop them if they caused too much of a ruckus, though it was a pretty wild area of town anyway, from the looks of it. A yacht club farther down was much more high-end. The type of place he would expect the authorities to be called in on if they bulldozed their way onboard. But he would do it anyway, if that’s what it took.
As the men went from boat to boat, they asked questions, searching for the woman who’d been carried off of one boat and onto another one. Finally they heard a shout from Garret. Bullard hobbled his way down, feeling the passage of time in constant action without the rest that he had become accustomed to. And, sure enough, Garret was with another man.
“This guy saw him.”
Immediately all attention turned to the wizened old man, who sat at the side of a fishing boat.
“What did you see?”
He pointed to an empty berth. “They were in there. Then he left for a time, came back at a dead run, untied, and took off down the coast.”
“Did you hear him say where he was going?”
“No, there was an argument with a female, but he wasn’t too worried. He just hopped in, untied, and left.”
“Have you seen him before?”
“Nope, I haven’t seen him, but I do know the boat.”
At that, they spun and looked at him again. He shrugged and said, “It belongs down the road a little bit. Not the fancy yacht place, but past that to the fishing village.”
“Tell us exactly where it belongs. There’s a good chance he’s taking it home.”
“Maybe, or maybe he’s only taking it for a little way,” the guy said. “Now, if you want any other information, you’ll have to pay for it.”
Chapter 10
Leia didn’t know how long she had been kept captive down below. But the boat continued to travel for what seemed like hours. When it finally slowed and continued along the coast, she assumed they had gotten in very close to the landmass. Nothing could really go against the current unless it was at full power. Waves washed up against the boat as it gently moved. She wasn’t sure if he was trying to hide or trying to find a place to dock. Either would fit the scenario, just because this guy was such an asshole. She didn’t really want to consider that, but, at the same time, all she could think about was a poor decision she’d made.
Since her captor had actually said somebody had wanted her brought in once her name had popped up, all she could think about was the damn surgeon. Leo was just the kind of person to come after her, in case she had said anything to anyone. Making sure that she was dead was one more little thread in his world to be tied off. But it’s not like she could do anything about it. She’d hidden for five years, but her mistake was that she hadn’t told Bullard why. She had told him a partial truth and had held back important information. And now she had no one to blame but herself.