Jack felt his blood run cold and the air being sucked from the room. He gripped his aunt by the shoulders. “You didn’t have Kelly followed, Aunt Mabry?”
She shook her head, pain and fear as the situation dawned on her evident on her face. “No, Jack. Oh my God. No, I didn’t.”
He grabbed his cell phone and dialed Kelly’s number, but it went straight to voicemail.
Panic swept through him, but he pushed that down and tried to stay focused. She was probably busy at the clinic or out shopping and couldn’t pick up the phone. He tossed the phone to his aunt.
“Keep hitting redial.” Jack picked up his desk phone and dialed Chad.
“Chad, I need you right away. Kelly’s in danger.”
He hung up and looked to his aunt who was repeatedly hitting redial.
She shook her head at him—Kelly wasn’t answering.
While he waited for Chad, Jack called the legal aid clinic, all the while chanting in his head. She’s fine, she’s fine, she’s fine.
They told him she had left an hour ago and they hadn’t heard from her since.
Chad arrived in Jack’s office in a matter of seconds and Jack gave him an update.
Chad looked somber as he dialed the man assigned to Kelly. He spoke briefly into the phone then hung up to update Jack.
“She hasn’t hit her panic button at all, but he’s been parked on the street out front and he never saw her leave the clinic. He’s headed into the clinic right now to check it out.”
“I called there. They said she left already,” Jack said.
“Let him check it out, see if he finds anything. In the meantime, let me get one of my tech people to your house to set up a trace, in case we get a call.”
While Chad and Jack talked, Mabry stepped out the door and asked Jack’s secretary to get Andrew right away. Minutes later, as Jack paced back and forth, knowing in his gut that Kelly was in danger because of him, Andrew slipped into the office and got a quick update from Chad.
Jack was cursing himself for putting Kelly in danger because the only explanation now, if someone had her…was they were after his money. If he hadn’t married her, she wouldn’t have been a target connected to him; there would be no reason for anyone to take her.
And, if he had taken this threat more seriously, like he should have in the beginning, she would have had a bodyguard right next to her instead of down the street. Jack wouldn’t forgive himself if something happened to the woman he loved.
Chad’s phone rang, and he answered it to get a report from his man in the field. His face was grim when he hung up the phone.
“He found Kelly’s purse in the dumpster at the back of the clinic, and her car is still parked out front. Her phone and alarm are still in her purse,” Chad reported.
“Then no GPS to track her,” Jack added.
“One of the staff at the clinic said that Kelly and another volunteer named Denise took the garbage out to the dumpster on their way out this afternoon, so she left by the back door. She should have walked down the alley and around to her car out front. It looks like someone grabbed her in the back alley. She probably didn’t have time to go for her panic alarm,” Chad continued.
Jack felt as if he had been shot in the gut. He should have increased her security as soon as Chad found out about the rotating license plates instead of waiting to talk to her tonight. He had just found Kelly. He couldn’t lose her now when he finally knew what it was like to live your life with someone else, for someone else, instead of being alone. He couldn’t imagine his world without her.
Chad quietly doled out assignments. “Andrew, I want you to liquidate assets and free up as much cash as you can, in case we get a ransom demand. Mom, contact Kelly’s family and get them over to Jack’s house so we can have everyone in one place. Jack’s secretary can get you in touch with a car service to get all of them, wherever they are.
“Jack, you head home now in case there’s a ransom demand before I get there with tech support. I’m going to check in with some contacts I have at the New Haven Police Department and FBI. I’ll be a few minutes behind you.”