Chris awoke to a dark-haired emergency tech checking him for injuries. He was still lying on the concrete, and his head was pounding. A dull, aching pain also radiated from his ribs and stomach, and shot throughout his chest with every breath he took. He raised his right hand to touch his head injury, and his fingers came away coated with his own blood. The moan came from his lips before he could stop it. The EMT pushed his hand away and continued with his assessment.
“Easy there, Agent. Welcome back. You took a nasty blow to the head, and have been unconscious for about ten minutes or more.”
“I feel dizzy,” Chris muttered as he tried to sit up.
The EMT pushed him back down and gently wiped away some of the blood from the head wound, then put some gauze over the area. Next, he pulled out an instant activation cold pack from his backpack and squeezed it to break the inner bag, then shook it before handing it to him. “That’s not surprising, considering the size of the bump on your temple. Here, hold this on your head, and stay lying down. You could have a serious head injury. Do you feel nauseous?”
Chris shook his head slightly, regretting the movement as soon as he made it. “No, but I’ve got a massive headache.”
The EMT nodded. “Also not surprising. Let me know if you experience any other issues. Your heart rate and breathing seem normal. We’ll get you on a gurney in a minute and to the hospital so we can take some pictures of your injuries and see how serious they are.”
Chris tried to sit up again, and this time pushed the EMT’s hands away when he tried to stop him. “I can’t just sit here. Where is Eleni?” Panic filled him as he looked around the area.
Two other EMTs were working on Zach Montgomery, who was also lying on the ground only a few feet away. Chris looked the other direction and saw Scarface’s body still lying a few feet away from him. The Chicago Police Department had taped off the area, and he could hear a cacophony of sounds coming from the nearby street. Thankfully, the angle of the loading dock kept the onlookers away from the actual scene, but he didn’t recognize any of the law enforcement officers that were working the area. He didn’t see anyone from his office here yet either, but that didn’t surprise him, since the Chicago PD would have been the responding agency. Somebody would notify the FBI, if they hadn’t already, about his injuries. In fact, just as he was examining the faces of the police in the area to find one he recognized, one of the detectives came up and started asking him questions. He answered curtly, giving only the bare facts, so he could concentrate on getting the answers he needed from Montgomery. The man seemed satisfied and turned back to the other officers, while the EMT continued with his assessment.
“Does your chest hurt?” the dark-haired EMT asked.
Chris sucked in a breath when the tech touched his ribs. He hoped they weren’t broken, but he didn’t have time to find out. Eleni was nowhere to be seen, and dread and fear filled him in equal parts. Was she dead? Had he lost her forever?
He pulled free from the EMT, who complained, but didn’t try to stop him, and moved over to Zach’s side, pushing away one of the EMTs that was still trying to assess the other fallen man. “Montgomery, what happened to Eleni?” He noticed Zach’s bloody shoulder, but he was conscious, and Zach met his eyes when Chris called his name.
“The guy with the gun took her,” he said through gritted teeth, obviously in pain from the gunshot wound. “The one who shot me.”
“Took her where?” Chris demanded.
“I’m not sure.”
Another wave of dizziness swept over Chris and he put his hand on the building’s wall to steady himself. He was struggling, but he couldn’t stop—not while there was still a chance that Eleni was out there somewhere, still alive and breathing. Finally, when he had control of himself again, he took a deep breath and started again.
“Was she hurt?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Do you know who the guy was who abducted her?”
Zach shook his head, his eyes miserable. “I’ve never met him before, but his name is Ramos. I don’t know his first name. He’s a local gun for hire. That’s all I know about him.”
“Why is your family trying to kill Eleni?” Chris finally asked, his tone exasperated.
Zach Montgomery grimaced, his expression one of deep pain and anguish. Chris could tell that the hurt the man was feeling was due to much more than just the bullet wound in his shoulder. He was obviously conflicted. It was written all over his face. “It’s a long story.”
“Well, I don’t have time for a long story.” He leaned closer. “Give me the highlights. Is she your sister?”
Zach hesitated, but finally nodded. “So, you know?”
“We weren’t positive, but it sure looked that way.”
Zach closed his eyes for a moment. “How’d you find out?”
Chris gritted his teeth, impatient. “We found an old album with her mother’s things. It had some newspaper articles inside that described the kidnapping.” He touched Zach’s good arm to get him to open his eyes again. “I have to find her before that guy kills her, if he hasn’t already. I need your help.” He bent down on his haunches so he could be closer to Montgomery, whose voice was wavering with each exchange. The position ended up hurting him, though, and he opted to just sit on the concrete next to the fallen man.
Thoughts flowed through Chris’s mind as he tried to make sense of what he had discovered, and what he needed to do next to save Eleni. He didn’t have a lot of options, or time for guessing games. What he needed was answers. “Somebody from your family must have hired that guy to hurt Eleni.” He leaned closer. “Was it you?”
“No,” Zach said quickly. “I would never do that. I’ve been trying to protect her.”
Outrage swelled in his chest. “Protect her? I’ve seen you stalking her!”
Zach tried to sit up to argue, but the EMT pushed him back down.
“Lie still!” the EMT ordered.
“I was trying to watch out for her,” Zach declared, his voice clearly agitated. “I thought she was in danger, and I wanted to keep her safe. That’s why I’ve been following her.”
“Look,” the EMT interrupted, clearly annoyed. “We’ve got to get him to the hospital. Now. If you want to interview him some more, you’ll have to meet us at the hospital. You should be going there yourself to get your head and your chest checked out anyway.”
Chris adjusted the ice pack on his head. “Can I ride in the same ambulance? A woman’s life is in danger, and this guy is my only lead.”
The EMT that had been working on Chris suddenly appeared back on the scene pushing a gurney, and the three EMTs worked together to get Zach Montgomery on it while Chris stepped back to let them work. Finally, the one in charge of the scene nodded. “I guess you can ride along, but we’re leaving now. We need a surgeon to examine this shoulder wound and there’s one already waiting at the hospital.”
“Deal,” Chris replied. He followed the group to the nearest ambulance, where they secured Montgomery in the back.
The dark-haired EMT helped Chris get up in the ambulance, and once he was seated, he removed the gauze from Chris’s head, cleaned the wound again and then closed the damaged skin with butterfly bandages. “I get the impression you’re going to refuse treatment at the hospital, so this will be a temporary fix. You could probably use some stitches, but the wound is in the hairline, so if you forgo the stiches, I doubt it will be noticeable once it heals.”
“Thanks,” Chris said as the other EMT in the driver’s seat announced they were headed to the hospital and started the engine of the rig. A few minutes later, they were racing toward the emergency room. Chris called his office, and asked Caitlin to meet him there with a car. He hoped that whatever he learned from Zach, it would be enough to find Eleni and save her before the brute who’d taken her decided to end her life.
“I heard what you said,” the Bears fan repeated. “But you’re not listening to me. The price just doubled. If you want the woman, you’re going to have to pay me what’s right. I’m the one who has her locked safely away. If I don’t get my money, and I mean all of it, then you don’t get the woman.”
Eleni listened carefully at the door, able to make out her abductor’s side of the conversation quite clearly. The walls of this shack were thin and the building was small. But even though her kidnapper’s conversation had been going on for a few minutes, she still hadn’t been able to identify the name of the person he was talking to, so she pressed her ear closer to the door, hoping somehow the name would be mentioned.
Was Zach Montgomery the one who set all of this in motion? She wasn’t sure what to think, and her mind went back and forth as she thought through everything that had happened recently. He’d been present at the scene for most of the horrible events in her life over the last few days, and seemed to be pursuing her. Yet on the loading dock, he had jumped in front of the bullet that was meant for her. That action had probably saved her life. Had he survived after being shot? He’d fallen to the ground, but she had been pulled away so quickly she hadn’t even had a chance to check on him. She hoped he was still alive.
Why would he do such a thing and take such a risk if he wanted her dead? And why would he want her dead in the first place? She had so many questions, and the pieces just weren’t fitting together in her brain. She tried to focus on thinking through her past and searching for answers, but her mind kept floating back to Katie. She was so worried about her little girl. Who would help her with her homework? Who would cheer for her when she graduated from high school and college? Who would take her shopping for her wedding dress?
“Well, you’ll just have to think about it, then. I’ll give you twenty-four hours. If you don’t pay up before this time tomorrow, I’m telling her everything I know, and then dropping her off in front of a computer somewhere so she can write her next exposé. Your whole company will go down in flames, and you’ll go to prison because you’re too cheap to pay me what’s right. But of course, that’s entirely up to you.”
His words gave her a small bit of solace. If the Bears fan was telling the truth, at least she had twenty-four hours or so left to live. But a lot could happen in a day.
Her thoughts strayed to Chris. The idea of never seeing him again squeezed her heart. She saw his smile in her mind’s eye, and his gentle mannerisms and quiet strength. He was one of a kind. She would always miss Charlie, but even though she had vowed never to date again, with Chris, the idea actually seemed possible. Despite their vow to stay friends and friends alone, she couldn’t fight the attraction that had continued to build between them, and the excitement she felt whenever she was around him.
She was in love with him, and had never gotten the chance to tell him what she felt. She didn’t even know if he felt the same. After all, they had both said that friendship was all that they wanted, and Chris was dealing with a lot of pain and angst from his job. He’d made it clear he wasn’t looking for a girlfriend or any sort of relationship.
Still, she couldn’t deny how she felt. It had taken her a while to recognize and admit those feelings, and now that she had, the burning in her heart intensified. Somehow, she had to survive this ordeal, and make it back to the people she loved, even if friendship was all that ever existed between her and Chris.