Kayla stopped outside the cold, sterile air of the morgue, unsure where she was going to find the courage to step through the door. It wasn’t the first time she’d been here. The last time she’d worked with the police, she’d been called in to identify one of the victims. Seeing the familiar face of one of the girls they’d worked with lying on the slab had ended up haunting her dreams for months.
Just like Lilly.
Hands clenched beside her, she continued the prayer she’d started before leaving Mercy’s apartment, begging God to put an end to this by somehow saving both Mercy and her father. But the fact remained that someone wasn’t going home tonight. Instead they were lying there on the other side of the door. A Jane Doe. Kayla had always known her job held risks. They were dealing with men who had no moral compass. But ending this way...this was what she was desperate to stop.
She turned to the attendant who had brought them down here. “Where did you find her?”
“Someone saw her floating in one of the canals and tried to save her, but she was already dead. There was no ID on her, and so far we haven’t been able to match her to any missing-person report.”
And so they’d called her, hoping she might be able to ID the woman.
Levi squeezed her hand, making her thankful she hadn’t had to come alone. “Are you ready to go inside?”
“I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready for this, but yes.” She nodded at the attendant, then walked into the room behind him.
Kayla hesitated while he pulled back the sheet covering the woman’s body. She shut her eyes for a moment before taking a step, then gazed at the body. Her breath caught. There was nothing familiar about the dark-skinned girl who couldn’t be more than sixteen or seventeen. Her hair was pulled back and her eyes were closed as if she were sleeping.
Kayla pressed the back of her hand against her mouth and shook her head. “It’s not Mercy.”
“Are you sure?” the attendant asked before covering her up again.
“I’m sure. I’ve never seen this girl before.”
Tears flooded her eyes. She hated the relief, but any relief she felt was combined with a deep hurt. This girl had to have a family. Someone who cared about her. Someone who would notice when she didn’t come home. That alone was heartbreaking.
But it wasn’t Mercy or one of the other girls she’d worked with. Which meant they still had a chance of finding Mercy alive.
“I need to go,” she said, taking a step backward. “Thank you for calling me.”
She pushed open the heavy door and stepped out into the dark hallway. The smell of death hovered along the green walls of the building, threatening to suffocate her.
Levi grasped her elbow. “Let’s get you out of here.”
A moment later Levi had led her out of the building, his hand still protective on her arm as they stepped out into the darkness.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Don’t be, but you’re shaking.”
She hesitated before responding. “I’ve been here before. It’s a chilling reminder that we can’t save them all. She had my card, Levi, and yet I don’t even recognize her.”
“This wasn’t your fault.”
“I know.”
But if the girl had called her, they might have been able to save her. Instead, they’d lost her. And if they didn’t figure out where Mercy was, they were going to lose her—and Max—as well.
“You said you’ve been here before?”
She nodded. “I told you about the girl who was murdered three months ago. They called me to the morgue to identify her body. I still remember every detail of that night. The sound of my boots hitting the cement floor. The flicker of the fluorescent light sputtering above me. The smell of bleach. I remember standing over the body when they pulled down the sheet so I could look at her face. The shot of horror when I recognized her. I couldn’t believe it was Kim. She’d been doing so well.”
The outside temperatures had dropped, leaving a damp chill running through Kayla’s body. She tried to push away the haunting memories. Memories that kept her up at night. Memories that only made her determined to fight harder to save these girls.
Her phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID. Evi. She’d almost forgotten she’d promised to let her coworker know what they discovered at the morgue.
“Was it her?” Evi asked before Kayla could even say hello.
“No. I didn’t recognize her.”
“I’m so sorry you had to do that.”
“Me, too. Have you found out anything from the girls?”
“Not yet. Whatever Mercy was planning, she kept it to herself.” There was a long pause on the line. “And I’ve done what I can to reassure the girls that they’re safe, but they’re scared.”
“I know. Listen, Levi and I are on our way to the office right now and should be there in about twenty minutes. I plan to talk to the girls as well. We need to figure out where Mercy would go if she was in trouble.”
“Okay, just promise you’ll be careful.”
Kayla hung up the phone. She blew out a deep breath as they started walking again. “I know we need to head to the center, but can we walk partway? There are still a lot of people out, so it should be safe. I just need to clear my head for a few minutes.”
“Sure,” he said, glancing at his watch.
Restaurants were serving the dinner crowd. People sat outside drinking coffee and eating despite the chilly temperatures. To their left, the canal was lit up with streetlamps and shops next to an old row of canal houses.
“Some people call this the Venice of the north.” The air was clearing her head, and for the moment, talking was the only way she knew how to cope with the situation. “I went on a tour of the city when I first arrived. Amsterdam’s actually built on millions of wooden poles and has over a hundred kilometers of canals.”
“I can’t say that I knew that.”
“There are also hundreds of bridges.”
“What about bicycles?” he asked, skirting out of the way of one. “There’s got to be thousands of those.”
She let out a low laugh. “I’ve heard that there are actually more bicycles than people living in the city.”
“Maybe when all of this is over you can show me a few of your favorite places.”
“I’d like that.”
When this was over.
Is it ever going to be over, God?
It was as if it were happening all over again. With Lilly... With Kim...
“Kayla?”
She felt his hand against her arm and looked up.
“Are you okay?”
She started to say yes, then shook her head. “Honestly? No. I’m not okay. I realized when I took this job that there were aspects of it that were potentially dangerous. But that isn’t what scares me the most. I stepped into my position with my eyes wide-open. It was my choice. But these girls... The girls we help didn’t choose this life. Mercy didn’t choose this life.”
She turned to face him, tears pooling in her eyes. She needed to stay strong. Needed to keep her head clear, but all she could see was her father and Mercy lying on that slab in the morgue if they didn’t stop these men. And they couldn’t let that happen.
“Hey.” He tilted up her chin with his hand until she was looking at him underneath a streetlight. “We’re going to figure this out. I promise.”
“And if we don’t?”
He shook his head. “We have to. There’s too much at stake.”
He pulled her against his chest and wrapped his arms around her, a hedge of safety surrounding her. She drew in a deep breath, forcing herself to both focus and relax. Because he was right. The stakes were too high for them not to figure this out.
She took a step backward and glanced up at Levi, surprised at how thankful she was that he was here. And how safe he made her feel. She might have tried to push him away when he’d attempted to save her all those years ago, but deep down he’d always been that handsome hero she’d looked up to. Always a tower of strength, and over the years, that part of him hadn’t changed. He’d always been the responsible oldest son, the rescuing big brother, there to pick up the pieces.
But the last thing she needed right now was a distraction, and certainly not with her ex-fiancé’s brother. The countdown wasn’t stopping just because they hadn’t found Mercy.
“You’re still shaking.”
“I’m freezing.”
“We just passed a shop selling hot chocolate.”
She nodded. It was more than just the weather, but she could use something to take off the chill. A minute later, she took the hot chocolate he handed her then took a sip, burning the tip of her tongue in the process.
“What are you thinking?” he asked, drinking the coffee he’d bought for himself as they headed toward the tram.
“I’m worried about what we’re supposed to do if we end up finding Mercy. Even if we find her, we can’t exchange her.”
“I know, but if she can help us locate the men behind this, we might have a chance.”
“You have to have some advice.” She blew on her hot chocolate, then took another sip, feeling the warmth of the drink seep through her. “You dealt with hostage situations and negotiated in your line of work when you were in the military.”
“Yes, but this is different.”
* * *
“Different how?”
Levi tried to analyze her question as he studied the street scene around them. A man wearing a wool hat walked a dozen meters behind them on the other side of the street. He’d seen the man a few minutes earlier but hadn’t been able to determine yet if he was following them. For now, he’d simply have to keep his guard up.
“For one, we don’t have any tactical backup. And now I’ve seen what they can do, not only to these girls, but to anyone who gets in their way. They’re ruthless and don’t care who they hurt.”
He drank the rest of his coffee, then dumped his empty cup into a trash can. Or maybe what was different was that Kayla was the one who’d been caught in the cross fire this time. Not that that should matter. Being here was never supposed to be personal, but for some reason it was becoming just that.
His evaluation of the situation, though, had been correct. They were up against an unknown enemy, and moving ahead without sufficient information. All of which further legitimized Kayla’s concerns. Finding Mercy didn’t guarantee her father’s safety, because an exchange wasn’t an option. A situation that somehow felt all too familiar.
When he’d been responsible for his team, he’d known that if he made one mistake, one wrong call, he could end up sacrificing all their lives. It was what had gotten him up in the mornings, because he felt that there was significance to what he was doing no matter how hard the assignment. He was doing it for his country. For freedom. Until the day he’d found himself in a situation where even with all the intel he’d processed and the strategies they’d put into place, it hadn’t been enough to stop five soldiers from being caught behind enemy lines.
He glanced at Kayla, who’d become quiet and focused as they hurried toward the tram, his hand still wrapped around hers. Her job wasn’t much different than his had been. She felt the responsibility of ensuring the safety of these girls she worked with. Not only to bring them out of a difficult situation, but to ensure that they stayed safe. He’d seen the intensity in her eyes and heard the passion in her voice. She wasn’t going to give up on finding her father, but neither would she sacrifice Mercy. And right now, he had no idea how to help her do that.
She stopped at a red light and blew out a puff of air. “How do we fix this?”
He wanted to tell her not to worry. That they’d find a way to fix this. But after everything that had happened, he wasn’t sure anymore.
“What do you think we should do besides interview the girls?” she asked when he didn’t answer.
He tried to choose his words carefully as they passed a well-lit café. A glance to the right showed no sign of the man in the hat, but he still wasn’t ready to dismiss the fact that someone could be following them.
“This isn’t a typical hostage situation. There is no one to negotiate with while we gather more intel. I can’t talk to them, or listen to them and find a way to get them to trust me. They don’t work that way.”
So what was the answer?
It wasn’t the first time he’d considered bringing in outside help. Since his return, he’d had half a dozen job offers from risk-management companies. The number of international kidnappings continued to rise, particularly in Africa and the Middle East. Both extortion and ransom had become big businesses. But in this situation, he was still debating if hiring an expert was an option they should take.
“All I know to do is stick with our plan,” he said finally. “We talk to the girls, figure out where Mercy might have run and hopefully find her. And if we can find her, we hope she can help us lead us to where they might have your father.”
He caught the look of frustration on Kayla’s face as they stepped onto the blue-and-white tram. He studied the handful of passengers, the uneasy feeling he’d had all the way here intensifying. They were too out in the open. Too vulnerable. He never should have let her leave the apartment, and yet doing nothing wasn’t going to help them, either.
“How many more stops?” he asked.
“Three,” she said, as he sat down next to her in the back of the tram. “I’ve been wanting to ask about your father.”
Her question caught him off guard as he forced his mind to momentarily switch gears, his senses still on high alert.
“Between my father’s health and my brother’s prison sentence, my parents have had a hard couple of years.”
“What exactly is wrong with your father?”
“Prostate cancer. He’s doing better after a few major changes to his diet and a list of other things, but it’s never far from our minds.”
“And he’s the reason you returned to Potterville.”
He glanced at his leg that still held a piece of shrapnel. “That and an ambush in the Middle East. I didn’t have much of a choice.”
“You miss it, don’t you? The military?”
The tram stopped, and he studied the passengers getting on. In any other situation he would be soaking up every moment with Kayla. Enjoying their conversation while getting to know her again after all these years. But today...today all he could think about was keeping her safe.
“It’s been hard to find my feet as a civilian again,” he said, finally answering her question.
“Do you ever think about going back?”
“Well, I don’t see myself sitting behind a desk for the rest of my life. Though for now, my only goal is to keep things running in the company for my father until he’s ready to take over again. After that...I haven’t decided.”
“My father told me you’re good at what you’re doing right now.”
“There are things I love about my job. Working with people and knowing that we’re making a difference to the community. But like I said, sitting behind a desk all day or going to meeting after meeting...that isn’t exactly my thing.”
She wrapped her fingers around his arm. “I’m scared, Levi. Scared of how all of this is going to turn out.”
He squeezed her hand. “I know.”
She nodded as the tram started slowing down again. “We can get off here.”
“How close are we to your office?”
“Three blocks.”
They stepped off the tram, then headed down the street. A car turned the corner slowly, coming toward them from behind. They were in a quieter neighborhood now. Someone flew past them on a bike, but beyond that and the car, the street was empty.
“We need to get out of here,” he said, trying to squelch the uneasiness that had taken over. “We need to be somewhere less isolated.”
“There’s a row of shops up ahead to our left. Our offices are located just past them.”
They picked up their pace toward the lighted area, but the car made the same left turn. His stomach clenched as the car slowed behind them. Something was off. This time there was no doubt they were being followed.
He grabbed her hand and started walking faster.
“Levi.”
“I think they found us.”
“They’ve already got my father. Why would they need us?”
“I don’t know.”
Squeezing his fingers tighter around her hand, he started running.
The car engine roared behind them. He wasn’t imagining things this time.
“Levi...”
“Keep running.”
The street was deserted. He could hear the faint strains of a radio playing from one of the apartments above them, but with the cold, windows were closed and most people were bundled up inside their apartments. And they were still too far away from the lit-up area ahead.
Houses framed either side of the road. The vehicle screeched to a stop in front of them, blocking off the road. Unless they turned around, there was nowhere to run.
Two men in black emerged from the car. Levi caught the gleam of a gun in the glow of the streetlight, then moved Kayla behind him as they backed up. She grabbed his arm and screamed.
“Shut up or I will shoot you.”
Levi eyed the gun. Getting in the vehicle with them couldn’t be an option. They’d lose any remaining control over the situation. His only choice was to try to fight his way out.
One of the men approached them from the right. He belted the man with his elbow, then reached for the weapon. But he was no match for two armed men. They grabbed him and Kayla, locked their hands behind them and roughly placed blindfolds over their eyes. Levi felt a stab of pain shoot through his head, and he stumbled forward.
Then complete darkness surrounded him.