Chapter One

Kelly rinsed out his teacup after washing it, and placed it carefully on the drainboard beside two coffee mugs. Having grown up in an Irish household, he never could get used to the taste of the stuff. Give him a good Earl Grey tea anytime.

He cocked his head slightly as he heard the faintest rustling sound behind him. There was no need to respond with aggression; he knew the soft tread well. The wariness was ingrained in him though, a part of him like his hand or foot. It never shut off, nor would Kelly let it, no matter where he was. A familiar small hand patted his shoulder as he turned his head.

“Good morning, dear.” Vicky, Nathan’s mother, stepped up alongside him. “Sweetheart, you don’t need to do that,” she chastised him, indicating the now clean teacup.

“Morning, Vicky, and yes I did. My mum raised me right.” He kissed the petite blonde woman affectionately on the cheek.

“Well your mum did a good job. Speaking of which, are your folks still coming on Monday?”

“What? And deprive my mum of working with you to arrange our wedding? Do I look like I have a death wish? Nothing could keep them away. Just let the rest of us know where and when.”

Vicki gave his cheek an affectionate pat. “You’re such a good boy.” She grinned up at him. “And you know us mothers well. Speaking of weddings, is Nathan up yet?”

“Morning,” Nathan called to them as he stepped into the kitchen.

“Never mind.” Vicky chuckled. “Good morning, Nathan,” Vicky said, tipping her head to receive a kiss on the cheek from him. She grabbed her coffee cup and plucked an apple from the tray of fruit on the table, before leaving the kitchen.

Kelly shook his head, wondering exactly what he and Nathan had unleashed. They’d asked for something understated, but he had a feeling that neither he nor Nathan were ready for what their mothers were going to cook up.

Speaking of cooking, Kelly had quickly discovered that none of Nathan’s family were terribly big on breakfast. Every morning, there was always a basket of fruit and a covered tray of pastries on the table. Kelly didn’t mind it, but Nathan made no secret of the fact that he loved it when Kelly made breakfast, a real breakfast with eggs, bacon, the works.

Kelly noticed Nathan’s ever-present travel mug clutched in his hand and he couldn’t resist smiling. That man and his coffee, getting between them was like taking your life in your hands.

Nathan looked endearingly confused at his mother’s departing back as she muttered something about lists. He glanced at Kelly. “What did I miss?”

Kelly grinned at him. “Nothing, love, just your mother dropping into planning mode.”

“Planning mode.” Nathan blinked then shrugged. “Oh well, whatever makes her happy.”

“Just remember you said that when my mum gets here and the two of them really get going.”

Staring at Kelly for a moment, Nathan’s expression slowly morphed into a frown. “Is it too late to elope?” he murmured, throwing another look over his shoulder to where his mother had disappeared.

Kelly moved closer, took the travel mug from Nathan and placed it beside the coffee maker. Framing Nathan’s face between his hands, Kelly gazed into Nathan’s beautiful brown eyes.

“Yes, yes it is. I honestly think they would kill us, and in the most painful way imaginable, if we ruined their chance to plan our wedding. My mum’s done this already with one of my sisters, but your mum…well, let’s not wreck her fun.”

Giving an exaggerated ‘hard-done-by’ sigh, Nathan nodded, sliding his arms around Kelly’s waist. “Fine. But just this once.”

“Just this once, huh?”

“Darn right.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Kelly kissed him slow and deep, humming his pleasure at the contact. Nathan pulled himself closer to Kelly, chest to chest, and heart to heart, right where Kelly always wanted Nathan to be.

“Ahem.”

Nathan’s dad pointedly cleared his throat from behind them and Kelly broke the kiss, but refused to release Nathan just yet.

Matt was frowning at them, but the twinkle in his brown eyes, and the twitch of his lips, betrayed his amusement as he reached for a mug. For a businessman worth millions, Matt was very laidback. Nathan’s family didn’t have a pretentious bone in any of their bodies and Kelly got along really well with all of them.

Nathan glanced at Kelly and made a face at him. “Busted again.”

“At least this time you both have clothes on.” Brendan, Nathan’s brother, snorted as he entered the kitchen also making a beeline for the coffee maker.

Caffeine addiction definitely ran in this family, even if Nathan was technically Brendan’s cousin and Matt was Nathan’s uncle. Matt and Vickie had adopted Nathan as a boy, when he had been abused then thrown out by Matt’s brother and his brother’s wife, for being gay.

“That was so not our fault,” Nathan protested. “You were all supposed to be gone for the entire evening last night. None of you called, so how were we to know you would be home so early?”

“Not the mama,” Brendan said in a singsong voice. “We didn’t need to call and check in.”

“Besides…” Brendan slapped Nathan playfully on the back. “It was a good thing I found you first or Mom would have been scarred for life. As it is, I’ll never be able to look at that pool table the same way ever again.”

“Wait, what?” Matt’s gaze swung from Brendan to Kelly and Nathan. He looked at them with raised eyebrows. “Pool table? My pool table?”

Kelly burst out laughing as an amazing shade of red darkened Nathan’s face before he buried his face in the crook of Kelly’s neck. His skin grew warm from the heat emanating off Nathan’s cheeks.

“Put me out of my misery now,” he moaned into Kelly’s throat.

Kelly tangled his fingers in Nathan’s thick dark curls while he rubbed circles on Nathan’s back with his other hand.

“Aww, poor baby,” Kelly cooed at him.

Kelly turned Nathan in his arms and steered him out of the kitchen toward the front door. “Love to stay and chat but we’d better get a move on before we’re both late.”

“Wait.” Matt raised a hand to them. “What’s this about my pool table?”

“You’ll have to talk to Brendan about that,” Kelly called over his shoulder. “Gotta run.” He hustled Nathan out the front door, swiftly closing it behind them.

Outside, Nathan laughed at him. “You are so evil.”

Kelly lifted his hand, his thumb and first finger roughly an inch apart. “Just a little.”

“Uh-huh.” Nathan inserted two fingers between Kelly’s and widened the distance. “It’s more like this.”

Kelly bumped his hip into Nathan’s. “You love me anyway.”

Grinning, Nathan bumped Kelly back. “Yes, I do. I definitely do.”

Nathan halted abruptly on the bottom step then looked back at the house. “Damn it, I left my travel mug in the kitchen.”

Kelly grabbed Nathan’s arm before he could take more than one step back up toward the door. “Do you really want to go back in there? Think about the conversation Brendan and your father are probably having right now.”

Freezing in place, Nathan stared at Kelly for a minute before his eyes widened and he shook his head. “Nope, nada, no way am I going back in there.” He stepped back off the stairs. “Drive thru it is.”

Chuckling, Kelly walked hand in hand with Nathan to Nathan’s car. Stopping before him, Kelly straightened the lapel of Nathan’s suit, then affectionately patted Nathan’s chest. “Don’t forget, you promised to meet me for lunch after you hand the keys over to the realtor.”

Nathan rolled his eyes. “I remember. I need to inspect the condition of the condo after the cleaners but I should be at your office by eleven thirty at the latest.”

Kelly kissed Nathan, and then opened the car door with a small flourish and bow, waving Nathan inside.

Nathan reached into his pocket for his keys as he climbed into the car, stopped and straightened up again. “I almost forgot I bought you something.”

“Really?” Kelly asked standing beside the car’s open door.

Nathan pulled an odd camo colored bracelet from his jacket pocket and held it out to Kelly. “Remember when I stopped by the hospital to say good-bye to some friends the other day? Well, the Boy Scouts were having a fund-raiser in the hospital’s lobby. This bracelet is made from parachute cord with a tensile strength of five hundred and fifty pounds, but this is the interesting part.”

Nathan turned the bracelet over and pointed to one of the side release buckles. “They basically macramé the cord so if you ever need fifteen feet of really heavy-duty cord all you have to do is pick apart the melted ends here.”

Kelly rotated the bracelet, admiring the workmanship and clever design.

“But wait, there’s more.”

Nathan’s eagerness was simply too adorable. “You know you sound like a commercial, right?”

“Yeah, whatever.” Nathan huffed.

He took the bracelet and opened the buckle, almost bouncing with his excitement. “Look. There’s a ferrocerium rod in one end of the buckle and a striker in the other so you can start a fire whenever you need to. And this part of the buckle is a whistle.”

Pausing for a breath, Nathan hesitantly held the bracelet out to Kelly again. “If you don’t like it, it’s okay. It was for a good cause and…” Nathan looked endearing as he chewed on his bottom lip, suddenly unsure if Kelly would like his gift.

Kelly took the bracelet, snapped it into place on his left wrist then grabbed a hold of Nathan’s tie and pulled him in for a heartfelt kiss.

“Thank you for thinking of me. It’s very clever and I’m sure it will come in real handy one day. It’s great, and so are you.”

Nathan beamed happily at Kelly and Kelly swore his heart skipped a beat at the beatific expression on Nathan’s handsome face. Kelly loved seeing it there, he loved putting it there, he just flat out loved Nathan with every fiber of his being.

One of their cell phones chimed breaking the spell.

Nathan blew out a breath. “That’s my reminder. I’ve got to get going.”

Kelly moved out of the way and solemnly waved Nathan into the car again. Nathan gave Kelly an exaggerated gracious nod as he sat in the car, the huge smile on his face ruining the moment. Kelly slammed the door closed, leaned in through the window and gripped Nathan’s chin with his fingers before pressing his lips to Nathan’s once more. He swallowed Nathan’s sigh, matching it with one of his own as he felt Nathan’s hand slid up the line of his jaw and around his neck to cup his nape.

It never ceased to amaze him just how powerful the bond they shared was and how much he craved Nathan’s taste and touch. Nathan was the best drug imaginable and Kelly was happily addicted. He would never get enough of Nathan and in a month this man would be tied to him forever. Shiny platinum bands around both their ring fingers would declare their love and commitment to the world, when they said their vows to each other.

Reluctantly, Kelly drew back. “I’ll see you later for lunch…or something,” he added with an evil leer and wink.

Nathan’s eyes grew large and he swallowed hard. “Yes, please.”

Feeling his pulse quicken and arousal pool in his belly, Kelly seriously entertained the thought of dragging Nathan from his car and back upstairs to their bedroom. From Nathan’s blown pupils and flushed skin, Nathan was probably considering it too.

“Damn it.” He slapped the car’s door. “I’ve got to behave or neither of us will get anything done today,” Kelly grumbled.

“You? The voice of reason? Will wonders never cease.”

“Hey, it’s been known to happen.” Kelly gave Nathan a shit-eating grin. “On occasion.”

Nathan snorted as Kelly straightened. He stood in place until Nathan gathered himself together enough to pull the car from the drive.

A sudden chill raced down Kelly’s spine as he watched Nathan’s car turn and head down the street. Kelly had the intense urge to run after Nathan, to stop him from leaving. Foreboding washed through him, turning his stomach, and a heavy ball of dread settled into Kelly’s middle. Something was in the wind and it wasn’t good.

Quickly tugging his cell from his pants pocket, he dialed Nathan and impatiently bounced up and down on the balls of his feet until Nathan answered.

“Hey, baby. What’s up?” Nathan sounded tinny from the car speaker.

“Do me a favor and text or better yet, call me, when you get to the condo.”

“Um, sure, okay. Is everything all right?”

“Yeah. Listen, I’ve changed my mind. I’ll quickly finish up what I have to do at the office and meet you there at the condo instead.” Kelly noticed his hand had started to shake. What the hell?

“Sure. That sounds great. It’ll give me a chance to say good-bye to Mrs. Rosario.”

“Thanks, love. Good idea. Better yet, wait at her place for me.”

“No problem. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Slipping the phone back into his pocket, Kelly climbed into his SUV. He squeezed the wheel with both shaking hands and took a deep ragged breath before starting the vehicle. Without warning, Granda’s distinct aftershave filled his nose and Kelly shuddered.

“Granda, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

§§§§

The FBI satellite office was filled with the usual buzz of activity Kelly had come to expect. The sound of agents speaking to one another and the tapping of computer keys filled the air. It was a noise he’d grown used to over the years, familiar, almost grounding, and for a long time thought he would never experience this again. A case had landed him in the hospital filled with bullet holes, suffering from PTSD and seemingly ending his career. With Nathan’s love and patience, however, Kelly had been able to overcome his demons to save both their lives from a psycho. He’d also been able to return to the work he enjoyed.

True to his word, Kelly finished up the profiling he was doing on the case for the Oklahoma office as quickly as he could. Nathan had called him as promised but the anxiety still rode Kelly hard, refusing to go away. It was like an itch under his skin, an urge, no… a need to do something…but what? Kelly had no clue, and it was driving him nuts.

After closing and sending the file, he shut down the computer, checked the clock on the wall and frowned. The case profile had taken well over an hour to complete, far longer than he had hoped it would. He had to get to Nathan. At least Nathan could visit with his kooky neighbor, Mrs. Rosario for a bit. That old lady adored Nathan and would miss him. They’d have to make time to visit her.

Kelly stretched, pulling the kink from his back as he smoothly rose to his feet. His cell went off and he reached for the phone lying on the desk. He thumbed the device to accept the call without looking at the number.

“Special Agent—” He never got a chance to finish.

“Kelly!”

Terror flashed through Kelly at the sound of Matt’s frantic voice. Breathing was forgotten as the foreboding swelled, threatening to drown him. Kelly fell heavily back into his chair.

Nathan had to be all right because if anything happened to the man, the other half of his soul, Kelly would simply cease to exist.

“Nathan’s been kidnapped!”

Kelly’s brain stalled on the words.

Nathan’s been kidnapped.

The words seemed to bounce around in Kelly’s skull like a macabre drum beat on repeat.

Nathan’s been kidnapped.

“I just received a call from a Detective James. He’s at Mrs. Rosario’s. You know her; she’s Nathan’s neighbor. She insists that she has to talk to you, that the kidnappers left you a message.”

Nathan’s been kidnapped.

No!

Kelly was on his feet and moving long before Matt had finished speaking. “I’m on my way.”

He dropped the phone into his pocket as he tore out of the room. He ran through the building as if the hounds of hell were on his heels. Alarmed agents scrambled to get out of his way. The look on his face convincing them not to ask questions.

Once in his SUV, Kelly slapped the magnetized siren onto the roof and switched it on. He peeled his vehicle out of the parking lot in a screaming fury, ignoring the angry drivers slamming on brakes and yelling in his direction.

The drive went by in a blur of avoiding other cars and pedestrians. The area in front of Nathan’s building was already filled with police vehicles by the time Kelly arrived.

Kelly slid his SUV to a skewed stop behind an FBI forensics van before grabbing his FBI vest. He still had his badge around his neck but the vest would guarantee that no one would question his presence. Resisting the urge to race through the small crowd, which would automatically put the other officers on alert and likely get him detained, Kelly strode as swiftly as he could into the building.

A few officers and agents threw concerned glances in his direction. Whether they knew who he was or it was the deadly cold vibe he was giving off didn’t matter to him. Just so long as they stayed out of his way.

Too much adrenaline was flooding his system for him to wait for an elevator. He took the stairs two at a time to Nathan’s floor before bursting through the stairwell door into organized chaos. Jerry, his ex-partner was already on site with a team scouring the area for evidence.

How did Jerry get here so fast? He was supposed to be out of town. And more importantly, why was he here?

Jerry spotted him and waved him over. “The old lady is in there. The realtor found her injured on the floor of Nathan’s place.” He pointed toward Mrs. Rosario’s condo. “She won’t talk to anyone but you.”

“Thanks, Jerry.” Kelly patted Jerry’s shoulder as he brushed past him.

“No problem. We’re pulling security footage right now.”

Kelly nodded before he entered Nathan’s condo. He gave the place a quick look around but knew he was unlikely to see anything. There would be no furniture overturned because it was empty. The techs were dusting the countertops anyway but Kelly doubted they would find anything.

He turned on his heel, walked the short distance down the hall to Mrs. Rosario’s condo and entered through the open door. Mrs. Rosario, sporting bright pink hair in a tangled mess, sat on her couch. A paramedic beside her held a cold pack to her tear streaked wrinkled cheek. She had a bandage on her forehead above her eye, another on her jaw. Her wrist was wrapped up and in a sling.

Kelly had to hold back the angry growl that threatened to burst from his throat. That someone would actually hurt the kind-hearted old nutcase with the invisible dog made him furious. She had never been anything but sweet and mothering to Nathan, and doting on Kelly, accepting him immediately.

Her watery gaze met his and she held out her uninjured hand toward him. “Kelly, oh thank the stars! They’ve taken him! They’ve taken our Nathan!” Fresh tears began streaming from her eyes.

Moving quickly to her side, Kelly clasped her trembling hand in both of his then sat beside her. Mrs. Rosario immediately turned to him. Kelly opened his arms and held her close to him, sparing the paramedic a quick glance for assurance that he wouldn’t aggravate Mrs. Rosario’s injuries. At the man’s nod of approval, Kelly wrapped his arms snuggly about the shaking old woman.

“Mrs. Rosario, who’s taken Nathan?” he asked her gently after a few moments.

She looked up at him from the circle of his arms. “Some evil, evil men. I tried to stop them but…” Mrs. Rosario took a deep shuddering breath. “They said you would know where to find Nathan but you had to hurry or there wouldn’t be much left of him to find.”

Kelly’s gut clenched. This is my fault?

“What did they look like?”

Mrs. Rosario sat up with an angry expression. “They were South Americans, possibly from Brazil or Columbia by their accents,” she said in a much firmer voice.

Kelly felt his eyebrows rise with his surprise. “How on earth would you know that?”

“I’m not stupid,” she snapped. “I watch NCIS and Criminal Minds. They looked like thugs sent by a Columbian drug lord.” The last part was said in a whisper behind her hand while giving the room a furtive once-over.

Kelly would have scoffed at her assessment had it not been a very real possibility considering his past.

“There were three of them. The leader spoke with a very heavy accent.” She paused. “He asked me if I knew you and when I said yes, he said, the Señora would be waiting for you.”

“Did he use my full name?”

“Yes, he definitely said FBI Agent Kelly MacNiel.”

“And he said the Señora?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what he said.”

“Did he give a name?”

Mrs. Rosario scowled, gaze fixed on the ground as she concentrated. “Danna.” She clutched his sleeve in excitement as she looked up at him. “I heard one of them say Señora Danna.”

Kelly stared off into space, racking his brain for the name but he didn’t recognize it. Mrs. Rosario broke his train of thought when she put a hand on his chest to bring his attention back to her.

“There were three of them. They put a cloth on Nathan’s face and he passed out. They probably used ether because it works so quickly, not like sodium pentobarbital which takes a few minutes to work and you have to inject it.”

Impressed with the elderly amateur sleuth, Kelly gave Mrs. Rosario a gentle hug. “You are one very brave, very smart lady, Mrs. R. Thank you.”

She beamed up at him.

“Mamma!” The word echoed from the doorway as a younger, slimmer copy of Mrs. Rosario charged into the room. Obviously, it was her daughter and thankfully without the garish hair Mrs. Rosario favored.

“Elena!” Mrs. Rosario cried, stretching her good arm out to her daughter.

Kelly rose, relinquishing his spot to Elena, who took his place and gathered her mother tightly to her. He stopped at the tug on his shirt and turned back to Mrs. Rosario who had a tight hold of the fabric.

“Find him,” she demanded firmly. “Find him and bring our Nathan home safely.”

“I will. I swear to you I will or die trying.”

She stared up at him for a moment before nodding and swiveling back around to her daughter. Kelly scanned the condo searching for Jerry. He spotted him speaking to one of the forensic scientists and strode over to him.

“Do you know a Señora Danna?”

Jerry looked to the side as if he was thinking but something in his body language struck Kelly as off. It was subtle and if Kelly hadn’t been watching Jerry so intently, he would have missed it.

Glancing back up, Jerry shook his head. “Nope, name doesn’t ring a bell. Sorry.”

“You sure?”

Jerry scowled. “I think I would recognize a name like that if I’d heard it before.”

Jerry had always had a lousy poker face, the ‘tells’ were all there. He was standing there lying right to Kelly’s face. Why? And who was Señora Danna?

“Excuse me, agents?” A police officer interrupted them. “Security has the footage available if you would follow me please.”

Kelly joined Jerry as he followed the officer to the main floor of the building and to an office marked ‘Security’. Once there, a man introduced himself as the head of security for the building. He led them past a bank of monitors to a desk with one large screen on it. Tapping a key on the keyboard, a recording began to play.

Kelly clenched his fists at his sides as he watched three men manhandle Nathan out the front door of his condo. Two held his arms while he struggled to avoid the third’s attempt to put a cloth to his face. He gave a small smile as he saw Nathan nail the man in the balls with his knee. Bet that will hurt for a while. The man drew back his arm and backhanded Nathan hard before pressing the cloth viciously to Nathan’s face.

The men made absolutely no effort to hide their faces from the camera but they had to know they were being filmed. The cameras were large and prominently placed throughout the building. Why drag Nathan out into the hallway in full view? Unless…they wanted to make sure Kelly saw all of it. A thought occurred to him and he patted the man at the keyboard to get his attention.

“Pause that for a minute. Why didn’t anyone see this and go help?” Kelly asked the head of security.

“Two men were smashing windows and generally causing as much damage as they could to the cars in the parking lot.” The man hesitated. “I wasn’t here and the supervisor pulled everyone to help with that. No one was left behind to monitor the screens.”

“Did you at least catch the men?”

“No, sir. They jumped into a black SUV as soon as they saw us and escaped.”

“What about the lobby cameras. How did the men get into the building?”

“We don’t know. The lobby cameras just quit working and before anyone could investigate, the problem in the parking lot started. All the lobby cameras were broken.”

Kelly grunted, completely unimpressed. “Continue playback.”

Mrs. Rosario appeared in the hallway brandishing an umbrella of all things. Kelly couldn’t resist the grin as she fearlessly attacked the men with the hideous multicolored thing. Nathan slid bonelessly to the carpet as the men focused on Mrs. Rosario, roughly twisting her arm to snatch the umbrella from her hands. The leader pulled her head back by her hair, spoke to her briefly then pushed her forcefully through the door to Nathan’s condo. Unfortunately, the feed had no audio.

The man blatantly glared up at the camera, waved insolently and laughed. The leader then gestured to the other two men. They hoisted Nathan up and awkwardly half carried, half dragged him, between them to the elevator. Kelly gave a small smirk as the leader limped slightly as he followed after them.

The view abruptly switched to the elevator, then to the exit. Because the lobby’s cameras had been disabled, no video was available for the area.Kelly watched them exit the building then head for a dark SUV parked at the curb. Obviously, they hadn’t want to be seen entering the building but once they had Nathan, all bets were off. The two men unceremoniously dumped Nathan in the back seat then all three climbed into the front.

“Freeze that.” Kelly snapped as the SUV pulled away. The license plate was clearly displayed in the frame.

“Mathews,” Jerry yelled over his shoulder.

“Here, Agent Gilbert.”

“Put a BOLO on that plate.”

“Yes, sir, on it,” Mathews quickly responded to Jerry’s order.

“You know it’s probably going to come back stolen or a rental,” Jerry said to Kelly.

“Probably,” Kelly agreed. “But maybe we can track its path or get an idea of their destination.”

“True. It’s also highly likely that the two men in the parking lot were a distraction so the others would have time to snatch Nathan.”

“Excuse me. Is there an Agent Kelly MacNiel here?”

Kelly looked up at the interruption. A large dark-skinned man, a detective judging by the gold shield clipped to his belt, stood in the doorway.

“That would be me, Detective.”

“Dr. Kirkfield’s parents are waiting outside. If you have a moment, they would like to speak to you.”

“Shit.” What am I going to tell Nathan’s parents?

Kelly hauled in a deep fortifying breath, stiffened his spine and went to tell his future in-laws that it was very likely his fault that Nathan had been taken. He vowed to himself he would move heaven and earth to get Nathan back safety.