Feel the Heat (31 page)

“That means they’d need a pad to land at their destination,” Rick put in. “If we can work it down to a small enough circle we can get Ed to come and pick us up and we can do some reconnaissance.”

Dan nodded. “Mike, call your brother back and tell him to gas up the new Sikorsky. It’s got the fastest speed. Also have him bring everything we just used in Canada.”

“You think we’ll need it here too.” It was more of a statement than a question.

“Yes. The bird’s already fitted out with everything else we’ll need, except for what I’ve got at my house. As soon as he gives us an ETA, I’ll go pick him up and make a stop by my place at the same time.” He looked at Troy. “I’ve got the coordinates for Grand Junction and the O symbol. I’ll take them in to Kat in the den and see what she gets from there. At least we finally have a geographic location to start from.”

“Good. I’m setting up new search parameters for anyone with a last name beginning with O. Whatever I get I’ll send to Andy. He can run them through one of his programs to see what might cross over with other searches he’s running. The ones connected to the rental cars and the cashier’s check.”

For the next several minutes everyone was silent, but the air was humming with the tension of the situation. Then Dan called to them from the den.

“Troy? We may have something.”

Troy shoved away from the table and strode into the den. The room was darkened, the way Kat needed it when she did her remote viewing. In front of her on Lauren’s desk was the large sketchbook she always used, the top page filled with a bare bones drawing.

“It’s a house,” she said. “I can’t get the clarity of the image I need. All I can see at the moment is a forest and a huge house.”

Troy picked up the pad and studied it, his hands shaking slightly. “How about if we scan this and send it to Andy. He can run it through one of his programs to see if he can fill in the image.”

“Good idea.” Dan took the page and tore off the top sheet.

“I’ll keep focusing,” Kat told them. “When we were looking for my sister, it took me several tries to pinpoint the location and get a clear picture of the scene. The coordinates are a big help. And give me anything else as soon as you get it.”

Chapter Fifteen

Lauren barely slept, disturbing dreams making her restless and fitful. At six o’clock, she finally gave up the effort, got up and took a shower. A thick terry cloth robe hung on a hook in the bathroom, so she wrapped herself in it, trying to infuse some warmth into her body. She’d been cold ever since she arrived at this expensive prison, a chill caused more by anxiety than anything else.

The file on her computer was extensive. She’d give Olberman credit for being thorough. The patient he wanted her to heal was a young boy, nine years old, the son of the ruler of a well-known island in the South Pacific. He was born with a defective valve in his heart. Apparently, surgery had been performed when he was an infant and the doctors thought they’d repaired it. But when the boy turned eight, he began to have problems again. His father took him to many specialists and a month ago surgery had again been performed. The problem was the boy wasn’t healing.

The father had flown the boy home and retained around-the-clock nurses to attend to him. He continued to use his extensive resources to bring in doctors who he hoped would make his son well, but the child continued to fail day by day. The man said he would pay any sum of money if someone could help his son.

Apparently Olberman had already contacted him to make preliminary arrangements to fly Lauren to the island as soon as she was available.

Available!

Lauren snorted. She wouldn’t exactly call what she was “available”.

The file contained copies of the boy’s extensive medical records, along with notes made by various doctors. She kept the reality of her situation at bay by studying all of them and focusing only on the patient. But for all the sleep she got, she could have stayed up all night.

In the pantry closet she found a Keurig coffee machine with a variety of K-Cups. Selecting a flavored one, she brewed it, took it into the other room with her and booted up the computer. She had noticed a number of medical books on the shelves and, with the file open, took down the most promising ones and began to research the boy’s medical condition.

She was engrossed in the reading when a knock sounded on her door and she froze. Reid again? Now what?

“Miss Cahill?” A woman’s voice. “This is Vivian. Mr. Olberman’s assistant. May I speak with you for a moment?”

Lord. She wasn’t even dressed yet.

“Can you come back later?”

“I need to speak with you now. I’m going to open the door.”

Right. Because everyone had a key to the door except her.

“Fine.” As if she had a choice.

The door opened and the woman she’d barely glimpsed yesterday walked in. She was taller and was dressed in a business pantsuit. Her blonde hair was ruthlessly pulled back in a French twist and she wore only the bare minimum of makeup. Lauren grudgingly admitted the woman was very attractive. She supposed Olberman wouldn’t want to waste his money looking at an ugly woman.

She studied the woman’s face, hoping to see a little compassion for her situation, but the woman’s hazel eyes were glacial, her features set in an expressionless mask.

What is it with the people here? Are their faces frozen?

“Your breakfast tray will be up shortly,” Vivian announced. “Since this is your first morning here, we had no idea of your preferences, so we’ve given you a rather large selection.”

“My breakfast tray? I was under the impression I was having a command performance with Mr. Olberman at breakfast.”

Vivian gave her a condescending look. “He’s had something come up and I assume you don’t plan to starve yourself to death. There is a program loaded onto your laptop that will allow you to select each day’s menu in advance. It’s hooked to the internal server. You will use it for all your meals, beginning with lunch today.”

“A program?” Lauren felt like an idiot parroting the woman’s words back to her, but she was trying to take it all in.

“Mr. Olberman expects you to join him each evening for dinner.” She took in every inch of Lauren’s body with an assessing gaze. “Properly attired, of course.”

“Of course.” She spat the words out. “We wouldn’t want to upset Mr. Olberman.”

Vivian gave her another of those assessing looks, as if studying a bug under a microscope.

“I’d learn to be a bit more accommodating if I were you. I’m sure Mr. Olberman has explained that any negative actions on your part will have consequences.”

Consequences. So. Apparently Vivian was as cold and ruthless as her employer. If Lauren had hoped to find help with her, she realized that was an unrealistic expectation.

“Is there anything else?” She wanted this woman gone as soon as possible. She needed to get back to reading the medical books as well as trying to figure a way out of this impossible situation.

Where are you, Troy?

“Yes. Mr. Olberman would like you to inventory everything he’s provided for you and let me know if there’s something you need that isn’t there.” She pointed to a telephone on the credenza. “Just dial my extension and I’ll take care of it for you.”

“What if I want to get it myself? Go to a store?”

The look Vivian gave her was just short of pitying. “Now, you know that’s not an option, right?”

Lauren stared at the woman, trying to find a clue to her personality. “Are you aware of what your boss intends to do with me?”

Vivian’s expression bordered on a sneer. “I know everything that goes on with Mr. Olberman.”

“And you condone it? His kidnapping me? Threatening me and my family? Using me like this?”

The woman just stared back at her, not saying a word.

Lauren blew out a breath. “Is there anything else?” She wanted this woman gone as soon as possible. She needed to get back to reading the medical books, preparing herself just in case Olberman managed to get her to the sick child before Troy found her.

“Not at the moment. But I hope you don’t plan to sit around in that robe all day. Mr. Olberman disapproves of that.”

Vivian closed the door and Lauren heard the lock engage. She dropped into one of the armchairs, consumed by a feeling of hopelessness.

No. I won’t let myself feel this way. I won’t let Olberman defeat me.

He could temporarily have charge of her body, but not her mind or spirit.

Okay then. Get up. Get dressed. Read. And mostly…think.

* * * * *

Because it was fully dark when Ed Romeo arrived with the helicopter the night before, the decision was made to grab a few hours of sleep and head out at first light. But sleep had been elusive for Troy. Every time he closed his eyes, Lauren’s face swam before him, her soft lips so ready for his kiss, her eyes sparkling with merriment. His hands itched to touch her body, his cock ached to thrust inside her.

Finally, at three o’clock, he headed down to the kitchen to make coffee—as if he needed any more—and found all the men except Ed working on their laptops. On the counter sat a rectangular metal box. So ordinary looking, for its sophisticated insides. All security systems worked on some kind of radio frequency. It was the only way to get point-to-point signal. The trick was to find something even better that could disrupt that signal.

Dan saw him looking at it. “We brought it back from the airfield with us. I don’t like leaving that baby any place except where I can see it.”

“Didn’t you guys ever go to bed?”

Rick glanced up. “I don’t think we’ll get much sleep until we’ve got Lauren back. We’ve been exchanging information all night with Andy. Whoever this sonofabitch is, he’s buried himself so deep he could be at the center of the earth.”

“Anything?” Troy asked.

“Working on it. Getting close, I think.”

Troy took in the litter of paper on the table, the tablets sitting next to the laptops, the cell phones, the coffee cups. No matter how long he lived, he’d never be able to thank these men and their wives for this. The five of them had a bond that went far beyond friendship, and he’d never take it for granted.

“We tried to get the women to go home,” Mark told him without looking up, “but they weren’t having any of it. Faith and Mia are in one of the guest rooms.”

“Kat’s napping on the couch in the den,” Dan said. “She got a little more information.” He pointed to a sheet of sketching paper next to him. “More details about the house. Take a look.”

Troy had just picked it up when Dan’s cell phone rang.

“Yeah? What? Okay, hold on. Hold on a minute.” He punched the button for the speaker. “Go ahead, Andy. Everyone’s here.”

“I just sent everything to your tablets.” Andy’s voice was edged with both fatigue and excitement. “This was a damn fucking puzzle within a puzzle, but I finally managed to peel back all the layers.”

“You’ve identified the person behind this?” Troy almost couldn’t breathe.

“Finally. Check your tablets, everyone. I just sent you the file on Kurt Olberman.”

“That’s Mia’s O,” Dan commented, his normally even voice holding a hint of excitement. “Andy, walk us through the info on this guy.”

“He’s about the nastiest dude on the planet.” Excitement was overriding his fatigue. “At fifteen, he was living on the streets. At seventeen, the rumor mill credits eight kills to him and he’d put together a gang of thugs. Oh wait, do people say thugs anymore?”

“Keep going,” Dan said.

“You can see for yourselves in the timeline I sent that he progressed from street crimes to something more sophisticated. A man named Harold Deville apparently plucked him from the streets at age twenty. Deville was in the process of building an empire based on drugs and illegal weapons. I guess in Olberman, he saw someone who could keep people in line.”

“I guess that didn’t work out so well for Harold,” Rick broke in. “I see here that after five years, Harold’s deader than a doornail and Olberman’s running the organization.”

“That’s right,” Andy agreed. “From there, you can see how he moved on, buying and selling people, companies, countries, whatever. He’s got a law firm that he pays millions just to keep him buried beneath layers of corporate shells. His best friends are drug cartels, international arms dealers and countries with rich mineral deposits that give him the opportunity to take control. You know, all that shit. We see it all the time, only this guy does it bigger and better than anyone else. He’s worth billions. Mega billions.”

“You’ve got his home location?”

“No pictures yet, but yes, he’s in Colorado. About a fifteen-minute helicopter ride from Grand Junction. Word is the place is more than a hundred acres and protected like a fortress.”

“What about his security?” Mark wanted to know.

“That took a lot of digging and finagling. I’m telling you, this guy invented the word secret.”

“And we appreciate your efforts, as always,” Dan said. “So what’s the deal?”

“I’m sending you all the specs on his security system. It’s easier than trying to talk you through it. But it’s way past anything we’ve met up with before.”

“And human protection?” Troy asked.

“My source on that tells me he’s hired all former Special Forces guys. I hate thinking that men who were out there protecting our country are now working for a piece of shit like him.”

“Unfortunately,” Mark put in, “not everyone in the military has the highest set of morals. I wish it was different, but that’s the sad fact of it. So he’s got guys who are trained in just about everything, right?”

“You got it. Look over everything else I sent and if you’ve got questions I’ll be here.” He cleared his throat. “I’m not going home until Miss Cahill is back. Safe.”

Troy’s throat closed up. This was the kind of loyalty you couldn’t buy with money. And maybe that was their secret weapon. Men like those who worked for Olberman could be bought and sold, but not Phoenix. Not even their extended staff.