Smokescreen

“I’m okay but worried about Pedro.”

“We’ll get him medical care soon.”

“Where are we? Who was that man who took us?”

“You’ll get your answers, but right now someone wants to talk to you.” He digs a phone out of his front pocket, pushes a button, and hands it to me.

It rings once and then Max’s worried voice comes through the line. “Wren, please fucking tell me you have her.”

The anguish and fear in his voice shatters any sense of strength I was holding on to. My throat threatens to close and it’s all I can do to whisper, “Max.” As hard as I try to hold back, emotions take over and I break. Tears flood my cheeks as I sob into the phone. Tremors wrack my body as I shake. Each time I try to talk my words come out muffled. Pedro’s hand slips into mine and Wren squeezes my shoulder lightly.

“Jesus Christ, Stella, baby, are you okay?” his voice cracks and his breathing picks up. There are voices in the background and I hear a loud cry.

“Yes, I’m okay. Wren got us out.”

“Bella, did that bastard hurt you?”

“No, well, yes, but no. Nothing major, but Pedro is bad.”

“I’m going to kill the motherfucker with my own hands.”

“Really, baby, I’m okay.” I sniffle and hiccup trying to calm down. “They were going to k-k-kill Pedro.” Another round of sobs wracks my body.

“Shh, calm down, your both safe now. Wren and his guys will take care of you. No one’s going to hurt either of you.”

“Do you know him? The man that took us?”

“We do now. I promise to fill you in when you get here. God, I love you. We’ve all been sick out of our minds.”

“I love you too.”

“Let me talk to Wren. I’ll see you soon.”

I hand the phone over and listen intently to their conversation.

“Yeah, man, she’s okay. Little banged up, but she made it without assistance.”

Pedro and my eyes meet and I smile widely. The look on his face is filled with relief.

“Nah, we took care of him. Left two men behind to take care of business, but we’ve already heard from them. Four altogether, all dead.” His eyes do another scan of me. “She looks fine, but you can see for yourself soon.”

He hangs up and then introduces all the other men.

“If you’re not police can you tell me who you are?”

“We’re friends of Marshall Barnes,” Wren answers and a few of the men chuckle.

“I’ve learned more about Marshall Barnes in the last few months than I have in twenty years.”

“I suspect we aren’t the kind of friends he talks about often. Our job is a little unorthodox.”

“Thank you for saving us. It’s probably going to be crazy when we get to wherever we’re going, so I want to tell you now how grateful I am.” My voice cracks as the weight of what has happened crashes down on me.

Pedro clenches my hand and I lean into him gently. We ride in silence, holding each other.

Feeling her heartbeat against my chest helps calm the wrath that still simmers in me. Knowing how close I came to losing her weighs heavily on my heart with a crushing force. Listening to her replay everything that happened while she was gone used every bit of self-control I have. My range of emotions went from rage and fury to terror. With each word, her voice was strained and she held back tears. It was obvious to me she was trying to be strong, but it was difficult. A part of me wished the kidnapper was still alive because I wanted to murder the son of a bitch. Knowing Wren had the kill shot gives me some satisfaction.

When Wren and his team arrived at the private medical facility last night and Stella helped Pedro out of the van, my knees went weak with relief. I stood back and let her family have her first, but as soon as she was in my arms, I picked her up and didn’t let go until the doctor was ready to examine her. His test showed she had high levels of sedatives in her system, which we already knew. The small cut on her abdomen didn’t need stiches and her facial swelling started to go down.