Escape from Obsession (The American Soldier Collection 1)

“You know where I am, Gunny. What’s wrong?”

“Those guys from the Mercedes yesterday, they work for Valdere, baby. I’m on my way to the office,” he said as the elevator door opened. She had a bad feeling in her gut as she looked around and saw no sign of Kaleigh or of Johnny the garage attendant.

“Oh God,” she said as Jeffrey appeared, knocking the phone from her hands. She screamed as she tried to fight him, but he threw a pillowcase over her head and zapped her with something. Her entire body felt as if it was shocked. He’d Tasered her. The son of a bitch had Tasered her. Her teeth chattered and her entire body convulsed as he lifted her up and carried her to a car. She couldn’t fight him as he tied her hands together.

“You’re going to die, bitch, but not before I get what I want.” He closed the trunk and she lay there helpless, wondering if Gunny was on his way. Would she ever see them again? Was this how her life would end. The tears stung her eyes as her teeth continued to chatter and her body shook no matter how hard she tried to control it.

Jeffrey had lost his mind, Valdere had men following her, and Gunny, Garrett, and Wes were caught in the middle. What am I going to do? How the hell did this happen?

* * * *

“How the hell did this happen?” Gunny asked as he stood in the parking garage at Gia’s workplace. There were police and detectives everywhere. In a matter of thirty minutes word had spread that Jeffrey hadn’t shown up for his court appearance, Kaleigh, Gia’s friend, was missing along with Gia, and the parking attendant was unconscious and rushed to a nearby hospital.

Wes and Garrett joined the scene as one of the detectives said that there was a blurry video surveillance from way down at the other end of the parking garage.

“Let’s take a look. It’s all we have,” Teddy said as he ran his fingers through his hair. The group of them walked to the booth and pulled the camera’s footage up onto the screen. They watched in horror as someone grabbed Kaleigh. They couldn’t make out the person. Then the camera’s picture was too blurry to see, but it appeared that he carried Kaleigh somewhere.

“Whoever it was, they used Kaleigh’s cell phone to text Gia. We have her phone and the text right here,” Gunny said as he held Gia’s phone in his hand. This was all he had of hers right now to hold. He felt so sick and responsible. If he had followed his gut, he could have avoided this situation.

“The guy could be either Jeffrey or this Valdere guy,” Kenny said.

“Kenny, I’ve got a confirmation on Valdere Valencio. He took a flight to Houston from New York this morning. He arrived two hours ago,” Shane stated.

“Fuck,” Teddy yelled out.

“It gets worse,” another detective replied. “Antonio Pelloni arrived last night.”

“We’ve got something over here,” an officer called out to them and they all headed toward a car as two officers tried to unlock the trunk.

“That’s Kaleigh’s car,” Shane stated.

After some struggling they got the trunk open.

“Oh Christ! Is she okay?” Wes asked as he and Garrett stood there looking at the officer who was checking Kaleigh’s pulse.

“She’s alive,” he said.

“Get an ambulance down here pronto,” Gunner yelled.

“Is she awake? Maybe she can tell us who took Gia,” Teddy said.

“She’s out cold,” the officer replied.

“Shit, Shane, get me information on Antonio and Valdere. They had to have rented a car or maybe the Mercedes. See if we can put out an APB on the vehicles,” Teddy ordered.

“Also check to see what cars are registered under Jeffrey Lewington. It could be any three of these men who took Gia,” Gunny said.

“Holy shit,” Garrett said as the ambulance arrived on scene.

* * * *

“Who the fuck is that guy?” Antonio wondered as he followed the sedan from Gianna’s workplace. He was going to try and take her when she left work, but yesterday some big guy she was dating showed up to pick her up. Antonio decided to wait until this morning, but then he noticed the weird guy lurking around and followed him to his place. Jeffrey Lewington was his name. This has to be the asshole who attacked her. Antonio had to remain patient. Apparently he wasn’t the only one interested in Gianna. So as he’d followed the guy Jeffrey to her workplace he was surprised to witness his plan in action. The man had just pulled off an amazing abduction. Too bad he would take the fall for Gianna’s death once Antonio had her for a while. Antonio was careful not to tip the psycho off as he followed Jeffrey out of the city and farther toward Dallas.

If that fucking guy laid a hand on Gianna he was dead. Antonio reached for the handgun and held it tight then brought it to his lap. Patience, Antonio. Patience and you will have her once again.

* * * *

“What did he do, fucking hire the asshole who assaulted her to abduct her?” Valdere asked as he sat in the back of the Mercedes.