Chapter Ten

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Because Jace was still sitting right next to Kit, he felt the muscles in her arm go stiff. He was having a similar reaction, too, but he didn't voice the thoughts of his worst-case scenario.

That Brandon was dead.

Jace didn't want to even say the words, knowing it would rip Kit apart, so he just waited for Ruby to continue.

"It's the cop assigned to guard Marvin," Ruby added a heartbeat later. "Officer Mike Waylon. He's dead."

Jace mentally repeated all of that, and while it was a relief to hear that the body wasn't Brandon's, a police officer was still dead.

"Murdered?" Jace asked.

"Yes," Ruby verified. "He died from a single gunshot wound to the head at close range. His lieutenant sent someone to the safe house to check on him when he didn't respond and found him."

"And what about Marvin?" he pressed.

"Missing. At this point, we don't know if Marvin was responsible for the officer's death or if someone learned the location of the safehouse, barged in, killed the cop and fled with Marvin."

Hell.

Either of those could have happened.

And that brought this right back to Trevor and Ramsey. They had motive for getting to Marvin. If it was either of them, it was possible the man was dead.

But why not just kill him on scene the way they had Officer Waylon?

That was something Jace very much wanted to find out.

"Here's what we know so far," Ruby went on a moment later. "A traffic camera about three blocks from the safe house spotted Marvin in a black truck heading northeast toward the interstate. He wasn't alone. The driver of the vehicle was wearing a ski mask, and from the angle of the camera feed, we can't tell if Marvin was restrained in some way."

"Northeast," Kit muttered, and Jace knew where she was going with this.

His house was in the northeast direction. Of course, so were a lot of other places, but Jace couldn't discount that Marvin and this masked guy were coming here. They wouldn't be able to just waltz in. However, they could get close enough to fire shots into the house.

"Roy, close all curtains and blinds," Jace instructed, and the whirring sounds of that happening began to flood through the house.

"Yes, best to take precautions. At this point—" Ruby stopped when Kit's phone rang.

Kit took her phone from her pocket, and her eyes widened the moment she saw the screen. "Unknown Caller. It could be the kidnapper."

Maybe. But since the kidnapper hadn't called her with the first contact, then why had he done it now?

"Put the call on speaker," Ruby instructed. "I'll be recording it and trying to trace the location of the caller."

Kit nodded and answered it. "Katherine Barclay."

"Aunt Kit," the caller blurted. Not a kidnapper.

Brandon.

The relief seemed to wash over Kit. "Where are you? Are you all right?"

"I'm not hurt other than a few scrapes and bruises." His words were rushed together, mixed with breathing that was too hard, too fast. "As for where," Brandon went on, "I'm not sure."

He stopped, and Jace heard some murmurings sounds in the background. Possibly a TV, but he didn't think so.

"I'm, uh, supposed to tell you how to pay the ransom." He paused again. More murmurings. And Brandon softly cursed. "The guy holding me said he talked to my mom and that you were going to pay the money. Aunt Kit, I don't want you to have to do that."

"It's all right," she assured him. "Could I please talk to the kidnapper so I can get the details of how to make the payment?"

"He said I'm to tell you," Brandon muttered. "He wants a wire transfer so you'll need to write down these numbers."

Jace hurried to give her a pen and paper from his desk, and thankfully as Kit jotted them down, she repeated them aloud. Along with trying to trace the call, Ruby would no doubt try to find out who owned that account and where it was located.

"You're to wire the money in the next hour, and as soon as he's verified the funds are in the account, then he'll release me," Brandon added.

Jace starting shaking his head. "The transfer will happen at the same time Brandon's free," he mouthed.

She nodded, cleared her throat. "After I clear it with my bank, I can do the transfer from my phone," Kit explained. "And I'll do that as you're being released."

Silence, for what seemed an eternity. Jace couldn't even hear any background noise which meant the kidnapper had likely muted the call. Finally, Brandon came back on the line.

"He wants you to transfer half now, and then to be at the collection point to transfer the rest after you've seen that I'm all right," Brandon amended.

"Okay," Kit said despite Jace shaking his head again.

Hell in a big-assed handbasket. Jace didn't want her going anywhere near this asshole kidnapper. Especially since all of this could be designed to get Kit killed.

"Go ahead and transfer the half now," Brandon went on, "and I'll call you right back with the drop-off info."

Before Jace or Kit could say anything else, the call ended.

And Jace started cursing. "What part of that headshake didn't you understand?" he blurted.

"I understood it," Kit verified. There was no fight in her voice or expression. "But I have to try to save my nephew. Yes, this could all be about getting to me," she tacked onto that. "And I'm sorry that this will put you in danger, too, but I didn't have a choice."

Jace groaned. Cursed some more. Then, he had to silently admit that she was right. No way could she live with herself if she didn't do everything humanly possible to get back Brandon.

"I need to call my bank," she muttered, stepping to the side.

"Already taken care of," Ruby volunteered. "If you're sure you want to transfer the money, just nod and it's done."

Without hesitation, Kit nodded.

"All right. Then, once Brandon is safe, I'll try to reroute the money so that you get it back. By the way, the account numbers Brandon gave you are for an offshore account," Ruby explained as she typed away on her keyboard. "Which should surprise exactly no one. The techs will dig, but it's doubtful that we'll unravel who owns it." She paused. "Done. Transfer is successful."

Kit gathered her breath and faced him. "I'm sorry," she repeated.

Jace groaned, went to her, and despite Ruby being right there, he pulled Kit into his arms. She wasn't crying, but he thought she was having a fierce battle with the threatening tears.

"If Brandon was kidnapped because I'm testifying against Marvin, then Deanna was right about this all being my fault," Kit muttered. "And, yes, I know that's skewed logic since I in no way wanted this to happen. But I need to get Brandon safely back."

Yeah, Jace understood that. However, he knew this was not going to be easy. Because in his gut, he didn't think this was about her testifying. Not directly anyway. He believed it was about Trevor getting that million dollars. And if that was it, then Brandon wasn't in danger at all.

Kit was.

Her phone rang again, the sound shooting through the room and causing her to let out a little gasp. She lifted her phone, and he saw Unknown Caller on the screen.

It was showtime.

"Answer on speaker," Ruby reminded her.

Kit did exactly that, and he immediately heard Brandon's voice. "The money came through," he said. There was a mix of emotions in his voice. Relief, fear, and some hesitation. "You can come and get me now. I'm to tell you that once you get here, I'll step out of the vehicle. After I've started walking toward you, then you're to transfer the rest of the payment. He said he'll kill me if you don't do exactly as he says."

"All right," Kit said, though her voice was strained. Heck everything about her was. "Where do I go to get you?"

Jace heard more of the murmurings in the background. "I'm to tell you to come now or the deal is off."

She swallowed hard. "I can come now. Where?"

"I'm close," Brandon said. "I'm near the security gate of Jace's property."

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