Chapter 25

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

MEMPHIS

Noah looked at his watch and hesitated.

How long did it take a woman to go to the bathroom?

Rising out of his seat to go check on Madeline, his cell phone rang – and he was immediately shushed once more by the other patrons. Wincing, he felt like a heel because he was pretty sure he put it on Do-Not-Disturb. Clicking to answer, it barely registered in his mind the Jacksonville area code on the screen.

"Lieutenant Bennington, this is Mary from the Navy Housing Service Center, and we've got a property open that will be ready for habitation on Saturday, May first. This call is a courtesy made at this time to discuss if your housing needs are still in demand or if you have made other arrangements at this time. Will you be available to take up residence within thirty days of May first?"

The canned statement tossed out so quickly sounded like a recording, and it took Noah a moment to react as he darted out into the mezzanine. He shoved a finger in his ear, trying to quiet the noisy women laughing together down the hallway, echoing against the marble floors and rolled his eyes. He got ‘shushed' several times tonight, but those two women could ‘yak-it-up' down there?

This time, Noah shushed them - loudly.

"Lieutenant Bennington, would you like to accept or decline the unit?"

"Accept!" he blurted out. "I'm accepting the offer of base housing, and yes – we'll be there on May 1 st ."

"Thank you," she said simply and droned on for another moment, causing him to roll his eyes at the mundane details – only to hear his phone beep. Glancing at his phone, he hesitated. Madeline was calling him? What happened? Did she fall in the toilet?

"Do you have any questions, Lieutenant?"

"No, thank you. See you on May first!" he rushed and promptly hung up on the other woman to answer Madeline's call - and winced at the loud sounds of a toilet flushing.

Maybe she accidentally butt-dialed my number. He grinned, thinking about how embarrassed she would be and how ironic the timing of the other phone call was. They would have a good laugh over this, or maybe he would give her that one and keep his mouth shut. He didn't want to embarrass his pretty girl any more than he had to and looked up to see Madeline exiting the bathroom with another man. They were making their way quickly to the exit door of the Lincoln Center.

His beloved wife was leaving with another guy?

"What in the…" Noah uttered in disbelief starting forward as the door opened to let them out, spotting a car on the street. She was leaving and climbing into the car with th at person? Did she know him? Why had she called? Was that a mistake?

All those questions as he jogged down the long hall to the exit dissolved into a wild panic as he saw the man look over his shoulder, recognizing him immediately.

Travis.

To his absolute horror, the car door shut. Noah was running now and caught a glimpse of his wife's terrified face as he exploded out the doors into the night, running down the steps to the vehicle just as the car drove off.

He stood there, horrified and tried to memorize the license plate as he moved to use his phone to call the police – only to see that Madeline's call was at three minutes and eighteen seconds and counting upwards.

The call was still connected.

In three minutes, his wife had been kidnapped by a man who had already attempted to murder them both and slowly held the phone up to his head, listening.

"I don't understand. Why are you doing this?"

"You don't have to understand. In fact, you don't have to do anything at all."

"Why me?"

"Well, I wouldn't be going through this entire mess if it wasn't for you and…"

Noah slowly looked at his phone in disbelief, realizing that his wife had been brilliant enough to call him and pocket the cell phone so he could hear them, hear where they were going, or what was happening. He could only imagine how scared Madeline was right now, but she had been clear-headed enough to do something about it.

Carefully, without hanging up despite his trembling hands, Noah texted Orion.

Don't call me – my line is busy.

My wife was kidnapped, and I'm following them.

I'm gonna need help once I find out where they are going.

And bail money.