Countdown

Rachel’s ribs constricted. A man like James should never have had to lose his wife or even worry about having to lose his kids. She’d seen the way he parented them at church, during their car-pool rides, and occasionally through her window as they ran around their backyard while the boys giggled and taunted James with cries of “Chase me, Daddy.”

Such a man didn’t deserve to deal with this kind of fear, the kind she’d experienced most of her life. An inevitable darkness surrounded people like her.

James frowned, snapping her out of the morose thoughts. His dark mop of curls hung low and emphasized his blue-gray eyes. She followed his gaze as paramedics crossed the grass, heading toward them. “Are you hurt?” James asked.

She put a hand on her neck. “Nothing a good stretch and a visit to the chiropractor won’t fix.” She reached out and gently touched the twins’ blond heads, needing reassurance they were fine.

Two officers approached. “Sir? Ma’am? We need to talk to both of you.”

James nodded but his gaze didn’t leave her. Two paramedics flanked James. They each talked to the boys in hushed tones as they asked questions and tried to evaluate them. The boys clung even tighter to their father’s neck. Their little red T-shirts against his navy-collared shirt gave a resemblance to a superhero.

Rachel inhaled sharply. His gaze always sped up her heart a little. It needed to stop because they could never, ever, be anything more than neighbors.

She turned on her heel and faced the officer. “Of course. Anything you need.” The stagnant air, mixed with the smell of diesel and tar from construction, threatened the start of a headache. Her stomach gurgled with hunger pangs, as if jealous for attention.

After a series of endless questions, the beeps from a tow truck backing up halted her train of thought. They were taking her car. The muscles in her back tensed. Transportation meant freedom and control. How long would it take for them to fix the air bag and the transmission she felt certain she’d dropped?

The officer pressed his lips in a firm line, as if impatient. She nodded for him to continue, but she half heard his next question. Her gaze, fueled by a desperate need for proof the kidnapper was gone, swept past the blue uniform. She studied the hedges, flowering bushes and trees surrounding her. She couldn’t get past one question the officer hadn’t yet asked: Why would the kidnapper return to the scene and spy on them?

* * *

James studied the boys in his rearview mirror on the drive back home. Physically they were unharmed and seemed like themselves, but they remained silent, their gazes locked on the blur outside their respective windows. A clear sign that his normally talkative twins weren’t fine.

Their mom would’ve known how to help them cope after the attempted kidnapping. His throat tightened. Nikki had been gone two years. The boys probably didn’t even remember the sound of her voice.

He squeezed the steering wheel. Ever since the hit-and-run had taken Nikki away from him, he drove only when absolutely necessary. So much so, his younger brothers had accused him of becoming a hermit, and his mother worried aloud he’d developed agoraphobia. Only his father seemed to understand. Or maybe he didn’t. James couldn’t tell because he hardly said a word.

The manic chase to the subdivision exit marked the first time he’d driven aggressively since the accident. Thankfully, his neighbor didn’t seem to have such squeamishness. He would never forget the way she’d tried to block the van, and then, despite being hit, gone after them like a raging bull.

What was the proper thank-you gift for such an act of selflessness? His throat swelled at the possibility of what could have happened had she not intervened. He gritted his teeth and forced the emotions to take a backseat.

Rachel sat in the passenger seat in silence, her hands squeezed together. He’d insisted on giving her a ride home after her car was towed. It stood to reason she’d be distraught over her banged-up vehicle. Even so, she was uncharacteristically quiet and still. She hadn’t let a second go by with silence on all the other rides they’d shared to church and back.

He forced a small smile. “Hey. Are you okay?”

She blinked and jerked in her seat. Her wide eyes roved past James and the boys, as if she’d been awakened from a dream and surprised she wasn’t alone. “I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I mean, I’m sure I will be.” Her voice took on a chipper tone. “I suppose it takes a while to process things when something like that happens.”

The sudden positive take didn’t ring true. “If you hadn’t slowed them down...”

She flashed him a dark look and darted a glance behind him. Ah, message received. She didn’t think he should discuss it any more in front of the boys.

But James felt the need to talk about it. The squeal of her tires had made him look through the living room window to discover the boys had slipped outside without him. They had asked if they could ride their bikes outside, and he had said they could after his phone call. They were supposed to have waited. He never let them go outside alone.

He shouldn’t care what Rachel thought of him, but still wanted to explain so she wouldn’t think he was an irresponsible dad.

James groaned inwardly. Discussing their disobedience now would only make the boys think the kidnapping attempt was their fault. How would the experience affect them in the long run?

His pulse ran hot and fast again. Relief turned to anger at the situation. He’d calmed down after the paramedics had checked the twins. His initial reactions began to seem like paranoia. Now he wasn’t sure. Could the kidnapping attempt be connected to the anomaly he’d discovered at work or the phone call he’d made two days ago?

“We’re going home, right?” Caleb asked.

“Yeah, buddy.” That was the third time in two minutes one of the boys had asked. They should’ve recognized their surroundings since they were gazing out the windows.

“And the bad guys are in jail?”

James’s throat tightened. They still hadn’t caught the escaped kidnapper, but the officers assured him they would. Patrol cars circled through the area, neighbors were on alert and the cop seemed positive the man wouldn’t be foolish enough to try to get at his kids again.

Rachel twisted in her seat. The green tints in her blue eyes sparkled off the rays from the setting sun. Her grin held a hint of mischief. “Do you boys have a favorite food?”

Ethan shouted pizza at the same time Caleb yelled ice cream. Rachel nodded. “Mine, too.” She stiffened and faced forward. “I’m not trying to imply we eat together. I just thought a treat might help them get their minds off things.”

James shook his head. “I didn’t think of that.” But the image of her at his dinner table made his lips twitch, almost into a smile. “So you boys want pizza?”

“Yeah,” the twins echoed in unison.

She tilted her head back and released a lyrical laugh. She turned to him as her chestnut hair spilled over her right shoulder. “Do you ever get used to them speaking in stereo? I don’t think I’d ever be able to get over it. It’s amazing.”

Warmth filled his chest. “They’re something special.” Now that his children were out of immediate danger, he registered the soft-shell navy jacket, the white-and-navy blouse, navy pants and navy flats Rachel was wearing. She looked amazing in his favorite color. James jerked his head back at the unbidden thought.

He pulled into his driveway and hit the garage opener out of habit. He frowned at his mistake and shifted into Park. “Sorry. I forgot to stop in front of your house.”

She raised an eyebrow. “So I could walk three feet instead of six? No worries.” She hopped out of the car before he could reply and waved at the boys. “You have a good night, okay?”

“Bye.” They yelled in unison and squirmed forward against their seat belts.

James stilled for a moment, searching for the right words to say as she walked away. Should he invite her to eat with them? Was it too forward? Would she be okay? Having a man point a gun at your face, even through a window, had to be a lot to process. He opened his mouth as he lowered the passenger window, but she’d already disappeared into her house.

He pulled the car inside the garage and allowed the door to drop before releasing the boys. They ran up the steps and through the connecting door into the kitchen as they chatted about pizza and ice cream. For a split second, everything seemed normal again. His neighbor was right. They’d needed a distraction to help them get their mind off the kidnapping attempt.

For him, it was the opposite. Now that he didn’t need to put on a brave face for Rachel or the boys, he could concentrate. Sure, there were plenty of creeps roaming the city, but the kidnapping didn’t seem random. Why would kidnappers pick a cul-de-sac deep in the heart of the subdivision? The timing of it all seemed suspect. Was his family a target?

He worked at Launch Operations, a space transport company. The anomaly he’d found within the scripts he monitored meant a possible weapon was hidden inside a satellite scheduled to launch. His fingers twitched to call Derrick, his NSA contact, and demand protection. After all, it was Derrick who had asked him to help the NSA in the first place.

Or was James jumping to conclusions, connecting dots that didn’t belong together?

He followed the boys inside and found them jumping on the couch. “I was looking forward to pizza, but we could always have vegetable stew instead.”

The twins froze, their mouths open, and dropped to their bottoms on the cushions. Ah, his boys may have been through a horrible ordeal, but they were smart enough to test how far this “treat” business went. He melted at their hopeful grins, lowered himself to his knees and hugged them again. When he thought about what might have happened—

“Daddy, are you sad?” Caleb asked.

He shook his head and blinked away the growing moisture. “No, the opposite. I’m very, very thankful for you.”

“’Cause Rachel saved us, huh?” Ethan asked, but he was already nodding the answer.

James nodded along and attempted to keep their beautiful neighbor out of his mind. “Yes.” Hugging her had been an impulse, and now he wished he’d never discovered her hair smelled like fresh raspberries.

“Listen.” He cleared his throat. “I’ve been thinking Uncle David and Aunt Aria haven’t seen you for a long time. What do you think about a visit?”

Their eyes widened, and they let out a whoop, no doubt thinking of the all the toys Aria had brought with her last time. James had never been so thankful he had a good relationship with his brother and sister-in-law. Hopefully they would be available, and if not, he’d just drive to his mom and dad’s. He could drop the boys off and drive all night to come back to work. At least then he’d feel safer knowing they were far away until the launch, and the possible threat, was over.

“So,” James continued, “I need you to go to your room and pack some clothes in your backpacks just like we did when we went camping on the church trip. Think you can do that?”

“What about the pizza?” Caleb asked.

James’s stomach growled at his question, sending the boys into giggles. “What if we picked it up and ate it in the car?”

Their reaction didn’t disappoint. They jumped up and cheered. He loved that something so simple as drive-thru food caused so much excitement. They were like their mother that way. She had found joy in the small, everyday things. Their little legs were already in motion, sprinting off to their shared room. “Don’t forget clean underwear and socks,” he called after them.

His shoulders relaxed. Plans always helped. He picked up his laptop from the end table and flicked it open. Please show me I’m wrong, Lord. Let this just be a horrible coincidence.

He’d set up his browser’s home page to his work login since he often telecommuted. As a systems administrator, he put in significant overtime and monitored all processes on the servers in the weeks leading up to each launch.

In three days there was yet another telecom satellite scheduled to launch from an air force base his company leased from the government. Mission Control remained at the main offices in the city, but there would also be a small control tower next to the launch site.

James worked around the clock before each and every launch, ensuring there would be no programming glitches. And he’d never found a glitch he couldn’t repair. It was fixing a small script error that had alerted him to the abnormality in the first place. Otherwise, he’d probably never have noticed it.

James typed in his username and password. An orange box flashed on the screen. He narrowed his eyes. User access denied. He gripped the sides of the monitor. This was confirmation the kidnapping was no coincidence. They were in danger.

He grabbed his cell, dialed Derrick and listened to the phone ring. The wind swept his curls farther down his forehead. The first step would be to close all the windows while he prepped to leave.

He strode to the first window and shoved it closed. Across the small stretch of grass between their houses, all of Rachel’s windows were also open.

A man—the same man that’d escaped—crept through the shadows of her living room.

THREE

The wind whipped Rachel’s hair forward as she walked to the fridge. She lifted the ponytail holder she often wore as a bracelet and pulled her hair back. Now that she’d changed out of work clothes into her sweatpants, a T-shirt and zippered hoodie, she could attempt to unwind.

She loved this time of year. The gentle winds carried the smell of blooming fruit trees. It soothed her frayed nerves.

She had almost broken her own rule and let her guard down with James. The events of the day had brought back memories and emotions from her childhood she didn’t want to face. The entire reason she’d escaped that life and succeeded was that she depended on no one but herself...and God.

The pitiful contents in the fridge caused her stomach to gurgle. Eggs, a soggy bag of salad mix and a half-full container of smoked turkey all served as reminders she needed to run to the grocery store. If only she’d remembered her dinner before the tow truck had left with her car. In the unlikely event insurance didn’t declare the car totaled, she’d find herself driving a car that smelled like moldy burrito for weeks.

Inside the freezer, though, she found a treat. An unopened package of cream-cheese-filled jalapeño poppers prompted a grin. She wouldn’t have to make eggs, after all. She carried the box to the oven and leaned over to enter the temperature.

Two steel arms pinned her against the stove and took her breath away. She opened her mouth in a silent scream. Her veins pumped hot lava as she struggled to push back.

“If I can’t take the kids, it seems you’ll do.” A scratchy voice filled her right ear. “I’m not leaving empty-handed.” The hot breath sent a chill down her spine and overwhelmed her with nausea. Her lungs burned from the lack of oxygen as the man leaned his whole body weight against her. She couldn’t turn her head. Her arms were bolted to her sides.

The only thing in her line of vision was the French rolling pin resting on the top of the stove. Her biceps burned, straining to get free.

The man squeezed her tighter around her torso, sending lightning bolts of pain down her spine and legs. She struggled as he growled, “Now who’s sorry she tried to play the hero? Huh?” He shook her body, and her head lashed forward, almost hitting the range hood.

“Guess we’ll find out how much your boyfriend loves you, won’t we?”

Boyfriend? Was he out of his mind? If it was a drug-induced rage, he would be beyond reasoning. No matter how she strained, she proved no match for the man’s strength. Tears blurred her vision and ran down her cheeks. She’d left a life of violence behind, but it’d found her. This was how it would all end?

He lifted, and her feet no longer touched the ground. His tight grip wouldn’t allow her lungs to expand. She couldn’t scream. Her temples pulsed with a stinging sensation. Please make it stop! She didn’t have much oxygen left. The hold jogged her memory. Had she gone through a similar exercise in self-defense class?

Rachel clenched her jaw as he stepped back, carrying her away. She swung her feet backward, between his legs, and looped her toes behind his calves. She closed her eyes and locked her knees. She pressed her feet forward. Her muscles burned with the effort.

He growled as he struggled against her legs to take another step. He still maintained his hold, but his arms loosened slightly.

Her toes touched the ground. Rachel took in a greedy inhale, but there was no time to catch her breath. She twisted her right wrist and raked her knuckles firmly across the top of the man’s left hand.

He yelped and released her. Rachel stumbled against the stove and reached for the rolling pin. Tapered on both ends, she gripped the right side. She spun on her heel just as his hand reached her shoulder. She twisted her hips and smashed the side of the rolling pin into his head. He stumbled back but remained upright.

“Help!” Her lungs stung from the effort. Rachel took a step forward and swung the rolling pin again as the man rushed her.

The back door burst open. James filled the doorway.

The diversion shifted her focus, and the man blocked the rolling pin. It flew backward and smacked the edge of her shoulder before it tumbled to the ground.

She cried out. James yelled something she didn’t register as the kidnapper snarled and charged at her. Rachel tightened her fist and threw a punch directly to the middle of his chest. The man stumbled back. Pain vibrated up her arm to her throbbing shoulder.

His right hand reached into his jacket and pulled out a jagged knife.

Rachel gasped, paralyzed.

James stepped forward, and his foot whipped out a kick so fast that if Rachel had blinked she would’ve missed it. The knife soared into the hallway. The man’s fist aimed for James’s face, but her neighbor sidestepped the punch.

In a seamless motion, James twisted the man’s wrist into an odd angle. The man cried out, and James pushed him down until the kidnapper sunk to his knees. He put a foot on his back and pressed him all the way to the ground while gathering the man’s other hand.

James sat on his back. “I called the police on my way over here. Do you have any zip ties or rope to help hold him until they arrive?”

Rachel tried to stop shivering, but her body refused. The adrenaline rush took control. She may have attended kickboxing and self-defense classes regularly, but it didn’t compare to facing someone wishing to harm her. “I...I might have something.”

She ran to the garage and riffled through the few tools she had piled on a card table in the corner. Why didn’t she think to have zip ties or rope as part of her tool kit? Her stomach twisted at the shame of not being prepared. She thrust off some of the items on the vinyl tabletop until her fingertips grasped a ball of twine she’d intended to use in preparation for her first raised vegetable garden. It wasn’t rope, but it’d have to do.

She dry heaved. Her entire body trembled. This wasn’t supposed to happen in a good neighborhood, to a church-going business owner. She’d done everything right, hadn’t she? Rachel shook her head, as if forcefully throwing the thoughts away. She ran back into the house.

James accepted the ball, frowned, and tied up the man’s wrist and ankles.

The man underneath James’s weight grumbled.

“Who sent you?” James asked.

The man went silent. Rachel’s pulse quickened. Why would James think someone had sent him? She crossed her arms over her chest, trying to calm her heart rate.

“I asked you a question.” James almost spat out the words. His face turned slightly red.

The kidnapper twitched but said nothing.

“Why do you think someone sent him?” she asked, her voice weak.

Grief crossed his features as his eyes, dark and tortured, met hers. “I want to know why they tried to kidnap my kids and then you.”

Rachel blinked. “I’m pretty sure he’s on meth or something.” She recognized the symptoms, and judging by the man’s eyes and the pallor of his skin, she imagined he’d spent years addicted to illegal substances. “I doubt you’ll get any useful answers from him right now.”

The sound of sirens rang through the window screens. “I hope that’s for us.”

“Should be.” James didn’t take his eyes off the man underneath him. “I’d hoped they were still in the vicinity. They should’ve been hunting for this guy.”

Her shoulders relaxed, the reality sinking in. James had the man subdued. The police were on their way. Once the man was gone, the danger would be over. Everything could go back to normal. “Thank you, James,” she whispered, straining past her aching throat.

She stared at the kidnapper’s meaty hands, hands that had almost succeeded in taking her, hurting her. Was this all because she had stopped him from kidnapping the neighbor’s kids?

No good deed goes unpunished. Her uncle used to say that often. Of course, he was a drug dealer, and the only good deed he’d ever done was not forcing Rachel into the family business. She’d often wondered if her uncle knew the quote came from the first female ambassador to Italy. If he did, she was sure he’d never have repeated it again. Her uncle didn’t believe women were worth much. None of the men in her family did.

Two police cars parked in front of her house, and the officers rushed to her door. Rachel crossed the wooden floor and flung the door open. “He’s in here.”

Two officers ran to where James sat. James jumped up from his post on the man’s back so the officers could take over. The same officer who’d collected her witness account stood just inside her doorway. “I can send for an ambulance.”

“No,” Rachel replied. She placed a hand on her neck. “I’m okay, really.” Or at least she would be.

* * *

The police escorted the man in handcuffs out of the house. While the officer questioned Rachel about what had just happened, James stared out the window. His stomach churned, his neck ached...the beginnings of a tension headache. He’d called out to the boys and told them he had to help Rachel and would be right back as he’d run out the back door, but he’d already been away from his boys long enough.

At least he had told them to play in his office behind the secret door just in case it was a ruse to separate him from the boys, but the fact remained he had never left them home alone before. Now, the first time he had—even just to run next door—was the same day someone had tried to take them away. If there were ever an award for Worst Parent...

“I need to go,” he said.

The officer stopped midsentence and looked out the window. “You live there?”

James nodded.

The officer’s lips flattened before he nodded. “Okay. I think we have what we need for now. You can go,” the officer said to James before he offered Rachel a smile. “I think we’ve got enough evidence to keep them locked up for a long time. Now that we’ve got both suspects, you can put your minds at ease.”

James stiffened.

Rachel’s eyes locked on him. She raised her eyebrows and gave a subtle nod. James knew that look. His mom always did that when she wanted him to do something, say something. Problem was, half the time he had no idea what she’d expected.

A small sigh escaped Rachel. “Why would they target the boys and then me?” She looked at James, but the question seemed directed at the officer.

The cop shrugged. “I wish I could tell you definitively. I don’t know about the driver, but this man shows the signs of a crystal meth addiction.”

“I thought so,” Rachel muttered.

How had she known the signs? He made a mental note to ask her, but he needed to call Derrick immediately before things escalated. He’d never got to finish his call when he’d seen the man creep through her living room. The officer and Rachel seemed satisfied with their theory, but it still didn’t make sense to him.