He forced her into a chair and held her there with one hand on her shoulder as he pulled a zip tie from his pocket.
Cadie struggled, but he moved fast and his grip was tight.He yanked her arms behind the back of the chair.She clenched her hands into fists and held them side by side.Kal secured her wrists with the zip tie, pulling it tight enough that the plastic bit into her skin.Then he stepped back and looked at her with a satisfied expression.
"I've done my homework," Kal said.He was breathing harder from the exertion, but his voice was steady."You're an only child and you don't have any heirs.When you're gone, the property will go to the state.Then I'll pick it up for a lot less than I would have paid you."
He smirked."You see…I win either way.In my defense, I attempted to be fair.I would have purchased this property from you for a good price, or from your aunt, if she hadn't been so stubborn."
Cadie stared at him.Her wrists burned where the zip tie pressed into her skin.Her shoulder ached where he'd gripped her.Her heart was beating so hard that she could feel it in her throat.
But her mind was working."It's money," she said, in a shaky voice."Is this worth your future?You'll be caught.You'll go to prison."
Kal looked at her with the patient expression of a man having to explain the situation to a simpleton."I don't think so."
He picked up the black bag that she'd noticed earlier.Then he turned away and walked toward the back of the room.The bag was dark canvas, the kind a contractor might carry tools in.Kal unzipped it and began removing items that Cadie could not see clearly from her position in the chair.
Behind her back, hidden from his view, Cadie rotated her wrists outward then extended her fingers.With her palms against each other, the zip tie was looser.Slowly, she began to shimmy her hands out of it.While Kal was turned away, she worked steadily, keeping her shoulders still.Getting free of the restraint was her only chance.
Chapter 20
When the text appeared on the monitoring screen, Barrett was still in Sullivan's office.
He'd been sitting across from the detective's desk in the aftermath of Olivia's interview, processing what they had heard and what it meant.The call between Olivia and Kal had confirmed everything.Olivia was panicking.Kal was dismissive.The relationship between them was exactly what Barrett had suspected, a handler managing an asset who had outlived her usefulness.
Sullivan was making notes in the case file when the alert chimed.He looked at the screen and his expression changed.
"New text from Kal's phone," he said.He angled the monitor so Barrett could see.
The message was sent to Olivia's number.It read:Urgent, come to Stratton House.
Barrett realized that the situation had shifted.Cadie was at Stratton House.She'd gone to meet with Jaxon Boone.Barrett had kissed her goodbye and told her to text when she arrived.
She had not texted.
Barrett stood.The chair scraped against the floor behind him and the sound was sharp in the small office.Sullivan looked at him, and Barrett saw the same recognition in his eyes.The detective was already reaching for his phone.
"Go," Sullivan said."Right now."His tone conveyed the immediacy."I'll handle things here and get there with backup.We don't know what you'll find."
Barrett was already at the door.He turned back for one second and met Sullivan's eyes.
"I won't let anything happen to Cadie," he said.
Then he was moving down the corridor past the interview rooms, through the bullpen, where detectives looked up from their desks at the sound of his footsteps, out the front entrance and across the parking lot to his car.He had the engine running and the car in gear before the door was fully closed.
He drove fast but controlled.The streets of Charleston's historic district were narrow and tree-lined, and Barrett navigated them with the focus of a man who had driven under far worse conditions.His mind was operating in the mode that years of SEAL training had built, compartmentalized and clear, emotion separated from action, fear acknowledged and then set aside so that it could not interfere with the task at hand.
He did not know what he would find at Stratton House.He did not know if Kal was already there or if Olivia had arrived, or if Cadie was alone or in danger or hurt.The uncertainty was a variable that he could not eliminate until he had eyes on the situation, so he did not waste energy on speculation.He drove, and he prepared himself for whatever awaited him.
The drive from the police station to Stratton House was short.Barrett made it shorter.He turned onto the street where the building stood and immediately began scanning.Cadie's rental car was parked on the curb in front of the building.Farther down the street, a sedan that Barrett recognized as Olivia's was parked near the corner.If Kal had driven separately, his vehicle could be parked behind the building or on a side street.Barrett did not have the luxury of circling the block to check.
He parked behind Cadie's car and killed the engine.The street was quiet.There were no pedestrians, and there was no movement visible through the windows of Stratton House.The building sat on its corner lot, but its ornate architecture revealed nothing about what was happening inside.
Barrett got out of the car and closed the door quietly.He moved toward the building with the deliberate, measured steps of a man who was trained to approach unknown situations without announcing his presence.His eyes tracked the windows, the entrance, and the sight lines from the street.He listened for sounds from inside the building but heard none.
The front door was unlocked.Barrett pushed it open slowly, keeping his body to the side of the frame in case the doorway was being watched.The entrance hall stretched before him, empty and dim.
He stepped inside and eased the door closed behind him.The latch engaged with a soft click that was barely audible in the stillness.
Then he heard voices.
