Page 62 of Guarding Salvation

“Boyd, where is my daughter?”

“Mr Doyle, she’s here with me and safe. I’ll give you her location in twenty-four hours when I’m sure the money has been transferred.”

Doyle laughed. “Now, why would I take orders off a little prick like you?”

“Because if you do, I’ll also give you the location of the man who took her from you and killed your men.”

“I’m listening.”

“Transfer my money and in twenty-four hours, you’ll have the location.”

Boyd hung up knowing he’d either just made a huge mistake with a powerful enemy, or he’d secured his place as a man to be reckoned with.

Chapter 25

“Bram, oh God. I’m so sorry. We couldn’t stop him.”

His hand tightened on the phone and, sensing the tension, Bás stepped forward. “Calm down, Lana, and tell me what happened.”

He heard the hiccup down the line and had to stop himself from losing his mind and bellowing at his sister to tell him what happened.

“Boyd Walsh. He broke into the house after you left and kidnapped Aoife from her bed.”

His skin felt like it was being flayed alive as fear sent electric pulses through his body. As calmly as he could, he placed the phone on the table and put the call on speaker. He needed his team in on this and explaining twice would take more time than he wanted. “Is everyone okay?”

Lana began to cry and the next voice he heard was Rory’s.

“Bram, I’m so sorry. He hurt Mrs Murrel. She’s on her way to the hospital with a blunt force head trauma.”

Bram closed his eyes thinking of the woman who was more of a grandmother to him than a staff member. “What about Lana?”

“She’s shaken. He tied her up and gagged her in Aoife’s room. I found her after I found Mrs Murrel. The police are here too and want a statement. What should I say?”

“Just tell them what happened but leave my team out of it. We’re on our way back now and will fix this.” He took a breath. “Do the cameras show how he got out and which way he went?”

Bram could see the rest of the team gathering and listening intently as Watchdog began to type, already hunting for Boyd Walsh.

“He took her through the inner tunnel, but he looped the camera inside so it wouldn’t show him. It seems he has a good knowledge of the house, but I did find a set of prints on the lawn when I had a quick look once I realised which way he’d gone.”

“Okay, we start there. I’ll be home in a few hours, and we’ll begin looking. Don’t let the police know which way they went if there are tracks. I don’t want them trampling all over them.”

“I’ll tell them he went out the front so they’ll concentrate on the roads.”

“Good and get a team of the best trackers in the village assembled at the castle.”

“You think he took her into the woods?”

“I think if Boyd has been planning revenge for this long, he knows not to take the roads. The cops can check them and so can my team, but nobody knows the woods better than us, and I know if I was doing this, then that’s where I’d take her. Take care of Lana and the kids until I get there and tell her I love her.”

“Will do, Bram.”

Bram cut the call. Everyone was silent while they gathered up their equipment and, in minutes, headed to the cars and were on their way. He was in a car with Titan, Snow, and Bás riding shotgun, as the rest of the team followed in the vehicles they’d driven up in.

Bram looked at Bás, who he knew was waiting for an explanation and more details and appreciated the fact the team had jumped into action without knowing the full story. “Boyd is the younger brother of a man named Ray Walsh. Ray raped my sister when she was eighteen and I beat him to death. I had no idea his brother was harbouring a grudge or that he even knew I was home but it seems I fucked up because he somehow broke into the castle after we left and took Aoife.”

“I’ll have Watchdog look into him and find out all we can about the man. I heard you tell Rory to get some trackers together. Why?”

“Boyd took Aoife out through a secret tunnel inside the walls of the castle that only the family knows about. That shows he knows the castle well and has been inside for an extended period. It also shows a level of cunning, and a man who’s waited this long for revenge isn’t going to fuck it up by using the main road to get her out when everyone in the village knows his face. My guess is he’ll take her deeper into the estate.”