Page 73 of Blood Money

Fear that she’d really been kidnapped.

On the other side of the intersection, he caught sight of Dom checking victims. He looked across the street to Gray and shook his head.

Damn. Not good.

Gray headed for the officer in charge of the scene, badging the guy. “What the hell happened?”

The sergeant took in Gray’s detective badge. “Not sure yet. All we know is there was an explosion. That vehicle went up.” The sergeant pointed to the twisted, smoking wreck of a car being doused by a fire hose.

Gray ran to the vehicle, his heart threatening to beat right out of his chest. There wasn’t much left of the car. As with the sergeant, he badged the fire captain, then tugged out the chain and hung it around his neck. “Anyone inside?”

Please, God, no.

The captain made a cutting gesture across his throat, indicating his men should halt spraying. When they shut off the hose, Gray peered inside the open windows, all the glass having shattered from the blast. He shut his eyes, a wave of relief flooding him.

No remains. No bodies. Gray leaned over, resting his hands on his thighs, and drew in a deep breath.

“Detective.” The fire captain stood at his side. “You okay, buddy?”

“Yeah,” Gray heard himself say, although his mind still wasn’t in the game.

Alex wasn’t among the injured. She wasn’t anywhere. He stood to his full height, absorbing the inevitable. In his gut, he knew the other worst-case scenario was about to play out.

Dom’s face appeared in Gray’s vision, his partner’s lips pressed together, confirming what they both knew to be true.

As he met his partner’s eyes, Gray’s heart squeezed first with desperation, then fear. He swallowed hard, struggling to keep it together. “They took her,” he ground out between clenched teeth. “When I find them, I’ll rip their asses apart.”

Chapter Seventeen

Low voices, a man and a woman. A pecking sound.

Warm, dank air blew on Alex’s face as she struggled to open her eyes. Streaks of white flashed behind her lids, and her head pounded like a jackhammer. Her left shoulder ached, and her back stung. Slowly, the pain cut through the fuzziness.

Explosion. Flying debris. A needle in her arm, then…falling.

She tried to move and couldn’t. Her hands were bound in front. Tugging confirmed her wrists were taped solidly together. She snapped open her eyes.

I’ve been abducted.

Panic seized her, and she nearly screamed. She sucked in long, draughts of air.

Calm. Stay calm.

The floor pressing against her cheek was wood, old and musty. Something pricked against her cheek. Hay?

Alex shifted slightly and nearly gasped. The top button of her blouse had come undone, and now the black locator device peeked out from behind the clasp of her bra.

I have to turn it off.

If they haven’t already wanded me for a signal, they will.

The fact that she was still alive implied they hadn’t.

The downside was that once she turned the locator off, Gray wouldn’t be able to find her. Unless she turned it back on after they wanded her.

Alex winced when her bound wrists scraped on the wood floor. She froze, but the voices continued, as did the pecking.

Her fingers finally located the tiny device on her bra, and on the third attempt she managed to hook the tiny lever with her fingernail and push it in the only direction it would move. Now all she had to do was rebutton her shirt.