Page 22 of Stunts and Sparks

“Hell, no. Splitting up is the worst thing you can do in these situations. Haven’t you ever seen a horror movie?”

The first speaker shrugged. “If you say so.” And they both left in the same direction Cole had thrown his shoe.

Cole knew he only had seconds to act. While their backs were turned, he darted toward Heather. Since he was a kid, he carried a little pocket knife around with him. For the most part, it was just sentimental. He would never have guessed it would become this vital at any point in his future, but right now, he was grateful to have it on him.

As soon as Heather saw him, her eyes lit up. She must have been feeling so scared and helpless. He was happy to show her she wouldn’t be going through this alone. Right now, he was just giving her hope, but his intention was to get her out of this, too. He knelt down beside her and began cutting through the tape around her ankles. Once, he looked up to see Heather watching. Her expression was frantic, but she didn’t say a word.

When he finished with her ankles, Cole intended to start on her hands, but the kidnappers had finished their investigation and were on their way back. He could hear their footsteps getting closer. “There’s no time,” he whispered. “Come on.”

He pulled her along behind him, guiding her back toward his car. It was lucky she was in the line of work she was in because otherwise, he would doubt her ability to run with her hands tied. As it was, he knew she could handle it, and not carrying her meant they could go much faster.

Partway up the ramp to the next level, he heard the voices start to shout. They’d noticed she was gone. “Faster,” he hissed back to Heather, and she picked up her pace. They had to find somekind of balance between moving silently and moving quickly. Aside from hiding somewhere on the lowest level of the parking garage, there was really only one direction to go in. It wouldn’t take the kidnappers long to figure it out, but there was no reason to make it immediately obvious if they could help it.

Once in his car, he opened the passenger door from the inside so Heather could leap in after him. He sped away before her door was completely closed. He’d seen the specter of her kidnappers running up the ramp after them. The car tires squealed as Cole peeled out of the parking space. He heard the familiar pop of gunfire, and stepped on the gas. Speeding in a garage was far from ideal, but with the bullets Cole could still hear behind them, he didn’t have much of a choice. Luckily, the garage was empty, so he wasn’t putting any pedestrians in danger.

As soon as they were out of the garage, Cole knew they had gotten away. It would take the kidnappers way too long to get into their van and get out of the garage. If they’d thought they could catch Cole on wheels, they wouldn’t have shot at him the way they had. He drove quickly until he could take several erratic, short turns, and then he slowed down.

“We need to get somewhere they won’t expect us to go,” he said to Heather when he was sure he’d lost them for good. “Somehow, they knew where we’d be eating dinner. They’re tracking one of us. I don’t trust either of our homes or usual places right now.” Her poor hands were turning white from lack of blood flow. “We’ll get that tape off you as soon as we find a place to stop.”

She looked over at him, all the unspoken gratitude still in her eyes. “How did you know where to find me?”

“Something felt off,” he admitted. “So I went out to check on you. I saw them take you. I was able to follow them here, but I stupidly left my phone at the bar. Now that I think they’re tracking us somehow, it’s possible that was a happy accident.”

“So where are we going now?” she asked.

“Right now, I’m looking for the nearest pay phone. We need to let the police know what happened.”

She nodded. “That’s definitely a good idea.”

They found a parking lot out along a desert highway that had one lone pay phone still standing. The fact that pay phones were still around in such a sparse location was surprising to Cole; he had expected to have to go to a more populated spot to find one. He parked alongside it and pulled out his pocket knife to cut through the tape on Heather’s wrists.

As soon as she was free, she threw her arms around his neck and murmured into his ear. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

“Leave no man behind,” he said with a grin. “Or woman.” He squeezed her tight. “Don’t worry. I will always come find you, no matter what. Okay? I won’t let anything happen to you.”

He left the car to use the pay phone, but he refused to take his eyes off her. She’d been taken so quickly the last time, he didn’t dare leave her alone for a second. The image of her being shoved into that horrible van and whisked away while he watched in broad daylight still haunted him. When he picked up the receiver, he heard the dial tone that meant it was still working.Thank God.

The police department answered, and Cole immediately launched into the story of Heather’s kidnapping and rescue. Thepolice listened carefully and asked several follow-up questions. Then they told him the truth, and he became angrier by the minute as he heard it.

“We’ve been aware of this gang’s activities for a while now,” the officer said. “A reliable source told us their plans with Jessica Johnson, so we’ve had protection on her for several weeks now.”

Cole growled into the phone. “If you knew, why wasn’t something done about it?”

“We’re working on it,” the officer said. “We didn’t think the danger would extend to her stunt double. Unfortunately, we didn’t foresee that.”

“Unfortunately,” Cole echoed.

“More unfortunately, you’re involved now. If you’ve seen their faces, you’ll be on their hit list. We can get protection to you, but this gang doesn’t mess around. An even better option would be for you to… disappear.”

Cole narrowed his eyes at the worddisappear. “What’s that entail, exactly?” he asked.

The officer sighed deeply. “Avoid going home. Avoid going anywhere they may expect you. Get yourself a couple of burner phones, and hide out for a few days. We’re close to finding the rest of them. We just want to make sure we have all of them before we make a move. That way none of them will have time to escape justice. And that way none of them will come after you later. They’re organized and vindictive. Do you understand?”

“But what about our jobs?” Cole asked.

“We’ll inform the studio what the situation is. They can reschedule your shoots as needed.” The officer paused. “Yourfamily, too. If there’s anyone we can contact to let them know you’re safe and under our protection, just let us know.”

Cole gestured for Heather to come to the phone. She got out of the car, and he couldn’t help noticing how tired she looked, understandably. “They say we have to lay low while they go after these guys.”

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