Page 72 of Gwen's Delta
“Now pick up the bag and hand it to me. Slowly. If you scream or make any attempt to get away, I will sever your spine. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand.” Gwen moved as slowly as she could, fighting to keep her panic under control even while her body trembled. She’d pushed the bag farther than she realized. As she reached for it, she stumbled and grabbed the edge of the table to keep from falling.
“Hurry, Ms. Dedmond. You do not want to try my patience.” His hot breath raised the hairs on her neck. He’d mirrored her moves and kept the blade to her skin. She needed to get away from him. But how?
As she grabbed the straps and pulled the bag out from under the table, she contemplated hitting him in the balls with it. The duffle weighed a ton, and it might give her enough time to run for it. Then she raised her head and saw Duff sitting about ten feet away at another table.
The kidnapper leaned into her back, and her skin crawled. Her shiver pushed the edge of the knife into her skin.
“Hand me the bag. If you try anything, you will die along with your parents. Now, hurry.”
Gwen could do this; they’d planned for this. Whether it was B or C, she wasn’t sure, but her only job was to get away from the man with the knife.
Pretending to lose her balance again as she picked up the bag, she swung it into his leg, hoping the momentum would take him down. Instead of falling, her kidnapper pulled her against him and slid the knife to the front of her throat. It burned, and blood slid down her neck, but it didn’t seem like much.
“I told you not to try anything,” he growled. “Do you have a death wish?”
“The bag is heavy. I lost my balance.”
Praying he believed her, she waited for Duff to save her. But he didn’t move, though he was tracking their movements. She replayed the plans in her head. What was going on? Why weren’t they saving her? Instead, a terrorist held her at knifepoint, and no one moved. Like she was invisible.
Panic flooded her veins, and her breath hitched in her throat. Nausea roiled in her stomach from his stench. She struggled, and he pushed the blade against her throat, drawing more blood.
Terrified, she swallowed to dampen her dry mouth and focused on Duff. Maybe something went wrong, and they were on a different plan—one she didn’t know.
Luke’s last words from the taxi echoed in her heart. “No matter what, you aren’t alone.” Tears filled her eyes from the sting of the cuts, but she straightened her spine and held onto the duffle bag.
The kidnapper wrapped his other arm around her waist as he walked them backward toward the kitchen entrance. A few more feet and he’d pull her through the doors and out of sight.
“Where are my parents?” she demanded. “That was the deal. I bring you the money, and you give me my parents.” She needed to stall. To give the Deltas time to come to the rescue. Since she couldn’t reach her knife, she’d use words.
“You Americans are stupid. Did you really think we would return your parents to you? Now we have you and the money,” the kidnapper whispered into her ear, his breath making her gag.
“You are messing with the wrong person,” Gwen hissed through barely parted lips.
His chuckle increased her fear. “Really? What are you going to do?”
With each step, he dragged her closer to the swinging doors. When he finally got her into the kitchen, would he kill her? And where were her parents? Had this only been about the money? Time slowed as she struggled in the assailant’s arms, and each time, he pushed the knife into her neck enough to remind her he had the control.
“Let her go.”
Gwen’s head jerked up. The voice…it sounded like her dad, but not. Her dad’s voice was soft and intellectual like her professors’. This man was hard, angry. Then she looked into his face.Dad.
Her brain struggled to catch up to reality. It really was her dad, but not the one who’d left for Egypt less than a month earlier. This Arthur Dedmond looked like a killer, and he held the gun to do it.
“We knew you’d come out of hiding to save your daughter.” The kidnapper chuckled, his forearm just under the blade tightening around her throat.
Gwen grimaced as her eyes filled with tears of pain and frustration. The copper scent of blood left a heated trail down her neck.
“Let her go, and I’ll come with you. If you hurt her, I’ll put a bullet between your eyes.” Arthur took a step closer and aimed the gun over her head at her captor.
Gwen hadn’t seen the man who held her as he’d been behind her the entire time. But her dad never blinked. His hand remained steady as he focused the weapon on the terrorist.
“I would listen to him. He’ll put a bullet between your eyes and not think twice,” Stacey Dedmond said as she stepped out from behind her husband.
Her mom was there, too? As the pieces fell into place, anger heated Gwen’s blood. They’d been free the entire time. Never in danger, never hostages. This was all a ploy. And her parents had let her walk into danger—and the Delta team, too. Gwen couldn’t even wrap her brain around that part.
“I’ll kill her before the bullet hits me,” her captor warned. “Even if you kill me, you won’t escape from us this time. There are others besides me.” He tightened his grip around her waist and pulled her closer.
