Page 32 of Protecting Kelli
It was also obvious Charles was now extremely upset about the fact his brother-in-law-to-be was missing. He wasn’t faking his agitation over the situation and was now almost tripping over his words, eager to tell the commander and Flash’s team anything and everything they wanted to know about the tubing trip. Including descriptions of the men who’d driven them there, and then the ones who’d been waiting to take them back to the resort.
“Are they going to be okay?” Charles asked.
“If we have anything to say about it, yes,” the commander said.
“What do we do now?”
“You keep your asses at the resort. Do not leave the grounds again. The police are being called as we speak. Talk to them. Tell them everything you told me. Then get a flight back to the States as soon as the officers there say you’re cleared to leave.”
“Are we in danger too?” Charles asked, sounding as if he was in shock.
“We don’t know. But it’s better to get you back to the US as soon as possible.”
“Yeah. I need to get to Nova,” Charles said quietly, as if talking to himself.
The commander ended the call after briefly speaking with the security chief at the resort to make sure the police had been called, and that the groups Flash and Kelli had been with would be safe until they could get out of the country.
“I can’t believe Flash got kidnapped,” Smiley said, clearly pissed.
“Wait—if Hepworth didn’t even know, how did you find out about Flash?” MacGyver asked the commander.
“Because the kidnapper called my office to demand a ransom.”
Kevlar stared at his commander in disbelief. “He calledyou? How did he know who you were?”
“No clue. But if Flash had his Navy ID on him—which we all know he probably did, because he’s a stickler for that kind of thing—it was probably taken. The kidnapper obviously has some knowhow with computers, because he knew Flash was stationed here, and he called my office line. Not the general base number.”
“Has anyone called Tex? Can’t he just track him and we can go and pick him up?” Safe asked.
“He doesn’t have his tracker on him,” the commander said grimly.
“Fuck!”
“Damn it!”
“Didn’t he learnanythingfrom the rest of us?”
Kevlar’s mind was spinning. He itched to get on a plane to Jamaica. To find his friend. It was one thing to be sent on a rescue mission for a stranger, or several strangers, but this was one of their own. Their brother. “Is he alive?”
The question seemed to hang heavy in the air.
The commander pressed his lips together. “I don’tknow. I asked for proof of life, but the kidnapper said the only proof of life I’d get was when he got his money and Flash was released.”
“How much did he ask for?” Blink asked.
“Fifty thousand.”
Kevlar blinked in surprise. “That’s it?”
“Yes. But as you know, many Jamaicans live in extreme poverty. Fifty thousand dollars is more money than a lot of them can imagine making in a lifetime,” the commander said.
“And it’s an amount he probably thought he could get,” MacGyver added. “If he asked for ten million, he had to know he’d never get it.”
“So? What now? Are we paying it? Are we going to Jamaica? What?” Kevlar asked impatiently.
“We’re not paying it, but we’re going to string this guy along. Give you six time to get to Jamaica. But if any ofyouget kidnapped, I’m going to be pissed,” their commander said. “Their government has been made aware of the situation and we’ve all agreed to keep this hush-hush. The last thing they want is word getting out that tourists are still being kidnapped. The tourism industry has already taken a hit over there with the increase in violence.”
“When do we leave?” Blink asked.
