Page 76 of Booked for Kidnapping

Bradley sat, turned in the chair so he could face me, and picked up a link of sausage, nibbling on it while eyeing me with a gratifying amount of wariness. Once he chewed and swallowed, he said, “More than once, less than ten. I think.”

“You aren’t sure if you were almost kidnapped more than ten times?” I grabbed my plate, sat on the edge of the bed, and took my frustrations out on a piece of bacon. “I want to hear a dramatized retelling of the one where you and Ren got knocked out and needed to be rescued by your father’s security team. Once you’re done, I want to know why you didn’t tell me.”

“Ren suggested I avoid telling you until he was present to defend my honor.”

A bark of laughter escaped before I could squelch it. “Okay. That’s fair. I can accept Ren wanting to play interference. He would know I wouldn’t handle the news well. I’m really not handling this news well, and I’m willing to acknowledge this.”

“I am impressed you didn’t drag me out of bed by my ear the instant you found out.”

“You were sleeping, and I needed a nap. I was even crankier before my nap. I stayed up all night reading awful legislation. I’m going to need another nap after I eat breakfast and hear your end of the story. After my nap, we need to get the bitch, Ren, Meridian, and Ajani from the airport.”

“Dad can handle getting them from the airport.”

“No. I need to see my fluffy goddess immediately.”

“And I guess we’re going to retrieve Ajani from the airport.”

“You may address her as our cat, but she’ll always be my fluffy goddess. That’s as far as I’m willing to compromise on this issue.”

Bradley laughed, and he relaxed. “All right. I’ll get my father to do the dramatized retelling for your enjoyment, but I’ll give you the basics. Honestly, I can’t give you a dramatized retelling because we were walking near my parents’ place for some fresh air when we got gas bombed. One minute, I was talking to Ren about scheduling. The next, I had an oxygen mask over my face while some doctor was trying to figure out what the hell we’d been sedated with. It acted fast, we both went down like rocks, and my father’s security people, who were practicing stealth observations, about shit their pants because the would-be kidnappers were just as good as they were.”

“Illusionist?”

“Probably. Since we were already out, Dad’s team opted to use some flash-bangs to scare off those in the area—and a powder bomb. Powder bombs are fun. It makes it really difficult for people, including illusionists, to hide. They spotted at least two figures, but they bolted once the various toys started going off. We were out cold, which freaked Dad out, but the sedatives only lasted for about thirty minutes before Ren came around. I was a little slower, but that didn’t really surprise anybody.”

“You’re smaller, and you have a good lung capacity. You probably got a big dose of the drug, and you metabolized it a little slower?”

“That’s what Dad thinks, yeah. Anyway, that was after a few other failed attempts. Somebody tried to grab me outside of your branch twice and once outside of the main branch. Ren handled two of those, and Beatrice took care of the third. Also, Beatrice is quite handy with an umbrella. Ren would have interfered, but Beatrice had the situation covered, and what she didn’t cover, I did.”

“Obviously, I owe the bitch a dinner at the very least. Were you actually apprehended for any length of time?”

“You may thank Ren for preventing that one. I got hit with an illusionist, and without him, I would’ve just happily gone into some stranger’s vehicle.”

“It looks like I owe Ren dinner, too.”

“I’m sure they’ll be happy to embarrass me at your leisure. They were definitely using an illusionist, though.”

“Which explains why you didn’t seem all that surprised. Because my kidnappers tried to get you, too.” I sighed. “Beatrice thinks I was becoming unmanageable, and they wanted to kidnap you to make me happy.”

“I have certain regrets regarding my status as kidnapping resistant right now. Had I known that was what was going on, I would’ve jumped in the vehicle rather willingly. However, we hadn’t known.”

“I would have been annoyed if you’d invited yourself to your kidnapping. However, being stuck in a room with you and a bunch of books seems like a very nice vacation, so I’m a little sad about that.”

Bradley grinned at me. “Would you like me to arrange for us to be locked in a room together with a nice, comfy bed, a bunch of books, and set feeding times?”

“With a connected bathroom. Like a hotel but with books.”

“Will this win me forgiveness for not telling you about the kidnapping attempts?”

“As long as I get a dramatized version of you having to be rescued while you were unconscious.”

Bradley laughed. “There are pictures. I find them to be embarrassing, but they exist, as my father’s team wears body cameras, so the whole thing was recorded. I’ll ask Ren to tell you about some of the attempts, and Dad would be happy to embarrass me about that time I almost got kidnapped at his house.”

“But you weren’t hurt?”

“Nobody was hurt. I was lethargic for the rest of the day due to the sedative, but we had a doctor come to the house and take a blood sample. Ren was woozy, too, so we got pampered. Mom even made us nice steaks after our rough day.”

“That poor woman must have been crying while cooking.”