Countdown. Heather Woodhaven

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СКАЧАТЬ kidnappers pick a cul-de-sac deep in the heart of the subdivision? The timing of it all seemed suspect. Was his family a target?

      He worked at Launch Operations, a space transport company. The anomaly he’d found within the scripts he monitored meant a possible weapon was hidden inside a satellite scheduled to launch. His fingers twitched to call Derrick, his NSA contact, and demand protection. After all, it was Derrick who had asked him to help the NSA in the first place.

      Or was James jumping to conclusions, connecting dots that didn’t belong together?

      He followed the boys inside and found them jumping on the couch. “I was looking forward to pizza, but we could always have vegetable stew instead.”

      The twins froze, their mouths open, and dropped to their bottoms on the cushions. Ah, his boys may have been through a horrible ordeal, but they were smart enough to test how far this “treat” business went. He melted at their hopeful grins, lowered himself to his knees and hugged them again. When he thought about what might have happened—

      “Daddy, are you sad?” Caleb asked.

      He shook his head and blinked away the growing moisture. “No, the opposite. I’m very, very thankful for you.”

      “’Cause Rachel saved us, huh?” Ethan asked, but he was already nodding the answer.

      James nodded along and attempted to keep their beautiful neighbor out of his mind. “Yes.” Hugging her had been an impulse, and now he wished he’d never discovered her hair smelled like fresh raspberries.

      “Listen.” He cleared his throat. “I’ve been thinking Uncle David and Aunt Aria haven’t seen you for a long time. What do you think about a visit?”

      Their eyes widened, and they let out a whoop, no doubt thinking of the all the toys Aria had brought with her last time. James had never been so thankful he had a good relationship with his brother and sister-in-law. Hopefully they would be available, and if not, he’d just drive to his mom and dad’s. He could drop the boys off and drive all night to come back to work. At least then he’d feel safer knowing they were far away until the launch, and the possible threat, was over.

      “So,” James continued, “I need you to go to your room and pack some clothes in your backpacks just like we did when we went camping on the church trip. Think you can do that?”

      “What about the pizza?” Caleb asked.

      James’s stomach growled at his question, sending the boys into giggles. “What if we picked it up and ate it in the car?”

      Their reaction didn’t disappoint. They jumped up and cheered. He loved that something so simple as drive-thru food caused so much excitement. They were like their mother that way. She had found joy in the small, everyday things. Their little legs were already in motion, sprinting off to their shared room. “Don’t forget clean underwear and socks,” he called after them.

      His shoulders relaxed. Plans always helped. He picked up his laptop from the end table and flicked it open. Please show me I’m wrong, Lord. Let this just be a horrible coincidence.

      He’d set up his browser’s home page to his work login since he often telecommuted. As a systems administrator, he put in significant overtime and monitored all processes on the servers in the weeks leading up to each launch.

      In three days there was yet another telecom satellite scheduled to launch from an air force base his company leased from the government. Mission Control remained at the main offices in the city, but there would also be a small control tower next to the launch site.

      James worked around the clock before each and every launch, ensuring there would be no programming glitches. And he’d never found a glitch he couldn’t repair. It was fixing a small script error that had alerted him to the abnormality in the first place. Otherwise, he’d probably never have noticed it.

      James typed in his username and password. An orange box flashed on the screen. He narrowed his eyes. User access denied. He gripped the sides of the monitor. This was confirmation the kidnapping was no coincidence. They were in danger.

      He grabbed his cell, dialed Derrick and listened to the phone ring. The wind swept his curls farther down his forehead. The first step would be to close all the windows while he prepped to leave.

      He strode to the first window and shoved it closed. Across the small stretch of grass between their houses, all of Rachel’s windows were also open.

      A man—the same man that’d escaped—crept through the shadows of her living room.

       THREE

      The wind whipped Rachel’s hair forward as she walked to the fridge. She lifted the ponytail holder she often wore as a bracelet and pulled her hair back. Now that she’d changed out of work clothes into her sweatpants, a T-shirt and zippered hoodie, she could attempt to unwind.

      She loved this time of year. The gentle winds carried the smell of blooming fruit trees. It soothed her frayed nerves.

      She had almost broken her own rule and let her guard down with James. The events of the day had brought back memories and emotions from her childhood she didn’t want to face. The entire reason she’d escaped that life and succeeded was that she depended on no one but herself...and God.

      The pitiful contents in the fridge caused her stomach to gurgle. Eggs, a soggy bag of salad mix and a half-full container of smoked turkey all served as reminders she needed to run to the grocery store. If only she’d remembered her dinner before the tow truck had left with her car. In the unlikely event insurance didn’t declare the car totaled, she’d find herself driving a car that smelled like moldy burrito for weeks.

      Inside the freezer, though, she found a treat. An unopened package of cream-cheese-filled jalapeño poppers prompted a grin. She wouldn’t have to make eggs, after all. She carried the box to the oven and leaned over to enter the temperature.

      Two steel arms pinned her against the stove and took her breath away. She opened her mouth in a silent scream. Her veins pumped hot lava as she struggled to push back.

      “If I can’t take the kids, it seems you’ll do.” A scratchy voice filled her right ear. “I’m not leaving empty-handed.” The hot breath sent a chill down her spine and overwhelmed her with nausea. Her lungs burned from the lack of oxygen as the man leaned his whole body weight against her. She couldn’t turn her head. Her arms were bolted to her sides.

      The only thing in her line of vision was the French rolling pin resting on the top of the stove. Her biceps burned, straining to get free.

      The man squeezed her tighter around her torso, sending lightning bolts of pain down her spine and legs. She struggled as he growled, “Now who’s sorry she tried to play the hero? Huh?” He shook her body, and her head lashed forward, almost hitting the range hood.

      “Guess we’ll find out how much your boyfriend loves you, won’t we?”

      Boyfriend? Was he out of his mind? If it was a drug-induced rage, he would be beyond reasoning. No matter how she strained, she proved no match for the man’s strength. Tears blurred her vision and ran down her cheeks. She’d left a life of violence behind, but it’d found her. This was how it would all end?

      He СКАЧАТЬ