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She told theh the tape on her e

“I don’t think she likes us,” Bill said, stepping back as she tried to kick his shin

“Gee, I wonder why Most people love a good kidnapping”

With that, the two er by re herself how much the sandals had cost, even on clearance, and how littlein these days It worked for nearly ato do to her?

She told herself that torture was unlikely Either they wanted et from the president of the United States Unfortunately that was a big pool of possibilities, everything fronty to nuclear weapons

Then there was the otiation policy The one that told her she could be stuck here for a very long time, and then she could be killed

Darcyabout her life at this moment in tihtened her throat and ht that she was going to throw up

Stay calm, she told herself If she voross way She had to find her Zen center Not that she’d ever studied Zen, but she could iine what it was like A tranquil place A place where reality was an illusion and all thatof her heart

Deep breaths, she told herself In and out No hurry in the air department Just nice slow—

“Did you hurt her?”

The question came fro Panic joined fear as she tried to figure out if, in thisher would be a plus or not

“She got banged up in the back of the van,” Bill said “But that’s all”

She looked around for soe, e tied to a large, heavy chair limited her options She tried to scoot and only succeeded in wrenching her back

“Good We don’t want any unnecessary bloodshed”

Darcy exhaled in relief Speaking as the kidnappee, she was delighted to know that bloodshed was to be avoided until necessary Not that she wanted to knoould be considered necessary

Their footsteps got closer, then three nized her two kidnappers, who stood with a new guy, also in a deer Sorabbed him by the throat

“What the hell were you thinking?” he de tasty just before he kills it

Bill danced froh he didn’t rush in to help his friend “We got her, boss Just like you said The president’s daughter This is her”

The leader released non-Bill and curled his hands into fists He stared at Darcy through the slits of the rowled

“Not this one, you idiot The other one Lauren No one cares about this one”

Less than thirty minutes later the van came to a stop Darcy was still too stunned to react, even as the rear doors opened and the two s on her wrists while the other collected her purse and tossed it on the ground next to her The broken sandal followed Then they ran back to the front of the van, jumped inside, and sped away

She had enough functioning brain left to look for a license plate—there wasn’t one—and to note the color and make of the van Then she sank down on the curb of the deserted loading area at the rear of the mall and rested her filthy arms on her scraped and bloodied knees and her head on her arms

This hadn’t happened, she told herself, even as the truth of it settled around her like a hot, sticky fog She’d been rejected by kidnappers, which h in a lifetime of lows

Talk about a photo opportunity, she thought grimly Here she was, battered, bruised, cut up, scraped Her clothes were dirty and torn, her shoes broken, and she’d just been tossed aside like a used tissue

Darcy straightened, pulled the tape off her asped as skin tore with the adhesive That wasn’t going to be pretty as it healed She felt around on the cement until she found her purse and pulled out the panic button Better late than never, she thought as she pressed down on the bright red button and waited for the cavalry

Lieutenant Commander Joe Larson had always considered the ad officer All that had changed at 9:18 the previous evening The ad for Joe’s

“What kind of half-assed, goddamn asshole…”

The tirade continued, but Joe didn’t bother listening as his captain got rea the personally to Joe soon enough

Such was the chain of command The admiral chewed out the captain, the captain chewed out hi to do Like they said—shit rolled downhill

He crossed to theof the office foyer and stared at the activity below There was plenty of it at the Naval A, the Pacific Ocean sparkled in the bright suht offer better pay, but none could beat the location on Coronado Island