Kate’s Dilemma (Kate's Case Files Book 3) Read online

  Yet, there was something pretty amazing about redeeming this place. It was now a place of beauty, a place where people, both black and white, sold art and handiwork.

  “We should get matching baskets,” Brian said, pointing to a mother and daughter working on baskets at one of the booths. Their fingers worked rapidly to weave the reeds into baskets the size to hold trinkets.

  “Have you seen the prices?” Kate asked. “We’re not spending thirty dollars on something to hold rings.”

  Brian grinned. “Of course not. The only ring I wear I don’t take off.” He held up his left hand that proudly displayed his wedding band. “However, we could get those over there. Those would be useful for all sorts of things.”

  Kate looked to where he was pointing and saw some the size of a hatbox. “Brian, those are one hundred dollars. There is no way…”

  “Have you always been such a cheapskate? How have I never noticed this?”

  Kate laughed. “Perhaps because you weren’t paying attention?”

  “But think about it. You’ll want a piece of this city.”

  “How about a T-shirt?”

  Brian shook his head and moved toward a display of small paintings. “Why come back with T-shirts? Everyone comes back with one of those. Look, here are some small, original paintings of the steeples.” Brian lifted one up for her inspection.

  Kate’s brows rose. She looked around and saw the artist was busy with another customer. She leaned close and spoke softly. “Brian, I think your kids could paint something similar and they probably wouldn’t charge so much for it.”

  He set it down and clucked his tongue. “The lady has no appreciation for art.”

  “This lady has no interest in spending a hundred and fifty dollars on a bad piece of art just so I can say it came from Charleston. What is wrong with a T-shirt anyway?”

  Brian’s phone buzzed, and he dug for it in his pocket. “I told you, anyone can get a…” His free hand gripped her arm, and he started maneuvering her through the crowd back the way they had come.

  She looked at him, but Brian shook his head. Whatever was going on was bad, and Brian was worried. As they moved farther on, he brought her closer to him in a protective way. His eyes scanned everyone around them. When they reached the outside, his eyes roved the entire area.

  Kate glanced around too, but everything appeared normal. Brian looked at her and gave her arm a squeeze; keeping a firm grip on her, he moved her down the road. His pace quickened, and he darted into a narrow street. Kate kept up easily, but since she had no idea where Brian was leading her, and his legs were longer, she soon found herself breathing hard. To make matters even more complicated, it started to rain.

  Finally, Brian stopped for one moment in front of a busy store on Meeting Street.

  “What’s going on?”

  Brian shook his head. “I have no idea, but something big is up. We’re all supposed to pull out and get to the hotel where Kim is.” He spoke barely above a whisper; he was breathing hard as well. “Keep your eyes open.”

  Kate nodded and looked around her at the people with umbrellas and those scurrying to cover.

  “Shall I start singing the classic song ‘Singing in the Rain’?” Brian asked in a normal tone as they resumed their brisk walk in the rain.

  “I thought you wouldn’t want that kind of attention,” Kate said, her eyes searching for threats. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but she felt safe with Brian. When she had been accused of blowing up her campus, she had been through some pretty scary stuff alone. In their last case, she had worked her job and been kidnapped alone. Now, she wasn’t alone this time.

  They turned onto a narrow street and walked rapidly. The hotel was now within sight. Kate breathed a sigh of relief. In a confusing moment, she felt herself ripped away from Brian and opened her mouth to scream, but a cloth was placed over it. A sickly sweet odor poured into her, she knew that smell, it was…it was…she felt like the world was spinning and then…

  Kate blinked slowly. Everything was so dark. She raised her hand to her head, or tried to, but her arm refused to obey her. What was wrong with her? She needed to lift her arm and push the hair from her face. She really did need to have it cut. It was getting in her way.

  “Kate?”

  Kate forced her eyes back open. She hadn’t even realized they had shut again. She again tried to get her arm to respond to her command. She realized her arm wouldn’t move because it was tied to the arm of a chair. Both her arms were. Who had called her name? Where was she? Why couldn’t she think straight?

  She opened her eyes that had somehow drifted shut again.

  “Kate?” The voice was hoarse, but she knew who it was now.

  “Brian?” Her own voice was hoarse, probably because she needed water. She tried to stand but found her legs were tied to the chair too.

  “Are you okay?” Brian asked.

  He wasn’t far from her, that much she could tell, but her mind refused to figure out exactly where he was. Whatever that guy had used to knock her out must have been pretty potent. She swallowed, but her throat still felt dry.

  “I think so, you?”

  “I’ve got a headache from when the guy slammed me against his car, but I’m okay.”

  Kate pushed at the weariness that threatened to envelop her. “Who were they? What are they going to do with us?”

  “I don’t know the answer to either of those questions. We just need to pray.”

  She nodded and then realized Brian wouldn’t be able to see her. “Okay, I think I can do that.” She started praying. Brian’s voice cut into her silent prayers.

  “Lord, we know You ordain everything. There’s nothing that happens that’s a surprise to You. This is a part of Your plan. This isn’t a mistake, this isn’t something that’s going wrong, You planned this, and we know You work all things out for the ultimate good of those who love You and are called according to Your purpose.”

  Kate rested her heavy head on the back of the chair and listened. If she had prayed aloud, she would have just said, “God, please help me get out of here” over and over again. Brian was so different.

  “We come before You and ask that You give us the wisdom to see Your plan, the grace to accept whatever it is, and that we recognize how it will glorify Your name no matter the outcome. Amen.”

  Kate looked upward, unable to tell what kind of a ceiling she was looking at. Silently she added a request for a way of escape. She prayed that God would work things out to get them out of here and safely back to the rest of the team.

  Rescue

  Friday, June 19 2:00PM

  Patrick looked around the living room of the suite and sighed. He counted again, as if counting those present would make Kate and Brian appear.

  Logan’s ball made trips between her palm and the floor as she tried to focus on the newscast they had put on. Kim stared at the evidence they had collected. Thomas talked in a professional hush to someone on the phone.

  Patrick resumed his pacing, muttering verses under his breath as well as prayers. Was Kate all right? Was Brian with her? Would they be able to find both of them before something horrible happened to them?

  A loud swear word made everyone turn in shock. Thomas may not have had any moral standard that told him swearing was wrong, but he didn’t use them often.

  “What is it?”

  Thomas threw his phone on the floor, followed by his hat, and ran his hands through his hair, muttering words Patrick was glad he couldn’t hear.

  Logan stood, her ball pressed between her palms. Kim looked up from her computer, some of her hair falling forward.

  “Someone reported seeing two people fitting Brian and Kate’s description being forced into a car less than a mile from here. The police chief also informed me that several of his officers, including the assistant police chief, have disappeared from the office.”

  “Patrick and I gave a report this morning, and the assistant chief came in…” Lo
gan’s voice drifted off.

  “This is why I hate local police being in on what we’re doing.”

  Patrick spun toward Thomas. “You always blame them. There was no way the police chief could have known.”

  Thomas turned dark eyes to meet Patrick’s gaze. “Come off it! This is why we’ve been stonewalled the entire way! We’re going to have to go blazing in now and just take down this little group and forget about the bigger picture. Not to mention we’re going to have to watch the kind of cases we take on. We can’t be sure how widely our faces have been distributed among the drug ring.”

  Patrick felt his fingers clench into fists as he tried to control his anger. Kate and Brian were out there and Thomas was sitting here blaming local cops as usual.

  A hand pressed his shoulder, and he looked behind him to see Kim standing there. She didn’t say anything to him, but her gesture was meant to hold him in check.

  “What do we need to do?” Kim asked.

  “The only thing we can do: the FBI is sending in a rescue operations team. We have to hang tight here. None of us leaves this suite until they give the all clear.”

  Patrick’s blood rushed heat to his skin. “We are not leaving Brian and Kate out there alone.”

  “Shut up, Patrick, and help. The extraction team is on their way. For once in your life don’t try to play hero. We don’t need another member out there to be rescued.”

  Patrick huffed and shook off Kim’s hand. He jerked the door to the bathroom open and slammed it behind him. He turned on the sink and splashed some cold water on his face in a desperate attempt to cool his anger. They couldn’t do this. They couldn’t leave Kate and Brian out there alone. He didn’t care if an extraction team was on its way. He should be out there trying to save them. Brian was his best friend and Kate…Kate was his responsibility. He wiped his face off with a towel and tried to formulate a plan. When he emerged, everyone turned toward him. They had either been talking about him or checking to see if his anger had subsided. He forced himself to walk calmly to a chair and sit down. He would have to bide his time.

  “Any ideas where they might be keeping Brian and Kate?” Logan asked as they stood in front of a wall where Kim had tacked up the evidence. She was trying to juggle three of her little balls, but so far had succeeded only in sending them flying about the room.

  Thomas looked up from the stack of police reports Kim had collected on Jasper. “There are some warehouses down near the river. I think they’re using them to store the drugs. They also have a couple of hangouts in the shady area of town. I’m guessing they’re holding them at one of those places. However, since they never let me very far into the organization, they might have a dozen other places to hide people, and I wouldn’t know. I let the extraction team know about all the locations that I’m aware of.”

  Patrick looked at the map of the city that Logan had spread out on the coffee table.

  Thomas stood and adjusted his fedora. “Patrick, you’re not going after them. That’s an order.”

  Patrick lifted his chin and stared directly into Thomas’s eyes. “I’m not just going to sit by and…”

  Thomas pushed him down into a chair. “You obviously have forgotten that I’m the boss here. You may not even leave the suite. For once in your career just follow my orders.”

  Jumping to his feet, Patrick pushed Thomas aside and moved toward the door.

  “Walk out that door, and I will see to it that you get a formal reprimand.”

  Patrick hesitated for a moment. He wanted to look for Kate and Brian. He wanted to rescue them, but a reprimand was nothing to mess with. At the FBI, perfect records were essential. He turned back to Thomas. “Please, don’t make me sit here.”

  Thomas adjusted the fedora on his head. “This is for your own good. If you would just start helping us sift through all of this, maybe you wouldn’t be so bored.”

  “I can’t sit here while they are out there!”

  “You can’t save them on your own!” Thomas shouted back.

  “Patrick Connor cannot save the world.”

  Maybe he couldn’t save the world, but at least he could help find Kate and Brian. He couldn’t sit still wondering what was happening to Kate. He swallowed and glanced over at Kim. Her brown eyes were on him, watching to see what he would choose.

  “I’m sorry.” He looked between her and Thomas and then dashed out the door. Kate was out there, and she needed help. He rushed through the hotel and out onto the streets. Where would he start his search? Thomas had said something about some warehouses near the river. He would look at those. He pulled up an app on his phone. He quickly discovered his error. There were a lot of warehouses due to the amount of shipping industry in the area.

  His phone went off, and there was a message from Thomas. It was directions to a warehouse. Patrick grinned. Maybe Thomas wanted him to go and look for them after all. He started jogging toward his car.

  “I’m coming,” he said, wishing Kate could hear the words. He had been able to help her out of bad spots in the last two cases; he could do it again.

  He reached his car and opened the door. It didn’t take long to reach the area Thomas had indicated. Patrick parked a couple of blocks away, hoping to sneak up on the enemy. He started around a building, seeing no one. How he wished at this moment that he had his gun. Why hadn’t he thought to grab at least his badge? Of course, that wouldn’t do him much good.

  He peeked around the side of a building and tried to see if anyone was coming. He looked across the road. In the distance, he could see some metal warehouses rising near the water. Observing a few workers, he stuffed his hands into his pockets and casually crossed the street. He needed to look like he knew what he was doing and…

  He was grabbed from behind, arms encircling and pinning his arms to his sides. Another hand reached around and pressed a cloth over his mouth and nose. He thrashed trying to get away and was slammed into the side of the building. He felt dizzy, and the world faded away.

  The Past

  Friday, June 19 Time Unknown

  “You know how they make this look so cool and easy to get out of in the movies?” Kate asked. Her neck hurt from having no support. Her arms ached from their forced position and her fingers were numb. She tried working on the ropes, but no knots were within her reach.

  “Of course. I watch a lot of Roy Rogers.”

  Kate shifted some in her seat, suppressing a groan as she did. “Roy Rogers?”

  “You know, Roy Rogers, King of the Cowboys, and Dale Evans, Queen of the West? His trusty horse Trigger, his dog Bullet, Mineral City…”

  Kate cleared her throat. “I get it, he was a Western star.” She rolled her neck, but it did little to relieve the pain.

  “He wasn’t just a Western star. He was amazing. He and his wife, Dale Evans, were both Christians that did some amazing stuff both on and off screen. He changed a nation’s attitude toward kids born with physical and mental handicaps. He did a lot of his own stunts and…”

  “And I hear some hero worship going on.”

  “Are you always this grumpy after being knocked out?”

  Kate wished there was a light on so he could see her glare. “I’ll have you know this is the first time anyone has used…” She tried to force her brain to come up with the right substance that had been used, but she couldn’t; the cobwebs hadn’t cleared much. In fact, as uncomfortable as she was, she had drifted to sleep a couple of times. “Whatever that was to knock me out. Are you always this talkative and chipper when kidnapped?”

  “Helps me to stay awake. And they knocked us out with ether. I would think you would know that.”

  Kate huffed and shifted again, successfully making one arm feel as if someone was using her for a pin cushion. “I do know. I would normally be able to tell you the moment I smelled it what it was. But my head feels like I have been drinking, or haven’t slept in three days. I’m doing good to know my own name. How are you able to stay so alert?”

&
nbsp; “Simple biology, Mayfield. Remember, guys handle things differently. My body probably purged it faster, or I didn’t get as much of it.”

  Kate rolled her eyes and shifted again. She leaned her head back and stared into the blackness. “My last name is Johnson now. I really don’t get you, Brian. How can you be happy even at a time like this?”

  Brian chuckled. “I’m not happy.”

  “Well, you sure don’t sound worried at all.”

  “That may have something to do with the sleepy stuff that they had us breathe in.”

  “Sleepy stuff?”

  “I wouldn’t be criticising me if I were you, Mayfield. After all, I was the one that knew we were dealing with ether, not you.”

  “Okay, okay, why don’t we just be quiet and get some rest.”

  “Not a good idea, Mayfield,” Brian said, sounding louder.

  Kate shifted and just wanted to go back to sleep. “Why not?”

  “Do you really want to be back asleep when our captors come back? Besides, we need to fight this. Come on, keep talking.”

  “About what?”

  “How about your time in the military,” Brian suggested.

  “Humph, I wasn’t drugged that much. That’s not a topic open for discussion.”

  “Why not?”

  Kate rolled her eyes. “Clearly, someone was more affected by the drugs than they think. I have never known you to be so curious.”

  While she couldn’t see him, she could almost hear the smirk in the next words. “I’m an FBI agent. I have a naturally curious mind. I normally can put up some filters; I guess I’m having a harder time right now. Why don’t you like to talk about that time in your life?”

  Kate wished her chair was against the wall so that she could beat her head against it. “I liked you better when you were a gentleman and didn’t force me to talk about things.”