Las Vegas Sidewinders: Drake (Book 2) (28 page)

They laughed together,
with Drake promising he would gladly miss a game to watch the birth of his
child.

A moment later the
heartbeat could be heard and Erin clutched his hand in awe. Drake felt a
million emotions running through him and he stared at the little shape on the
screen with wonder. That was their little bean, and he was going to be a dad.
He had so many people he wanted to tell, and things he wanted to say, but right
now he just held her hand while they stared at the screen.

“So everything’s okay?”
Erin asked finally. “I mean, we always used protection, so I had no idea I was
pregnant. I’ve probably had a few drinks and a lot of sex…”

“That’s very common,
and most women enjoy a healthy sex life throughout their pregnancy—the more the
better, I say!” Dr. Diaz laughed. “I would probably stay away from alcohol for
a while, although a couple of ounces of wine never hurt anyone. I grew up in France
and all the women in my family drank wine all through pregnancy.”

“We have
so
many
questions,” Erin finally whispered, glancing at her husband.

“And I’m here to answer
them all.” Dr. Diaz sat back patiently.

Erin had thought going
back to Afghanistan was depressing, but going home to her cold, empty townhouse
in Virginia after several days with Drake was almost worse. She’d sobbed at the
airport and it had taken all of her resolve to keep him from bailing on the
next road trip so he could be with her. The team needed him more than she did
right now, and she had a job to do for two more months. Not to mention selling
her townhouse, packing up her belongings and taking care of everything that was
required to leave the military. Luckily, the Sidewinders had their last east
coast road trip coming up and they would be in Pittsburgh, New Jersey and New
York the following week. She would miss Wednesday’s game against the Penguins,
but she would meet him in New Jersey on Friday, travel with him into Manhattan
on Saturday and watch the 3:00 game on Sunday against the Rangers before flying
home late that night.

As the taxi dropped her
off in front of her townhouse, she felt a moment of trepidation. Now that she
knew everything that they’d found out while she’d been in Afghanistan, she
couldn’t help but worry that Jan might come after her again. They still had no
idea what Clay had meant when he said he would handle his mother, but she
didn’t trust him. Drake said he looked sincere, and listening to the recording
of the conversation had left her flabbergasted. She never in a million years
would have guessed that he liked men and was prone to what she considered kinky
sex. BDSM had never held any interest for her, and she was grateful he’d never
suggested it when they were married. There were pictures, though. Enough of
them to prove that she’d been pretty naïve during her marriage.

Pulling the small
suitcase Drake had bought her before she left, she unlocked the front door and
stepped inside sadly; it was so quiet and eerie without Drake or Kate. Kate was
back in New York now and they would meet up in New Jersey next Friday, but it
seemed like a long time even though it was just 11 days. Turning on the lights,
she set the alarm the way Jason had taught her and made her way into the
kitchen. There wasn’t anything in the way of food, but she could make a cup of
tea.

She put the kettle on
to boil, pulled out a mug and put a tea bag in it. Grabbing her phone, she
texted Drake.

Just got home—so lonely
without you.

He wrote back
immediately.
Only 11 days, baby.

Can we hire someone to
pack my stuff? I’m so tired, I can’t imagine working all day and then coming
home to clean and pack.

Absolutely! I was going
to suggest it.

I’m going to have a cup
of tea and go to bed—love you. Xoxo

Love you back. Xoxo

She smiled as she
tucked the phone in her pocket and then took the whistling kettle off the
stove. She poured her tea and carried it upstairs. Sitting on the bed, she
turned on the TV and leaned back against the pillows. She could still smell the
faint lingering scent of Drake’s aftershave from the last night they’d been
there. God, she missed him. She knew he was in a hotel in Calgary and probably
going to sleep, but she ached to hear his voice.

Shaking her head, she
forced herself to snap out of it. Dr. Diaz had warned her that the first
trimester of pregnancy could be filled with fatigue, crying spells, food
cravings, nausea and lots of other weird things. It was a little bit terrifying,
especially without Drake by her side, but she kept reminding herself that she
was a friggin’ United States Marine and she could handle one tiny little person
growing inside of her.

She pulled out the
ultrasound picture Dr. Diaz had given her and stared at it with delight. This
little bean, as they’d begun to call it, was their baby. It was scary but
amazing at the same time. She was going to be a mom and she was married to the
most wonderful man ever.

A tiny prick of guilt
washed over her and she realized she hadn’t thought about Shay since she’d left
Afghanistan. Getting up off the bed, she went to her closet and reached up to
the very top for a shoebox stuffed in the corner. Getting it down, she slowly
sat back on the bed and opened it. Inside was all that was left of Shay, and
for a moment she could only stare at the contents. His high school ring—she
couldn’t even remember how she’d wound up with it. She wondered if Mark would
want it along with the dog tags. She put it aside and took out the rest of the
contents. There were so many pictures. She laughed as she looked at some of
them—volleyball at the beach with Tessa in a string bikini and Kate hiding
under a big hat; Clay and Shay on the tennis court; she and Shay rock climbing
during an ROTC exercise; she and Shay with their arms around each other after
winning a bowling tournament. She piled the pictures together and put them on
her nightstand; those would go in an envelope and eventually into a scrapbook
of some kind.

There was a card he’d
sent her for Christmas one year, and dozens of postcards from Iraq. The
postcards she would throw away—there was just no reason to hold onto them. She
found random movie ticket and concert ticket stubs, also tossing them in a pile
to throw away. The tiny piece of paper he’d left her after their night together
was at the bottom and she pulled it out reluctantly. It was time to let go of
that as well. There were pictures and videos that would keep his memory
alive—the rest was just stuff. She tossed it all in a pile that she would put
in the trash in the morning. She put the pictures in an envelope and then
stuffed them in a drawer.

Her tea was gone and it
was almost 11:00 p.m. She needed to be up at 7:00, so she leaned back, ready to
sleep. She plugged in her phone to charge and turned off the light, pulling up
the covers. The TV was still on, volume low, and she was almost asleep when the
TV went off, the room plunged into darkness. Instantly awake, she sat up
slowly, listening. She couldn’t hear anything, but she instinctively slid open
the drawer of her nightstand where her .357 Magnum sat locked and loaded.
Pulling it on her lap, she sat straight up. There it was again, a slight
scraping sound coming from downstairs. She grabbed her phone, texting Drake.

There’s noise
downstairs—isn’t there supposed to be surveillance video???

His response was almost
instant.
Calling Jason now.

She could hear
something more distinct now, a swishing sound. Was someone
inside
her
townhouse? She called on her training as a soldier and slid out of bed, the gun
tucked in her waistband after she pulled on sweatpants and sneakers from the
floor of the closet.

Her phone buzzed with a
text from Drake.
Video has been disabled—call 911!

Erin frowned, stuffing
the phone in her pocket and pulling out her gun. She was damned if she was
going to hide in a closet somewhere like a sitting duck until help arrived.
Someone was definitely in the house; she heard the thump as they walked into
the suitcase she’d left at the bottom of the stairs. Heart beating wildly, she
looked around for the best vantage point. She could hear her phone buzzing in
her pocket, and she pulled it out slowly. She didn’t speak, but answered the
call, keeping the phone against her ear.

“Erin?! Baby, are you
there?”

She whispered, “Shh,”
softly, praying he heard her.

“Dammit, Erin, what are
you doing?!” She could hear him in the background yelling for Karl to give him
his phone.

“I’m calling the
police,” he told her.

She heard a step on the
stairs and she backed into the far corner of her room. She could only wait now.
She had no qualms about shooting an intruder, but something told her this
wasn’t an ordinary burglar. The alarm system and video surveillance Jason’s
people had installed were top-of-the-line, and if they’d bypassed both, this
was definitely someone who knew what they were doing. It had to be Jan, she
thought, or someone she’d sent to kill her.

“Come out, come out,
wherever you are,” a softly lilting voice sang out.

Erin didn’t know if she
was scared or completely creeped out, and she pressed herself against the back
wall, holding the gun out in front of her with both hands. She could hear
Drake’s voice coming out of her phone, but it was in her pocket so she couldn’t
hear what he was saying.

“Come on, Erin, come
out and play with me,” the voice sang out again.

It was a woman, Erin
thought in surprise. “I’m armed and I
will
shoot!” she yelled out.

“Oh, you’re not going
to shoot me,” the voice said. “We’re going to go home and play a game.”

“I am home!” Erin
yelled.

The window beside her
suddenly exploded, shards of glass flying in every direction and flames
blinding her. Erin cried out as she stumbled backwards, the gun slipping from
her hands. “Drake!” She screamed his name as she covered her face. A flash bomb
was the last thing she remembered before everything went black.

On the other end in Calgary,
Drake heard her scream his name and then nothing.

“Erin! Erin!” He saw
the connection was lost and immediately called back, but now it went to
voicemail. “No! Sonofabitch, no!” He didn’t know what to do and turned wildly
to Karl. “Did you get the police on the line?!”

“They’re getting to the
house now!” Karl tossed him the phone.

“Yes, who is this?”
Drake felt adrenaline surging through his body as he heard the police officer
on the other end introduce himself.

“Mr. Riser, I’m sorry,
but your wife isn’t here. There was an explosion—looks like they threw a flash
bomb through her bedroom window and took her out the back door. All of the
electricity to this street has been cut off—that’s how they bypassed the
alarm.”

“Do you see any sign of
where they took her?!”

“We’re looking now,”
the man said. “We’ll have people looking for her immediately.”

“Dammit!” Drake threw
the phone at Karl while he whirled around and slammed the side of his fist
against the hotel room wall.

Karl said something to
the man on the phone and then walked over to Drake and calmly put one of his
big hands around Drake’s fist. “Stop,” was all he said. His eyes met Drake’s.
“That won’t help her. Go—get on a plane and go to Washington. I’ll cover for
you.”

“I can’t even think…”
Drake could barely control his fury or the fear winding through his gut. He
didn’t know how long it would take him to get to Washington, and by that time
it could be too late.

“What do you want me to
do?” Karl stood beside his friend ready to do anything he asked of him.

“I don’t know.” Drake
pulled out his phone and dialed Jason. “I need Clay’s number,” he said
immediately. He waited with a pen in his hand as Jason read him the number. He
automatically dialed and waited as it rang. Twice, three times, four… Finally,
a quiet voice came on the line.

“Who is this?”

“This is Drake
Riser—someone just threw a fire bomb through Erin’s window and kidnapped her.
If you had something to do with that, I am getting on a plane and will
personally tear you to pieces, one limb at a time.”

“Ease up, hockey boy.”
Clay’s voice was slightly slurred. “Are you sure about this?”

“Yes, I’m fucking
sure!” Drake wanted to reach through the phone and strangle the motherfucker.

“Jesus Christ, can’t a
guy even get a little head in peace? All right, don’t blow a gasket, let me
find out what Mommy dearest is up to. I’ll call you back.” The line
disconnected and Drake sat down on the bed.

“I’m calling the
airlines,” Karl said automatically.

“It’s almost midnight,”
Drake said quietly. “I won’t be able to get on a flight until morning.”

“We can charter
something.” Karl dialed the concierge instead and explained what they needed.

Twenty minutes later
they were in a cab heading to a private airfield.

Erin jerked awake, her
body conditioned to be alert under almost any circumstances. She listened
before opening her eyes, and everything was silent. Gradually, she became aware
of her body, and that she was standing with her hands tied together above her
head. She forced herself to slowly open her eyes and blinked in the
semidarkness. The only light was a purple lava lamp on the other side of the
room, giving everything an eerie glow. Her bare feet were cold and she felt
concrete underneath them. She realized all she was wearing were her panties and
the camisole she’d gone to bed in, and she felt a moment of fear before taking
a deep breath to calm herself. She’d been trained to endure torture, but she
was positive she hadn’t been trained for anything she saw in this room.

Whips and chains lined
the walls, with feathers, paddles and sex toys she’d only ever read about
strewn on a table in the corner. She twisted her head and body as far as she
could to see what was around her and it was only more terrifying. A dark
colored couch that looked to be covered in velvet was a few feet behind her and
there were all kinds of ropes and chains hanging down from the ceiling. She was
tethered to one of them and she tried to calm the bile rising in her throat. If
Jan was the one who’d kidnapped her, she was even sicker than Erin had
originally thought.