Bedmates Soulmates
CHAPTER 289

Good News And Bad News

Austyn had gone on multiple hostage rescue missions back in his army days.

He was focused on the task at hand-recon, breach, eliminate the enemies, retrieve the hostages, finish the job.

As part of intel gathering, he had to talk to the family members of the hostages.

Some were a blubbering mess; some couldn't string two words together, some yelled at him for not moving faster

He ignored their emotional outbursts and just grilled them for info

But now that the shoe was on the other foot, he understood how they felt-worried, afraid, so anxious that he couldn't think straight.

Austyn clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles turned white

*Calm down," he told himself. "Panicking isn't going to help Kira

"Samson is going to give you full access to the hotel CCTV footage, Austyn said to Luca. The party organiser has a list of names of all the attendants. You know what to do."

Luca nodded. "I'll get my men on it."

Austyn strode towards the extr

He halted when his phone rang

The shrill ringtone froze everyone in the passageway.

The caller ID showed an unknown number.

Austyn rejected the call.

'Boss, what are you doing?" Kal was shocked. 'It t could have been the...!

The kidnapper calling

to the police station with you, Austyn said to Luca

The captain nodded. 'Let's go."

He said to Kai who jogged to keep up with them, 'Your boss did the right thing. There's no equipment here to trace the call. We'll head back to the station *But the call...'

"They didn't get to make their demands, Luca said. 'They'll call again."

Besides, Austyn's unexpected behaviour would throw them off

The police cruiser's siren pierced the quiet night.

Luca barked out orders to his men who quickly gathered the tracking equipment.

'Once they call again, we'll have their name, address and everything else associated with their account. Luca patted Austyn's shoulder. 'Don't worry. We'll get her back." The second call came twenty minutes later.

"Shit, Luca muttered under his breath.

The caller number wasn't the same as the last one.

And It was an Internet call.

Luca gestured to his men to start tracing the origin of the Voice over Internet Protocol call.

He nodded at Austyn

Austyn answered the call on speakerphone

"Mr McCarthy, I was starting to think you were never going to pick up Sean's raspy voice boomed in the squad room. 'I presume the police are with you? "What do you want? Austyn asked coldly.

"I want a lot of things." Sean chuckled. 'I want you to be dead. But for starters, I think I'll just request a face-to-face meeting."

He added, "Your lovely wife is with me."

Sean gave him the address. "Come alone, or you'll never see your beautiful wife again. You have three hours,'

He hang up

Good News And Bad News

Anything? Austyn immediately looked to Loca

'Sorry." Luca slammed a fist on the desk. The caller address was masked by VPN. All I got is a service provider's

'Call them. Get a name."

name.!

Luca shook his head. "It's a company registered overseas. I'll reach out to law enforcement over there, but cooperation is unlikely. A subpoena or warrant can't touch them. Besides"-he looked at Austyn-"I don't think Kira has that much time." It wasn't a typical ransom call

The only demand was for a meeting, not money.

'You know the man?' Luca asked.

'Thaven't heard his voice betone, but he obviously knows me.'

'Business rival?"

"What do you think he wants? Luca tapped his finger on the desk. He knows you have police officers right next to you, yet he gives you the address without prompting. Didn't even bother to change his voice!

"He's cocky," Austyn said. "And he hates me. We can use that

'Captain' One of the officers approached. 'I checked out the address. It's an old industrial district on the outskirts of Stamford, mostly abandoned factories and warehouses. About two and half hours out

'Got it." Luca pulled up a map of the district on his computer. 'What do you think?'

'His target is me," Austyn said 'Which means Kira should be fine, for now. He won't do anything to her till I get there.'

'Agreed.'

Austyn breathed out. I'm poing to call Damian. The kidnapper sounds well-prepared. We're going to need Damian for this one." 'Good idea. You go ahead. I'll put a team together. See if we can get some aerial surveillance going at that place. Luckily, Damian had not left Stamford

Austyn brought him up to speed

"What's your plan? Damian askel

Austyn told him.

"All right. Give me half an hour. I'll see what can find."

"Thanks, Damian."

'Don't mention it She's your wife, so she's like a sister-in-law to me."

Damian called the local departments of civil aviation and customs, then the ministries of ports, foreign affairs and immigration

He also reached out to a contact with links to mercenaries abroad.

Information came rolling in.

Damian thanked his sources, hung up and called Austyn straight away.

"Good news and bad news,' he said as soon as Austyn picked up.

Austyn was in a police mobile command centre barrelling down the highway towards the outskirts.

Luca and an officer were doing last-minute checks on two drones, to be released the moment they entered the target area.

"What's the good news?" Austyn asked.

"I found out who's behind this."

"Name?

"Sean Santoro.'

Austyn narrowed his eyes,

He'd heard that name somewhere before.

Sean Santoro was the vice president of Revency, a media company owned by Liam Cane.

Was Cane behind this?

Austyn gripped his phone. 'What's the bad news?

"The man has help. A lot of it. A contact of mine told me a mercenary group touched down in Stamford about a week ago. They've gone to ground since. But I think we just found them. They number about two dozen, all heavily armod." Good And Bad News

Austyn's heart sank.

God Has Those Who Help Themselves

God Helps Those Who Help Themselves

Luca had brought two teams of officers.

They were all well-trained and armed.

But if there was a gunfight, Kira could be caught in the crossfire.

'Don't worry," Damian seemed to sense what Austyn was thinking. 'T'll bring my team with me. More help's on the way."

"Thank you, Damian."

Austyn had his army buddies from the old days.

He knew they would be more than willing to help, but there wasn't enough time to gather them

Damian's team was more than capable of handling a hostage rescue mission

'I'll see you there' Damian hung up and dialled another number. 'Mike, round up the team. I have a task for you.'

Kira wiped sway the blood from the corner of her mouth.

Her chooks were numb and swellen.

She held out her hand.

When she saw Gwen staring at her, mouth agape, she asked again, 'Which one is it?'

She stole a glance towards the Formica table. 'Come on! We don't have time to waste."

Gwen blinked.

Her hand shook as she reached for the pearl earrings. "What you did was dangerous. And stupid.'

"I know, Kira said, feeling annoyed and demoralised and terrified all at the same time.

She was terrified by what happened just how-she could have been raped.

She was demoralised because that was the best plan she could come up with-distract the guards and grab the earrings.

If Austyn were here, he could probably come up with ten different ways to leave this place unscathed.

Kira know she had just average intelligence, and she used to be okay with it.

But now, when she found herself in deep trouble and what could very well be a life-or-death situation, she wished she were smarter,

Austyn would know what to do,' she said to herself, sighing

Kira was also annoyed by Miss Reyes' criticism.

She'd risked her life to get the eartips.

The least the woman could do was say thank you.

"Why would you help me? Given asked softly.

The room was cold.

She moved closer to Kira

'I'm not just helping you. I'm helping myself' Kira kept one eye on the guards.

The tall one was still hunched over, his face pule.

The short one was entertaining himself with his phone,

"I don't want to die here,' Kira whispered. "The tracker can lead your friends to this location. Then we'll both be saved.!

She saw Gwen's swollen cheeks. "Sorry about the slap earlier, I had to sell the act

Gwen touched a hand to her face. "It's okay."

Kira pointed to the earring in Gwen's right hand. "What do we need to do?"

"Cover me.

Kira scooted over so she was facing the guards, blocking their view of Gwen behind her.

Gwen placed the pearl earring on the floor of the cage and smashed it with her stiletto heel

She sifted through the broken pieces of pearl and picked up a tiny black chip. This is the tracker." "Is It working?" Kira glanced back

Gwen nodded. 'It starts transmitting a signal once the earring breaks.'

Does it have a rangelt

"It's a GPS tracker. The signal will be picked up anywhere in the world as long as the receiver is on

"Hopefully your friend has realised you're missing by now. They must really care about you to give you this tracker. Owen lowered her eyes.

Martin wasn't really her friend

He gave her the earrings so Gideon could know where she was at all times.

She was like a pet to Ghlean - to be petted auf cocked, but not to be treated as an equal.

For some reason, Gwen didn't want to mention Glenn's name to Kira.

Kira leaned against the cape. All we can do now is wait"

Gwen aprend

She was cold, hungry, thirsty, and fired, but she didn't dare close her eyes.

She studied Kira's face which looked so much like her own.

Finally, she said, 'I was wrong. What you did wasn't stupid. It was brave, but it was also dangerous. You could've.

Der voice trailed off.

She had no idea the girl had it in her.

Kita rubbed her bare arms.

They were covered in gooselnings.

She fell the cold wire cutting into her bare back,

If she had to be klihapped, she'd much prefer to be in her comfy t-shirt and jeans when it happened.-

"I know," she said matter-of-factly. "But there was no choice. Thad to try.

"We could have just walted for help to arrive, Givens.kl.

Your friend wouldn't know you are missing till the tracker's activated, right? Who knows how long that's going to take."

"What about your friend?

Kira thought about Austyn.

He had to have realised she was missing by.

She wondered what he was doing

Was he on his way here!

Kira shook her head. "I can't just sit back and do nothing and pin my hope on help that may or may not arrive in time. You know the saying, "God helps those who help themselves."

'You could've told me your plan."

"There was no time. The men came in before I could talk to you. I had to improvise. Besides..

""Besides what?"

Kira glanced at Gwen, 'Besides, telling you wouldn't have made a difference. I would have to be the one to carry out the plan,

"They are my earrings,' Gwen said defensively, 'I could have helped to them.

Kira shook her head. "It's not about the earrings. I barely know you, but I've spent enough true with you to know that you'll never agree to such a plan. You cursed them the moment they walked in, despite knowing they have complete power over us. It's just not in your nature to bow to men like those."