Read Bound: The Pentagon Group, Book 3 for Free Online

Matt, the man I loved. I’d rather have been safe in his arms.

TWO
MATT
    Ever since I lost Perla the first time, I learned what desperation felt like. My usually well controlled emotions couldn’t handle the loss. I had to leave the country to get some relief from the pain, but it was there, every second of the day. It got easier, but the sharp pain became a dull ache. The dull ache turned to anger. I forced myself to stop thinking of her. I hadn’t considered there would be a second kidnapping attempt. I vowed to keep her safe. I failed her, and once again I was feeling desperation and loss. Time was against us. I wasn’t sure if I could get her back this time.
    In this technology based world, there was no trace of her or clue of where she could be. It had been hours since she’d been taken. Every investigative tactic was undertaken to find her. Marty Hess assembled a team of security to work non-stop, expected to search around the clock and for endless days, if necessary. And I prayed it wasn’t necessary. I spared no expense to get the best investigators and hackers to seek any clues to where she could be.
    My phone rang, and Marty’s name popped on the screen. “Don’t tell me anything, unless it’s a lead.” I growled.
    “Matt, we’re doing everything we can to identify who took her and where he may have taken her.”
    “He?”
    “We analyzed hours of security footage. Perla appeared to leave willingly with a man.”
    “What man?”
    “The footage is grainy. We’re working to run a facial recognition of the guy once we can get a clean digital image of his face. Right now, we have lots of shadows and profile shots of him.”
    “What else?”
    “We have no leads with the car?”
    “Don’t you have a plate number?”
    “We came to a dead end with that one too. The plates were stolen; listed for an old clunker from an eighty-year-old woman from Jamaica Plain. She no longer drives the car, one plate was lifted from her parked vehicle at some point; she doesn’t know. We have a make and model for the SUV, however without a registered plate to cross reference, we won’t get much info there. We’re checking into obtaining satellite footage or drones, which may have been taking shots of the area during her abduction. Unfortunately all of this takes time, Matt. She’s just an ordinary citizen and the police and Federal agencies aren’t just going to hand over access to their secured programs to find her.”
    “My money makes her extraordinary. Whatever you need to pay to make it happen, just do it.”
    “Matt, I want you to think this through. We can do this, but it will take time,” he pled. I ignored his attempts at persuading me to be patient.
    “What about Brady?”
    “No sign of him. His assistant wasn’t very helpful. Pilots haven’t returned with the plane. All we know is he made a stop in Miami. He met with Kent to tour progress on Cinque hotel’s renovation. He also dropped off his mother, Margaret Brady Clay, in Miami with a couple of her friends to vacation for a couple of days to experience the Cinque Hotel’s spa services. Perla was not seen with him,” he informed.
    Kent had returned my call, and told me he’d finished meeting with Brady, who settled his mother at the hotel. The new project expanded Pentagon’s reach to the major cities with the hottest night life. Cinque, the Italian word for five, was Kent’s latest project with major renovations to the restaurants, bars, and spas. The all-inclusive resort provided everything necessary for the discriminating tourist.
    “It doesn’t mean he doesn’t have her,” I argued.
    “Matt . . . you don’t really think he would do that to her . . . to you, do you?”
    “I don’t know what the fuck he’d do. From all indication, he did quite a lot to get her close.”
    “Okay, that’s between you two. We don’t know where he went next. He chose not to file flight plans, which he didn’t need to. He probably just wanted to go