“Do you have any idea who was behind your abduction?” he asked, frowning. He’d been kind of hoping she did, since he and his team had precious little intel to go on themselves. They had that message she’d apparently sent from the midwife’s cell phone, but that was about it. It had been an Argentinian phone number, which had prolonged the search for her whereabouts. That country was on the other side of the South American continent from where Serena had actually been located. Whoever her abductor had been, they’d known what they were doing, throwing everyone off their scent.
Assholes.
He growled before he could stop himself and Serena chuckled.
“Everything okay, big guy?”
“No.” He smiled despite himself, loving her names for him. He’d always been a huge fan of the Hulk in the Avengers movies, relating to the gentle giant with a heart of gold and a fist made for crushing. “But it’s getting better now that you and Gracie are here, and safe.”
“Same.” Her answering grin radiated through her tone. “And to answer your question, no. I have no idea who took me.” She traced idle patterns on his bare chest with her fingers. “Believe me, I spent hours trying to figure it out, but came up with nothing so far. And there was no contact with anyone who seemed to be in charge the whole time I was at the villa. The only people I saw were the staff.” Her hands stilled against him. “I paid attention, though, befriended some of the maids. Learned from them. Plotted my own escape. If you hadn’t shown up when you did, I was going to leave myself as soon as I could. That’s why I had the knapsack ready.”
Right. He’d forgotten about that in the midst of everything else that had happened that day. “What did you have in there?”
“Some cash—the equivalent of about two hundred American bucks. Some food, water. A map.” She shrugged. “Not much, but at least something to keep me going. Figured if I could get to the American Embassy, I could figure out my next steps from there.”
“Hmm.” He took a deep breath. As plans went, it wasn’t the worst one he’d ever heard. But it wasn’t the best either. “Probably good I showed up when I did. Who knows where these guys are? They could have eyes on the embassy—maybe even spies on the inside. You might’ve been walking right into their trap again.”
She shuddered against him and he tucked her closer, resting his chin atop her head. “Shit. I didn’t even think about that. I should have, though. Seems everyone on this island is corrupt.”
“Except me,” Noah reminded her.
“Except you,” she repeated, then laughed. “As far as I know right now.”
“No.” He nudged her side gently, then grinned when she squirmed. “As far as you know always.”
“Yeah, I get it. I’m just saying, give me some time, all right? I’m used to dealing with things on my own. Having you around will take some getting used to.”
No doubt there. Noah still had to pinch himself sometimes to remember that he’d found Serena again, in the last place he ever would have expected. Seemed fate had thrown them together once more and added a baby to boot.
“Same here,” he said, then kissed the top of her head. “But we’re in this together now, for better or worse, so if you do remember anything at all that might be a clue about your captor’s identity, let me know. I’ll have my team investigate and see what we come up with. You don’t have to do this alone anymore. Deal?”
She didn’t respond for a while, just rested against him. The sound of palm fronds swaying in the breeze mixed with the low song of locusts outside. Even with the windows closed, the air carried the scent of rain and fresh growing things.
Finally, Serena placed her hand over his heart and pressed herself up to meet his gaze. “You know, now that I think about it, I did hear some of the staff whispering one time about a gringo.”
“Gringo?” Noah frowned. “You mean like a criminal or outlaw?”
“No. From the little I overheard, it sounded more to me like they were discussing an American.”
Huh. Up until now, Noah had been focused on the idea of a local perpetrator. Maybe one of the cartels, perhaps planning to call in a ransom at some point. Except no one had ever called to request money for her safe return.
His mind spun with the new information, his analytical brain ticking off new scenarios. If an American person or persons was behind this, why go after Serena?
The first thing that popped into his head was her family’s company. As he’d learned from her dossier, put together by the SSoF researchers, after her parents had died, she’d become the CEO of Carson’s Candies. It was a huge multi-billion-dollar company with operations around the world. He didn’t know squat about chocolate, other than he liked to eat it, but he’d bet good money you didn’t get to the pinnacle of international business without some competition along the way. Could a business rival be behind all this?
He reached down to pull out his phone and shot off a quick text to the guys to look into it. It wasn’t much to go on, but it was more than they’d had before.
“What are you doing?” she asked, sliding off his lap to sit on the cushion next to him. He missed the warm weight of her immediately, but forced himself not to pull her back to where she’d been. “Calling your team?”
“Just sending them a message about what you told me,” he said, clicking his phone off again and setting it aside. “Maybe they’ll find something out by morning before we leave.”
“Right.” She sat back into the corner of the sofa and tucked her legs under her. “So, lots of walking again tomorrow. We should probably get some sleep.”
“We
