As I looked out at the mostly empty parking lot we were driving through, trying to think, the truck squealed and slowed. We wedged our shoulders against the door until it stopped. It was a lucky break.
“Let’s go!” I grabbed Veena’s hand to help her jump out, but she froze.
Two men in balaclavas stood behind the truck pointing assault rifles at our faces.
Dread sucker punched me. I pulled Veena behind me and put my hands up. One guy I could handle, but three, two of whom were armed and one about to be? Not a chance.
One of the men leapt into the truck, moving like a big cat. He sidled around us and bent over the one I had tied up, who groaned as his buddy untied his hands. He said something, but it didn’t sound like English. The armed man half-dragged the other off the truck. The third assailant kept his weapon directly on us.
I searched desperately for a plan. If the kidnappers wanted to kill Veena, they would have already, but I was another story. Get rid of me, and they could easily take her.
Veena huddled behind me, breathing raggedly.
Without warning, a shot rang out. I dropped to the floor of the truck. And to my everlasting shame, left Veena standing.
Fifteen
Veena shrieked.
I forced my body to override my brain, reached up, and pulled her down with me. Was she hit? My throat closed with panic at the thought. All my training had gone out of the window when I heard that shot.
Several more shots popped outside the truck; it sounded like a pistol. But the kidnappers hadn’t been holding pistols.
The three men’s heads swiveled to the right. They shot back twice and took off around the other side of the truck. I pressed Veena to the floor, covering as much of her as I could.
Snow whipped across the parking lot, but I got a good look at the new player. Shock flooded through me. It was coffee man from the Vail Ski and Snowboard Club.
He wore jeans, boots, and a winter coat. A hat covered his salt and pepper hair, and he held a Sig P229.
He paused and his eyes moved over Veena and me, then he stepped cautiously to the side of the truck and disappeared around the side.
“Stay down,” I said to her. I crept to the open door, only to throw myself back over her. Four guys raced our way on foot.
“Green!” one of them yelled.
Relief coursed through me when I heard Bart’s British accent.
Three of the Venkatesans’ security team followed him. They all lowered their weapons when they saw us. Bart approached cautiously.
“She’s safe.” My voice was raw and breathy. “They went that way with someone in pursuit.”
The other men sprinted in the direction I pointed. Bart stayed with Veena and me.
An engine roared to life somewhere nearby, and a monstrous white SUV with black tinted windows accelerated past the back of the truck, its rear end fishtailing on the snowy pavement. Gathering speed, it shot away into the snow and mist.
Bart pulled out his phone. “Chief, I have Black Diamond and Green. The targets are headed east out of Copper, toward Silverthorne. Late model white Cadillac Escalade.” He gave the plate number. I hadn’t thought to memorize it as it went by. Then again, my bleeding head was pounding.
Veena huddled on the floor, shivering. She had no coat. I shrugged out of mine and helped her into it; I had enough adrenaline flowing through me to melt a polar icecap.
Even with the coat, her body shook. I knelt beside her. The Venkatesans’ security guys were back. They stood at the mouth of the truck, weapons ready, keeping close watch. They seemed to have the situation in hand—finally.
“Are you hurt? Did they hurt you?” I asked her. “Did I hurt you?” I’d pushed and pulled her down hard a few times.
“N . . . n . . . no.” Her teeth chattered. She lowered her voice so the men couldn’t hear. “But I think I peed my pants.”
I couldn’t fight the snort that bubbled up. “It’s okay.”
I had been petrified, too. My first run-in with live weapons held by live kidnappers. And I hadn’t exactly been stellar. No doubt I’d comb through my choices at length with everyone from Brown to Xene. Right now, I was just grateful Veena was alive and unharmed.
A BMW sedan appeared out of the mist, and Veena stiffened.
“That’s the good guys,” I said. Brown was behind the wheel.
Bart helped us off the truck and into the back seat. He jumped in the passenger seat and Brown took off, leaving the other three from the Venkatesans’ team behind with the truck. Blue and red lights glowed in the distance. About time law enforcement showed up.
The short drive to the hotel was so quiet I heard the snow dripping off our clothes onto the leather seats. The kidnappers must have planned to move Veena from the truck to the Escalade. Hopefully, the highway patrol would pick them up now.
I needed to debrief with Brown and Bart but not with Veena there. Her skin was sallow, her eyes were blank, and she had shriveled in my coat. I’d seen most of her huge range of expressions—but not this defeated one. She looked like she was in shock.
Brown slid into a parking space at the back of the hotel, and as a unit we escorted Veena up a stairway to the top floor. I took position behind her. No way I’d leave her alone again. Now that she was safe, fury sizzled through my veins, burning out the fear. Losing Veena should never have happened in the first place.
A man stood outside room 410—the Venkatesans’ room. He tapped on it when he saw us rushing down the hall, the door opened, and Veena launched herself into her parents’ waiting arms.
Her father glanced up, his eyes shiny. “We’d like a few minutes alone with our daughter.”
I hated to leave her, but Brown
