“You have to call down to the parking attendant,” Zsa Zsa explained, and Sam got out the building binder and called down. When she got a hold of the parking booth, they put her on hold. Finally, she was talking to the person who had called up to Zsa Zsa.
“Yeah, is this Miss Brooks?”
“Yes, who is this?”
“Carl Winters.”
“Oh yeah, I know you. You’ve helped me out when I jammed up the ticket booth.”
“I wish I could say you stuck out in my memory, but you’re one of many,” he chuckled. “I’m sorry to tell you that about four times a year, somebody will hit one of our regular clients’ cars and drive away without leaving a note or anything. We have surveillance footage though. We’ve got a license plate. We just need you to come down and fill out a form.”
Samantha calmed down. It wasn’t something suspicious. “Do you think it will be okay to drive?”
“I’m not sure. We’ll see. If not, you can get a friend to take you home, or an Uber.”
“Yeah, like they ever show up,” she groused.
Sam looked around her office. For once she wasn’t going to take home her laptop. She was going to enjoy her time off. She had plans for Ezio when he showed up tomorrow afternoon. She just grabbed her purse and headed for the parking garage and met Carl.
They went over and checked out her car, and they both could tell that the way the side fender was shoved into the tire, there was no way it was driveable. “Is there anybody who could drive you home?” Carl asked kindly.
“Not tonight. It’s not a problem. From this building, an Uber shouldn’t be much of a problem.” She smiled as they walked back to his office to fill out the paperwork. She left her keys with him.
“Can I come back on Wednesday? I have tomorrow off.”
“That’ll be fine, Miss Brooks. I’ll file the report with the police and provide them with the surveillance tape. Hopefully, they’ll be able to get the information you need to file an insurance claim against them.”
On that happy note, Samantha took the elevator upstairs to the lobby. She found Zsa Zsa there with a big young man.
“You must be Brody,” Samantha smiled. “What are you doing here?”
“Just wanted to make sure that creep wasn’t going to give you any trouble tonight, before your boyfriend set him straight, ma’am.”
Oh, wasn’t he the cutest?
She could so see him reporting to Ezio. For once Nic didn’t seem so young!
“I really appreciate your support, Brody. Thanks for this. We’ll definitely have to go out some time, when Ezio is back in town.” Samantha looked down at the app on her phone. She saw that the Uber driver was five blocks away.
“Okay, gotta shove off.” She walked briskly across the marbled lobby to the doors and stood at the front of the lobby.
She looked down at her phone and saw her car was still three blocks away.
“Miss Brooks? Over here.” Looking up, she saw an SUV with tinted windows and a man standing with the back door open.
She got closer to look at the make and model that was on her app and compare it to the vehicle in front of her. “You’re not my car.” She smiled and waved.
“Yes, I am,” he insisted.
She saw Brody and Zsa Zsa watching. “I told you, you’re not my car. I don’t want to give my fare to someone else, that’s not right.”
He bent down closer to her. “Miss Brooks, if you want Kevin Warner to stay alive, you’ll get into the car.”
The blood rushed from her head and she wobbled on her heels. He caught her elbow. She had an opportunity to resist. She could call for help. Brody was right there, but this guy knew Kevin’s name. She’d screwed up. She’d driven her car to the apartment, and now they had Kevin. She had to save him, she had to.
She got into the car.
20
“I can’t get a hold of Samantha, that’s strange,” Ezio remarked to whoever would listen.
Nic rolled his eyes. “All of you guys with your women problems. You should take a page out of my book, footloose and fancy-free.”
Water burst out of Leo’s mouth. “What did you just say, kid?”
Nic scowled at Leo. “You heard me.”
Ezio suppressed a smile. He knew what was coming. Nic, even though he was the youngest by four years to the next one on the team, hated being called a kid. He worked even harder to get rid of that moniker since his dad was a Naval captain and commanded hundreds of SEALs.
“Boy, I tasted your mother’s berry cobbler the other night. You are so tied to your mother’s apron strings, that—”
“Can it, Perez.” Lieutenant Max Hogan cut through whatever else was going to come out of Leo’s mouth.
“It’s okay, Lieutenant, I can handle it,” Nic protested.
“Never doubted it. He was getting on my nerves, and we need to plan for tomorrow.”
Nic flipped Leo the bird.
“Nic and Asher, you’re with me right now. I have plans for you,” Max said. “The rest of you sit tight.”
Ezio watched as they went off to the other side of the campfire. He checked his phone again. His connection was fine, but still no response to his text.
“Hey Stark. Don’t worry, Sam and Eden are getting together for breakfast tomorrow,” Asher assured him.
“And A.J.,” Kane spoke up.
“God save me,” Leo groaned. “The kid is right, you are the ones who are tied to your little women’s
