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She was still thinking about it while she finished eating and cleaning up, but forced herself to put thoughts of Cypher and their relationship out of her mind when her next client arrived.

***

She didn’t entirely succeed in keeping Cypher off her mind, but she was able to focus on what each client was saying and to do her best to help them. By the end of the day, she was glad to have a few minutes alone in the office to gather her thoughts, as well as the things she wanted to take home for the weekend. Her mind turned back to what she’d been thinking about during her lunch, and she again wondered why him. As she opened her office door and stepped into the hallway, her mind flashed back to a couple of weeks before when Cypher had asked if she wanted a baby of her own. She hadn’t caught it at the time, but she’d thought several times since that there was something… different in his tone when he’d asked. And when she’d given the reasons she had no kids yet, she hadn’t been looking at him at that moment but several times since, she’d found him watching her, a considering look in his eyes, as if he was trying to figure out something about her. What was he considering and did she want to know?

She made her way out of the building and to her car. Releasing the trunk lid with her remote, she set her laptop bag inside, then closed it. Before she could turn and go to her door, arms came around her one clamped around her waist like a steel band, pulling her back against a body too soft and round to be any of the Savage Warriors. And the other bringing a cloth soaked in something smelling sweet but strongly chemical. She tried to hold her breath and turn away but the arm around her belly got tighter, and dizziness overtook her, until it was all she could do to breathe at all, much less fight to get away.

Slowly, the world faded, Lauren’s last coherent though was that Cypher would wonder where she was and that she hadn’t had time to hit the signal on her watch like he’d told her to.

Chapter Nineteen

Cypher stood in Lauren’s front room, looked around, and frowned and checked his watch again. Where was she? It wasn’t like Lauren to not be on time, or even early. In all the time they’d been seeing each other, and even before, when he’d heard about her from Jenna, Lacey, or Joker, he’d heard surprise at how prompt she was. He’d heard comments about how nice it was to know they would get out of an appointment at a certain time instead of guessing how long things would take, like nearly any other appointment.

Now she was more than ten minutes late. If she’d needed to stop for something, she would have told him. It was just how she was. Something wasn’t right. He called her phone. It rang and rang, then rolled over to her voicemail.

Cypher pulled the phone away from his ear and glared at it. Something wasn’t right. He spun on his heel and headed back out to his bike. First stop would be her office. Maybe she’d had a last-minute call come in, maybe a last-minute patient, and hadn’t had time to let him know. It didn’t seem like her, but shit happened.

Throwing one leg over his bike, he shoved his helmet back on his head, because the last thing he needed was to get stopped for no lid, and cranked the engine. In seconds he was speeding toward her office.

When he reached the office building, the first thing he noticed was that nearly everyone was gone. There were maybe a half dozen cars in the lot, and it didn’t take him long to realize hers was one of them.

Relief washed through him. she’d likely just lost track of time and was safely inside, working. He went to park his bike next to her car so he could go in and get her, and noticed something on the ground behind her car. Pulling up to it, he scowled when he saw it was a set of keys. And his heart nearly stopped. It wasn’t just any keys, they were Lauren’s. The narrow leather loop with ‘Dr. L. Callahan’ stamped into it left no doubt. He didn’t kill the engine on the bike as he leaned over and picked them up. Hitting the power lift button he waited while the tail gate door lifted. He saw her bag sitting in the rear where she always put it. he grabbed the bag and put it in one of his saddle bags, then growled as he hit the button again. He shoved her keys into his jeans pocket, killed the engine on his bike, and pulled out his phone.

“I need you in the command center,” Cypher said as soon as Mud answered.

“Sure, on my way now. You sound tense. What’s up?”

“Lauren’s gone.” He outlined the situation and gave the other hacker instructions on where to look and what information he needed ending with, “I’m headed back your way. Unless you call. Call me if you find something before I get there. I don’t know where she is, or who has her, but I have suspicions. I also know she didn’t go willingly. She wouldn’t leave her laptop in the car like that or her keys on the ground. She’s more responsible than that.”

“10-4.” Cypher heard the familiar squeak of the chair Mud normally used in the command center come over the line. “I’ll get started and let you know if I find anything that needs your attention.”

“Great. Can you call Wrath and fill him in. If we haven’t found anything by the time I get there, I’ll talk to him.”

“You got it.”

Cypher rang off, shoved his phone back in his pocket and started his bike. So much for a nice quiet evening with his woman. Now he had to find her and God help anyone who hurt her.

Chapter Twenty

The sweet, chemical taste filling Lauren’s senses was wrong. She wasn’t sure why only that it was wrong. Slowly, she became aware that she was moving. Not walking or even standing in an elevator but lying on her side while something moved beneath her. Every bump and sway made her head throb more.

The gentle swaying said either car or train. The movements were too steady, and she could hear the rhythmic thump of tires on the road. If whoever had taken her had put her on a boat, like they had with Lacey, assuming it was the same people, the swaying would be gentler, with longer stretches between each rise and fall.

Slowly, her memories of going to the car and being kidnapped returned. She remembered that she hadn’t signaled Cypher, only that she’d thought about him and that he would wonder where she was. She tried to hit the button like he’d told her to, but found her hands were tied in front of her and in the dark, she couldn’t see well enough to be sure she was sending the signal. Still, she tried and hoped the signal went out.

That done, she tried to take in more about where she was. The rough scratch of cheap carpet abraded one cheek. Between that, the movement, and the darkness, she could only assume she’d been stuffed in a trunk. Though how long she’d been out and how much longer they had until they reached wherever they were taking her, she had no clue.

She fought to stay awake, to find out where they were taking her, but blackness overtook her once more.

When she came to again, she was hanging upside down over someone’s shoulder. Her arms dangled below her head, still tied and the shoulder dug painfully into her belly. She wasn’t able to see much through the hair that covered her face, but she could tell she was being carried onto a boat, then below deck. Before whoever was carrying her bent and placed her in a chair.

Someone behind her grabbed her shoulders and the person in front and the one behind her worked together with roll of duct tape to restrain her to the chair. As the man in front of her bent, she noticed he wore a knitted balaclava, preventing her from seeing more than his eyes and mouth. All she could tell about him was he had dusky skin. Not that it narrowed the possibilities much. There were probably fifty thousand men in the greater mobile area that it could be.

When they were satisfied with the amount around her torso, the man in front used the same roll to tap her ankles to the chair legs. She wished she could say she fought and made it hard for him, but her grogginess, paired with the headache and her general disbelief that this was really happening all conspired to keep her pliant. At least for now. What would happen next, she didn’t know. What she did know was that Cypher would look for her. He would get worried when she didn’t show up on time. He would look for her. The question was who had taken her, why, and would Cypher be able to find her?

Chapter Twenty-One

Cypher sat at his desk in the command center, one knee bouncing in staccato rhythm. He’d found Lauren’s cell phone in her bag, and had tried to use her phone to find the watch, but it had just spun and spun, without ever finding a location. He’d checked the last known location and found that, but it showed her about halfway between Wilmer and Biloxi, twenty minutes ago.