“Great.”Don smiled.“Come on guys, let’s go to my study so we can begin.”
*
It was latewhen Darryn stopped in front of his house in Camp’s Bay.He pressed the remote and the gate opened noiselessly.He drove in, his mind on Hannah.Where the hell was she?
With his brothers’ help, they’d gotten hold of a map of the West Coast and had phoned every single bed and breakfast and hotel from Yzerfontein up the coast to Lambert’s Bay.Nothing.Nobody had a booking under her name or someone with her description.
He was going to look for more maps tonight.Maybe there was a small town they’d missed, one that wasn’t on the map they were using.
The garage doors opened, and he drove inside.
This was ridiculous, damn it.He simply couldn’t spend another day sitting around and calling people.Tomorrow he was going to drive up the West Coast, and even if it took him weeks, he would bloody well find her.
He got out and slammed the door behind him.First things first.He had to get hold of another map.As he closed the door that led from the garage to the kitchen behind him, he activated the silent alarms outside his house like he always did.
Minutes later, he was staring at another map on his computer.This one was more detailed, and he found three little towns he didn’t remember seeing on the other map.
He took out his phone and, walking toward the big windows overlooking the sea, he sent his brothers a message, listing the towns they’d missed.Tonight he’d find the telephone numbers of accommodations in the towns and, while driving tomorrow, he could start calling.
The hairs on his neck rose when he noticed the red light beneath the kitchen counter flickering.He wasn’t alone.Damn it, living in South Africa meant one should always be aware of what was going on around them, but he had been so distracted, he didn’t do what he usually did—made sure nobody was around when he opened his gate.
He swung around, but he was too late.Stephen White was behind him, his face contorted in rage.He was holding some kind of stick above his head with both hands.Darryn stared, not quite believing what was in front of him.The next minute, White brought down his hands.
Darryn tried to jump aside, his foot caught on something, and he started to fall backward as White tried to hit him.The blow just missed him.The sound of approaching sirens grew.Hopefully, it was the security people reacting to the silent alarm.
“She’s mine,” White yelled, lifting his arms again.“I saw her first—this time I’m going to be the winner!”
Darryn scurried back.White’s arms came down again; the blow barely missed his head, but landed on his shoulder.He tried to get up and stay focused.
“I could have had her, but then you came along!”White yelled, and with a maniacal smile, he swung the stick and brought it down again.
Pain exploded in Darryn’s head, and blackness mercifully engulfed him.
*
He was swimmingin a sea of unbearable pain.
Voices.Were they in his head or…
Darryn tried to open his eyes but it hurt, so he kept them closed.It was cold, and he was lying on the floor.What…
“Mr.Cavallo?”
He grunted and opened one eye.A few security guards were standing around him.“What happened?”
“Looks like you were attacked, sir.When we unlocked your front door, someone fled through the sliding doors,” one said and pointed toward the open sliding doors.
“Can we call a doctor?The police?”another one asked.
Darryn started to shake his head, but the pain was so bad, he gasped and tried to sit up.“Just my brother…his number is on my phone.Don…” A wave of nausea forced him to stay down.
And then everything came crashing down as he remembered.Hannah.Stephen White.The bastard had been here.He was the one who’d hit him, and he was going to hurt Hannah.
“Let’s get you on the couch, sir,” one of the guys said, and they both grabbed his arms.He did his best to assist them, but the pain was excruciating—his shoulder, his head, his whole body ached.
Damn it, he felt ridiculously weak.He sat down slowly on the couch and leaned back against the cushions.The blackness threatened to engulf him again, nausea rose up in his throat, but he swallowed it back.
One security guard was on his phone, probably talking to Don.Why the hell was he talking so much?All he had to do was tell Don what happened.They had to go after White.That bloody coward wasn’t getting away with this.Not while Darryn was still breathing.
