Chapter 21: The Kidnapping

Monday, November 28 (Ana's POV)

"Christian?" I called as I walked into the security room where I could hear him frantically asking about me. "I'm here. Calm down."

"Ana! Oh, fuck!" Christian had me in his arms so fast that I didn't even have time to blink. "I thought he had you! I was so afraid that Hyde had you! God, baby!" He had tears in his eyes, and due to the panic in his voice, my own eyes started tearing up.

"No, he doesn't have me. He'll never have me," I assured him. "But… did they tell you already?" I glanced at Jason, who nodded. Christian knew that Hyde kidnapped Mia. I looked in Christian's eyes and saw nothing but pain and fear. I didn't want to have to tell him what I knew, but he needed to know.

"I heard Mia's voice, Christian, she's OK… At least she was five hours ago. She sounded scared, of course, but not injured. And Riley was still with her. He kidnapped both of them. He wants me to meet him this morning with money, and I wasn't supposed to tell anybody, but that's just stupid. As soon as he hung up, I woke up Kendra and told her. I'm not sure how he thinks I'm going to come up with a million bucks by 10 a.m. without telling you or anybody else, but that's what he's demanding. Of course I knew better than to keep it from your security. He wanted to get me to come alone, and then he'd have me too, along with the money. He wasn't going to release Mia, I know better than that. He shot me. If he'd been a better shot, I would be dead already. He wants me dead, and Mia too, but he's going to wait. He won't hurt her until you're there, so he can torture you. But that will never happen, Christian. Kendra already has a plan, and we're going to get her back before he has a chance to hurt her."

Christian sat down, finally, and seemed to think over everything that he'd learned since he woke up this morning. Actually, that had only been a few minutes ago. I'm sure I'd just overwhelmed him with all that information. Christian Grey was a strong man, stronger than he realized, but I knew him well enough to know that he was near his limit.

"Where were you, baby?" he asked me. "I searched for you all over the penthouse. I was so worried. And why didn't you wake me up last night when that asshole called you? Why didn't security wake me up? Why did you all allow me to sleep through all this?"

I sat down on his lap and put my head on his shoulder, the uninjured one. "I didn't wake you up because you needed the sleep. You're still recovering from your gunshot wound, which was a lot worse than mine. You've had a really stressful week, and even though you said you were going to rest over the Thanksgiving break, you really didn't get as much rest as you needed. You were exhausted. And besides, there wasn't anything you could do. Kendra took control of the situation right away. She agreed that you didn't need to be disturbed until morning. There wasn't anything that you could do in the middle of the night, and Kendra had everything under control. She tried to get me to go back to bed, but there's no way I could sleep. I just… couldn't. I'd intended to lie down before you woke up, but I didn't make it back to our room in time. I was in the Taylors' apartment talking with Gail and Pam. Actually, we were helping Pam with the wig she's wearing, helping her style it to look more like me. I still need to get some of my clothes for her to wear."

Christian nodded solemnly and frowned at Kendra. "I'm not happy that you didn't wake me up, but we'll discuss that later, after this is all over. What do you know so far?"

Kendra replied, "Jack Hyde abducted both your sister and her CPO Riley as they were leaving the home of her friend Lilly Brandon last night shortly after midnight. Her other CPO, Ryan, came out shortly before the two women, probably to get the car and pick them up at the door. Hyde shot Ryan. We believe he is now using a gun with a silencer, unlike Tuesday, because this time nobody heard any shots."

Christian's eyebrows shot up. "Is Ryan…?"

Kendra nodded solemnly. I'd been awake at 2 a.m. when the security officers Kendra had sent to the Brandon residence to investigate called with the news. Kendra and I both had shed a few tears when we got the word, even though neither of us had known Ryan well. But after a couple of minutes, Kendra had squared her shoulders and taken charge. And it was that unaffected persona that she displayed as she responded to Christian's question.

"It was at close range, so Ryan had no chance at survival. It appears that Hyde was waiting in the shadows after following them there from the Mile High Club. Ryan had just opened the door of the car, and Hyde shot him in the head."

"Fuck!" Christian shouted.

Kendra continued, "Riley broke protocol by not waiting for Ryan's clearance before coming outside. She further went against her training when she started searching for Ryan when he wasn't waiting where they'd designated instead of returning inside with Ms. Grey."

"Fire her," Christian ordered.

"First we rescue both of them," Kendra replied. "Then… I agree, she should not be anyone's Close Protective detail. Anyway, I started formulating a plan as soon as Ms. Steele alerted me early this morning. Cornwall and I had already discussed the serendipity of her being the same size and stature as Ms. Steele. We just didn't expect to have to take advantage of that happy convenience this soon."

"Hyde knows what Ana looks like, so how is this going to work?" Christian asked. "As soon as Cornwall enters the room, he will know it's not Ana."

"It's called distraction," Kendra replied. "And… the less you know about the details, the better."

"Why is that?" Christian asked. He sounded controlled, but I knew he was angry at her response. Of course, the control freak in him wanted to know every detail.

"With all due respect, sir… this is your sister. I've been… briefed. I understand what she means to you. I intend to get her and Riley out of that situation as quickly as possible. Safely. But to do that, we all must keep a level head. You hired me for a reason, Mr. Grey, and I need you to trust me to do my job."

Christian shifted in his seat, pulled me closer, and sniffed my hair. I knew he was doing that to calm himself. After a few moments, in a deceptively calm voice, he told Kendra, "I can assure you that I will keep a level head, despite this being my sister who has been kidnapped by the man who wants to destroy me for reasons that are still unknown. Now, give me the details."

Kendra nodded. She was neither intimidated nor apologetic at Christian's reaction. "Very well. It is an advantage for us that Hyde decided to kidnap Riley instead of shooting her too. All of our security staff wear multiple trackers. As a result, we know exactly where they are at the moment. At least, we know exactly where Riley is, and we believe he has kept them together."

"Couldn't you just track Mia's phone?" Christian asked.

"We did," Kendra replied. "He dumped it after he ended the call with Ms. Steele. He probably made that call while they were driving, and then threw their phones out the window of the car. Our officers secured Ms. Grey's phone a few miles from the Brandon's residence, along with Ms. Riley's. When he calls later, it will almost certainly be from a burner phone. He has no way of knowing that Riley is wearing several trackers, because none of them are obvious. He doesn't know that we know exactly where he is right now. We're working on getting eyes on him, so we can know exactly what we're going into before we go in."

"How do you intend to do that?" Christian asked.

"We're using drones, to start with. That's in progress, as we speak. After we've located all of the possible threats, then we'll determine the best approach to planting cameras. We're working on getting equipment on site that will allow us to see inside."

"Where are they?" Christian asked.

"In a boarded up house in Tukwila. Well, at least the windows are boarded up, not the doors. Welch is already checking into the history of the home. They went directly there, and the car he was driving is parked in the garage."

"How do you know that?" Christian asked.

"Riley left one of her trackers in the car," she replied. "Anyway, we don't expect that he'll move them, and we believe he will give Ana instructions to go there with the money. He wants to get her inside, and then… well, I think we can all guess. It doesn't matter what he plans because it won't come to that."

"What do you plan to do about the money?" Christian asked. "I probably have half that amount in my safe. Even I don't keep a million in cash on hand."

Kendra nodded. "That's helpful. Cornwall's the best profiler I know, and she believes that he isn't after money at all. It's just a ruse to get Ana to come to him. Cornwall predicts that when he calls her at 10 a.m., he expects Ana to tell him that she couldn't come up with a million but she will have scraped together a few thousand. A couple of hundred thousand will work even better. She can tell him that she guessed the combination to your safe. Whatever amount she tells him, we want to have on hand, just in case we need it, but hopefully it won't come to that. We doubt seriously that he'll hold out for more money. We believe he wants to get Ana there as soon as possible, and you shortly thereafter. But neither of you will be leaving Escala until this is all over."

"But if you know where they are," Christian asked contemplatively, "why aren't you going in to rescue them now?"

"We'd be going in blind if we went in now," Kendra replied. "We could get them both killed if we do that. But we might attempt to rescue them before 10 a.m., depending on the reconnaissance we're conducting right now. We'll be able to see more soon, when the sun rises. The main thing we're looking for is cameras. The windows are completed boarded up, which means not only that we can't see in, but he can't see out. Unless he has cameras planted in strategic places. If he does, then we won't have the element of surprise that we're depending on."

"How sure are you about Riley? Is it possible that she's in on it?" Christian asked.

"I'd considered that question, but Cornwall and I agree that she's not working with him. She would have disabled the trackers if she were. Plus, Cornwall spent a couple of hours with her the other day, and she reads people well. Riley's a good person, just not a very good protective detail."

"I still think you need to fire her," Christian responded.

"I intend to, sir, but I also intend to recommend her for another job where she'll be a better fit," Kendra replied.

"So… what do we do now? Just sit and wait until that asshole calls Ana?" Christian asked.

"We're doing much more than just sitting around waiting," Kendra corrected him. "Two of our security staff are still at the Brandon residence, fielding questions from Seattle's finest. We're trying to get ahead of them, and get all this over with before they come knocking here. We don't want to involve the police too early in the kidnapping."

"You just answered another of my questions," Christian commented. "I'd wondered if the police are involved yet."

"In the shooting of Jeromy Ryan, yes. They've also been informed by witnesses that two females were abducted, but the witnesses couldn't say for sure that the shooter was the abductor, even though that much is obvious. They didn't see the shooting or even know he'd been shot until after they witnessed the abduction. They called the police immediately, so the police were already on the scene when our guys, Carter and Garcia, arrived. Carter reported that they confirmed the identities of the two women abducted. The witnesses hadn't been completely sure, because it was dark. They couldn't identify the abductor, so the police don't know it was Hyde. We want to keep them in the dark as long as possible."

"Why aren't you involving the police in rescuing my sister?" Christian asked.

"Because we want to get her out of there alive," Kendra insisted. "And we don't trust the police to do that. Anyway, the other thing we're doing is figuring out as much as we can about the house where he's holding them. Welch has already sent the blueprints, so we know the basic layout of the house. It's just your basic ranch style. Three bedroom, two bath. No basement, attic, or out buildings. It has an attached two-car garage, where he's parked now. It doesn't appear to have been lived in for a couple of years, so we believe it is unfurnished. That's all we have at the moment, but I'm expecting a call from Welch regarding ownership. We're also working on getting infrared detection in place, so we can be certain of how many people are inside and which rooms they are in."

The next couple of hours passed too slowly. Even though I was nervous about talking with that monster Hyde again, and being careful not to say anything to give myself away, I wanted to get this all over with as soon as possible. Most importantly, I wanted to find out if Mia was OK. I was more afraid than I'd admitted to Christian that Hyde had already hurt her. He'd been holding her captive in an empty boarded-up house for several hours now, so what would stop him from raping her? If he had Riley tied up so she couldn't do anything, he could do anything he wanted to both of them.

During the waiting time, Kendra's team was busy. Once the sun had come up, they'd been able to determine that Hyde only had one camera in place, at the front door. This meant that the back door was unsecured, without even a peephole, and it was where Kendra planned for the rescue team to enter. Also, while Welch had been searching for information about the ownership of the house, he had also been busy finding out what Elizabeth Morgan had been up to after getting fired from GEH with Hyde and his cronies. Kendra suspected that Elizabeth was still working with Hyde, and when Welch discovered that the house had belonged to Elizabeth's great aunt and now belonged to Elizabeth herself, Kendra was even more convinced. Pam agreed that it was very likely that Morgan was inside the house guarding the two prisoners. For this reason, sending in the rescue team early would be too risky.

Once they'd gone over the exterior of the house with a fine-tooth comb, locating the security camera at the front door and nothing else, Kendra's team started looking for cracks in the boarded up windows and under the doors. Apparently, even a crack small enough for a mouse to get in would be sufficient for getting in some of the high-tech spy equipment that Kendra had access to. I was impressed, but Kendra was even more impressed at her now seemingly unlimited budget. She'd known this equipment existed, of course, but she'd never been able to get access to it in her previous work with the FBI. Now, within a couple of hours, she had in her hands state-of-the-art spyware that I hadn't known existed. These gadgets gave the term "bug" a new meaning. My favorite of these little toy-looking things were very realistic cockroaches that even crunched and splattered something that looked very much like bug guts when squashed… but kept working just as effectively as before as audio and video recorders. They were remote-controlled, and once Kendra's team were able to get them into the house, we would be able to see everything that was happening in the house on the computer monitors in the security room here at Escala.

Unfortunately, there were no cracks that the security team could find, even tiny ones under the doors. There was no way to get the bugs into the house without opening one of the doors. The team brainstormed how to get Hyde to open the door, but any suggestions seemed too risky. Kendra didn't want to arouse Hyde's suspicion. The team decided that it would be best to wait until Pam entered, pretending to be me. I still wasn't clear on how that was going to work. Hyde didn't know me well, but he knew my face from the months I worked as Christian's assistant. He'd been promoted to CFO only shortly before I left for Europe, but he saw me daily. Before his promotion, he had seen me fairly often taking notes for Christian in meetings. And Elizabeth would certainly recognize me because we had interacted more. I knew as soon as either of them saw Pam's face, no matter how good her disguise was, they would know she wasn't me.

Shortly after 9:00 a.m., our security team caught two enormous breaks. One was expected but the other was not. The expected break was the arrival of the military-grade thermonuclear spy equipment that would allow us to see where people were inside the house. It wasn't as good as having cameras because we could only see shapes on the computer screen where we were watching. Consequently, it was impossible to know who was who among the three women. Hyde was larger, so it was clear which person he was. We now knew that the three women were in the back bedroom. When one of those shapes moved around, Kendra told us that it was most likely Elizabeth Morgan. She believed that Mia and Riley were tied up and unable to move. Apparently there was at least one piece of furniture in the house, a bed, and that was probably where the two captives were sitting.

The unexpected break came via Hyde himself, the larger moving shape on the computer screen at the front of the house. At exactly 9:16 a.m., Hyde opened the front door and stepped outside. Luckily, the drones were all out of sight now, as were our security personnel. The security cameras that our team had planted in the large oak tree in the front yard were too small to be seen from the front door. Hyde looked around and seemed to find nothing out of place. He looked at the sky, appearing to be checking the weather, which was overcast but not raining, at least not yet. After a few moments, he turned around and went back into the house, closing the door behind him.

Those few moments were more than enough to get a dozen or so of the cockroach cameras inside the house without Hyde noticing. Apparently, our security officers on the scene had placed some at each entrance in hopes of getting this very break, and they were ready to move them when the opportunity presented itself. In moments, the computer monitors in the security office at Escala were all showing different rooms in the house. We could now see and hear what was happening inside the house.

It took a couple of minutes to see the room where the women were. When I heard Christian's sharp intake of breath, I knew that he'd caught a glimpse of Mia at the same time I had. Thank God, she still appeared to be unharmed. I couldn't say the same for Riley, though, as she appeared to have blood on her face. Both women looked like they were crying. And both of them had their hands and feet bound together, and they were sitting on the bed with their backs against the headrest. They also appeared to be gagged.

"She's crying," Christian observed. "If that bastard hurt her…"

"Ms. Grey doesn't appear to be harmed," Kendra said in a calming tone. "Ms. Riley took some punches to her face at some point, probably when they were abducted. Her nose was bleeding, but it appears to have stopped. The blood on her face is dried. Both of them are still fully dressed, which is a good sign. He's waiting, which is good for us, because we're going to get them out of there before he has a chance to carry through with his plans."

None of us had to speak what we knew his plans to be.

We still had a few minutes to go before he was supposed to call me again, and I was getting increasingly nervous about talking to him and not giving away that I had not followed his instructions not to involve anyone else. And seeing him standing there in front of Mia, I knew exactly what was at stake. This realization was made even more serious not only by the fact that Hyde was waving around a gun like a madman, but also by the fact that Elizabeth Morgan was standing guard over them, and she was also armed. Thank God she wasn't aiming the gun at them, but just the fact that she had a gun was frightening enough.

"Just keep calm, Ana," Pam encouraged as she walked into the security room, and I did a double-take. Damn, she'd finished putting on her disguise, and she looked a lot like me. Only her face gave her away. "You remember what we rehearsed?"

Indeed, we'd been practicing earlier, and I knew exactly what to expect from this phone call. I took a deep calming breath. I nodded at Pam.

Christian all but ignored Pam, simply nodding at her. His eyes were glued to the monitor. "Can you hear what they're saying?" he asked Kendra.

"Every word since we got ears," she replied confidently as she adjusted the volume so we could hear better. "Nothing to report yet. The captives haven't spoken. Hyde gave Morgan instructions to keep guarding them, like that was even necessary. She gave him some lip about money."

"They're both nervous," Pam observed. "Hyde's acting really antsy. He's probably not going to wait until 10:00 to call. He'll likely call a few minutes early. Be ready, Ana."

Sure enough, we watched him pull out his phone at 9:54 a.m. "Fucking close enough," he muttered. He walked back towards the front of the house, and we were able to see him on another video monitor. Then, my phone rang. It was an unlisted number.

I took another deep breath as I got up and quickly left the security room, as Kendra had instructed me to do. They didn't want there to be any interference during the call, so it was best that I take it from a quiet room. I walked quickly into the empty living room, Pam at my side, and answered as calmly as I could, but I could hear my voice trembling. "Hello?"

"Anastasia," he said mockingly. "Do you have it?"

I answered just as I had rehearsed with Pam. "Jack, there's no way I could get a million dollars in such a short time. I'm sure Christian will agree to it, if I ask him, but you told me not to tell anyone. I was able to guess the combination on his safe, but he didn't have a million dollars in it. I can bring you what I have, or I can tell Christian and get more from him." I only hoped my lies sounded believable. Pam nodded encouragingly, which calmed my nerves only slightly. I knew everyone else, Christian included, were listening to the entire call from the security room.

"No, don't fucking tell that bastard," Hyde shouted, but then he asked more calmly, "How much were you able to get your pretty little hands on?"

Shit, that was creepy. I had to take another calming breath before I could reply. "He only had $265,000 in his office safe," I lied. "If he has another safe at home, I don't know. We've only been dating a short time, so I don't know… Anyway, if I add what's in my purse, that will be an additional $35. If you want more than that, I have to tell somebody else. I mean, I have a few thousand in my own bank account, but nowhere near that amount, and it will take some time to get access to more than a few hundred."

"Shit. No. I want it now. Make no mistake, I'm not happy about this. I expected more from you, Anastasia, but I guess you're just another stupid bitch. The longer we wait, the more likely you are to fuck up even more. Make sure you don't fuck this up, bitch. Bring the money to the address I text you. Don't you dare tell a fucking soul, or I'll kill you, his snobby bitch of a sister, and the good-for-nothing security guard bitch."

"How do I know you haven't already… k..killed either of them?" I asked nervously, just like Pam and I had practiced. She'd warned me that he might get suspicious if I didn't ask about Mia's well-being.

"You don't," he snapped back at me. "You'll just have to take my word for it."

"And how do I know you'll let us go if I bring you the money?" I asked him. In fact, I knew he wouldn't let me go. I wasn't born yesterday.

Instead of answering my question, or shouting angrily at me like he had earlier, he said in a deathly calm voice, "One thing is for certain, Anastasia. If you don't bring me the money, I will kill your precious lover's precious sister. I will shoot her right between her eyes. Will you be able to live with the guilt, knowing you could have saved your asshole fuck buddy's bitch of a baby sister? You have one hour to get to the address I text you. Come alone, and don't tell anyone. Make sure you aren't followed. If you bring anyone with you, I will kill her. If anyone follows you, I will kill her. If the police show up, I will kill her. If you are a minute late, I will kill her. If you do not bring the money, I will kill her. Tick tock, Anastasia." With those incredibly creepy words, he hung up.

But he was not finished speaking, just because he had ended the call. As Pam and I went back to join everyone else in the security room, we overheard his next words, the ones he didn't realize we could hear. "I can hardly wait to have some fun with you, Anastasia," he sneered.

"If you don't fucking let me go right now, I will fucking fire you, you son of a bitch!" Christian spat, startling me. When I looked in his direction, I understood immediately that Jason had needed to restrain him during the phone call. As soon as he was free of Jason's hold, Christian rushed towards me. I jumped into his arms and buried my head in his chest.

"Christian!" I sobbed. Only now that it was over and I was in his arms did I realize that I was shaking.

"Ana! That bastard will never hurt you! I swear," he assured me. God, his arms felt good. I took a deep breath, breathing in Christian's scent, a mixture of citrus, sandalwood, and Downy fabric softener. He smelt like home to me, and I felt instantly comforted. I now understood how Christian felt when he sniffed me.

The next forty minutes or so passed by very quickly, as Christian and I watched from the security room of Escala. By the time Hyde texted me the address, Kendra's team was already at work. It did not come as a surprise when he texted the very address where we knew them to be. This was expected, but we were relieved that he wasn't planning to move them at the last minute.

Gail brought coffee and tea to the security room, along with some freshly baked blueberry muffins, but none of us felt like eating anything. Nevertheless, Christian pushed a muffin into my hands, and I picked at it, mainly to appease him. We kept our eyes on the video monitor that showed Mia, but very little changed during this waiting time.

Only Kendra and Jason remained of the security staff. Jason's job was to protect both Christian and myself, and I suspected he was there mainly to keep either of us from trying to do anything heroic. Kendra was using the security room at Escala as command central, and we had front row seats.

Everyone else was sent to Hyde, each with a specific job to do. While Pam knocked on the front door disguised as me, four others were going to break in the back door, take out Elizabeth Morgan, and rescue Mia and Riley. All four of these were new security officers whom Kendra had just hired this week, and all of them had a military background like Jason and Luke. They would have to act quickly, but they were confident in their skills. There were another dozen or so security officers involved in the rescue, and all of them had very specific duties.

Everything appeared to be going exactly according to plan. We watched as Pam knocked on the door and turned her back towards it, appearing to be looking at the road. From Hyde's vantage point, as we could see through one of the cameras, it looked just like me standing there. The moment Hyde opened the door, Pam turned towards him and threw the bag of money at him, catching him completely off guard. The gun he'd been holding fell from his hands, and in another second, Pam had her own gun trained on him, and his gun kicked away from him. We watched as she picked up his gun and secured it in her pocket without taking her eyes or gun off him. Then, with just one hand, she locked a pair of handcuffs around his wrist, twisted it behind his back, and grabbed his other wrist. His arms were locked behind his back, and he wasn't going anywhere.

At the same moment that Hyde opened the front door, the rescue team kicked in the back door and quickly made their way to the back bedroom. Hearing the commotion, Elizabeth opened the bedroom door and started shooting at them. She was only able to fire a few shots before she was hit. At the same time that Pam secured Hyde at the front of the house, the four officers at the back were at work: Donovan checked for a pulse and then declared Morgan to be dead. Murray carefully used a knife to free Mia and Riley. Once they were free, Byrant and Jackson carried them out of the house. It was all over in less than a couple of minutes.

But then, something happened to change the favorable direction of the events. We heard police sirens, and then we heard shouting. We couldn't see what was happening because it was all going on outside, where there were no cameras.

"Who the fuck called the police?!" Kendra shouted. It was the first time I'd seen her lose her cool.

"The cockroach cameras," Christian reminded her. "Get one of them out there so we can see what's happening."

Kendra gave the command, but whoever had been controlling the cockroach cameras appeared to not be doing so any longer, because nothing changed. Kendra continued to bark out orders, but we couldn't make sense of the responses we were hearing. It was clear that the police had shown up just as our rescue team was bringing out the hostages, but beyond that, there seemed to be mass confusion. Minutes passed and we still didn't know what was going on. And then, Jason's phone rang.

Christian and I both watched with baited breath as Jason answered the phone and then paled at what was said. He stood up and paced as he listened to the person on the phone. A moment later, he hung up and looked gravely at Christian.

"We've got to get to the hospital, sir. Ms. Grey has been shot."