Sweet Seduction Shield(106)

Shit, I prayed Daisy was just alive and unharmed.

Ryan reached forward and opened up the glove compartment in front of him, then keyed in a code on an electronic pad, making a little LED light blink red.

"What's that?" I asked, needing something to concentrate on other than all the possible things this ex-cop could be doing to my child.

"GPS. Nick will be tracking us now at ASI control."

That was good. I nodded. Yeah, that would help. If we got to her in time and dealt with Andrews.

Ryan squeezed my knee through my jeans.

"You're doing great, Tiger. Hang in there."

Tiger.

I nodded again, it seemed to be all I could do.

The tyres crunched over grains of sand blown across the carpark, I switched the headlights off, but Andrews would have seen us coming along the main road that led into the beach long before now. If he was here, he'd know we were now here too. The engine ticked over quietly, it had hardly built up any heat in the short drive here, but I had gunned it.

I wrapped my arms around my t-shirt covered upper body, as the chill wind off the sea seeped through the worn weave of my top. I dreaded to think how cold Daisy was, just in her PJ's and nothing else. I turned back to the car to see if there was something to wrap her in when we got her back, my mind only allowing me to think of a positive outcome or I would drown beneath that black ice shelf that hovered above.

But Ryan had already pulled a woollen blanket from the back seat and had it clasped in one of his hands, the other resting on his still holstered gun. I paused, my eyes taking all of him in, feeling a strange sense of unity, a welcoming sense of family with this wonderful man. Feeling a connection that went deeper than skin, that I felt inside my chest, could see inside my mind.

I reached out a hand and took the blanket, crushing it to my chest.

"Ready?" he whispered. I blinked. He just nodded his head and clasped my free hand.

We approached the toilet block, as it seemed to be the only obvious shelter on all of the beachfront. Waves gently rolled up over the sand, stars twinkled in the dark night sky. A shell crunched beneath my shoe and I glanced down. Daisy would have liked to collect seashells here. Instead she'd been denied that happy moment, and now would only be reminded of this evil night when she thought again of beaches and the treasures to be found there.

I vowed to make happier memories for her, like I'd tried to make for Ryan at his mother's house.

Ryan stopped us in the shadow of the toilets, we both strained to hear a sound over the rush of waves and gentle breeze in the air. He inched closer to the corner, intending to sneak a glance around the edge, but before he'd made it a voice called out; cheerful, playful... vile.

"Come out! Come out! Wherever you are!"

My hand jerked in Ryan's, my body went completely stiff. I forced air into my lungs, as all blood left my head.

He thought it was a game; a sadistic, cruel game. He had my baby girl in his hands and he teased us with her life.

I looked up and Ryan was watching me, a muscle jumping along his bearded jaw.

"We're coming out!" he shouted.

"Now, Detective Sergeant. Do make sure that gun of yours is left behind. If I see it in your holster, or anywhere else for that matter, I'll put a bullet through the kid's head."

My body shook, my breaths came in pants, Ryan tightened his grip on my hand and slipped the gun from its holder on his belt. He leaned down and placed it on the concrete beside the toilet block wall. When he stood up again and faced me, there was a novel's worth of words in the concentrated look of his eyes.

I didn't have it in me to read them. I hoped he'd get a chance to say them when this was all said and done.

We stepped out from behind the building just as the moon was covered by a cloud. Probably the only fucking cloud in the entire night sky, but its timing felt ominous. Coincidences aren't my thing, but I forced my nerves to calm. Andrews was a dark shadow against a darker sky as we walked towards him. I strained to see Daisy, but he appeared to be standing alone. Was there another player? Had he dumped her somewhere and we were simply walking to our deaths?

If Daisy was... dead, I might as well be.

Ryan's firm and unwavering hold of my hand righted my course. I took another shaking step towards the shadowed man before us.

"Do you have the book?" Andrews asked.

"Yes," Ryan replied.

"Show me."

"Show us Daisy," Ryan countered.

Andrews shrugged, taking a step to the side and revealing the body of my daughter, curled up in a ball on her side, thumb in mouth, trembling. She hasn't sucked on her thumb since she was two.

I took an involuntary step towards her, Andrews raised a gun.

"The ledger."

"It's in the back of my jeans, I need to reach for it," Ryan pointed out.