Garrett’s Destiny by Anna Blakely

Chapter 19

Avery sat in one of the jet’s smooth, leather seats, her right wrist handcuffed to the armrest. She glanced down at the place where her skin was worn raw from her futile efforts to get herself loose.

Not like she had anywhere to go even if she could get free. Which she couldn’t.

She’d come to a little over an hour ago with a splitting headache, a mouth that tasted like she’d been sucking on cotton, and a brain fog that was just now starting to lift.

Worst of all, there was a pain in her chest that wouldn’t go away. Not one caused by whatever drug they had given her, but rather a heart that was being chipped away with every minute she got farther and farther from home.

She’d been left all alone in the jet’s cabin area. Not once had anyone come back to check on her or make sure she hadn’t gotten loose and jumped to her death. Of course, they probably assumed they were safe on that count.

Jumping from a truck was one thing. A plane? Not a chance in hell.

Avery thought about her sister, and her heart began aching again. Alex had to be a blubbering mess by now. Too much time had passed for her not to have realized what had happened.

Knowing Alex, she would’ve pulled up her phone’s location on that app she’d talked her into getting. Then she’d probably call the police and…with any luck, Garrett.

Avery closed her eyes, hating how upset he must be. He was probably crawling the walls trying to find her. He and his team.

Please let them be out there, looking for me.

She had to believe they were. And after seeing them in action, if anyone could find her, it was them.

The jet jerked as its wheels skidded across the runway. Looking out the small, oval window, Avery realized she had absolutely no idea where she was.

Something that didn’t bode well for her dreams of being rescued.

The door to the front of the jet opened, and a man she didn’t recognize stepped out. He was big, really big. With dark hair, broad shoulders, olive skin, and a scowl that she somehow knew was permanent, he looked like Hollywood’s version of a mafia hitman.

The man came over, released the cuff, and pulled her to her feet. With a gun pointed at her side, he motioned to the back of the jet where a door was already open and waiting.

“Move.”

Too scared to argue, Avery did as she was told. When they got to the opening, she saw that it was a staircase leading down to the pavement below.

Gripping the railing as she went, Avery was hit with a wave of hot, humid air as she took each step with caution. They were pretty high up, which was scary enough, but add in her drug-induced state, the heels she was still wearing, and her fear from the gun pointed at her back, it was a wonder she could move at all.

When they got to the bottom of the steps, the man got a meaty grip on her upper arm—the same arm that had finally healed from the abuse it had taken by those jerks from before—and led her to a fancy black car that was parked across the tarmac.

The windows were tinted, so she couldn’t see inside, but something told her whoever was behind all of this was in there right now, waiting for her.

Forced into the backseat, Avery barely had time to get her feet inside before the door was slammed shut and she was locked inside.

Her first reaction was to try to get out, but the doors had been childproofed. There was no way for her to escape.

A long ride and several tears later, the car stopped, and Avery was pulled free. She was taken by surprise when she found herself being led toward the biggest, most beautiful mansion she’d ever seen.

What the hell?

The big brute with the meaty hands took her around back. Once again, she found herself in awe of the gorgeous scenery.

Huge, beautiful palm trees set off to the side of an enormous inground pool. An intricate brick layout made up the patio portion where a set of decorative chairs and matching table awaited them.

If she wasn’t completely terrified, Avery would find the place incredibly enticing.

A rough hand guided her into one of the two chairs. The man remained silent, his only form of communication the gun that was still pointed directly at her.

“Who are you?” Avery finally spoke up. “What do you want with me?”

The arrogant prick smirked but said nothing.

Before long, however, another man joined them. One she found vaguely familiar.

I know him. How do I know him?

Unlike the big brute next to her, this man wasn’t dressed in an expensive-looking suit. Instead, he’d chosen loosely fitting dress slacks and a silky Hawaiian shirt.

Sunglasses covered his eyes, but Avery could still tell he was looking directly at her. Sizing her up, maybe?

Walking next to him was a third man. He was shorter than the other two, his attire much more casual. Wearing jeans, a short-sleeved button up, and sandals, he looked more like the pool boy than someone of great importance.

But Avery recognized him instantly.

Oh, God.

“You.” Her heart slammed against her chest.

It was the driver of the truck. The one who’d tried to take her and Jessica away from the others. “See, Sal?” He slapped the man next to him on the shoulder. “She does remember you.”

Avery’s eyes slid back to the man in the flower-print shirt. She studied his face closely, too. A flash of memory hit, and just like that, she knew.

“You’re the man from the warehouse,” Avery told him. “You were there that day, too.”

“You have a good memory, Miss Webb. This is something I tried explaining to Sal, here. But he didn’t think you would remember me.”

Both men walked past her as the one who’d just spoken led the other man—Sal—to the edge of the pool. Stopping, they turned around to face her.

“I was there that day. You are correct.”

“You’re the one from the truck.” Avery licked her dry lips. Her pulse raced as her heart pumped adrenaline and fear through her cold veins.

“You see, Sal?” The man in the sunglasses spoke again. “You’ve always underestimated American women. I’ve told you time and time again, they are not just beautiful creatures. They’re also intelligent.”

“You’re right, Emilio,” Sal offered. “My apologies.”

The man—Emilio—smiled and gave Sal a kind nod. “Apology accepted.”

Then he pulled a gun from his waistband and shot Sal right between the eyes.

Avery jumped out of her seat, screaming as the dead man fell backward into the pool. The crystal blue water from before slowly turned to a sea of red.

“Where were we?” Emilio returned his gun to his pants and faced her as if nothing had happened. “Oh, yes. I was about to ask you about your job.”

“M-my job?” Avery couldn’t take her eyes off the floating corpse.

I’m going to be sick.

“Yes, Miss Webb. Your job.” With a few snaps of his fingers, he tore through the macabre trance she’d been under and made a motion for her to sit back down.

Not about to argue with the man who’d just committed cold blooded murder—right in front of her—Avery returned to her seat, her entire body trembling as she moved.

“Much better. Now, about your job.”

“W-what about it?”

“You and your friends cost me a lot of money when you escaped. To be fair, it really was Sal’s fault, but since he can no longer be of assistance, I’m relying on you to get me my money.”

“I’ll call my sister right now. We’ll find you your ransom.”

“Oh, dear Avery. May I call you Avery? I’m afraid a measly million dollars simply won’t do.”

Another random memory flashed. This one from the bus ride the morning of the excursion from hell.

Flags. Lots of political flags. And this man’s face was on every single one.

“Emilio Garcia,” she said more to herself than to him. “You’re running for president of the Dominican Republic.”

“Very good.” The bastard smiled. “Now about my money. Ten million dollars, to be exact.”

The air left Avery’s lungs in a loud whoosh. “Ten million?” she managed to choke out. “I-I don’t have that kind of money.”

“No, but the companies who’ve purchased your accounting programs do.”

More confusion set in. “You want me to steal ten million dollars from one of my clients?”

“No, of course not. I want you to steal ten million dollars, split between several of your clients.”

This guy wasn’t just a murderer. He was insane.

“I can’t—”

“Oh, but I think you can.” Pulling a folded piece of paper from the pocket on his chest, he unfolded it and handed it to her. “That is a list of your top five most lucrative clients. I want you to transfer a total of ten million dollars into these accounts—”he slid her a second piece of paper with a list of bank account numbers on them—“as quickly as you can.”

“I can’t do that.” Avery shook her head.

“You can, and you will. If not, I’ll send Felix here back to Charlotte. Only this time, it will be that lovely sister of yours he takes. He’ll bring her here and then torture her in front of you until you’ve completed your task. You don’t want anything to happen to dear, sweet, Alex now, do you?”

Ohmygod. He knows about Alex. He knows everything about me.

“Please. I’ll do whatever you ask. Just don’t hurt my sister.”

“I’m glad to see we have an understanding.”

Another man came outside. In his hands was a laptop, which he sat on the table in front of Avery. Then, with a tip of his head, Emilio dismissed him, and the man vanished back inside the house.

“You have complete internet capabilities here. However, I should warn you. I have another computer set up inside that is connected to this one. I can see everything you do as you do it. If you try to message someone or tell anyone where you are, I will know, and you will die. And then, I will find that sister of yours, and I assure you, her death will not be quick and painless.”

Oh, God.

Avery swallowed down the bile rushing to the base of her throat. “H-how do you expect me to get the money from these companies? I sold them accounting software. It’s not like I have access to their actual accounts.”

“But you can gain it, no? How is they say…you can do it…remotely?”

“Well, yes, if I can call them and speak to the head of their accounting departments, I might be able to get permission to gain remote access. But I’d have to have a really good reason to do something like that.”

“Tell them you found a glitch. Or a virus. Something that could be detrimental to their accounts if it’s not fixed immediately. You’re a smart woman, Avery. I’m sure you will figure it out.”

The man started to walk away, and Avery’s mind spun. “Wait!” she hollered after him. “I-if I do get permission to take over their system temporarily, they’ll be able to see everything I’m doing, too.”

“You can freeze their screens before you begin, isn’t that correct?”

Damn. He knew more about this stuff than Avery thought. “Yes.” She had no choice but acknowledge the truth. “But—”

“Excellent. I expect the money to be in those accounts within the hour.

Avery glanced at her watch and shook her head. “That’s not possible. It’s past business hours. It’s going to take time to contact these people. And I’ll need a phone, in case they want me to call to explain why I’m needing access. If I can talk to them directly, it’ll save us both a lot of time, rather than sending an email and waiting for a response.”

“Fine. You can use Felix’s phone.”

“Why mine?” The big man spoke up for the first time. “Then these people will have my number.”

“Trust me.” Avery turned to him. “These people are accounting nerds whose sole livelihood depends on their accounts being active and in order. If I tell them there’s a potential for a breach, the last thing they’ll be worried about is the number that pops up on their caller I.D.”

“You have until morning, Miss Webb. In the meantime, Felix will be with you if you need anything.”

Yeah, because that’s helpful.

Avery watched as Emilio Garcia walked away, giving her mere hours to finish a job she wasn’t even sure she could do.

With her stomach churning and her body trembling, she did the only thing she could do and looked at the list. The faster she got this done, the faster this would be over.

You just saw him kill a man. He’s not going to let you walk away after that.

Her inner voice had a damn good point. She needed to stall until she could figure out a way to let someone know where she was.

It was her only chance at surviving this nightmare.

Looking back down at the list, Avery skimmed the companies Emilio had provided. One was a trust company who’d been her client for the last few years. Another was an automotive retailer she’d only recently picked up but was a very lucrative business. There was a grocery chain that she’d worked with for the past several months, and then there was the last name on the list.

Travel Assurance.

Holy shit! That’s it!

Travel Assurance was the company Garrett worked for! They were also one of her newer clients. But they were huge and brought in a shit ton of money. It was one of the reasons the company’s head of accounting had wanted to switch to her system. Hers was the most secure, up-to-date system on the market.

And God must be smiling down on her because she now had an excusable reason to call them.

But as much as it killed her, she had to wait. They were the last name on the list, and Avery didn’t want to draw attention to them or herself by skipping the others and going straight to them.

So she’d have to wait and get through the others first. Or at least a couple of them. With any luck, they wouldn’t respond right away, and she could just say she’d moved on to the next ones on the list while waiting for the others to get back to her.

It wasn’t perfect, but it was all she had.

Hope rising in her chest, Avery got to work and began at the top of the list. She’d never been a good liar, but it was amazing what one could do when their lives were on the line.

The first company she contacted hadn’t hesitated to give her access. She made up some BS story about a potential weak spot she’d discovered in the system that could leave the company vulnerable for hackers and the like.

Since that was a huge buzz word for accountants, Avery was able to gain access and transfer a fourth of the money to the first of Emilio’s offshore accounts without detection. Then she moved on to the next company.

It was the same thing with them. They trusted her—because why wouldn’t they—and gave her full access, even offering to pay her a bonus if she’d run a check like this on a monthly basis from now on.

Avery had declined, assuring them that wouldn’t be necessary. One, because when they discovered what she’d done, her reputation and business would be ruined, and two, she’d probably be dead, so it wouldn’t matter anyway.

The third company, the grocery chain, proved to be more difficult. They wanted a detailed list of the issues and said they’d look that over and get back with her in the morning. It wasn’t an unexpected bump in her plan, and in fact, it opened the perfect opportunity for her to move on to her real target.

Travel Assurance.

Without bothering to try to contact them first, Avery pulled up the company’s department contact lists on her screen so the big jerk behind her would think she was looking up the accounting number.

Picking up Felix’s phone from where she’d sat it after the last call.

“Who are you calling now?”

“The last company on the list.”

“What about that one?” He pointed to the grocery chain since she hadn’t crossed it off.

“I’m waiting to hear back from them, so I thought I’d move on to this one to save time. Since your boss is in a hurry to get this done, I figured he’d appreciate the efficiency in not waiting around.”

“Fine.” He grumbled. “Make it quick.”

Praying he didn’t see what number she’d dialed—and that Emilio wasn’t listening or connected to Felix’s phone somehow, Avery took a chance and called Garrett’s personal cell.

Then she held her breath and waited.

It rang once. Twice. Three times. She was about to hang up and try again when she heard a voice that was like music to her ears.

“Yes?”

“Mr. Young?” She purposely used the name of the man in charge of Travel Assurance’s financial department.

“Avery? Oh, thank God, baby. Where are you? Are you okay?”

He sounded tired. Ragged. And almost as terrified as she felt.

Fighting back tears, Avery put on the performance of her life and kept with the plan. “Yes, Mr. Young. This is Avery Webb of Webb Designs. I’m so sorry to bother you after business hours, but it’s come to my attention that there is a glitch in the system I sold your company a while back. It’s nothing major, but it could leave your company vulnerable to cyber attacks if it’s not fixed immediately.”

“You can’t let them know it’s me. Got it. Are you okay?”

“Yes, Mr. Young. That’s correct. I was recently made aware of this issue and wanted to contact you personally so I could resolve it as quickly as possible.”

“Are you safe?”

“No, sir. This is something I have to do myself.”

“Okay, baby. I’m reading you loud and clear. Just keep talking, okay? The longer you’re talking, the better chances we have of getting a bead on your location.”

“I understand. Sure, I’d be happy to hold.”

Risking a glance at Felix’s unmoving form, Avery shot him a look that said she wasn’t happy at all to be placed on hold, but she had no other choice. From the uninterested expression on his face, and the way he dismissed her by looking back over the property, she was pretty sure he’d bought it.

“Good girl. I know you can’t respond since you’re supposed be on hold, but I want you to know we’re doing everything we can to find you. I don’t know how the hell you were able to call, but I’m so damn glad you did, baby. I’m with the team, and Owens. I’m putting you on speaker. Okay, Avery. Give us as much information as you can.”

“Yes, I’m still here, Mr. Young. Excellent. Okay, so here’s what I need from you.”

Avery rambled off some computer and accounting terms to throw Felix off even more. Then she started in with what she prayed Garrett and the others would understand.

“There are six preliminary steps I need to take. Possibly more, but I won’t know until I get into your system. After that, there should only be two major changes that need to be made.”

“Okay, baby. I have no idea what that other stuff was that you said before, but if I’m hearing you correctly now, there are at least six tangos that you know of plus the two main people guarding you. Is that right?”

Relief sent tears prickling the corners of her eyes. “Yes, sir. That’s correct.”

“Great, Avery. That’s really good information. What else can you tell us? Do you know where you are?”

“No, Mr. Young. I’m sorry, but I can’t come in. I’m actually out of the country on vacation.” Avery forced a chuckle she wasn’t feeling and added, “That’s right. The Dominican vacation I told you about before. I’m surprised you remembered.”

“You’re in the DR?” Garrett sounded upset by the news.

That makes two of us.

“Yes, it’s beautiful here. Lots of palm trees. Oh, and the resort I’m staying at is this enormous, white mansion with a gorgeous pool, and—”

“Enough!” Felix yanked the phone from her hand.

Avery started to turn toward him right as his fist slammed into the side of her head. Pain exploded inside her skull as her chair toppled over, and she fell with it down to the unforgiving brick patio.

White stars flashed before her eyes, and Avery may have moaned as she fought to remain conscious.

“You were trying to tell them where you are!” he loomed over her and growled.

“I was making…conversation,” she groaned again. Pushing herself up onto her knees, she took a moment to stop the world from spinning before righting the chair and sitting back down. “That man is a talker.” She huffed out a breath. Putting a hand to her already-swelling eye, she said, “He would’ve thought something was up if I had been short and impersonal. I didn’t want him getting suspicious.”

Felix pocketed his phone and tapped the table next to the computer. “You just worry about getting your shit done.”

Praying the call had lasted long enough for Garrett’s team to trace her location, Avery ignored the pain in her cheek and eye and did as she was told.

At least she got to hear his voice one last time. That was something, right?

Of course, it wasn’t the same as being with him. Seeing and touching him. But for Avery, in her most terrified moments, it had been everything.