Carson nodded. “That would be Thomas Hendry. We’re fairly certain he’s the other man being held.”

“Fairly certain? What the hell? Surely we have satellites? Intelligence? And Bryan? The government put a security team on Riley and Tom. The other security guys in the detail? Is Bryan there? Are he and his team alive?”

“No one else was left alive other than the two being held,” Carson said. He said it like it was nothing. Riley had told Jack he had a team around him, Bryan and the others. They were all dead?

His legs buckled, and he slumped to the sofa. He sat up again abruptly. “We need to get Hayley out of school.”

Robbie was there. “I called Eli, he’s going now.”

“What about Eden and the family?”

“Everyone is being informed,” Carson advised.

Jack stood on unsteady legs, casting a look at the freeze-frame picture on the TV. “I need to go…” he said. He made it as far as Robbie, who along with Carson blocked his way. “Let me through.”

It was Robbie who blocked him in. “Jack, you need to stay here. We need to stay here. Hayley will be coming home, she’ll want her dad. We have reporters already at the gate. I sent Vaughn up there. Jack? Listen to me? Can you hear me? Jack?”

Everything was white noise, a mixture of words that made little sense. The only thing in all of this that made any sense was that Hayley would need him there, and he needed to clear his head. Max would need picking up; wasn’t it his job to do that? It wasn’t Riley’s, because Riley wasn’t here…

“Max.”

“He’s upstairs,” Carol said quickly.

“Why?” Why was their son home? Shouldn’t he be at school? He’d only just moved from half-day sessions to full.

“Half day, Jack, you remember it’s the training day? I went at lunchtime to pick him up.”

“Don’t… don’t…” Every molecule of energy left his body. “Don’t let him see this, he won’t understand.” He crossed to the TV and turned it off. They couldn’t see that, what if Hayley…? What if Max…? They’re safe, they’re all safe. That was the last thing he had to worry about. The kids were all accounted for. Robbie was here, Liam looking past him with concern on his face, Vaughn at the gate, the cops, the Feds. He was done.

Then it hit him.

Riley wasn’t here.

Chapter 11

Riley opened his eyes to blackness and the sense of falling. His head hurt, and he lifted a hand to press against the pain, but his hand was stuck, it wouldn’t move. He tugged, disoriented, and only stopped when Tom’s voice came from very close by.

“Stay there a minute.” He felt hands on him, moving him, until his head settled on something soft. Was that Tom’s lap?

“Wh’appened?” he asked with a croak in his voice.

“Fuck knows. They brought us here.”

Riley attempted to move his hand again. This time it was freer although weighted down by handcuffs, which appeared to be attached to Tom’s wrist at the other end.

“Where’s here?” he mumbled.

Tom sighed. “I don’t know. Didn’t see much outside the car.” Tom’s fingers pressed at Riley’s head, and he winced when they made contact with the point of pain. “I can’t feel if it’s wet. I’ve been pressing my shirt against it.”

Riley swallowed and tried to move, but the pain was too bad. He rested his head back down. “Remind me to give you a raise when we get home.”

“If you can afford it,” Tom said. “We’ve been kidnapped, and my schoolboy Spanish has them demanding a ransom. Twenty-five, I think.”

Riley closed his eyes again. Ten they could do out of bonds and savings, more than that was tied up in trusts for the kids. Jack could sell off some of the Hayes Oil holdings. He stopped his thoughts there. There was no selling stock if Riley wasn’t there to sign off on it. That seemed pretty steep; did they know who they had?

“My wallet,” he said.

“Back at the hotel, remember?”

“How’d they…?”

“I don’t know how they knew who you were, or if they even know. Hell, I don’t know anything.”

“Sorry.” Riley felt like he should be apologizing for dragging Tom down there to a place where there was danger, even if the danger was normally managed.

“Nothing to be sorry for. We’ll get out.”

“Ransom… you…” Riley slurred. His head hurt like a fucker.

“I don’t know if it’s joint or if I’m the expendable one.”

Riley was too tired to judge the tone of Tom’s voice. He felt sleep pulling at the edges of his thoughts.

“Don’t go to sleep,” Tom said urgently.

“’M not,” Riley lied. Sleep would release the pressure in his head and stop the pain.

“You need to talk to me. Come on, Riley, no sleeping. You’ve probably got a concussion. I need you awake.”

“Jus’for’ten,” Riley slurred. His tongue felt too big for his mouth, and he really wanted to sleep. Tom should let him snooze. Jack would rescue him, and when he woke up, everything would be okay.

“Wake up, Riley, tell me something. Tell me about Jack. I remember when I was younger, we met up. He’s a good guy.”

Riley groaned; he didn’t want to think, even though memories of Jack admitting he had carnal knowledge of Tom were right there at the very edges of his thoughts.

“Come on, Riley, tell me about what Jack is like now.”

“Love him,” Riley managed to say.

“He’s good-looking, a real cowboy.”

Riley pulled Jack to the front of his mind, tall, lithe from working with the horses, with the most gorgeous blue eyes. “’S mine,” he pushed out.

Tom chuckled. “I have my own man. I met him at a wreck, would you believe? He’s a paramedic. Tall blond, sexy, eyes you can lose yourself in. We were going out for dinner when I got back just to talk about moving in together.”

“Sounds…” Riley knew what he wanted to say, but the words just weren’t coming together in any kind of cohesive way.

“His name is Michael, a good name, like Jack, right?”

“Mmph.”

“Riley? Stay with me. Riley. Like Jack, right?”

“Jackson,” Riley said. That was a fully formed word, and somehow the cotton wool in his brain moved enough for him to focus on his husband.

“How did you meet him?” Tom asked. “Tell me how you met your husband, Riley.”

Riley dealt with irritation and pain that fought for dominance in his small capacity left to think. Didn’t everyone know this story by now? Not the blackmail maybe, but the murder and the secrets? Didn’t most of it already come out in People or on TMZ?

“Made ’im marry me,” Riley admitted. Then he tried moving his head. The pain had lessened, and when he opened his eyes, his vision was more focused. The room wasn’t as dark as he’d thought; a thin sliver of light came through a window covered in bars and beyond that black paint on the glass. He could see that. He could feel his head in Tom’s lap, and the pain was receding.

“You made him marry you? How the hell did you do that? From what I recall, Jack is the strong, silent, not easily moved type.”

“Loved his sister,” Riley said.

Tom chuckled. “You loved his sister?”

“No, he did. My family… fucked ’is over, I made… it worse. Saw through my shit.”

Tom huffed a laugh, and Riley found himself smiling in the half dark in agreement. “When they do that, everything gets easier,” Tom offered. “And now you have children, a nanny, but you don’t have any dogs.”

“What?”

“The usual scenario, the nuclear family always has a dog, usually something dopey and hairy called Ben or Smoke or something.”

“I like dogs,” Riley said. The words were flowing a little easier now. “Dogs and horses… I never asked Jack. I should… we used to have a dog, when I was a kid. My mom’s, this tiny furry cairn terrier named Alfie. It loved my mom… I used to tease it when I was small… but I know it loved me, found it in bed with me when I was ill once…”

“So when we get back, you probably need to get a dog.”

“Max would love a dog. A big one, maybe.” And Jack, he would probably love a dog as well once he got used to it.