Conjuring Darkness by Melanie James Read Free Book Online

his side.
    One million bucks pays for plenty of peace of mind. Kidd looked at the girl and thought . You look damn cute, but you look like every penny of a million bucks of trouble for me . Kidd figured that for Kurt it was probably worth it and more to keep this entire incident very quiet.
    She wasn’t supposed to have been in the country this early. The message he had received said to expect Kurt’s wife to arrive and discuss a case about her missing sister, but not for another 3 days. Information could sometimes get garbled but he had double checked the date and time of the arrival. It seemed odd to him that Kurt would have sent his wife down alone.
    There was much more to this situation and Kidd knew that the best option was to get this woman’s story, before he started to make calls back to the home office. It was way too early to make any sort of assumptions. He would get his answers from her in due time. At least she had the smarts to quickly dial his contact number and leave the line open long enough for him to realize that she had been grabbed. With the blessings of GPS tracking he knew right where to meet the kidnappers and he was backed up by some of his best men, with plenty of firepower.
    He looked at her again and then told her, “I need your cellphone, camera, any electronics you have with you.” She opened her small backpack, apparently relieved that she still had it with her after all that had transpired. She pulled out her phone and handed it over. Kidd quickly pulled the battery out and by habit he looked over the phone for anything unusual.
    The thick jungle canopy swelled and sank over hidden rolling hills and then finally, over one last ridge along a deserted coastline. By now the two helicopters had gone their separate ways. The helicopter carrying Kidd and the girl hovered over a level clearing atop a rocky bluff that displayed a good view to the sea before them. The helicopter set down just long enough for them to jump out with a couple of duffle bags and backpacks.
    The noisy chopper lifted up and disappeared over the horizon, while the two gathered their bags. Kidd led the girl into the forested hillside and down a winding path until they came to a larger dirt road, where they stopped. Silently, Kidd walked over to the side of the road and into the thick brush. He pulled back a large camouflage net that had kept his brown jeep hidden.
    There was no roof, only a windshield and a roll bar. He picked up the bags and tossed them into the back. He looked over to her gave her a smile and said, “Hop in and I’ll get you someplace to catch your breath.” She climbed in the passenger side and noticed how the road looked like nothing more than a river of red mud and rocks that wound through the trees. She locked her seatbelt as tight as she could.
    The jeep jolted off bouncing and turning. Classic rock music crackled through the speakers. She had been wondering what the mysterious Kidd would look like since she started this trip. There were just too many Hollywood stereotypes to choose from so she left her mind’s canvas blank until she actually met him. It appeared that he was in his early thirties no more than thirty-four, no less than twenty-seven she guessed. She was twenty-five and she figured that if they were from the same decade they could at least speak the same language. She took another look at him and then thought about it for a minute.
    He seemed less like the James Bond that she imagined, but not quite the Magnum P.I. she had imagined either. He did have the unbuttoned Hawaiian print shirt and the sunglasses though. Lexi liked his short, but thick head of black hair atop a face with rugged handsome features. Yet somehow he still had a bit of boyish cuteness about him.
    His body was covered in hard lines of muscles that were breathtakingly defined, but certainly not bulky like those over inflated body builders. His biceps were bigger than any she had seen and his shoulders were very