TimeSlip by Caroline McCall Read Free Book Online

bitch
Leona dumped him. Strom could be colder than a glacier when he wanted to be,
and god help anyone who got on the wrong side of him, like now.
    “Report,” the word came out in a rasp of barely controlled
fury. Pete nodded sympathetically at him. He was in deep shit.
    “I’ve searched the building. Ingrid’s coat and bag are still
in her office and she didn’t leave by the usual exit.”
    Strom growled and Jake continued nervously. “Raoul Jasson
was at the museum this morning. He’s been using David Martin’s office. Ingrid’s
buddy David is allegedly on sick leave. Raoul left at lunchtime with his
colleague Jorge Cranton.”
    “Cranton is here?”
    “I’m afraid so. Strom, I’m—”
    “Don’t say it. Don’t say another word, Jake.”
     
    Museum security had improved a little since the previous
night, but the new locks on the doors were no match for Pete’s prowess as an
unofficial locksmith. They piled into the security room and Jake searched
through the tapes from that day. There was no digi-search facility and they
would have to run the full tape until they found her.
    Eight a.m., a dark-blue car approached the entrance to the
parking lot. The image was blurred, but it was definitely Raoul. The tape ran
on slowly. People arriving for work, the usual post and deliveries, and then
there was Jake and Ingrid and their tender kiss in the lobby. The next frame
was Jake dabbing at her face with a tissue, all immortalized on a grainy
security tape. Shit. Jake was afraid to look at Strom’s face.
    “When this is over, you are dead.”
    Jake nodded. There was nothing he could say.
    The tape rolled on, lunch time. Raoul and a second man
appeared briefly on camera in the car park. The other man was carrying
something wrapped in a coat. He opened the trunk and put the package inside.
The dark-blue car left the car park shortly afterward.
    Pete leaned toward the monitor. “Each of the cars has a
yellow badge on the windshield.”
    “So?”
    “So there must be a list of owners somewhere.”
    The security office was searched swiftly. Pete was right.
Each badge number appeared on the master list. The blue car belonged to David
Martin.
    “Okay. Raoul’s driving Martin’s car, but how does that help
us?”
    “Maybe Raoul’s been helping himself to some of the curator’s
other things.”
    Jake and Strom exchanged a silent glance. “Where is Human
Resources?”
    “Martin, Martin, Martin.” Jake riffled through the filing
cabinet looking for his address, while Pete tried to hack the HR database.
    Strom looked at the clock. It was almost nine p.m. Raoul and
Jorge had taken Ingrid eight hours ago. He clenched his hand into a fist. If
they harmed her, neither of them would live to see another day.
    “Got it,” Pete shouted. “Let’s go.”
    * * * * *
    Raoul had cracked her cheekbone with his first blow, but no
matter how much he slapped her, she refused to tell him anything. So many
questions, who was she working for? How many were on the team? What were their
names? Where were they staying? All interspersed with slaps and hair pulling.
In the end, Raoul had thrown her back onto the bed beside Barbara, and then she
had cried until she had no more tears left.
    The sound of tires on gravel woke her. Ingrid heard voices
in the hallway and then the slamming of doors. A little while later came the
footsteps on the stairs, two pairs of them this time. This was going to be bad.
    Ingrid sniffed loudly. She hadn’t even had a date with
Strom. The most attractive man she had met in years and she had barely got to
lay a finger on him. The stupid viking had been outside her room last night.
Why had she lain there? Why hadn’t she got out of bed and dragged Strom inside?
How could someone turn your life upside down in less than twenty four hours?
    She giggled when she remembered the viking’s shocked face
when he met Finn this morning in her bedroom, still dressed in his costume from
the night before. Oh god, she