Deny Tomorrow Read online

  “You’ll have to forgive her, Pilar,” Lisa said, gathering the linens. “She’s not taking this very well. Actually, I’m not either, but I don’t mind helping out. Here. I’ll make the bed.”

  Arianna sat on the balcony looking out to sea as Pilar and Lisa went about setting the room in order. As she looked around, she noticed a phone on a table at the far end of the balcony. Hmm! This could be the opportunity she’d been looking for.

  She glanced back into the bedroom and didn’t see Pilar anywhere, and Carlos was reading a magazine just outside the bedroom door. This was her chance. She picked up the phone and dialed 911, but instead of ringing, she got a busy signal. Thinking this was the kind of phone you needed to dial a nine to get an outside line, she hung up and tried again. But just when she thought her call was going to go through, she heard a beeper going off and saw Carlos jump to his feet and head her way.

  He came dashing out onto the balcony through one set of French doors while Arianna scrambled back into the bedroom through the other, still holding the phone and hoping her call might go through. Her hopes were dashed as the guard jerked the phone jack out of the wall. Frustrated at the failed attempt to call for help, she winged the phone at the guard, missing him but cracking a pane of glass in the French door instead.

  Seeing Carlos coming for her, she turned and scurried back onto the balcony through the opposite door. As he came toward her, she threw some potted plants at him and then dashed back into the bedroom, knocking over everything in her path. Seeking refuge, she ran into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. She didn’t know if he would hurt her or not, but she liked her chances better in a locked bathroom.

  Stella and another maid, hearing the ruckus, came running. Their initial look of horror soon turned into amusement at the sight of this highly trained guard, standing in the midst of a completely destroyed bedroom, banging on the bathroom door. Nothing like this had ever happened around here before, and they found it quite amusing. Pilar stood by impassively, perhaps a bit amused herself, but hiding it well. As usual, Lisa once again froze with fear.

  Carlos rattled the door, trying to open it, while shouting, “Miss, you need to come out of there!”

  Uh, oh! She leaned against the bathroom door. What have I done now? No one had tried to hurt her so far, and she’d certainly given Juan ample reason to if he had so desired. Pilar had said no one would hurt her, but she feared she might have just crossed the line.

  “No, I’m not coming out until you go away,” she yelled through the door.

  “I’m not going to hurt you. But you have to come out of there. Open this door!” Carlos demanded.

  She stood there, feeling a bit panicky, not sure what her next move should be. The only thing she was sure of was, she wasn’t going to unlock the door.

  “Sir, she’s locked herself in your bathroom,” Carlos said as he talked to Zach on his cell phone. “What do you want me to do?”

  Zach thought to ask which girl, but he already knew which girl it was. “What the hell do you mean, she locked herself in the bathroom?”

  He filled Zach in on the failed 911 call and the wrecked bedroom. “All I tried to do was stop her, but she ran into the bathroom and locked the door. How do you want me to handle this, sir?”

  Zach knew what he wanted to tell the guard to do with her but resisted. Instead, he told him to get her out of there, and then, lock her back in her room in the servant’s quarters. If she was going to keep trying to create havoc like this, he had no choice but to lock her up. Maybe a few hours of real captivity would cool her enthusiasm for escaping and make her a more compliant guest.

  “Yes, sir,” the guard responded and snapped his phone back into its case on his belt. Returning to the door, he leveled a couple high kicks at the door and it came crashing open. “Let’s go,” he said to Arianna, who had backed into a corner. He grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the bathroom. He then briskly escorted her down to her room in the servant’s quarters with her kicking, screaming, and dragging her feet the whole way.

  “Ooow! Damn you!” she screamed after he left. Moving to the door, she banged, kicked, and shook it to no avail. She didn’t really expect it to come open, but it was a good way to release some of her frustration. Flinging herself onto the bed, she pounded her fists into the mattress. This whole ordeal was really starting to get to her. Resigned to the fact the locked door meant she was going nowhere, Arianna lay there mulling over her situation late into the afternoon until she finally drifted off to sleep.

  “ARI. ARIANNA. Wake up,” Lisa said.

  Arianna woke with a start and was happy to see it was Lisa shaking her. “Whew! What time is it?” she asked.

  “A little after six. Are you okay?”

  Arianna sat up and pushed her hair back off her face. “Yeah, sure,” she said, as she shook herself awake. “Carlos didn’t hurt me, but I’m really mad at myself for blowing that opportunity.”

  “Arianna, sweetie, you know I love you, but I have to ask, what the hell were you thinking? You’re lucky he didn’t clobber you or something.”

  Arianna stood and stretched. “Yeah, I guess I was kind of pressing my luck, but so far no one’s laid a hand on us. They’re trying ‘to keep us safe’, remember? I don’t think they’re going to hurt us.”

  “I’m not so sure, but maybe you should try a different approach. Maybe we can talk our way out of here. Especially you. You know you have a charming way about you. I think if you changed your tactics, you could have these men eating out of your hands in no time.”

  Well, it was a thought but somehow she didn’t think any of the men she saw last night were the “eating out of your hands” type. She began pacing. It had only been a few hours, but this small, windowless room was beginning to drive her crazy.

  “Have you seen any of those men from last night?”

  “I helped Pilar around the kitchen all afternoon. Tony came through once and glanced at me, but didn’t say anything. He just nodded and walked on by. I tried asking Pilar some questions, but that’s useless. She won’t tell me anything.”

  “If she knows anything,” Arianna said. “What about Juan or that other guy, Zach? Did you see him?”

  Before Lisa could answer, there was a knock on the door and Pilar entered with a tray of food. She set the tray down and said, “This is for you, Miss Garrett. Miss Calder, your dinner is waiting in the kitchen.”

  “You mean, Arianna is stuck here, but I’m free to leave?” Lisa asked.

  “Yes, of course, that’s exactly what she means,” Arianna interjected. “Evidently I’m being punished for trying to escape.”

  “Or perhaps destroying the bedroom,” Pilar hastened to add.

  Arianna just glared at her. She didn’t care about the bedroom. Whatever happened served them right.

  “I think I’ll eat down here too, then,” Lisa said.

  “Miss Calder, come with me, please.” Pilar opened the door and stared at Lisa, indicating she was to exit the room with her. A guard stood watching just outside the door.

  Knowing it was probably useless to resist, Lisa followed Pilar out of the room. Looking back, she shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I’ll see you later tonight, Arianna.”

  Arianna waved her off. “I’ll be fine. I don’t want to see any of those guys anyway.”

  After they left, she stared at the food on the tray and set it aside, too angry to eat. If they thought keeping her locked away was going to deter her from trying to get out of this place, they were wrong. But today had certainly taught her an important lesson. She realized she would have to be a lot smarter the next time. She’d bide her time and when they least likely expected it, she’d make her move again. The next time however, she would be successful.

  ARIANNA PACED back and forth. Having slept all afternoon, she had more energy than she knew what to do with. She snapped on the TV, thinking maybe she might see her face on the news in a missing person’s segment. Of c
ourse, who would report her missing? Her mom was accustomed to not seeing her for months on end, so she wouldn’t know she was missing. Kevin was out of the country and out of contact. André at the club might wonder where she was, but these men planned to hack into her phone. They could easily text him and make some excuse as to why she wasn’t around. He’d never be the wiser. In fact, she suspected that was why they were so anxious to get their passwords and PIN numbers. She had to admit, it was an ingenious strategy.

  Lisa returned to the room around ten o’clock. Carlos stepped inside at the same time and retrieved the tray of uneaten food, then left.

  “Hey,” Arianna said, looking away from the TV. “You were gone for quite a while. Everything all right?’

  “Yeah, interesting evening. After dinner, Tony came up to me and invited me outside to talk. I didn’t know what he wanted, but I figured it was more of a command than an invitation.”

  “Yeah? So what did he want?”

  “He asked me a lot of questions about the FBI agent. He wanted to know everything about him… what he looked like, what he said, what we said, anything I could remember.”

  Arianna shut the TV off and turned toward Lisa. “And what did you tell him?”

  Lisa plumped up the pillow on her bed and sat back. “I didn’t know what to tell him. Not sure if the FBI agent is the enemy or these men are, I was afraid to say too much. I was afraid not say anything at all though.” Then, suddenly her face clouded over, and she began to tear up.

  “Hey, what’s the matter?” Arianna asked, coming over and putting her arm around her.

  “I don’t know,” Lisa cried. “I told him just about everything I could remember. “I don’t know if I should have or not, but I totally caved. This pressure is getting to me.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Lisa. I doubt we know anything that is worth knowing. Anyway, if you had refused to talk to him, it could have gotten really ugly. So don’t worry about it.”

  “It was kind of strange, though,” Lisa said, drying her tears and getting up. “Tony was actually pretty nice, kind of friendly even. He asked me a lot of questions. He was curious about you and your kidnapping, but there wasn’t much to tell. I told him you had no idea who kidnapped you. He also asked me several questions about myself…some I thought had nothing to do with this situation. Pilar and Stella have been decent, too. I can’t explain it, but I actually had kind of a… pleasant evening.”

  Arianna frowned. “Wow! That is strange. I guess it’s better than having a scary evening or a totally boring evening like mine.”

  “I’m not as afraid as I was in the beginning. I know I’m not free to leave, but this is feeling less and less like a kidnapping all the time.”

  “Really?” Arianna couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

  “Yeah, but you’ll have to see for yourself, so hopefully, they’ll let you out in the morning.”

  “Sure,” Arianna said, looking skeptically at Lisa. “Maybe they’ll let me out in the morning.”

  THE AGENCY had sent two women to serve as decoys. They had arrived early in the morning and had situated themselves into Lisa’s house, hoping the mole would think it was the two girls and attempt to contact them once more. Word had come down a man had been spotted, staking out the house. Zach and Tony armed themselves and made their way back into the city, looking to grab him. Unfortunately, the alleged mole turned out to be a utility worker sitting in his van, filling out reports.

  They returned home late in the afternoon with the mole still at large. On the way back, Zach got the call from Carlos about Arianna. Tired from no sleep the night before and pissed about the thwarted attempt to get the mole, he was ready to blow a gasket when he saw the carnage in his room. He’d just finished a stressful mission in Kervistan, and this was supposed to be down time for him and his team… time to unwind and relax before they went on the next assignment.

  He understood the girl’s frustration. They’d purposely kept the women in the dark as to their identity and as to the reason they were being held captive, so it was logical that she’d want to escape. She thought they were the enemy, but it didn’t matter. She wasn’t going anywhere for the time being. He now realized however, that soon, very soon, he would have to personally step in and get this girl under control before she could create any more havoc in this normally quiet refuge, he called home.

  Arianna tossed and turned all night. Anxiety coupled with an abundance of sleep from the day before, prevented her from dozing off more than an hour or two. At six in the morning, she rose, checked the door, and found it unlocked. Did that mean she was free to go? She could only hope. She grabbed a quick shower and came out of the bathroom just as Lisa was getting up.

  “Morning, Arianna. Pilar came by while you were in the shower. She said breakfast would be at seven, and that we should both come up when we’re ready. Guess you’re free to go now.”

  It was welcome news. She’d had all she could take of this room. “I’ve already showered so I think I’ll go on up. Do you mind? ”

  Lisa waved her on.

  Arianna made her way to the kitchen. For the first time since she’d been brought here, she saw her abductors who were having breakfast out on the veranda. She was hoping no one would see her as she hung back in the corner, so she jumped when she heard Pilar. “You must be very hungry. Would you like something to eat?”

  “What I’d really like is to drop a bomb right in the middle of that group out there. Pilar, please. We’re being held against our will. Can’t you help us?”

  “Miss Garrett, sometimes things are not always as they seem. Perhaps you have this situation sized up wrong.”

  “I doubt it, and please, just call me Arianna. But what part could I possibly have wrong? I’m being forced to stay here and so far, no one has given me a good reason as to why. I don’t care who these guys are any more. I just want to get as far away from this place and these men as possible.”

  Pilar pulled a pan of muffins out of the oven and set it on the counter. “All I can tell you is that if my employer has decided it is necessary to keep you here for your own safety, I’m sure he knows what he is doing. Despite what you think, this is not a normal occurrence around here.”

  “But that’s just the point. Who is Tony to decide what is best for me? I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I sure don’t need his help.”

  “Tony?” Pilar said in surprise. “That’s who you think is in charge here?”

  “Yeah, I mean. Sure. He....,” but then something about the look on Pilar’s face told her that wasn’t right.

  “Who then?” she asked, even as it hit her like a ton of bricks. “Him!” she gasped and spun around to look out at Zach and then back at Pilar who just stared at her. “Zach? This place? All this is his?” she asked, motioning around.

  Pilar nodded.

  “But he didn’t say a single word the other night.”

  “That you knew of,” Pilar interjected, as she continued to prepare breakfast.

  It was a stunning revelation. Having previously channeled all her anger at Tony, Arianna had to rethink the entire situation. “So tell me something, Pilar. All this kidnapping, manhandling, restraining me, locking me away stuff…whose idea would that be?”

  “I’m afraid that I have said too much already,” Pilar answered, suddenly hesitant to say more. “It’s not for me to discuss Zach’s business. I can tell you with one hundred percent certainty Miss, uh... I mean, Arianna, that nothing went on the other night, before, or since you’ve arrived that wasn’t authorized by Zach, and let’s just leave it at that.”

  She picked up two plates and handed them to her and Lisa who had come into the kitchen and joined them. “Here, ladies. Help yourself to the breakfast bar on the veranda.” She then walked off.

  “What was that all about?” Lisa asked, having caught the tail end of the conversation.

  “Did you know this is Zach’s house… that he is in charge around here?” Arianna a
sked.

  Lisa looked surprised. “No. You could have fooled me. I thought Tony was in charge. Either way. Zach? Tony? We’re still stuck here. But, hey, let’s go get some breakfast.”

  Arianna paused a moment, not sure she wanted to go out there. Lisa locked arms with her and said, “Come on, Ari. You haven’t eaten since yesterday. You can’t stay in here forever.”

  Moving outside with Lisa, she stood at the breakfast bar looking at the men at the table. She took special delight in seeing Juan with his hand wrapped where she’d bitten him. Zach was the first to look up and make eye contact with her. For one intense moment their eyes locked, sending nondescript but electrifying messages to each other. Arianna forced herself to look away, thinking she would incinerate if she stared any longer.

  The rest of the men noticed Arianna and the veranda suddenly got very quiet. Surprised to see her, no one knew quite what to expect. It was Carlos that broke the silence when he jumped up and threw himself in front of Juan. “Don’t worry! If she takes even one step toward you, I’ll protect you, bro.” The veranda broke out in laughter with Juan feigning indignation and shoving Carlos away.

  Had she not been so furious at being made fun of just now, she might have completely swooned at how handsome and charming Zach looked. No. How could this be? She refused to allow any thoughts like that to enter her head. Letting her temper block out any positive thoughts toward Zach or any of her captors, she was sorely tempted to wing a bowl of fruit at Carlos when Lisa stepped in.

  “Okay. Let’s set that over here,” she said to Arianna, heading off a potential disaster in the making.

  Arianna rushed back into the kitchen and scrunched back in the corner of the nook where she could not be seen. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes but refused to cry. She was glad she provided them with something to laugh at because she didn’t find any of this funny... just totally frustrating.