long ago to plead for help for her intern and boyfriend had been the only stroke of luck we’d had so far.
I had to give her credit, she had gotten my attention, even though she’d rolled her way into the upper offices in a wheelchair, completely out of breath from the effort it had taken her to get there. She’d demanded to see a Montgomery in a hoarse but scratchy voice that had somehow carried into my office.
“Dr. Lewis, you were released two days ago?” I asked, trying like hell to use a much calmer tone.
The pretty blonde looked like she’d been through hell, and should be in a hospital instead of here in downtown San Diego. Then again, if someone I cared about was possibly dead, and my friend was still being held hostage, I’d be doing everything I could to get them help, too.
She cleared her throat nervously. “Please, all of you, call me Harlow, and yes, I was released two days ago. It took a day for them to get me back to the U.S., and once I was back, the doctors wanted to get me totally hydrated again, run a million tests, and start some physical therapy before they let me out of the hospital. But I couldn’t get any information about Taylor and Mark from the medical center since I don’t exactly have any of the Montgomery brothers on speed dial. I ended up leaving the facility this morning against medical advice because I have to do something. I think everyone assumes Mark is dead, and Taylor was my responsibility, a summer intern working under my guidance. She’s also my friend, and she’s still being held. I don’t understand why she wasn’t let go with me.” Her voice was desperate now, and her expression tormented. “Taylor puts on a brave face, but she isn’t going to last much longer. We were both in bad shape when I left. And after two more days in that sweltering hot box with no water, I’m not even sure she’s still alive.”
Harlow looked fragile and haunted, which bothered me much more than I wanted to admit. Even though she and I had never personally met, I felt responsible for every single person who worked for Montgomery Mining, and she’d been on this exploration for us. All three of them had. “I’m sorry this happened,” I said, not knowing what the hell else to say. “My brothers and I should have been informed immediately, not nine days after the fact. Our management did everything they could to get you released, and I’ll do everything I can to bring back the other two.”
I exchanged looks with Jax and Marshall, because we all knew exactly why only Harlow had been released. We’d gotten the outrageous demand for Taylor’s ransom this morning, along with a proof of life short video clip of the female still in captivity.
As of yet, we hadn’t gotten a single word about Mark, Harlow’s boyfriend, and the mining engineer who had planned to meet the two women at the dock in Lania. Until her release two days ago, Harlow had been imprisoned with Taylor, but Mark was totally unaccounted for, and hadn’t been at the dock when the two women had been taken.
I would have forked over the money for my intern immediately, no questions asked, if I thought it would buy Taylor Delaney’s freedom.
But it wouldn’t.
I had enough history with Lanian rebels to know that the last ones being held never made it out.
Harlow had been lucky. Her release was a supposed act of good faith, but I wasn’t buying that bullshit.
“I just want them back,” Harlow answered frantically. “I don’t know what happened to Mark, and Taylor won’t last much longer. We didn’t get food at all, and the only water we could get was if and when it rained, which didn’t happen often. We could barely get part of our arm through the vents to the outside to gather as much as we could when it was raining. I checked the weather in Lania. It doesn’t look they’ve gotten a drop of rain since I left.”
Fuck! If Harlow had been critically dehydrated, Taylor didn’t stand much of a chance.
“Other than the lack of food and water, how was your treatment while you were there? Can you give me any more information about where you were kept?” I asked Harlow in a tone that was as gentle as I could manage at the moment.