Blind Loyalty by M J Marlow (ereader for android .TXT) 📖

went upstairs with Charles and sat down on the bed in her mother’s old room as he locked her in. She caught sight of two men standing outside the door and knew she would not be leaving anytime soon. She had no idea what was going on. Her father was a doctor. Doctors did not have people abducting their daughters and making threats. She got over her fright and started to explore. Her father had never let her be alone in this room long and she knew why. There was a book in here that held the truth; a truth she now knew her father did not want her to learn. Try as she might, she could not remember where she had found the book. All she had in her mind was a flash of purple. So she set it aside for the moment and went through the room that had been her mother’s cell. It still held all of Hannah’s things and Joanna was lost to memories and feelings as she moved through them slowly. A photo album was hidden behind the bookcase and she pulled it out. It held the photographs from Hannah’s former life from the day she had met Adam to the day she had left him. Joanna could see from the photos that her mother had been very much in love with Adam and her sons. There were also photographs of her and her mother from the day of her birth until just before Hannah had died. What could have happened to make her leave them behind and become James Leighton’s wife? She heard a key in the lock and put the album back in its hiding place. “You should be asleep, girl,” the cold man who had brought her here said as he stepped in with a glass of milk on a tray. “The Cook sent this up for you.” He set it down and saw her looking at it warily “It’s just milk, girl. We’re not going to drug you.” “Why not?” Joanna shrugged. “Father did.” She couldn’t see why he would be any different from her father. James had always drugged her to calm her down. She saw his startled reaction and wondered at it. She looked at him coldly as she sat down on the bed and held the pillow to her chest. She was angry now. She had been free of this place and now she was back! The only good thing about the situation was that now she could look for the book that was haunting her memory and find out what was going on. The man only barely managed to control his anger and left the room. He locked the door and then engaged in a very short conversation with his confederates. When the delivery was made, Leighton was dead. There was no way he was letting a slime who beat his own child remain alive. They nodded their agreement and took up their positions outside the door. “No one is allowed in that room but us,” the man continued. “Her meals are to be prepared by us. There is to be no chance of that monster harming this child again.” He had another thought. “I need to talk to our employer.” “But Jefe,” one of the men protested. “It was one of his conditions…” “So?” Eduardo Montoya hissed. The men stepped back immediately. They knew better than to argue with their boss when he was in this mood. He whipped out his phone and made a call. “Braxton,” he said and switched his language to one he knew only he and this man could speak. “It’s Montoya. Is he out of the way?” He frowned as he heard the man’s report. “Tell him the girl is fine. We will look out for her while we deal with Leighton.” Joanna stepped back from the door, frowning. She had heard him use Braxton’s name. This man was not a criminal, as she had supposed. He was here to trap her father in criminal activity so that he could be arrested. She turned away and saw the desk. Pain nearly blinded her as she saw the book again. It was in there! She was certain of it. Joanna opened the drawer in the center and it would not budge. She knew without being told that he had locked it. She opened a drawer to one side and nearly cried out in relief. He had been so certain she would never remember; he had left the key there. She pulled it out and slipped it inside of the locket Aidan had given her for her birthday. She would get the book tomorrow and then take it, the photo album, and herself out of this house forever. Adam might have been forced to stay out of the way, but there was nothing Braxton could do about the kids. They got together the morning after Joanna was abducted and made their plans. If they had to, they would march the band up to the Leighton estate and make such a ruckus the Sheriff would have to come investigate. They sat at the pier discussing the situation and trying to come up with a plan to help Joanna. There was no way they were leaving her without a rescue. “We don’t know that her father has her,” Ryan, ever the practical one, stated. He saw them all frown. “We need to do a little scouting first.” He thought it over. “There’s the old lookout on the hill overlooking his estate. We’ll set up there.” He saw some arguments forming. “It’s the weekend,” he said bluntly. “We’ll tell the folks we’re going camping.” “We wouldn’t believe it,” Rachel said as she came towards them out of the shadows. Lora and Murphy were with her. Ryan shook his head, as the others looked shocked. He was always impressed when his aunt snuck up on them. She seemed to appear out of thin air. “We want her back as much as you do,” Murphy continued, “but we’re not about to lose you as well.” “You know something,” Patrick saw it first. “The men who took her work for Dad, don’t they?” “They work with your Father,” Lora nodded. She saw their relief. “So they will see to it Leighton can’t hurt her.” She saw their disappointment at not being able to help. “If you still want to set up your lookout, then do so. But you are not to go onto the estate without our knowledge. Is that clear?” She looked at Aidan. “We have a different job for you, Aidan.” “You want me to go in, don’t you?” “We have need of your skills and someone needs to check on Joanna,” Murphy nodded. Aidan was puzzled. “He used you, Aidan,” his father said bluntly. “We know you wouldn’t have helped him hurt Joanna otherwise.” Aidan looked very angry. “Take that anger with you and go accuse him. If we’re lucky, they’ll put you in the same place they are holding Joanna. If not…” “I’ll plant as many bugs as I can,” Aidan replied. “I only got a chance to plant two in his Study the last time I was in there.” “Just be careful,” Lora told him firmly. As the kids got their camping gear together, Aidan drove up to the estate. He did not wait for the gatekeeper to call ahead but drove up to the house. He stormed inside and Charles stopped him. Aidan was not to be dissuaded. He was going to throw a tantrum if they did not let him see Leighton. Aidan looked up at the mountain of a man standing in his way and his determination mounted; he would go through this man to help Joanna if he had to. “I want to see Doctor Leighton,” he said coldly. “Now!” “Doctor Leighton is not available right now, boy,” Charles said stiffly as he reached out to grab Aidan’s arm and turn him back. “You’ll have to come back…” “The hell I will!” Aidan hissed and pulled his arm free. He glared at the man and Charles knew the boy was not here on a whim. “He needs to explain to me why he used me to get to his daughter!” He saw Charles pale. “No use denying it! If I had known he was going to poison his daughter, I would never have taken her to him during the fire drill.” “Charles?” James came out of the Study, frowning. “What is this noise?” He saw Aidan and his look darkened. “Aidan? What are you doing here?” “I want to know why, Doctor,” Aidan snapped. “I thought I was helping you. Why did you try to kill Joanna?” “Kill her?” James looked at the boy as if he had gone insane. “What are you talking about, boy?” “You used me,” Aidan glared at him coldly, “so you could slip her that poison, Doctor.” “You’re mistaken, boy,” James replied. He stiffened as he saw Montoya coming out of the Study. “Charles, call Aidan’s father and have him come pick him up. He is obviously disturbed…” “I am pissed,” Aidan broke in as he moved away from Charles, who seemed rooted in his spot. “You bastard! Why would you want to hurt her? Haven’t you done enough?” James slapped him across the face and Aidan fell to the floor. He took the opportunity as he picked himself up to plant one of his bugs. “I’m going to my Father and tell him what you did, Doctor. I’m going to see you go to jail.” Aidan knew he’d gone too far as the tall dark man behind James came around him. The look in the stranger’s eyes made Aidan feel very vulnerable suddenly. He got the feeling that Leighton was not in charge as he met this man’s eyes. That was an uncomfortable thought. Aidan knew Doctor Leighton; but his man was amystery. He grabbed Aidan by the shirt collar and shoved him to his men. “We can’t have that, boy,” Montoya frowned. “We need the good doctor where he is for now.” He nodded to his men. “Put him in with the girl for now. We’ll figure out what to do with him after our business is concluded with the Doctor.” “You can’t hold me here,” Aidan protested as the men dragged him up the stairs. “This is kidnapping! I’ll see you all go to jail…” Aidan’s tirade continued until he was shoved into the room where Joanna was locked up. She saw him and her eyes widened in shock. She helped him up as the men closed and locked the door as Joanna made certain he was all right. Aidan smiled and took something out of his pocket. He slid it into the space under the door and then put another one in under the desk. “Bugs,” he told her in a whisper. “They’ll hear everything that’s going on now.” He sat down on the window seat. “Has he hurt you since you came back here?” “No,” Joanna shook her head and he was relieved. “These men won’t let him near me, Aidan. Why are you here?” “We wanted someone inside to make certain no one hurt you,” Aidan told her after he confirmed her assumption that the men were here to set her father up. “Since I had a reason to be angry at your father, I was the likeliest one to come.” He looked at her with regret. “He used me so he could hurt you, Joanna.” He waited for her to defend her father and when she did not he was surprised. “You don’t seem surprised.” “It is what he does,” Joanna said sadly. Why should she be surprised at anything he did now? Her father had been trying to drug her into a coma so she couldn’t testify against him. Why should she be surprised he would use Aidan to make that happen? She slid the key out