The Mercenary by Katherine Garbera

people down in Cape Town. I will send Ms. Pontuf’s picture to everyone I know in the area.”
    “Very good. Keep me posted.”
    He hung up from his call to Burati and dialed Olivia’s parents house. Their maid answered. “I need to speak to Mrs. Pontuf. This is Ray Lambert.”
    “She is at breakfast this morning, sir. May I take a message?”
    “Have her call me as soon as possible. Please tell her that there is an emergency involving her daughter.”
    “Very well, sir.”
    His office door opened as he disconnected the call with the maid. Phillip stood there. “We need you.”
    “Sorry, Phillip,” Ray said. “I’ve been trying to reach Olivia’s parents, because I thought they should be the first to know that Olivia has been kidnapped.”
    “Good idea. I wanted to wait until we were alone to discuss the details. What happened yesterday?” Phillip asked.
    “Her bodyguard was attacked at the airport and she was taken by a man that no one has been able to identify.”
    “Do you think she was taken in retaliation by the men Thomas worked for?” Phillip asked.
    “That would be my guess,” Ray said, realizing that Olivia might still be of use to him. “But it would only be a guess, Phillip.”
    “We need to get our security force on this. We still have questions about the logs, but right now finding Olivia might give us more information. Have you spoken to the police?”
    “Yes, they are looking through their international criminal database to try to identify the man who took her.”
    “They have a photo of him? How is that possible?”
    “She was taken at the airport,” Ray said. “The man grabbed her from a café while she was waiting for her flight.”
    “Where was she going? Back to London?” Phillip asked.
    “She said she was going to visit a school chum in the States.”
    The rest of the morning was spent searching for Olivia, and Ray felt like he was back in control. Things couldn’t have been going better if he’d planned it this way.
     
    Olivia showered and dressed and came out to an empty bedroom, but she’d expected that. Kirk had said he needed to get back on guard duty and relieve Laz. She turned on the radio as she got dressed in yesterday’s clothes. She dropped her brush as she heard news of her kidnapping on the radio.
    She sat on the bed as she listened to the announcer telling listeners that she’d been taken against her will at the airport. They said that no ransom had been demanded yet.
    “Oh my God,” she said. She had no makeup and there wasn’t any in the bathroom. She looked at her face in the mirror. She was very pale. She was vulnerable without Kirk by her side. She slicked her wet hair back into a ponytail and went downstairs.
    “Have you heard the news broadcast?” she asked Laz when she entered the kitchen. He leaned against the counter holding a cup of coffee in one hand and eating a piece of toast.
    “Yes, the alert just came on. How did you know about the news?”
    “It’s on the radio. Is it on the television as well?” she asked. All of her friends here…okay, she didn’t have that many, but they’d be worried about her.
    “Yes. They have a grainy picture of Kirk leading you out of the airport,” Laz said. “But it will be very hard for anyone to identify him as your kidnapper.”
    She sat down in one of the kitchen chairs. “I have to call my parents.”
    “No,” Kirk said entering the room. He looked good to her in his T-shirt and khaki pants. “That will give you away. They will accuse you of stealing from Ray.”
    “Why?”
    “Because they say that you were carrying some important papers for the Onyx Diamond Group and suspect your kidnapping has something to do with that.”
    “This is a big mess. My parents are going to be upset.”
    “Of course,” Laz said. “But we need to do the best we can to keep them safe. Do you think that Lambert knows you went willingly with Kirk?”
    “Yes, I know he does. Burati heard me call you by