Chapter Seven

Max was beginning to feel antsy.

That was a feeling he wasn't quite accustomed to, considering he always liked to be in control. But there was nothing he could do until Daniel arrived at the hotel. It was taking everything he had not to glance down at his watch again. It wasn't going to make Daniel arrive any faster—at least, he didn't think it would.

He should have been here by now. Maybe something happened with the flight. I should call and check in with him.

Normally, Max wouldn't label himself as a worrier. He simply didn't have the time or the luxury to worry about anything. Whenever there was a job, he only knew that it was going to get done by whatever means necessary. There was no room for mistakes or second guesses. But ever since he had hung up with Daniel a few hours ago, he'd found himself worrying.

He was worried about Daniel arriving safely. He was worried about if they would be able to pull off their impromptu rescue mission, especially since he didn't have the experience. He was worried about Randy Wolfe and what the other man was capable of. Most of all, he was worried about Nancy and what would happen to her if he didn't pull her away from Wolfe. From what he'd learned about the other man, he knew it couldn't be anything good.

All he knew was that if he didn't get her out of there and as soon as possible, she was as good as dead.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his cell phone and pressed the number that would connect him to Daniel. It was just beginning to ring when there was a knock at the door. Keeping the phone to his ear, Max looked through the peephole and let out a mall sigh of relief before hanging up the phone.

"I'm touched, Max," Daniel said as soon as Max had opened the door. He was holding up his phone with a smile. "You were calling to check up on me."

Max rolled his eyes as he stepped back to let the other man into the room. "I was wondering where the hell you were, considering your flight was supposed to arrive an hour ago."

"Security was a bitch." Daniel tossed his bag onto the chair before crossing over to the mini bar and opening it. A few seconds later, he was twisting the lid off a brandy. "My flight was wonderful, in case you were curious."

"You flew first class. How bad could it have been?"

"It could have been dreadful," Daniel said with mock horror. "Imagine not having an attractive stewardess to cater to your every whim."

Max chuckled as Daniel took a swig from the small bottle. Daniel was infamous for his womanizing ways, but he couldn't really fault the man for it. Women practically threw themselves at him once they heard the British accent. And it wasn't exactly as if Daniel was terrible to look at either.

"And yet somehow you managed." Max crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned against the wall. "Were you able to find out anything else about Wolfe?"

Daniel nodded. "If you were going to pick any night to make a daring rescue of our fair maiden, tonight would be the night to do it."

"Why do you say that?"

"Apparently, Mr. Wolfe will be attending a charity event for underprivileged children tonight at The Darlington House. A lot of celebrities are supposed to make an appearance there and he seems to be in the thick of it."

"Really?"

"Who would have thought that a psychotic criminal could have a soft side?" Daniel mused. "I suppose he wants to keep up appearances and whatnot. After all, he wouldn't want everyone to know he's holding a woman captive in his home. Imagine what they would think?"

Max arched a brow at Daniel. "Is the sarcasm really necessary?"

"Yes. I find that it keeps me young."

"And I find you impossible to deal with when you're like this."

Daniel finished the last dregs of the brandy, tossing the bottle in the small garbage can. "I'm sorry, but I still think this is an insane idea. You're risking everything to go back for this girl you just met yesterday. While you were kidnapping her, I might add."

"I already explained to you why I have to do this. You don't have to like it, Daniel."

"What is she going to think when you go waltzing back in just to take her once more?"

"I'm hoping she'll be grateful."

"Is that before or after she decides to kill you for putting her in Wolfe's clutches in the first place?"

"I was hoping before…"

Daniel let out a sigh. "I can see there's no way I'm going to talk you out of this. I just hope you are smart enough to know it isn't going to be easy."

"I never enjoyed anything that was easy."

"Yes, I know."

Max tried to bite back a grin, seeing the frustration on Daniel's face. "So, what time is this event that Wolfe is attending?"

"It begins at eight, so I'm thinking that he should be gone for a couple of hours. That hopefully gives us plenty of time to get in and retrieve the lovely Miss Drew before he returns. I can only assume he will be thoroughly pissed off when he finds her gone."

"You know what they say about assuming, Daniel."

"In this case, I am quite happy to make an ass out of myself since I know I will be correct." Reaching for his bag, Daniel pulled out a roll of paper and spread it out over the coffee table. "I took the liberty of obtaining the blueprints for Wolfe's home."

Pushing away from the wall, Max walked over to the small table to join Daniel. "As usual, you're brilliant, Daniel."

"And my next paycheck should reflect my brilliance."

"If we're successful in getting Nancy out of that house tonight, it certainly will." Max sat on the sofa across from Daniel and traced his fingers along the blueprint. "We came in through the door here and went through the corridor into his office."

"I'm sure we're safe to surmise she won't be anywhere near the office. He'll want to keep her somewhere that would be difficult for her to escape." Daniel frowned. "I'm not exactly seeing a dungeon anywhere on these plans."

"You honestly thought there would be a room labeled 'dungeon'?"

"It would be convenient." Daniel rolled his eyes at Max's amused expression. "He's a rich psychopath—how am I supposed to know what strikes up his fancy?"

Max ignored that. "I'm thinking he would want to keep her upstairs somewhere. That would make it a little more difficult for her to attempt escape since she would have to go downstairs in order to get out, meaning more chances of someone to stop her."

"So we're focusing on the second story. That's a starting point at least."

"Our most difficult problem will be getting past the guards. Wolfe keeps himself surrounded with them. I'm sure he'll take some of them with him tonight to the event, but we have to go with the presumption that he'll leave a few behind to watch Nancy."

"He'd be an idiot if he didn't," Daniel muttered.

"Which means good news for us."

"How is this possibly good news?"

Max smiled. "Just think of all that pent of frustration for me you'll get to take out of them tonight."

Daniel's grin was radiant as he looked at Max. "Well…what the bloody hell are we waiting for then?"

Max leaned down in his seat, keeping his binoculars trained on the house as a group of people emerged from the front door. Randy Wolfe was in the middle of the crowd, dressed in a tuxedo, his blonde hair glowing in the late afternoon sun. A Lincoln Town Car was parked in front and Max watched as Randy slid into the backseat, followed by a couple of his staff.

"He really seems full of himself, doesn't he?" Daniel asked from the driver's seat as a few of the security guards piled into another vehicle. "He must be really paranoid. Makes you wonder how he's footing the bill, considering he spent the last few years in an international prison."

"I highly doubt he's paying for it himself. There has to be some other player we don't know about," Max said, slinking down a little further in his seat as the gates opened and the cars pulled out.

"It wouldn't be surprising, knowing the people he's worked for in the past."

Max nodded, remembering some of the people from the dossier Daniel had put together. Drug cartels, jewelry smugglers, and traffickers to name a few. Randy had certainly put his foot in with some heavy hitters of the criminal world and from what he'd gathered, he was still in good standing with them all.

"So, how are we going to play this?" Daniel asked.

"We go in through the front. We may as well make our presence known from the beginning."

"The direct approach—I like it."

"I thought you would." Max sat up in his seat, putting the binoculars into the glove compartment. "Let's wait a little longer until it's dark and then go in."

"That's no fun."

"You'll have plenty of fun once we get started," Max said, grinning. "Remember—only use violence if it's necessary. I don't want to leave a mess behind."

"If I knew you were going to give me all of these rules, I never would have agreed to come along with you," Daniel said, letting out a theatrical sigh.

"Yes, you would have. You're a sucker for a good rescue mission."

Daniel scoffed. "You act as if you know me. I'll have you know, I'm not as predictable as you claim me to be."

"Whatever you say, Daniel."

"You just better be happy that I can actually tolerate you. I don't think there's anyone else in the world that could."

Max ignored him. "Did you get what I asked you for?"

"Of course I did. You'll be happy to know it's parked across the street behind those rose bushes over there."

"Good." Max glanced down at his watch as moonlight began to stream through the canopy of trees. "Let's get started."

Nancy felt as if she was about to go insane. Not just a temporary feeling of insanity but the reaching-her-breaking-point-send-her-to-a-padded-room-insane. It was the only way to describe how she was feeling after being strapped to a bed, unable to talk, and isolated from the outside world.

Not one single person had come in to check on her, not even to offer her a sip of water. Her mouth was dry and thick, the fabric of the scarf cutting into her face every time she moved even a fraction of an inch. If it was Randy's attempt to make her crack, it was close to working. Several times she had found herself questioning whether she should have just let him drug her. At least that way, she could actually get some sleep and not think about what he was going to do with her.

Being alone with no interruptions gave her plenty of time to think. And while she didn't mind that, especially when she was working a tough case, being in this type of situation made it absolute torture. She'd tried for hours to work her hands and feet free from the restraints but they only seemed to get tighter with each attempt. She didn't know if that was true or it was just her imagination playing games with her. Either way, she was frustrated and minutes away from losing it completely.

Moonlight trickled into the room, casting the room in deep shadows. That only seemed to stress her out even more—she was beginning to see things that weren't there. And it wasn't exactly as if she could do anything to defend herself and convince herself that nothing was there since she was hopelessly restrained.

Nancy winced as her stomach began to grumble, breaking the eerie silence as it reminded her that she hadn't eaten since breakfast. Randy had told her she wouldn't eat again until he returned from his charity function, and it seemed that he was staying true to his word.

Friggin' bastard.

She wished he would just tell her what he planned to do to her. He honestly couldn't keep her locked up like this; she'd pretty much destroyed his life when she'd had him sent to prison. There had to be something else he had in store for her. Something so incredibly bad that he refused to tell her until right before it happened.

"Hey! Stop right there!"

Nancy's head jerked up at the sound of shouting. There was a loud commotion and it sounded as if it was happening right outside her door. She didn't miss the unmistakable sound of a fist colliding against a body, followed by a loud thud as a body fell to the ground. She'd been in enough scrapes in her life to recognize the sounds of a fight.

Maybe it's the police. Maybe a neighbor noticed her being dragged from a vehicle last night and they called the police. But why wouldn't they have shown up sooner? Why wait until night to stage a raid on the house?

The specifics didn't matter to Nancy. All she knew was that help was right outside her door and she wasn't about to miss her chance at freedom. She screamed as loud as she could through the gag, but even as she did it, she knew it would be a miracle if someone heard her.

Please…please, come in here! I'm in here!

There was the sound of something—or someone—pounding against the door. Nancy watched with wide eyes as the door shuddered with each resounding blow before finally flying open in a fantastic display of splintering wood.

Her heart immediately sank as she took a look at her would-be rescuer.

Max.

"We don't have a lot of time," Max said as he rushed to her bedside, immediately working on her restraints. "It's only a matter of minutes before Wolfe is notified."

Nancy honestly didn't know what to think of the man standing over her. Part of her wanted to lash out at him and attack him with everything she was worth, while another part of her was desperate to get out of the room and to freedom. The rational part of her brain won out, consoling her with the fact that there would be plenty of time to attack Max later. She managed to stay still as he tore at her bindings, finally releasing her.

"What are you doing?" Nancy demanded as soon as she tore the scarf free from her mouth. Her voice sounded hoarse, even to her own ears.

Max fixed her with a look. "I thought even you would be able to recognize a rescue mission."

"I see what you're doing. I would like to know why."

"We can talk about that later." Max took her hand and pulled her off of the bed, giving her a couple of seconds to regain her footing as she stumbled. "We have to get out of here. Now."

Nancy allowed Max to pull her along as they made their way out of the room and into the hallway. A couple of security guards lay crumpled on the floor but she didn't have time to worry about them as Max continued to run with her, taking the stairs so fast she had a hard time keeping up with him.

"Daniel, let's go!" Max yelled.

Before she could inquire about Daniel, Max was running out the door with her towards a stand of rose bushes. There, hidden from view, she saw a gleaming motorbike that was black with lime green stripes. It wasn't like any motorcycle she had ever seen—this one was obviously built for speed.

"Put this on," Max ordered, thrusting a helmet at her.

Nancy took it without a word, putting it over her head. She watched as Max straddled the bike, starting the engine with a thrust of his foot. It immediately rumbled to life with a loud roar. She hesitated as he looked back at her.

"Just get on the damn bike, Nancy!"

Before she could say anything, a series of shouts from the house grabbed her attention. Nancy glanced up to see several of the security guards rushing out of the house, guns in hand. She didn't have any more time to think about it. She climbed onto the bike behind Max, putting her arms around his waist, feeling him tense slightly beneath her touch.

"Hold on tight, Nancy! And for God's sake, keep your head down!"

Nancy leaned her head against his back, nodding as he shot forward onto the street, the sound of gunfire erupting behind them. Nancy tried to make herself as small as possible, tightening her grip around Max's waist as he sped off down the street, swerving in and out of traffic. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a Jeep pull out behind them, keeping close.

"We're being followed!" Nancy shouted to be heard over the roar of the engine and the wind whipping around her.

"That's Daniel!" Max shouted. "He's a friend—trust me!"

Trusting Max was still up for debate, but Nancy wasn't about to question it now. She was just about to ask where they were going when a bullet whizzed by her hear, making her scream. She could feel, rather than hear, as Max let out a deep growl before putting on another burst of speed. Nancy felt her stomach go up as he continued to weave in and out between traffic, the blaring horns of angry drivers fading in the distance.

Only one thought kept repeating itself in Nancy's head as Max flew down the road, rather seamlessly. Please don't let me escape just to die in a horrible wreck. Please just let me make it through this alive.

And there we have it—Max has come to the rescue!

I am still blown away that you guys love Max—he is just so much fun to write! And I can't forget about Daniel either—I'm having a blast with him as well!

I would like to thank the following for their reviews: Guest, dares to dream (welcome back, friend!), Michelle Gallichio (your comment absolutely made my day!), SC15, lys, Alicia Hardy (I am so flattered that this is becoming your favorite story since I know what a huge Hardy Boys fan you are!), and Angelvie S.

I apologize for any mistakes you may find.

Still plenty more action, suspense, and romance (wink, wink) to come!

Until next time!