kiDNApped (A Tara Shores Thriller) Read Online Free

Lance. Not gone. Please observe the distinction,” his twin sister said.
    Lance let out an exaggerated sigh as he resigned himself to the long check-in line leading to the Hawaiian Air counter. The din of LAX in full swing for the summer travel season assaulted his senses. People everywhere, loudspeakers blaring. He ran a hand through his thick head of short, curly brown hair, as if massaging away the pain of what he was about to say.
    “Hey, I know you’re the smart one, you’re the successful one, you’re the one Dad would put in charge of looking for him if he had a choice, but remember that I’m doing the best I can, and that I think we’re wasting our time. Honolulu police have called off their search,” Lance said coldly.
    “So what? That just means they couldn’t find him within the limited allotment of resources they have to operate with. They admit that they don’t actually know what happened to him. And the FBI case is still open, at least for another day or two.”
    Lance rolled the steel blue eyes that he knew women found so attractive.
    “And spare me the pity trip,” Kristen continued. “Is it my fault you got caught cheating on your wife? That your personal life has gotten in the way of professional success? But forget about all that for now, Lance. In two more days, Dad is going to be declared legally dead. This trip is our last chance to try and do something for him while he’s still...alive,” she finished, lower lip trembling, visibly upset.
    “That’s fine, Kristen,” Lance said, seeing that his suggestion that their father might not be found was too much for her. “I just don’t want you to get your hopes up too much. There aren’t many leads in his case.”
    Kristen whirled around to face him as the line came to a halt. “I hope you don’t think I’m that stupid, Lance. You’re only coming with me—and on my dime, at that—to keep up appearances until you get your fair share of the estate. That’s the only hypothesis that fits your behavior.”
    Lance made a spitting noise. “ Hypothesis ? Will you listen to yourself?” His sister reminded him so much of their missing father. Ever the scientist, only believing in what she could prove through empirical evidence or direct observation.
    A professor of microbiology at a California State University, Kristen had achieved neither the level of fame of their esteemed father, nor the level of zeros in his bank account. Not many people had, however, and at twenty-eight, she was already much more established than Lance, both career-wise and financially. He knew that most of her paychecks had been funneled into safe conservative investments. She’d much rather spend an evening alone peering into a microscope than a night out on the town with the girls, Lance knew. He, meanwhile, had lost his house, car and what little savings he’d managed to accumulate to his wife in the divorce.
    And so here he was, in the distasteful position of having the untimely demise of their wealthy father represent the only prospect of money anytime soon.
    Lance continued to address his sister. “What is it that you hope to accomplish over there? You know something that the police, the FBI and Dad’s business partners don’t?” He grudgingly used his foot to slide his designer suitcase, bought during better times with credit cards he was now unable to pay back, a few inches forward on the floor.
    “Look, Lance, you don’t have to go with me. Stay here if you want.”
    “I can’t let my little sister go traipsing off to Hawaii to look for our missing father alone. Halfway to Asia…”
    They both knew that was a joke. She was the one who had offered to pay for both of their expenses. It was at Kristen’s insistence that they venture out to look for their father, to at least make a token appearance in the last city he was known to have visited before dropping off the face of the Earth. Lance’s struggling software sales business, combined with steep