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“When we find Tillman…and we will find him…” Ethan’s voice was deadly. “It’s going to take every ounce of self-restraint I have not to hurthim.”
His response had the darts of pain inside her morph into fiery sparks of fury. “You and meboth.”
* * *
It waswith a feeling of déjà vu that Ethan nosed the car onto the highway that would lead to his hometown. It wasn’t quite one a.m. Traffic was light. And while he was all too aware of the timeline, there had been arrangements to make. He sure as hell wasn’t going to allow Alexa to follow the bastard’s instructions alone. He suspected Tillman knew that,too.
He sent Alexa a sidelong glance. She was staring straight ahead, silent. Stony-faced. Not the mask she’d worn yesterday when the image of Olivia’s grave had nearly unraveled her. No, now she was cool. Self-possessed. While he’d roused the other men, and come up with a quick plan, she’d showered, changed into black jeans, a matching long-sleeved blouse, and tennis shoes. Her hair was pulled back into a braid. She looked a bit like a warrior princess, ready forbattle.
“You didn’t bring the tablet.” Instinctively, he lifted his foot from theaccelerator.
“I switched the alert for incoming email to my phone.” Her voice was matter-of-fact. “No need to worry about him somehow gaining access to my cell at this point. This way I’ll always have connectivity for when the next messagearrives.”
Because there would be another one. That wascertain.
He looked in the rearview mirror. Knew the headlights close behind him would belong to the car carrying the other officers. An ERT team wouldn’t be too far behind, along with a crisis negotiator. They hadn’t known what awaited them, so when he’d met Captain Sedgewick at RCMP headquarters, they’d prepared for a little ofeverything.
He hoped he had whatever they needed to get the boy awayalive.
“Six hours he said.” She turned to look at him. “It doesn’t take six hours to get toTruro.”
“He isn’t there. He’ll jerk us around some. Keep us off balance so we can’t predict ourdestination.”
“Whatever it is,” she said with a thread of quiet determination in her voice, “I’mready.”
Tension settled across his shoulders. He’d give just about anything to figure out a way to leave her out of what was coming next. But he knew that wasn’t possible. Tillman’s obsession with Alexa wouldn’t allowit.
They were still ten minutes outside Truro when the second message arrived. Alexa read it aloud toEthan.
I hope you haven’t dawdled. It would be a shame if you were too late to save the boy. Onward toAntigonish.
Ethan pressed the speed dial number for Nyle and relayed the information tohim.
“Antigonish? Are we just staying on the Trans-Canada Highway then? That would take us all the way to Cape BretonIsland.”
“Unless we drop down from there…” Ethan tried to recall the provincial geography of his youth, “…to Sherbrooke. There’s a road there that would lead back toHalifax.”
“You think he’s taking us incircles?”
“Wouldn’t put it pasthim.”
“How far behind us is the ERTteam?”
“They haven’t contacted me yet. So, at least anhour.”
Nyle swore, and Ethan silently agreed with the sentiment. But organizing a call-out for an Emergency Response Team wasn’t something that happened quickly. And Ethan couldn’t wait until they were mobilized, or he would risk missing the timeline Tillman had set. He suspected the offender realized that, too. They’d wondered what the man’s intentions were since the pressconference.
In another few hours, they were going to findout.
* * *
“I’ve alertedthe Cape Breton Island RCMP Ingonish detachment that we’re here.” Ethan slipped his cell in his pocket and turned to look at Alexa. The first smudges of light were piercing the sky’s gray veil. “I told the officer I spoke to that we’d be outside the Cape Dauphin area. When we reach our destination, he’ll send someone local who knows the area. He says there’s a popular landmark nearby. Glooscap Caves. But past that, there’s also the Devil’s Fingers Caves. And he warned us away from that spot. It’s not open to thepublic.”
“Caves?” Her voice sounded thready. Alexa cleared her throat and tried again. “Surely there’s more to the locale than that. Or maybe Tillman will have us keep going to the other side of thepoint.”
He rolled his shoulders. “We’re already close to the timeline,” he reminded her. And he was ready to face the man who’d played God for too many years. When the alert for another message sounded, a thread of adrenaline entered his veins. He wanted this to be over. And Ethan wanted to be the one who would end it, once and forall.
She read the messagealoud.