Page 95 of A Deeper Darkness

“Wait,” she called, but he didn’t come back.

She got the strangest sense that she’d just hurt him, wounded him deeply, and she couldn’t understand why she cared. Why it even mattered. This was a stranger. A stranger who had allowed all of them to run around in circles, and whose games might be getting more people killed. She couldn’t possibly be feeling sorry for him, sorry that he’d lost his friends.

And yet she was. She’d read Donovan’s journal. She knew Xander was his right arm. That he trusted him implicitly, above all the others he commanded.

Maybe that’s why she’d come up here, walked right into his trap. So she could see what Donovan saw.

Maggie Lyons appeared by her side. Sam realized she’d been staring off into the woods after Xander as if thinking about him hard enough would bring him back.

“He won’t be back for a while. Not when his dander’s up. Why don’t you come in the house? I’m sure you’re hungry.”

Defeated, Sam followed her to the cabin.

Chapter Forty-Eight

Savage River Forest

Detective Darren Fletcher

Fletcher woke up alone on the forest floor, a knot the size of Manhattan on his head. The lovely Dr. Owens was nowhere to be seen. He managed to stand without throwing up—his head was splitting. He wasn’t sure exactly what had happened, just knew Sam and Whitfield had been in front of him. So someone had taken him from behind. Which meant Whitfield had a partner. Great.

Where the hell was the tactical team?

He used the compass app on his iPhone to get himself righted. It only took five minutes to get back to the spot he and Sam had started from. He stumbled into the clearing, saw concerned eyes on him from the brush.

“Come out,” Fletcher called.

One of the tac team members came out from his hiding place. “You’re bleeding.”

“I’m not surprised. Check it for me.” He bent his head for the guy to look.

“Small gash. Probably need a stitch or two. What happened? Where did you go?”

“I got smacked in the head, that’s what. Where the hell were you guys?”

“Here. Setting up our perimeter. Waiting for you to come back from your chat with the chick.”

“Great job. While you were futzing around, Whitfield took Dr. Owens.”

* * *

Fletcher was incredibly pissed off.

His head hurt. His arm hurt. Sam was missing, along with Susan Donovan. He was stuck up here in the woods with no suspect in sight, and Roosevelt had just chewed him out for the second time in two days.

He didn’t get paid enough to put up with this shit.

The dogs had scented on Sam’s trail about an hour earlier, but the track had led them back to where they’d started. A big-ass circle. Which meant Whitfield had doubled back with her to throw them off the trail. They were seven men and two dogs stuck chasing a trained survivalist through the woods. Fletcher knew they weren’t going to find Whitfield without a lot of help and a little luck. But he couldn’t give up. They’d called in for a forest service team to come help. At least they knew the lay of the land and could guide everyone around.

It was taking forever to get the warrant enacted to look for the GPS signal for Sam’s phone. He just prayed she still had it on her. It was the only way he’d be able to find her outside of a bunch of luck.

If he lost her, if his actions got her killed, he really didn’t know what he was going to do.

Chapter Forty-Nine

Savage River

Dr. Samantha Owens