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Chapter Thirty-Eight

Shotgun in hand, Logan inched down the hallway of the old Enzweiler Insane Asylum, which was slated to be demolished next month. As dangerous as it had been when they were teens, it was doubly so now.

And it wasn’t worth having a place where evil men could take their victims.

Where had Miles taken AJ? Had he hurt her? Would she be able to get away and signal for help?

Logan and his team reached the end of the hallway. It was clear. No one was there.

All the teams met out front. Having ten people sweep the building had only taken ten minutes. No one was there.

“It was worth checking,” someone said. Logan wasn’t sure who. He was too busy trying to think of any other place Miles would go. But he didn’t know Miles well enough to even guess.

He checked the time on his watch. It was almost ten o’clock. She’d been gone for three hours. What if he’d left town with her? They could be in a completely different state by now.

Logan’s knees gave out, and he leaned on the trunk of the nearest squad car, then sank onto the bumper. The weight of possible loss was unbearable. God, sustain me. Keep AJ safe. Bring her back to me.

Will came and sat beside Logan. “Will Stutely and Little John are not going to let the Sheriff of Nottingham keep Robin Hood prisoner.”

Logan chuckled, a little bit of tension releasing from his muscles. “We have to find her.”

Will nodded. Logan followed his friend’s attention to Zara, who was struggling to keep her tough police exterior. She hugged herself. She and AJ had become such close friends over the last month or so.

Will said, “We’ll find her if it’s the last thing we do.”

Zara joined them, and Will put his arm around his girlfriend.

The officers began dispersing, and Adam walked over to the three friends. “I got word that Miles’s rental car has been spotted across town.”

Logan jumped to his feet. “Let’s go.”

“I figured you’d say that.” Adam motioned for him to follow.

Will said, “We’re coming too.”

Adam gave a thumbs up, and they all left.

Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at a rural park with a gravel lot between empty ball fields and a walking path. The officer on the scene nodded to them. “I looked around, but nothing stood out to me. This parking lot doesn’t have any cameras.”

Logan kicked at the gravel. “Miles wasn’t the dumb kid in class. He thought this all through. It’s possible he took her somewhere on foot from here.”

Will pointed at the vehicle. “That car is backed in. I wonder if he had another car parked here and switched it up in case we figured out it was him and looked for his car.”

Adam nodded. “Likely. The car being backward also helped delay identifying it since we couldn’t see the license plate.”

Logan agreed. “Now what?”

Adam said, “We search the area and the car. Logan, you and I are on the car. Everyone else spread out and look for any clues showing they walked rather than drove away from here.”

Adam handed Logan a set of gloves, and they walked to the vehicle.

“Are you sure I’m not compromising evidence by being her husband? Conflict of interests?”

“Doesn’t matter. You will know what is your wife’s. If she left a clue, you’re more likely to recognize it.”

Logan studied the gravel as he approached the passenger side of the sedan.

“Adam, check out the gravel over here. Is it me or does that look more disturbed than it should?”

Adam joined him. “I’d say she did not transfer easy. And look, it stops abruptly here.”

“Like she got into another vehicle?”

Adam nodded.

They searched the car but didn’t find anything useful.

Logan walked away and yanked the gloves off. Despair loomed again. Where is she? Please lead us to her.

How many dead ends would they run into before they found her? Would it be too late? Was it already too late?

If AJ hadn’t had her watch on, she would have been completely lost for time. But her watch said it was nine in the evening. Miles had been gone for hours. He’d told her he would sneak through the back door since a cop was sitting out front. He was pretty confident he wouldn’t get caught. She wished he would but at the same time, if they did catch him and he didn’t give up where she was, she could die in this place. The police had searched it, and she was there the whole time. Logan had been outside the wall and never knew she was behind it.

She distracted herself by quoting all the Scripture she had memorized, singing hymns and any other song she could think of, praying, and practicing what she would say to Logan if she got a chance. She wanted to tell him how much she loved him. But words weren’t what they needed. They needed years, a future filled with opportunities to live out the love that overwhelmed her heart. They’d so easily taken each other for granted when they were younger. But if she got out of here, they’d live differently.

But how was she going to get out of this mess?

Logan had to be a wreck. He’d known pretty early she’d been taken and it was Miles. But how? She’d tried to figure it out, but she couldn’t. There were pieces of the puzzle she had no way of knowing.

But what was Miles planning? What was he going to do with her? Did he really think he would win her over by keeping her hostage?

Stockholm syndrome was a real thing, but she couldn’t imagine it working on her. She wasn’t going to be stuck with Miles long enough for that. She’d find a way to escape or die trying.

The minutes seemed to inch by. She’d fallen asleep at some point and tried to do some exercise, but that was limited when chained up with hands still zip tied together. Despite her best effort to keep the zip tie from eating into her skin, it did anyway. Her wrists were raw, and one spot was at risk of bleeding if she didn’t keep them still.

The door opened, and AJ sat up straighter. Miles came in.

“Hey, sweetie. It’s about time to go to our next location. It’s nice and hidden here, but a little cramped.”

“Don’t call me sweetie .”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Do you prefer pumpkin?”

“No.” Was he really this delusional?

“We’ll have to figure out what fits best then. A pet name will make changing our identities easier.”

Yep, delusional. One hundred percent.

Would playing along give her a better chance of escape? Though completely revolting, it was tempting.

Miles walked over and knelt down in front of her, taking her hands.

It took everything not to pull away.

“I have wonderful plans for us. You’ll appreciate it eventually. Now, let’s get these cuffs off, so we can get moving.” He inserted the key into the lock.

“Can’t you take the zip tie off too? It’s cutting into my wrists.”

“Not yet, dear. We need to get you safely to dinner. Are you hungry?”

She was starving; the prepackaged snack food he’d provided earlier in the day was long digested. But if he made her food and it didn’t come out of a wrapper opened by her, she wasn’t going to eat it. She wouldn’t risk him slipping some sort of drug into her system if she could help it.

“Not going to answer?”

Her stomach growled, giving her away.

“See, that wasn’t so hard.” He turned the key, freeing her from the cuffs, but he took her hands by the zip tie.

Her arms ached at being stuck in the same position for so long. She could use a chance to fully rotate her arms.

He jerked her to standing. “Now, we can’t have you screaming or concerning any of the neighbors with something that is none of their business.” He pushed her face first into the opposite wall and put a gag in her mouth, tying it behind her head. He then picked up a hoodie, wrapped it around her shoulders, tugged the hood onto her head, and zipped the front up over her bound arms.

So much for getting away.

He tucked the sleeves into the hoodie’s pockets so it looked like she was strolling along. Getting really close to her ear, he said, “If you try anything, I won’t just kill Logan, I will make you watch as I torture him before the final blow. Do you understand?”

She nodded, willing her nauseated stomach to keep its bile to itself. As much as she didn’t want to go down without a fight, she didn’t want Miles to lay a single finger on Logan. What should she do?

Logan would want her to fight. He wouldn’t care about the risk to himself.

But when? Where? How?

With her mouth gagged and hands bound, she wasn’t going to be able to get away easily. But she needed to think of something now before they left town. She had no idea where he was taking her.

He kept a tight grip on her arm as he led her through the dark house, out the back door, down the alley, and to a waiting car. A different one than he’d had her in earlier today.

He was entirely too thorough in covering his tracks. How was Logan ever going to find her?

She squirmed against Miles’s grasp, but he held her tighter. Shoving her in the front seat, he reached in and buckled the seatbelt, locking it in place.

As he went around, she started working the zipper of the hoodie down. She had to get that free. She had to get loose. She had to get away.