Page 27 of Black Bay Enforcer (Beasts of Black Bay #3)

Kong sat up with a groan and felt something roll off his chest. He looked down just in time to see the bloody slug his body had expelled hit the ground with a dull thud. Godwin. Katherine…

He jumped to his feet. “Katherine!”

Even before he said it, he knew she wouldn’t answer. Godwin was a sadistic prick who enjoyed beating women. Frantically, he searched the scene, hoping, praying, he wouldn’t find her body. The SUV was where he left it and still running, both the driver’s side and passenger side doors open.

No sign of Katherine, but the dig marks in the ground gave him a tiny bit of hope. They’d been made by somebody’s heels – Katherine’s heels – as she fought not to be taken. They disappeared near where Godwin’s car had been. He’d taken her somewhere. Alive.

Racing back to his SUV, he closed the doors and hit the phone system on the dash as he put it in gear and slammed on the gas, cranking the wheel to get him turned around.

As he waited for the call to connect him to Black Bay, he noticed the time.

He’d been out a little over an hour. Fuck . A lot could have happened in an hour.

Please be alive. Please .

Matt Davies, the general’s son, answered and Kong didn’t waste any time.

“I need a team. Right now. I’m coming in and I need a license plate tracked.

Virginia plates.” He rattled off the number he’d automatically memorized when he first noticed they had a tail.

“Terrence Godwin has Katherine. I need him found. Right fucking now, Matt.”

“I’ll get it done. ETA?”

At the insane speed he was driving? “I’ll hit the tunnel in five.”

“It’ll be open.”

Kong grunted. Damn good thing. The last thing he needed was to be held up at each of the security points waiting for the concrete barriers to retract.

Matt was true to his word and Kong picked up even more speed, flooring the accelerator as he raced through the underwater tunnel. The engine roared as he hit the final incline and the heavy vehicle caught air as he left the tunnel, slamming back down hard.

Lark was already racing toward him, waving her arms above her head.

“It’s a rental!” she shouted as he opened his door. “We’ve got him, Kong!”

Thank fuck. Either Godwin hadn’t known rentals could be tracked or he hadn’t cared.

Lark’s eyes flicked to the bloodstain on his shirt and her expression tightened but she didn’t waste time asking what happened. “As long as he didn’t dump the rental for another vehicle, he’s in a remote location, roughly forty-five minutes away by car.”

Kong nearly sagged with relief. That meant, of the time Godwin had Katherine, most of it he’d spent driving.

There was a good chance she was still alive.

A damn good chance. They’d profiled Godwin.

The bastard liked hurting women. That’s how he got his jollies, and while death had been the outcome in many cases, that wasn’t the sick sonofabitch’s objective.

He would take his time, and draw it out.

And while it enraged Kong to think of Katherine being hurt or in pain, the likelihood of them finding her alive had just increased.

“We’ll take the bird, rappel down, go in quiet.”

Kong nodded. “Let’s do it.”

He broke into a run and Lark fell in at his side. “He may have an accomplice. The rental was leased by a woman named Valerie Felix. It hasn’t been reported stolen.”

Possible accomplice, or knowing Godwin, Valerie Felix was dead in a ditch somewhere. But it didn’t matter if Godwin had twenty people – a hundred people – helping him. Kong was going to end him. Today.

His team was waiting for him at the helo, the blades already warming up. Jace, Leo, Perrin, Grady, and even Erik had suited up to rescue Katherine. As soon as he joined them, they started handing over gear so both he and Lark could suit up as well.

The general stepped in front of him and put a staying hand on his chest. Raising his voice to be heard over the noise of the rotors, he said, “I know you want to kill him, son. Hell, if he killed Katherine, I know damn well you’ll rip his head off regardless of what I say.

But Godwin can give us Cleary. I need you to remember that.

If she’s alive, you bring him in alive. Do you understand me? ”

Kong was so pissed off he couldn’t speak. He couldn’t make that promise.

Lark stepped up. “If it’s possible, General, we’ll bring him in for questioning.”

General Davies must have known that was the best he was going to get. With a sharp nod, he stepped back. “We’ll have eyes on that vehicle the whole time, let you know if it moves.”

Kong jumped aboard, joining the rest of his team, and within moments, the helicopter lifted off the ground.

Katherine’s captor pulled something out of his pocket she couldn’t quite make out until he clicked it on and shined the bright light in her face, making her wince. “Gotta make sure your daddy can see you clearly. Let’s get cozy.”

He slung his arm around her so the flashlight was shining up at her face and he extended his other arm so his phone got both of them in frame.

Crouched as he was beside her, his weight balanced on the balls of his feet, his balance had to be precarious and he hadn’t tied her up.

This might be her only chance. Before she could second guess herself, she slammed her elbow into him as hard as she could, but she hadn’t thought about her own seated position, and how long it would take to get up off the floor even with the surge of adrenaline.

Her dress was snagged and she was yanked back all too quickly. Frustrated tears filled her eyes.

The psycho laughed at her as he pushed her flat on the floor and sat on her stomach while his hand on her chest pinned her down. “I like you,” he said, smiling down at her. “You’re funny.” His expression turned deadly serious. “But I will break both your legs if you try that again. Understand?”

Hardly able to breathe with his weight crushing her, she nodded.

With a grin, he squeezed one of her boobs hard. “Honk.”

It was instinct to swat his hand away but the action only made him smile wider. “A fighter. Good. I like the fighters. They last longer.”

He finally removed his weight and Katherine sucked in a hard breath and then started coughing as she curled into a fetal position.

“Now let’s do this.” He picked up the flashlight and the phone he’d dropped, then yanked her into a seated position and sat down next to her, slinging his arm over her shoulders again. He gave her a little squeeze, almost as if he was trying to give her a reassuring hug. Fucking psycho .

“Don’t you worry. I’ll do all the talking. All you have to do is sit there and look pretty.”

Katherine saw their faces close together on the screen, illuminated by the flashlight’s bright beam.

The tear tracks marking her swollen face coupled with her bedraggled hair, and hopeless expression were in direct opposition to her captor’s psychotic look of glee as he pressed the record button with his thumb.

“August, you old dog! Guess who I met today!” He leaned his head against hers, trying to look all cutesy as he grinned and Katherine jerked her head away, receiving a hard warning squeeze for her trouble.

“We’re having a great time getting to know each other.

” He angled the phone closer to get a better look at her puffy, mottled cheek and the blood staining her mouth.

“Just look at how much fun we’ve already had and we’ve only just begun. ”

Moving the phone back so they were both in the frame again, she saw his expression morph into an angry snarl.

“Now listen up, you piece of shit. I want a meeting. Face to face. We’re going to discuss a few…

issues . You left me to rot. So unless you call me in the next hour to set up that meeting, I’ll leave your daughter’s corpse to rot where no one will ever find her. Clock’s ticking, asshole.”

He touched the button with his thumb to end the recording just as the sound of a helicopter overhead could be heard.

Her corpse . Katherine’s heart felt like it was beating so fast it was going to burst as fear washed over her in a cold, clammy wave. She had one hour.

“That went well,” he said as he stood and moved away from her, the boards under his feet creaking with every step. Maybe she’d get lucky and he’d fall through the floor.

The helicopter grew louder and he looked up at the roof as if he was trying to look for it through the holes.

“Good thing we finished when we did or we might have had to start over. Damn, that’s loud.

Must be flying low. Probably one of the military bases around here.

This state has a shit ton.” He shook his head.

“Now I’ll just send this off to your dear old dad. ” He looked her way. “Then we wait.”

Whistling again, his eyes were on his phone as he tapped away on the screen and Katherine’s eyes went to the rickety-looking door as she licked her dry lips and cringed at the metallic taste of blood.

She couldn’t count on luck or her dad. She’d never been able to count on her dad. She only had herself.

She’d need to make a run for it.

Her first thought was the car outside, but she had no idea if he’d left the keys in it. Maybe if she could make it to those trees she’d seen, she might be able to hide. She had to try.

Quietly, carefully, she adjusted her position as if she were simply attempting to find a more comfortable spot. She’d learned from her earlier mistake. If she was going to run, she needed to get her feet under her first.

The door exploded inward with a loud crash, the wood splintering, and Katherine screamed, covering her head with her arms as her captor shouted and drew his gun. A shot rang out and she squeezed her eyes closed, crunching herself into a tight ball as more shots were fired.

A body suddenly fell over her and she almost screamed again until she heard a voice say, “I’ve got you, love. Keep your head down.”

A beautiful, impossible voice. It had to be all the noise messing with her ears, making her hear what she wanted to hear.

When the gunfire stopped and that painfully familiar voice asked, “Are you all right?” she didn’t dare open her eyes and spoil the illusion. She wanted it to be Kong so badly it hurt.

“Katherine? Love? Please talk to me. It’s over now. I’ve got you. You’re safe.”

She felt a big hand tentatively touch her shoulder and while her heart might break again when she saw the face of her rescuer, she couldn’t keep her eyes closed forever.

Slowly, she cracked them open just a smidgeon.

Her mind had to be playing tricks on her.

He was slightly blurry as she viewed him through her lashes, but he looked like Kong.

Her heart raced this time with hope – as impossible as it was – and with a deep breath for courage, she fully opened her eyes.

“Kong?” How? How was this possible?

He’d been looking at her cheek, his expression scarily angry as his jaw worked, but when she said his name, his face softened. “Hello, little human.”

Tears blurred her vision as she let out a wet laugh and then she was bawling – messy, ugly crying – as he pulled her into his arms and hugged her close.

“I thought I lost you,” she raggedly gasped out, squeezing her arms around his neck so tightly she would have choked a smaller man.

“Never. I love you, Katherine. I will always find you.”

Katherine sobbed against his shoulder. “I love you, too Kong. So much. When I thought…” She choked up, unable to finish.

Kong rubbed his big hands over her back in soothing strokes. “Shh. It’s okay. Everything’s going to be all right now.”

She nodded as her tears continued to flow. It would be all right because Kong was alive. The universe had given them more time. Time she refused to waste.