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CHAPTER NINETEEN

E mily was assisting Austin as he tended to an injured owl when he received a phone call. He dismissed the call and concentrated on getting the bird safely into the crate so they could transport it to the wildlife rehabilitator. Before he could secure the crate shut, his phone was ringing again. “I’d better take this. Do you think you can take it from here?”

She nodded and locked the crate shut. The owl was majestic and beautiful, but at dusk it swooped down to grab its meal in front of a park visitor’s vehicle. It didn’t look too terrible. Thankfully, their posted speed limit signs kept injuries to the wildlife to a minimum. Except when people ignored the signs.

Austin disconnected his cell. “That was my pap’s nurse. She left after she fed him his lunch, and when she came back to give him dinner, he was gone.”

“Doesn’t your grandfather have dementia?”

“Yes. That’s why he has a nurse.”

“He lives alone?”

“We’ve been looking at assisted living places for Pap, but nothing’s been finalized.”

She frowned. “What are you going to do?”

“Teresa, his nurse, already called 911. I’m going to go looking for him. Will you be all right here?”

“Absolutely. Go.”

“I don’t know. After that threatening note you got, I’m not sure about leaving you alone.”

“My bodyguard is right over there.” She turned her head to where Sandra stood leaning against her car with her arms folded over her chest.

Relief shone in Austin’s eyes. “You’re sure.”

“Yes. Go.”

“Can you get this bird to the rehabilitation center?”

“Of course.”

“Take Pete with you.”

“Call as soon as you find him.”

He nodded. “I will.”

Five minutes later, she loaded the bird into her SUV and Pete slid into the driver’s seat.

“I’m driving,” Emily said.

“I know where it is, so it’s better if I drive.”

“Do you honestly think I don’t know how to get there?”

“Just let me drive, will you, babe?”

“I’m not your babe.”

“I’m driving.”

“Fine. Drive.” It wasn’t worth arguing over. She climbed in beside him and looked back at Sandra to make sure she was paying attention. They chatted about meaningless nonsense as they made their way closer to the rehab center. Pete kept checking the rear-view mirror, so she turned in her seat and saw Sandra following. “Don’t worry about her. She’s my bodyguard.”

“Why do you need a bodyguard? You’re trained in self-defense same as the rest of us.”

“Wade seemed to think it was a good idea to hire additional security.”

“After what he did to you, I’m surprised you want anything to do with him.”

“What do you know about it?”

“Not much. I overheard him and Sergeant Strauss talking about it. He basically told her how he’d ditched you when times got tough. You should find yourself a real man who can handle adversity.”

“Like you?”

He chuckled. “The ladies love me.”

“This one doesn’t.”

“Can’t win them all.”

He turned down a dirt road. “Where are you going?”

“Taking a shortcut.”

“You sure it’s a shortcut?”

“I know the area like the back of my hand.”

“All right.”

He swerved around a giant pothole at the last second, and when she looked back, she watched Sandra slam into it. “We need to help her.”

“I’ll take care of it. You wait here.”

He slipped from the vehicle and started toward Sandra’s car. Before he could reach it, Emily was at his side, and Sandra was opening the driver’s side door of her car. He reached for Emily’s service pistol and caught her in a headlock with one arm while pointing his own weapon at Sandra. “Toss your weapon over here.”

When she didn’t immediately comply, he tightened his grip on Emily’s throat. “She dies now if you don’t do as I say. You’ll have seven days to try to save her if you obey my orders.”

Sandra tossed her weapon to him, and he snatched it up and stuck it in his waistband without releasing his hold on his own weapon.

“Now give me your backup gun and your cell phone.”

She tossed her cell phone. “I don’t have a backup.”

“I’m not an idiot. Toss it here now or you die.”

“I don’t have one.”

Emily shuddered when his gun fired, and she watched Sandra slump down with a neat hole in her forehead.

“Nobody gives us country boys credit. We know how to shoot.”

She didn’t respond.

“Move.” He pushed her toward the Interceptor and shoved her into the driver’s seat. “You can drive now, so I can keep my eyes on you.”

Before long, he forced her to drive down another dirt road leading them back out to Route 940. She should’ve recognized the trap. He’d driven down the dirt road with the intent of disabling Sandra’s car. He’d known she wouldn’t be able to get around that pothole, especially considering she hadn’t known it was there. All the protections Wade had put in place amounted to nothing. Pete knew his way around them.

Tears threatened, but she wouldn’t let him see her cry.

Pete had Emily pull up to an old farmhouse and climbed out of the SUV, keeping his gun trained on her as he walked around to the passenger side. “Open your door.”

She did as she was told but ran through her options in her mind. If she went with him, she feared she’d spend a week at his mercy before being dumped at the park to be torn apart by vultures. At least his first five victims had burials. The last two were deprived of that dignity.

“Austin knows I left the park with you. You’ll be the first person they suspect when I turn up missing.”

“I’ll tell them you weren’t there when I arrived to drive the bird to the rehab center. Before we left, I left frantic messages for you wondering why you weren’t at the park office when I arrived.” He lifted a phone from his service belt. “I took this from you when you were busy securing the owl in the back.”

“They’ll want to know why you drove my service vehicle instead of your own.”

“Mine had a flat tire, so I took yours. You took off in the middle of your shift. Must’ve gone to help Austin find his pap. I’ll make sure to change my tire when I return, and nobody will be the wiser. They’ll realize you neglected your duties and ran off to play hero.”

“Nobody will believe that.”

He pushed open a door. “You’d be surprised what people will believe.” His chuckle increased her nausea. “Get moving.”

Once inside, he kept one hand on his Glock, he rummaged through a bag on the kitchen counter and pulled out a rag and a bottle of something. A television played at full volume in a nearby room. He handed her the bottle and the cloth. “Put a generous amount on it.”

“I’m not going to help you drug me.” She defiantly tossed the items across the room.

He moved closer and held the pistol to the base of her skull.

“Walk.” She did as he said, and as she entered the adjacent room, her gaze fell on the elderly man watching TV. He raised his eyes to stare at them, and she saw the confusion in his expression.

Pete whispered in her ear. “If you don’t want me to shoot old man Crawley, you’ll follow my instructions.”

She squeezed her eyes shut and shot a prayer heavenward. “I’ll comply.”

He pushed her back into the other room. “Pick that stuff up and do as you were told.”

She did. Soaking the rag with liquid, she prayed for a miracle. He grabbed her from behind, snatched the rag from her, then held it over her mouth and nose. She struggled to turn her face away from the cloth, but the sound of the television grew distant, and she felt herself floating on the edge of nothingness.

Emily could hear everything around her, but kept her eyes shut and her body limp, feigning unconsciousness as Pete carried her across a field. If he knew she was awake, she wouldn’t stand a chance against his superior physical strength. Especially considering her throbbing head felt heavy and dense from the drug.

Pete pulled open a door carved into the landscape and shifted her weight before carrying her down a ladder and depositing her on a dirt floor. She listened as he left again. She heard a scraping sound and the darkness thickened as he closed her into her tomb.

Crawling around, she inspected the space. She presumed it was a root cellar. She'd never been in one, but it was damp, and smelled of earth and rotting food from days gone by. She was on her own. If she wanted to survive, she’d need to rescue herself. Her hand felt the splintered wood of the ladder, and she climbed it. She used every ounce of strength she could muster to push against the door, but there was no give. Giving up, she climbed down.

She felt around on the dirt floor, hoping to find something she could use to fight back against Pete, but came up empty.

Curling into a tiny ball, she gave in to tears. A plan—she had to come up with some kind of plan.

Prayers fell from her lips as she resumed her search for something to use as a weapon when her captor came back. He'd be back. Her imagination played up the horrid things he would do to her if she couldn’t escape. But she wouldn’t go down without a fight.

It was a warm day, but the sun hadn’t heated the space she occupied. It remained cool and dank. She wished she could have a few more minutes with Wade to confess her love. She'd relished his words but hadn’t reciprocated. He deserved to hear how she felt about him, but now she couldn’t tell him. She hoped he knew.

In the past few months, he'd gone above and beyond to keep her safe, and she hadn’t been altogether cooperative.

Emily was curled up in a ball in the corner of the root cellar when she heard a creaking sound that told of the return of her captor. She was ready for him. She'd rehearsed the self-defense moves drilled into her after Nora's disappearance and again in her training to become a law-enforcement ranger.

If she remained quiet, Pete might think she was still unconscious. She’d take any advantage she could gain.

The stairs creaked above her and she remained silent as he descended them. She had to temporarily incapacitate him in order to escape. If she didn't get it right, she wouldn’t live to tell about it. Not only was he physically stronger, but he was highly intelligent. Even smart people made mistakes. When he made one, she would make it count.

Her breathing was labored as his hunched-over form approached. There was a glint in his eyes. The space wasn’t large enough for him to stand up straight.

He stopped two feet in front of her, and she stood, her hair brushing the earth above her.

“All these years, I never imagined making you one of my ladies. When you dug your nose into my business, you sealed your fate.”

“You act like this is some kind of game, Pete.”

He grinned. How had she ever considered him handsome? He was the embodiment of evil.

She had to strike now, before he could take hold on her. She executed a perfect roundhouse kick to his jaw, and he staggered back. But before she could run, he seized hold of her leg and yanked hard. Her head made contact with the hard ground and excruciating pain splintered through her. She needed to keep fighting. She reached out and grasped the ladder. Pete grabbed her, pulling her away from her means of escape.

His work-roughened hand gripped her throat. “Try that again and you won’t live long enough to fulfill your seven days which would be a crying shame.”