Page 26

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

PAIN EXPLODED IN Violet’s shoulder, and warm liquid slid down her body, staining her shirt. As Jeff smiled and yanked the steel blade from her shoulder, Violet moaned. Man, that hurt. Worse, the lawyer looked like he was enjoying himself. Well, that made one of them.

“Scream for me, sweetheart. I love it when they beg for mercy.” He waved the bloody knife in front of her face, taunting her.

Stall. She needed to stall for time. Every second she delayed the inevitable gave her teammates a better chance of getting to her. “Why are you doing this?”

“I enjoy watching you suffer.”

Sick jerk. Who got off on watching someone writhe in pain? “This isn’t much of a challenge, is it?”

Jeff frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Come on. I’m tied up. How is it a challenge to take me on if I can’t fight back?”

“Not nice, Violet,” he crooned. “I don’t want you to fight back. I like you helpless and desperately trying to figure out a way to save yourself. You won’t, by the way. They never do.”

She snorted. “You can’t handle one woman by yourself unless she’s immobile. Some tough guy you are.”

The smile faded from his mouth. He gripped the hilt of the knife tighter, cheeks flushing. The sound of heavy footsteps distracted Jeff.

Seconds later, James Hanson lumbered into the room. His eyebrow rose. “You started without me.”

“Couldn’t wait. She’s so beautiful, Dad.” He licked his lips as his gaze drifted slowly over Violet. “Just like Camilla.”

Goosebumps surged over her skin, and she shuddered, suddenly needing a long, hot shower. “You said you didn’t kill my sister.”

“That was all Dad.” A pout on the lawyer’s face. “He was supposed to wait for me so we could work on her together.”

“She was a threat, son,” James protested. “I explained that to you. Camilla wouldn’t stop asking questions.”

“But we agreed not to take women who were involved with someone. Too many questions, you said. Camilla dated that lawyer, Melton. By your own rules, you shouldn’t have touched her.”

While the Hansons argued, Violet twisted her right wrist again and felt her knife shift into position against her palm. Carefully, she gripped the handle, turned the knife, and went to work on the zip tie cinching her wrists together. As long as the Hansons were busy arguing with each other instead of circling around behind her, she’d be able to cut through the plastic.

Under normal circumstances, she could defend herself against two men. This situation was anything but normal. Jeff had drugged her with something that still made her feel like she might throw up any second. Her head wound was bleeding, and the knife wound in her shoulder continually bled, weakening her further.

But what choice did she have? Violet knew down to her bones that Noah was coming for her. The only question was how long would he take to arrive. Didn’t matter, she decided. Her job was to survive. End of story. Otherwise, her life would be over in a matter of minutes.

Violet had long-term plans that didn’t include dying today, thank you very much. She wanted the life she’d dreamed of with Noah Mann. Serial killers or not, the Hanson duo would not derail her future. Violet had plans for her amazing Fortress operative.

“You should have waited to take her,” spat out James Hanson.

“I couldn’t take the chance that she’d slip out of our hands.” Jeff motioned to Violet with the knife. “She wouldn’t have stopped pursuing answers. We can’t afford that. Someone would have believed her and investigated.”

“You think this is better? She has a boyfriend and two other friends here with her. Do you think they won’t notice that she’s disappeared?” James dragged a hand down his face. “At least tell me they didn’t see you take her.”

Jeff gave a wry smile. “Can’t.”

The chief cursed loud and long at his son. “You’ve got to be kidding me! They’ve seen your face, Jeff. How will you explain this to the authorities without getting yourself locked up on death row?”

He shrugged. “Simple. I won’t explain.”

James scowled. “You’re pleading the fifth?”

“You misunderstand me. I’ll finish this last job and then I’m leaving.”

The chief stared. “Where are you going?”

“The Maldives. I deserve a life of luxury on the beach. Come with me, Dad. We’ll move our hunting ground overseas and start over again with fresh prey.” He smiled. “It will be fun.”

“What about Rosalie? I can’t leave her behind.”

Another shrug. “So we’ll pick her up on the way to the closest international airport. By the time the cops find Violet’s body, we’ll be long gone.”

They were crazy as loons, both of them. Violet increased the speed of her work. She had to free herself from the zip tie before the Hansons came to an agreement and resumed work on her.

“Get this through your thick skull,” the chief snapped. “I don’t want to live in a foreign country. I’ve built a very comfortable life here, and I like my life.”

“Then stay here. You can blame everything on me.” Jeff smiled. “I won’t be in a place where the authorities can get to me. I’ll send you a postcard if you like.”

“No! I need deniability. Can’t have that if you’re stupid enough to contact me.”

“If that’s what you want, Dad. The point is, we need to get on with our job. I have a flight to catch in seven hours, and I’m not missing it.”

James rubbed his hands together, watching Violet. “I’ve been looking forward to this all week. Are you sure her friends don’t know where she is?”

“Do you think I’m an idiot? I gave them a threat they couldn’t ignore.”

A frown. “What did you do, son?”

“I planted two bombs, one on a kid and one in Violet’s hotel. They’re busy trying to find the second bomb and defuse both of the devices before they detonate. We have plenty of time to play.”

Violet worked faster. She had to get her hands free or she would die. Simple as that. If she sustained too many knife injuries, she wouldn’t be able to fight her way out of here. She’d be too weak.

Distraction. She needed another distraction to give herself another few minutes. “Does Aunt Rosalie know what you are?” she asked Chief Hanson.

“She knows what she needs to know. Nothing more.”

She laughed. “Oh, that’s rich. My uptight aunt, who is more concerned about appearances than truth, is in love with a serial killer.”

“Shut up,” James snapped. “I’m doing the world a favor by getting rid of the bimbos in our area.”

Fury well up inside Violet. “Camilla wasn’t a bimbo! She was the definition of a classy woman. She was absolutely everything Rosalie isn’t. My sister cared about people and did her best to help them improve themselves and their situations.”

“She worked with riffraff day in and day out, the street rats who should never have been born. The only thing those creatures are good for is extermination.”

Was he serious? If so, Chief Hanson had gone off the deep end. “Listen to yourself. You’re talking about a woman who assisted families and protected children who had no one to champion their cause.”

“You can’t save them. They’re doomed from the first moment they draw breath.”

“A pretty bleak way to look at life, isn’t it, Chief?” Was the zip tie looser around her wrist? Man, she would give anything to see her progress. Violet didn’t know how much longer she could delay James and his son.

“It’s the truth.”

“Did you kill Amanda?”

The chief's slow smile sent ice water through Violet’s veins. “She was my first.”

“Why did you kill her?”

“She was just like my wife. Did you know that?”

“Amanda was a shy seventeen-year-old kid with her whole life ahead of her. How was she like your wife?”

“Amanda lied to everyone, including me.”

Violet worked faster. How thick was this zip tie? Shouldn’t she have cut through it by now? “You talked to her?”

“She called me, you know.”

“Why?”

“To tell me her father was molesting her.” He shrugged. “It was a lie, of course. Everything she said was a lie.”

“How do you know?”

“I interviewed him personally. Amanda was a troubled soul, always seeking the wrong attention. If I had let it go, she would have turned out like my faithless, treacherous wife. I couldn’t allow that to happen. The world is a better place without her.”

Violet shifted her gaze to the lawyer. “Did you help him kill Amanda?”

He shook his head. “I found out what he did later. It sounded…interesting, so I asked him to let me help with the next one.” Jeff grinned. “He taught me everything I know.”

The zip tie loosened a little more. Hurry. She needed to hurry, or they’d start on her again. “When did you go solo?”

He beamed. “Chloe Russell. Dad talked me through it, but I did all the work. What a rush!”

The second stabbing victim. “So you found your new hobby.”

Jeff chuckled.

His father glanced at him. “Where’s my knife? I have to pick up Rosalie for breakfast in a few hours. I don’t want to be late.”

“Kitchen counter.”

“I’ll be back in a minute.” James pointed at his son. “Don’t start without me.”

“Yes, sir.” When his father exited the room, Jeff inched closer, his gaze skimming over Violet’s body. “So many places are calling to me,” he murmured.

The lawyer ambled closer. “Here, for instance.” The tip of his knife trailed over her cheek, leaving behind a stinging sensation, followed by warm liquid trickling down her skin. “But you’re so beautiful, I would hate to mar your delicate skin too much.”

The zip tie broke.

Violet adjusted her hold on the knife. “Did you attack me in the bathroom at the funeral home?”

“I warned you, baby. You should have listened to me,” he murmured, the tip of his knife moving down her throat and chest to rest on her thigh. “I was trying to protect you, but like your sister, you wouldn’t listen.”

“You tried to warn her away from the investigation?”

“I told her to leave it to the police. I tried to save her. She wouldn’t listen.” He pressed the tip of the knife into Violet’s thigh.

Pain radiated from the wound, making the nausea worse. Violet clenched her fists. “Jeff, you don’t have to do this. You don’t have to be like your father.”

“I told you to wait for me,” the chief snapped as he strode into the room with a knife clutched in his fist.

It was now or never. Violet had run out of time.

She stabbed Jeff in the stomach, jerked the knife in an upward motion to do the maximum amount of damage, and shoved him away from her.

James shouted as he ran toward her, brandishing a knife with a five-inch blade. “I’ll kill you!”

She surged to her feet, grasping the stinger blade nestled in her left wrist sheath. With a flick of her wrist, the small blade sank into James Hanson’s chest.

The chief of police stumbled and fell to his knees.

Violet skirted past him and ran down a short hall to a small living room. Front door to her right. Back door to her left.

After a split second of debate, she sprinted to the back door, hoping her blurry vision cleared soon. Violet yanked open the door and raced into the forest.

“You’re dead! Hear me, Violet? You’re a dead woman,” James Hanson yelled.

She scowled as she ran. Her left shoulder burned and throbbed like a bad toothache. Her aim had been off. Instead of killing the police chief outright, she’d only made him angry. While the adrenaline rush was in full force at the moment, it wouldn’t sustain her for long. Finding a place to hide until help arrived was the priority.

As Violet ran, she felt blood pooling in her tactical boot and streaming down her side. She scouted for a place to hide. A fallen tree, a large cluster of trees, rock formations, anything to conceal her presence from the cop doggedly pursuing her through the early morning hours.

Her watch vibrated. Fortress. She fumbled for the button and raised her wrist to her mouth. “I’m on the run,” she murmured.

“It’s Zane. Noah and Grant are heading toward you. Injuries?”

“Stab wounds in the left shoulder and thigh.”

“Bogies?”

“At least one, James Hanson. I don’t know about Jeff.” She swallowed hard and shook her head as the terrain in front of her pitched, then righted itself. “I stabbed him in the stomach.”

“Give yourself up, Violet. If you do, I’ll make it fast. If I have to hunt you down, you’ll pay,” Hanson yelled.

She stumbled and fell against a tree. Violet groaned. “Z, how close is Noah?”

“Five minutes. Keep pushing.”

Oh, man. She didn’t have five minutes left in her. At most, Violet had a couple of minutes. Maybe not even that long. “Tell him to hurry.”

“Copy that. Two hundred feet ahead is a hillside with caves. On the other side is a river.”

“Roger that.” Violet increased her speed, but the closer she got to the safety of the caves, the more she stumbled.

A wave of dizziness hit her with the force of a tidal wave. No matter how much she fought to stay on her feet, the ground rose to meet her.

Violet hissed as pain spiked throughout her body. She had to keep moving. Hanson couldn’t be that far behind her.

Dragging in a deep breath, she pushed to her feet and staggered a few yards closer to the rocky incline.

The only warning she had of impending doom was the sound of rocks shifting behind her, then a heavy weight slammed into her, taking Violet to the ground. Violet bucked to throw him off and slammed her elbow into Hanson’s side.

He howled in pain and fury as she twisted to face her attacker. “You’re finished, Chief. Give it up.”

James wrapped his beefy hands around her throat. “You’ve been nothing but trouble since you landed in my town. I’ll be doing everyone a favor by getting rid of you.” His hands slowly squeezed, cutting off Violet’s air supply.

From somewhere far off, she heard a shout, but her entire focus was on the growing pressure on her neck. Violet shot her hands between the chief’s arms and slammed her fists against his elbows to break his death grip on her throat.

When he grunted and pitched forward, Violet wrapped her right arm around his neck, hooked two fingers into the side of his mouth, and yanked his head around. She bucked her left hip to throw Hanson’s weight to her right and followed him over to his back. Violet hit him with a right cross that didn’t have its usual power because of the knife wound. Instead of knocking out the police chief, she merely stunned him.

Run. She needed to run. Violet stood zero chance of overcoming her enemy in her weakened state.

She scrambled away from the injured policeman and ran for the hillside. Before she’d sprinted over 50 feet, a heavy weight slammed into her from behind, taking her to the ground again.

Violet saw a fist size rock and palmed it as the police chief roughly turned her over and glared down at her, blood oozing from his busted, puffy lip.

He pressed the edge of his knife to her throat. “You’ve caused me enough trouble, Violet. It’s time for you to die.”

She shifted her grip on the rock. “Your son will be disappointed that you cut him out of the game.”

“If he survives, Jeff will be recuperating for a long time. Don’t worry. I’ll take pictures after you’re dead so he can enjoy knowing the job is finished.” The chief’s facial expression hardened as he changed the hold on his knife and pulled back his hand, preparing to plunge the knife into her body.

Violet whacked James on the temple with the rock.

He groaned and fell forward on top of her. He lay still.

No matter what she tried, Violet couldn’t budge his dead weight from her body. Man, how much did Chief Hanson weigh?

“Violet!” Noah ran into the small clearing with Grant close on his heels. He grabbed the chief’s shirt collar, dragged him off Violet, and tossed him aside.

She drew in a deep breath, glad to have the extra weight off her chest. “Good timing.” Her voice sounded hoarse.

“Are you all right?” Noah cupped her face between his palms.

“I will be.”

“Where are you hurt, baby?”

“Left shoulder and thigh. Shoulder is the worst.” And now that the adrenaline was fading, the pain in her shoulder grew in intensity, adding more nausea to her misery. “Did you bring my mike bag?”

Two men ran into the clearing. Both had badges hung around their necks and pistols in their hands.

“Right here.” Grant set the bag on the ground beside Noah. “What do you need?”

“Pressure bandages and a patch.”

Noah, hand in her mike bag, froze. “You’re nauseated?”

She nodded. “Side effect of the drug Jeff gave me and being pistol whipped.”

“Do you know what drug he gave you?”

She shook her head. “That’s why I don’t want pain meds even though I’d love to take something to dull the pain. I’m afraid to mix them.”

“Smart,” Grant murmured.

It took both of the officers to cuff Hanson, who cursed them and fought to escape. Once the officers secured Hanson’s hands behind his back, the younger officer read the chief his rights. Hanson continued to struggle as the officers marched him through the woods.

Noah motioned for Grant to turn around, then widened the slit in Violet’s shirt to examine her wound. He scowled. “This is deep.”

“Figured. Jeff used a five-inch blade.”

When he swabbed the wound with antiseptic, Violet sucked in a breath between clenched teeth.

“Sorry.” After Noah cleaned the wound, he ripped open a package with a pressure bandage and pressed it to the cut. “You’ll need stitches.”

“Definitely. Now the leg.”

Noah drew out his Ka-Bar and widened the slit over the thigh wound. “This one doesn’t seem to be as deep.”

“He was playing, passing the time until his father could join in the fun.”

“Where is Jeff?”

“In the cabin or hunting lodge where he held me captive unless he escaped. If he did, he’s planning to fly to the Maldives in a few hours.”

Noah cleaned her leg wound and bandaged it as well. He dumped the unused supplies back in the mike bag and gathered the medical detritus and shoved it into a hazard bag to dispose of later. “I need to take you to the hospital. Ready to get out of here?”

She nodded.

“I’ll get the mike bag,” Grant said. “You take care of your woman.”

“How is Rayne?”

“In surgery.” He winked at her. “The quicker we get you to the hospital, the faster I can check on her.” Grant stood, slid her mike bag over his shoulder, and set off through the trees.

Noah scooped her gently into his arms and followed his teammate. “Any other injuries I need to know about?”

“Probably have another concussion.”

He was silent a moment. “Anything else?”

“Bruises here and there. Nothing that won’t repair itself in time.” And because she knew the man she loved and what he feared for her sake, Violet cupped his cheek and said, “He didn’t rape me, Noah.”

His hold around her tightened. He gave a brief nod. The lines of tension in his body eased, though.

Minutes later, he placed her on the backseat of the SUV and climbed in with her. “Go,” he said to Grant.

“What about the police?” she asked. “Won’t they want to interview us?”

“They know we’ll be at the closest hospital. Zane is in contact with them.”

She should have known that Noah would already think ten steps ahead. For the first time since Jeff Hanson grabbed her at the hotel, Violet could let down her guard, knowing that Noah would watch over her.

Noah bent and brushed his lips over hers in a gentle caress. “Rest. I’ve got you.”

This time when the darkness closed in, she sank gratefully.