Page 16 of Sackett (Demented Souls #17)

S elena’s heart still thundered in her ears. She’d been terrified when she’d woken to find a huge man hovering above her. And it had only gotten worse when he’d covered her mouth. She was embarrassed by how long it had taken for her mind to clear and his words to sink in.

That he was here for her. To get her out of here. Relief made her knees weak. If she’d been standing, she likely would have fallen. Only then did the name he’d given her register.

Sackett.

Donna and Savage hadn’t given into this madman’s demands. She wasn’t sure which made her feel better, that she was getting out of here or that by doing so, she wasn’t dooming the sweet girl who only wanted to be free of the abuse she’d suffered here.

He'd helped her to her feet, letting her choose if she needed help or not. When he told her they could whisper but only when necessary, she’d nodded because she had nothing that had to be said.

Sackett followed her out of the room where she’d been held into a hallway that could have been in any home or office at least from what she could see in the dim light.

The flooring changed from bare cement to low pile carpet.

From the way it felt on her stocking feet, she would guess it was industrial carpet like was found in most office buildings but since she didn’t wander around without her shoes at work, she wasn’t certain.

Once out of the room she’d been in, Sackett motioned for her to follow one of two men they found in the hall. From the way he reacted, she assumed they were with him. As they passed several rooms, she spotted her briefcase sitting on a chair in one room. The sight made her stop cold.

If her briefcase was there, maybe her shoes would be too? Either way she needed her briefcase. It had her id, her phone, if they hadn’t gotten rid of it, her room key, as well as her rental car key. Her entire life was in that thing.

Sackett’s hand on her back urged her forward, but she turned and detoured into the room.

It wasn’t until she’d grabbed the bag and turned for the door that she realized he’d followed her.

And that he held a gun. Her eyes went wide, but she didn’t say anything as she went back out into the hall and fell into place behind the other two men.

Now that she’d seen Sackett’s gun, it seemed obvious that the other two, the men she didn’t know were carrying them too.

The way they moved reminded her of people she’d seen on TV, but she pushed the thought away as she hugged her bag to her chest and followed them.

None of this mattered as long as they got out of here.

They reached a door, and everyone stopped. Selena stood, still holding her briefcase as they waited. For what, she didn’t know.

After what seemed like an eon but was really no more than twenty or thirty seconds, the man in front turned and nodded at Sackett, who stood behind her. Then he, whoever he was, led them all down out of the building.

Selena didn’t hesitate to follow him. Even as she stepped out onto the rough ground and the stones of the gravel under foot cut into her feet. She didn’t care. She had to get out of there.

She didn’t know how far they’d gone, one man in front, a second coming up beside her and Sackett behind her, when another group of men joined them.

Sackett seemed to know them, he kept on hand on her lower back and urged her forward.

She kept going. She kept her mouth shut and kept moving, desperate to get away from there and to be safe.

They walked for what seemed like forever, the only sounds she heard was the wind through trees she could barely see the outline of on either side of the clearing that housed the building she’d been held in along with several others.

Selena did her best to hurry, as she got the feeling the men had slowed their pace for her, but the farther they went, the harder it was to keep ignoring the sharp ache and throb in her feet.

She knew without looking that her hose were little more than shreds, and she didn’t want to think about what the bottoms of her feet must look like. No, it didn’t matter as long as she got out of here.

When the men in front of her led them to the edge of the road, then off into the dirt and grass she was grateful.

The gravel hurt. She was still clutching her briefcase against her chest when Sackett urged her toward a fence she hadn’t noticed until she was almost to it.

There two men holding the sides apart so she could go through a hole that had been cut.

Selena had to shift her briefcase and step through carefully to fit between the stretched wires.

But she did it, then got out of the way so Sackett and the man behind him could come through.

She was still waiting for everyone to come through so they could start moving again when Sackett bent and spoke, his words louder than they’d been inside the building.

“Where the hell are your shoes?”

“I don’t know.” Selena shrugged, her briefcase once more hugged against her chest. She didn’t bother to say she’d woken up without them.

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“I wasn’t going to delay us. I wanted out of there more than I cared about finding my shoes.”

He shook his head. “Here, let me have this.” He took her briefcase. “Maverick, can you carry this?”

She watched as he handed it off, wondering what he was doing. Then before she had a chance to ask, Sackett swung her up into his arms cradling her like a child.

She bit back the squeak of surprise that almost escaped her, as well as her urge to tell him to put her down.

Her feet hurt and she didn’t mind not having to walk on them.

Besides, by the time she’d gotten past the surprise of his picking her up, they were moving again and faster than she’d been able to manage.

Selena wrapped her arms around his neck and held on, not wanting to slow them down any more than she already had.

As he carried her, Selena couldn’t help but wonder who all these men were. How had they found her? What would happen now?

Before her mind had a chance to go too far down the rabbit hole of her thoughts, they slowed, Sackett opened the door to a dark SUV set her inside then slid in beside her as one of the other men got into the driver’s seat and they left, the sound of several loud engines starting around them made her jump as she slid to the far side of the car and reached for the seatbelt.

She didn’t know where they were going or how this guy drove. She needed to be belted in.

“It’s all right. We’re going to stop in a few minutes so I can take a look at your feet.

Why didn’t you say something?” Sackett picked up one of her feet and lifted it to his lap.

She sat still, trying to let the events of the evening soak in.

But she couldn’t be silent, her nature just wouldn’t let her.

“How did you find me? Who are all these guys?” She glanced toward the driver then focused on Sackett in the dim light inside the vehicle.

“We found you because they called Donna. We knew who they were and that gave us a good idea where to look for you.” He glanced up from where he was using a small yellowish light to look at the bottom of her foot. “These guys are my brothers.”

Before she had a chance to figure out what to ask next, the car pulled off the road and into a small parking lot with trees along one side. They parked next to a small building, but it was impossible to tell what it was without more light than the moon cast on the area.

“Where are we?”

“It’s a picnic area. I want Colt to look at your feet before they leave. Do you have a hotel room? I assume the bag you grabbed has your things?”

Selena shook her head then blinked several times as the interior light came on, blinding her for a moment.

“Hang on. Who’s Colt? And why do you want him to look at my feet?”

The door beside her opened, making her jump. She leaned toward Sackett as she tried to see who was standing so close in the dark.

“Colt is one of my brothers. He’s an EMT and was a corpsman.

He’s got the most medical training and will get you taken care of or tell us if you need to go to the emergency room.

” Sackett put the foot he’d had in his lap down onto the floor, hit the button to release her seat belt then patted the seat beside himself.

“Slide over here and let him see how bad you’re hurt. ”

She turned and frowned at Sackett before sliding in his direction and lifting her legs up onto the seat so the guy who’d startled her could see the bottoms of her feet.

She wished for a moment she’d had time to get a pedicure before leaving for this trip.

She shook her head at how stupid that thought was.

She didn’t know him, why did she care what he thought of her feet?

Selena couldn’t help feeling a little off kilter. Nothing since walking out of the courthouse had felt right. When was that? Today? Yesterday? Longer? Had they drugged her and more time than she thought had passed?

“What is today?” She winced as Colt brushed something from her feet, she didn’t want to ask what.

She had to fight not to flinch when he used some spray on them, it was cold and stung after a moment, but she’d been through worse.

She would probably have been going through worse very soon if they hadn’t rescued her.

“It’s just after midnight on Tuesday. When were you captured?” Sackett’s voice behind her distracted her from the gentle but firm hands on her feet.

Selena had to blink several times. First her brain doing the math, then registering his words, that he’d asked a question and how to answer it.

“Monday morning. From the garage at the courthouse.” She frowned, there was something she was missing.

“How did you get here so fast?” She looked around.

The car could have been rented, but the bikes had to be theirs.

There had barely been enough time to drive up here, much less get in and rescue her.

“Only Maverick and I came from Tucson. We flew.”

“Maverick?” She frowned but didn’t twist around to look at Sackett because that would move her feet, and she didn’t want to make Colt’s job of looking at them harder by making them a moving target.

A man she only vaguely recognized ducked his head in the open driver’s door.

“That’s me, ma’am. I’m Maverick.”

She stared at him a moment, trying to remember if she’d seen him before tonight, but came up blank. “Do I know you?”

“We’ve never met. But I think you know Dana? She’s the one who gave Donna your name.”

“Dana Locke? From the cupcake shop?”

“Yep, that’s my girl,” he said with a grin, making it clear he was proud of her.

Selena blinked again and tried to remember if Donna had said where she’d gotten her name. She only remembered the small, innocent seeming woman saying she’d gotten her name from a friend.

She tilted her head backwards, trying to see Sackett behind her without moving too much.

“If only the two of you came up from Tucson, who are the rest of them?” She lowered her head to watch the man using tweezers and a flashlight to clean bits of debris from her feet. “Where are you from?”

He glanced up at her then past her to Sackett, but didn’t say anything.

“Colt and the others came down from Gillette. How much of her story did Donna tell you?” Sackett moved behind her.

She felt the heat of his body and knew he’d gotten closer. She wanted to lean back to let him support her through this but had to stay strong.

“She said she’d been in Wyoming before coming to Arizona, but I didn’t realize she’d been up there with Savage.

” She realized now she should have gotten more information.

But did she really need to? She still thought she knew all she’d needed to about Donna.

Her client had told her she’d come from a cult-like commune.

And that they’d gone as far as northern Wyoming looking for her, trying to force her to go back to them.

It had been Selena who failed to consider that they might go after her in an effort to get Donna back.

“How did they know I was here for Donna’s case? How did they know she’d care about me?” she asked the question as it came to her.

“We’re not a hundred percent sure yet. We suspect someone in the judge’s office tipped them off who you were and what you were there to discuss with him. You had to give that information to get the appointment, didn’t you?”

She thought back, trying to remember what information she’d given when she’d scheduled the appointment. Of course she’d spoken with the judge’s secretary, not the judge himself about that. She was almost certain she hadn’t given Donna’s name. What had she said? Then she remembered.

“I told the secretary I was there to discuss an issue concerning common law marriage and the commune. I didn’t give specific names. I try not to unless I have a specific case to reference and since I hadn’t filed papers yet, names would only muddy the issue.”

“Makes sense.” Sackett’s voice was still behind her but off to one side. She turned her head and could see him, not straight on, but at least better than from the corner of her eye, or upside down as she’d tried earlier. “Did they take you before or after the meeting?”

“After.” The triumph she’d felt walking from the courthouse came back, if a little subdued. She wanted to share the good news but held back. That was something she needed to tell her client, not her client’s friend.

“Whoever their inside man in the courthouse is, probably sent them either your description or a photo so they’d get the right person. The wrong person wouldn’t draw Donna back here. Did you notice anyone taking pictures in the courthouse? Even if they didn’t appear to be taking them of you?”

Selena tilted her head and tried to remember. Had she seen anyone with a camera or phone that looked like they were taking photos? Would she have even noticed? She’d been trying to find her way around the unfamiliar courthouse, not people watching.

“I don’t know. I don’t recall anyone but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen or that they didn’t manage to get a photo covertly. I should have been more careful. I knew these guys were a little off.”

“A little off?” Sackett chuckled. “That’s one way to put it.”

“Not what you would say?”

“Not exactly.”

“How would you put it?” She knew he was distracting her from the occasional pinch and tug at her feet, but she didn’t want to watch what Colt was doing or know what he was pulling out.

“Totally bug nuts works for me.”

Selena laughed. She couldn’t help it. The description wasn’t wrong. She wasn’t sure it was entirely accurate, at least not from a clinical or legal perspective, but it surprised her enough she didn’t bother to try to hold back her laughter.