Page 25 of Scent of Death (Sullivan K9 Search and Rescue #5)

A lexis swallowed against a knot of fear as her previous tutoring student Tyler Jenkins led her from the hotel at gunpoint.

She should have been suspicious when she saw him through the window of her hotel room.

Denali had been eating her dinner in the main living area while she’d gone to the bedroom to clean up.

She’d noticed him doubled over, his arms wrapped around his stomach, moaning in pain and looking as if he might be sick.

She’d called out to him, and he’d stumbled toward her.

He’d looked so innocent that she’d lifted the window to help.

Then she froze when his gun was pointed at her face.

Tyler had demanded she come with him, or he’d shoot her now and be done. And then he’d shoot her dog. In a heartbeat, the innocence she’d remembered in the young Tyler she had known vanished.

She’d never considered any of the kids she’d tutored at school to be the killer. Kyle had crossed her mind because of his lack of emotion over losing his dog. Even Dave, who’d been super quiet and reserved. But Tyler? She hadn’t realized he was capable of this. But he was that and more.

He was a monster.

He’d demanded she leave her gun and any bullets behind.

She’d slowly removed the gun from her holster and dug in her jeans pocket for the key fob to the SUV.

He must have assumed the key was ammo because he hadn’t said anything.

When she no longer had a weapon to defend herself, he’d forced her to go with him.

Praying Denali would lead Griff to find her sooner than later.

“Where are we going?” She wasn’t surprised to see a somewhat battered silver Ram truck parked on the dead-end street behind the hotel. The same place he’d parked last night, based on Denali’s previous alert.

“Get behind the wheel.” He used the tip of his gun to indicate she should jump into the driver’s seat.

She stepped on the running board to get in.

Did she have enough courage to crash the truck by going off the road into a steep ravine?

Doing so might be enough to get him to drop the gun, if the impact didn’t kill them.

Even with the added safety feature of airbags and seatbelts, the truck would likely roll.

“Tie this around your wrist and the steering wheel.” Tyler pulled a rope from the truck floor and thrust it toward her.

“Can I put my seatbelt on first?”

“No.”

She held his gaze for a long moment, then did as he demanded. “Why are you doing this, Tyler? I tried to help you back in high school.”

“Tighter.” He ignored her question.

With a sick feeling, she tightened the rope so that it was snug against her left wrist. Then she looped it around the steering wheel and awkwardly tied both ends together with her free hand.

“Good.” His eyes were dark and soulless as he stared at her. “Don’t try anything or you’ll lose an arm at the very least.”

She nodded, realizing he was right. Without the seatbelt and with her arm tied to the wheel, she couldn’t try to crash. She’d have to come up with some other way to escape. How, she had no clue. “Tyler, please, why are you?—”

“Shut up.” He stepped back and slammed the door since she couldn’t use her left wrist to do it herself.

Silently praying for strength, she sat perfectly still until Tyler climbed into the seat beside her. After connecting his seat belt, he pressed the gun into her side. “Drive slowly and carefully. You try anything, I’ll shoot.”

“I understand.” She started the car and pulled away from the curb, feeling naked without the seat belt across her chest.

“Turn left,” he directed.

Having no choice, she turned. She scanned the road ahead but didn’t see any police vehicles. How long would it take for Griff to notice she was gone?

Too long.

“Is Maureen still alive?” She pushed the question through her tight throat.

“Shut up.” He was calm, but she sensed he was walking on the edge. “Get on Highway 14 heading east.”

East would take them out of Greybull toward the Bighorn Mountains. Had Griff found a cabin linked to one of the properties? She prayed he had and kicked herself for not remembering Tyler’s last name was Jenkins.

This was all her fault for not going through the names of all her tutoring students with Griff.

She turned onto Highway 14 but didn’t increase her speed because she was too busy looking at the sheriff’s deputies that were still parked in the residential area on the other side of the river. As they rolled past, she willed one of the deputies to glance over and see them.

They didn’t.

“Faster, but not over the speed limit.” Tyler’s icy voice sent a ripple of fear over her. She risked a quick glance toward him. There was not an ounce of emotion reflected on his features. He would kill her without a smidgen of remorse.

The way he’d killed Josie, Megan, Wendy, and likely Maureen.

She pushed harder on the accelerator to increase their speed. The police vehicles were well behind them now and of no help to her. The rope bit into her wrist; she wasn’t used to driving basically one handed. And every turn she made twisted her left elbow and shoulder to a painful angle.

Nothing as bad as the fate that awaited her. Panic welled in her chest, and she willed it back, trying to think. She needed to stall for time. If they were headed to a cabin the way she thought they were, Griff would find them.

Hopefully in time to save her.

“In three miles turn left.” Tyler’s cold voice broke into her thoughts.

“Okay.” She racked her brain for something to say. “Why did you stop coming to our tutoring sessions?”

He ignored her question. The gun he held pressed against her side never wavered.

Alexis had a bad feeling that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her once they’d reached their destination.

“Maureen’s parents are worried about her.” The words barely left her mouth when he jabbed the gun harder against her ribs.

“What part of shut up don’t you understand?” The eerie calmness did not reassure her. “You can talk when I say you can talk.”

Okay, so this was a control thing. Tyler needed to always maintain control over his victims. She remembered what the ME’s report said about the possibility of his using drugs prior to strangling his victims.

Would he drug her too? Probably. A ripple of aversion washed over her, but she tried not to lose hope. Griff would find her.

She tried to make eye contact with the drivers of other vehicles to no avail. The speed limit was high enough that the cars whizzed past.

“Turn here.” She was so engrossed in trying to communicate her situation to other drivers that she’d completely forgotten his instruction to turn left in three miles.

Without answering, she obliged by slowing down to safely make the turn onto Hawkeye Road. Here they were the only car on the road. They passed one house that she could see through the trees, but after that, there was nothing but wooded acres of land.

“Go for another four miles,” Tyler said. “There’s a two-track road to the right.”

“Okay.” Ironically, they weren’t that far from Greybull. Maybe halfway between the towns of Greybull and Shell.

Griff had been right about the killer staying close. And about how his attacks against her had been more than just eliminating the chance to be found via her K9.

It had turned personal.

She didn’t ask any more questions, though, for fear he’d simply shoot her. He was buckled in and would likely survive a crash.

“I should have killed your dog before we left.” Tyler’s voice sounded annoyed. The first emotion she’d noticed since he’d taken her away by gunpoint. He jabbed the gun against her ribs again. “If I see that dog of yours, I’ll shoot him.”

“I believe you.” She wasn’t a chatty Cathy by nature, but keeping silent was more difficult than she’d ever imagined. The need to know what was going through Tyler’s mind threatened to burst free. She was desperate to understand why he’d started to stalk and kill young women.

Especially what had caught his attention about the four very different victims. If she didn’t include herself.

There was a very real possibility she’d end up dead as Tyler’s fifth victim.

She drove in silence for a few minutes. The sun hadn’t set, but it was far enough on the horizon that the light was muted by the trees around them. Would Griff find her before darkness fell?

She wasn’t sure she would last that long.

“Turn here.” Tyler’s voice again breached her thoughts.

The two-track road wasn’t marked in any way. If someone didn’t know it was there, they’d drive right past.

She slowed and made the right-hand turn, her left arm swinging up and over the steering wheel with the movement. At least right turns didn’t hurt as much as going to the left.

The Ram truck bumped along the two-track road for more than a hundred yards before the small log cabin came into view.

The exterior brown logs with dark-green trim painted around the windows and doorway helped camouflage the building from view against the backdrop of the woods.

In the darkness, the cabin would be even more difficult to see unless there were lights coming from inside.

There were no visible lights now. She swallowed hard, fearing he’d already killed Maureen.

“Go around to the back of the cabin and park there.”

“Okay.” She made the loop around the cabin and found an open area to park. She shifted into park, then sat waiting for his instructions.

Would he kill her here? Or force her to walk into the woods?

Would she eventually end up in the burial field where they’d found the other victims? They had put up the cameras, but getting Tyler on film would be too little, too late.

No , she told herself. Not too late . All that really mattered was for Tyler to be caught and arrested and thrown in jail for the rest of his life.

She drew a deep calming breath, lowered her chin, and silently prayed

Lord Jesus, please keep Griff, Denali, and Maureen safe in Your care. If my life is to be sacrificed for the others, then so be it. Let Thy will be done. Amen.