Page 31

THIRTY

PRESENT DAY

Cole clenched his fists and tried not to scream his rage at his unknown enemy. But that wouldn’t help, so he focused on escape. The straps might be new, but the chair itself was not. However, no amount of searching had found a weak spot in the wood.

Next plan.

Since his head wasn’t restrained, he was able to lean over and work the buckle with his teeth.

But the strap had been pulled tight, the position was awkward, and he had to take breaks to catch his breath. The blood donation and the drugs had taken it out of him, and he needed food to replace it. He recognized low blood sugar when he felt it. He’d made the mistake of giving blood once before without bothering to eat the crackers and drink the juice they offered him. He hadn’t made that mistake again.

Until now. Not that it had been his choice.

He finally managed to get the buckle undone without breaking any teeth, worked the small section of strap backward through the buckle, then yanked his arm up to free it.

Sweat poured from his temples and he gulped in a breath while weakness stole through him. He’d give just about anything for a Snickers bar right now. Once he was free of the chair, he sat for a moment, trying to gather the energy to find a way out.

KENZIE RODE, fingers clasped while her captor drove with his left hand, right hand holding the weapon against his thigh. She wondered if she could grab the wheel and crash the car to get away. But then what might happen to Cole if she died or was too injured to get help? At least if they were together, they could figure a way to outsmart this guy. “How did you get into HQ?”

He laughed. “It helps to have access to a key card one can duplicate. I was able to snag Oscar’s and make a copy. I’ve had it for a while, figuring it would come in handy one day. Today was the day.”

“This is all because you wanted Oscar on the team, isn’t it? He was the number two candidate and I beat him. If you get rid of me, you think he will be hired.”

He stilled. “You shouldn’t have let me know you figured out who I am.”

She sighed. “The mask might be an attempt to convince us that you’ll let us go when you have what you want, but you and I both know there’s no way you can do that.”

He was silent for the next few minutes, then he turned onto a side road and pulled under the cover of a thick blanket of trees. When he stopped, he yanked the mask off.

Harold, Oscar’s father, glared at her, then turned his attention back to the road. “You’re too smart for your own good.”

“Does Oscar know?”

“Of course not! He’s so straight, he’d never approve of this. In fact, he’ll probably never understand that I’m doing it for him. I’m sick of your family always taking what’s ours.”

Kenzie frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“It started with my father, Stephen Woodruff. Your grandfather got him fired and was hired to take over the hospital. Your father was chief of police, the mayor’s choice, but when I asked him for feedback as to why I didn’t get the position, he consoled me with the fact that if it hadn’t been for Ben King, I would have been the one in that office. Even your mother chose King over me. Dumped me as soon as she could and went to build a life with him. When I told my father about it, he was furious. That’s when I learned all about your grandmother. She’d done the exact same thing to my father. And then you ... you steal my boy’s chance to live his dream.” His hands flexed around the wheel. “It was just too much. Too much. I had to do something again. Stop the cycle once more.”

A cold chill started in her gut and spread through her limbs. “What do you mean, do something again? Stop the cycle once more?” But she had a feeling she knew.

“It doesn’t matter.” He aimed the weapon at her. “Now, climb out from the driver’s side after I’m out.”

“No. Not until you explain.”

He shuddered and swallowed. “Things happen for a reason.”

“You set my father up, didn’t you? You had the brakes cut? You threatened Cliff Hamilton to falsify the documents?” She pulled in a ragged breath. “You killed my mother,” she whispered.

“She wasn’t supposed to be in the car!”

“But she was!”

“And there was nothing I could do about that.”

“But that evidence combined with my father’s injuries gave you the opportunity you’d been waiting for.”

He shrugged.

“But you didn’t take the offer of chief when it was up for grabs. You let someone else take it.”

“I had to. How would that look if I’d just jumped at the chance?” He shook his head. “No, I knew my time would come, and four months later, after a tragic hunting accident, it did.”

Kenzie stared. “You had him killed, didn’t you?”

He opened his car door, started to get out, and paused. Then he looked at her with a cold grin. “I’ve always been a very good marksman.”

Once he was standing by the car with the door open, she hesitated. Was he going to kill her now that he’d confessed it all?

“Out!”

She kept her hands where he could see them and did as ordered, climbing over the console to the driver’s side.

He motioned with the weapon. “Around to the back. Get in the trunk.”

“Harold, I’m cooperating. Why make me get in the trunk?”

“Now!”

She walked to the back of the sedan, and he pressed the button on the fob. The lid lifted.

“Boy, you sure had everyone fooled into thinking you were just a harmless old man, didn’t you?”

He snorted. “Who’s going to suspect an old guy with a bum knee who uses a walker or a cane to get around?” He pointed to the empty trunk. “Get in.”

She didn’t think he was ready for her to die just yet. He’d kept her alive this long because he needed her for something. And she needed to find Cole. She climbed in and shifted to sit upright while, with one hand, she pulled her work phone from her back pocket. She gave it a shove all the way to the back of the trunk, hiding the motion by stretching out to lie down.

Harold held out a hand. “Give me your phones. Both of them. If you fight me, I’ll simply knock you out and search for them.”

“I only have my personal phone. I didn’t have time to grab my work one before you were ushering me out the door.” She didn’t bother to fight him and handed over the personal one, praying he wouldn’t search her for the second one. He studied her for a second and she thought he might pat her down.

“Show me your pockets.”

She did so, doing her best to keep her body in such a position as to hide the other phone behind her. Finally he grunted and turned his attention to the device she’d given him. Instead of tossing it to the ground and stomping on it, he turned it off and tucked it into his pocket. “Turn over on your stomach.”

“What?”

He pulled a zip tie from his pocket. “Turn over.” Again, she obeyed and let him bind her hands, praying he didn’t notice the phone.

Then he slammed the trunk lid, enclosing her in darkness. The engine roared, and after a few jerks and bumps, they were on smooth road once more.

Kenzie didn’t bother to try to break the zip tie. She simply wiggled through her arms until her hands were in front of her, all the while thanking God for the spacious trunk. It was difficult, but it could have been worse. Then she rolled with her hands outstretched, searching. Her fingers grazed the device and she snagged it.

How much time did she have? Please, God, just ... help.

She dialed Commander Hill and it went straight to voicemail. He must be on his phone. She hung up and dialed James.

“King?”

“Yes, listen, Harold Woodruff kidnapped Cole and me. I’m in the trunk of his Buick navy-blue sedan.” She rattled off the license plate. “I don’t know if it’s his car or not. Track my phone now. Also, find Oscar Woodruff. You may need him to talk his father down.” She could hear him murmuring to someone about tracking her phone. “I don’t know where he’s taking me, but—”

The sedan stopped and the engine cut off.

“—we’re here,” she finished on a whisper. That had been a short ride. “Don’t talk. Just find us.” She left the phone on and, unable to shove it in a pocket or anywhere else Harold wouldn’t notice it, she pushed it to the back of the trunk once more, praying he wouldn’t see it when he hauled her out.

The lid popped and she blinked at the sudden brightness. Then climbed from the trunk with Harold’s help. He looked at her hands now in front of her and just grunted. “Flexible little thing, aren’t you?”

She ignored him and looked around. “Lake City State Hospital?”

Well, it made sense. No cameras, no one around to question his presence. And lots of rooms to keep someone prisoner in.

He escorted her through the broken front door, and Kenzie saw that it hadn’t changed from the last time she’d been there.

She stepped carefully over the broken tile and dodged the skittering rodents with a shudder. Her hands ached, but her foremost concern was Cole. And so she willingly followed, praying the team would arrive before it was too late.

COLE STEPPED BACK from the window when the door opened, and a hard shove sent Kenzie careening his way. He caught her when she stumbled and she spun, planting herself in fighting stance.

Cole flinched. “Harold Woodruff?”

The man’s eyes flared slightly when he saw Cole had escaped the chair, then he scowled. “Surprise, surprise. Don’t get comfortable. I have to hide the car, then I’ll be back and we’ll get down to business.”

The door shut behind him and Kenzie whipped her gaze to Cole. “Are you all right?”

He nodded. “Yeah. You?”

“A headache, but nothing major.” She held up her hands. “I don’t suppose you have a knife on you.”

“Sorry. You don’t have any sugar on you, do you?”

“Uh ...” She patted her pockets and came up with a mint. “Just this.”

“That’ll help if you don’t mind.” He took it.

“Feeling weak from the blood loss?”

“Yeah. And the drug, I’m sure. I don’t know what he hit me with, but it was a doozy. Knocked me right out. I remember him coming into the room, but the rest is kind of a blur.” He sucked on the mint, not knowing if it would be enough to perk him up or not, but he had to try.

“I managed to call Cross,” she said, “so help is on the way.”

“Oh, thank God.”

“They should be here soon. In the meantime, I know you’ve gone over every inch of this place. Any luck finding a way out?”

“Maybe. The bars are old, but the window is stuck. I tried to break it, but you wouldn’t believe how thick that glass is.”

“If he was planning to keep you—or me—here, he might have replaced the original.”

“Maybe, then dirtied it up so it wouldn’t stand out or look too clean.” He shuddered. “I hate to think of the people locked in this room with no way out. What if a fire happened?”

“It did in some places,” she murmured.

“Yeah.”

She went to the window. “Where are they?”

A chopper zipped overhead, and Cole breathed a little easier. “They’re coming.”

“I’m going to look for a weapon while I fill you in on everything Harold told me in the car. He’s responsible for the car wreck that killed my mother.”

“What!”

“Yeah, and somehow the guy from the warehouse and Harold know each other—”

“They were both residents of the home.”

“Oh ... well, that makes more sense then.”

“And there is nothing to use as a weapon unless you can find a sharp piece of tile or something. I even tried pulling the toilet out of the floor, but no go. You’d think the floor would be rotted enough and it would come right up. Apparently concrete doesn’t rot like that.” He couldn’t help the petulance in his tone. He was peeved he hadn’t found something that could be used to defend himself. And Kenzie.

She huffed a short laugh. “You think?”

The door slammed open and Harold stepped inside, his weapon held in front of him, eyes hard and slightly frantic. “How?” He glared at Kenzie. “You tipped them off. How?”

“It doesn’t really matter at this point, does it?” she asked. “Come on, Harold, it’s over. The chopper is here and the others are seconds behind. You’re not getting out of here.”

“Then neither are you two.”

Cole stepped forward, wishing the returning weakness would go away. The mint hadn’t been enough. “What do you want me to do, Harold? Let’s get this over with.”

The man tossed Cole a phone. “It has one number in there. The mayor. Call him and tell him that Oscar is to have the next position on the SWAT team.”

“Harold...” Cole almost felt sorry for the man. He was defeated and refused to admit it.

“Call him!”

“You know this isn’t going to work! Even if I tell him and he agrees, it’s not going to hold up after all of this is finished!”

The weapon shook and tears slid down the man’s cheeks. “It will! We came up with a plan. He failed. I won’t. Make the call!”

“What plan?” Cole asked.

“Matthews and I. We planned it down to the last detail to get justice for our sons. Charlie and Oscar.”

“Let me guess. You two got to talking and hatched this whole plan.”

“Yes. And when he told me what happened to his son, I told him what happened to mine, and we came up with a plan.”

“Get rid of me,” Kenzie said, “and Oscar would have a very good chance of replacing me.”

“So simple,” Harold said, confusion in his eyes. “But nothing went according to plan. And I didn’t want to kill Eric”—he jabbed the weapon at her—“but you just wouldn’t die!”

“Dad?”

The voice came from down the hallway. The footsteps. Lots of footsteps.

His team.

“Harold,” Cole said, “it’s time to put the gun down. You’re surrounded with no way out. Give it up before Oscar loses his father.”

“He’s lost me anyway,” the man whispered. “I’ve done things I never would have thought possible.” He looked at Kenzie. “Until you.”

“Dad, please!” Oscar stood in the doorway, Cross next to him with his weapon drawn.

Harold swallowed, then settled the barrel of the weapon under his chin.

“No!” Kenzie’s yell accompanied her forward motion. She slammed herself into Harold and they both hit the broken floor. The gun skittered and Cole went after it while someone jerked Oscar back. But Harold rolled after the weapon and managed to beat Cole to it. He curled his fingers around the grip and lifted it, aiming at the door as the team poured into the small room.

Harold fired just as Cole tackled him, yelling, “Don’t shoot him!” But they would if it meant saving him or Kenzie.

It wasn’t necessary. Harold had given up. He lay still, breathing hard and staring at the far wall.

“Butler!” Kenzie’s shout echoed, and while Cowboy took care of securing the prisoner, Kenzie held her hands up to Cross and he sliced through the zip tie with a knife. She scurried to Butler, who was sitting and pressing on his thigh while blood spewed between his fingers. “I need a medical bag! Someone, get me a bag!” She looked at Cole. “Give me your T-shirt.” Cole yanked his shirt over his head and tossed it to her. She turned to Cross. “I need the knife.”

He gave it to her, and she cut a strip out of Cole’s shirt, then handed it to him along with the knife. “Cut more strips. Anyone got a pen? Anything? I need to make a tourniquet if that bag is going to take too much longer to get here.”

Someone handed her a pen and she fashioned the tourniquet, pulling it tight just above his wound. Butler’s jaw was clenched and his face pale while he breathed in through his nose. “Where are the paramedics?” she asked. “He needs something for the pain.”

“They’re coming.”

She glanced at Butler. “The bleeding is slowing. You’re going to be okay.” She tied the other strips around the tourniquet to soak up the excess.

“Feeling a little lightheaded.”

“Yeah. That’s normal. Just hang in there. What’s your blood type?”

“A negative.”

“Got it.”

Cole started to volunteer to donate if the man needed it, but Kenzie’s narrow-eyed glare told him that wouldn’t be a good idea. Still woozy, he agreed with a nod.

“And someone get Cole a protein bar and a soda or some orange juice. Before he was taken, he gave blood and is about to pass out. If you can find the Buick, there are two bars in the glove compartment.”

“On it,” one of the other officers said.

Paramedics finally entered and Kenzie raided their equipment for everything she needed.

Cole turned his attention to Harold Woodruff and Oscar. The older man stood with his head dropped to his chest, defeated and trying to look invisible.

But Cole had questions.

The officer returned with two protein bars, a bottle of water, a ham sandwich, and a cold Coke. When Cole raised a brow, the woman shrugged. “I brought my lunch today. You need it more than I do.”

“Thanks.” While he started scarfing, the officer pulled a phone encased in a clear evidence bag from her pocket and handed it to Kenzie. “Found this tossed near the Buick. When I turned it on, I realized it was yours. I know it’s evidence, but there are probably a lot of messages on there you might need to check.”

“Thanks. You’re right.” She tapped the screen and lifted the phone to her ear.

With the food in his system, Cole’s energy started to return and he took in a grateful breath.

Once he was deemed fit to be transported, officers left with Har old in tow. He’d be arrested and taken to the hospital for an evaluation, then the legal process would ramp up in earnest.

Buzz approached. “I get off my deathbed to come save your sorry self, and you didn’t even have the grace to get out of the way and give me a shot.”

“Sorry about that,” Cole said.

Buzz scowled. “Seriously, I didn’t have a shot when Kenzie tackled him and y’all were rolling all over the place.”

“I know, man. It’s all good.”

He shook his head. “Harold Woodruff. Can’t believe it.”

“None of us can.”

Buzz left, and Cole looked at Kenzie, taking in her scuffed appearance, flyaway hair, flashing eyes, and jutting jaw. She’d never looked more beautiful. “Kenzie?”

“Yeah?”

“I think I’ve fallen in love with you.”

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly before she snapped it shut, then stepped up on her tiptoes to place a kiss on his cheek. “Let’s talk later.”