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Fifty-nine

“ OKAY , CAN YOU GIVE ME the address or coordinates?” Greyson asked as they headed away from Vegas.

Riley watched Vegas fade into the distance. She was leaving a very different person, with a very different life, surrounded by those who loved her. She really was no longer that terrified little girl. She shifted back around to look at the road ahead.

“Jared?” Grey asked again.

“I’ll give you directions as we go,” he said.

“Why? It’s not like we’re going in blindfolded,” Grey said, draping his arm over the wheel.

“I’m not giving out coordinates. Getting there is one thing, but it’s a twisty way to go. Coordinates are too easily shared.”

Greyson exhaled. “Fine. Let’s start.”

Jared gave the first set of instructions, and Greyson followed them.

“My brothers are meeting us. We’ll need to give them directions too.”

“You can give them the same ones I give you,” Jared said, looking over his shoulder at her.

“You aren’t making this easy, Jared.” Grey clamped the wheel.

Jared shifted his gaze back to Greyson. “Maybe not. But I’ll get us there.”

Riley sat back as they drove into the desert, heading for an unknown situation and destination.

****

Charley horses riddled Kelly’s legs. She’d lost all track of time, but they’d been driving for hours on hours from the best she could guess.

Where were they taking her? What were they going to do to her?

She squeezed her eyes shut in the darkness, trying to will away the images of torture that lay ahead.

The car slowed, then stopped. The engine cut.

Please , Lord , I know I ’ve sinned , but I was trying to make things right the only way I knew how. Please protect me in this moment. Let Jared come for me. Let someone come for me.

The trunk opened to reveal a blanket of darkness. A man silhouetted by the faint moon stood over her. All she could make out was his tall height and pronounced nose.

“Ready to have some fun?”

Her stomach dropped, and everything went black again.

****

Greyson checked the clock. According to Jared they still had an hour to go.

“From here, you follow the dirt road straight to it,” he said.

“Okay, now that we’ve seen the way, could you please give us the address?” Riley asked again.

“Why? I can show you the rest of the way.”

“We can’t risk my brothers getting lost. We’re going to need their backup.”

“Okay, tell them to GPS Allister Road. Once they hit it, tell them to go south on Allister Road for twelve and a half miles, and then take Benton another five miles round about. It’ll lead to this road we’re on. Tell them to follow it to the end.”

Riley tapped the directions into her phone.

Greyson hoped they weren’t far behind. They’d need the numbers for whatever they were about to face. They needed Deck and Christian to have their six.

“I’m going to call local authorities.” Riley lifted her phone.

“No!” Jared spun around to face her. “Please don’t.”

“Because you’ll be arrested for theft?” she asked.

“No, because if they see cops, they’re likely to kill Kelly. We have to do this on our own.”

Greyson weighed the value of the assessment and glanced at Riley in the rearview mirror.

“I suppose he could take that tack,” Riley said. “If they shot her and ran, the sheriff would stop to help Kelly, and they could get away. I imagine in the sparse county there’s only a sheriff and possibly one deputy.”

“Please,” Jared pleaded.

Grey wrestled with the decision but kept coming back to the fact they needed the police there to arrest Brent and anyone else.

“I’m sorry, Jared. We need to call.”

Riley dialed a number and put her phone on speaker.

“Sheriff’s department. Sheriff Pearlman here.”

“Hi, this is Riley MacLeod. I’m a private investigator. A woman’s been kidnapped and is being held at an off-grid location north of Carver and south of Austin. That’s your territory, correct?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She went on to explain the entire situation.

“Okay, give me the address, and I’ll be there as soon as I can. I’m actually out of the office. I have my calls forwarded. I’m about half an hour away, but I’ll head over as soon as I can make it.”

“I’ll text you directions. I’ll notify you of the situation when we get there so you know what you’re walking into.”

“Thanks, and thanks for the call.”

“You’re welcome.”

The call disconnected.

“So no police backup,” Grey said.

Jared frowned. “He said he’s coming, right?”

“They’re at least a half hour behind. This thing could be all over by then.”

Grey reached his hand back between the seats and took hold of hers, giving her a reassuring squeeze.

“Take that offshoot of the road,” Jared said, leading them onto an angled road that looked more like a walking path. Tree branches swiped the truck as they drove down the path.

“Take it to the end, and then park behind the final copse of trees. It’ll provide an overlook position.”

Greyson did as instructed, and soon they were settled on the overlook. He gave Riley the night-vision binoculars her brothers had brought him, then he shifted to lay prone on the ground, his rifle set up, and stared through the night-vision scope.

A lone house, barely visible through the trees, sat a thousand yards away, down in a ravine. He scanned the area and noted what looked like three more paths that could be used as roads if needed. Smart location. And apparently self-sustaining from the solar panels on the roof and the water-collection system adjacent to the main building. A small outpost building sat on the opposite overlook site, again barely visible in the copse of trees surrounding it.

Near the house was Brent’s black SUV that they’d seen in Amy and Gus’s driveway, a dark Jaguar, and a white SUV. Kevin. But who did the Jaguar belong to? Was Lance taking a hands-on approach?

Grey shuddered to think so, then shifted his gaze to the small home. Lights illuminated a portion of the space. “I need the layout,” he spoke low to Jared, who ran them through the floor plan.

“I’ll take the living area,” Grey said to Riley. “You take the kitchen.”

She nodded and shifted her binoculars onto the room in question as he fixed his scope on the living room. It took time and a lot of patience, but soon a shadow passed in front of it. “I’ve got one,” he said.

“I’ve got two,” Riley said of her location. “And one is moving for the door. Got him,” she said. “On the porch at two o’clock.”

Grey panned back to the lit porch. Sure enough. Brent strode the width of it, his gaze on the hills, though he was staring into darkness, only the murky moonlight to see by. He pulled out a large flashlight and, turning it on, he scanned the perimeter.

“Still and low,” Greyson said to Jared as Riley lay still beside him.

The light streaked over their location and kept going for a second, then it panned back. They were low enough in the tree cover that they should be almost indistinguishable from the foliage surrounding them.

Greyson held his breath, his torso pressed hard into the packed earth. Riley lay immobile beside him. Jared lay behind them, his head down on the ground—like a kid thinking if he couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see him.

Finally, after a breathless minute, the light moved on.

An engine sounded in the distance, running parallel to them on the main road they’d been on—if they could actually call it a “main” road. It was more like a narrow dirt path. The engine cut, and, barely audible from their position, doors shut.

They held.

Footsteps sounded in the brush.

He looked over at Riley, and she nodded.

They had company.

“It’s the guys,” she said in a whisper. “I gave them our location.”

Relief swarmed Greyson’s belly.

Soon Deckard and Christian lay prone beside them. Deck looked through the scope mounted on his AR-15. “How many do we got?” he asked.

“Brent’s on the porch,” Grey said. “The lights are in the kitchen and the main living area. We’ve got at least three hostiles—Kevin, Brent, and an unknown in the living room. Definitely a man based on build. And then Kelly, of course. So we’ve got four for sure.”

“Could the unknown be Lance?” Deck asked.

“Jared?” Riley handed him her binoculars.

He stared through them. It took a minute, but then he nodded on an exhale. “That’s Lance.”

She took the binoculars back. “Kevin beat us here. I guess he knew we’d be coming.”

Grey looked over at her. “That’s what has me worried. They all know we’re coming, and they’re no doubt ready for us.” But what choice did they have?

“What’s the plan?” Christian asked, a rifle in hand.

“I’ll go in,” Grey said. “You three spread out and cover.”

“I’m coming with you,” Jared said.

“No.” Greyson shook his head. “You’ll just get yourself killed. Let us do our thing and handle it.”

Jared remained silent, and Grey prayed he’d listen, though he feared his words were falling on deaf ears.

Riley shifted to her knees.

Greyson frowned. “What are you doing?”

She brushed the dusty earth off her pants. “You’re not going in the front alone.”

“Ri ... It’s decided. Deck can take twelve o’clock and Christian three and you six.”

“No. You decided. I’m going in,” Riley insisted. “I’m the one who knows Kelly. Besides, the sheriff should be here soon.”

“Should we wait for him?” Christian asked.

“Every minute we wait is another minute Kelly could be killed,” Jared said, his voice impassioned.

“Jared’s right. We need to move.” Greyson got to his feet as Brent fixed his light on the back side of the house, but it would be swinging back soon, he had no doubt.

Riley stood beside him.

“Ri, seriously.”

“I’ve made up my mind.”

Which meant there was no changing it. At least not in this case. He steeled himself. He’d always protect Riley with his life. Had always strived to protect her, but things were different now. This was the woman he deeply loved, and she was about to walk headlong into danger. There could be more men in the house than they were seeing, and the hostiles would definitely be armed. They had Kelly and the advantage. There was no covered way down to the house. All routes to the house from where Grey and Riley sat were visible to the porch.

Grey scanned the layout again, focusing on the boulders spread out along the back path. They’d have to time it right, and they’d be vulnerable between covers, but it was the best way he could see down.

“Riley, give Deck the sheriff’s number so he can relay our location. Then turn your phone off,” he said, and Riley nodded. She passed on the number to Deck and Christian.

“I’m on it,” Christian said as Deck remained focused on Brent pacing the porch, his scope fixed on him. “Deck should stay here. I’ll move to twelve.” He lifted his long-range rifle.

“We need to go,” Riley said. “Quick, the light’s panning back.”

Greyson grabbed his rifle in one hand and her hand in his other, and they ran back to the main road, holding to the tree line’s edge. They were out of the line of sight from the porch, but once they moved from cover, they were sitting ducks until they hit the first boulder.

He turned to Riley. “I would feel so much better if you took position.”

“And I’d feel better if you did.” She racked her backup SIG, sliding a bullet into the chamber.

“Ri...”

“I appreciate you wanting to protect me, and I want to protect you in turn, but Kelly needs us in there.”

He studied the firm line on her brow in the shifting moonlight as dark clouds passed over. Lightning lit the sky ablaze.

Great. A storm. That’s all they needed. Light from heaven to give up their positions.

Please , Lord , provide us cover. Shelter us in your wings and help us to reach Kelly in time.

“All right,” he relented, though he had no choice or say in the matter. Once Riley fixed her mind on something, she’d make it happen. “I suggest we go in that way.” He pointed to the sliding hiking path sprinkled with boulders.

“Agreed,” she said.

They moved around as the light from Brent’s torch passed across the far side. Reaching the path, they both crouched low.

“One at a time,” Greyson said. “Boulder to boulder.”

“Got it.”

Before he could blink, she was moving for the first one, twenty yards away. His throat squeezed, and he covered her.

Relief filled him as she made it. She gestured for him to come. He watched the light, waiting for the opportune moment, and took it, moving for the first boulder as she covered him.

The sky opened, and rain pelted down, coming too fast and furious for the dry, cracked earth to soak it up. A stream formed along the sloping path, creating the equivalent of a mudslide within minutes.

Riley moved for the next to last boulder and slid onto her butt ten yards from it. Brent’s flashlight swung toward them, and Greyson readied his rifle.

His chest squeezed; the light was mere feet from Riley. The swift stream carried her nearly past the boulder, but she managed to grab hold and pull herself behind it before the light hit.

Momentary relief filled him, but they still had one boulder to go, and then they would walk into the real storm.