Intentional Risk (R.I.S.C. Book 4)

by Anna Blakely

  Her legs shook beneath her and sweat beaded on her forehead as she struggled to make her way back to her feet.

  Weaving side to side, Charlie stood there a moment, working to regain her equilibrium before attempting to run again. She was about to take off when the sound of twigs snapping reached her ears.

  Unable to help herself, she turned around to see Caleb’s fist just before it slammed into the side of her face. Charlie flew back as new pain exploded throughout her head as Caleb hovered over her.

  His face was red with fury, and his chest heaved with each forceful breath.

  “You haven’t changed a bit. Still as stupid as you were the last time I saw you. Where the fuck did you think you were going to go, anyway?”

  “Caleb,” she barely managed to get his name out. “Please.”

  “There’ll be plenty of time for you to beg, Charlotte. Don’t worry.” Something caught his eye, and he glanced down at her chest. “Where did you get this?” He reached for her locket. “I don’t remember it.”

  Charlie remained silent. He brought his face to hers and yelled, “I asked you a fucking question. Tell me where you got this!”

  With silence as her only weapon, she pressed her lips together and glared up at him defiantly.

  Rage poured from his eyes as he fisted the chain. “He gave you this, didn’t he?”

  A sudden pain hit the back of her neck as he yanked the chain loose. “My wife will not wear another man’s jewelry.” He tossed it aside.

  Tears fell down her temple onto the decaying leaves below her. Refusing to give in, Charlie glared up at him.

  “Doesn’t matter. He’s given me something you’ll never be able to take away.”

  This time, when Caleb punched her again, Charlie welcomed the empty, black abyss.

  ****

  Derek stormed through the hallway toward the front of the police station, his brother and Detective York hot on his tail.

  He stopped short when he saw Jake, Trevor, Mac, and Coop making their way toward him.

  “Boss.” He looked at Jake.

  “What do we know?” Jake asked, instantly taking on the authoritative role.

  Derek looked at the others grimly as he filled them in on what they’d learned.

  “We were just headin’ over to her place.”

  Eric’s phone rang. When he saw who the caller was, he looked at Derek and then the others before putting it on speaker.

  “Officer Morse. Tell me you have Charlotte Porter there with you.”

  “I’m sorry, Detective,” his somewhat muffled voice came over the line. “She isn’t here.”

  Derek closed his eyes, trying his best not to give in to his fear.

  “What did you find?” Eric asked the officer.

  “Car’s still here. The driver’s door was open and her purse and keys were in the front seat. There’s no sign of her or the man you described.”

  “Fuck!”

  Derek yelled the word so loudly, everyone within earshot stopped what they were doing and turned toward them. Ignoring the stares, he shot his gaze to the woman standing next to his brother.

  “Are you happy, now?” He lashed out at York.

  “D,” Eric warned. “Keep your voice down.”

  His angry gaze shot to his brother’s. “Keep my voice down? That fucker has her, Eric. He took her while she”—he glared at York—“was busy tryin’ to pin this shit on me.”

  Turning to face her directly, Derek’s eyes shot daggers into hers. “I told you this was him. I told you what Porter was trying to do, but you wouldn’t listen.”

  Though York looked remorseful, she said, “I was just doing my job. I was following orders and—”

  “You think I give a flyin’ rat’s ass about orders? That sonofabitch got to her because I’ve been here.”

  Eric slapped a hand against his chest and pushed him back. Derek knew it wasn’t really York’s fault, but he needed someone to blame other than himself. Right now, she was an easy target.

  “Enough,” his brother ordered. “You’ve made your point.”

  “This isn’t about making a goddamn point, Eric. This is about Charlie.” His voice broke and he had to bite his lip to keep from breaking down.

  “You’re right.” York surprised them all by stepping up to Derek. “This is about Charlie. We need to find her before it’s too late. I’ve learned a lot about you in the past few days, Derek. If there’s anyone who can find her, it’s you.”

  She took a deep breath and then, in front of the entire squad room, the woman ate a fuck-ton of crow.

  “I screwed up. I accepted the facts as they were given to me by those other detectives without questioning any of it myself. And, yeah...maybe my own past kept me from listening to you as well as I should have, but I’m listening now.” She looked at his teammates and Eric. “So, tell us, Derek. What do we need to do to find Charlie and Porter?”

  She was right. Bickering with York wasn’t getting him any closer to finding Charlie. He needed to get his head out of his ass and think.

  “Was her cell at the scene?” He asked no one in particular.

  “Yes, sir,” the officer who was still on Eric’s phone spoke up. “It was in her purse in the car.”

  Shit. Derek had hoped she had her phone in her pocket so he could ping its location and...

  “The necklace!”

  His heart pounded against his ribs as the first stirrings of hope began to flourish.

  “What necklace?” Trevor asked.

  Derek quickly explained.

  “I gave her a locket the other night. She thought it was just a gift, which it was, except I placed a tracking device inside it. I was afraid something like this would happen.” He ran a hand over his jaw. “Jesus. I was so upset I forgot all about it.”

  He glanced over at York, who was clearly still kicking her own ass over the situation.

  “You really want to help?” he asked her. The woman nodded. “Then, get me a computer.”

  Less than five minutes later, Derek was sitting at his brother’s desk, and he’d accessed the program he needed to track Charlie.

  He felt as though he were slowly dying from the inside out. He needed to see her. To protect her from whatever hell she was going through.

  The computer beeped and a red dot appeared on the screen.

  “I found her!” he blurted to the others. “It looks like she’s just off Highway Thirty-Four between Wolfe City and Ladonia.” He thought for a minute before looking at the others. “I don’t remember there being anything out there.”

  “That’s because there’s not.” York walked around from the front of the desk to get a better look. “It’s just a two-lane highway with nothing but farmland and trees on each side.”

  Derek looked at the dot again. His brows turned inward. “There has to be somethin’. A house or a building of some sort.”

  “Why do you say that?” Trevor asked from beside him.

  Derek pointed to the screen. “Because she’s not movin’. They wouldn’t just stop in the middle of the damn road.”

  York started to speak but rolled her lips inward to keep from it. Eric gave her a questioning look.

  “If you know something, you need to tell us.”

  She shook her head. “It’s nothing.”

  Jake looked at her. “Sometimes the smallest, most seemingly insignificant things can break a case wide open. You should know that, Detective.”

  She sighed and turned her attention back to Derek. Her eyes filled with a sympathy he hated and he knew whatever she was about to share wasn’t good.

  “I had family who owned land around there when I was younger.” She pointed to the portion of the highway closest to the blinking dot. “Do you see this curve here?”

  “Yeah,” Derek said impatiently.

  “They call it Dead Man’s Curve. As you can tell, it’s a very sharp turn.” She looked at the others. “It got its nickname years ago because there have been seve
ral accidents there. People aren’t paying attention, and the curve sneaks up on them. They take it too fast, and...”

  She didn’t finish, but they all got the gist of what she was trying to say.

  “No.” Derek shook his head. “No fuckin’ way.” He stood and grabbed the department-issued laptop. To Jake, he asked, “Can you take me there?”

  The other man tipped his chin. “Truck’s out front.”

  “Let’s go.”

  Without another glance at York or the others, Derek practically ran toward the station’s large, double doors. It barely registered when he heard York tell Eric she was coming with him.

  He’d let his brother deal with her. She was no longer his concern.

  Pushing one of the large, double doors open, Derek stepped outside and jogged down the concrete steps. When he got to the sidewalk, Coop gave him a nod.

  “We’ll follow you.”

  He and Mac jogged down a ways to where Mac’s Jeep was parked while Derek jumped in the passenger seat of Jake’s truck.

  With Jake driving and Trevor in the back seat, Derek kept his eyes on the laptop in front of him. Using his cell phone as a hotspot, he was able to keep the connection going as they drove.

  The forty-minute drive to the deadly curve seemed to take forever. For the first few miles, Jake and Trevor each made attempts to reassure him. To ease the gut-wrenching fear rolling through his system while he watched that fucking red dot.

  They were only minutes away now thanks to Jake breaking land-speed records to get to Charlie. According to the tracker, she still hadn’t moved.

  With his leg bouncing up and down continuously, he prayed the explanation was anything but the horrific scenario his mind kept conjuring up.

  The easy-going, glass-half-full Derek was gone. Replaced by a man who was lost.

  “Goddamn it!” Derek slammed the palm of his hand against the dash. “I should’ve seen this. I should’ve—”

  “You can’t do that to yourself, D. This isn’t your fault.”

  “The hell it’s not!” His head spun to Jake’s. “I promised her. I swore that bastard would never lay a hand on her again.” Tears welled in his eyes, and he had to swallow twice before continuing. “I pushed her. Convinced her to go along with it all. The blackmail. The divorce. Moving to Dallas to be with me.”

  A flash of their first night together went through his mind, the image like a punch to his solar plexus. Derek blinked, sending a single tear down each of his cheeks.

  Brushing them away angrily, he sniffed and continued kicking his own ass.

  “Charlie tried to tell me this would happen, but I was too fuckin’ cocky, to listen. I knew I had eyes on Porter. Never thought he’d have eyes on us, too. That had to be how he got away with it all. He stayed in New York and had someone else doin’ his dirty work for him here.” Just like Charlie said all along.

  Squeezing his eyes shut, Derek pinched the bridge of his nose and ran a hand down his face to regain some composure. He needed to be clearheaded when he found her.

  The truck remained quiet for the remainder of the trip until Jake started to slow the van.

  “There’s the curve.”

  Tearing his eyes from the screen, Derek glanced at the road ahead.

  “Tracker’s still in the same position. We should be there....about....now.”

  Jake pulled the truck over to the side of the road. Derek looked around, but—as Detective York had said—there was nothing. No car or building. Just a bunch of trees.

  “Here.”

  He turned to Jake who was holding a pistol by the barrel. Shit. His gun and wallet had been taken by the officer with York and were still at the station.

  Derek took the weapon from Jake’s hand. “Thanks.”

  After checking the mag and ensuring one was in the chamber, he got out and immediately began yelling.

  “Charlie!”

  Beside him, Jake and Trevor waited a beat but they were met with nothing but silence.

  “I don’t see her,” Derek stated the obvious.

  Spinning around to take in a three-sixty view of the area, he tried to control the panic in his voice. He failed miserably.

  “The tracker shows her here, but I don’t fuckin’ see her!”

  Coop and Mac drove up, followed closely by Eric and York. Derek ran back to the truck and swung the laptop around.

  “It says we’re right on top of the damned thing.”

  Without waiting, he turned and ran toward the trees, hollering her name as he went. The others followed his lead.

  “Look,” Jake said pointing to a broken limb just ahead.

  Derek went to it, his heart rate spiking. Using his free hand, he ran his thumb along its rough edge.

  “This is recent.” He took off again, continuing to shout out her name. “Charlie! Charlie, I’m here.”

  While he and Jake followed the trail of broken limbs, the others spread out to cover more ground. Moving parallel with him, Trevor, Mac, and Coop were now on his left with Jake, and Eric was to his right with York.

  As Derek continued to yell out for Charlie, conflicting emotions began to sink in. He prayed she was here, somewhere.

  At the same time, another part of him was terrified of what they’d find if she were.

  Derek and Jake stopped running. Taking a few seconds to study their surroundings more closely, they heard a twig snap in the distance.

  Looking to his right, Derek found his brother standing a few yards away. He’d also stopped, but when Eric’s eyes met his, he shook his head.

  The sound hadn’t come from them, which meant someone else was there.

  He put his fist up to stop the others’ movements. After several seconds of silence, he was just about to blow it off as an animal and move on when he heard another twig snap and a soft, “Shh.”

  Pointing to the direction the sound came from, Derek motioned for Jake to follow him. Weapons drawn, the two men began walking as quietly as possible while the others remained still.

  Blood rushed past his ears, his silent breaths heaving in and out through his nose. Derek caught a slight movement from the corner of his eye and pointed his gun toward it.

  The toe of a booted foot was barely visible from behind two trees that had grown closely together. Derek used his free hand to point toward it, making sure Jake saw it, too.

  Jake nodded and the two men moved forward. The foot slid back behind the tree, and Derek’s heart slammed against his chest as he got closer.

  Coming up from behind, he steeled himself, ready for whatever the person would come at him with.

  Drawing in a deep breath, he stepped around the tree and yelled, “Don’t move!”

  Shock left him momentarily stunned as he locked eyes with one of two young boys, the terrified look on their faces unmistakable.

  One appeared to be about fourteen and the other a couple of years younger. And they both looked like they were about to piss their pants.

  Seeing no threat, Derek lowered his gun. Before he could say anything, York came up from behind him and blew out a breath.

  “What the hell are you two doing out here?”

  Both boys exhaled loudly with relief. One of them grabbed his chest. “Riley! It’s you! Thank God. We thought...we thought...”

  “We thought you were him,” the other boy finished the sentence. “We were afraid he’d come back.”

  “You know them?” Derek looked at the woman.

  “Remember when I told you I had family who used to live around here? These are the grandsons to my uncle’s former neighbor.” She tilted her head behind her. “Their house is back that way, on the other side of the trees. This is Ronald.” She pointed to the older one. “That’s his younger brother, Jeff.”

  By now, the others had joined them. When Eric glanced at York, she shrugged. “I still visit their grandmother. She was always nice to me when I was younger, and my dad would bring me here to stay with my aunt and uncle. I check in on her from tim
e to time.”

  Not giving a shit about York’s family history, Derek asked the young men, “Who did you think we were?”

  At first, they sat frozen, looking up at him as if he were the devil himself. When it was clear he was losing his patience, the older of the two spoke up.

  “The man. The one with the woman.”

  At that, Derek took a step closer. “What man? Was the woman okay? What did she look like?”

  He was firing his questions so quickly, both boys shrunk back against the tree. York put her hand on Derek’s shoulder to try to calm him.

  “It’s okay, Ronald.” She looked at the taller of the two. “Just tell me what you saw.”

  The boy took a deep breath, but his voice was still shaky when he spoke.

  “Jeff and I were just out here walking around. Exploring, you know? We were bored, so we hopped the fence and started looking around.”

  He brought his eyes to Derek’s, as he went on to explain.

  “We’re both in scouts and wanted to practice being able to identify animal tracks. We thought we’d have a better chance in the woods than the field, so we came here. This is public land, right?” His head turned back to York’s. “I mean, you’re not going to arrest us for trespassing are you? Because if this land belongs to someone else, we didn’t know. I swear it! We thought we would just—”

  “Ronald!” Derek barked the boy’s name to put a stop to his rambling.

  Both kids jumped, making him feel like an ass. Derek was on the verge of losing his shit but knew he needed to dial it back if he was ever going to get any information from them.

  “We don’t give a damn about trespassing,” he assured them. “We just want to know what you saw.”

  Ronald looked up at York as if he needed her permission to talk to him. When she nodded her head and gave him a kind smile, the boy continued.

  “We were in the woods looking for tracks when we heard a car coming. So, we hid.”

  “Why did you hide?” Derek asked as calmly as he could.

  “We weren’t exactly sure this was public land, and we didn’t want to get into trouble.”

  Fair enough. “Go on.”

  “We heard the car coming and hid behind a couple of trees closer to the road. We were going to wait until it passed and then keep doing what we were doing, but then she jumped, and then the guy came after her, and we—”