by Sable Hunter
“Stay on the line, Miss.”
She couldn’t. Hanging up, she called Presley. No answer. “Dammit, dammit.” She had to let someone know Arness was guilty. Sloppily, she tried to text as she ran. She was almost to her car.
Arness is the kil—she typed.
Cato almost fell. Arness’s big white rig suddenly pulled in between her and her car, almost running her down. Cato couldn’t give up. Turning quickly to the right, she tried to run behind the vehicle. Just as she was about to grab the door handle, Redford jumped out to stop her.
“No!” Cato struggled, but Redford roughly jerked her arm. Cato fell. Arness came up with a rope and a rag, he bound her hands, tied them behind her back and stuffed a gag in her mouth. Valiantly, Cato tried to struggle, screaming into the dirty cloth.
She looked her attacker in the face. “You might as well shut up. It’s over.” He picked her up and threw her in the back seat of the double cab dually.
Waves of regret and fear washed over her. Were they going to kill her? Would someone find her in time? She edged over in the seat until she could see the face of Arness in the rear-view mirror. She couldn’t hear them, but she could see Arness’s response.
“Where are we taking her?”
And this is what she saw Arness reply.
“I want to get rid of her, but I don’t want to bloody my hands. We need a place to put her where she’ll never be found. Any ideas?”
Cato began to pray. “Heath, find me, please, please.”
“Let’s take her to a place she’s researched, seems fitting.”
“Where would that be?”
“Dead Man’s Hole. You’ll have to cut the grate off, but you have that cutting torch in the back and no one will ever think to look for her there. It will be like she dropped off the face of the Earth.”
“Dead Man’s Hole it is.” Arness smiled and Cato felt hope slip away.
* * *
“Where’s Cato?” Court was in recess for lunch and Heath was determined to find her.
“I don’t know, but you two certainly need to talk.”
“I’m trying. Help me find her.” Ryder called Tennessee and Pepper and they all began combing the courthouse looking for Cato.
Ryder and Heath searched together. “What did you mean when you said there had been a huge misunderstanding?” Heath asked.
“She didn’t reject you.”
“Yes, she did.”
“No, she thinks you rejected her. She saw you when you were talking to Jimmy. You said your relationship with Cato meant nothing and she saw you tell Amy that her voice embarrassed you.” Ryder was talking fast as they walked, but Heath grabbed her arm, stopping Ryder in her tracks.
“No, that’s not right” Heath was shouting. “Hell, I knew she saw me. God, I didn’t mean what I said to Jimmy, I was upset and just spouting off.”
“That’s what I told her, I know you.”
“And I didn’t say any such thing to Amy. I defended Cato. I said her voice was adorable, that she was perfect.”
“She must have just seen part of your conversation.”
“Fuck!” Heath shouted. “So, when she broke it off with me, she was hurt, she wasn’t rejecting me.”
“Yes, you have a lot to learn about women, Heath.” She pulled on his arm. “This isn’t finding her, let’s go.”
As they walked, Heath talked, suffering. “I’ve been miserable without her. I didn’t realize what a big part of my life she’s become. We had so much fun together. She’s sweet and smart and so beautiful it hurts to look at her.”
“I know.” Ryder patted his hand. “And you owe her a lot.”
“If…” he started, then corrected himself. “When Phillip gets off, it will be partly because of Cato.”
“Yes and she saved you from getting shot.”
“And she found the deed to save the company.” Heath pulled his hat down lower on his eyes and picked up his pace. “I’ve got to find her, thank her and tell her I’m sorry.”
“That’s a good start,” Ryder agreed.
They made a complete circuit of the courthouse. “Let’s check in the courtroom one more time.”
“She might have left.” Ryder pointed out. “She was through testifying. Why would she stay?”
Heath sighed. “Yea, I didn’t give her a reason to stay, did I?”
Opening up the double doors, they stepped in. Zane looked up and raised his hand. “Heath, I’m glad you’re here. I just tried to call you. Where’s your damn phone?”
Heath patted his pockets. “I don’t know.” He thought back. “I must have dropped it last night, I sort of had a meltdown, went riding down to the river.”
“Come on, follow me. I’m sure Cato tried to call you.”
Ryder followed them. “Where are you going?”
“Cato just texted Presley and the best we can figure out is that she’s telling us Arness is the killer. We think he has her.”
“What!” Heath almost lost his mind.
Looking back at Ryder, Zane shouted, “Tell Presley to tell the judge we need to extend the recess. Cato’s in trouble and we’re going to have new evidence soon.”
“And call your brothers and cousins and tell them to meet us at Zane’s office. We’ve got to work together on this. We have to save her,” Heath shouted.
“Will do.” Ryder grabbed her phone and went to work.
While they ran to the parking lot, Zane called Ava at the police dispatch. “Ava, any 911 calls recently? We’re looking for information on a woman named Cato Vincent.”
Ava looked through the recent entries. “You’re in luck. The woman you’re asking about wasn’t so lucky, but here’s what I know.” Ava confirmed that a woman had placed an emergency call from the parking garage on Congress and 5th. “We sent a car, but they found nothing.”
“That’s because he abducted her.”
“Do you have a suspect?”
“Yes, Caesar Arness, we’re trying to track him down now.”
Heath was fit to be tied. He could only hear half of the conversation.
After Zane hung up, he told Heath everything he knew. “Okay, let’s go on the presumption that Arness has Cato. Where would he go? What would he do?”
“I don’t know, let me think.” Spotting Old Red, he grabbed Zane’s arm. “Here’s my truck, it’ll be faster.”
Zane had to laugh. “Probably not.”
“Okay, okay, Red’s my lucky charm and today I need all the luck I can get.”
* * *
Cato felt more and more hopeless every mile the truck ate up between Austin and Marble Falls. If they were successful in throwing her in Dead Man’s Hole, she was dead, no pun intended. Shivers of fear caused her skin to crawl. She would be in darkness, alone. The very thought made her want to throw herself out of the truck. Dying quickly was so much more preferable than being left to slowly die in a black hole with no hope of being rescued.
Heath, oh Heath, Cato wanted to weep. She loved him so. Just seeing him today was pure torture, knowing that she didn’t have the right to run up to him, throw her arms around his neck and hold him close. And now…now she’d never see him again. How she wished she’d told him point-blank how much she loved him. It wasn’t necessary that he love her back, Cato just wanted him to know that he’d been loved. Love was a gift. Just because it wasn’t reciprocated didn’t make it any less real.
When the truck slowed down, she looked up. They had turned off the main road and now they drove on the small farm to market road which led to the cave. Closing her eyes, she sought peace but she quickly opened them, it would be dark soon enough and an existence without sight and sound was terrifying to her.
As Arness pulled through the gate, she started to shake and when he parked, Cato tried to scream. Both men exited the vehicle, leaving her there. Cato worked her way toward the door, thinking she might run. They’d probably shoot her, but she had to try. Leaning back, she lifted her foot and pressed down on th
e handle, causing the door to open. It must have made noise, because Redford came back and jerked it wide, pulling her from the seat. Cato plunged forward, sprawling on the ground. He kicked her. She looked up. “Mistake, bitch.”
Now that she was out where she could see what was going on, it only made things worse. Arness had moved a small cart with two bottles, hoses and a torch to the steel grate covering the hole. At that moment, the reality hit her hard. He was going to do it. He was going to throw her down in that deep dark black hell and she was going to die. No one would ever see or hear from her again! “No!” She tried to scream again.
Redford kicked her once more. “You might as well shut up. This is what happens to nosy bitches.”
With horror, Cato watched Arness make quick work of removing the grate. It wasn’t that big, just a few minutes of cutting and it was up and off. He motioned to Redford who pulled Cato off the ground, making her walk.
When they had her at the edge of the hole, she looked down in it. Arness took her by the arm, pulling her up short next to him. She gazed into his dark, harsh face. “If we had time, I’d make you pay in another way. I’d like to know what your pussy felt like around my cock.”
Cato glared at him. She might be about to die, but she wasn’t going to go easily. Raising up one foot, she brought the heel of her shoe down hard on Arness’s foot.
She couldn’t hear him scream, but she was sure he did, and so did she. Because he pushed her and she fell. True horror consumed her. People always talk about your life flashing before their eyes and they were right. Her mother, Tessa, Savannah, Tammany, Fresca, Avery—Heath, oh God, Heath. And then it stopped, because she didn’t fall the whole one hundred and fifty feet, she crashed down on a ledge about twenty feet down. All of the breath was expelled from her body. Pain enveloped her. Opening her eyes, she stared up. The men were looking down at her. The small square of daylight was her only link to sanity. But Arness took the grate and began to slowly slide it into place. The opening got smaller and smaller. Frantic, she looked around her, then she wished she hadn’t. The ledge wasn’t large and she was sharing it with two occupants—one was a skeleton and one was a snake and she didn’t really know which one scared her most.
And then it went dark.
* * *
An hour and a half later, Heath and his family were doing everything they could think to do. Arness’s home, business and all of his holdings were in the process of being searched. The same with Cato’s—Tennessee had driven up to her little house to make sure she wasn’t there. The police were searching. All of the McCoy cousins were searching. The only problem was, they didn’t know what to do next.
“Think, think,” Heath yelled at himself. “What would I do?” He paced. “Hell, it’s hard to think like that stinking conniving bastard.”
“You have to.” Jimmy encouraged. Wherever Heath was, Jimmy was never far behind. He always knew he could count on his friend.
“Hell, he’d leave. He’d get out of town. I think Arness is going to run.”
Zane nodded. “I bet you’re right. But where would he run and how would he leave?”
Heath and Jimmy looked at one another and shouted at the same time. “His plane!”
“I’ll let everyone know,” Zane shouted.
“We’re going on. We’ve got to stop him.” Running outside, Heath again insisted on taking his truck.
“But my Aston is faster,” Jimmy protested.
“Red can move.”
As they drove, Heath thought of everything Cato had been through. “You know, I wouldn’t blame her if she never spoke to me again.”
“You love her,” Jimmy stated plainly.
“Yea, I do. She is unselfish, kind and sexy as hell. I want her in my life.” Heath gripped the steering wheel. “Just the thought of that bastard hurting her nearly kills me.”
“We’ll get to her in time.”
“We have to,” Heath whispered. “I don’t think I can live without her.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Racing like a mad-man toward the airport, Heath barely listened as Jimmy tried to keep him calm. “I’ve called the control tower. They’re giving him some line about delaying take-off till a ground crew arrives.”
“Good, thank you.”
“The police are on their way.”
“Good, thank you.”
“Everything is going to be okay, Heath.”
He looked at Jimmy. “I know. I have to believe that.”
When they turned off the highway and onto the airport proper, Jimmy pointed at Arness’s plane. “There it is!”
“Damn, he’s taxiing down the runway. We’ve got to stop him!”
“He’s getting away!” Jimmy shouted.
“No, he isn’t.”
“What are you going to do?”
“We’re going to stop him!” Heath took his beloved red truck and he got on the runway, the same runway the Lear was headed down, facing him.
“Are you crazy?” Jimmy cried.
“Probably.”
“We’re going to die!”
“No, we’re not.”
“You’re going to wreck your truck!”
“Probably, but the sacrifice will be worth it.” Heath aimed at the moving plane and gunned the truck toward it. “That bastard isn’t going to take off, that’s all I know.”
Jimmy began to pray. He started out with a line from a Christian prayer, then switched to a Jewish one, then to a Muslim, ending with a line from a Buddhist chant.
“I thought you were an atheist.”
“I’m covering my bases,” Jimmy yelled.
The faster the plane came, the faster Heath drove toward it. They were playing a deadly game of chicken.
“He’s not going to stop!”
“I’m counting on it,” Heath said calmly.
Up until the last second, it appeared the two would crash in to one another, but just before the inevitable, the plane swerved and bumped off the runway, coming to a grinding halt, one wing in a hole and the nose on the ground.
“Let’s get him!” Heath called as he drove up behind him, flung the door open and ran to the plane.
Jimmy was right behind him, but Heath needed no help. Pure fury and adrenaline fueled him. “You bastard!” He opened the door and pulled Arness out. “Where is she?”
“Dead!” Arness shouted back and Heath felt his heart explode.
“She’d better not be or I’ll kill you myself.”
“She’s where you’ll never find her. She’s dropped off the face of the Earth.”
“Tell me!”
“I’ll find out.” Jimmy took off toward Arness’s truck.
“How?” Heath yelled as his best friend ran back toward the hangar.
“I’ll just look at his GPS history.”
Heath sent up a silent prayer of thanks. Sometimes having a smart nerdy friend just paid off.
“It’s too late,” Arness hissed. “I did away with her, just like I tried to do away with your brother.”
“Why?” Heath shook him, demanding answers.
“Because I hate you, I hate your whole family. Your grandfather stole my legacy and I want you to pay!”
“It’s just land, man, just a goddamn piece of land.”
“No, it’s not,” Arness spat. “There’s more silver in that cave that there is gold in Fort Knox.”
“I don’t give a damn. Cato is the only treasure I’m interested in.”
“Well, then you’re a fool.”
“If you’ve hurt her, I swear you’ll rue the day you were born.” Heath shook him, then threw him to the ground as the police walked up.
“He killed Dalton Smith and abducted my fiancée.” Okay, maybe he was being optimistic with the fiancée, part, but he had to be. Heath wanted her alive and well and in his arms more than he wanted to see tomorrow.
As he turned, Jimmy was running toward him—his face was bleak.
“What did you find out?”
“He put her in Dead Man’s Hole.”
* * *
Cato didn’t move. She was so scared. Scared of the darkness, scared of the snake, scared that she was going to die here. But most of all she was scared that she’d never see Heath again. Closing her eyes, she tried to be still—so still. Not being able to hear the snake rattle or coil, she just lay there waiting to feel it strike, bite or crawl over her. This was pure torture. Trying to make her mind a blank, she attempted to conjure up a better place, but she couldn’t. Being unable to hear or see a thing in the dark made the silence was more deafening than any sound could ever be. As the stillness grew, Cato became smaller and smaller and soon she would disappear. Desolation and hopelessness pinched her heart until she thought the life would go out of her…all she could do was call out to Heath in her heart and hope he could hear.
He did.
Just a few miles away, Heath had Old Red pushing ninety.
“Don’t you think you need to slow down?” Jimmy asked. Behind them three others drove in a caravan. Tennessee, a cop and an ambulance.
“The bastard said she’d just dropped off the face of the Earth. Can you imagine how scared she is?”
“I just hope she’s alive.”
“She is,” Heath growled. “Don’t say hope—she is, I have to believe that.”
When they skidded to a stop at Dead Man’s Hole, Heath jumped out. Behind him, the other cars parked and the police and Tennessee brought ropes, a crow-bar, pulleys and ladders, things to work with to save Cato.
“Miss Vincent!” the policeman shouted.
Heath shook his head, he knew the man didn’t know, but it still irritated him. “She’s deaf.”
“Oh, sorry.”
He ran down the incline and knelt over the hole. Tennessee and Jimmy were there with him and together they lifted the heavy grate out of the way and Heath slung it to one side. “Give me a flashlight.” A policeman shone light down in the hole. “Oh, God, there’s my baby.” Heath stared down and when she moved, when she lifted her head, he almost cried.