by Sue Pethick
“I’m here, Colton! Come on out so we can talk.”
The fugitive scuttled across the room, staying to one side as he peered out the window.
“Well, well,” he said. “Look who’s here.”
He glanced at his watch.
“And just in time, too.”
He pointed the gun at Melanie.
“Tie the dog to that table leg and get over here.”
She led Shep to the dining room and secured his leash to one of the heavy oaken legs, then walked over to the window. Colton was crouched, scanning the area for anyone other than Bryce.
“The place looks deserted. Where is everybody?” he said.
She shrugged.
“I told you, they probably went into town.”
He lunged, grabbing her arm, and pointed the gun at her face. Melanie winced and turned away.
“You’d better hope that’s true,” he said. “If this is a trick, you’re going to be sorry.”
He twisted her arm behind her back and forced her toward the door. Melanie’s heart hammered in her chest as she stumbled forward.
“Open it—just enough so I can see out over you.”
She did as she was told.
Bryce was standing at the curb. At the sight of him, Melanie sobbed in relief. He looked as if he’d run there: His face was flushed and his hair had tumbled into his eyes. She’d never been happier to see him, or more sorry. Why hadn’t he just called the police?
Colton pulled her closer, pressing himself against her back as he stepped up to the door. The rank smell of body odor turned her stomach. She could feel his breath in her hair.
“Where’s your car?” he shouted.
“About ten miles back. I ran out of gas.”
“How’d you get here?”
Bryce put out his thumb—the international symbol for hitching a ride.
Colton snickered. The thought of a man hitchhiking in a suit and tie must have amused him.
“Idiot.”
Melanie had been trying without success to catch Bryce’s eye. Now he looked directly at her and smiled.
“Let the girl and her dog go,” he said. “You said it yourself, Colton: This is between you and me.”
The man’s grip tightened as he drew her closer to him.
“Know what?” he said. “I think maybe I’ll just keep her. Been a long time since I had a woman.”
Melanie felt her knees weaken. Of course, she thought. Colton had never intended to let her go. He’d merely used her to lure Bryce there so he could kill him and do whatever he wanted to with her. The thought was horrifying, but she couldn’t see a way out. With a gun in his hand, the man could do whatever he pleased; there was no one around to stop him.
Then something moved on the other side of the street. The door to Luke’s house opened and Walt Gunderson stepped out.
“Maybe you ought to think again!” he shouted.
Colton nudged the door just wide enough to point his gun at Bryce.
“What is this? I said no tricks.”
Walt stepped off the curb, walking slowly toward the house.
“No trick,” he said, his voice firm. “I’m just here to take the girl.”
“Oh yeah? Then maybe I ought to just shoot you, too.”
“You could,” Walt said. “But you’d have an awful lot of witnesses.”
Suddenly, curtains up and down the street came open and the faces of Melanie’s friends and neighbors appeared in the windows. Tears of gratitude and hope filled her eyes. She felt a shove and stumbled onto the porch, followed closely by Colton, who placed the gun against her head.
“Anybody moves and she dies.”
“No one’s trying to stop you,” Bryce said. “I came here like you asked; now you let her go.”
He looked at Melanie.
“Where’s Shep?”
She gasped as Colton pressed the gun hard against her temple.
“In the dining room,” she said. “Tied to the table leg.”
Bryce looked back at Walt, who nodded curtly.
“How about we make a trade?” he said. “Straight across—me for her.”
“And how’s that going to work?” Colton said. “I just let her go and your sharpshooters use my back for a target?”
“Nobody here is armed,” Walt said as he took another step.
Melanie cried out as her arm was wrenched backward.
Colton was breathing hard.
“Get back! All of you!”
Bryce had raised his hands in a show of surrender.
“Hey, hey. Take it easy,” he said. “It’s an exchange, see? You bring her over here and take me instead. Then the two of us can leave these people in peace.”
Melanie could hear Colton’s teeth grinding as he made up his mind.
“What about the cops?”
“We haven’t called the cops,” Walt said.
Several seconds went by as he thought about that. Melanie looked pleadingly at Bryce. He glanced at her briefly and shook his head.
“Just like that?” Colton said.
He nodded. “Just like that.”
“All right,” he said, looking at Walt. “But if any of you makes a move, these two are dead.”
Walt nodded. “Understood.”
Colton gave Melanie a push and the two of them started forward. As they walked toward Bryce, her eyes were locked on his.
“Here,” Colton said, handing her the rope. “Tie his hands together.”
Bryce stuck his hands out in front of him, wrists together.
“Nice try,” the man said. “Behind your back, if you please.”
He looked at Melanie.
“Make sure it’s good and tight.”
She looked at Bryce.
“You don’t have to do this,” she told him tearfully.
He shook his head.
“Don’t worry. It’ll be all right.”
When she’d tied Bryce’s hands, Colton ordered him into the car and told her to tie his feet. Melanie was crying so hard, she could barely see what she was doing. Colton grabbed her arm and slammed the door, then shoved her forward. Melanie staggered, stumbled, and fell into Walt’s waiting arms.
“I got you,” he said, drawing her to him. “It’s okay now. Everything’s gonna be all right.”
He put his arm around Melanie’s shoulders and began ushering her away. As they stepped across the street, she looked back and saw Colton get into her car.
“We can’t let them go,” she said. “We’ve got to do something, Walt.”
“We are doing something,” he said. “We’re getting you away from that monster.”
Melanie tried to shrug him off, but Walt’s grip was strong. As he steered her into Luke’s yard, she began to struggle in earnest.
“Let me go,” she said, feeling his grip tighten. “If we let him take Bryce away, he’ll kill him.”
“Keep your britches on. We’ll talk about it inside.”
The fight seemed to leave her then as everything that had happened since she’d left home that day caught up with her. Melanie sagged and almost lost her footing. Against Walt’s determined guidance, she had no choice but to be propelled up Luke’s walkway toward his open door. As they stepped inside, she burst into tears, heavy sobs that wracked her body.
Then the door closed behind them and Walt was shaking her by the shoulders. The change in him was so fierce, so unexpected, that Melanie stopped crying.
“Listen to me,” he said. “No one’s given up on Bryce. The minute he stepped across the road, I called the police.”
Melanie sniffed and wiped her face with the back of her hand.
“But you told Colton you hadn’t.”
He gave her an incredulous look.
“Are you gonna scold me now for lying to a felon?”
“No,” she said. “But we can’t just sit here. We have to think of something.”
“What do you think we’ve been doing for the last half an hour?�
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“What?” She shook her head. “Who’s ‘we’?”
“Me, Bryce, everybody.”
He waved his arm to indicate the entire town.
“When he got Colton’s message, Bryce called me at the store so that we could come up with a plan. He wanted to make sure that you and Shep and Fossett would be okay.”
Melanie swallowed, remembering how quiet the town had seemed when they drove in. That’s why her friends and neighbors had been there to show their faces when Colton threatened to keep her hostage. Bryce had told them what was coming.
“Was letting Colton take him away part of the plan?”
Walt sighed and shook his head.
“We’d been hoping to keep him here until the police arrived, but the dispatcher said the closest units had been following up on a lead about your cell phone.”
She nodded.
“Colton threw it out of the car.”
“How far away were you?”
Melanie shook her head.
“I’m not sure. Ten miles? Maybe a bit more? We’d been driving a lot of back roads; I’m not sure where we were.”
Walt sucked his lips for a moment and pushed them out in a puff of air.
“With the weather like this, that could take twenty minutes or more.”
“Will your plan still work if it takes that long?”
He rubbed the back of his neck, looking doubtful.
“I don’t know, Mel. We put up a few roadblocks to try and slow him down, and even if they get past those, there’s still a ways to go till they get to the freeway. The police should be able to cut them off before they get there.”
A cold certainty settled in the pit of Melanie’s stomach as she remembered what Bryce had told her about the way Colton had murdered his victims and the threat he’d made against the prosecutors. It wasn’t just the kill that he was after; it was everything that came before.
“It won’t work,” she said. “They’re not headed for the freeway.”
“Sure they are. It’s the only way out of town.”
“Colton doesn’t care about that. He told Bryce he was going to kill him the same way he did his other victims.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning we have to stop him before he gets out of town,” she said. “Otherwise, he’ll take one of the old logging roads into the woods and we’ll never find them.”
Walt ran a hand down his face.
“Oh, my god.”
Outside, a car’s engine turned over and tires squealed. They ran to the window and saw the Honda fly down the street with Colton at the wheel. Melanie’s mind was racing.
“Where’s the first roadblock?”
“Third; then there’s another one at Cedar. Those should add another three or four minutes to his time.”
“Not enough,” Melanie said. “We have to stop them from getting to the end of Main Street. After that, all they’ll have to do is take one of the logging roads into the woods and we’ll never see them again.”
Walt lifted his shoulders and let them fall. He looked utterly defeated.
“I’m sorry, Mel. I just can’t think of any other way to slow them down.”
Melanie closed her eyes, desperately searching for some way to stop Colton from leaving town. What could stop a car without hurting the people inside?
Of course.
She turned and ran to the front door.
“Where are you going?”
“I’ll tell you on the way,” she said. “Come on!”
Melanie ran across the street and burst through her front door. Shep was on his feet, his face eager as she dashed through into the dining room and removed his collar.
“Come on, boy. We’ve got to save Bryce.”
People had begun stepping out of their homes to get a better look as Melanie and her dog ran back outside. Walt hurried over to see what was up.
“I know how to slow them down,” she said.
“How can we? They’re already halfway to Main Street. There isn’t any time.”
“Not for us,” she said. “Not in a car, but Shep can do it.”
She looked down and met the collie’s gaze.
“Fetch the goats, boy. You understand? Fetch the goats.”
She pointed in the direction of the Stubbses’ goat ranch.
“Away to me, Shep.”
At her signal, the border collie bounded across the street, cutting through Luke’s yard as he made a beeline for the far side of town.
“Come on,” Melanie said. “Let’s go!”
The two men hesitated, looking bewildered. Shep had already made it across the next street and was running flat out. Melanie was losing patience.
“Come on!”
Walt and Luke shared a doubtful look.
“What’s he going to do with the goats?” Luke said.
“He’s going to let them out of their pen.”
She was across the street, motioning for Walt and Luke to join her.
“Hurry up or I’ll leave you both here!”
Reluctantly, the two men started running. Already, Shep was barely visible in the distance.
“Why’d you do that?” Walt said as the three of them crashed through Luke’s backyard. “Those stupid goats’ll run right out onto Main Street.”
“I know,” Melanie said, picking up speed. “I’m counting on it.”
CHAPTER 26
The ride out of town was agony. With his hands bound behind his back, Bryce had no way of keeping himself steady as the Honda careened through Melanie’s neighborhood. No sooner would he get his feet braced than the car would turn sharply, bashing his head against the window, or brake suddenly, throwing him to the floor. It felt like he’d been tossed into a clothes dryer. Nevertheless, the second Colton had taken out the rope Bryce knew he had a chance.
It wouldn’t be easy. His attempt to have his hands tied in front of him had been brushed off with a laugh, as had his plea for Colton to leave his feet unbound. The man had, however, made three crucial mistakes that Bryce could use to his advantage.
The first was cutting the rope in half. With less length in which to tie the knots, Melanie had had to make fewer turns around Bryce’s wrists and legs. The second was not watching how Bryce held his body as he was bound. Colton had made sure she’d tie the ropes tightly, but by subtly maneuvering his wrists and ankles Bryce had been able to give himself enough room within the bindings to work his hands and feet free. And the third mistake had been letting Bryce determine his position in the car. With his upper body behind Colton’s line of sight, his efforts to free himself could go undetected. The only thing Bryce hadn’t been able to do was give himself more time. For that, the rest of their plan would have to work.
When Bryce called him, Walt had known just what to do. Not only did he have the authority to get everyone in town mobilized, but his knowledge of the people and personalities in town had made it possible for him to tell Bryce what assets he’d have to set a plan in motion. From the moment he’d heard Colton’s message, Bryce knew that Melanie and Shep weren’t the only ones in peril; once they arrived in Fossett, everyone in town would be at risk. Colton had been waiting almost two years to get his revenge on Bryce, and anyone who got in his way would be taken down with him. It was why Bryce had insisted that no one call the police before Melanie was released or try to interfere once he was in Colton’s hands. Trying to shoot a fleeing car was a waste of bullets and picking off a man holding hostages was something even the professionals tried to avoid. It was the only demand Bryce had made when he called from the gas station, and Walt had been as good as his word. Everyone in town had been given a choice: help or hide, but don’t hinder.
Being thrown around in the back of a car was making it hard to concentrate, and the rope around his wrists wasn’t yielding as quickly as Bryce had hoped. If he couldn’t get his hands free, he had to at least get them in front of him. At the very least, he might be able to get his arms around Colton’s neck an
d choke him. It was risky. The seat back would make it difficult to get a clear shot and the man still had a gun, but at least it would slow them down, giving the police more time to arrive.
They were nearing the final turn out of Melanie’s neighborhood—a hairpin to the right—and Colton wasn’t slowing down. As he turned the wheel, the car lost traction, slid into the curb, and jounced onto the sidewalk. Bryce cried out as his head hit the door, snapping his neck forward. For a moment, he saw stars.
Colton was cackling in the front seat.
“Isn’t this fun? Whee!”
With the warren-like neighborhood streets behind them, the Honda was picking up speed; Bryce could no longer afford to be cagey. If Colton drove him into the woods, it wouldn’t matter that help was almost there. Better to take his chances now and be shot than get carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey. He set his feet against the door, pushed himself upright, and brought his knees to his chest, turning onto his side so he could maneuver his hands under his rear. As his cheek pressed against the window, the heat from his face made a halo of fog on the cold glass. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye: a blur of black and white traveling along a parallel course.
Shep!
Had Colton seen him? Bryce glanced at the rearview mirror. The man seemed oblivious, his eyes focused on the road ahead. Bryce looked out again. What was the collie doing? With a sick feeling, he wondered if the dog was going to try to stop the car. He prayed that wouldn’t happen. Colton wouldn’t think twice about running over a dog. Then he realized that Shep wouldn’t have left Melanie’s side unless she’d told him to. What on earth was she thinking?
He’d gotten one leg through his arms by the time they reached the roadblock at the entrance to Third Street. As Colton hit the brakes, Bryce tumbled off the seat and drove a knee into his solar plexus, a blow that left him gasping for air.
“What the hell?”
Colton smacked his hands down on the wheel.
“Did you know about this?”
Bryce cringed, waiting for the man to discover what he’d done and put a bullet in his back. Instead, Colton put the car in neutral and gunned the engine.
“Amateurs,” he growled as he slammed it into first.
The car surged forward and the sound of shearing metal pierced the air as the Honda squeezed through a gap between the building on the right and the earthmover that Helena Haas had wrangled into the street. As the car made it through and sped off again, Bryce despaired. He’d been counting on Colton to go around the roadblock, something that would have added at least a minute to the time it took them to reach Main Street. Instead, it had cost him only a few seconds. For the first time since getting into the car, Bryce feared that the plan would fail.