Her head reeled with all the information he was spewing. He’d taken her father? He was selling designer dogs? She wanted to ask what he’d done to her father, but she was afraid of what the answer might be. In any case if she didn’t manage to get away from him, it wouldn’t matter what he’d done to her dad. She knew Mike intended to kill her.
“Then it was you who tried to run me over the night of the meeting?” she asked, still trying to buy more time.
“I didn’t plan that. I borrowed a car from a friend, and all I wanted to do was follow you and your boyfriend to wherever you were staying, but then you appeared in the middle of the road, all alone, and I just stepped on the gas.”
What she didn’t understand was why he just didn’t shoot her now. Nobody would hear the shot. As he untied her feet, she summoned all the strength she had in her legs and kicked at his face.
She connected with his chin and he reeled backward, cursing her as she frantically got to her feet. She raced for the front door but screamed as he grabbed her by the hair and yanked her backward.
“Scream all you want, Bree. Nobody can hear you,” he said with a laugh as he tightened his grip on her hair. He pulled her up against the length of his body, the barrel of the gun jabbed just beneath her chin.
“I’d shoot you now, but I don’t want to clean up the mess. We’re going to take a little drive to your daddy’s job site. Eventually somebody will find your body there, and they’ll think it was one of the locals or that Stafford guy. Or maybe I’ll just shoot you and cut you up, feed you to the dogs here and nobody will ever know what happened to you.”
He began to maneuver her toward the open front door. She knew if he managed to get her outside the building she was as good as dead. He tucked the gun back in his waistband, and for just a brief moment, he released his hold on her hair. She spun around and shoved his body with hers, catching him off guard, and he stumbled backward and halfway to the floor.
She ran not toward the front door but for the back room where there was an outside door. If she couldn’t make it there, there were plenty of places to hide.
As she entered, the dogs began to bark and bay, as if sensing her terror, as if responding to her emotional stress. They jumped at their cage doors as she ran down first one aisle, then another.
“You can’t get away,” Mike yelled from behind her.
He’d see her if she went out the door, and she knew he wouldn’t hesitate to put a bullet in her back. With sheer desperation when she reached the third aisle, she crawled into one of the empty cages and held her breath, hoping…praying for a miracle.
She held her breath and wished she could hear where Mike was, but the noise of the dogs that would make it difficult for him to hear her also made it difficult for her to hear his approach.
She’d never known such fear as what coursed through her now. Her blood had turned to ice and her heart crashed so hard against her ribs, she felt as if she might be sick.
The overhead lights flipped on. “Bree.” Mike’s laughter rose above the din. “I always win at hide-and-seek.” She heard the sound of cage doors opening and then slamming shut.
Oh God, he was going to find her. He was going to find her and then kill her. She pressed farther back into the large cage, the steel bars digging into her back, and shoved her fist against her lips to stay the scream that fought to be released.
Minutes passed, agonizing minutes of silence. The dogs were quieting again but she couldn’t hear Mike, had no idea where he might be.
She pressed her fist harder against her mouth. She’d run herself into a corner where there was no way out. She had doomed herself by crawling into the cage.
It was only when Mike’s face peered at her from outside the iron bars that she released the scream that she’d tried desperately to hold inside.
THE PAIN IN HIS HEAD had eased to a dull throb, making it easier to think more clearly. It took Troy only an instant to realize that Mike must have frisked him after dumping him here. His cell phone was gone as was his wallet. He’d probably been looking for a gun, but he hadn’t thought about checking Troy’s ankle. The gun rested against his skin, and after throwing himself at the gate in an attempt to get it open, Troy drew the weapon.
He hoped he wouldn’t have to use it. He didn’t want Mike to hear the gunfire and realize he was not only conscious but also armed.
Troy would have preferred a sneak attack, but the minutes were ticking by, minutes that might mean life and death for Brianna.
“I’ll be back for you, Brandon,” he said in the darkness. “I promise everything is going to be all right.”
He used his fingers to feel where he thought the lock was on the outside of the structure, then he placed the barrel of the gun against the wood and fired.
The lock shot away and the gate opened. Troy pushed through it and fell to his knees outside in the moonlight. He got to his feet and looked around. He was in the middle of a small clearing that was surrounded by trees and brush. He wasn’t alone in the clearing.
Stunned, he stared at the cages, one on top of another, and all of them filled with tiny puppies. A puppy mill. That’s what this had been about. There were several larger pens, and in one stood a perfectly healthy Big Sam.
Troy turned in all four directions, trying to get a handle on exactly where he was. He had to be at the back of the Precious Pets property. He gazed up at the moon to get his bearings, then took off at a run.
He had no idea how long he’d been unconscious. It could have been minutes or it could have been an hour. He might be too late. This thought made his legs work faster.
His heart kept a steady beat as a cool calm descended over him. It was the calm of prebattle.
If Mike had hurt Brianna, then Troy would hunt him down. All his military training came back in a rush as he slid around trees and across brush and grass without making a sound.
The building came into view, the back of it blazing with lights. He clutched his gun more tightly. He wouldn’t hesitate to shoot if necessary. He would kill Mike Kidwell to save Brianna’s life and not blink an eye in the process.
He slid up to the back of the building and tried the back door. Locked. His jaw clenched tight, he moved like a shadow across the back and heard the sound of a truck roar to life.
He jumped around the corner of the building in time to see Mike behind the wheel in his pickup. “Kidwell!” he shouted.
Mike stepped on the gas, the back tires spewing up gravel and dust as he shot forward. Troy took a stance and aimed his gun at the truck. He fired three times and the last bullet blew out the front tire on the driver’s side.
The truck careened out of control down the lane and straight across the street where it struck a tree head-on with a loud bang. The engine cut off and an eerie silence filled the night.
Only then did Troy’s heart begin to beat a frantic rhythm. He had no idea if Brianna was in the truck or back at Precious Pets. He had no idea if she were dead or alive.
With his gun still clutched in his hand, he approached the truck cautiously. As he drew closer he saw Mike slumped over the steering wheel, but Brianna wasn’t sitting in the passenger seat.
His heart clenched tightly, making it difficult for him to draw a breath. Had Mike already killed Brianna and been making his getaway?
He got to the driver’s window and reached out to see if there was a pulse in Mike’s neck. As Troy touched him, the man released a low, deep moan, letting Troy know he was alive.
“Where’s Brianna?” he asked, but Mike didn’t move.
“Troy?”
Her voice came from the passenger side and he saw her then, curled up in front of the seat on the floor. “Brianna.” Her name exploded out of him with relief.
He hurried to the passenger door and yanked it open. She fell out into his arms. “I thought you were dead,” she said as she cried. “Oh God, I thought he’d killed you.”
Troy hugged her, relief bringing a sheen of tears to his e
yes, then he released her. “Turn around and let me untie your hands.”
She whirled around and he managed to get the rope off her. Mike had begun to moan again, and knowing how dangerous he could be, Troy took the rope from Brianna’s hands and returned to the driver’s side of the truck.
He pushed Mike back from the steering wheel. The man’s face was bloody and it was obvious he’d made hard contact with the steering wheel when they’d crashed.
Troy quickly went through his pockets, finding a gun, a cell phone and his wallet. He took all three items and handed them to Brianna, then tied Mike’s hands to the steering wheel.
He took the phone and called 911, then Brianna was in his arms once again. He held her tightly as she trembled against him. The warmth of her, the scent of her filled him with a weary relief.
“It’s over,” he murmured into her hair. “It’s really, finally over.”
“He was selling dogs, expensive designer dogs. He sent somebody to try to kill me in Hollywood. He was behind it all.” The words tumbled from her, as if it were important that Troy know everything she’d learned. She looked up at him, her eyes haunted in the moonlight. “We thought it was because of my lifestyle or my dad’s work, but it was about Precious Pets and money.”
“I know. I saw the puppies out in the woods. And I saw something else, Brianna.” He held tight to her, glad that he was about to take that haunted look from her eyes. “I saw your father. He’s alive. Big Sam, too.”
He watched her face, captured that moment of joy that crossed her features in his memory and knew that when this was over Brianna Waverly would take away a tiny piece of his heart.
Chapter Fourteen
The sun had peeked over the horizon an hour earlier and exhaustion weighed heavily on Brianna’s shoulders. The night had passed in a blur. The police had arrived along with several news crews. Two ambulances arrived, one for Mike and one for her father.
The initial assessment of Brandon had been that he was dehydrated and weak as a baby. He was suffering the effects of a tranquilizer, but he was going to be okay.
Mike had a concussion and a broken nose from hitting the steering wheel, but he’d suffered no other injuries and would live to stand trial for enough crimes to keep him in prison for a very long time.
Brianna now stood in front of the cages in the clearing, her heart aching as she saw the terrible condition the little puppies had been living in. The cages were filthy and overcrowded. Some of the puppies were healthy and bright-eyed, but others were sick and listless.
Seventy-six puppies. She’d counted them. Not only did the clearing contain the cages, but the police had also found dogfighting training equipment and a cage of pit bulls. Apparently Mike had meant to branch out into breeding and training pit bulls.
“You’ve got your work cut out for you.”
She whirled around at the sound of the deep voice and offered a tired smile to Chief Kincaid. “This wasn’t exactly the kind of publicity I wanted for Precious Pets.” She looked back at the cages. “And yes, I have my work cut out for me. It’s hard to believe that a man who was trained to save animals would do something like this.”
“Money. It all comes down to the mighty dollar. I just got an update from the hospital. Mike is conscious and spilling his guts. He told my officers that he didn’t intend on killing anyone. He’d kidnapped your father to slow things down with the mall development and he just wanted to scare you a little bit.”
“Yeah, right. And I like bling just a little bit,” she replied dryly.
“We’re trying to hunt down the name of his associate in California. We’ve taken custody of his home computer, and I have a feeling we’re going to find plenty of answers there, both about this business he was running and any associates he might have had.”
“I’m just grateful that my father is going to be all right and nobody got seriously hurt.” She released a weary sigh and once again looked at the puppies. “As for these little guys, I’m going to get in touch with a couple of agencies and see if they can help me. My goal is to get them cleaned up, healthy and adopted out to good homes.”
“We’ve already gotten some calls from people who saw the story on the news and want to know how they can help,” Wendall said.
“Maybe he wasn’t going to kill my father, but no matter what he’s saying now I’m certain he intended to kill both me and Troy.”
“And he’ll be charged with attempted murder,” Wendall replied.
At that moment Troy entered the clearing. He looked as tired as she felt. He offered her a smile, then glanced at the wooden structure where he’d been held and where Brandon had been found. It had apparently been built to hold supplies.
“If Mike had found my gun, Brandon and I would still be locked in that box,” he said. He didn’t add that if he hadn’t gotten out of that box she would be dead.
“I told you that ankle holster was very James Bond,” Brianna said with a touch of humor.
Troy’s gray eyes lightened, then he looked at Wendall. “Are we done here for now? I think what Brianna and I need most right now is some sleep.”
Wendall nodded. “You’re done. If we have any more questions we’ll give you a call. In the meantime get some sleep. It’s been a long night.” With a nod to each of them he turned and left the clearing.
It was the first time Brianna and Troy had been alone since the police had arrived. She wanted to walk into his arms, feel the steady beat of his heart against her own.
“I was so afraid for you,” she said, but didn’t move closer to him.
He jammed his hands in his pockets. “No more than I was for you,” he replied.
“It’s hard to believe it’s over.” It was even harder to believe that it was time to tell him goodbye. After all they’d been through, after all they had shared, the idea of never seeing him again filled her with an overwhelming grief.
“Are you ready to get out of here?” he asked.
She began to say yes and then stopped, knowing that she had to tell him how she felt. “Not quite,” she said and took a couple of steps closer to him. “If I don’t tell you something right now, I’ll live with regret for the rest of my life, and I’m not a woman who likes regret.”
He tensed, his shoulders stiffening and the muscle in his jaw knotting. His eyes narrowed slightly and he pulled his hands from his pockets. “Brianna, it’s been a hell of a night. I’m exhausted and just want to get out of here. Whatever you want to say, can’t it wait until another time?”
“No. This will just take a minute.” She took another step toward him, close enough now that she could see the blond morning stubble on his jaw, smell the achingly familiar scent of his cologne.
She wanted to find just the right words, needed him to know that she wasn’t reacting from the trauma of the night or the heat of the moment.
“I’m in love with you.” The oh-so-simple words fell from her lips. Emotion pressed thickly against her chest.
She wasn’t sure what she expected his reaction to be, but it wasn’t his lips compressing tightly together or the step backward he took from her. She’d hoped for a truly romantic moment. She’d hoped that he would take her in his arms and tell her he loved her, too, that he couldn’t imagine his life without her in it.
But it wasn’t the joy of realized love that crossed his features. Rather, it was an uncomfortable dismay that broke her heart.
“You don’t have to say anything,” she exclaimed, fighting against the tears that welled up inside her. “I know I’m not your fantasy woman. I think you liked Brianna Waverly, but you have no tolerance for Bree, and the problem is that I’m both. I won’t apologize for the way I lived my life in California. I loved my life while I was there. It’s part of who I am. I’m not timid or shy. I like beer and pizza and I love a pair of worn jeans, but I also like champagne and caviar and designer clothes. I’m not a simple woman. I’m complicated.”
She was surprised to feel the splash of tears on h
er cheeks. “What’s worse is I think you love me, too. But you have this fantasy woman in your mind and she’s the one you want.” The words tumbled out of her, as if she’d been waiting a lifetime to speak them and now had her chance.
“I haven’t figured it out yet, if it’s fear or selfishness that has kept you single, that has kept you clinging to some mysterious woman who might not even exist. But I’m real and I’m here and I love you. I just wanted you to know that. Now I’m ready to leave.”
She turned and headed out of the clearing, hoping…praying that he’d call to her, tell her he was as much in love with her as she was with him.
The tears fell faster as he followed silently behind her. They reached her vehicle and got in. The exhaustion that had weighed her down was nothing compared to the heartache she now carried with her.
“I’ll drop you at your father’s house and then one of my partners will get your car and your things from the safe house back to you later this afternoon,” he said once they were headed away from Precious Pets.
“Whatever,” she replied. He hadn’t even acknowledged what she’d said to him. She felt as if she’d just professed her love to a rock.
The silence continued until he pulled up in front of the Waverly mansion. She unbuckled her seat belt and started to get out but he stopped her by grabbing her arm.
For just a moment a rich, ripe hope swept through her. Maybe he’d just needed time to process what she’d said to him.
“Brianna, I just want you to know that you’re a terrific woman and someday you’ll find a terrific guy to share your life.” His eyes were the flat gray of an overcast sky.
The last little bit of hope that had lived inside her died at his words. “But that terrific guy isn’t you.”
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