by Leah Brooke
Mason’s eyes flared with heat when she’d admitted to falling in love with him, but the frustration on his face was apparent as he glanced behind him to where the others waited. “Kendra, I—”
She slumped, too depressed to talk anymore. “I’m tired. Just put me on the sofa.” She waved a hand, desperate for a few minutes alone. “Go back to the others.”
He appeared as if he wanted to argue with her, but snapped his mouth closed and nodded. “Fine. For now.”
As he strode into the family room and lowered her to the sofa, he had to raise his voice to be heard over the banging as the men boarded the windows. “But, this isn’t over, Kendra. Not by a long shot.”
Chapter Nineteen
After several minutes of listening to the banging, Kendra found herself too restless to sit still any longer.
Shoving the blanket aside, she got to her feet, putting pressure on them experimentally, surprised that whatever the paramedic had sprayed them with seemed to work.
Grimacing at all the glass that covered the floor, she decided to spend the time while she waited for the men to come back in vacuuming it up.
She made her way carefully to the back door where she’d left her boots, sidestepping the shards of glass in both the family room and mudroom.
The window on the mudroom door had been covered with a huge piece of plywood, shutting out the light from outside. Not wanting to cross the room to turn on the light, she sat on the wooden bench and pulled her boots on, the bandages making them tighter than usual.
Straightening, she braced herself with a hand on the washing machine and wiggled her feet, sucking in a breath when her hand closed over something hard.
A gun. Through the faint light coming in from the side window, she recognized it almost immediately, even though she’d never touched one in her life.
Uncomfortable just leaving it there, she picked it up and dropped it into the pocket of her coat, which hung on a hook by the back door.
Shivering at the combination of nerves and the cold pouring in from the open windows, she decided to put the jacket on, knowing it would be easier than trying to vacuum with the blanket wrapped around her.
Shrugging it on, she grimaced at the weight of the gun, and wondered if it had the safety on. Deciding that it would probably be safer to put the gun somewhere else, she started to open the closet, crying out in shock as the door burst open, knocking her back.
Before she could regain her footing, a hard hand slapped over her mouth, another around her waist, and she found herself yanked hard against a man’s chest.
“You didn’t really think I’d leave without what I came here for, did you?”
Fear slammed into her, stealing what little breath she had, the hand over her mouth and nose keeping her from getting any more. In a panic, she tried to twist her head from side to side to dislodge his hand, but she couldn’t get any air at all.
She kicked at him, clawing at his hands, her struggles getting weaker as her head began to swim.
Oh, God! He was suffocating her!
Her mind screamed even as her body grew weaker and weaker. Darkness began to close in, blurring her vision.
She was going to die!
“You want to breathe? You shut up and do exactly what I tell you. My men have come back around and they’ll shoot your lovers if they try to follow us.” He moved his hand, letting her breathe through her nose, but kept his other hand clamped firmly over her mouth.
Kendra sucked in precious air, the sudden rush of it into her lungs making her dizzy. Nodding that she understood, she tried to reach into her pocket for the gun, only to realize that the arm he held around her middle pressed against the opening of the pocket, preventing her from reaching into it.
Hoping she’d get a chance to use it, Kendra sucked in another breath when he opened the back door and pressed himself against the doorframe. “Everyone went out front. You just be a good little girl and go with me peacefully, or I’m going to take away your air again.”
Kendra had little choice.
The hand at her middle tightened, lifting her completely from the ground as he raced across the back yard to the side of the barn. He carried her as if she weighed nothing, his hand still tight against her mouth as he made his way through the darkness to the back of the barn to a narrow road she hadn’t known about.
He ran as if the hounds of hell were at his back, the crunch of his feet on the snow the only sound in the darkness.
As they approached a grove of trees, she heard the low sound of an engine running, her stomach dropping when she realized that she wouldn’t have a chance to get away.
He allowed her feet to touch the ground briefly as they got close to the dark car, before he threw her inside, his hand still covering her mouth.
“Move!”
The car took off down the road, and through the trees, and with a sinking heart, Kendra knew that no one back at the ranch would be able to see them.
Finally, he released her, turning to look out the back window as they winded their way down the narrow road and through the trees. “Yeah, those men will pay plenty to get you back.”
Fisting his hand in her hair, he leaned forward to speak to the driver.
“Just drop us off at the shack I showed you before.”
“And then I get my money?”
Kendra stilled. “Lisa?”
Lisa sat forward, lifting herself slightly to meet Kendra’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “I told you there would be trouble if you didn’t get out of there. All you had to do was meet us in town and nobody would have gotten hurt.”
Kendra blinked. “What do you have to do with all of this?”
Lisa’s cold laugh sent a shiver through her. “I check on Grant from time to time. Once I knew you were here, I came to town to convince him to get rid of you. Gus here heard me asking the waitress at the diner about you, and offered me money to help get you away from the ranch. Since it was what I’d planned anyway, I agreed.”
Kendra gasped. “What? Do you know what kind of people you’re dealing with? This is kidnapping!”
Gus tightened his hand in her hair until she cried out in pain. “Since your boss took off without paying me, I’ve got to get my money from somewhere. He told me about the deal with the ranch. He was going to pay me back out of his commission. I came out to make sure he was on the up and up and I followed you and the sheriff to the clinic. When I heard that they wouldn’t sell the ranch and that they’d taken quite a liking to you, I came up with a surefire way to get my money. They sure as hell scrambled to get you out of the diner and to the ranch, didn’t they? I knew then that you were my ticket to some easy money. Hell, I can ask them for ten times the amount Edelson owes me.”
The hand in her hair kept her head pulled back, and she had to close her eyes against the tears burning them. “They won’t pay. I hardly know them. They found me after the plane crash and have just been taking care of me.” She moved her hand slowly, inching it toward her pocket, inwardly cursing when she realized that since the gun was in the pocket closest to him, she wouldn’t be able to bend her arm enough to reach into her pocket without making him suspicious.
“Bullshit. I saw them with you. They’re all in love with you. Even the ranch hands are talking about it.”
“They don’t have any money. It’s all tied up in the ranch.”
Lisa laughed. “Don’t you believe it. They’ve all got millions. Why do you think I keep going back to Grant? Although, I never thought of taking them all on. I have to congratulate you. If you’re going to whore yourself, it might as well be for good money. How much did you get out of them?”
Kendra blinked and met Lisa’s gaze in the rearview mirror again, finding it hard to believe that Grant had been married to such a cold, mercenary woman. “Nothing! I don’t want anything from them.”
Right now, the men were probably searching for her. They would be frantic with worry.
Quinn wouldn’t even be able to trac
They wouldn’t be able to find her.
Turning her head toward Gus, she swallowed the lump in her throat. “Did your men leave the ranch?”
Gus smiled, a cold, evil smile that sent a shudder of revulsion through her. “Why? Scared they’re going to shoot your lovers? Don’t worry. As long as they do what they’re told, nobody’ll get hurt. I just want my fucking money.” Edelson was really counting on you to list the ranch. Looks like you fucked up. Nobody’s going to give me shit for him, but they’ll pay a lot of money to get you back.”
They stopped abruptly, the tug to her hair when her body shot forward making her cry out again.
“Shut up.”
He handed a small envelope to Lisa. “Disappear, and if you say one word about what happened here, I’ll hunt you down.”
Lisa turned in her seat, turning on the light and peering into the envelope to count the money. “What are you going to do about her? She’s going to tell everyone what happened as soon as you let her go.”
Visible in the low light, Gus Scali shot Lisa a deadly look, his expression pure evil. “Don’t worry about her. She won’t be telling anything to anyone. No loose ends. That means that you’re an accessory to murder. You open your mouth, and you’re going to jail with the rest of us.”
Lisa smiled, but her eyes took on a slightly haunted look. “Don’t worry about me. I’m leaving the country. It’s time to get married again.”
They were going to kill her!
When he opened the door, the interior light came on, enabling Kendra to see him better. He looked even more dangerous.
She tried to avoid his hand, but he yanked her out of the car so hard, she would have fallen if he hadn’t been holding on to her.
Backing away from the car, he pulled her close against him, drawing a knife out of his pocket. “Get moving.”
Lisa sped off, her tires slipping on the slick road in her hurry to escape.
“Where are we going?” Inwardly cursing that he kept her right side pressed against him, which kept her from reaching into her right pocket for the gun, she prayed that he wouldn’t feel it and take it away from her before she got a chance to use it.
“Someplace your lovers will never find you. Just shut up and keep moving. It’s fucking cold out here and I don’t want to have to listen to you.”
They trudged through snow that got deeper the farther they walked. As they made their way toward the mountains, Kendra couldn’t help but think about the times the men had rescued people here.
“We can’t go into the mountains!”
Gus glared at her, releasing her just long enough to grab her right wrist and yanked hard to pull her forward “You’ll go where I tell you to go.”
She wanted to cry when snow started to fall, knowing that any tracks they made would be covered in no time. The men probably wouldn’t even think of looking in the mountains for them anyway.
“They won’t pay.”
She wished he would let go of her arm just long enough for her to get the gun out of her pocket.
When he did, it wasn’t in the way she hoped.
Gripping her hair, he pulled her head back, his breath hot on her cheek as he pressed the knife against her throat. “You’d better hope they do, or I’m going to cut pieces off of you and send them to them. Get moving. We can’t hide in that rinky-dink town. Everyone there knows everyone else’s business, and they’re all looking for me. My damned picture is posted everywhere. Thanks to your lovers, we have to hide up in the mountains until I get my fucking money.”
Kendra moved her hand toward her pocket, sucking in a breath when two men approached.
Both carried flashlights and aimed them directly at her, momentarily blinding her.
Her stomach dropped when Gus greeted them and grabbed her right arm again.
“Get moving. I’ve got her. We’ve got to get hidden up in those mountains.”
“Jesus. I ain’t made for climbing mountains, Boss.”
“Stay away from the beer and sausage sandwiches and you wouldn’t be so fat.” Turning to look at her, Gus slid the knife into a holder at his waistband and pulled out his own flashlight, smiling coldly. “You didn’t think I would do this alone, did you? You’ve got no chance of getting away, so just resign yourself to behaving and when I kill you, I’ll make sure you don’t suffer.” He tightened his grip on her right arm, and yanked her forward, once again preventing her from reaching into her pocket. “It’s nothing personal. Just business. Once I get my money, I’ve got no use for you anymore.”
Once he got his money, he’d kill her.
Since Mason, Grant, Barrett, and Quinn wouldn’t even think to look for her in the mountains, she’d have to do something herself.
She kept reminding herself that she had the advantage.
Closing her eyes, Kendra thought about the gun. As soon as the opportunity presented itself, she’d use it.
She just hoped they didn’t find it on her before then.
Chapter Twenty
Quinn finally ran out of curse words and started over, his heart pounding furiously. “Her coat and boots are gone. What the hell? Did she just walk out? I can’t believe she would be so mad at us that she would just fucking walk out!”
Mason scrubbed a hand over his white face. “I shouldn’t have left her alone. I knew she was upset. I shouldn’t have left her alone.”
Barrett shook his head, gesturing toward the back door. “She didn’t go on her own. She never would have left the back door open.” He went outside crouching low and shining his flashlight on the footprints outside the door. “If she left, her footprints would be on top. Do you see her footprints here?”
Quinn ran outside and shone his flashlight on the other side of the back steps, careful not to disturb the footprints there. “Look. Those are her prints from running out here earlier. You can still see the blood.”
Tightening his hand into a fist at his side, he swung the light toward the fresher tracks. “These are too big to be hers. These belong to a man. A heavy one.”
Grant moved in beside him. “Or a man carrying a woman.”
Quinn straightened again, lifting his head and studying the surrounding yard. “Yeah. I should have gotten that. Christ, I can’t think.”
Barrett’s voice boomed across the yard. “All of you are trampling the yard, and Kendra’s missing. Watch for footprints and get the hell out of the way so we can track her.”
It might have been funny under other circumstances to see the ranch hands tiptoeing around the yard, but Quinn felt nothing but fury and terror.
He doubted very much that he’d feel anything else until she was safely in his arms again.
Mason pulled his jacket closed. “Let’s go find her.”
Quinn held out a hand. “No. We’re not going off half-cocked. Let’s get what we need for her.”
Turning to the others, he met each of their gazes. “We let her down once already tonight. I’m not about to do it again.”
Barrett nodded. “She’s counting on us to do this right. No mistakes. Let’s get the backpacks.”
Quinn waved a hand. “Get mine. I’ll get started.”
Ever since the first time they went looking for a group of kids in the mountains, they each kept a backpack ready. It contained extra clothes, in case they got wet, food, water, medical supplies, flashlights, and extra ammunition.
Quinn started forward, turning at the waist to yell back. “Grab some more ammo, and get one of Kendra’s sweat suits.”
Grant appeared before Quinn got to the barn. “Got ’em, and some extra socks. Quinn, my gun’s gone.”
Concentrating on the footprints in the yard, Quinn didn’t understand at first. “This guy’s not wearing cowboy boots. He’s wearing dress boots. That should make it—what?” Straightening, he whipped his head around. “Your gun’s gone?”
Scraping a hand over his face, Grant sighed, looking miserable. Fear for Kendra lined his face. “Yeah. I left it on the washer when I ran to get Kendra. It’s gone. No one here would have taken it.”
“Except whoever went in to get her.”
Grant inclined his head, glancing apologetically at Barrett and Mason as they approached. “Yeah. So whoever has her also has my gun.” Switching the rifle he’d grabbed from one hand to the other, Grant clenched his jaw. “If she gets hurt with my gun—”
“She’s not going to get hurt. We’re gonna find her.” Quinn had never been a praying man, but he prayed now.
Trying not to think about the man holding Kendra having an extra gun at his disposal, Quinn followed the tracks to the road, absently listening to Barrett barking out orders to get the horses ready.
“Eddie, call the hospital and check on Eli, and then call the sheriff and tell him what’s happening here. We have our cell phones, but don’t call us unless Kendra comes back.”
* * * *
It seemed to take forever, but was only a couple of hours before they found the tracks again. They’d walked their horses down the road, Quinn shining his light on one side, while Mason did the same to the other.
Barrett and Grant kept alert for any signs of an ambush.
Quinn crouched low, running the tips of his gloved fingers over a freshly covered footprint, his heart pounding. “Here.” When the others came rushing over, he gestured toward a line of new tracks. “The snow’s covering them up, but you can see where it’s uneven here.”
Aware of the others moving in behind him, he stepped off of the road and toward the small shack that the men sometimes used.
Barrett waved a hand and he and Grant took off for the shack, not making a sound as they approach it from both sides.
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