by J. Kenner
“Whatever it takes. And everyone on the team is a legitimately licensed investigator. Reggie called the license plate in and an APB went out. Anyone sees it, we’ll hear about it. And in the meantime, we’re searching ourselves.”
Thirty minutes later there’s a knock on the door. I check the security app, then frown when I see it’s Reggie.
“Why are you here?” I demand. “You’re supposed to be watching the traffic cameras.”
She’s pale and looks tired, her straight brown hair pulled back from her head in a ponytail. She pinches the bridge of her nose as she looks between Ronan and me. “We’ve hit a dead-end,” she says. “Ellie, I’m so sorry. We’ll pick him up again, but right now we’re completely blind.”
My whole body goes icy-cold. “What are you talking about?”
“We were tracking the Toyota. We managed to find it on some traffic cams. They were heading east on Interstate 10.”
“Okay, okay. What happened?”
“We lost it, but we figured we’d pick it up again. We usually do, and we’ve got a lot of resources across the state. The trouble is, we found the car.”
“What do you mean you found the car?”
She looks at Ronan. “Abandoned,” she says. “In an area where we can’t find any cameras to tell us what happened next. We assume that Devlin and Brandy were transferred to another vehicle, but we don’t know what it looks like and we don’t know where it went.”
“Oh my God,” I hear myself saying. “No, no, no.”
I feel the pressure of Ronan’s hand on my shoulder and his calm voice saying, “We’ll find them again.” That’s all he says, but it makes me feel slightly better, though I don’t know why. We don’t have a single goddamn lead.
“Where is the car exactly?” I ask. “And who found it?”
“Local police found the car,” Reggie says gently. “It’s in Riverside, and our best guess is that they’re taking them up into the mountains. But it’s just a guess.”
“Shit,” Ronan says. “Cameras are limited up there, and with all the abandoned buildings and homes closed for the off-season, this is going to be a challenge. I’m sorry, Ellie,” he says, “but I can’t sugarcoat this for you.”
I shake my head. “No. I wouldn’t want you to. I just...” My voice trails off, and Reggie reaches out and puts a hand against my back. The pressure is nice. It steadies me. But it’s not enough. “So what’s our next step?”
“We’ll keep looking, obviously. We’ll get maps of the area and see if there’s anything that looks isolated enough that it might appeal to whoever abducted them, then we’ll send a team in to check each place one by one. But it’s a lot of space. Honestly, our best hope may be to wait until they contact us.”
“Do you think they will?”
“I hope so,” Ronan says. “But if this is about revenge...”
I don’t need to hear the rest. I know what it means. Devlin and Brandy are in terrible trouble, and we’re completely at a loss as to how to save them.
My phone is vibrating, and I look down, desperately hoping that it will be from Devlin, but knowing that it won’t be. I yank it out of my back pocket and pull it out. Then gasp as I read the message on my lock screen.
They die at dawn.
I don’t even realize that my knees have gone weak until Ronan reaches out to steady me. He takes the phone, reads the message, then bites out a foul curse.
“It’s already almost noon,” I say, hating the way my voice is catching, my throat already clogged with tears. “How the hell are we going to find them?”
My question is hanging in the air, when there’s a pounding at the door. I look at Ronan and Reggie, but it’s clear they’re not expecting another team member. Ronan still has my phone, and he opens the security app, then mutters, “Motherfucker.”
“What?” I demand. “Who is it?”
He pulls his gun as he walks closer to the door, and Reggie does the same. I’m not armed at the moment, though I realize I should be even though I’m safe in Brandy’s house.
I step back letting them take the lead. Ronan rips open the door, and I gasp. Because standing right there is Christopher Doyle.
Chapter Thirty-Six
He was with her again.
Devlin didn’t know how, he didn’t know why, all he knew was that Ellie was in his arms again, and he finally felt whole. She said nothing, just looked at him, her eyes staring deep into his.
It was a moment he didn’t want to lose, this sense of her, this feel of her, as if she surrounded him. As if she was protecting him, blanketing him, but from what, he couldn’t remember. He only knew that there’d been something wrong. But now … well, now everything was right again.
He reached for her, frowning when she seemed to fade away into so much mist, only to return when he pulled back his hand.
“El?” She only smiled, then reached up and pressed her hands on either side of his face. It was an odd touch, like being kissed by electricity. And when he looked at her face again, it seemed as though her eyes were on fire.
Her lips parted and she spoke two words — “Wake up.”
He frowned.
“Wake up.”
Once again he shook his head. He didn’t understand. He wasn’t asleep. He was with Ellie. He was where he wanted to be, and—
“Devlin, Devlin, please, please wake up!”
It was as if he’d been ripped from heaven. His head was pounding, and he was on the verge of throwing up. Everything around him was gray. Nothing made sense.
He was standing against a post, his hands tied together behind him, trapping him. He struggled, but he couldn’t budge the bindings.
“Devlin?”
Brandy. He drew in a breath as reality slammed back against him. Slowly, the room came into focus. His head throbbed, and he remembered something hard and fast slamming against him as their captors tugged them out of the van before moving them into the backseat of a car.
Their captors had only taken the bags off once they were not only in this room, but tied to poles. And then, once Devlin was out of the bag, they’d lashed out against his head again.
“Devlin?”
He could hear the urgency in Brandy’s voice, but he was moving—thinking—so slowly.
“Devlin, are you okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah, just groggy.”
“I thought they were going to kill you. I mean, I really thought you were dead.”
He could hear the terror—and the tears—in her voice.
“I’m not dead yet,” he said, and was gratified when she hiccupped out a tiny laugh. “Have they been in the room since they tied us here? Have you seen any faces? Do you know where we are?”
“No. But we drove a long way.”
“And into elevation,” he said, as his memories began to return. The way his ears popped, the angle of the car, the strain of the engine. They’d gone north, then east, and his best guess was that they’d gone out Interstate 10, then probably up toward Big Bear.
That, however, was only a guess.
“How long have I been out?”
“I think a couple of hours. I was so scared that they’d actually killed you. Then you started talking. You called out for Ellie.” He heard the choking sound as she said her friend’s name. “Devlin, are we ever going to get back?”
“Of course we will.” What else could he say? She deserved the truth, but he didn’t want her to have the fear that went along with it. At least not yet. At least not until he could fully assess the situation and decide if maybe—just maybe—they had a shot at a positive outcome.
“We need information. We need to know their endgame. That means we need time. Can you stay calm? Can you trust me?”
“Stay calm? I don’t know. Trust you? Absolutely. Although to be honest, Devlin, even though you’re a really amazing guy, I’m not sure what you can do standing in a cellar with your arms tied behind you.” There was humor in her voice, but also a frenetic note. She w
as freaked, and doing whatever she could to stay calm.
So far, she was doing a solid job of it.
As for his current predicament, she wasn’t wrong. “It feels like they took off the cable ties and tied my wrists with rope. Do you know if that’s true? Did you see them tie me up?”
“Yes. They took us out of the car and hit you again before they carried you inside and dumped you on the floor. I didn’t know what they were going to do with me, but then they brought me in here right after you. They pushed me against the pole and then they took out some rope. White. Nylon, I think. And they put my arms behind me and tied my wrists together.”
“Did they hurt you?”
“No.” She paused. “My whole body’s going numb, and I’m really hungry, but I’m okay. They tied my ankles to the pole, too. But they didn’t do that to you. I’m not sure why.”
He wasn’t sure either, but he had a feeling he would find out. “Did you happen to see what kind of knot they tied?”
“No idea. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” He didn’t know why he was asking these questions. His wrists were bound too tight for him to get any sort of purchase on the ropes with his fingers, anyway.
But depending on the knot, if he wiggled enough, perhaps he could loosen it. He doubted it—surely whoever tied him up knew what they were doing—but he never took competence for granted. Perhaps his captor didn’t know a thing about knots.
“I’m so sorry. I’m no help at all, and now you’re —”
“Hush,” he said gently. “You’re doing great. Just breathe, Brandy. Just breathe.”
“Such excellent advice from the great Devlin Saint.”
The words echoed in the room, and though Devlin twisted, he couldn’t locate the speaker.
There was something about the voice that was familiar, though, and he was certain that when the speaker stepped in front of him, he’d know him. A ghost from the past. A revenant of a former life.
He listened, the footsteps approaching from the rear. He heard Brandy’s shuttered breathing, and wished that he could take her hand. Then the man moved into his line of sight. A stocky man a few years younger than Devlin, but more worn around the edge. His deep-set eyes seemed too large for his small mouth, and his dark hair framed a puffy, babyish face.
He saw it then—the reflection of the child’s face on the countenance of the adult. A man he hadn’t seen in over a decade. Manuel Espinoza. Manny.
Aurelia’s little brother.
“Manny? Is that really you?”
“Well, well. I think I’m flattered.” He had a low voice, deep and resonant. A radio voice. And one that didn’t match the face of the man speaking. “The great Devlin Saint knows who I am. Who would have believed it?”
“Why are you doing this?”
Manny blinked at him, slow and deliberate so that he looked like an owl. “Goodness, Devlin. I thought it would be obvious. So that you’ll lose everything.”
Devlin shook his head, not comprehending. “Do you want money? I’ll give you money. I have no problems there. Let her go, and we’ll talk this out.”
Manny took two steps toward him, got right in Devlin’s face, then reached out and punched him hard in the gut. All of the air left Devlin’s lungs, and he flinched, pulling his knees up in reflex.
Then Manny punched him again, and Devlin knew why his ankles hadn’t been tied like Brandy’s. Manny wanted the illusion of a fight.
He wanted Devlin to kick out, furiously lashing out at Manny. But Devlin wasn’t going to do that. There was no profit in kicking a tormentor who had you tied up. Not unless you had a plan for winning.
And the horrible truth was that Devlin didn’t have a plan at all. He was helpless in a way he hadn’t been for years. Helpless and responsible for Brandy, and that reality weighed heavy on him.
He needed a plan, but to formulate one, he needed to know Manny’s endgame.
“Nothing to say, Saint. Fucking bullshit, that is. You’re just a wolf in saint’s clothing, you fucking prick.”
Devlin made a point of not reacting. Instead, he met Manny’s gaze dead on. “You tied me up so that you could call me names and punch me? What’s the matter, Manny? Never got out of first grade?”
“Don’t you—”
“You should have just called me out. Met me in the ring. We could have had a fair fight.”
“Fuck you,” Manny said, then punched him in the gut again.
Devlin gasped, lights flashing behind his eyes, but he kept his eyes on Manny and managed an edge to his voice when he said, “Then again, you always were a little cheater, weren’t you? All those computer games you played? Aurelia told me how you would reprogram them so that you could win. She was proud you had computer skills. I thought you were a sore loser.”
“Cheat? Me? That’s a laugh riot coming from you. Because cheating’s all about setting the stage, isn’t it? And you set the stage on a worldwide scale. Remade yourself, broke the rules. Kicked the game in the balls and just started over.”
He took a step closer his head tilted back so he could sneer into Devlin’s eyes. “So you tell me, Saint? Who’s the bigger rule breaker, Manny Espinoza or Alejandro Lopez?”
Devlin said nothing.
“Well?”
Devlin held his tongue. Manny took another step forward, staying just out of range should Devlin decide to lash out and kick him. He reached a hand down and flipped two fingers. Immediately a man dressed all in black scurried to his side. Presumably one of the men from the car. He had a gun, and he aimed it at Devlin’s knee. “Move a muscle, you lose the knee. Do you understand me?”
Devlin kept his voice level. “I do.”
“You want to know why I’m doing this?” Manny’s voice was soft, but hard. “Because I want to watch you lose everything. Every goddamn thing. I want to watch you lose your reputation, your house, your woman, your friend.”
He tossed a sideways toward Brandy. “She wasn’t part of our original plan. Pity I got the wrong girl, but I’m sure her death will haunt you as well.” He turned and faced Brandy. “Sorry, sugar. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong friends.”
Brandy’s throat moved, but she didn’t otherwise react, and in that moment, he was not only proud of her, he understood how she’d managed to cope so well after the rape, and how she’d found the strength to go public. Brandy Bradshaw was a hell of a lot stronger than anyone had realized.
Not that he could tell her any of that. Hell, he couldn’t even look at her, not without risking their lives. He needed to keep his attention on Manny. He needed to figure out how to deal with this boy he’d once known, who’d grown into a vengeful monster.
“Aren’t you even going to tell me why?”
“Why? What kind of an idiot are you? You took everything from me. I lost my sister because of you. She used to have so much fun with you in the evenings. I had to go to bed. I had to go away. But little Alex Lopez got to be wherever he wanted to be. You took Joseph, too, don’t you even think of denying it. And the worst of all? You took The Wolf.”
“Who says it was me?”
Manny just laughed. “Do you really think I’m stupid?” He stared at Devlin. “Admit it. Admit that you killed him.”
And even though Devlin knew that he was playing with fire—that he was taunting a goddamn snake—for once he wanted to tell the truth. He wanted the people who had admired The Wolf to know that he was the one who had taken that bastard out.
He looked in Manny’s eyes and said slowly and clearly, “Yes. I killed him.”
He thought that Manny would fly off the handle with the admission. He thought that he might order the man with the gun to shoot him. He thought he might at least punch Devlin in the gut again.
Devlin was braced for all of that, but he wasn’t ready when Manny started to laugh.
“He always told you to watch your back,” Manny said when the peals of laughter had died. “He always told you that the enemy you had to fear was the one
you didn’t see coming. Didn’t he? Didn’t he?”
Devlin just nodded.
“Well you didn’t learn your lesson very well, did you? Because you never saw me coming, did you?”
“No, Manny, I never saw you coming. I guess I expected too much. I thought you would have the heart your sister did. I thought you would be good. Too bad I was wrong.”
“Good? Good? I was fucking incredible. And after you left, your father was mine. He liked me. He trusted me. He used me for all his computer work. I was fucking vital to him. And you just took him away, like that,” he added, with a snap of his fingers. “Now we’ll see how you like it. But don’t worry. I’ll let you watch when I kill your pretty little Elsa. And just so you know, I’m not bluffing.”
Icy terror slashed through Devlin. Had Manny already abducted Ellie? Was she somewhere in this building right now? Was Manny really intending to bring her here and kill her while Devlin watched?
No. Fucking. Way.
Devlin clung to those words letting them fuel his fury. No. Fucking. Way.
“Everything,” Manny continued, “Including your life. Everything you’ve built will tumble to the ground. You think your precious foundation will survive after they learn you killed her?”
“Her?”
“Your little bitch of a girlfriend, who else? It will look like a lover’s quarrel, and they’ll have all the DNA they need. Thank you for that in advance. And don’t worry too much about it hurting. We’ll be sure and get the skin scrapings and blood after you’re already dead.” He shrugged. “Or maybe not. Might as well make it fun.”
Manny chuckled. “And I almost forgot. After she’s gone, all those nasty texts you sent her will come to light. The ones where you talked about hurting her. Called her a little cunt who needed to watch herself or you’d make her pay.”
“I never—”
“Everyone will learn what kind of man you are. They’ll see that you killed her, not me. You killed her because you could.”
Across the room, Brandy sucked in a breath. Devlin didn’t dare look toward her. He kept his eyes on Manny. “You sick son-of-a-bitch.”