Dead By Nightfall

by Beverly Barton

  Linden stopped abruptly, hauled her to his side, and lifted her up and onto a seat. Another jeep? Probably. The vehicle slipped along over the bumpy road, a road Nic thought no doubt led to the same airstrip Linden had used two days ago. Dear God in heaven, had it really been only two days ago? On Sunday morning, she had arrived at her Gatlinburg cabin. By late that day, they had arrived on the island. If her calculations were correct, this was Tuesday.

  The vehicle slowed, stopped, and then Linden helped her down and out and onto her feet. As he guided her up the steps and onto the airplane, she heard shouting, followed by rapid gunfire and someone swearing loudly.

  She wanted to scream, “What happened? Did they kill someone else?” But despite the nausea in her belly and the trembling through her body, Nic boarded the plane without protest. Once on board, Linden shoved her down into a seat and buckled the safety belt around her.

  “Sit there and behave yourself,” he told her. “Once we’re in flight, I’ll take off your blindfold and remove the gag.”

  Nic sat quietly, being a good little girl, wondering how long it would take Griff to figure out where Linden had taken her. How many hours, days or weeks would it be before he stormed the island and discovered all those dead bodies? All those poor, pitiful people the guards had murdered. If she was lucky, when Griff searched the house and grounds, he would find the little present she had left behind, just for him.

  While Linden had been ushering her through the foyer and toward the front door, Nic had managed to fiddle with her wedding band and engagement ring and deftly remove both. As she had walked past a lace-adorned, mahogany entry table, she had inched close enough to drop her wedding ring, praying that it would land quietly. It had barely made a sound as it fell onto the handmade lace table runner.

  Chapter 10

  Maleah stopped the Dodge Grand Caravan in front of Yvette Meng’s home, shut off the engine, and turned around to face Barbara Jean where she sat in her wheelchair in the back of the modified minivan.

  “I don’t like this,” Maleah said. “I don’t completely trust Dr. Meng.”

  Barbara Jean sighed softly, wishing she could help Maleah see past her resentment for Yvette and become fully aware of what a truly good soul the woman possessed. “Yvette wants to help locate Nic. What could possibly be wrong with that?”

  “On the surface, nothing. But it certainly would clear the way for her if Nic never comes back, wouldn’t it?”

  “Maleah! What a terrible thing to say, to imply ...” Barbara Jean leaned forward from her position behind Maleah where the center seats had been removed to accommodate her wheelchair. She reached over and laid her hand on Maleah’s arm. “You’ve allowed Nic’s doubts about Yvette to cloud your judgment. If Yvette and Griff had wanted to be together, they could have been years before Griff and Nic met.”

  “Just because Griff didn’t want her doesn’t mean she didn’t want him.”

  Barbara Jean shook her head. “Yvette isn’t in love with Griff. She cares for him and for Sanders as one would their brothers.”

  “As a general rule one doesn’t have a child fathered by someone who is like a brother.”

  “You are determined to dislike and distrust Yvette, aren’t you? Can’t you put yourself in Yvette’s place, imagine what it was like for her to be forced to have sex with numerous men, to become pregnant and not know who had fathered her child? Griff is only one of several men who may be the father.”

  “All right. All right. I’m not being fair to her. So shoot me.”

  “You’re worried about Nic. I understand. But blaming Yvette really isn’t fair.”

  “I know. There’s more than enough blame to go around, isn’t there? If Griff had just told Nic the truth before they got married or anytime in the past three years, Nic wouldn’t have left here. If Nic had stayed at Griffin’s Rest where she was safe and hadn’t run away to her cabin to lick her wounds, she wouldn’t be missing. If I had gone with her when she left—”

  “You might be missing now, too,” Barbara Jean told her. “There is no point in thinking about ‘what ifs’ at this point. We have to concentrate on doing what we can to find Nic and to help Griff.”

  “And you think that Yvette and Meredith Sinclair can conjure up some spell that will reveal to them where Nic is?”

  “I think that it would be foolish not to take advantage of every possible avenue open to us.” Barbara Jean held up the tortoiseshell-handled hairbrush she had brought with her. “Once Meredith handles this brush, she may pick up on something. She may sense where Nic is now and what’s happening to her.”

  “This is all too much like voodoo to suit me.”

  “Maybe it is, but if using voodoo would help us find Nic, wouldn’t you be willing to use it?”

  “Sure I would. I’d do anything to find Nic and bring her home.”

  “I believe that Meredith has a rare gift and she is willing to use it to see if she can in any way connect with Nic.”

  “I hope you’re right about her. I hope she can dream a dream or pick up on Nic’s energy or can experience an alternate reality where she sees where Nic is.”

  Before Barbara Jean could respond, Maleah opened the driver’s side door of the silver minivan. She got out, rounded the front of the vehicle, and using the remote, opened the passenger-side sliding door. The ramp deployed from the bottom of the sliding door, allowing Barbara Jean to maneuver her wheelchair out of the Grand Caravan, down the ramp, and onto the half-moon driveway in front of Yvette’s home.

  “Want me to go with you?” Maleah asked.

  “I think I can take it from here.” She smiled up at Maleah. “You should get back to the main house. Saxon will be returning from the airport with Nic’s brother at any time. You need be there to meet him.”

  Maleah nodded. “I promised Griff that I would be the one to explain what happened and bring him up-to-date on the situation.”

  “Don’t paint Griff as the bad guy,” Barbara Jean said. “All of us need to pull together, not let our differences of opinion pull us apart.”

  “I don’t intend to say anything against Griff. Charles David can draw his own conclusions. It’s not as if he wasn’t already aware that there was trouble in paradise.”

  Barbara Jean knew it was useless to say more. Maleah, Lord love her, was a stubborn little mule who felt duty-bound by her friendship with Nic to do what she thought was in Nic’s best interest. For the time being, that included disliking Yvette and blaming Griff.

  “I’ll call you when I’m ready to return to the main house.”

  “Okay.” Maleah gave Barbara Jean a hesitant smile. “Good luck with Dr. Meng and Meredith. I hope they actually can do something to help us find Nic.”

  Maleah and Derek met Nic’s brother in the foyer and welcomed him to Griffin’s Rest. Charles David Bellamy was tall, muscular, dark-haired and dark-eyed. He resembled his older sister so much that they could easily pass for twins. The first time Maleah met him, she had thought that it was a pity such strikingly beautiful features were wasted on a man.

  “Here, let me take your bag.” Derek reached out and took the black vinyl suitcase from their guest. “I’ll run it up to your room and make sure Inez’s got everything ready.”

  Maleah offered Charles David a reassuring half smile. “Come on into the living room and I’ll fill you in on everything.”

  Without hesitation, he followed her; and when she indicated they should sit on the sofa, he followed her lead.

  “When you called me last night, you said that Nic had left Griffin’s Rest Sunday morning and that you followed her up to the Gatlinburg cabin later, but when you arrived she wasn’t there.”

  “That’s right. I should have gone with her, but she insisted I stay here. Griff sent Cully Redmond with her, in a separate car. Cully followed Nic and was to act as her bodyguard while she was away from Griffin’s Rest.”

  “You explained all of this in our telephone conversation.” Charles David looked str
aight into her eyes. “Nic went to the cabin, but when you arrived she wasn’t there. This Redmond fellow was shot and killed while en route to the cabin. You suspect that Nic was kidnapped by a man named Anthony Linden, a man who has murdered six people associated with the Powell Agency. Now, what I want to know is, with a man like that on the loose, why would my sister leave the safety of Griffin’s Rest?”

  There it was, the inevitable question that Maleah had been dreading. How could she possibly answer him truthfully without condemning Griff?

  Griff had told her, “Answer his questions truthfully. And if those answers put me in a bad light, so be it.”

  “Griff tried to talk her out of leaving,” Maleah finally managed to say. “So did I, but you know our Nic. When she makes up her mind about something ... In retrospect, I wish I had gone with her when she left Sunday morning, but she insisted that I stay here with Derek because we’re newly engaged and—”

  “Congratulations.”

  “Thank you.”

  “But you decided later to follow her to the cabin, right?”

  Maleah nodded. “I’m sure Griff wishes he had kept her here even if he’d had to lock her up and throw away the key.” There. I defended Griff. Conscience clear. “We’re all feeling guilty that we didn’t do more to persuade her to stay here.”

  “Why did she leave?” Charles David asked again. “She must have been upset about something to feel the need to get away from Griffin’s Rest, to go alone to the cabin when she knew—”

  “She was upset. She needed to get away and think about some things without any distractions.” Maleah swallowed hard. “Sunday morning, Griff revealed to her certain facts that he had never shared with her, things about what had happened to him and Dr. Meng and Sanders on Amara. I’m sure Nic has told you something about that, but ... There is no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to say it. Dr. Meng was forced to have sex with a lot of different men by her psycho husband who controlled Amara and its inhabitants. Griff was ... he was one of the men. And she had a baby that her husband took from her right after it was born and she and Griff have been searching for the child all these years and ...” Maleah paused for breath.

  “And Dr. Meng’s baby, the child she and Griff have been searching for, could be Griff’s child. Is that what he told Nic?” Charles David closed his eyes and tightened his jaw, so obviously doing his best to control his emotions.

  She wanted to tell Nic’s brother to go ahead and cry or scream and curse or run his fist through a wall, to do whatever he needed to do to relieve the anger.

  “Yes,” Maleah said. “I think Nic could have accepted the news about the child if Griff had been totally honest with her about his relationship with Dr. Meng. He had sworn to Nic that he and Dr. Meng were never lovers.”

  “And technically, they weren’t,” Charles David said.

  “That’s right,” Derek agreed as he entered the living room. “I’m sure that once Griff finds Nic and brings her home, they will be able to work through whatever problems—”

  “If I know my sister, right now she regrets having left Griffin’s Rest,” Charles David said. “But as far as Nic and Griff being able to work through their problems when he finds her, I have my doubts. Griff should have told her everything long before now. The secrets he’s kept from her are what created their problems. And if anything happens to Nic, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to forgive him.”

  “Amen to that.” She didn’t realize she had spoken aloud until Derek shot her a damn-it-Maleah glare.

  “Where is my brother-in-law? Did he send you two to—?”

  “The agency received information that led us to believe that Nic is possibly being held on a privately owned island in the Caribbean Sea,” Derek explained. “Griff took an experienced team with him on a search-and-rescue mission.”

  Charles David’s eyes misted with unshed tears as he looked from Derek to Maleah. “Will you be honest with me, Maleah? What are the odds that they’ll find Nic alive?”

  Oh, God. Oh, dear God. Maleah couldn’t bear the thought that Nic might already be dead. She had kept telling herself that if Linden had kidnapped Nic, he had been following Malcolm York’s orders. And if the namesake of Griff’s nemesis from Amara was behind Nic’s disappearance, then maybe—just maybe—he would keep Nic alive and dangle her life in front of Griff, using her to lure Griff into a deadly trap.

  “I honestly don’t know,” Maleah admitted. “But I have to believe that she’s still alive and that Griff is going to find her and bring her home.”

  When she glanced at Derek, he shook his head subtly. Was the gesture a warning or a plea? Did it really matter? She knew what he was asking her not to do, could almost hear him saying, “Don’t tell Charles David that Nic is pregnant.”

  Nic wondered how long Linden planned on waiting before he removed her gag and blindfold. They had been in flight for quite a while, but she knew she couldn’t accurately estimate the time. Under the circumstances, every minute seemed endless, every hour an eternity. As much as she wished otherwise, she had no control over what was happening to her, and that knowledge both frustrated and frightened her. The great, freaking unknown lay before her, its insidious, foreboding tentacles wrapping themselves around her mind, creating wide-awake nightmares she fought to control. She could be raped, tortured, and killed. She could be set loose to run for her life while a group of crazy millionaires and billionaires hunted her for sport. She could be tossed from the plane. She could be sold into slavery and become some despot’s sex toy. The horrifying possibilities seemed endless.

  Whatever fate awaited her, she felt relatively certain that Malcolm York was the all-powerful puppet master who would be pulling the strings. Did York already know what he intended to do to her? Was she simply part of some elaborate plan he had concocted? Or were his plans for her fluid and unformed, his decisions made on one whim after another? Either way, she had no doubt that York had one major objective—lure Griff into a trap by using her as bait.

  Someone sat down beside Nic. She felt them, smelled them, sensed his presence and knew it was Linden.

  “I apologize for keeping you in the dark this long.” He chuckled as if he found his comment amusing. “I’ve been busy. Arrangements to be made. Orders to be followed.”

  Nic squirmed in her seat, but didn’t make a sound.

  Linden’s fingers grazed her cheek as he reached around her to untie the tightly knotted gag. When he yanked it from her mouth and then completely off, she sucked in huge gulps of unrestricted air. Breathing so deeply made her lungs ache, but it was a good pain.

  “I told Mr. York that you’ve been quite cooperative,” Linden said as he undid her blindfold and removed it. “I didn’t tell him everything.” Linden leaned close, his mouth at her ear. “Lina will be severely punished for helping you. I have personally seen to that, but there’s no need for Mr. York to worry himself with such trivial details, is there?”

  Nic opened her eyes, blinked a couple of times, and turned to look straight at Linden. “You’re a sadistic son of a bitch, aren’t you?”

  He laughed. Lifting his hand, he grazed his knuckles across her cheek again and then down her neck. “You intrigue me, Nicole Baxter Powell. I feel certain that Mr. York will find you as intriguing as I do.”

  “Just when am I going to meet Malcolm York?”

  “Soon. Be patient.”

  “What’s the holdup? I thought he was eager to meet me.”

  “He is. He is. But he’s made all these interesting plans for you. He wants to give you time to become acclimated to the situation, to find out for yourself that you are completely at his mercy, that he owns you body and soul.”

  Nic stared at Linden, hating him with every fiber of her being, but hating the pseudo-York even more. “And just what plans does Mr. York have for me? More of the same? Being awarded as a prize to another victorious hunter?”

  “Mr. York has a series of games he wants you to play to keep him enterta
ined and also to help you adjust to your new position as his property. The game on Shelter Island was only one game and you’ve played it now. We’ll be moving on to something new and even more fun.”

  “I can hardly wait.”

  Linden laughed again. “I find it interesting that you haven’t lost your sense of humor yet. But you will, Nicole. You will. Before long, you won’t be uttering any sarcastic remarks. You’ll be begging for mercy.”

  Nic tugged on her bound wrists. “How about I start now?” She held up her hands. “Please, take these off. I promise I won’t try to scratch your eyes out.”

  Linden grabbed the back of her neck and jerked her toward him until they were nose-to-nose. Her breathing quickened. Damn it, she had waved a red flag in front of this raging bull. He threaded his fingers into her hair, tightened his hold, and yanked hard. Pain shot through her head and brought tears to her eyes.

  “I would like nothing better than to beat you until you couldn’t open that pretty little mouth except to moan and groan.”

  If her hands weren’t tied ... If Linden wasn’t armed ... If she wasn’t afraid retaliating would endanger her baby ...

  “Who knows, maybe when Mr. York finishes with you, he’ll give you to me. Something for us to look forward to. Right, Nicole?”

  He eased his fingers from her hair and his hand from around her neck. “But for now, you’re safe from me.”

  She stared at him, hoping he noticed the defiance in her eyes. She needed for him to know that even if she didn’t put up a physical fight, she was not defeated. Linden was wrong about York owning her body and soul. They could use and abuse her body. They could even kill her. But her soul belonged to her and she would never relinquish possession. No matter what.

  Before she realized his intention, Linden unbound her wrists. While she rubbed the raw flesh on first one and then the other, he unsnapped her safety belt, grabbed her arm, and pulled her out of the seat and onto her feet.