by Tara Rose
* * * *
Thayer paced the floor of his living room, running his hands through his hair and punching the air with his fists. What the fuck was taking so long? Shouldn’t they just be able to trace her cell phone? “Let’s go to the station.”
“Thayer, sit down. You’ll have a fucking stroke or something.”
“How can you be so calm? She’s out there somewhere, probably with Jay Nichols. Why did she ask us what he looks like? Don’t you think it’s connected?”
“I’m not calm. I’m as fucking scared as you are.”
Evan’s face was too pale, and Thayer knew he’d been right. Evan had been thinking the exact same thing he had. “You knew. You knew it, too. She thought she saw him tonight. That’s why she asked us.”
“Fuck…Thayer, we have to tell Sean and Chad. We should have told them what she asked. Fuck.”
As Thayer drove them to the police station, it started to rain again and loud thunder echoed across the sky. They’d told Cherilyn they would ask Sean and Chad if they knew what Nichols looked like, but they hadn’t. Right after she’d texted them that question, someone at the gym had needed help. She’d said she was all right and that she was only asking because his name had come up in conversation, otherwise they wouldn’t have forgotten about it. Was that true? Had his name come up, or had she thought she spotted him?
He punched the steering wheel as they got caught at a stoplight. Why the fuck hadn’t he realized why she was asking? She’d kept assuring them that everything was all right, but why hadn’t he read between the lines and realized that something else was going on? How could he have been so fucking blind?
If she died, it would be his fault. His fault entirely. And she’d never know how much he loved her. She’d die without knowing that. He should have told her. He’d had countless chances to do so but hadn’t. Why? He was the biggest fucking idiot on the planet. Now, he might never have the chance.
They finally made it to the station as frequent lightning lit the sky. Was she out in this storm somewhere, cold and afraid? Was she in the woods they’d mentioned next to where they’d found her car? Why the hell had he let Chad talk him into going home? What the fuck good could he do her at home?
“She asked us if we knew what Jay Nichols looked like.” Sean, Chad, Dean, and a man Thayer didn’t recognize looked up as he and Evan burst in. “She asked us earlier, when she was at The Black Sparrow.”
“Slow down,” said Sean. “Want some coffee?”
Thayer ran his hand through his hair. “No, I don’t want any fucking coffee, Sean. Jay Nichols has her. I’m certain of that.”
The man Thayer didn’t recognize narrowed his eyes. “And how exactly do you know that?”
“Thayer, Evan, this is Pete Warring from the JAG office in Indy,” said Sean. “Thayer Denning and Evan Rydell.”
“She texted us,” said Evan, holding out his phone to Sean. Sean took it and read the texts, while Pete looked over his shoulder. “We didn’t think anything of it at the time since she kept telling us everything was fine.”
“Then why did she ask?” Pete’s gaze was nothing short of suspicious, and Thayer didn’t deck him only because he knew Sean would throw his ass in jail overnight if he did.
“We think she saw someone she suspected was him.”
“Why didn’t she say so then?” asked Chad.
Thayer threw up his hands in frustration. “I don’t know, okay? I only know she’s out there, and she asked, and her car is off the road, and she’s not answering her cell, and why are you guys sitting here instead of looking for her?”
Sean rose and put an arm across Thayer’s shoulder. “Come on. Let’s go take a walk.”
“What?” Had Sean totally lost his fucking mind?
“You need fresh air.” Sean accentuated each word, giving him a pointed look, and Thayer finally understood.
“Yeah…yeah, okay.”
* * * *
Cherilyn was carried into a structure, but it was too dark to see what it was or anything else for that matter. Thunder rumbled overhead and the occasional lightning strikes did nothing to help her figure out where she was. The man dumped her unceremoniously into a hard-backed chair and tied her ankles together. Then he untied her wrists but retied them once he’d pulled her arms behind her back.
Her hip and shoulder still hurt but no worse than when he’d yanked her out of her car, and whatever was on her face had dried. But she had to pee, and badly. Would he care? “I have to pee.”
“Tough shit. Hold it. Or piss your pants. Makes no difference to me.”
“Who are you? Where are we?”
“All information will be given on a need-to-know basis.”
What an odd thing to say. The suspicion that had settled over her in the bar came rushing back, but she tried to push it away. If this man was Jay Nichols, she was dead. Cherilyn swallowed hard and tried not to cry again, but the tears came anyway.
“Stop crying. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Then why am I here? What do you want? Who are you?”
“You ask a lot of questions.”
“So would you if someone forced your car off the road and then kidnapped you.”
He turned on a small lamp, but it was behind him so his face was still in shadow. He scooted what looked like a stool on wheels closer to her, until she could smell the beer again. “Cherilyn, I need information. If you tell me what I want to know, I won’t hurt you.”
At the mention of her name, her body suddenly felt cold all over. “How do you know me?” she whispered.
She could almost sense a smile spreading across his face. “Ah, finally. Now we get to the important things, eh?”
“What do you want to know?” she asked.
Something cold and thin was brushed across her face, and she jerked away from it, crying out in fear.
“That is a knife, but I think you know that. If you tell me what I want to know, I won’t hurt you.”
“What do you want to know?”
“One very simple question, Cherilyn. But think carefully before you answer it.”
She didn’t say anything. Her entire body was shaking and she was so afraid she was certain she’d pass out any second now.
“Are you ready for the question?”
She nodded, afraid to speak.
“Did Chuck tell you about me? Did he tell you what I did?”
“I can’t answer that. I don’t know who you are.”
“Wrong answer, Cherilyn.”
Chapter Twenty
Evan glanced at Chad after Sean and Thayer left the room. “Where are we with this?”
“Sit down, Evan.”
Evan took a seat only because he knew Dean would throw his and Thayer’s asses out of the station if they didn’t calm down. But inside he was dying. Cherilyn was out there somewhere in this storm. She might be hurt. All he wanted to do was get her back home safely, and then he was never letting her out of his sight again.
“We’ve set up roadblocks, and the choppers will be here at first light. It’s pointless to search the woods until it’s light. The crime team is going over her car right now. Her cell phone wasn’t in it, so Pete has a team in Indy trying to track the number. We don’t have that capability here at the station.”
“When will we know where she is?”
“Soon,” said Pete. “Assuming she has the phone on her. Tell me more about what she asked you regarding Nichols.”
“She texted us and asked if we knew what he looked like. We told her we’d ask Sean and Chad and get back to her, but then we got busy at the gym and forgot about it. At the time we asked if she was all right and she kept insisting that she was, and that Nichols’s name only came up in conversation, so we didn’t think anything of it.”
Pete shuffled the papers in front of him. “She was out tonight with Gina Santori and Olivia Kelly, right?”
“That’s right,” said Chad. “Gina is head of IT for the city, and Olivia’s bro
ther is one of our sergeants.”
“So why does the whole damn town know about Jay Nichols?”
“It’s not like that, Pete.” Dean shot him a nasty look. “But this is a close town and people talk. Right now, let’s focus on finding Cherilyn, okay? And hope like hell that Evan and Thayer are wrong about Nichols having her.”
As Thayer and Sean returned to the room, Pete’s cell phone rang, and he put it on speaker. They’d located Cherilyn’s phone. Evan and Thayer exchanged a glance, and Evan was shocked to see that Thayer’s eyes were wet. He loved her, too. They’d never talked about it, but at that exact moment Evan knew. They were both in love with her. And he couldn’t be happier about that fact.
“Where is she?” asked Thayer, leaning close to Pete’s phone as if that would give him an answer any sooner. Sean grabbed his shoulder and pushed him into a chair. Only Sean would be able to get away with doing that to Thayer.
Pete typed on his computer, and the website tracking Cherilyn’s phone filled the projection screen in the room. County roads they all recognized popped up, with a flashing red light between four of them, two running north and south, and the other two running east and west. “Her phone has been stationary for half an hour,” said Pete. “There’s nothing there but farmland.”
“She’s only ten minutes from Racy.” Dean jumped up from the table and began barking orders to the officers in his squad room.
Sean and Chad raced for their squad cars. Evan jumped into the front seat of Chad’s, and he watched Thayer climb into Sean’s. Chad glanced at him as he peeled out of the parking lot and turned on his radio. “If you don’t do exactly what I tell you to do, I’m letting you out by the side of the road in this fucking storm. Got it?”
Evan nodded as he watched dark clouds scuttle across the sky, illuminated by the crazy lightning. He brought up the radar on his phone and swore under his breath. “Chad, they just issued a fucking tornado warning.”
“Not surprised,” he said quietly. They could hear the tornado sirens wailing now. “But do you really want me to go back to the station?”
Evan didn’t need to answer. Chad knew he’d rather cut off an arm than seek shelter from the storm right now.
They had all agreed to approach the farmhouse without lights and sirens. In reality, it wouldn’t have mattered. No one in that house would have heard them over this storm. Evan was sick at the thought of Cherilyn in there, probably scared to death. She had to be all right. They had to reach her before Nichols did anything to harm her, or the army wouldn’t have to worry about catching one of their AWOL members. He and Thayer would kill the fucker with their bare hands.
The home they pulled up to looked abandoned. Several windows were boarded up and the grass around it was wild and tall. As Evan slid out of the passenger seat, Chad cocked his rifle. “I’d prefer you stay in the cruiser, but I know you won’t, so at least stay behind me so you don’t get your stupid ass shot, okay?”
Evan nodded. Every nerve ending was on fire. He glanced around and saw other cars pulling into the muddy yard, circling the house. There were state troopers as well as Racy police. Pete was there with Dean, who held the bullhorn. He was using hand signals, and in that instance the lightning actually helped.
Overhead, the thunder increased, but Evan barely heard it. He spotted Thayer walking next to Sean, who also had his rifle. This was like a scene out of a movie only it was scary as hell because the woman they both loved might be in there. What if she wasn’t? No. Evan shut down that thought in a heartbeat. She had to be.
* * * *
Cherilyn screamed as the man cut her skin, just above her right elbow. The searing pain was made worse by his soft laughter. Outside, a loud storm was going on, and the frequent lightning flashes illuminated his face for only seconds at a time. She was able to make out stubble, close-cropped hair, and what appeared to be filthy fatigues. If he wasn’t Jay Nichols, who the hell was he?
“I told you to tell me what I want to know. That wasn’t a deep cut, but the next one will be.” He grabbed her left breast, and she nearly retched. If he raped her, she’d die from fright. She could take anything except that. “Maybe I’ll cut this? It would be a shame to scar that pretty face, but I wonder how your boyfriends would like it if your tits were cut up?”
He knew about Thayer and Evan. That meant they’d been right. He had been watching her. The thunder was closer now, and three quick flashes of lightning lit up the room.
“Oh? You didn’t know that I knew? I saw you the night of that benefit. You stayed almost two hours after everyone else left, and then when you came out of the gym you looked like the very demons of hell were chasing you. What’s the matter, Cherilyn? The guilt get to you? Your husband is dead and what do you do? Turn around and fuck two hard bodies. Tsk, tsk.”
Hot anger boiled up inside her. How dare he? If what Thayer and Evan had said about him was right, he was the traitor, not her. And she no longer believed Chuck had had anything to do with telling military secrets to the other side. This man’s question proved it. He was scared shitless that Chuck had told her about him, and that she was going to spill her guts. Why else would he have come after her, and been watching her all this time? “Why did you take Chuck’s panther tie?”
Cherilyn counted at least three seconds of absolute silence. She couldn’t even hear him breathing. Had she gone too far?
“How did you know about that?” She detected fear in that voice.
“They found it the second time you tried to break into the gym.”
He sighed loudly. “Then you do know who I am.”
“Only because the army is looking for you, and they put two and two together. Chuck never talked about you. Was he working with you? Did my husband give up his country?” She had to know.
“Why is it so fucking important to you now? You’re quite busy with other diversions these days.”
He was baiting her, but she refused to go down that road. It would be playing into his hands. “I want to know if Chuck was a traitor.”
Jay snorted. “Traitor. What the hell would you know about that? You’ve never had so much as a goddam parking ticket. That’s why I can’t figure out what you’re doing with Denning and Rydell. Not only are they what…four years younger than you are, but they’re regulars at the BDSM club in that cow town where you live. Chuck wasn’t into that. Were you banging them while he was in Afghanistan? Is that it? You ask me if he was a traitor and you were slutting around with two boy toys? That’s it, isn’t it?”
Cherilyn fought the urge to spit in his face. She knew they were only words, but they cut right down to her core. She thought she’d given up her guilt over Thayer and Evan, but now it all came crashing down around her. It wasn’t like that. What Jay had said wasn’t true. She’d hidden away for over a year after Chuck had been killed. And she wasn’t a slut. She loved Thayer and Evan.
But she’d loved Chuck, too. Was this what he’d want for her? To follow her heart and be happy? Or was she only fooling herself about what she was doing with Thayer and Evan? They’d never said they loved her. She’d thought there were times that she could see it in their eyes, but then she’d convinced herself she’d been imagining things.
He pushed his stool away and stood up. “You’re useless to me. You don’t know anything.” He began to pace the room, and Cherilyn swore the air had changed inside the house. It was charged with electricity. “He told you nothing about me.”
“Did he betray his country?” she whispered. “Please tell me.”
“No. There. Are you happy? Your fairy-tale memories of your pathetic dead husband can stay intact now. Chuck was by the book, all the way. Johnny GI. And he turned me in.” He advanced toward her, his boots clacking on the wooden floor. “He fucking betrayed me, sweet cheeks! He ratted me out! No one else could have done it. I’ve tracked them all down, and you were the last one. It had to be your fucking husband who did it.”
He slapped her so hard across the face that her h
ead reeled back. Fresh tears stung her eyes.
“You know why I had that stupid tie? To prove to you that I knew him. That’s why. And you know why I trashed that gym and hacked into their computer? Because I like fucking with people. Those stupid hick cops have been chasing their tails, and they never knew I was watching your every move.”
Icy cold fear wrapped itself around her heart as he circled her chair, muttering under his breath. She was going to die. And Thayer and Evan would never know that she loved them.
Cherilyn heard a noise that she would have sworn was a car motor, but then it was gone. The thunder was right overhead, and between that and the howling wind, she began to wonder if another tornado was about to drop down from the sky. She wished it would. She was going to die anyway, and she’d rather die from debris flying into her head at two hundred miles an hour than to be raped and cut up by this fucking maniac.
She heard the noise again, and then she screamed as something broke a window. The air filled with a terrible burning sensation, as if the very fires of hell had just risen up to consume her. She couldn’t breathe. As she struggled against the ropes, she only succeeded in tipping the chair onto her left side. Pain shot up her arm again, and she sucked in a deep breath but immediately started choking.
Shouts filled the air. Jay’s voice was yelling at someone not to shoot. She tried to open her eyes and cried out in pain as something stung them. Her chair was being lifted. She smelled rain, and someone was untying her ropes. She tried to tell them that she was dying, but someone placed a plastic mask over her face. She struggled and reached for it, but an unfamiliar voice stopped her. “It’s oxygen. Breathe.”
“Cherilyn…is she all right? What’s wrong with her? Let me fucking see her!” Thayer’s voice…Thayer’s sweet voice…Was it real?
“Is she okay? Where are you taking her? I’m coming along.” Evan. That was Evan’s voice, trembling, as though he’d been crying.