“You’re going to kill me anyway,” she managed to say, through her words were slurred. “Why should I cooperate?”
“Because I’m not going to kill you at this exact moment.” He said it almost gleefully. “Well, unless you don’t give me a choice. I’ll kill you now if I have to.”
She needed to escape.
Collena glanced around, not moving, using only her eyes. Everything was white, still covered with snow, but she recognized something. Thanks to the clouds moving from in front of the moon, she saw the remnants of an old barn. She’d been here before. She had checked out this area days earlier when she was trying to figure out the best way to get onto Dylan’s property and hopefully get a look at Adam. In fact, if some live oak trees hadn’t been in the way, she probably could have seen the wrought iron gates that fronted the property.
Did that mean Dylan would follow them?
Yes, of course, he would.
Once the effect of the stun gun wore off. Which could be five minutes from now, maybe more. But by then, it might be too late.
“You thought you could outsmart me,” Rodney taunted. He shoved the gun even harder against her ribs, causing her to grimace in pain. “But I proved who’s the smarter one, now, didn’t I? I got out of jail. And then I got me a plan to come after you. The plan worked, too. Well, with a few hitches.”
“You mean, Dylan,” she mumbled.
“No. I figured he’d get in the way. I’d counted on him and was ready to kill him if necessary. But I hadn’t counted on having to kill Curtis Reese.”
Collena turned her head and stared at him. “You killed Curtis?” She saw it then, the bloodstains on the sleeve of his parka. She also saw the wild, insane look in his eyes. Judging from his strong body odor and scraggly beard, he’d probably done nothing but stalk her and commit murder since he escaped from jail.
“Had to kill him,” Rodney verified. “When I went to park over in that spot next to the ranch last night, he was there. You shoulda seen him. He had all this fancy equipment to spy on you and jam your security system. I borrowed it to make sure your boyfriend wouldn’t see me coming.”
So, that’s how he’d managed to get onto the ranch. Curtis, too, apparently. It was too late to wonder, but had Curtis planned on kidnapping Adam if the custody hearing hadn’t gone his way? If so, she could thank Rodney for stopping it.
Yet another ironic twist.
“I didn’t leave the ranch after I fired those shots at you,” he continued. “I hid from the sheriff and lay low in one of the stables. It wasn’t hard to do because there weren’t many ranch hands around. When I saw that woman drive up, I knew that was my chance. She never even heard me coming when I sneaked up behind her when she was on the porch.”
Katelyn would be riled about that. Hopefully, she would help Dylan come after her. Too bad Collena couldn’t leave a proverbial trail of bread crumbs for them to follow.
They wouldn’t have a clue where Rodney had taken her.
And that’s why she had to do whatever she could to save herself. She had to accept that help might not come.
“Why did you kill Curtis?” she asked while she checked out the surroundings. The road had narrowed considerably, and Rodney had to slow down on the slick, snow-covered gravel. “Why didn’t you just use the stun gun on him?”
“Things kind of got out of hand. I figured it was best not to leave any witnesses at that particular stage of the game. I wouldn’t have wanted him to get loose and go blabber to you where he’d seen me. You’d have had your cop friends combing all over those woods looking for me. And I couldn’t get caught. Not until I’d kept my promise to kill you.”
But Rodney had left witnesses with Katelyn and Dylan. He’d probably thought she’d be dead and he would be long gone before they found her body.
“I’d read newspaper articles about the car fires with Dylan Greer’s sister and girlfriend. I just copycatted what I’d read about them and decided that was the best way to get rid of Reese.”
Well, he wouldn’t let her off so easily. If he had his way, this would be slow and painful. It turned her stomach to think what he had in mind.
He took a turn onto a side road that was lined with thick woods on the right. She didn’t recognize it, but she thought it was one of the roads that flanked the ranch. If so, then perhaps he was taking her to the outbuildings that Dylan used to house seasonal workers. Collena had noticed them when she was studying the property and trying to figure out the best way to get a look at her son. If she’d been able to find them, then Rodney no doubt had, as well. Those buildings would be exactly the kind of isolated place he’d want to use to hold her until he could kill her.
Collena tested the muscles in her hands, feet and legs. They weren’t a hundred percent. But she had enough strength to do what she needed to do.
She mentally counted to three, waited, until Rodney took the next turn that would lead him to the back of the ranch. He slowed down, just enough to make the turn, and Collena knew that it was the best opportunity she’d get.
Slapping her hand against Rodney’s gun so it would get it away from her rib cage, she jerked back the door handle, opening it, and dove out into the cold darkness.
She hit the ground hard, knocking the breath right out of her. Still, she forced herself to move. She had to move. Because there wouldn’t be much time. Rodney slammed onto the brakes, and she heard his door open.
Collena got to her feet and began to run toward the thick woods blanketed by the night and the snow.
She was still weak from the stun gun, and her hands and knees stung from where she’d hit the ground. It was déjà vu. This was what she’d experienced the night she’d escaped after Adam’s birth.
Behind her, she heard Rodney shout. He cursed at her, calling her vile names. And then she heard his footsteps. Followed by a shot.
He was coming for her.
Again.
THE COLD HELPED revive him.
Dylan could feel that bitter chill seep into his body. And then he heard the woman’s voice.
Not Collena’s.
It was her friend Katelyn. She had him by the shoulders, and she was shaking him and repeating his name. But both her voice and touch seemed miles away. The only thing that seemed real was the numbing cold.
“Rodney Harmon has Collena,” she yelled. “He shot both of the P.I.s so we don’t have backup. They’re alive but need an ambulance. And we need to save Collena. Get up!”
That penetrated the numbness and registered in his brain. Rodney Harmon had Collena, and he had to get her back before the man killed her.
Dylan forced himself to move from the ground. He wasn’t successful on the first try, but he managed to get to a sitting position with Katelyn’s help. He was exhausted. Zero energy. So, he pulled in several hard breaths, hoping that would help clear his head.
Katelyn hurried things along by practically dragging him to his feet. “I need a car so we can go after her. Rodney took mine. He used it to escape with Collena.”
Dylan shook his head, cursing the damn fog in his head. “We don’t know where he took her.”
“Yes, we do.” She showed him the screen of her cell phone. “I drove here in an unmarked squad car. It has a GPS tracking system built into it. Headquarters is sending me the coordinates of where Rodney and Collena are.”
Dylan grabbed the phone and looked at the tiny back-lit screen. “He’s still close to the ranch. But the car’s not moving.”
“No.” And her voice was so strained on that one word, that Dylan knew exactly what’d happened.
Rodney had stopped so he could kill Collena.
She was fighting for her life at that exact moment.
That got Dylan running as fast as his weakened legs would carry him. He raced toward the garage and tried to figure out the best way to get to the west side of the ranch. It wasn’t far through the pasture. Less than a mile. But it would be a lot longer than that if he followed the roads as Rodney had.<
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“Stay with Ina and Adam,” he yelled to Katelyn, who was following him.
“But I want to help Collena,” she protested.
“I want you here in case Rodney backtracks and tries to get into the house.”
There was no way she could argue with that. Ina wouldn’t be much of a defense against an escaped felon, especially since the two P.I.s were apparently out of commission.
Katelyn had probably already called the sheriff and requested an ambulance. But it would take twenty minutes or more to reach the ranch, Dylan couldn’t wait for them to arrive. Every second counted.
Dylan opened the garage door, jumped into his four-wheel drive, backed out and floored the accelerator. He didn’t drive toward the road but instead cut across the pasture. It was a gamble. A huge one. With the snow covering the ground, he wouldn’t be able to see a hole or any potential debris that could slice through his tires. Still, it was a risk he had to take.
He pushed the vehicle hard, and he kept his focus on the fence that he could barely see in the distance. There was a shallow ditch on the other side of that fence, and if he was reading Katelyn’s coordinates correctly, her car was just beyond that.
Hopefully, Collena would be, as well.
And while he was hoping, he hoped she was still alive.
He couldn’t think differently. He couldn’t even let the possibility of failure cross his mind. Dylan simply sped toward an encounter with Rodney. One he had to win to save Collena.
Thankfully, there was no livestock in this part of the pasture. No trees, either. Just flat land that lay between Collena and him.
He slowed a little as he approached the fence, and put on his seat belt so the impact wouldn’t throw him through the windshield. Dylan did one more calculation of the position of Katelyn’s car, and adjusted his own vehicle, driving it just slightly north.
Then, Dylan aimed at the fence and rammed it with his vehicle.
The speed helped. So did the sheer size and power of the four-wheel drive. There was a fierce jolt. But he tore through the chain-link fence and came out on the other side—right on the gravel road, less than twenty feet from Katelyn’s car.
Both doors of her car were wide-open. The engine was running. The low-beam lights pierced the darkness, creating an eerie, foggy effect.
But neither Collena, nor Rodney were anywhere in sight.
With his gun ready, Dylan jumped from his vehicle and, using his door as cover, he turned on his own high-beam lights. Still, he saw no sign of her on the side of the road near the ranch. Or the woods. Of course, those woods were thick, and if Rodney had taken her in there, even the high beams wouldn’t help him see her.
“Collena?” he called out.
The wind was howling, and in the distance, he could hear the sirens from the sheriff’s car, but Dylan also heard something else. Something human. A man’s voice.
A second later, the bullet shattered Dylan’s windshield.
Dylan welcomed the shots because that meant Rodney was aiming at him and not Collena.
But where was she?
The sirens drew closer, and Dylan hoped that Katelyn was navigating the sheriff in the direction of the road. Dylan would need backup if he had to go into those woods. Besides, the sound of the sirens might flush Rodney out.
It might also make him panic.
Dylan shouted Collena’s name again. Waited. With his heart pounding and his thoughts running wild, he cursed. More than anything he wanted to race out into the darkness and pound Rodney into dust. But Rodney had a better vantage point and could ambush him. If that happened, he wouldn’t be able to help Collena.
“Collena?” Dylan shouted one more time.
That generated another shot aimed at him. This one ripped through the top of his vehicle and sliced right through the metal. It also helped him pinpoint Rodney’s general direction.
He was in the woods.
Dylan tried to pick through the area lit by his high beams. He looked for any movement or any indication of Rodney’s exact position.
And then he saw him.
Just as Rodney leaned out from behind a massive oak and fired another shot at Dylan.
Dylan got only a glimpse of him, but it was enough to let him know that Rodney didn’t have Collena with him. Well, he didn’t have his hands physically on her anyway. Dylan couldn’t discount that she was there nearby. Maybe unconscious. That might have been why she hadn’t answered him.
But he prayed for the alternative.
That Collena hadn’t answered because she was hiding and hadn’t wanted to give away her position.
Dylan focused his aim and his attention on the oak that Rodney was using for cover. The seconds seemed like an eternity. But still, Dylan waited. Until Rodney leaned out a second time to take another shot.
Dylan fired first.
Rodney jerked back, and howled in pain. Dylan had hit him. And hopefully stopped him.
There was some movement in the woods to Rodney’s right. There, among the dark shadows of the trees, Dylan saw Collena.
She was alive.
And then he saw something else that terrified him.
Just as the sheriff’s vehicle pulled onto the road, Rodney came out from cover and took aim.
At Collena.
Dylan didn’t have to re-aim. He already had his gun trained on the spot where he’d last seen Rodney. And Dylan didn’t hesitate. He shouted for Collena to get down, and he fired at Rodney twice.
And he watched as both shots went into the man’s chest.
Chapter Fifteen
“The medics just pronounced Rodney Harmon dead,” Jonah Burke announced from the doorway of the family room.
Collena didn’t feel guilty. In fact, it was the news she’d wanted to hear. Yes, a man was dead, but that man had come within a hair of killing both Dylan and her. If Dylan hadn’t stopped Rodney with those bullets, she would have spent the rest of her life in fear that he would come after her again.
This way, she was free.
And she could thank Dylan for that.
Of course, Dylan wasn’t in a receptive mood. She could see the tension still straining the muscles in his face. Heck, she could see that tension in his every movement, even though he was trying to be gentle as he cleaned the scrapes on her hands and knees.
“What about the P.I.s?” Collena asked.
“They were both taken to the hospital. You’ll get an update as soon as there’s an update to give.” Jonah’s voice was edgy, and Collena suspected he wasn’t thrilled about making another trip out to the ranch.
“Your cop friend, Katelyn O’Malley, is okay. She’s with the sheriff out at the crime scene,” Jonah continued, his voice gaining edginess with each spoken word. “And I’m here with you two. Lucky me.”
Collena tried to suppress a wince when Dylan dabbed antiseptic on the scraped knee. She wasn’t successful. And Dylan noticed. “Sorry,” he mumbled.
“It’s okay. It doesn’t hurt much.”
Dylan made a sound to indicate he didn’t believe that, so Collena caught his chin and lifted it to force eye contact. “I’m really not hurt. These scrapes are minor. And everything will be okay.”
Judging from the set of his jaw, Dylan didn’t believe that, either, and Collena understood what he was going through. He was blaming himself, even though he’d done everything humanly possible to stop the kidnapping.
“Could we cut the tender moments,” Jonah snarled, “and get back to business? I’m supposed to collect Collena’s clothes and interview the two of you about what happened. Oh, and that’s a separate interview from the one I still need to do about Curtis Reese’s death. You two are just racking up the dead bodies, aren’t you?”
Collena ignored the jab and pointed to the paper bag near the door. “My clothes are all in there. Everything is bagged and tagged.”
She’d anticipated that the items would be needed for evidence. Besides, she hadn’t wanted to wear them. They smelled of Rodney
Harmon. As soon as Dylan had brought her back to the house, she’d changed into a loose blue dress so her scraped knees could be cleaned.
Jonah leaned down and glanced inside the bag. He didn’t seem pleased that she had done a small part of his job for him. “And what about the interviews? Let’s get them done, too.”
Collena glanced at the clock on the mantel. It wasn’t that late, just past ten at night, but she was beyond exhausted.
“You’re leaving now, Jonah,” Dylan insisted. He set the antiseptic and gauze aside on the coffee table, stood and walked to Jonah. “Any statements and interviews can wait until morning.”
Jonah put his hands on his hips, and his nostrils flared. “I have to do my job.”
“If you’d been doing your job, Rodney Harmon wouldn’t have had the opportunity to kidnap Collena.”
His nostrils flared even more. “Don’t try to pin it on me. That man was on Collena’s tail before she even came to the ranch. She brought him here.”
Dylan didn’t say a word. He glared at Jonah, and the deputy must have decided it wasn’t a good time to pick a fight with Dylan.
“I’ll be back bright and early in the morning,” Jonah snapped. He grabbed the bag from the floor. “And you’re going to give me those statements.” He turned and nearly ran into Ina. He didn’t offer her so much as a hello before he stormed away.
“You doing okay?” Ina asked them.
“Yes,” Collena lied. “How’s Adam?”
“Sound asleep. He doesn’t have a clue what happened.”
Good. Collena wanted to keep it that way. If she could erase the memory of Rodney Harmon from her own memory, she would.
Ina looked at Dylan. “I moved Adam’s crib back into the nursery. I figured you two had enough to handle so I’ll stay in there with him tonight.”
He nodded. “Thank you.”
“I’ll also reset the security system and make sure all the doors are locked.” Ina didn’t linger, probably because she, too, looked exhausted. It’d been such a long, horrible night, but maybe, just maybe, they would get some peace.
Dylan went to the security monitor and checked the nursery. Collena got up from the sofa and went to his side. Ina had been right—Adam was sleeping.
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