McKenzie Cousins Box Set Three: Books Seven, Eight, Nine

by Lexi Buchanan

  “They’re so young,” Paul comments. “But it wouldn’t be the first time.”

  “No it wouldn’t.” Lost in thought, I finish the stir-fry and shove my bowl away. “Let’s go and find Joshua and Samantha.”

  “Wait!” Paul reaches and catches my wrist. “What about the other couples here? Do any of them have a daughter? Or even a son to cover all bases?”

  “Let me try and remember who has what.” Grabbing my jacket, I pull it on and take a few minutes to go through each couple. It takes a few moments and then I start to place children with parents. “There are three old enough to pull something like this off. The others are under fifteen.” Inhaling deeply, I continue, “Ann is a teenager. Nineteen if I remember correctly. Then there is Joseph. Twenty-One currently at Paris Island. Simon is eighteen. He keeps to himself and doesn’t have any friends. None that he’d admit to or his parents.”

  “We could still have this wrong.” Paul draws his weapon and flashlight. “Either way I have a bad feeling about tonight. Something is going to happen and we have a better chance of catching this person in numbers.” He opens the door and stepping outside the cold air hits us both. “I’ll lead to my cabin.”

  We take two steps and looking down I see a dart sticking out of my leg.

  Feeling woozy, I drop to my knees and then everything goes dark.

  40

  Joshua

  “Sam, we have to go to my cabin and check on Mallory and Paul.” I rub at my chest, feeling something is drastically wrong. “We have to go now.”

  Forcing myself to wait for Sam, I step outside the cabin and as soon as she’s by my side, I start to run. Sam is behind me, her breath is heavy in the air as we run through the trees and foliage that’s difficult to see in the dark.

  Stumbling through the last of the trees, the first thing noticeable is the open door to the cabin I was sharing with Mallory. My eyes search the surrounding area, but there’s no one around, at least in sight.

  Samantha moves in front of me. “We need a plan, and quickly. You’re not going in there until you’ve stopped to think. We don’t know that anything has happened to them.”

  I give her a startled look.

  “I know how it looks, but if you think about it there hasn’t been time for the crime scene to be set up like all the other ones. This is different.”

  “I need to find Mallory,” I growl between my teeth.

  “I know, we need to find them both.”

  Her words help to clear my mind, and I know I have to think this through otherwise I’ll be putting both our lives on the line, not to mention being of no use to Mallory and Paul.

  “Okay,” I start. “There isn’t any cover between here and the cabin so we’re going to have to run without making a noise. We don’t want to spook anyone who is inside.” I wipe the sweat off my brow with my arm while trying to keep my panic from overtaking me. “We’ll enter as we would any other suspected crime scene.”

  “We have this Joshua.” Samantha raises her gun and quickly makes a dash for one side of the steps leading up to the porch. She crouches and waits for me who needs a swift kick up the ass to get my body moving.

  Joining Samantha, we make quick work of entering the cabin, which has the sense of abandonment. My eyes swiftly move around and I notice the dish and coffee cup on the countertop, along with dirty dishes near the sink and on the stove. I cover Samantha who leads through to the bedroom and after doing a full sweep of the cabin find no one here. Walking back outside, I shine my flashlight on the porch and that’s when I discover drops of blood. My head pounds as I crouch.

  “Have you found something?” Samantha asks, joining me.

  “Blood.” I swallow hard. “Only a few drops, which I don’t think are from a gun shot. Maybe a cut.” I frown.

  Samantha draws much closer to the drops. “I’ve seen this kind of thing before. I think someone was shot with a dart.” She shakes her head. “A couple of darts because I’m not sure one would spill so much blood, at least on the ground.” She stands. “Unless the person shot with the dart actually fell down the direction he was shot with the dart. If he fell on the dart then it would move and cause blood loss.”

  “So they’ve been knocked out with a dart.”

  “Possibly. We need to raise the alarm and get the team in here. More light as well.” Samantha jumps down from the porch and starts looking at the ground. “Whoever did this has to be strong enough to carry both Mallory and Paul to a vehicle.” She walks around. “Or maybe the person hasn’t left with them.” Her head swivels to me. “Is there any old cabins or outhouses close by, but not close enough that any noise made could be heard? Maybe something used for storing wood, or…a generator, or a barn.”

  “We’ll go to the main lodge first. Get the lights switched on throughout the resort, and while I’m looking at the resort map, you call in reinforcements.”

  With my heart pounding in fear, we hurry to the main lodge, having not come across anyone or anything out of place. I haven’t heard anything that would indicate they have a mode of transport, but I guess that doesn’t really mean anything when dealing with a murdering asshole.

  Sam stops suddenly and I come up short so I don’t send her tumbling head first to the ground, and then the lodge is flooded with light. Gradually the lights along the main paths to each of the lodges get brighter and then the night is lit. Agent Gardner opens the door, a rifle raised, which he dips to the floor as soon as he recognizes us. Lindsey comes rushing over as we enter and offers coffee.

  “Agent Dillon asked me to make coffee,” Lindsey smiles.

  Dillon moves into view behind the woman. “And it’s amazing coffee.” He smiles. “Would you mind giving us some privacy?” He steers her into the lounge and closes the door. He sighs heavily. “She wouldn’t stop fussing from the moment we knocked on the door.”

  Shaking his head, Gardner snorts and rolls his eyes. “Pretty boy doesn’t know when to stop flirting,” he groans, moving toward a side window. “There hasn’t been any activity that we’ve seen or heard.” He nods toward a large table. “A geographical map of the area. Four cabins are old and not safe to be near let alone inside of. There is a new construction,” he moves over to the table, “here.” He points. “Tom Grainger said they’re gradually building two luxury log cabins, and this is the safest one to enter. Secluded with a works access road that leads through the mountains to the main highway.”

  I meet his gaze. “They have to be there.” Running my hands through my hair, I stare at the map trying to look for the quickest way of getting to the location.

  “We notified Ritter as soon as we knew something was wrong. He has a SWAT team on route, which he’s diverted to this spot here.” The access road. “He wants us to meet and we’ll go in together.”

  Shaking my head in refusal, I say, “I’m going in on foot. We don’t have time to wait.”

  “I’m going with you,” Samantha says, standing at my side. “We only believe there is one killer running around, so we can do this.” Samantha looks at Dillon. “We have to do this because we don’t have time to wait.”

  I hiss in frustration, “I’m going after Mallory and Paul with or without backup.” Moving toward the door, I check I still have the flashlight and two extra clips for my gun, and then head out, with Samantha, Dillon and Gardner hot on my heels.

  41

  Mallory

  My head is spinning as I slowly start becoming aware of the situation I’m caught in the middle of. I briefly wonder where Paul is and if he’s close, and especially if he’s hurt. This whole situation doesn’t feel right. Nothing is being done that was done in the other murders. The killer had been profiled as watching the couple have sex before going in for the kill. None of that has happened. No drugs showed up in the toxicology screening for each of the victims, and I know that I’ve been drugged, along with Paul.

  The area that the dart hit, hurts and I’m fighting the urge to itch the entrance point. So fa
r no one is aware that I’m awake and I’m hoping to keep it that way for as long as possible, but I do need to try and see if I recognize where I am because I do know that I’m not inside a cabin. At least the cabins belonging to the lodge. No bright light teases at my closed eyes, so hopefully it won’t be obvious when I try and find Paul. My nose twitches at the scent of freshly cut wood, but I don’t think I’m outdoors.

  Keeping my breathing steady, I slowly open my lids halfway and when I don’t see anyone, I open them fully. My vision is blurry until I blink a few times and it becomes clearer. I was right about one thing. I’m no longer in Paul’s cabin. I can’t be too far away from it though because a vehicle would have been heard, and Joshua would have come running. He would have least checked it out, that I do know.

  Tears come to my eyes when I think of Joshua. He’ll be looking for me, and maybe Paul if he wasn’t left at the cabin.

  A moan reaches my ears and I quickly turn my head, which isn’t a good idea. Dizziness washes over me and sickness rolls through my body.

  I’m not sure how long I slept for, but I come awake again to, “Mallory,” hissed from somewhere over my left shoulder.

  “Um,” I mumble. “I feel drunk.” It’s the only way I can think to describe how I feel—nauseous and disorientated. It isn’t a nice feeling and one I haven’t felt for a very long time. Hadn’t had any wish to feel it again either.

  “Mallory, you need to wake up,” Paul whispers, frustration in his voice. “She’s outside on the phone.”

  “She?” I blink my eyes open and this time the world stops spinning, but I don’t move. “Do you recognize her?”

  “No,” he growls. “She isn’t happy that her best laid plans have gone haywire. I think we startled her when we started to leave the cabin.” He sighs. “She has our weapons and is under the impression we’re cops.”

  “We’re obviously in the middle of nowhere, otherwise we’d be gagged.” I slowly move the best I can with zip ties cutting into my ankles and wrists. Moving into a sitting position isn’t the easiest of things and I take a moment to breathe. “How old do you think she is?”

  “Young. No older than early twenties.” Paul groans. “She’s panicked, which isn’t good.” More groaning and then he’s sighs. “Try and scoot your hands underneath you to bring them in front.”

  I should have thought of that.

  By the time I have my hands in front of me, I’ve broken into a sweat and my wrists feel raw. Blood is on one of the ties around my wrist, but only a small amount. Worth it to not feel like my shoulders were about to snap out of place.

  “We’re in a new build. I smelt the fresh wood when I came around the first time, but now I see it.” I tilt my head upwards and don’t see anything but the roof. Frames are up inside but have yet to have been completed. “I don’t see any tools. Nothing.”

  “I’ve looked.”

  I freeze when I hear a vehicle and my eyes snap to Paul’s. The sound isn’t coming closer, it’s moving away. “Is she leaving?”

  “Having seen the girls slight frame there is no way she could have carried me from where I’d dropped at the cabin to a vehicle, and then inside here.”

  “I was wondering about that.” I’m thoughtful. “We’ve always assumed that the killer is alone, however what you’re saying means she has to have someone helping her. Her father, a brother, another son or daughter from the ‘swingers’?”

  “Whatever is going on, we need to find a way out of these restraints.”

  “Joshua will know something is wrong. He’d felt it before we’d all met at the lodge. He will have wanted to check on me by now.”

  “Yes, Sam will be worried about me too. We had an agreement to check on each other every hour.”

  I bring my hands up to my face but there is no way I’m going to be able to get free of the plastic ties. I wiggle against the wall and rest my head. “Hopefully a crew will be working at first light, and find us, if Josh and Sam haven’t by then.” Deep inside I know Joshua will be looking. He won’t stop until he finds me because I wouldn’t stop until I found him. I’d go insane if a killer had taken him.

  Tears brim on my eyelashes and I feel relieved that it’s dark so that Paul can’t see how much I long to have Joshua holding me in his arms. I want to tell him how much he means to me. I haven’t gotten the chance to tell him that I’m going to work as a consultant, just as soon as I can cut the official ties with the bureau. He has no idea the plans I’ve made inside my own head and haven’t had chance to discuss with him.

  My life started to change the moment Joshua McKenzie came through the door of my office. I’d denied it of course and pushed my personal feelings to the side. However, Joshua has a way of working his way under my skin, and into my heart, and that is where he currently is, he’s there to stay too.

  The creak from someone moving closer infiltrates my wandering thoughts, and after a quick glance at Paul, I focus my gaze in the direction of the sound. My heart thumps wildly praying that she isn’t coming back because as we are, Paul and I are defenseless…and then, I recognize Josh. He moves to run forward except Samantha catches his arm and shakes her head and I catch her whispering, “We don’t know if anyone else is in here.”

  “They’ve gone,” I say.

  “Mallory,” Josh groans, dropping to his knees in front of me. In seconds he breaks the ties and then I’m in his arms. He pulls me so close to him that I’m sure he’s crushing my ribs. He buries his face in the curve of my neck and breathes deeply.

  I slide my fingers through his short hair and hold him to me, enjoying the feel of him. His mouth brushes my neck and he works his way to my lips where he presses an all too brief kiss. “I hear the cavalry pulling up,” he whispers. His forehead drops to mine. “I’d hoped as the killer had gone off course that we’d find you before it was too late.”

  Cupping his face, I kiss his lips and whisper, “I love you.” I kiss him again before I turn my face away and rest against his chest. We stay that way until the paramedics insist on taking me to the hospital to make sure I’m okay after being tranquilized.

  I only agreed to go because of the worry on Joshua’s face.

  42

  Joshua

  When Mallory was arguing with the paramedic about a trip to the hospital, I let her see how much I was worried about her. I’d been hiding my worry behind a mask the moment our team had entered the construction, but she needed to be checked out. I wanted to make sure she hadn’t been given anything that would have long lasting affect on her health. Luckily Paul and Mallory had only been given a strong sedative, and been saved by the fact that the killer knew they were cops. Apparently, they hadn’t wanted to be known as cop killers. Seems they have no remorse for killing couples though.

  The SWAT team coming up the access road had apprehended the two fleeing in a brand new SUV that Liz had been given by her parents, John and Neve. A handgun filled with the same caliber bullet that had shot me was found under the drivers seat. I have my suspicions and think that the SUV was a ‘keep quiet’ kind of gift. Turns out, she was angry at her mother for never staying faithful to her father. She’d overheard them arguing and knew it was her mother who wanted the different partners, but her father had never actually participated in the swapping. She hadn’t been able to bring herself to kill her mother, so she’d gone after the other men that her mother had been with, and had decided to kill the women they were with to avoid loose ends.

  The agents currently following leads weren’t sure how involved the young man, Xander, had been in the killings. So far they didn’t think he had killed anyone, just watched, until the last time when Mallory and Paul had been taken. She’d needed his strength to move them. Xander was the son of Mandy, who with her younger lover, Alex, had been heavily involved in the swinger parties. Xander was a product of one party. He’d come up in the family background check of all couples attending the retreat, but hadn’t been a possible suspect because he was thirty-four and had be
en out of the country during the first murder.

  It’s a relief to have them both in custody because now I can make a final decision about which way I want to take my career. I’ve had nothing but time—and paperwork—these past twelve hours while Mallory sleeps soundly in the hospital bed. I’ve catnapped but find too much going on to fall into a deep and relieving sleep. The plastic armchair that I’ve pulled up to the side of her bed creaks every damn time I move, so my body aches from being twisted in the same position for so long.

  Our boss Ritter is still around. I know this because he’d given me a look that told me he wasn’t going anywhere until Mallory had woken up and they’d spoken. He worries me because he has the clout to make problems for Mallory and I in the future, even though that doesn’t fully make sense to me. I know she’s an agent he relies heavily on, so I guess I’m going to have to trust him to protect her career. Even if it means that I have to keep my distance until she’s no longer my direct supervisor.

  Leaning forward, I wince as my body aches. I drop the files to the floor and gently take Mallory’s hand into mine. I kiss her fingers and rest my cheek against the bed, my eyes reaching upward to hers. She’s awake and watching me, searching my face before a smile tilts her lips. “You’ve slept on that thing?”

  “Yes.” I stretch and suck in a breath of air at the sharp pain that zings up my thigh.

  “You’re hurting,” she observes correctly. “Is it your leg?”

  “Right now every damn part of me is hurting, but yes, my thigh isn’t the best.” I stand from the chair and kissing her hand once more, I let it drop back to the bed. “I’ve been in the same awkward position for too long.” I limp toward the window and turn, limping back toward the bed. “I’ll be fine.” I add, “Don’t worry,” when a frown wrinkles her brow. “I promise.”