by Rita Herron
“Just leave, go home,” she cried. “I don’t want you here anymore.”
“You may regret making love to me, but I’m not leaving you alone, not while that maniac is out there.”
Lenora trembled. “Please, Micah, just go…”
“No.” He glanced down and saw the phone in her hands. A muscle ticked in his jaw as reality dawned, and he jerked it from her. “He called you, didn’t he?”
She bit her tongue as Micah checked the caller ID log. He flipped it around to confront her. “There it is, an Unknown.”
“Micah, please let me handle this.”
“What did he say, Lenora?”
Anger shot through her. “He has my mother.” Her voice cracked. “For God’s sake, Micah, I have to go and I have to do it alone or he’ll kill her.”
He would probably kill her anyway. Kill them all. But she had to try to save them.
“Where did he tell you to come?”
“He’s going to text the address to me.” She jerked the phone from his hand, jammed it in her pocket and reached for her keys. “Now, let me go.”
He pulled her back into his arms. Terrified for Nan and her mother, she pushed at his chest, but he wrapped his arms so tightly around her that she couldn’t move.
“You are not going alone, Lenora. He’ll kill all of you. I can’t let that happen.”
“Please, Micah,” she whispered. “My mother…”
“I know, baby, I know.” He pressed a kiss in her hair and she fell apart. For a full minute, she allowed herself to cry. He rocked her in his arms, soothing her. When she finally took a breath, he framed her face with his hands.
“Listen to me. I’ll hide in the back. He won’t know I’m even there until I jump out and surprise him.”
“He knows about you, us. What if something goes wrong?”
“I’ll text my partner and tell him to keep a trace on my phone. He’ll know where we are and have back-up waiting.”
A war raged in her mind, but she finally agreed. She didn’t want Micah to get killed, but she was terrified for her mother and friend.
He threw on his clothes, holstered his weapon, and they hurried downstairs together. He called his partner as she reached for the door. As soon as he set up the trace, he nodded for her to go outside.
She stepped on the front stoop and headed toward her car. Micah followed her, but a shot rang out behind her.
She screamed and spun around just as Micah hit the ground. A second later, Simpleton grabbed her and shoved a gun to her back.
“Get in and drive, Lenora. It’s time we got the party started. Sorry to say but lover boy won’t be joining us.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
MICAH ROUSED FROM UNCONSCIOUSNESS, DRAGGED HIMSELF UP from the ground, and pressed a hand to his shoulder where the bastard had shot him. Blood oozed from the wound, but he didn’t have time to deal with it.
Simpleton was getting away with Lenora.
He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, tucked it inside his shirt to absorb the blood, then called his buddy, Mitchell.
“He has Lenora, Mitch. I need your help.”
“What can I do?”
“Get an APB out on Lenora’s car.” He gave him the make and license plate. “I’m phoning the tech team now for those locations to check out.”
“I’ll get on the APB and pick you up at the ranch with the chopper.”
Micah ended the call, then phoned tech.
The analyst cleared his throat. “I was just about to email you the map and coordinates of the areas we narrowed down.”
“Send it now. Simpleton has Lenora. I have to hurry.”
He hung up, rushed inside the condo, hurried into the bathroom, dug under Lenora’s sink and found gauze and tape. Pain shot through his shoulder as he stripped his shirt and examined the wound. Dammit, the bullet had lodged inside.
Too deep for him to remove himself. Besides, he didn’t have time.
He poured antiseptic on the wound, gritting his teeth as he cleaned it. Blood still oozed from the bullet hole, but he applied pressure with some gauze, tossed the bloody gauze away, then packed it with more gauze. Using his teeth, he ripped off tape and wrapped it around the gauze and his shoulder, securing it tightly to keep the pressure on his injury.
His phone dinged that the email was coming through from the tech. Three different areas, all near small private airfields.
From the topography maps and photographs, there were two different Victorian houses that had been abandoned in isolated areas near airfields.
Was Simpleton taking Lenora to one of them?
It was a long shot, but the only lead he had.
Pulse hammering, he jogged outside to his SUV, jumped in and drove to his ranch.
The few minutes it took him to get there felt like an eternity. Every second he imagined Simpleton with his hands on Lenora.
He was going to kill the creep.
He barreled up the drive, the sight of his ranch house usually a welcome reprieve from the ugliness of his job. Yet tonight, he couldn’t enjoy it.
He threw the SUV into park, relieved to see Mitch waiting by the chopper, and hit the ground running.
“The APB’s been issued,” Mitch said. “Do you have a place to start?”
“A couple, yeah. Let’s go.”
He jumped in the chopper and Mitch fired it up. A second later, they were flying across the treetops. He watched the horses running in the pasture freely and vowed Lenora would see this place soon.
She had to.
He couldn’t bear it if he lost her.
LENORA CLENCHED THE STEERING WHEEL IN A WHITE-KNUCKLED grip. “Did you hurt my mother?”
Simpleton waved the gun at her. He’d already confiscated hers, dammit.
“I’ll let Mommy tell you what we did together,” he said in a singsong voice.
Revulsion seized Lenora. She wanted to kill this man more than she’d ever imagined possible. The thought of his hands on her mother, on Nan…
She blinked to make the images disappear. She had to focus. Figure out a way to save the three of them.
And Micah…God, what if he was dead? She’d heard that gunshot. He’d gone down. And she’d seen blood pooling on the ground.
What if he didn’t make it?
For now she was on her own. There was no one to save Nan and her mother but her.
Simpleton had taken everything from her once.
Not this time.
“Turn there,” he growled.
She swerved onto a side road that looked as if it led to nowhere. Darkness shrouded the woods and land, the sounds of silence along the deserted road eerie and unnerving.
“Is Nan still alive?”
He rubbed a hand over his head. He looked so different from when she’d last seen him that she barely recognized him. He was leaner, more muscled up. He’d had scraggly hair and a beard when he was arrested. The mustache and fake side burns made his face appear longer. But his eyes still glittered with the same evil that had dominated his expression when he’d held her captive. And the skull and snake tattoos on his head and face made him look even more menacing.
She shivered. No matter what abuse he’d suffered as a child, he was evil. Pure evil.
“Alive and waiting on you.”
Lenora considered ramming the car into a tree to shut him up. Maybe the impact would kill him. It might kill her, too, but it would be worth it to stop him from hurting anyone else.
But if she did, she might never find Nan and her mother.
She slanted him a hate-filled look. “What did you do to her?”
He traced a finger along her cheek. “Tsk, tsk, tsk, my sweet Lenora. We’ll all be together soon enough.”
She swallowed in disgust but didn’t comment. Instead she took the turn to the left that he pointed out, driving them deeper and deeper into the bowels of the woods and the horrors that waited for her.
“THERE.” MICAH POINTED TO A SECTION OF LAND BY
THE RIVER. “There’s supposedly an old house that matches the description near that ravine.
Mitch scanned the area, searching for a place to land the chopper. “There are too many damn trees.”
“How about to the right?” Micah suggested. “If you can’t set it down, you can drop me and I’ll hike in on foot.”
“Let me try it first.” Mitch expertly guided the helicopter over a dense patch of woods, then lowered it onto the ground. As soon as he cut the engine, Micah jumped out. His shoulder throbbed like the devil, but at least the bleeding had slowed.
Micah checked the map and led the way along the river using his flashlight and compass to guide them. They hiked through patches of briars and over tree stumps, the scent of wet earth and moss mingling with the stench of a dead animal.
Praying this was the spot, Micah jogged along the creek until he spotted the old house in the distance. He sped up, drawing his gun and searching the area for signs indicating Simpleton had been near the house.
When he reached a clearing in front of the place, he hesitated, using his binoculars to get a better view.
“See anything?” Mitch asked in a low voice.
“Not yet.” Micah spanned the front of the house, then the sides but didn’t find a car or any sign of life. “Simpleton may not have gotten back with Lenora yet.”
Or they could be at the wrong place, wasting precious time…
They wove through the trees, inching up to the front door. Micah checked the windows, but they were either locked or painted shut. The house was rotting, paint peeling off, revealing evidence of raccoons nesting and trashing the place.
Mitch gestured that he’d look around back, and Micah jiggled the front door. It stuck, but he managed to pry it open. The inside was dark, cold, and smelled like rotten food and mold.
He shined his flashlight inside, boards screeching beneath his boots as he entered. Unlike Simpleton’s childhood home, this one was deserted, had no furniture. He made his way to the kitchen and saw no evidence anyone had been there.
Mitch crept inside, his gun at the ready.
“Nothing in here. You search the upstairs, I’ll look for a basement,” Micah said.
Micah slipped into the hallway while Mitch headed up the back staircase. He aimed the flashlight into the hall and found a door leading to the downstairs. Once again, Micah was pitched into darkness, but he used his flashlight to illuminate his way. Midway, he paused and waved the light across the dark cement room. In one corner, he noticed shelves filled with dented canned goods and canning jars. A rusted lawn mower and gardening tools that hadn’t been used in ages filled another corner.
Simpleton wasn’t here.
“Nan? Mrs. Lockhart?” His voice echoed in the emptiness. But he crept down the rest of the steps then searched the basement for a hidden door or room.
Nothing.
Disappointment ballooned in his chest, and he quickly raced back up to the main floor. Mitch met him in the foyer.
“Nothing up there.”
“Nothing in the basement either.” They needed to check the other site.
His phone buzzed, and he snatched it up. “Hardin.”
Lt. Roper’s voice. “Micah, we got a call. Simpleton ditched the truck he was driving. We caught him on tape stealing a black Honda from the parking lot of a convenience store near Dry Creek Run.”
Micah glanced at the map on his phone. One of the houses on his list was off that road. “Thanks. I’m on my way.”
“What?” Mitch asked.
“Let’s go. Simpleton was spotted near Dry Creek Run Road.”
They jogged toward the chopper and lifted off again. Mitch hit the air at full speed, soaring over treetops, then the main highway until they veered onto a dirt road.
Tension knotted Mitch’s shoulders as he looked through his night binoculars in search of Simpleton’s vehicle and the house. An eternity later, he spotted the Victorian place nestled in the woods.
The Honda was parked at an odd angle in the yard, the door left ajar.
“There it is,” he said, adrenaline kicking in.
“I’ll have to look for a spot to land.”
“Drop me, then you can find a landing spot and meet me there. We can’t waste any time. Simpleton could be torturing Lenora right now.”
“I HAVE TO SEE MY MOTHER,” LENORA SAID AS SIMPLETON PUSHED
her down the stairs. Just like before, the basement was dark. Dank, musky odors assaulted her, her breath shaky in the silence.
“Mom? Nan?”
“Lenora, run!” her mother shouted.
“Help!” Nan yelled.
Simpleton’s laughter boomed around her. Then he shoved her toward a white porcelain tub that gleamed below a low hanging light. Ice cubes floated in the water, waiting for her.
The memory of his torture taunted her. She would not go down without a fight this time.
He poked the gun in her back, and she pivoted toward him. “Let them go, and I’ll do anything you want.”
“You’re going to do that anyway.”
She softened her voice. “I’ll go away with you. Just the two of us. Then you can have me all the time.” She forced herself to run her finger along his cheek. “Don’t you want that, Robert?” His first name tasted like acid on her tongue.
His eyes glittered with evil as he studied her. Then he jerked her hand away and dragged her toward the tub. “Nice try, but you have to be punished. I can still smell that bastard’s sex on you.”
Lenora gritted her teeth. At least if she died, she had the memory of Micah’s tender lovemaking to hold onto.
Simpleton aimed the gun at her chest. “Take off your clothes.”
Lenora quickly scanned the room for a weapon, anything to use to fight him. But the room held nothing useful. She only saw the two rooms holding his hostages.
Her belt.
She slowly unbuckled the belt and eased it through the belt loops. She had one chance, and she had to take it. She gripped it in her hand, swung it up and hit him in the face.
He yelped in pain as the buckle hit his cheekbone. She took advantage of his shock to knock the gun from his hand.
He bellowed in anger, grabbed her arm then slung her toward the floor. She grunted, but recovered and stabbed his eyes with her fingers. When he staggered backward, she darted toward the gun.
But he caught her around the neck with his hands, then dragged her toward the tub.
She screamed, biting at his arms and kicking with all her might.
But he was stronger, clenched her around the waist and pushed her over the side of the tub, then shoved her head down into the icy water.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THE SOUND OF LENORA’S SCREAM MADE MICAH’S BLOOD RUN COLD. He tiptoed toward the basement stairs, his pulse drumming like a jackhammer.
He had to save Lenora.
Holding his breath, he eased open the door, then crept down the dark stairs. The sound of shuffling, then another scream rent the air, and he braced his gun, slowly inching his way down each step until he spotted Simpleton shoving Lenora’s head into a tub of water.
Sick fucker.
“Let her go,” he growled as his boots hit the bottom step.
Simpleton jerked his head up, his smile gleaming in the semidarkness. “Come any closer and she’s dead.”
Lenora kicked and tried to pry the bastard’s hands off her neck as she flailed, head immersed in the ice bath. Screams and pounding echoed from two rooms behind them. The rooms where he’d obviously locked Nan and Lenora’s mother.
“Let her go or I’ll drop you like a rock,” Micah said.
He spotted Simpleton’s gun on the chair near the tub. He had to release one hand from Lenora’s neck to retrieve it. “You won’t take me in alive,” Simpleton said.
Micah grinned although he was counting the seconds Lenora had been under water. “Dead’s fine with me.”
Simpleton shoved her deeper with one hand and stretched to grab
his gun.
Micah didn’t hesitate. He fired a round into the man’s chest. Simpleton grunted and staggered back. Micah strode across the room and fired again and again, filling the man’s chest with bullets.
Simpleton collapsed backward, blood spurting as he gurgled for air. Lenora jerked her head up, gasping for a breath.
He raced to her and dragged her in his arms. She clutched his shoulders, her body trembling. Her cheeks were chilled and red, her hair damp. He stroked her back to warm her, giving her time to shed her emotions.
Simpleton tried to rally, his hands clawing for help to get up, but Micah pointed the gun at him again. The man’s eyes bulged, and blood dripped from his mouth, then his body convulsed and went limp.
“He’s dead, Lenora,” he murmured.
She exhaled shakily, then looked up at him. Her eyes were slightly glazed, but as she refocused, fear flared in her eyes. “My mother! Nan!”
He gently released her, and she raced to the first room while he rushed to the second. “We need a key for the padlocks,” she cried
Micah scanned the room, then spotted a set of keys on the floor beside Simpleton. He grabbed them, tried one, then the other until he unlocked the first room.
“Mom!” Lenora cried.
Lenora rushed inside and helped her mother out while he rescued Nan. Both women looked terrified and were sobbing, their hands bound. Micah quickly used his knife to free them.
Lenora’s mother fell into Lenora’s arms, and Nan joined them just as Mitch raced down the stairs. “We need an ambulance,” Micah said, noting the bruises on Nan’s arms and legs.
“I’ll phone it in.” Mitch made the call while Micah strode to Simpleton to make sure he was dead and would never be coming back.
LENORA COULDN’T STOP SHIVERING. THE ICY WATER MUST HAVE frozen her from the inside out. She wrapped the blanket tighter around her shoulders though and went to the doctor to ask about her mother.
The ambulance ride had been trying. Tense. Alternately quiet and filled with sobs as Nan and her mother poured out their rage and terror. Apparently Nan had suffered the most. The icy dunks in the bath, a beating, and a near rape. For some reason, Simpleton had stopped just before penetration, saying he wanted to let Lenora watch the fun.