Lana leaned close again. “Oh, no. You’re going to watch us tear apart the one thing you’ve ever been unselfish enough to love and we’re going to take our time.”
“This is dumb, let’s just kill Hannah and get to the other stuff.” Nick wiped sweat from his upper lip, staring at me. He was completely out of control.
“No,” Lana said. She was still close enough that her breath warmed the tears on my face. She turned to Nick without backing away. “We do it my way.”
“Screw this.” Nick grabbed a hatchet from the table, hefting it over his head in one hand and running for Hannah.
“Nick Pathos, freeze!” The shout was followed by one echoing blast of a gun. A bullet caught Nick in the shoulder and the hatchet clattered to the ground as Nick fell.
“Don’t shoot.” Lana stepped away from Hannah, tears springing to her eyes. “Oh, God. Please, don’t shoot. He made me do it all.” She quickly dissolved to nothing more than a scared girl, but I wasn’t buying it.
“I doubt that.” Chief Woodley strode out of the darkness.
“Lana Meyers, on your knees.” Jake followed Woodley into the lantern light with his gun trained on her.
“Please, you have to believe me. I never wanted to do any of this.” Lana shook her head, tears streaming down her face.
“Hands on your head,” Woodley said.
“Okay, okay.” Lana sniffled and lifted her hands.
“Cuff her,” Woodley said. “I’ll check on the boy.”
Jake nodded as he advanced. Lowering his gun, he reached for cuffs. Lana’s hand darted down. She grabbed the hatchet Nick had dropped and threw it at Jake. He stumbled back, narrowly avoiding the weapon. Lana was on her feet and running.
“Freeze!” Jake pulled his weapon again, but Lana didn’t slow. He fired one shot and wood splintered from the doorway as Lana ran through.
“Shit.” Jake darted after her.
“Damn it, Jake. Be careful,” Woodley called after him. He left Nick and knelt before me. “Are you hurt?”
“My hand,” I said. “Please get me out of here.”
Woodley nodded and pulled a knife from his pocket. He sliced through the ropes that bound my wrists. “Guess we should have taken you a bit more seriously,” he said gruffly.
“It’s fine.” I stared distractedly at Hannah. Her eyes widened and she began to scream through the duct tape covering her mouth. I heard a thud and turned to see Nick had hit Woodley over the head with a brick.
“Jesus!” Woodley cried, holding his head. Nick advanced to hit him again while Woodley pushed himself backward, struggling to free his gun from the holster.
I bent to untie my ankles. My broken hand was useless. Chief Woodley’s knife lay on the floor by my feet. I grabbed it and sliced through the binds.
I glanced at Nick and Chief Woodley, who still hadn’t gotten his gun free. I looked at Hannah. I wanted to free her, but knew I had to stop Nick. I spotted an old piece of rebar. I snatched up the rusted metal and ran at Nick, lifting it over my head and swinging down. Nick turned just in time for the rebar to catch him in the temple. He went down hard. Chief Woodley gave up on the gun and swung himself on top of Nick, rolling him and cuffing his hands behind his back. He sat panting for a moment. The mill was silent aside from the sound of our breathing. In the distance, there was a shot.
“Put that down, Alissa.” Chief Woodley climbed to his feet. I realized I was still gripping the rebar and had lifted it up to swing again. I let him take it from me. My hand sung in pain I hadn’t noticed before.
I heard Hannah behind me and ran to her. I pulled the duct tape from her mouth with my good hand before starting on her binds.
“Alissa,” Hannah said through tears. Her hand still had a knife sticking out. “Oh, God, Alissa.”
“I’m right here.” I leaned over, hugging her head close to my chest, afraid of hurting her. “Let’s get the knife out.”
“No,” Chief Woodley said over his shoulder. “Leave it for the paramedics. We don’t want to cause any more damage.”
Hannah sobbed against my chest, her free hand reaching up and tugging me down to her lap. I smoothed back her hair, making shushing noises and murmuring reassuring words that probably meant nothing to her. We sat like that until paramedics arrived.
Chapter Forty-two
Time passed in a blur. Paramedics and more officers arrived. The paramedics freed Hannah’s hand and loaded the two of us into ambulances. Nick was loaded into another with two officers. As we left, Woodley and some others were heading into the woods to look for Jake and Lana. I remembered the gunshot I’d heard and wondered if it meant Lana was dead. I hoped Jake was all right.
I was sitting in a hospital room waiting for the X-rays of my hand when my parents rushed in. Tears ran down Mom’s face and Dad was way too pale. Together, they pulled me into a hug. I wrapped one arm awkwardly around Mom, the other arm in a sling against my chest. The doctor thought my hand might need surgery, and he’d given me drugs to numb the pain.
“I’m so sorry.” Mom sobbed into my hair. “This is all my fault.”
I couldn’t help the bark of laughter that slipped out at her words. “No way, this wasn’t your fault.”
“I was the one encouraging you to hang out with Nick.” Mom stood straight, pulling a tissue from her purse and wiping her eyes even as more tears fell. “I practically fed you to him.”
“Linda.” Dad pulled away from me to wrap an arm around her. She buried herself in his side. “None of us knew Nick was capable of this.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Reeves?” The doctor poked his head in the room before stepping inside and striding toward my parents with a wide, practiced smile. He was tall with dark hair just graying at his temples. His skin was a shade darker than Hannah’s. “I’m Dr. Parker. I’ve been attending your daughter.”
“Is she okay?” Mom looked panicked, first at me, then the doctor.
“She has two broken fingers and one broken bone in her hand, so we’ll need to take care of that.” Dr. Parker held the X-rays to the light. “You can see the breaks here. She was lucky, the fractures are clean and stable so she won’t need surgery, just a cast.”
I didn’t look. “How’s Hannah?”
“I believe the girl you came in with is in rough shape, but nothing critical. That’s all I can tell you.”
Mom smoothed down my hair. “Can we worry about you for one minute, please? Hannah’s parents are here to worry about her.”
I pursed my lips, but nodded.
“When will you fix Alissa’s hand?” Dad asked.
“The breaks aren’t bad, we’ll get a cast on her right away and then she can go home.”
“I want to see Hannah. Can I see her?”
The doctor hesitated, glancing at the door as if looking for permission. “I don’t see a problem with that, but I’ll have to ask the officers.”
I nodded and he stepped outside. A few moments later, he returned with Chief Woodley and Jake. They introduced themselves to my parents.
“How are you doing?” Jake asked, resting on the side of the bed. “I heard you’re a hero.”
“Not really.” I blushed.
“That’s not what Woodley said.”
“I never said she was a hero,” Chief Woodley said gruffly. “I said she had more courage than brains running at that kid. I was about to pull my gun. Could have shot them both.”
“Or maybe that kid would have brained you with the brick a couple more times,” Jake said dryly. “Can you give the girl a damn thank you?”
“Thanks.” Woodley rubbed at his eyes. “You did good back there. No one could have known what was going on in that mill.”
“Except how I tried to tell you over and over that Hannah had been kidnapped?” I stared Woodley down.
“Yeah, well.” Woodley cleared his throat. “It’s behind us now.”
“What about Lana?” I turned to Jake. “Is she gone?”
Jake put a hand on mine. “I
had to shoot her. She had a gun. I don’t know where she got it, but she pulled it on me when I finally caught up with her.”
Relief flooded me. I’d been half-expecting her to show up in the room.
“Did Nick—” I stumbled over my words, memories of his manic appearance in the mill coming back to me. “Did he make it?”
“Yes, surgery went fine. Little bastard will probably live a long and healthy life.”
“Did he say anything about why he did this?” Dad stepped forward to take my hand.
“Only bits and pieces. It will be a few days before we get the full picture, but I get the impression he’s been obsessed with your daughter for quite some time.” Chief Woodley frowned. “I think Lana Meyers was as well, though perhaps to a lesser degree. It appears to be a perfect storm scenario. Two teens with a lot of anger and just enough loose screws and brains to pull off a plan of this caliber. We’ll do everything we can to get the full story.”
“They said they killed someone.” I swallowed hard. Nick’s excitement at the idea filled my head. He’d enjoyed killing that girl, I was sure of it.
Chief Woodley’s face darkened. “It would appear that the body we thought was Lana’s belongs to someone else, yes. All the signs pointed to it being Lana and her parents refused DNA testing.” He wiped a hand across his tired face. “Frankly, we dropped the ball because we wanted the case closed.”
“And that almost got my daughter killed.” Dad bristled. Mom moved to stand beside him.
Chief Woodley nodded, scowling. “As I said, that’s all behind us now.”
“Can I see Hannah?” I asked before anyone else could say anything.
“Yes. I’ll take you to her.” Jake stood.
“Do you want us to come with you?” Dad asked.
“No, I’ll be okay.”
I followed Jake to another narrow room three doors down from mine. Hannah looked too small in the bed. She’d only been gone for two weeks, but she’d lost weight. Her mom and dad sat close by her bed, but they all looked our way when Jake knocked on the open door. Hannah’s tired face spread into a smile when she saw me.
Her mom stood, then hesitated, glancing back at Hannah. Her dad stood, kissed his wife’s cheek and crossed to the door. “Alissa, we can’t thank you enough.” He shook his head. “Without you, we might never have seen our daughter again.”
“It was nothing.” I shrugged, embarrassed by the attention.
“It was everything,” her mom said.
“Can we have a moment in the hall?” Jake asked.
“Of course.” Hannah’s dad nodded.
Jake motioned for me to follow. He pulled the door shut behind me.
“We’re going to need to talk more in depth with Hannah very soon,” Jake said. “We’ll need to know exactly what happened to her. We can hold Nick on what we saw at the mill alone, but we’ll need to know if he was the one to kidnap her.” Jake took a deep breath, glancing my way. “And we’ll need to know if he was intimate with her.”
“He wasn’t,” Hannah’s dad said quickly. “They already examined her. The doctors say there are no signs of rape and Hannah confirmed that.”
“That’s good.” Jake nodded. “One less trauma for her.”
I hadn’t even thought to ask Hannah that when we were stuck in the small room together. I felt lightheaded with relief that Nick hadn’t put her through that.
“How’s her hand?” I asked.
Her dad wiped a hand over his face wearily. “It needs surgery, but they want to assess whether her body is strong enough for that yet. They have her on IV fluids and they gave her a small bottle of Ensure to see if she could keep it down. She has, so that’s a good sign.”
“Mr. Desarno, I want to be sure you know the only reason we found your daughter tonight was because Alissa wouldn’t give up on finding her.”
Hannah’s dad nodded. I swore I saw tears in the corners of his eyes. “I know.” It came out ragged as he turned to me. “You were the only one who believed she was missing. We were so happy to hear her voice when she called and told us she was okay that we believed all the lies.” He shook his head. “We’ll never be able to thank you enough.”
I nodded, not sure what to say.
Hannah’s mom opened the door. “Alissa?”
“Yeah?” I turned.
“Hannah wants a few minutes with you.” She stepped out of the room leaving the door open. I could see Hannah watching from the bed behind her. “We need to make some calls, so why don’t you sit with her? I don’t want her to be alone.”
“Okay.” I nodded, eager to be with Hannah.
As I passed through the doorway, her mom squeezed my arm and gave me a tentative smile. I returned it and closed the door behind me.
“Hey.” I smiled softly as I approached the bed.
“Hey, yourself.” Hannah reached for my good hand, clasping it tightly. “I never thought I was going to see you again.”
“I wasn’t going to give up on you.” I bit my lip, vowing not to cry.
Hannah shook her head. “I thought I was imagining it when they brought you in. I didn’t think anyone would ever come for me. They made me make those phone calls and my parents seemed convinced that I was safe.” Tears pooled in her eyes. “They said they would hurt you if I didn’t make the calls.”
I leaned in to kiss her forehead. “Don’t worry about it. Everything is okay now.” I rested my forehead on hers, feeling her nod.
“It was so horrible,” she whispered. “I still can’t believe it was Nick all along.”
“I’m so sorry. It was all because of me.”
“No, maybe they said that, but it was all in their heads. Nothing they said about you was true. You’re not the person they tried to make you out to be.” Hannah tugged on my hand. “Lie down with me?”
I glanced at the door. “Should I?”
“Yes. I need you close.” Hannah’s eyes were so filled with pain that I couldn’t say no, not that I wanted to.
She scooted over and I climbed carefully onto the bed. She held me and I wrapped my arm across her stomach. Nuzzling into her shoulder, I’d never felt so safe in my life.
We dozed like that until I felt a tentative hand on my shoulder. I woke with a start, jerking my injured hand.
“Sorry,” Mom whispered. “They’re ready to do the cast now.”
I nodded, getting carefully off the bed. Dad stood behind Mom, offering me a hand to steady myself. I still felt half-asleep, but it might have been the medicine.
“Alissa?”
I turned back to Hannah. Her dark eyes held mine and I stepped back, bending to kiss her gently. She took my hand. “Don’t worry, I’ll just be a couple doors away. I’ll come back as soon as I can.”
“We’ll get her back to you,” Mom said. I could have hugged her right there.
I held Hannah’s hand until I was too far away and had to let it drop. I paused at the door, letting my parents step out into the hall as I looked back at Hannah one more time. She smiled and lifted a thin hand to wave once. I grinned in return.
Hannah’s parents nodded to us and slipped into the room. I turned, letting my parents lead me back to my room, each with an arm around me. The doctors put a cast on my hand and I had to wait until it dried enough for me to leave. I kept glancing at the door, eager to return to Hannah.
Mom noticed me looking toward the door. “We’ll have to go home soon.”
“I want to see Hannah again.”
“You can.” Mom squeezed my good hand. “But you both need rest so it needs to be a short visit for now.”
“We’ll bring you back tomorrow,” Dad said.
Finally, I was allowed to leave. I leaned into Mom as we headed for Hannah’s room, letting her help me along more than Dad.
Three nurses and a police officer rolled a gurney down the hall. Dad’s fingers tightened on my shoulder and he pulled Mom and me to the wall. I thought Nick would be completely passed out, but he turned to me as h
e rolled by and his familiar, easy grin spread over his face.
“Gotcha,” he whispered. He laughed as they rolled him away.
I pressed closer to Dad’s side, as if he could protect me. Cold seeped through me as they turned the corner, Nick still laughing manically. The sound would haunt me. I hoped that was the last time I’d ever see Nick and prayed that this time, Lana really was dead.
My parents stayed in the hall as I entered Hannah’s room. Her eyes lit up when she saw me. Her parents each kissed Hannah’s forehead, stood, and left the room wordlessly. The door clicked shut behind them and Hannah scooted over on the small bed. I returned to my place beside her, inhaling her scent and closing my eyes.
About the Author
Samantha was born in Upstate New York and lives there still today; however, she has traveled extensively within the United States and the rest of the world. She lives with her wife and son in a small town near the water and writes when her busy life allows it.
When not being a full-time mom, she likes keeping up with her favorite TV shows, doing puzzles, and enjoying a glass of her favorite wines. Of course she is also a big fan of reading, mostly young adult novels, but with a soft spot for Stephen King.
Soliloquy Titles From Bold Strokes Books
Gravity by Juliann Rich. How can Ellie Engebretsen, Olympic ski jumping hopeful with her eye on the gold, soar through the air when all she feels like doing is falling hard for Kate Moreau, her greatest competitor and the girl of her dreams? (978-1-62639-483-4)
18 Months by Samantha Boyette. Alissa Reeves has only had two girlfriends and they’ve both gone missing. Now it’s up to her to find out why. (978-1-62639-804-7)
Before by KE Payne. When Tally falls in love with her band’s new recruit, she has a tough decision to make. What does she want more—Alex or the band? (978-1-62639-677-7)
Banished Sons Of Poseidon by Andrew J. Peters. Escaped to an underworld of magical wonders and warring, aboriginal peoples, an outlaw priest named Dam must undertake a desperate mission to bring the survivors of Atlantis home. (978-1-62639-441-4)
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