by Cynthia Eden
He’d hated it then.
It enraged him now.
But, in a blink, the fear was gone from her eyes. Her chin notched up. “Listen, buddy, I don’t know who you think you are, but I am not playing games with you. I’ll get a trace on your call, I’ll triangulate your signal, and you will wish you’d picked someone else to harass—”
“You know this is no game.”
Jill’s breath rushed out. “You’re saying you’ve abducted some girl? You’ve taken someone? Prove it. Prove—”
“She can’t talk right now. You remember, right, Jillian? You don’t get to talk in the car ride. But maybe once she wakes up...”
His words trailed away and the call ended.
Sonofa—Hayden yanked out his phone. He called the station even as he heard Jill frantically making a call on her own phone. “This is Sheriff Black,” he snapped when his call connected. “Have there been any reports of a missing girl in the area?”
“A missing girl?” Finn’s voice rose sharply. “No, sir! I just came on duty but...no, nothing like that.”
If she’d just been taken, there might not have been a chance for her parents to report her missing. He didn’t think this was some prank call. Not with the attacks on Jill already. No coincidence. She was back in town and it sure looked like her abductor was, too.
And he’d taken someone else.
“I need to find that caller!” Jill’s voice jerked his attention her way. She was pacing beside him, her phone at her ear. “Yes, jeez, yes, I did a reverse phone lookup immediately. The guy didn’t answer—I don’t know if his phone is shut off or what happened. That’s why I need your help. Monitor his number. Triangulate the signal, track down the phone, do something! Listen to me...he just said a girl has been abducted!” She stopped and threw a frantic glance his way. “Do I have a confirmation on a missing person in the city?”
He shook his head. No, they didn’t have confirmation, not yet.
“I think he called me right after he took her. No, I do not believe this is some joke! Can you tell me where the call came from or not? Can you find him?” She seemed to hold her breath and then...
She shook her head.
“Sheriff?” Finn said, jarring him, and Hayden realized he’d just been holding the phone while he watched Jill. “What’s happening? What can I do?”
“Put all of the deputies on alert. We have a potential abduction in Hope. A girl.” Because the caller had said she. “I want patrols going out. I want cars on the streets and our deputies looking for anything suspicious.” He planned on getting out right away to start a search. No one was there to follow her. Oh, hell, yes, he would be there. He’d tear that town apart if he had to do it. Conduct a door-to-door search.
If that guy wasn’t just scamming Jill, I will find that girl.
He hung up the phone and saw that Jill had done the same. “No trace,” she said, “but I’ve got the FBI monitoring my phone.” Her steps rushed toward him. “Hayden, he’s doing it again.”
“We don’t know that, not yet.” But deep inside, he thought she was right. The guy was striking again. After all of those years...
You won’t get away again.
“He killed Christy Anderson within twenty-four hours of taking her.” Jillian was dressing quickly, frantically, while she spoke. “That means we’re working against the clock.”
He yanked on his own shirt, then hurried into the den to grab his socks and boots. He pulled on his shoulder holster and checked his weapon.
Jillian rushed out behind him.
He turned toward her, hating the fear that he saw on her face. “We don’t have a missing person yet, Jill. No reports have come in to the station. We don’t have a victim, not yet.”
“We will,” she said with certainty, her expression stark, and her eyes so deep and sad. “We will.”
* * *
IT WAS THE bike that caught Jill’s attention. She’d gone with Hayden as he began a search of the city and the beaches. There were still no reports of any missing children but...
But the bike caught her attention.
Same place. She and Hayden had just pulled up at the parking lot near the big pier. A few fishermen were out now, an older couple walking hand in hand. And...
And there was a light blue cruiser locked to the bike rack.
The bike could have belonged to anyone at all.
Or...
She climbed from the patrol car and slammed her door. Her eyes wouldn’t leave that bike.
“I see it,” Hayden murmured as he came from the driver’s side. “Come on.” He marched toward the bike.
The handlebars were white and a light brown basket sat on the front of the bike. The lock was in place, securing the cruiser.
She turned, shielding her eyes from the sun. When she looked at the pier, she just saw the fishermen. The older couple. No kids. No girl.
When they’d left her cabin, they’d immediately come to this spot. Their first search point. She hadn’t needed to tell Hayden to drive there, he’d gone instantly. Because it all seems to be coming full circle.
She’d come to Hope to get closure. She hadn’t come so that another girl would become a victim. She’d never wanted—
Her gaze fell on the flip-flop. Just a dropped flip-flop on the concrete. It was about ten feet away from the bike.
“I’m going to talk to the men on the dock and see if they saw anything,” Hayden said. Then he was gone, heading determinedly toward the men. She heard a few of them call out greetings to him.
The wind blew against her. It wasn’t a cold day, not by a long shot, but a chill had settled bone deep for her. This was wrong. This never should have happened.
Her phone was ringing again.
She jerked when it vibrated in her pocket. Her fingers fumbled as she pulled it out and glanced at the screen. Unknown Caller. She waited a moment, one beat, two, just as she’d been instructed to do by her contact at the FBI. Then... “Hello?”
“She’s awake now. Thought you might want that confirmation.”
A girl screamed, a loud, desperate sound.
“Don’t,” Jill whispered. “Do not hurt her.”
“I won’t...”
She could see Hayden talking intently with one of the fishermen.
“In fact, Jillian, I won’t do anything to her at all.”
She took a step toward Hayden.
“Provided that you do exactly what I say.”
She needed to keep him talking. She wasn’t some terrified thirteen-year-old any longer. This wasn’t her first, second or even third time to deal with a monster.
“Trade yourself for her, Jill. You give yourself to me, you take her place...and she can just walk away.”
She was rushing toward Hayden. He looked up when her feet touched the pier and she saw the alarm in his dark eyes.
“Think about it,” the caller said, and then he hung up.
She didn’t have to think about anything. “We’ve got him,” Jill nearly shouted to Hayden. “We’ve got him!” The FBI had been monitoring her phone. They should be able to find the jerk—they should have him.
* * *
IT WAS THE same cabin.
Jill let out a slow breath as she stared at the faded wood and the familiar, sloping roof. When she’d been a teen, she’d often snuck back to that place. The little cabin, nestled on the edge of the marsh. She hadn’t actually gone inside during those days, though, because she’d been too afraid.
Since she’d come back to Hope, she’d thought about the cabin. She’d even intended to pay the scene of her crime a personal visit, but she just hadn’t realized that she’d be returning that day.
“You’re sure this is the spot?” Hayden asked softly. He was beside her, crou
ched down behind his patrol car. They’d gone in quietly, then parked behind the trees that surrounded the cabin.
“After he called me the first time, I got one of my buddies at the FBI to monitor my phone.” Her heart was racing in a double-time rhythm, but her words came out calm, steady. “The call originated from that cabin.”
A deliberate choice, she knew. The guy was sending her a message...
You’re back. So am I.
And just where the hell had he been for all these years? Why start hunting again now? What had changed for him?
She had her weapon in her hand. Hayden had radioed in for backup during their drive over, but every moment that passed... It’s another moment that he could be hurting her. “Are you ready?” Jill asked him.
Hayden’s gun was at the ready. “Hell, yes.”
“Then let’s do this.” Her breath whispered out. “I’ll go in the front door, you take the back. The last thing we want is for him to slip away.”
“Not again,” Hayden gritted, his jaw locked tight. “He won’t vanish again.” He gave a grim nod. “Be careful.”
Then he was gone, slipping away like a ghost as he kept to the line of trees. She wasn’t surprised that he could move so stealthily. After all, that would have been part of his training. She knew he’d get to that back door and be ready. A perfect partner.
She kept covered as she made her way to the front door. She didn’t want to present a target of herself. The guy in there—his phone calls had proved that he wanted vengeance against her. She wasn’t about to give the perp a free shot.
If he wanted her, then he’d have to work for that hit.
She crept up the porch steps, moving slowly so that the old wood wouldn’t creak beneath her feet. On the way over, Hayden had gotten Finn to pull up the property records on the cabin. It was currently listed for sale, a truth she’d noted when she glimpsed the slightly crooked for-sale sign near the front of the property.
The fact that the place was empty had probably made it even more appealing for the perp. Was it like coming home for you, you sick jerk?
The front door was ajar. A heavy lockbox—the type that Realtors always put on vacant homes—had been broken and lay smashed a few feet away. She eased out a slow breath. Jill couldn’t hear any sounds from inside that cabin.
Not a single whisper.
She pushed open that door and slipped inside. No lights were on but sunlight streamed in through the windows. The front room was empty. The kitchen was covered with dust.
The hallway yawned before her, leading back to the bedroom, the room she’d been held inside. It was a small cabin, tight, outdated.
A prison.
She crept down that hallway. The bedroom door was closed. Her grip on the gun never faltered as she approached the room. She had a sudden flash of waking in that small back room, of being on the floor. Of being tied, hand and foot.
She pushed open that door.
And Jill saw the phone that had been dropped onto the floor, dropped right in the spot she’d woken in years before.
* * *
“STEP INTO MY PARLOR,” he whispered as she watched Jill vanish into the little cabin. She thought she was being so very clever. He’d figured she’d track his call. After all, she was the high-profile FBI agent now. Tracking him should have been easy for her.
He’d counted on that.
So he’d left a few...surprises for Jill. As soon as she went into the old house, he started to count. He figured it would take her a few moments to get inside. To get inside, then to find the phone.
He’d call her soon. And that call from him would be the last thing she’d ever hear.
* * *
WHEN HE’D BEEN a kid, Hayden had tried to pick the lock at the back of the cabin. A flimsy lock, but he hadn’t been able to get it open. He’d scouted around the cabin, found that broken window and slipped inside of it in order to get Jill.
A new lock had been put on the back door. Bigger, shiny. This time, he didn’t try to pick the lock open. He just kicked in that door.
If you’re inside, you won’t get out.
He ran in with his gun up, sweeping around the rooms, looking for the man who’d thought to raise fresh hell in his town.
But the hallway was empty. The little cabin was too quiet. And when he went into the back bedroom, the bedroom that had haunted his dreams...
He saw Jill standing in the middle of the room. She was staring down at a cell phone. When he slipped into the room, she whirled, her gun aiming right at his heart.
“Easy.” He inclined his head toward her. “No sign of him out back.”
“The girl isn’t here. He isn’t here.” Her gaze darted to the phone. “But he wanted us here. He left that...”
And even as her words faded away, the phone began to ring.
Jill reached for the cell phone.
But Hayden remembered another time, another place. A city where the sun blazed and sweat always seemed to slicken his skin. A cell phone had been left in a car near their safe house. It had started to ring. One of his team members had turned at the sound—
And hell had exploded around him.
Jill’s hand had almost touched that phone. “Jill!” Hayden roared.
Her head whipped toward him. Her eyes had gone wide. He didn’t say anything else—there was no time. He grabbed her hand and yanked her toward him. He was acting on pure, blind instinct, but the setup was too easy. An empty cabin, a phone waiting. Ringing.
“Hayden! What’s happening?” Jill yelled, but she didn’t fight his grip. She ran with him down the hallway.
He looked at her, his lips parted, and that was when he heard the explosion. A loud, reverberating blast that seemed to shake the entire cabin. He saw her face go slack with shock. She said his name once more, but he couldn’t hear her voice. He couldn’t hear anything but that terrible thunderous blast. Her lips were moving, though, and he knew clearly that in that last instant, Jill was calling out for him.
He grabbed her, locked his arms tightly around her, and they rushed toward the back door, even as a ball of flame seemed to roll through that house and come after them.
Smoke and flames raged as Hayden shoved open that back door. Jill was coughing, choking, clutching tightly to him. They were almost clear. Almost free of the fire and the bomb that had been set.
The phone was the trigger, I knew it, I—
The windows exploded. The roof groaned and that little cabin was swallowed by the flames.
He leaped out with Jill, holding her tightly, and they slammed onto the ground.
* * *
IT WAS ALL about proper placement.
He smiled as he watched the flames destroy the little cabin. When he’d realized that the place was for sale, that no one lived in the cabin near the marsh, he’d known it was going to be the perfect location for him.
It had been easy enough to set his explosives. Put them in the right spot, and bam. The whole cabin would come down. Once the ceiling collapsed, escape from that cabin would be impossible. The flames and the smoke would take care of his prey.
“Guess you didn’t get away this time,” he whispered as he kept his eyes on the front of that cabin. Jill had gone in...
But she hadn’t come out.
Finally, he’d eliminated the threat she posed. A threat that had hung over him for far too many years. No more looking over his shoulder. No more wondering about the FBI agent.
He turned away from the cabin. The smoke and flames would attract attention soon. Deputies would race to the scene. The firefighters would swarm as they tried to battle the blaze. And, oh, wouldn’t it be too sad when the remains were recovered? The town hero, the sheriff, gone down trying to save his precious Jillian again.
Should have nev
er saved her the first time. Hayden Black should have just minded his own business. If he had, he wouldn’t be burning right then.
He tracked back through the marsh and got to his car. Just to be safe—because if Jillian had taught him one thing, it was the importance of securing your prey—he headed toward the trunk. He lifted it up and stared down at the girl inside. Bound, gagged, she wasn’t a threat to anyone. Her hair trailed over the black carpeting in the trunk and she barely seemed to breathe.
He smiled as he stared at her. He’d known he could get Jillian to appear if he dangled new bait in front of her.
The girl had been the perfect bait.
He slammed the trunk. It was good to be back on his game again. Back on top.
No one can catch me. No one can stop me. I have the power now.
He wasn’t some weakling. Not anymore. He was the boss.
And he’d just proved it. He’d taken out an FBI agent and a navy SEAL. He was unstoppable.
Unstoppable.
Chapter Ten
“Jillian!” Hayden knew they’d hit the ground too hard. He’d tried to roll and protect Jill with his body, but he wasn’t sure he’d done a good enough job. Jill was slack in his arms, her head sagging back. There’d been so much smoke around them at the end. “Jill?”
His heart barely seemed to beat as he stared at her. Her eyes were closed and she seemed far too still.
Not good, not good. “Jill, don’t do this to me.” He held her tighter and rushed farther away from the flames. When he was sure they were clear, he put her down on the grass and smoothed the hair away from her face. “Jill?” His fingers slid down to her throat and felt the pulse there, it was racing, too fast. Too—
Her hands flew up and shoved against him. A fast, defensive attack that probably would have sent anyone else sprawling, but Hayden’s reflexes had been honed by years of training, and he caught her hands, holding them in a tight grip, but making absolutely sure not to hurt her. Never her. “Jill?”
“I blacked out.” She seemed stunned.
“Only for a few seconds.” And that scared the hell out of him. “Did you hit your head?” He let go of her hand and began to lightly search through the thickness of her hair for a lump.