Caught in the Crossfire

by Nichole Severn

  “You used me.” Plain and simple. He’d wanted his life back, and he’d done what he had to do to get the job done. She could still feel his hands on her, taste him, smell him on her skin. Her stomach rolled. She’d trusted him to help her forget, but all he’d done was make the nightmare worse. “And sleeping with me? Was that part of your sick mind game, too?”

  “No. That was never part of the plan. But no matter how many times I tried to tell myself otherwise, I couldn’t keep my hands off you, angel.” He reached out with one hand as though he intended to comfort her. “You’re the strongest, most intelligent—”

  “Don’t.” Her order came out between gritted teeth. He’d lied to her, used her. He wasn’t the man she thought he was. He’d seen an easy target and taken advantage, but she was the one filled with shame. Gravity pulled at her, urging her to sink to the floor, but she wouldn’t show weakness in front of him. Never again. Another wave of loss swallowed her whole. “I’m not your angel. You don’t get to call me sweet nicknames and make this all okay. You don’t get to touch me. You don’t get to pretend what you did wasn’t wrong.”

  He didn’t get to pretend she wasn’t grieving all over again.

  He dropped his hand, pulled back his shoulders. His expression locked into place, mirroring those times when he hadn’t been able to talk about his work for the FBI. She should’ve recognized that look for what it really was before now—pure apathy. That was what had made him such a good agent, made him the investigator his superiors could rely on, no matter the case. He’d kept himself just distant enough to not let the darkness in, and he was doing the exact same thing to her now—distancing himself. “Who sent you the photos?” he asked.

  “Special Agent Dominic. Looks like you weren’t the only person in my life lying to my face.” Dominic had obviously known Declan was alive before setting eyes on him in her office. He’d been surveilling her husband for a few weeks.

  But why? Why was everyone keeping secrets? This was her life, damn it. She deserved the truth. She ripped her cargo jacket from her shoulder, biting down against the pain where the Hunter’s arrow had pierced her, and shoved the coat into him on her way toward the bedroom door. “You can have this back. I don’t need it anymore.”

  Footsteps closed in behind her, then a strong hand on her arm spun her into his chest. “Kate—”

  “I told you not to touch me.” She wrenched out of his grip, put a few feet of space between them. The anger distorted into an all-too-familiar choking sensation. She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. “Whether you’re the husband I buried after the shooting or the man who pulled me from that pit, I don’t care. Don’t follow me, don’t insert yourself back into my life and don’t try to apologize. I don’t ever want to see you again.”

  She had to get out of there, away from him. Not waiting for his response, Kate headed for the front door. Hundreds of Christmas lights and decorations blurred in her peripheral vision, but where she’d had happy, comforting memories to draw from at the sight, now a tainted mass of betrayal set up residence. She grabbed her overnight bag and wrenched the thick front door open, stepping out into the freezing Alaskan night, and slammed the door behind her.

  He let her go.

  Her heated breath froze on the air, forming crystalized puffs in front of her mouth. Cold worked into her lungs and cleared her head.

  Dominic was waiting on her. They were going to have a talk about how he got ahold of those surveillance photos of Declan. But she couldn’t let the past few minutes—days—get to her. Despite the situation between her and Declan, she had a job to do, too. Another woman had presumably gone missing. She wouldn’t let the new cracks in her armor affect the case. Not again.

  The stairs protested under her weight as she forced her way to the SUV. They weren’t far up the mountain. Once the sun rose, Declan could make his way back to the city on his own. She wasn’t coming back here. She hit the button on her key fob to start the engine, and it roared to life. Climbing inside, she hauled her bag into the passenger seat and cranked the heater.

  Snow popped and groaned beneath the vehicle’s tires as she headed down the mountain. Every foot gained away from that cabin—away from him—released the pressure building around her heart.

  But halfway down, the lights on the console flickered. Same with the headlights as the SUV’s RPMs sank to zero. The engine died, and Kate pressed her foot against the brake pedal. Pitch blackness filled the interior of the vehicle as she rolled to a stop. Pressing the start button, she listened for a sign of what might be wrong with the engine. “Come on.”

  The battery must’ve died from the dropping temperatures. Lucky for her, Sullivan Bishop required every member of the Blackhawk Security team to carry extra ammunition, weapons, first aid kits, survival gear and an additional car battery. Never knew what kind of mess their clients or the weather would get them into, and it was always better to be prepared than caught unaware.

  Pulling her phone from her jacket pocket, she sent a quick message to the team. She was back on the Hunter’s case, at least for now, and she’d need their help. She tossed the phone into the passenger seat, then unholstered her weapon, checked the magazine and loaded a fresh round into the chamber. Shoving it back into her shoulder holster, she pushed open the door with her uninjured arm and hit the small dirt road.

  With a single glance into the surrounding trees, Kate walked to the back of the SUV and squeezed the lever for the tailgate. No sign Declan had followed her. The last thing she needed was for him to come out here to try to help. The muscles in her jaw ached. He’d done enough damage for one day.

  The soft hissing of the tailgate’s hydraulics drowned the steady sounds of the great outdoors. Hauling the battery and an extra flashlight from the back, she swung open the driver’s-side door and popped the hood, her boots slipping on the thin layer of compacted snow.

  How long had he been surveilling her, studying her? Kate blinked to clear the burning from her eyes as she hefted the SUV’s hood. Following her?

  Streaks of green and purple painted the sky in rivulets overhead, each strand branching off from a central point as the aurora danced in full display tonight. Millions of stars peppered through the thin veil of color, only adding a minuscule amount of light for her to see the vehicle’s engine. Clenching the flashlight between her teeth, she twisted the bolts of the dead battery free with a wrench.

  She was scheduled to meet Dominic in thirty minutes. Every minute counted when a victim went missing, and the longer she was out here, the less chance the FBI—the less chance Kate—had of finding the Hunter’s latest victim alive.

  Kate wrapped her fingers around the flashlight and swiped the back of her hand beneath her running nose. Hell, it was cold. Rubbing her hands together, she blew hot air into her palms in an effort to keep circulation moving. She’d close this case, she’d move on with her life, and she’d help those clients she could. Without Declan.

  Within a few minutes, the new battery was in place, and she settled in behind the wheel. Kate pushed the start button.

  Silence.

  “Are you kidding me?” What else could be wrong with the damn thing? She glanced in the rearview mirror, back up the road toward the cabin. She was going to have to go back up there, going to have to confront Declan again while she waited for a tow truck and a ride-share to make it to her meeting with Dominic. The other option was freezing to death.

  Kate shook her head. Okay. Maybe freezing to death wasn’t such a bad idea right about now.

  She sensed movement from the back seat, and she automatically reached for the gun in her holster. A stinging pain pinched at her neck as a gloved hand closed over her mouth.

  She wrapped her fingers around her gun’s grip, but her body grew heavier with every pump of her heart. She couldn’t get it out of the holster. Panic flooded her as the hand slipped from her mouth and took the weapon straig
ht from her holster.

  “Can’t have you ending the fun before it begins.” A black ski mask appeared in her rearview mirror as her eyes grew heavy. Darkness crept around the edges of her vision, then pulled her down into blackness as the drugs took effect.

  “You’re mine, Kate, and nobody is going to take you from me this time.”

  * * *

  SHE WAS DECLAN’S weakness, always had been.

  Now she was gone. She’d wanted him at his lowest, and he’d thrown it in her face. By holding her away from the truth in an effort to keep her in his life, he’d only managed to push her away.

  Declan held on to the cargo jacket she’d pushed at his chest, his fingers poking through the hole over the left breast. Where their killer had pierced her shoulder with an arrow. He was still out there, still hunting. Declan rolled the side of his mouth between his teeth and bit until blood spread over his tongue. What kind of bastard did he have to be to lie to the only woman who’d been willing to help him, to trust him? He was a damn fool.

  And for what? A few more details on a life that didn’t matter? He was never going to be the man she’d married. Even if every memory that’d been stripped from his head came rushing back, too much had changed since then. He’d changed.

  “Damn it.” She shouldn’t be out there alone. If he left now, he could catch up, ensure she was safe until she reached her meeting with Dominic. Then he and his former partner could have a talk about boundaries. Sending Kate those surveillance photos had crossed a line. But in the end, he was as guilty as Dominic. He’d watched her apartment, memorized her routines, investigated her clients. He’d learned everything he could about her before stepping foot in the house that night to ensure she hadn’t been involved in the shooting. It had all been part of the plan.

  Only, he hadn’t expected to fall for her in the process.

  Declan strode to the cabin’s guest bedroom, shoving his arms into his coat along the way. He’d have to make sure to thank Kate’s teammate for preparing for the apocalypse next time he saw Vincent. Arming himself with a handgun, a fresh magazine and a burner phone from the stash of supplies, Declan loaded a round into the barrel, checked the safety and holstered the weapon.

  Kate could still be a target. Adrenaline surged through him. He’d promised to protect her, and he’d keep that promise until the Hunter was in cuffs or dead.

  He’d seen the shadows in her eyes, the fear in her movements since he’d pulled her out of that damn pit. The nightmares haunted him, too. He wasn’t going to let that son of a bitch touch her. Not again.

  He hit the cabin’s front steps and followed the missing SUV’s tire tracks leading to the one-lane route down the mountain. Snow crunched beneath his boots as the light show of the aurora borealis lit the way. Cold worked through his thick layers and straight into his bones, tensing his muscles into a constant ache. Or was it the fact he’d only ever felt warm—felt whole—when Kate was near?

  Hell, he should’ve told her the truth before now, but it was too late. There was no going back, and he feared she’d never forgive him.

  He picked up the pace. No movement in the trees on either side of the road, but he wasn’t going to relax, either. Not until he found Kate.

  Dropping temperatures stiffened his fingers. Moonlight filtered through the trees ahead where the road disappeared. If she’d already gotten to the main road, he’d lose her forever. No. He couldn’t think about that right now.

  A flashlight beam caught his notice down the road. One hundred feet, maybe less. No other movement. No sign of Kate. Declan pulled the gun from his holster and slowed his pace. The hairs on the back of his neck rose. He stopped in the middle of the road, listened. Was that the sound of an engine? Taking cover behind a tree, he stared straight into the darkness on the other side of the road and tabbed off the safety of his sidearm.

  Keeping to the trees, he raised his weapon as he headed in the direction he thought the sound was coming from. But the outline of an SUV separated from the shadows, and something inside of him caught fire. He knew that vehicle, and there was absolutely no reason why it would be sitting there. “Kate.”

  He pumped his legs hard, lungs burning for oxygen. The driver’s-side door had been left open, the flashlight discarded on the ground. His fingers trailed over the freezing metal as he slid to a stop beside the driver’s seat. No, no, no, no. This was wrong. Kate wouldn’t abandon the vehicle in the middle of the night in these temperatures. She wouldn’t have walked away. Which meant...

  Declan searched the interior of the vehicle, recovering her phone and overnight bag in the passenger seat, and a syringe in the back. His mouth dried, his breath frozen in midair. The son of a bitch had been waiting for her in the back seat. He’d drugged her. Put his hands on her.

  Rage exploded behind his sternum. He snapped his attention to the tree line as he let it take control. “He took her.”

  It had been the sound of an engine before. The unsub was in the middle of making his escape. Pocketing her phone, Declan circled the vehicle, heading straight into the trees.

  One set of deep footprints had left distinct marks in the snow but disappeared only a few meters past the tree line. The smell of gasoline mixed with exhaust hung in the air. Impossible to drive a car or SUV through these trees. But an ATV? If the Hunter knew these woods as well as he knew the ones surrounding Michaels’s cabin, he could get in and out without anybody knowing.

  Declan swept the flashlight beam at his feet and spotted the two lines of a distinct tread pattern. The ATV would’ve had to have been in position before the suspect got into Kate’s vehicle. Question was, how did the bastard get her to stop at this precise location? Had he injected her with whatever was in that syringe while the vehicle was still moving? Seemed risky. She could’ve veered into any one of these trees, and she’d put the SUV in Park.

  He twisted his gaze back to the abandoned vehicle. Smaller footprints circled around the back of the SUV. No. The attacker would have had to get her to stop some other way. The only other option was sabotaging the engine somehow.

  Her abduction hadn’t been rushed or a moment of panic like before. Whoever had taken her had planned this out.

  Declan fanned his grip over the warming metal of the gun and headed deeper into the woods. The man would’ve wanted her separated from any kind of support or backup.

  “I’m going to find you, Kate.” Digging her phone from his jacket pocket, he sent her team an SOS message and tossed the device back toward the SUV. Blackhawk Security had the tech to track her phone. They’d do their jobs, and he’d do his. Gritting his teeth, he left the vehicle and her belongings behind.

  His eyes adjusted to the shadows. Every instinct flared warning, but he pushed them to the back of his mind. The Hunter had taken his life from him, and he’d do whatever it took to get that back. “I’m not letting you go.”

  Branches scratched at his face and neck as he followed the treads in the snow. Thick trees barely allowed any moonlight through, but Declan wasn’t afraid of the dark. He’d lived there long enough, and he’d keep living there until Kate was back in his arms. Where she belonged.

  A few hundred feet past the tree line, his boot hit something solid and metal. The device snapped closed at his feet. A bear trap. Crouching down, he flipped the mass of metal upside down and moonlight glinted off another rig a few feet away. Over two-hundred pounds of force waiting to break one of his legs. The ATV’s tire treads had swerved around what look like an entire minefield of bear traps. How long had the bastard been planning this?

  A gruff laugh burst from Declan. He stood, shouting into the blackness ahead, “Is that the best you’ve got!”

  Silence.

  “That’s what I thought.” As long as he kept inside the tracks, he’d avoid getting his leg snapped in half. Question was, how many other traps had the Hunter set?

  In reality, it d
idn’t matter. He’d stay the course. He’d get Kate back. That was what partners did for each other. They protected one another, had each other’s backs. He couldn’t go back to the way it was before. In the dark without his memories. Alone. She’d changed all that, and he wasn’t ready to let her go.

  His Kate. His past. His present. His future.

  The aurora above shifted, greens and purples reaching down through the trees, outlining the single man standing in the ATV’s treads ahead. Black clothing, black hood over his head and the gleam of a silver blade in his hand.

  “Kenneth Winter.” The stitches in Declan’s side stretched with a deep inhale.

  The scent of gasoline strengthened, and he slowed, twisted his wrist to make the gun in his hand more visible. This wasn’t going to be a fair fight. Where was the ATV? Where was Kate? She was the unsub’s most prized possession. The son of a bitch wouldn’t let her out of his sight for long. She had to be close by. Declan stepped forward. “I warned you not to touch her again. Now you’re going to pay for what you’ve done.”

  “Care to make a bet, Monroe?” The distorted voice echoed off the surrounding trees, and Declan froze. Bet?

  Brandishing the knife in filtered moonlight, the bastard cocked his head to one side. “You lost the last round. Would be such a shame if you lost two times in a row. Especially with Kate’s life on the line.”

  “This isn’t a game to me.” Declan raised the gun and aimed, pulling the trigger.

  One second, the suspect had been there. The next, the bullet penetrated a tree right where the Hunter had been standing. Damn it. Where was the son of a bitch?

  Declan scanned the trees, taking cover behind a large pine to his right. Freezing air burned going down his throat as he listened for movement. “All right. You want to play? Let’s play.”