Hunter (In the Company of Snipers Book 14)

by Irish Winters

  Oh, God! What am I going to do!

  Gulping her panic away, she settled down to think. Now was the time to summon Mean Girl. There’d be no helpless feminine screaming or running around like an idiot without a brain. If nothing else, Eddy had to believe he had the upper hand. That she believed him. That she was just that stupid to fall for him again.

  She hadn’t brought just a weapon and a change of clothes for Courtney in her backpack. Hurriedly, she opened the small plastic first-aid kit and removed the elastic tape. Very quickly, she made her way back downstairs to the kitchen with her backpack and selected three of the smallest knives from the knife rack. One went into her backpack. She taped another to her ankle under the hem of her jeans. The last one went inside her shoe. He’d never suspect.

  Meredith cleaned the broken cup from the floor and wiped up the coffee, fighting her stupidity as much as her failure as a mother to protect her child.

  “Come on, Daddy.” Courtney’s sweet little voice sounded outside. “Let’s get Mama.”

  She peeked out the window and banished the guilt she felt for falling into Eddy’s trap again. It could wait. Father and son were already coming in the front door.

  Compose yourself, Mean Girl snapped. Meet him in the eye. Don’t let him know that you know. Don’t let him know you’re scared. Buck the hell up. Get moving.

  Mean Girl sounded a lot like Hunter.

  “Mama,” Courtney called. “I home. Where are you?”

  “I’m in here,” Meredith answered back, still gripping the counter for support. But that would make her look weak, and weak would give her away. Jittering out of control, she turned her back on the kitchen door and reached into the cupboard for another mug. Stalling for time, she shot what she hoped was a cheerful smile over her shoulder when Eddy and Courtney entered.

  “Would you like a cup?” she offered in her best fake, I’m-not-scared-to-death voice.

  Eddy lifted the cup in his hand. “Already on my second. Go ahead. It’s about time you joined us, sleepyhead.”

  “Mama, look what Daddy gived me.” Courtney barreled into her legs, and at last she could breathe.

  “What now?” She set her coffee to the counter and crouched to his level, using her long hair as a curtain to take a good hard look at her son. He looked as happy as ever. Still safe. She cupped his sunny face. What have I gotten you into?

  His eyes sparkled. “I got money and Daddy says it’s gold.” There in his grubby little hands lay a battered gold piece, a very old coin with worn away edges.

  “What’s this?” she asked Eddy.

  “Ah, it’s nothing.” He shrugged. “Just a sixteenth-century Spanish escudo. It’s part of my collection of doubloons. I’d like to show the collection to you someday.”

  “Kin I keep it?” Courtney asked.

  What could she say? She gulped, her throat dry and tight. Why was Eddy doing this to her son, plying him with wealth he had no concept of? Every muscle screamed to grab Courtney and run.

  “You gave a priceless treasure to a child?” she asked, intent on keeping up the façade.

  Eddy cocked his head, studying her. “It’s not like I robbed the Smithsonian of some artifact. That coin only goes for one K.”

  “A thousand dollars?”

  “Yeah, why not? Are you okay?” His brows slanted. “You look... off. I thought you’d be rested when you woke up this morning. What’s going on? Are you mad?”

  A complete idiot is more like it. She played it cool. “I’m just ready to go home, that’s all. This place is too much, and now this gift—”

  “Give me a break, Meredith. You let your boyfriend give him a piece-of-crap, but you won’t let me give my own son something worthwhile?”

  “Seth isn’t my boyfriend. He’s just one of the guys I worked with in South America. And the coin—you know what? I don’t need to explain anything to you.”

  Eddy’s eyes darkened. “No, I guess you don’t. So what now? You want to go home as soon as possible, right?”

  “Yes.” She held her breath. It couldn’t be that easy, could it?

  He scowled, closed his eyes, and shook his head. “Great. I’ll bring the car around.”

  “Go get Bear,” she told Courtney.

  Her poor little boy still stood at her feet with that gold piece in his palm. “No,” he said firmly. “I wanna stay here with my daddy.”

  The labor-intensive work of her son’s first three years of life came undone after just one day with his father. Defiance. Greed. Temper. It didn’t get any better than this.

  She knelt to explain. “We’re going home, Courtney. Do you want to leave Bear here until we come back? That would be okay with me if—”

  “By the way,” Eddy interrupted with a lazy drawl that was so not like him. “Courtney needed clean underwear this morning. You were still asleep, so I helped myself to the extra clothes. Do you always carry a gun in your backpack?”

  And there it was. Out in the open. How could she hide her shock? “I do carry, yes,” she admitted without batting an eye. “Where is it?”

  “In a safe place.”

  The old game commenced. Power play. He took until she broke. Not this time.

  “I want it back.” She pushed the limit.

  “No.” He rolled one shoulder, his eyes gone black. His upper lip twisted into a sneer. The real Eddy Welch stepped forward. “Get in the car,” he spat. “Both of you. Now.”

  Meredith stood her ground, easing Courtney behind her. “We’re not going anywhere with you.”

  Lightning struck. Eddy backhanded her, his knuckles harsh on her cheekbone. She dropped to her hands and knees on the floor, seeing stars.

  “Mama!” Courtney shrieked, his little body instantly tucked into her side.

  Inky black waves swarmed her vision. Courtney became her only touchstone. She pulled him under her, trying to catch her breath and balance, afraid to let him go.

  “I gave you everything!” Eddy boomed from somewhere overhead.

  Blood dripped off her lip to the floor, narrowly missing Courtney’s frightened face. She still had those knives. She wouldn’t go down easy.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  Meredith climbed slowly to her feet with Courtney clinging to her leg, hiding behind her. The knife that had been taped to her ankle was now firm in her hand, and she was ready. Deadly calm stilled the pounding in her heart. She didn’t want to do this in front of her son, but she would defend him to the death.

  “You never did know when to back off!” Eddy bellowed, his index finger pointing to the floor at his feet. “Courtney, get over here, you little bastard! Now!”

  She kept her son firmly behind her while she back-stepped toward the kitchen exit. “He’s not a bastard, and he’s not—”

  “Who the hell are you kidding? Yourself? He’s Christian’s boy, not mine!”

  “Hunter? How could you think that? I never—we never—”

  Eddy lunged, his hand at her throat as he pushed her back against the counter.

  “Run!” she screamed, but Eddy snagged Courtney’s shirt collar before he could get away.

  “Eddy! Courtney isn’t Hunter’s child. We never had sex. I swear. I—”

  “You think I give a shit who fucked you first?” Eddy hissed, his nose in her face while Courtney struggled. “You never were much for brains. Tits and ass, maybe, but things that mattered? Never.”

  The knife in her hand slashed his cheek on its way to his neck. His eyes flared, then—blam! He smashed her into the sink, pushing her off her feet. The knife flew. Courtney screamed and kicked.

  “You scheming bitch!” Eddy stuck an elbow in her back, fastening her to the counter while he rubbed his bloody cheek over his bicep. “You cut me.”

  “Please, don’t hurt him. I’m the one you want.”

  “Yes, you are.” He let her drop as he angled Courtney under his arm. “What else do you have up your sleeve?”

  “Nothing,” she lied.

  �
��We’ll see about that.” He marched out the back door and into his four-car garage.

  “No. Don’t,” she cried, running after him. “Wait! Eddy! I promise. I’ll do anything.”

  “Mama!” Courtney cried, his little body turned sideways. “Help me! Help!”

  Eddy activated the trunk release to the sedan parked beside his sports car.

  “Not that! No! Don’t!”

  He rolled Courtney into the trunk and slammed the lid. Huffing, he leaned his butt to the trunk and crossed his arms over his chest, seemingly oblivious to the terror-filled cries behind him. “Strip,” he hissed.

  “Mama! I scared! Mama!” Courtney’s screams reduced her to begging.

  “Stop it! I’ll do whatever you want. Just don’t hurt him. Let him go.”

  “Then do what I said. Strip.”

  She complied quickly. Kicking out of her slip-ons, her sweater and jeans hit the concrete next.

  Eddy’s eyes tracked down her body to her feet and up again. He’d always played rough and hard. Right now, she’d let him do whatever he wanted to do—to her. Meredith stopped the strip show when she got down to her bra and underwear. The only weapon left to her was now buried under her jeans. “Now let him go.”

  “Turn,” he commanded.

  She made one shaky revolution.

  He smacked his lips. “I’ve got to hand it to you, sweetheart. You’re still one hot babe.”

  Her little boy’s cries shredded her heart. She raked a quick hand through her hair. “Please, Eddy. He’s choking. Can’t you hear that? He’s just a little boy and he’s scared. I’ll do whatever you want me to do, just, please, let him go.”

  “It isn’t Courtney you need to worry about.” With one quick step forward, he slapped her head sideways only to whip her around to face him again. With her eyes watering, she jerked her knee up. At the same time, she lowered her head, intending to take out that arrogant nose of his. Maybe break it.

  But Eddy was prepared. Dodging, he twisted her arm behind her back and hoisted her face down onto the trunk lid. For one brief second, Meredith was thankful Courtney couldn’t see what might happen next. Eddy pushed her cheek into the cold, hard metal. He wanted her to scream, but she wouldn’t. Courtney was terrified enough.

  “You should’ve died in South America,” he hissed, his body pressed against her backside. “Don’t think I won’t take what I want, ’cause I will.” He kneed her legs apart, his erection still in his pants, but scaring the hell out of her. “I’ve got news for you, Meredith Bitching Flynn. I lost the taste for poor white trash three years ago.”

  With one final hair-wrenching shove, he backed away and she slid off the trunk. The second her feet touched down, she turned to face her worst nightmare. “Let him out, Eddy. Let us go. I won’t tell. I promise. Just—”

  He stood with his legs spread, his arms crossed over his chest. “Tell what?”

  “That you’re R-R-Roger Teach.”

  He held a palm to her face. “Shut up. Get dressed. If your ass isn’t in the front seat when I get back, it will be the kid’s turn on the trunk lid, and I promise, it won’t be pretty. I’ll enjoy it, but you won’t.”

  She gulped. He wouldn’t!

  The truth hit her in the face. He would. Eddy wasn’t just a pirate. He was a predator.

  “Now!” he barked, and she ran for her clothes. He went back inside his cabin, but was barely gone when he returned with a fifth of something in his hand. No glasses. Just the booze, a handful of zip-ties, and a roll of black tape.

  “You’re not sitting,” he growled, a glint of pure evil in his eye.

  Meredith hurried to slip into her shoes.

  “Leave them. You won’t need ’em where you’re going.”

  She hurried to the passenger seat. “It’s going to be okay,” she called frantically to Courtney, trying to infuse courage she didn’t feel. “Be a brave boy for Mama. Can you do that, baby?”

  When he didn’t reply, her heart sank.

  Eddy pushed the bottle at her. “Hold this. With both hands.”

  She complied, shaking from head to toe while he secured her wrists and ankles with zip-ties, then taped the bottle inside her clenched hands. And Meredith knew. There was no way out of this alive.

  Eddy tilted his head toward the trunk, where Courtney’s cries had grown weaker. “You and me are going for a little drive. When we come back, you’re going to be all I ever wanted in a woman, aren’t you, Meredith?”

  “It’s dark in the trunk,” she reasoned. “He’s scared. Please don’t do this.”

  “You’re going to be all I ever wanted, right?” The whip in his voice stung.

  “Y-y-yes. Just let him out. Let him sit up here with me.”

  Eddy cocked his head to the side, blackness swallowing his eyes. “That’s not how the game’s played.” Reaching for the bottle in her grip, he unscrewed the lid. “Drink up, Meredith. The party’s just beginning.”

  She balked. Big mistake.

  Yanking her wrists upward, he mashed the bottle against her lips, spilling its contents over her chin and into her mouth. She spat the fiery drink out, but he lifted the bottle again. “We can do this the easy way, or I can get your kid out of the trunk, and we can do it the hard way. Now drink, or...”

  She swallowed, not sure what liquor spilled fire into her empty stomach. Coughing, she choked, but he just kept pouring.

  Finally satisfied, Eddy stopped the torture and ran a hand over the back of her head, petting her. “I knew you’d listen to reason.” He started the car, hit the garage door opener, and backed onto the brick driveway that led to the isolated road.

  Meredith wiped her mouth into her bicep. “Where... are we going?”

  “You’ll see.” Shifting the car into drive, he headed away from the shore and connected with the nearest highway. Once he set the cruise control, he cupped her chin and turned her to face him. “I really shouldn’t have hit you. I can’t have you looking beat up on your first day back to work, can I?”

  She blinked, trying to understand. “I’m going to work? Like this?”

  “You are now. None of this would be happening to you if you’d just laid down in Brazil. Hell, Meredith. All you had to do was die, but no. You had to learn how to defend yourself. What’d you think I was going to do? Hurt you?”

  She couldn’t answer.

  He pulled onto another highway, chuckling. “Looks like none of that self-defense bullshit did you much good. Get it through your head, sweetheart. I’m bigger and smarter than you. Always have been. You’re just a dumb blonde who’s been in my way for years.”

  “Wh-why?” She needed to know what he intended before she lost consciousness. As it was, the alcohol was working fast.

  “Time for another drink.”

  Feigning compliance, she lifted her arms, but only pressed the rim of the bottle to her lips.

  Eddy snapped his fingers under her nose. “Do you want me to get the kid out of the—?”

  Tears filled her eyes. She gulped the nasty liquid, her heart breaking for her poor little boy. “At least tell m-me wha-zzz goin’ on. Why are you doin’ this?”

  He grunted. “All this time I thought you were slowing me down and making me look bad, but now I’m actually glad Masters and Burdette didn’t catch you. It took this little family get-together for me to realize you’re more valuable alive than dead. That kid back there is my ticket.”

  “Ticket to w-what?” She peered sideways at him. The inside of the car whirled in one crazy circle around her. Planting both bare feet flat to the carpet didn’t help. Eddy looked like he was leaning sideways. Or maybe it was her.

  “To you. Jed McCormack likes you, doesn’t he? You can get close to him, right?”

  “Yes-s-s.” Her nose itched. Her cheeks flushed with heat. She ran her nose over her bicep to keep it from dripping.

  Eddy squeezed his long fingers between her legs. “And that’s what I need you to do. Get close to old man McCormack. Give the ri
ch, old ass a kiss on the cheek. Let him grab your ass while you give him a present from me. Can you be a good girl and do that?”

  “Why sh-should I?”

  “Because that’s the only way you’ll get the brat back. Drink up. You’ll need to be good and drunk for this next part.”

  Forced to take another scorching swallow, she let the tears fall. Whatever Eddy had in mind, she’d never be drunk enough.

  He used to cruise at eighty. Today, Hunter didn’t care what speed limits he broke as he raced toward Redemption Bay. Miles of interstate flew by while acid chewed at his gut. Meredith and Courtney needed him, but damn it! He wasn’t where they were.

  Finally, he left the freeway behind and zeroed in Welch’s last known location. Autumn colors blazed everywhere, but they meant nothing to Hunter. It took twenty long minutes of winding back roads before he sighted the unmarked turnoff to the beach. It ended at one helluva mansion tucked into the trees. A ritzy sailboat shifted placidly against the dock.

  He parked in the shadows to the south of the place. The pistols under his arms stayed where they were, for now. When three loud raps at the front door elicited no response, Hunter tilted back on his heels to peer into the picture window at his left. He could detect no signs of trouble. Pulling the pistol from under his left arm, he tested the doorknob. When it turned, he rolled one shoulder before he entered Welch’s home.

  The stark silence of the place unnerved him. Weapon up, he walked through the entry to the staircase at his right. No sounds came from above. It was still possible someone was up there, but if they were, they were quiet. He opted to search the ground level first.

  Quietly, he passed a lavish dining room on his right, a large bathroom at his left, and a pair of closed doors that, upon opening, revealed an expansive bedroom to his right. A light beckoned him into the largest kitchen he’d ever seen, but Hunter’s heart stopped at the doorway. Obvious signs of a struggle. Smears of blood on the floor and countertop. Several unopened fifths of high-priced Scotch near the sink. An opened toolbox on the floor near the rear door. Scattered tools.