11

by Kylie Brant

  With that memory lodged in the back of her brain, every tree and boulder took on a sinister appearance. She shook her head to eject the feeling. When she’d escaped she hadn’t run through forest. The copse of trees where she’d taken shelter had been surrounded by open area. There had been fences, and she thought she’d traveled through both pasture and cropland of some sort. But the terrain had been nothing like this. She could be certain that wherever she was right now, it wasn’t near the place she’d been kept captive.

  Her mouth was dry, both from exertion and the after effects of the drug. She chose a tree, relieved herself near it and then found another several yards away. She sat down with her back against it, hidden from view by a thick tangle of brush. Her hip protested the position. She rested long enough for her breathing to return to normal. Long enough to examine the tree line head of her and realize she was still climbing upward. Her gaze landed on a bush a half dozen feet away. Made out the shape of a deer lying within its branches. Mia realized she’d blend in to her surroundings as well with the dark tee shirt and black cargo pants she was wearing.

  She still had the canister of pepper spray gripped in one sweaty fist. She slipped it in a pocket. Remembering the small blade she’d hidden in her bra, she twisted around to unsnap the garment, then, after careful maneuvering, removed it through one sleeve. That had been a trick learned in high school, one she never would have considered having to use deep in a forest with a deranged woman after her.

  The blade was smaller, folded in half but sharp enough to do some damage in close proximity. That went into a pocket, as well. The act of re-donning the bra was accomplished as surreptitiously as it had come off. She didn’t want to leave anything behind that would hint at her presence here.

  It appeared that she’d outrun Four. Successively hidden from her, at least for the time being. But remaining in the forest once night fell wasn’t something Mia was looking forward to.

  Neither was avoiding Four indefinitely. The woman had the answers she was seeking. Mia wasn’t leaving these woods without getting them.

  Outside, but in a place of your choosing. Jude’s words echoed in her mind. The thought of him brought a clutch to her chest. A well of emotion that she didn’t feel, not ever. Guilt, yes. God she was familiar with that. Carried it within her for Hoa, Halston and all the women she’d left behind. But it wasn’t only guilt she was feeling right now.

  What were the physical implications of being tased twice in a short amount of time? She didn’t know. And she couldn’t understand how a man could sneak beneath her personal guard so easily and lodge there with a singular tenacity. It couldn’t be allowed. Personal relationships were a quicksand of emotional entanglements, and emotion equaled vulnerability. There was no place in her life for that kind of weakness.

  But the thought lacked her usual resolve. If Jude was able he’d have followed her phone. Whether or not anyone else was looking for her, she knew he would be. And Mia would have to be made of stone to not be affected by that realization.

  Rising, she brushed off the seat of her pants, a plan forming. She needed to backtrack until she found Four. And then they’d have the conversation Mia had been wanting. Under her terms. On her grounds.

  * * * *

  There was a navy and gold West Virginia state police SUV parked near a small wooden building just inside the entrance of Cooper’s Rock State Forest. A feeling of urgency riding him, Jude parked nearby, and grabbing the mini-laptop, strode toward the building. The sign identified it as belonging to the Division of Forestry services.

  He walked up to the counter where the state policeman was standing in front of a large map listening to a uniformed forester.

  “…over twelve thousand acres in this forest alone. And that’s not counting private nearby forested property. That’s a lot of area to cover.”

  “Do you have a search and rescue unit?”

  “We can put one together.” The forester, a freckled young man in his late twenties, cast a quick glance at Jude before returning his attention to the trooper. “It would help to have a place to start looking.”

  Walking up beside the officer, Jude set the laptop down, turned it toward the other man. “Jude Bishop. I reported the kidnapping in Pennsylvania.” He stabbed an index finger at the highlighted dot on the screen. “You found the device in this car?”

  The officer had the tired eyes and creased visage of a veteran. “Got some ID, son?” He took the driver’s license Jude handed him and studied it carefully before handing it back. “Got word you might be showing up. But this is a police matter, and as such we’re not at liberty…”

  “Meaning you don’t have jack.”

  The two other men exchanged a look. “I just arrived myself,” the officer admitted. “I haven’t had time to assess the situation.”

  “Have you found the car?”

  It took an inordinate amount of time for the officer to answer. “What did you say you did?”

  Jude wasn’t fooled. They would have checked for ID at the hospital, if the Officer Ryan hadn’t done so first. And there would have been a complete background check run on him before the Johnstown Chief of Police ever issued alerted state police. “Personal and professional security.”

  “Uh-huh.” The trooper took a moment, seemed to come to a decision. “I’m Sergeant Fenton. Why don’t you follow me and I’ll show you what I have discovered.”

  Jude tucked the ID back in his wallet and picked up the mini-laptop. He trailed the man out of the building and across a cleared lot meant for parking. They walked beyond it. Far beyond. They strode silently through a mile of heavily wooded land until they came to a hard packed path that wouldn’t qualify as a road. Followed it another half mile.

  The trooper stopped but Jude moved past him. Toward the black Honda parked askew, surrounded by tall oaks, its trunk lid open.

  He peered inside. At first he thought it was empty until he saw the glint of something in the furthest corner. He picked it up with two fingers. Mia’s phone. A deep shuddering breath worked out of him. There was nothing else in the trunk but the driver’s door was open. An empty bottle of water and two caps were on the ground next to a brown tee shirt, turned inside out.

  Gingerly he rubbed the inside neckline of the shirt with one finger. Felt the faintest burn on his skin. The empty water bottle took on new meaning. “Good girl, Mia,” he murmured.

  “You make any sense of this?” Fenton had come to stand over him.

  “The woman in the trunk. Mia Deleon. She was armed with pepper spray. A knife. There was a struggle before she was forced into the trunk.” He recalled that much at least. Just like he recalled the sensation of watching Four stride back over to him when he was helpless to move away. “Even if she was disarmed of the knife, the kidnapper didn’t get the pepper spray.” He gestured to the tee shirt Four had been wearing earlier that day. “There’s remnants on the shirt.”

  “So the water was to wash it from her skin. Her eyes maybe.” Fenton nodded thoughtfully. “There wasn’t luggage in the car. Did the victim have anything with her? A purse or bag?”

  Jude shook his head. “Both were found at the site where she was taken.” Spying something on the ground he backtracked and bent down to look at the smooth limb lying near the trunk. A hiker might have chosen it for a walking stick. It was free of bark. It was fairly stout, although perhaps partially hollow. There was a crack in it, slightly below half way.

  He looked from it to the yawning trunk, thinking out loud. “So you have someone in the trunk of your car. Drugged. Quiet. But you don’t know if she’s still out cold or just waiting for you to open that lid. Victim was armed before and you didn’t disarm her before shutting her in there, did you? The injection would knock her out for hours. But you couldn’t be exactly sure when it’d wear off. So you pick up a branch. Open the trunk lid remotely and hide behind it, out of sight. Wait for her to make the first move. And she does. But her reflexes are slow from the injection and she d
oesn’t get clear before you swing…”

  The officer looked at him with a glint in his eyes. “That’s how you think it went down?”

  “I was at the site when it happened. I saw enough to guess the rest.” Jude turned in a slow circle, surveying the area.

  “Maybe you have a guess about why they parked here.”

  For answer, he went to examine the inside of the trunk lid. Lowered it to look at the top. “Mia was unrestrained. If she were kicking and pounding, the racket may have frightened her kidnapper. Could have stopped to bind her.” But he didn’t think so. There were no visible signs of violent kicking inside the trunk lid. And she would have been weak with the after effects of the drug. So why else would Four stop at this exact location?

  “What’s in the area?”

  “Right on this property? Campsites, some with electrical hookups. The forester says they get a lot of illegal camping. Hikers wanting to rough it around the lower Cheat Canyon or on their way to the Coopers Rock Overlook. Neither is close to here, though.”

  “They aren’t here to hike or camp.” Again Jude peered into the dense trees around them. “The driver could have stopped to subdue Mia…maybe thought to tie her up her before the drugs wore off. Or…she was told to come here.”

  “Told by who?”

  The shadowy forest seemed to hold secrets in its depths that it was unwilling to reveal. Jude thought of Mia somewhere in their confines and a trickle of fear traced down his spine. “By the man who ordered the kidnapping.”

  9

  Mia doubted she’d come more than three miles. Her flagging energy level shouted five, but the most wearisome part of her journey had been trying to make her way through the underbrush when no animal path had been available. Her hip was on fire. Her shoelaces and socks were filled with small cockleburs she’d picked up fighting through the thickets. She’d found a few in her hair, as well. The headache she’d awakened with in the trunk had settled to a dull throb.

  But at least the fresh air had cleared her mind. She knew exactly what she had to do and had spent an hour making preparations. She’d filled a pocket with small pebbles she picked up and another held a fist-sized rock. It had taken longer than it should have to search for a stout stick much like the one Four had hit her with. Then she’d been ready for battle.

  Mia tried to retrace her steps toward the car. There was no way to be sure how accurate she was. She’d run with the sole purpose of getting away from the woman, weaving from a straight line to take advantage of the small trails that appeared through the area. Backtracking took longer, because now she spent as much time looking at the ground as she did ahead of her. At first glance the area seemed undisturbed. But a closer look revealed a broken twig here. A heel mark in a mossy area there.

  Dark humor filled her. She’d never been outdoorsy. Hadn’t gone to summer camps, at least the variety that involved nature. But if her escape that night from The Collector had taught her anything it was to be aware of her surroundings.

  She walked for what seemed like forever, her pace slowed by her attention to her own trail and for any signs of Four. The woman would likely have entered the forest at approximately the same point Mia had. Traveled in as straight a line as possible. But traversing around rocks and thickets could have taken her far enough afield that she’d be unseen in the dense growth of trees even if Mia were parallel to her. With that in mind she started walking in more of a grid pattern the way she’d seen Jude do in the parking lot. Covering more ground side to side but moving back to the center each time to look for signs that she’d passed that way before.

  Mia heard Four before she saw her. The woman had quite an imaginative vocabulary and she was using it now as she trudged along. She moved into Mia’s view on the right, close enough to hit with one of the rocks she’d collected earlier, about ten yards away. Her shirt now was white. She carried a bag slung over one shoulder and held a water bottle in one hand. Instead of drinking it she dribbled it over her arms and then splashed some in her face. Apparently she was still suffering the effects of the pepper spray. The woman wasn’t moving especially fast, but all things considered, she hadn’t been all that far behind.

  As silently as she could, Mia widened the distance between by cutting to the left while continuing to move parallel to her. The trees had thinned the further they climbed, she recalled. Even more so beyond the point where she’d rested earlier. Her best chance for an ambush was soon, where the thicker forest provided more shield.

  Taking care to keep out of sight Mia ran ahead of the other woman, staying low. She circled around and positioned herself well ahead of the path Four was taking. Then waited, crouched behind an outcropping of rock. The woman bent and fiddled with her shoe, the bill of her cap pulled low, muttering inaudibly. The distance between them was too wide, Mia realized. Reaching for a pebble from her pocket she tossed it over the woman’s head. Saw her jerk up to look around her.

  “Mia?” She crooned the word with a note of relish. Straightening, she looked all around, otherwise unmoving. Mia waited until she finally started forward again. This time the pebble she threw wasn’t nearly as close to Four, landing only a few yards away from where Mia waited.

  The first sound had heightened the woman’s senses. Now she froze again, before creeping toward Mia’s hiding place. Past it.

  She took the stick in both hands and swung it low as she was coming out behind the rocks, taking the woman’s feet out from under her. Four hit the ground and Mia jumped on top of her. They rolled, Four grappling to get her bag open. Mia dug the tiny knife from her pocket, all the while battling to keep her seat as the woman heaved beneath her. She sliced the strap so the bag fell off Four’s arm. The woman reached up to wrap her hands around Mia’s throat. Squeezed.

  Mia pressed the edge of the small knife against the woman’s left eye. Both were red and puffy from the pepper spray. “Forget those knife wounds in your back. The one you bandaged on your arm. Will your master still want you if I cut your eye out?”

  Four stilled. “I’m following his orders. He’ll be here soon. We must go to the cabin he rented for us to wait.”

  Icebergs formed in her veins at the thought. “Where is the cabin?”

  “Come with me. I’ll show…” The woman’s blue eyes widened in fear when Mia increased the pressure on the blade.

  “Where…is…the…cabin?”

  Four swallowed. “Near here. Cardinal Cabin Rentals. He said…hide the car. Walk to the cabin he has waiting for us. He described the directions exactly. It’s about a mile from where we left the car.”

  “I’m guessing he also told you to secure me first.” Keeping her gaze fixed on the other woman she yanked the bag over and unzipped it. Four picked that moment to reach up, try to pry the knife from the Mia’s hand, while bucking and lunging beneath her. Deliberately Mia nicked the other woman’s face with the tip, drawing blood and a frustrated scream from Four. “Now we know how sharp it is, don’t we?”

  “You fucking bitch.” Her voice was venomous. “I’ve always hated you. Always. From the minute you joined us. I am perfect! Obedient and focused on giving him every pleasure. You…constantly fighting him. Breaking rules. You did it to draw his attention! He always had to be focused on you!”

  Mia gaped at her. The line of reasoning was so warped it was stunning. The damage from the woman’s prolonged captivity bordered on mental illness. “No.” She rummaged in the bag until she found what she was looking for. A pair of plastic zip cuffs. The TASER, without a cartridge now, was tossed into the brush. “I’m not like you. I never could be.”

  The hat sat askew on the woman’s head. Mia could see the bottom of the numbered tattoo on her scalp. She must have worn a wig in Da Nang. And she’d shaved her head recently. The realization brought mingled shock and pity. Nothing revealed more clearly how completely enslaved the woman was than the fact that she carried out The Collector’s wishes even when he wouldn’t have known otherwise.

  “You cou
ld have run.” She lowered the knife to keep it pressed against the woman’s cheek as she flipped her over. Slipped the loops of the cuffs over each of her wrists one-handedly and tightened them. “You were free. You could have gone home. To the police.”

  Four was weeping now, a trickle of tears running down her beautiful cheek. “My master is home. And I can’t get back until he takes me. There are masks…in the bag, see?” Mia reached over and pulled out two cotton sacks with a drawstring at the bottom. “Just like the first time. We can’t see his face or where he takes us. Our home is with him.”

  Mia felt a dart of pity, in spite of the cruelties the woman had been capable of when they were imprisoned. Her brainwashing had been total. Four would never be able to function in the normal world even if the women could be freed. Her prison went much deeper than the physical.

  But as she pulled Four to her feet, the woman’s words took on a different meaning. “You know what state you were held in.” Four shook her head. “You have to,” Mia insisted. She pressed the knife against her cheek threateningly. “He trusts you. He would have let his guard down with you. You know something! Where he gets the women. How he chooses them. His name.”

  “I know only what you knew. That we must obey and he will care for us forever.”

  The crushing weight of disappointment was like a boulder on her chest. Was it possible that even with the latitude he’d allowed the woman, Four had no more information on their captor than Mia did? She didn’t believe it. Refused to.

  Deliberately she tried a different tack. “He’ll care for you forever? You’re scarred.” She pressed a hand to Four’s back directly over the place where those marks would be. Gave her a push to start her back to the car, before bending quickly to retrieve the woman’s bag. “Who sewed your wounds up, a blind man? They look hideous.”