“What’s our next step?” Josh queried.
Our next step.
She smiled, liking the idea that she was no longer working alone. Someone believed in her and what she was doing. She had to admit it felt good to have Josh on her side. She changed her mind about excluding him and was about to share her thoughts on how they could uncover more information when someone grabbed her from behind. Elise tried to scream, but her assailant pressed his hand over her mouth, preventing it. Her cell phone slipped from her hand, hitting the floor with a thud, and she heard Josh’s voice calling frantically to her through the phone.
“Elise? Elise, are you there? What’s happening?”
Her assailant stuffed a rag into her mouth then threw a bag over her face and everything went dark. He pushed her to the floor. She reached for her gun, but he knocked it from her hand. She struggled to overpower him, but his weight on her arms and legs was powerful as he tied her hands behind her back.
Her assailant dragged her down the hallway and out the door. She felt concrete stinging into her back. She heard the sound of voices of kids in the distance. She was in the parking lot. If he managed to get her into an automobile and out of the parking lot and away from the school, she was in real trouble.
Her only hope now was that Josh would reach her before that happened.
* * *
Josh leaped from the Jeep, the phone still to his ear. He couldn’t hear a struggle anymore. The last thing he’d heard sounded like doors closing. He scanned the parking lot and spotted a figure moving in the afternoon sun with what looked like a person slung over his shoulder. He was headed toward the woods.
Elise!
He ran toward them, leaping from behind the assailant and kicking his legs out from under him, catching Elise when he dropped her. The man hit the ground then scrambled to his feet and took off running. Josh carefully set Elise on the ground, grabbed the bag from her head and pulled the rag from her mouth.
“Are you hurt?” He used his knife to cut the restraints around her hands.
She shook her head. “I’m fine. Go!”
He took off running after the assailant, chasing him into the woods. Josh still hadn’t got a view of the man’s face, but he committed what he could to memory—tall and thin, almost lanky in build, approximately six foot three, long dark hair, narrow shoulders and a tattoo on his left upper arm. The man leaped onto a hill and Josh followed suit, running full out, something he hadn’t done in quite a while. There was a time when he could run at his max speed even in the high elevations of the Afghan mountains, but he’d been a year out of training and had a knee injured by shrapnel in the attack on his squad. He would never be able to chase this man down.
He changed tactics, stopping and reaching for his knife again. He threw it, his aim true and straight. The knife dug into the lower back of the assailant, causing him to hit the ground. He quickly scrambled to his feet again and came up cursing.
He pulled the knife from his back and turned on Josh with it.
Josh caught up with the man, getting a good look at his face. This was a hand-to-hand encounter now and this guy had no idea who he was messing with.
Josh landed a couple of shots, kicking the knife from the man’s hands, then knocked him down, too, before a shot rang out, zinging past him. Josh fell, taking cover as his eyes scanned the tree line for the source of gunfire.
The skinny guy got up, wiped off his pants and grinned as if knowing that shot was meant for his protection. Obviously he was right because no other shots rang out as he took off running again.
Josh started up once more only to be met with another gunshot. This one hit a tree nearby. He took a chance and jumped behind a tree as shots rang out again. He used the trees for cover as he made his way up the hill. Movement and shouting caught his attention. He rushed up the hill noting two men, one holding a rifle, jumping into a gray car and speeding away.
This hadn’t been a single-assailant assault. These men had come prepared to take Elise hostage and do no-telling-what to her.
He headed back down the embankment and rushed through the woods to where he’d left her, stopping only to pick up his knife.
Elise had moved to lean against a car. He noticed blood on the ground around her. The restraint he’d cut from her earlier was a common zip-tie restraint often used by police and military. They were quick, simple to use and effective to keep a person immobilized.
A chill ran through him at the thought of what could have happened to her. “Are you okay?”
He looked her over and didn’t see any real injuries except the scrapes on her arms. His mind flooded with images of what could have happened to her. What if he hadn’t been here yet? What if he’d been just a few minutes later?
But who were those men? And why were they after Elise?
And did it have anything to do with Candace’s disappearance?
* * *
Josh whipped his arm around her back and helped her to her feet, but pain ripped through her thigh as she placed pressure on her right leg.
He stiffened at her cry of pain. “Am I hurting you?”
She motioned toward the back of her leg where the metal shard had cut her. Her pant leg was wet with blood. Her assailant had probably reopened that wound when he’d dragged her across the concrete. She braced herself for the pain. “I’ll be fine.” She took another step, but even with his strong arms surrounding her, the pain was unbearable.
Finally, he moved his hands beneath her knees and swept her up into his arms. “It’ll be easier if I carry you.”
She felt ridiculous being toted but was amazed by the strength of this man. He carried her with seemingly little effort. She felt the muscles in his arms and back tense and placed her arm around his neck as he carried her, noting the span of his shoulders. This was a man, a powerful, strong, muscular man, and she soaked in the feeling of being nestled safely by his embrace.
He carried her into the school and placed her on the couch in the front office, making certain her leg was raised on the arm, then fetched her a cup of cool water that helped soothe her raw and ragged throat. She hadn’t been able to scream because of the gag, but her throat was still sore from trying.
She leaned back onto the couch and relaxed. Her mind insisted on recounting the incident, analyzing the players and trying to comprehend how it fit into Candace’s disappearance, but her body complained, demanding a moment of peace and restoration. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on her breathing. She heard Josh speaking—she assumed on the phone because she didn’t hear another voice—to Chief Mills. Soon, the police would arrive and she would have to recount the incident again and again.
However, as she replayed the incident in her head, the only image she could call to mind was of Josh and the expression on his face as he pulled off the hood. The painful look in his blue eyes had stunned her—worry and anger clouding his face before he took off after the assailant, his long, muscular legs quickly closing the distance between her and the woods.
Her phone rang, jolting Elise awake. She hadn’t meant to doze off, but the startling ring brought her back up. She jumped around, searching for her phone.
“I have it,” Josh stated. “I retrieved it while you were sleeping.” He glanced at the screen. “It’s the hospital.”
Elise nodded. “That’s Nurse Stringer calling to check on me. Every three hours like clockwork.”
Josh smiled then answered the phone. “Carolyn, how’s it going? This is Josh Adams.” He paused for her to speak.
Elise interrupted. “Tell her I’m fine. No headache, no dizziness, no blurry vision.”
He relayed her message then hung up. “Did I just lie to Carolyn Stringer?”
“I’m fine, Josh.”
They heard someone approaching, and Elise tensed and raised herself
up on the sofa. She relaxed again when she saw Chief Mills enter.
Josh relayed what had happened from his perspective, and then the chief turned to her.
Elise struggled to remember the moments before her assailant had come up behind her. Had she heard anything out of the ordinary? Had there been any unusual sounds or scents? She couldn’t think of anything that would help.
Josh was more helpful, having gone face-to-face with the assailant, and he’d even obtained a sample of his blood with his knife. “I didn’t recognize him. He was young, probably only in his early twenties, and he had a tattoo on his arm.”
Chief Mills snorted then scrolled through his phone until he reached a photo. He showed it to Josh.
“That’s him,” Josh confirmed. “Who is he?”
“Taylor Johnson.”
Elise recognized the name. “His fingerprint was identified in my hotel room. It seems Taylor may be the key to solving Candace’s disappearance.”
Chief Mills wasn’t convinced. “We don’t know he had anything to do with Candace’s disappearance. All we know is he is targeting you for some reason. This could still have only to do with you. So I have to ask you again, Agent Richardson—is it possible this is related to another case?”
“No.” She was less convinced this was the result of someone following her to town now. “This is a local boy. You said you know him from previous run-ins. We have to find him now. I, for one, am ready to get to the bottom of this.”
Patti rushed into the office and regarded Elise on the sofa with her leg up and the presence of both Josh and Daniel. “What’s happened?”
Josh answered her. “Someone tried to kidnap Elise.”
“What? Where?”
“They attacked me as I was leaving.”
Her eyes widened. “You were attacked inside the school?”
“If Josh hadn’t been there...” She glanced his way, hoping a look could convey the gratitude she felt toward him. He’d saved her life. Again.
“Who did this?” Patti demanded. “Does this have something to do with Candace?”
“I saw one of the guys, but he wasn’t alone. He took a shot at me while the other guy fled.”
Patti sat down, visibly upset. “I can’t believe this happened on school property. Who would do this?”
Josh glanced at Elise and she knew they were thinking the same thing. “Where’s Larkin?”
Patti raised her head. “We had a staff meeting after school ended, but he was so agitated after your interview that he said he had to go home.”
Josh turned to Elise. “He could have been the one shooting at me.”
“Now wait a minute,” Chief Mills stated. “Let’s not jump to conclusions. All we know for now is that Taylor Johnson is involved. Once we find him, we’ll discover who else is involved.”
Patti got up and moved to the couch, noticing Elise’s leg. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”
Despite the pain, Elise wasn’t keen on spending another evening in the ER. “It’s fine. I just need to stay off it for a while.”
“Why don’t you stay at my house for the night,” Patti suggested. “We’ll take good care of you, won’t we, Josh?”
She glanced in Josh’s direction and saw him nod.
It was a nice offer and Elise knew it came from the heart, but she didn’t think she had the strength to spend an entire evening with this family she had caused so much heartache. “Thank you, but I’ll go back to the hotel.”
“Do you think it’s a good idea for you to be alone?” Josh asked. “They might come back.”
Elise pulled herself up. “This time, I’ll be prepared.”
“I’ll have increased patrols around the hotel,” Chief Mills stated. “Plus, we already have the BOLO out for Taylor Johnson. I’ll let you know if we get any hits.”
“I’ll drive you to the hotel,” Josh told her.
He hugged Patti a moment longer than Elise thought was necessary, causing her to wonder again just how close they were. But what did it matter to her? They deserved to be happy, didn’t they? And their being together made sense. Hadn’t Patti told her that Josh had become like a father to Candace? Still, a pang of jealousy pulsed through her.
“I’ll come by later and check on you,” he promised Patti.
Patti pulled her keys from her pocket and pressed them into his hand. “Take my minivan.” She looked at Elise. “It will be easier for you to get in and out of than the Jeep with that leg.”
Josh helped Elise to her feet, placing her arms around his neck, and she leaned on him for support as she limped out to the parking lot. She couldn’t help remembering the feel of his arms on her as he’d carried her to the office, and now, his muscles hard and strong as they bore her weight. She had come to depend so much on him in such a short time.
He helped her into the van and she buckled herself in as Josh crawled into the driver’s side, pushing the seat back to fit his long legs. “Ready?”
Elise put her hand out as he reached for the ignition, now certain she wanted him involved in what she was about to do. “There’s someplace else I want you to take me.” It was time to let him in on her true plans for the evening. “I want to stake out Peter Larkin’s house.”
FIVE
It was odd to see Josh behind the wheel of Patti’s minivan, clearly a family vehicle. He looked surprisingly comfortable managing it, and Elise giggled at the way it seemed to fit him.
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
“Nothing.” She felt heat rise in her face as she imagined Josh with a load full of kids in tow. It was a nice image and surprisingly one that appealed to her.
She sipped her coffee that was now cold and tried to focus on the matter at hand—watching Larkin.
His house lights were on and they could see him inside through the front window sitting in his recliner watching television. Nothing out of the ordinary. But she knew from experience that things weren’t always what they seemed.
Elise leaned over, examining the one-story home. Like most of his neighbors, Larkin had strung Christmas lights on the house and set out lawn ornaments, but it was the layout of the house that captured Elise’s attention. There wasn’t much room for someone to keep a young girl against her will without alerting the neighborhood.
“He has a garage,” Josh noted.
“Could there be a basement?”
Josh shook his head. “Mississippi soil moves too much. Most places around here don’t have basements.”
“It’s possible he has a storage area or other place where he could keep his victims.”
“What about a hunting camp?” Josh asked. “The woods around here are covered with them.”
“Do you even know if Larkin hunts?”
Josh’s eyes grew fierce as he stared at the house. “He’s a hunter. Maybe he doesn’t hunt wildlife, but I can recognize a hunter.”
“Your instincts are no more admissible than mine. And they won’t get us a warrant to search his home, either.” She had to find some way to gather more information about Larkin.
After a while of uncomfortable silence between them, Elise glanced at Josh. She needed to clear the air about what had happened with Max.
“I really like Patti,” she said instead. “She seems like a strong woman.”
“Yes, she is. She’s had to be.”
“Josh, about your brother—”
“Don’t, Elise.”
“I need to say this. I am so sorry for what happened. I am so sorry that he died protecting me.”
He gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. Then he turned to look at her. She braced, expecting a tirade, but then he took a deep breath and let it out, and all anxiety seemed to fade from his body.
“
I’ve spent a long time trying to blame you, but Max died doing what Max did—helping people. He saw someone in trouble and he stepped in.” He sighed. “But how can I be mad at my own brother? The truth is he didn’t do anything I wouldn’t have done.”
“Only he had a wife and child at home.”
“That’s true. He wasn’t thinking about them. Do you have a family, Elise?”
She shook her head. She’d been on her own most of her adult life and she didn’t consider her father’s new family hers. “Only a great-aunt who sends me fruitcake at Christmas.”
“Have you ever thought about starting a family?”
She was floored at the question. “I—I don’t know. I haven’t given it much thought. I’ve been so focused on my career.”
“How could you even think about having a family knowing you would be placing them in danger because of your job?”
She saw where he was headed with this conversation. “Most of the agents I know have families, Josh. Celibacy is not a requirement for working for the FBI.”
“But is it smart? How can you justify bringing that danger home to your family every night?”
“The world is full of danger. You could be killed driving to the store for a milk run.”
“Or intervening when you see someone in danger.”
So they were back to Max.
“He wasn’t on duty,” Josh said, “but he was always a cop. That didn’t end when he went off duty.”
“I suppose we have to rely on our training to protect the people we care about.”
“What about God? Do you believe in God, Elise?”
She was taken aback by his question. It seemed so out of the blue. She struggled with how to answer. God hadn’t been much of a consideration for her in a long time.
“I’ve always quoted to Candace Psalm 119 about the word of God being a lamp onto my feet. I told her it meant that God should decide our steps. Even when we can’t see several feet ahead, we have to trust that He is leading our path and that His ways are good. I confess, I’m having trouble believing that now.”
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