by SJ McCoy
Wade’s smile faded. “Yeah. That’s about the only thing I have to go on.”
“What do you mean?”
“That I have no clue what being a good father looks like – because we never had one. All I know is to do the opposite of what he would.”
“Nah. Don’t give the old bastard that much credit. You’re not doing the opposite of him. He hasn’t contributed a damned thing – not even by default. You’re awesome at being a dad because of who you are. And who you are – the man you’ve become – is in spite of him, not because of him.”
Wade held his gaze for a long moment before turning away. They rarely talked about their dad. He didn’t want to dwell on the subject. “Are you sticking around for a while or are you working behind the bar at Chico tonight?”
“I’m working but I’m not on till nine. I figured you’d have the kiddos to bed and want to be rid of us all before then anyway.”
“I wasn’t going to give you a hard time. I get it. I don’t imagine you had much time for the ladies while you were deployed. You’re making up for it now.”
Tanner grinned. “Yeah. It’s just fun.”
“I know. What do you think of Amelia?”
Tanner held his hands up. “Oh, no. Just because you’re ready to settle down and become a husband and a father and all that good shit, don’t go looking at me.”
Wade laughed out loud. “Whoa! Calm down. That’s not what I was asking. I just … I don’t know. She’s been a good friend to Sierra. I just wondered what you make of her. I can’t figure her out. I keep thinking that she should be mad at me for hogging Sierra’s time, but she’s …cool. She gets it. She doesn’t mind. She’s okay off doing her own thing.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it. Not all chicks are demanding or clingy, you know.”
Wade made a face at him. “I guess not.”
Tanner laughed. “Yeah. From the couple times I’ve talked to her she strikes me as smart, independent and I don’t know just … like you say, content doing her own thing. I think she’s here for Sierra if she needs her, but happy to entertain herself if she doesn’t.”
“Yeah. I invited her to come tonight.” He checked his watch again. “Whenever they get back.”
“Quit worrying, would you?”
“What’s he worrying about?” Ford asked as he stuck his head out the kitchen door.
Wade scowled. “Right now, I’m worrying what the kids are up to. You were …”
Ford laughed. “Jesus! Calm down, would you? They’re fine. Ty’s with them.”
Wade gave him rueful smile. “Sorry.”
“It’s all good. In fact, it’s awesome – the way you are with them. They were asking what time Sierra’s going to be back.”
“I’m hoping she won’t be too long now.”
Tanner gave Ford a look that Wade didn’t understand. “They went to Bozeman and Amelia’s coming back here with her.”
Ford nodded but didn’t say anything.
“That’s not a problem, is it?”
Ford shrugged, and Tanner laughed.
“What’s going on?” Wade asked.
Tanner pointed his bottle at Ford. “I think that our big brother is the one who has the hots for the lovely Amelia.”
Wade’s eyebrows shot up. “You do?”
Ford shrugged. “I wouldn’t exactly put it that way. I happened to comment that she’s cool, and since Tanner only sees women as a way to spend the night, he assumed that’s what I meant.”
Tanner just laughed. “Don’t try and talk your way out of it. Tell me you wouldn’t go there if you got the chance.”
Ford rolled his eyes and turned to go back inside. “I’m going to hang with the kids. I know I’ll get a more intelligent conversation out of them.”
“Wait!” Wade called after him. “Ignore Tan. Is he right?”
Ford turned back around and shrugged. “Sure. I find her attractive. But that doesn’t mean that he’s right. I don’t see what the big deal is.”
Wade startled when his phone rang, and he pulled it out of his back pocket, expecting it to be Sierra. It wasn’t. He didn’t recognize the number.
“Wade MacFarland.”
“Wade, it’s Luke. Luke Wallis.”
“Oh, hey Luke. What’s up, bud?”
“I’m not calling for a chat. I’m at work. Do you know Amelia Danforth?”
Wade’s heart started to pound. Luke calling about work couldn’t be good – he was a deputy with the sheriff’s office. “Yes. She’s Sierra’s friend. Why?”
“Is Sierra with you?”
“No. She’s out with Amelia. What’s going on, Luke?”
His brothers were staring at him now. He could feel the blood drain from his face as he gripped his phone to his ear.
“We don’t know yet, Wade. They might be fine.”
“For fuck’s sake, Luke! Tell me.”
“Okay. There was a report of a vehicle turned over just this side of the pass heading eastbound. A gray Tahoe.”
“Shit. That’s what Amelia’s driving.”
“Yeah.”
“Are they hurt? Where are they?” Wade was striding into the house; he needed his keys. He needed to go to her. He could only hope that she wasn’t badly hurt, that Amelia wasn’t.
Luke’s next words stopped him dead. “We don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“The vehicle was empty, Wade. No, driver, no passengers.”
“What the fuck?”
“Put it on speaker.” Ford spoke calmly but forcefully beside him.
Wade did as he asked. “You’re on speaker with me, Ford, and Tan.”
“Okay,” Luke said. “I’ve just come on shift. It was only when I heard the name Amelia in the handover that it clicked that it might be Sierra’s friend. The vehicle was overturned. When units arrived on scene, there were no occupants.”
Ford frowned. “And that’s all you’ve got?”
“All that I know so far. Listen, I’ll call you back when I can. Deacon’s calling us all in for a briefing.”
“Thanks, Luke.”
Wade shook his head in an attempt to clear it. Ford was rubbing his fingertips to his temples.
Tanner was frowning. “What the hell?”
Ford met Wade’s gaze. “Do you think it’s Jared?”
“What else could it be?”
Wade’s heart was still pounding. It was a rapid, steady beat. The immediate panic had subsided. What he felt now was determination. No way had he found Sierra just for something to happen to her now. He needed her; their kids needed her. And he was going to do whatever it took to find her and bring her home.
~ ~ ~
Sierra opened her eyes, but everything was fuzzy, so she closed them again. She could maybe snooze for another few minutes. She turned onto her side and that brought her mind into focus. She wasn’t in bed. She was lying on a hard floor. She opened her eyes again. The room slowly came into focus. She was in some kind of cabin, but not the kind she was used to. This was much more rustic. It smelled musty and the light was dim. There was only one window, but it seemed to be boarded up from the outside. The floor was cold and dirty. It was dirt. She sat up then had to close her eyes again until the dizziness passed.
“Sierra?” Amelia’s voice was quiet off to her left.
“Amelia! What’s –?”
“Shh!”
Sierra covered her mouth with her hand. It all started to come back to her. They’d been on their way back from Bozeman. They’d had a lovely day. As they drove back over the pass, Amelia had kept checking the rearview mirror so often that it made Sierra wonder what was wrong. When she’d turned to look back, Amelia had grabbed her arm and told her not to.
She’d said that she thought Jared was following them. Sierra had to close her eyes again as it all came back in flashes. Amelia hitting the gas and tearing down the Interstate way too fast. The big black SUV that had been even faster and pulled alongsi
de them. Seeing a man’s face leering at them – it wasn’t Jared. The momentary relief she’d felt before he swerved in front of them, running them off the road.
She touched her head gingerly; there was a gash, and her fingers came away tacky with blood. She felt queasy as she remembered the way the world had turned upside down when Amelia’s Tahoe had hit the guardrail and flipped over.
“Are you okay?” She had to know that Amelia wasn’t injured.
“I’m fine,” Amelia whispered. “You took the worst of it. Are you okay?”
“I think so. I cut my head. Where are we?”
“You don’t remember anything?”
“Not after we went off the road.” She tried to push to her feet, but Amelia grabbed her arm.
“We need to stay as still and as quiet as possible. If he hears us, he’ll know we’re awake.”
“He? Jared?”
“Yeah.”
“What? How?”
“He arrived less than a minute after we crashed. You were unconscious. Is your head okay? It looked bad.”
“I think it is. I’m dizzy and I have a headache but I’m okay.”
“Good. Jared pulled you out of there and put you in his van. I thought he was going to take you and leave me. But he came back and got me too.”
That surprised Sierra; she would have expected Amelia to fight him. She was tough like that.
She heard her friend sigh. “I couldn’t do a damned thing. I was trapped in my seatbelt and the bastard punched me in the face and knocked me out. I think he broke my nose.”
“Amelia!”
“Shh! And don’t get too upset about it. I have a feeling that a broken nose is going to be the least of my worries when he comes back.”
“What do you think he wants?”
“All he’s ever wanted. Your money.”
Sierra closed her eyes. “He can’t get it if he kills me.”
“No.”
The way Amelia whispered that one word filled Sierra with dread. “What are you thinking?”
“That you’re right. He can’t get your money if he kills you. So, he’ll threaten to kill me unless you give it to him.”
“Oh my gosh, Amelia! No! I’ll give it to him.”
“Sierra. I love you, but you’re not that stupid.”
Sierra felt panic claw at her throat. “No. I’m not. As soon as I gave him what he wanted, he’d kill us both.”
“Yeah. But I don’t see any way out. He’s going to come back soon. He’s not going to want to waste any time. I’d guess that he dumped us here until we come around, but he’ll be back to check. We should see if there’s any way out of here, but even if there is, we don’t know where we are.”
Sierra took a deep breath. “There has to be a way out. If there’s not a way out of this cabin, then there’s a way out of this situation. No fucking way am I going to let that bastard kill us. I won’t let him kill you because of me. And I just got the life I always wanted but never dreamed I’d have. No way is he going to take it away from me.”
Amelia chuckled quietly. “Well, damn! Finally! Listen to you curse, girl! I always figured that you’d come out fighting if you had to. I’m glad I wasn’t wrong.”
“You weren’t wrong. I mean it, Amelia. I never needed to fight for anything before. But I do now. And I don’t intend to lose.” Her heart was pounding, her head felt as though someone was sticking knives in it. But Sierra felt a strength coursing through her veins that she hadn’t known before. “I have everything to fight for now, Lia. We’re getting out of this. I promise you.”
“Awesome. Any ideas how?”
She looked up at the window and over to the door. She wanted to check them both out. But Jared might be on the other side of that door and as soon as he heard them moving around, he’d come in ready to do whatever he planned. She shuddered. She needed time to think before she had to face him. What could she do?
She had no idea. But she had to think of something. She couldn’t die here. The thought of leaving Mateo and Maya now that they were finally safe, the thought of never seeing Wade again. How sad he’d be. He would have done anything he could to save her life.
Wait! He had done something that might just save her life – hers and Amelia’s. She lifted her arm and looked at the fuchsia-pink plastic watch. It might be a bit garish, but she’d grown to love it because Wade had given it to her. She loved it and him even more as she pressed the button on the side three times and held her breath as she waited. She didn’t totally understand how it worked. Wade had told her that it didn’t need to connect to her phone – which was a good thing because she had no idea where that was – it should be able to find a signal by itself and send the SOS message – to the email contacts she’d entered, and to the emergency services. A wave of relief mixed with hope washed over her when she felt the vibration that indicated the message had been sent successfully. Now all she could do was hope that it would get through to Wade and the police, and that they’d be able to get here – wherever here was – before it was too late.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Wade gripped his hat between his hands and stared at the highway ahead as Ford drove them up to town. They’d left Tyler with the kids – they were baking cookies. The plan had been to surprise Sierra with them when she came home. Now … no, he refused to believe that she wouldn’t be coming home.
She had to be okay. He closed his eyes at the thought of her in Amelia’s Tahoe as it flipped and rolled off the road. He could only cling to the fact that if she’d been killed in the accident, if either of them had, the police would have found them still inside the vehicle. If this was somehow Jared’s doing, and he had to believe that it was, he must have taken them. But where – and how the hell were they going to find them?
His heart thudded to a stop, and he pulled his phone out of his back pocket. He opened his email with shaking fingers, but there was nothing from Sierra. Nothing from the security company where he’d bought the tracker watches.
“What’ve you got, bro?” Tanner asked from the backseat.
“Nothing. I’m just hoping that she’s going to manage to get a message out.”
Ford glanced over at him. “Shit. You’re right. I forgot about that stupid-looking watch you gave her.”
Tanner took his own phone out. “I’ve got nothing either.”
“Who did you add as her contacts?” Ford asked. “Did you say it was five people? Damn, Wade. I know I wasn’t exactly enthusiastic when you showed me that watch, but God I hope I was wrong.”
“So do I.”
“How does it work again?” asked Tanner.
“All she needs to do is press the button on the side three times and it should send out an email notification to all five of her contacts. That’s the three of us, Barney, and Dax. It also notifies emergency services. All the alerts will give her location.”
“That’s awesome!” said Tanner.
“It will be,” Wade hated what he heard in Ford’s voice even before he said the words, “if she can use it.”
Wade closed his eyes. She wouldn’t be able to push the button if she was unconscious. It’d do her no good, then.
Ford glanced over at him. “Sorry, bro. We have to hope for the best. Even if she was knocked out in the crash, if Jared took her, it has to be because he wants something from her. He won’t get anything while she’s out cold. When she wakes up, she’ll send the signal. She’ll do it.”
“Yeah.” Wade gripped his hat tighter. He had to hold on and believe that she would.
When they got to town, Ford parked in the lot behind the sheriff’s office. Luke greeted them as soon as they walked through the door.
“What have you got?” asked Wade.
“Not much to go on yet,” Luke said grimly. “Like I told you, the vehicle was empty. It’s a rental under the name Amelia Danforth.” He met Wade’s gaze. “The officers on scene retrieved Amelia’s purse – and Sierra’s. There was a set of tire tracks in the dir
t leading up to Amelia’s vehicle and away again. Someone took them.”
“Yeah, and we know who.”
Luke held his gaze. “You think it’s the guy Sierra was supposed to marry?”
Wade was glad that he didn’t need to explain the situation. Luke had been a friend since kindergarten. He was bound to have heard all about Sierra and why she was here. “Yeah.”
“Come on through. All I know about Sierra is what I’ve heard through the grapevine. It’s probably all I need, but I want you to tell me everything you know – about her and about, what’s his name?”
“Jared. Jared Hanson.”
Wade and his brothers started to follow Luke into an interview room, but they all stopped and reached for their phones at the same time. Wade held his breath until he saw the email alert he’d been hoping for.
“We’ve got her!” said Ford.
“Thank fuck!” said Tanner.
Luke turned back and looked at them. “What’s going on, guys?”
Wade held his phone up. “She has a tracker with an SOS alert. We just got her location.”
“Where is she?”
Ford was tapping at his phone. “In the foothills of the Crazies.”
The three of them turned and ran back for Ford’s truck.
“I’m right behind you,” Luke called.
Just as they reached the front door of the building, the sheriff, Deacon, stepped out in front of them. “What’s going on?”
Wade dodged around him. “We found her.” He wasn’t going to stick around to talk about it. “There should be an alert coming in from Silverstone Security Services.”
To his relief, Deacon didn’t try to hold them up. But he did call a warning after them. “The deputies will be right behind you. You know the score, guys – you have to stay out of the way and let them do their job when you get there.”
Wade didn’t even dignify that with a reply. As far as he was concerned, it was his job to get Sierra out safely. A quick look at his brothers told him that they felt the same way.