by Janie Crouch
“What?”
Jeter took a ring box off the table and began tossing it in the air.
“This. Your boyfriend has been carrying it around. Seems like our Tanner was planning on proposing.”
He tossed the ring box to her and she caught it out of automatic reaction more than anything else. She opened it and tried to bite back her sob.
“Oops,” he said. “I guess I spoiled the surprise. But since Tanner will be dead in a few minutes anyway, there’s no real harm done.”
Bree ignored him, reaching out to run her fingers over the ring. This had been Tanner’s mom’s engagement ring. Bree remembered it from when the older woman had shown her over dinner one night.
Had Tanner really been planning to ask her to marry him when she’d been afraid he was going to ask her to move out of the ranch house?
Jeter reached over and snatched the ring out of her hand. Bree bit back another cry.
“Please. You’ve taken Tanner. Just let me keep this.”
Jeter tilted his head and studied her. “You really did have feelings for him, didn’t you?”
Bree was surprised when he lifted her hand and placed the ring box back on her palm. “I will let you keep this. Because someday you will readily give it back to me. The way you just ran your fingers so lovingly over it will be how you rub them over the ring I give you instead.”
Bree forced herself not to cringe. The important thing was that she had the ring.
Jeter crossed back over to the second table Bree hadn’t knocked over. He picked up a syringe lying there and turned back to her.
“I got this from one of the kidnappers in your case. The same one I helped you catch. You didn’t really think she was going to fall for that shell program did you?”
“Actually, no. I was pretty surprised when we got her message.”
Jeter held up his arms. “That’s because it was me. That lady in the bathtub thing would’ve definitely been dead by the time he found her, if I hadn’t killed the kidnapper and sent a message to you. See, I’m not such a terrible guy.”
Bree looked around the room. There’s no way she was going to make it to the door without him catching her and injecting her with whatever was in his hand.
There were no windows and no other way out.
There was nothing nearby for her to throw at him, and if they had hand-to-hand combat, there wasn’t much chance of Bree winning.
She backed farther into the corner, trying to figure out what she could do, and felt her shoulder get snagged on something.
The fuse box.
It wasn’t a great option but it was at least something. No windows meant no power would bring total darkness.
She glanced at the room trying to memorize where everything was. She would have to dive behind the table, crawl and reach for his gun. Of course, he’d probably be doing the same.
Jeter was still talking. The man had always loved the sound of his own voice. “Surely you know we were always meant to be together, Bethany. Tanner said you would run. That you would never come to me, not even to trade yourself for his life. But I knew the truth. You and I, no matter what shape or form these faces end up in, belong together.”
Jeter was staring at the syringe, lost in his own words. She knew she wouldn’t have a better chance. She snatched open the fuse box, and immediately saw the master fuse. It looked like there was some sort of set of wires hanging off it, but Bree didn’t care even if it shocked her.
“No!” Jeter screamed.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw him dive for her. She grabbed the master switch and yanked it over.
Everything went black. She dived for the back of the room like she’d planned.
Then screamed as everything began to explode around her.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Tanner wasn’t a particularly claustrophobic person, but trying to keep calm minute after minute inside a casket was difficult even for him.
He wasn’t sure why Jeter hadn’t used the carbon monoxide like he’d threatened, and at this point Tanner was beginning to think that might be less of a blessing and more of a curse.
Maybe Bree hadn’t gotten his message. She had to have been scared out of her mind to interact with Jeter. She wouldn’t have known that Tanner knew where he was and that he was trying to signal in some way.
If he was going to die here, he was going to die praying Bree had done the smart thing and had run in the opposite direction. That she’d made her decisions with that computer brain of hers, and known that there was no way Jeter was ever going to let him go.
A year ago that’s what she would’ve done. Hell, maybe even a few weeks ago. But he knew the truth now. Bree loved him the way he loved her and she would never leave him here to die if there was any possible thing that she could do.
Now he just wished he’d asked her to marry him any of the times he’d had the chance, even if the situation hadn’t been perfect.
He began to fade in and out of consciousness. It wasn’t so bad. When he was out he could hear Bree’s sweet voice talking to him. And sometimes others, like Whitaker and Penelope. Although he’d much rather hear Bree.
“Tanner! Are you here?”
Tanner opened his eyes. Whitaker’s voice sounded a lot louder this time.
“Tanner. Call out.” Penelope.
“Hey!” Damn it. His voice was too weak. Instead, he brought his elbow as hard as he could against the side of the casket. At least that cheap bastard used wood.
“Everybody shut up. I heard something,” Whitaker yelled. “Do it again, Tanner.”
Tanner continued to thump. The effort was excruciating. He was definitely running out of oxygen in here.
“I’ve got him!” Tanner heard something on the top of the casket. “There’s a lock. Get something to cut it with.”
There was a lot more commotion, and he tried to focus on that rather than the dwindling air. Finally the casket flew open.
The light was blinding, but the air... Oh, the precious air. Tanner took great gulps of it while Whitaker and Penelope helped get him out of his restraints and sit up.
Somebody pressed a bottle of water into his hands as Tanner took in the scene around him. “You got my message.”
“Actually, Bree got your message and then made sure we saw it,” Penelope explained. “But we don’t know where Bree is. I gave her my car thinking we’d be able to track it, but she changed vehicles for some reason.”
Tanner stood all the way up. “Jeter would’ve thought of that. But he’s close by with her. He’s set up some sort of headquarters around here.”
“If Jeter kidnapped you, then who is the guy in the hospital?” Whitaker asked.
“Somebody willing to lose all his freedom to make sure the real Jeter gets his. It’s a plan they’ve had in place for years. It was always just a matter of time before it was implemented.”
“We’ve got every Dallas PD officer available nearby,” Penelope said. “And Jeter is on the top of everybody’s most-wanted list, so we can have everyone from the FBI to Homeland Security here within the hour searching for him.”
Tanner shook his head. “An hour will be too late. And Jeter is crazy when it comes to Bree. He told me he set it up so that if he can’t have her, nobody will. If we go on a door-to-door hunt, he’s going to kill her.”
“I can have Jeremy pull up the building plans from around here and send them to us,” Penelope said. “There are only so many places where Jeter can keep himself hidden. He’s too well-known to be out in the open.”
“No.” Tanner shook his head. “That’s sure to tip Jeter off. He would have some sort of alarm set if someone pulls the building files. That’s what Bree would do. And like it or not, Jeter taught Bree a lot when it comes to computers.”
“We don’t need a computer to tell us what’
s around here,” Whitaker said. “I grew up in this neighborhood. I can provide you with at least a basic layout.”
Tanner nodded. A basic layout would get them pretty far. Within five minutes, they’d gotten Whitaker some papers and he’d sketched out a three-block radius of his neighborhood.
“If I was looking to set up shop somewhere I wouldn’t be noticed, I’d head to one of these two places.” He pointed to two different sections of his crude map. “Either here, which was a pawnshop and shoe repair, but has been deserted for at least half a decade. Or these storage units. A lot of shady stuff happens around there, and nobody’s going to study anyone else too carefully.”
Either place would probably work for Jeter.
“This is your call,” Penelope said. “We can go in stealth, or we can go in guns blazing. If he’s in one of those storage units, it could take a little bit of time to find him. He’d have the advantage.”
Tanner couldn’t disagree with that. “Let’s concentrate there. Jeter would definitely want the advantage.”
They were out the door and headed toward the storage units along with most of the uniformed officers just a couple minutes later. Tanner was riding with Whitaker when a feeling in his gut stopped him.
“Whit, wait. I don’t think this is right. I know the storage units would give Jeter the advantage, but that bastard is so conceited, I don’t think he would even consider that he needed an advantage.”
“You sure?”
“Plus, he’s been sitting in a cell for months. I don’t think he’d be quick to put himself back in a box with his first taste of freedom.”
Whitaker spun the car around right there in the middle of the street. “I’ll let Penelope know we’re going to check out the pawnshop.”
Tanner swallowed a curse. “I could be wrong. I did spend the last couple hours trapped inside a coffin.”
“When it comes to Bree, I’ll take your gut feeling no matter how many hours you’ve been buried.”
There was only one car parked in front of the abandoned pawnshop. A white Honda Civic. One of the most popular cars on the road today. And one that would never draw attention. It was the same type Bree drove because it was so nondescript.
“I think she’s here. Let’s get inside.”
Tanner checked the weapon Penelope had given him and the one in his ankle holster. He and Whitaker got out of the car.
“Let me stick my head in,” Whitaker said. “If Jeter is in there, he may not recognize me, but he’ll definitely recognize you.”
Tanner nodded reluctantly and followed Whitaker to the front door. He opened the door without hesitation, keeping his weapon down at his side, looking more like someone interested in the pawnshop that used to be there than a cop.
Tanner waited, letting the door almost close before catching it. If something went wrong in there he wanted to be able to get in quick.
A moment later the door opened again and Whitaker motioned him inside.
It was dark.
“Vacant except for some sort of office in the back corner,” Whitaker whispered.
Weapons drawn, they moved quickly toward the office area. The blacked-out windows made it hard to see. But it didn’t take them long to hear both a woman and a man’s voice.
“That’s Bree.” Tanner had never been so relieved to hear a voice in his whole life. “I’m going in.”
Whitaker grabbed him. “Think. She’s still alive, they’re still talking. You storm the castle, and things might go to crap quick. Jeter is smart, Tanner. Be smarter.”
Tanner nodded. Whitaker was right. They began looking around the outside of the thin walls of the office. Maybe there was a different, better way of getting in than the door.
The entire far side of the wall farthest from the door was lined with wooden boxes. Tanner didn’t think anything of them until he remembered what Jeter had said about if he couldn’t have Bree, nobody could.
“Whit, shine a light over here for second,” Tanner whispered. Whitaker aimed the beam of light at one of the boxes and Tanner pried it open silently. Both of them let out a curse when they saw what was inside.
Explosives.
“Surely, Jeter won’t set those off with him still in the building.”
“I don’t know. He’s obsessed with her. He might be willing to die rather than have her live without him.”
Whitaker nodded. “Then we go back to plan A. Storm the castle.”
Tanner nodded and they moved to the door. “I’ll kick it in. You go low, I’ll go high.”
Whitaker crouched and Tanner was counting down when they heard Jeter yell from the inside.
“No!”
Whitaker’s eyes looked up at Tanner in confusion.
Then everything blew to hell.
* * *
THE EXPLOSION KNOCKED both Tanner and Whitaker half a dozen feet away from the door. If they’d been over next to the explosives, it would’ve killed them instantly.
As it was, half the office was gone.
And Bree was still in there.
“Bree!”
It was almost impossible to see any details in the smoke, but the fire was lighting half the space.
Tanner crawled toward the office. To the side he heard Whitaker coughing and moaning like he was in pain, but Tanner couldn’t stop—the man was breathing and that was more than Tanner knew for sure about Bree.
He grabbed Whitaker’s phone, dialed 9-1-1 and left it on the ground. Hopefully emergency services would send first responders immediately since they’d be able to track the call.
He continued to crawl toward the office, keeping low to attempt to stay out of the smoke.
“Bree!” He made it to the door. “Bree! Talk to me, freckles.”
God, please talk to him. Please be alive.
The smoke got even thicker as he moved inside the door. The far half of the office, where all the explosives had been stored was now completely gone. Computer equipment lay in pieces on the ground and burning on a table.
A leg bent at an awkward angle near one of the computers caught Tanner’s attention and his heart began to throw itself against his ribs. Was that Bree?
He crawled over, the smell of scorched flesh becoming stronger as he did. He prayed with all his might it wasn’t Bree.
It wasn’t. As soon as Tanner got to the shoe he realized it was too large to belong to Bree. This was Jeter.
Tanner didn’t waste any more time on him. Alive or dead, he’d have to wait.
A bang against a table that had fallen caught his attention. “Bree!”
A cough.
“Bree, I’m coming.” He got to his feet, still keeping as low as he could, and ran behind the table.
Bree was there. She was alive. She was moving her hands all over the ground, crying and coughing.
“Bree.”
She couldn’t hear him between her frantic movements and crying. He touched her ankle and she screamed, kicking at him.
“Freckles, it’s me!”
“Tanner?”
“Yeah, baby. Come on. We’ve got to get out of here.”
“Wait, there it is!” The last word turned from a sob to a cough. The smoke was getting thicker.
Tanner crawled closer to her. She was still feeling around for something. Some evidence? Something about Jeter?
She scurried away, fighting him when he tried to pull her back. “Bree. We’ve got to go. Now!”
He’d never spoken to her in this way, but whatever was going on inside her mind, she needed to let it go. “You’re alive. I’m alive. I don’t care about anything else. Let’s just get out of here.”
But she still scrambled forward another foot. “Got it!”
He had no idea what she was talking about, but she was at least ready to go now.
“Sta
y close to me. We’re going to have to keep low.”
They rounded the table and Tanner came to an abrupt stop.
Jeter was there—one leg still lying awkwardly to the side—and had his gun trained at both of them.
“Sorry, Tanner. But I did warn you that if she wasn’t with me, she wasn’t going to be with anyone.”
Tanner’s weapon wasn’t in his hand. He’d dropped it during the explosion. There was no way he’d be able to get to his ankle holster before Jeter shot them.
“Admittedly,” Jeter continued. “You did warn me that I’d have to go through you to get to her. Looks like that’s true too.”
He felt Bree’s hand tighten on his side. It seemed so unfair that they would both survive to this point only to die here.
“Michael,” Bree said, just loud enough to be heard over the burning.
“Yes, Bethany.”
“I’m coming over to you.” Bree got unsteadily to her feet. “Don’t shoot Tanner. I’m coming to you.”
“I have to shoot him. Don’t you understand? You’ll never be mine as long as he’s alive.” Jeter pointed the gun right at Tanner’s face and Tanner knew with him only ten feet away this time there wouldn’t be any cheating death.
Bree took another step closer to Jeter but was still too far away to be able to harm him. “You said I would eventually give this back to you. And you were right. Here it is.” She tossed something small in Jeter’s direction.
Jeter’s attention was splintered as he tried to catch it, forgetting about his injured arm. It gave Tanner the seconds he needed to get his weapon from his ankle holster.
Tanner didn’t hesitate. He was firing as he swung the weapon up and in Jeter’s direction.
The man died still reaching for whatever Bree had thrown at him. Tanner looked down and saw exactly what it was.
Her engagement ring.
He had no idea how she had gotten it or why throwing it at Jeter had caught him so off guard. And he didn’t care. He scrambled forward, grabbed the ring and took Jeter’s pulse, just for good measure.
This time the man was definitely dead.
Bree was staring at him like she couldn’t quite take it all in. Tanner didn’t blame her.