Chapter 21
While Mike jumped on the phone, Cody rounded the sofa and sat next to Ollie. As much as he loved having the boy close, it’d be better for him to leave with Elsie. There was no telling what lay ahead, and he needed to be shielded as best as possible.
“Did you find my mom?” Ollie asked, eyes wide and filled with fear.
“Not yet, buddy. But we might have gotten one step closer. Your grandpa, uncles, and I will leave soon to track down some leads. I think you should go home with Elsie until this is all done.”
Tears slid down Ollie’s cheeks. “I want to stay with you.”
The statement yanked at his heartstrings until they were pulled all the way off. “I wish you could but that’s not possible. I need to focus on your mom right now, and I can do that better if I know you’re safe with Elsie.”
“What about Bailey?” Ollie rested his head on top of the dog’s. “She shouldn’t be alone.”
Elsie joined them, standing behind the couch. “You know, I think Jimmy would love to meet Bailey. If Cody’s okay with it, she can come with us.”
Ollie still didn’t look convinced, but he swished his lips to the side in consideration. “Will you call me when you have Mom?”
The fact that he said when and not if buoyed Cody’s own hopes. “I will.”
Ollie heaved out a sigh. “Okay. I’ll go with Elsie.”
Cody gave the boy a big hug and kissed the top of his head. When he stood, he fought his own tears from falling. “I’ll see you soon.”
Forcing himself away from Ollie, he slipped into the guest room and packed a bag for Elsie to take. He prayed Ollie would be back in his own bed tonight but there was no telling what the coming hours would bring.
A bright flash of pain slammed against him so hard his vision wavered. He wanted this room to be Ollie’s, wanted the bed covered in a superhero blanket and toy cars scattered on the floor. Hell, even stepping barefoot on Legos sounded like heaven.
He hoped to make that vision reality, but before that could happen, he had to bring Katherine home.
With Ollie’s stuff in hand, he waited for the boy to say his goodbyes to his family then helped Elsie get Ollie and his wheelchair in her car. When everything was loaded, he stood in the driveway and waved goodbye as he watched them leave.
He turned around and found Mike standing on the front porch.
“He means a lot to you, doesn’t he?” Mike asked.
“They both do, sir.”
Mike nodded. “Then let’s find Katherine so the three of you can put this nonsense behind you.
I spoke with the Holms County sheriff. We were able to pinpoint when Katherine was at that party, and she pulled some files.
They made a big bust that night. A drug dealer was using some frat as a way to traffic product and he happened to be at that party.
He was put away for fifteen years. Released a month ago. ”
“That’s got to be him,” Cody said. “Do you have a location?”
“I have an address,” Mike said. “Lives about ten minutes from here. Near the county line between Cooper and Holms.”
Owen and Tommy poured out of the house, determination clear in every stride.
“I’ll drive,” Owen said.
Cody hurried to Owen’s cruiser and climbed inside. He sat in the back with Tommy, leaving the front seat for Mike.
Owen settled behind the wheel and took off.
“What all do we know about this guy?”
“Name is Keith Stiller. Age forty-seven,” Tommy read off his phone. “One previous arrest prior to the one that put him away for fifteen years. Here’s a photo.” He tilted the screen toward Cody.
Recognition tightened his stomach muscles. He was transported back to the night this asshole grabbed Katherine at the hospital. To the night his world had changed forever. “Son of a bitch. That’s him.”
Owen turned on the siren and lights. “Call this into the station, Tommy. Dad, call your contact at Holms County Sheriff Department. The more backup we can have, the better.”
While they went about their assignments, Cody plugged the address into his phone and found a layout of the house. He studied the exits, the arrangement of the rooms. He memorized every inch by the time Owen cut the siren.
“We’re almost there,” Owen said. “No need to alert him to our presence. What’s the plan?”
Cody handed his phone to Mike. “Here’s the layout. Two exits. The front door feeds right into the living room. A side door goes into the attached garage. Kitchen and bathroom on the first floor. Three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs.”
“Me and Cody will head to the front door, Owen and Tommy through the side,” Mike said. “We go in with weapons drawn. Owen and Tommy, clear the first floor while we head upstairs. We get my baby girl out of there, got it?”
Owen parked the car in the driveway and all four men hurried out.
Cody secured his gun and released the safety. He took the lead, running up the cracked sidewalk with Mike behind him, Tommy and Owen going to the garage.
He tried the handle, shocked when the front door swung open. He glanced over his shoulder at Mike. “Ready?”
“Hell yeah.”
Steadying his nerves, Cody stepped inside. Musty, stale air greeted him along with the hum of appliances. He noted the sound of Owen and Tommy entering the house as he pounded up the stairs—Mike right behind him.
Nothing but silence lingered in the hallway, but he couldn’t focus on the fear that brought along with it. He opened the first door and stepped into an empty room. Disappointment dipped his gut. He stepped back in the hall as Mike stepped out of another room.
“Nothing,” Mike said, frowning.
Cody went to the third door and pushed it open. The same sight greeted him. An empty room, the closet door pushed open.
He met Mike back in the hall. “Anything?”
Mike shook his head. “Doesn’t even look like anyone lives here.”
Cody rushed back downstairs only to find Owen and Tommy with matching pissed-off expressions.
“No sign of her,” Owen said. “Are you sure this is the right house?”
“It’s the address the sheriff gave me. She got it from his parole officer.” Mike braced his palms on either side of his head. “Where the hell are they?”
Cody struggled not to fall to pieces as time ticked by. The longer Katherine was missing, the more likely she was hurt or worse. But he couldn’t go there—couldn’t get caught in the quicksand of worst-case scenarios.
“I’ll call the parole officer.” Mike nabbed his phone from his pocket. “See if he has any other ideas where Keith could take Katherine. Family, friends, place of work. Anywhere.”
An idea took root in Cody’s gut. “What about the house where he was arrested?”
Narrowing his eyes, Tommy cocked his head to the side. “What do you mean?”
“Criminals return to the scene of the crime all the time. If Keith is determined to make Katherine pay for her part in his arrest, he could take her back to where it all began.”
“It’s better than anything else we have to go on,” Owen said. “The house shouldn’t be too far from here.”
“It’s not,” Mike said. “The address was in the police report the sheriff sent over.”
“Send it to me,” Owen said.
Not wanting to waste a second, Cody ran outside. He had one more shot at getting to Katherine. He just prayed he wasn’t wrong.
Katherine couldn’t stop and figure out why this man had brought her to some house she went to one time as a teenager. Hell, it didn’t really matter. All that mattered was getting as far away from him as possible.
Feet separated her from the front door. She grabbed the handle, and a gunshot blasted through the air, a bullet lodging in the splintered wood of the doorframe.
She dove to the floor and covered her head with her hands. Pain rippled through her.
“You think you can just run out of here? That I won’t keep chasing you?” The man staggered down the stairs. A slight limp slowed his progress, and blood flowed down his face. He aimed the gun at her, the weapon bouncing in his unsteady hand.
“Just leave me alone,” she screamed, frustration boiling inside her. “I don’t even know who the hell you are.”
He stopped and scratched his chin with the barrel of the gun. “You don’t remember the last time you were here?’
“Yes, but what does that have to do with you?”
“You left here and ran to Daddy. Told him everything that was happening, and he sent the cops after me. I was arrested that night and thrown in jail. I lost my business and my freedom. I lost fifteen years of my life in that hellhole. All because of you.”
He aimed the weapon at her again, and she curled into a ball. The coldness from the linoleum seeped into her skin. Maybe if she just laid here and took the bullet meant for her, it’d end her quickly.
He continued down the stairs. “Maybe once I’m done with you, I’ll go back for the boy. I missed out on my own kid’s life, and now she wants nothing to do with me. It’s only fair I repay the favor.”
Something inside of her snapped. She could take her share of abuse, but the moment her son was threatened she had no choice but to fight back. He was already battered and weak. She just had to get the gun away from him before he used it on her.
She needed to keep him talking.
Raising to her feet, she kept her palms in the air.
“I’m sorry for your troubles,” she said, the apology bitter on her tongue.
“But I never told my dad about that night. I wanted to forget it ever happened. I was scared of what I saw at that party and terrified I’d get in trouble if my dad found out I was there. ”
He sneered. “You think I believe that? You’re just trying to save your own ass.” He heaved out a labored breath and leaned against the railing of the staircase.
“I promise. I had nothing to do with it.” She wouldn’t add that if he was selling drugs to teenagers, he deserved exactly what he got. Something told her that wouldn’t help her case. “If the police showed up, it wasn’t because of me.”
“Lies!” he screamed, the gun bouncing even more in his grip. He was feet away.
It was now or never.
She channeled every ounce of fear and anger and frustration and catapulted herself forward. She wrapped her arms around the man’s waist and slammed him to the ground. They bounced down the rest of the stairs and landed in a pile on the hard floor.
The gun blasted against her eardrum. Pain ripped into her side. She shoved it away and scrambled for the weapon.
The man struggled under her, squirming and bucking until his body pinned her into place. Laughing, he shoved the weapon in his waistband and circled his hands around her neck. He applied pressure, stealing her breath. “This is much better. Now I can see the life leaving your eyes.”
She clawed at his hands and twisted her body to get him off. Her strength leaked from her system. Dark spots dotted her vision and her raw throat labored to bring in air to no avail. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes.
This couldn’t be how it ended. Away from everyone she loved on a dirty floor, a madman’s face the last thing she saw before taking her final breath. She had a son who needed her. She had a life waiting for her.
She had Cody.
An image of Cody holding Ollie in his arms crept into her mind’s eye. She clung to the picture, urging it to stay in focus. To stay with her as she edged closer to death.
In a flash, the man pinning her down was off her, his hands no longer around her throat. Was this death? Had everything around her floated away as her soul left her body?
“Katherine, stay with me honey. Look at me. Take a breath. Please, baby.”
Cody’s pleas reached her ears, and she gasped against the fire blazing a trail through her neck. She blinked open her eyes and stared up into the most beautiful baby blues she’d ever seen. “Cody?” The name was so sweet on her lips even if it hurt like hell to speak.
He cradled her in his arms and smoothed a palm along her jawline. “I’m right here. You’re going to be okay. I promise.”
Commotion caught her attention from behind Cody. Owen slapped a pair of handcuffs on the man who’d tried to kill her and dragged him to his feet. “She did a number on you, huh?”
The man growled but hung his head.
Her dad grabbed a fistful of the man’s hair and forced him to meet his eyes. “You’re lucky my son’s the sheriff. If it was just me here, I’d kill you for hurting her.”
Tommy rested a hand on Mike’s shoulder. “Come on, Dad. Let Owen get him in his cruiser. We need to call an ambulance for Kat.”
She rested her head against Cody’s chest and winced as pain vibrated every nerve ending in her body.
“Katherine, you’re bleeding.” Urgency came through Cody’s words, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. The bad man was going away, and she was back with the man she loved. That’s all she needed to know.
“Honey, I need to know where you’re hurt. Help’s on the way, but if there’s something serious happening, I need to figure it out. Can I lift your shirt a little?”
She wanted him to stop talking. To just hold her tight while she closed her eyes and got some rest. “So tired,” she murmured.
Cool air touched her skin and gentle fingers moved around her torso.
“Shit, she’s shot,” Cody said. “How long before medics get here?”
“Just pulled in,” Tommy said.
More commotion. More people. Someone swooped in and took her away from Cody—away from his warmth and comfort.
“No,” she said, reaching for him. “Don’t leave me.”
As she was loaded onto a stretcher, Cody stayed beside her and grabbed her hand. “I’ll never leave you, Katherine. Now you promise me the same thing, okay? Don’t leave me now. We have way too much to look forward to. An entire life together.”
A small smile lifted one side of her mouth. “That sounds nice.”
Her eyes slid shut and all her pain fled. Peace settled into her bones as she welcomed the darkness, her hand going limp in Cody’s.