31. 31
31
M alice stood and arched his back, then tilted his head as far as he could make it go to either side. His muscles were stiff and throbbed as he moved from where he’d been bent over a desk, working on some calculations for Lurch. From what Malice had seen in the months he’d been with the Souls, the only one with any ranch experience to speak of was Tuck.
But because Tuck would be leaving soonish, when Lurch had discovered that Malice had grown up on a ranch, and his dad had treated him as if he would eventually be running the place, so he’d made sure he knew how to do it. There was no way to know then that he would end up having to sell the ranch after his parents were gone.
Now, as Lurch tried to learn more about the job he would be doing with less supervision all too soon, he’d asked Malice his opinion and for assistance a little more frequently. Malice had never thought he’d come back to this, especially after he’d left without looking back and not planning to go back, at least not long enough for what he’d learned growing up to matter.
He rolled his shoulders and stepped out of the small office in the barn where Lurch did most of the paperwork. At least what he didn’t take home in the evening to do where it was more comfortable. Finding no one in the barn, he continued out until he stood in the sunshine in front of the barn. Malice closed his eyes as he tilted his face back and let himself absorb some of the warmth.
“I thought you’d be gone by now,” a voice made him open his eyes and turn toward where it had come from.
Talon had just come around the corner of the building and now approached him.
“Oh?” He hoped that would be enough to get the newest hand and prospect to tell him why he thought Malice would be gone by now.
The kid shrugged. “I don’t know. Your girl’s usually back by now and if you’re not already back at your cabin, you’re working fast to get there as soon as you can.”
Malice checked his watch and found that Talon was right. Time had gotten away from him, and it was later than he’d thought. He looked back up at the kid, one brow lifted. “I didn’t realize anyone was watching me so close, as to predict my movements. I’m not sure if I should be worried.”
“I was going to take one of the dirt bikes out for a ride. Just didn’t expect to find you still here.” Talon stepped past him and into the barn, ending the conversation.
Malice blinked wondering what had just happened, then shook his head and headed for the cabin.
As he approached, the first thing he noticed was that the truck wasn’t in front of the cabin. He frowned and checked the time again. Had he been wrong about the time? Even if she’d stopped for something, as long as it hadn’t been a long stop, she should be home by now.
He continued inside, pulling his phone from his pocket to see if she’d sent him any messages letting him know she’d be late. But before he reached the door, he knew there were no messages from Bonnie.
Outside the door he toed off his boots, they were filthy, and he didn’t want to wear them inside. He pulled up Lurch’s number and hit dial as he stepped inside.
“What’s up?” the ranch supervisor answered as Malice made his way down the hall, checking each room in case she was there, but someone else had taken the truck for some reason he didn’t know.
“Bonnie’s not home. Have you seen or heard anything? Did she go see one of the women instead of coming home?” Malice put the phone on speaker and stripped out of his filthy jeans and t-shirt, he dropped them in the dirty clothes basket and reached for clean ones instead of heading to the shower as he usually did.
“I haven’t seen or heard from her. Let me check a couple of things, then I’ll get back to you.”
“Hurry.”
The call disconnected. Unease sat in his stomach like a rock as he pulled on the clean shirt and stepped into the jeans.
He was pulling on his riding boots when his phone rang. He snatched it up without bothering to look at who it was.
“What did you find out?”
“Nobody’s seen her today. They assumed she was home, but the last time anyone saw her was breakfast this morning.”
“I’m going to town to look for her. Can Jake locate her phone? Maybe that will help me find her.”
“I’ll call him. You can take my truck. The keys are in it.”
“Thanks. I was going to take my bike, but the truck is probably better.” He didn’t want to think about what could have happened to delay her. What might be happening to her right now if that fucker decided he would take her again. It would be best to have something she could sit in comfortably, just in case she was hurt in some way.
Even the thought of Bonnie being hurt made him want to beat the fuckwad to a bloody pulp. He hated the idea, but he had to be prepared for whatever he might find, because he would find her. Not finding her wasn’t an option.
Malice got in the truck and headed to town, hoping the whole way he’d find her along the road, perfectly fine and something innocent had happened to delay her. The heavy weight of worry in his gut told him it was a useless hope, but he couldn’t stop. Hoping his instinct was wrong was all that kept him putting one foot in front of the other and not losing his mind with rage. He could do that after he had her back.
He made it to the highway without encountering either Bonnie or his pickup. Turning onto the highway, he cursed under his breath. He’d hoped she was just running late for whatever reason. It was still possible, but with every mile he made it from the ranch without finding her, the heavy weight of dread weighing down his belly grew heavier.
Malice backtracked the route Bonnie should have taken from her work to the ranch all the way to the hotel. When he reached the hotel, he found his truck sitting in the lot, as if she was still working. Had she had stay late for some reason? He thought she would have at least texted him if she had, but he parked and took a deep breath trying to calm himself before going inside. After several slow deep breaths, he gave up and got out of the truck anyway. If she was there, they’d have a laugh that he was overly concerned about her. After they got home later, he’d talk to her about making sure he knew when she was working late so it didn’t happen again.
He hoped she was there.
At the counter inside was a young woman who gave him a smile. “Can I help you?”
He checked her name tag. “Hi, Elizabeth. I’m looking for Bonnie. Is she here by chance?”
“I don’t think so. I haven’t seen her in quite a while.”
“Can you tell me when she left?”
“I’m sorry. I can’t give that information out.” Her smile dimmed, as if she didn’t like that she couldn’t give him what he was looking for.
Malice nodded, glad she wasn’t giving information to just anyone. “That’s all right. Is Randy here by chance?” he asked for the man Bonnie had mentioned was her supervisor.
Elizabeth’s smile spread again. “He is.” She seemed happy that this time he’d asked something she could do for him. “Let me just get him. Can I say who’s asking for him?”
“My name’s Corey.” He gave her the name Bonnie would have used if she’d mentioned him.
He watched as she disappeared around a corner of a wall behind the counter, he heard her knock on what he assumed was a door, then voices muffled just enough he couldn’t make out what was being say. A moment later, Elizabeth was back, a man a few steps behind her. The man Malice assumed was Randy looked a few years older than Malice, he wore a button-down shirt open at the collar and no tie, along with dark slacks. Other than looking professional, Malice couldn’t tell much about him.
“Hi, I’m Randy. Elizabeth says you asked for me?”
“Hi Randy. I’m Corey.” Again, he used the name Bonnie would have used for him. “I’m looking for Bonnie. She should have been home more than an hour ago, but I can’t find her. Can you tell me what time she left?”
Randy frowned. “I don’t know.” He seemed torn as to whether or not he should share.
Impatience wared inside him as he battled his impatience to find Bonnie and make sure she was safe, but he needed to convince this guy he wasn’t the asshole trying to hurt her or one of his friends. “Is there somewhere we can speak more privately?”
Randy glanced around, seeming to take in for the first time how public they were and how many people milled around who could be listening in on every word they said. He blinked then focused on Malice again before speaking. “Sure, will you step into my office?” He turned and stepped back the way he’d come, without waiting to see if Malice followed.
He did. Once they were in the office and the door closed behind them, Randy motioned for Malice to have a seat, but Malice shook his head. He didn’t plan to be here that long.
“I’m sure you’re aware that she has an ex who’s been following her, causing her more than a bit of grief. Last week he destroyed her car. She took a couple of days off last week when it happened. Since then, she’s been driving my truck back and forth. I don’t know if you’re aware, but my truck is currently sitting in your parking lot. I need to know when she left and if there’s any security footage. Can I see what happened to her between the door and the truck, so I know where to start looking for her?”
Randy paled. “Oh my. I knew she’d been having trouble and that the guy had been causing problems, and she’d borrowed a vehicle. You’re sure it’s your truck and not just one that looks like it? Should we call the police?”
“I’m sure it’s my truck and not quite yet. Are there cameras?”
“Y—Yes, of course.” Randy stood unmoving, seemingly stunned.
“Can you show me the footage?” It took everything Malice had to stay calm and reasonable. Every moment longer this fool took to show him what he needed was another moment that fucker had Bonnie.
“Are you sure we shouldn’t call the police?”
“Not yet. Let me see the video, let me see who has her, then I’ll go see if I can find her and you can call the police. If we call them now, who knows how long they’ll take, then they’ll investigate. Who knows what he could do to her while all that happens. Let me start looking for her, then you can call.” He did his best not to strangle the man in front of him. Malice needed him to cooperate, at least until he was sure it was that fuckwad who had her. Or if it had been someone else, someone Malice was sure would turn out to be in league with the fuckwad, what they were driving, what they looked like, anything.
“Oh, that makes sense. Yeah, I guess we can do that.” Randy blinked several times then turned toward his computer, moving the mouse so the screen came to life.
It took him a moment or two to pull up the camera feeds then a few more to find the right one and scroll back through the recording.
“There she is,” Malice said, watching over Randy’s shoulder.
With a few more clicks he took it back to where she first walked into the frame, then started it running at normal speed. Together they watched as she walked toward the pickup, looking around like he’d told her to be sure to do, it wasn’t until she reached the truck, one hand extended to open the door, that something out of the ordinary happened. The rear door of the car parked two spaces away popped open, a man in a mask seemed to spring from the vehicle. Malice suspected he’d been hiding in the rear seat to keep Bonnie from spotting him. He quickly closed the distance to where she stood, seemingly stunned, he reached out with something in his hand and touched her with it.
It wasn’t until Bonnie went stiff for a moment, then collapsed, that Malice realized what he’d been holding.
“Fuck,” he said under his breath as he watched the masked man catch her as she fell, carry her to the car, where he dumped her in the seat inside the still open door, slammed it shut before hurrying around to the driver’s side, getting in, and driving away his mask still on.
Malice clenched his jaw to keep from cursing again.
“Can you run it back to where that car came in?” He wanted to see if the driver had pulled in with his mask on or if maybe, just maybe, they could see who it was.
“Sure.” Randy was oddly quiet as he did as Malice asked.
Five minutes later, Malice walked out of the hotel, pulling his phone from his pocket as he went. In the truck he dialed Ghost and didn’t wait for the call to connect before putting the truck in gear and leaving. He had the fuckwad’s home address and that was the first place he was going to look for her.
“What’s up?” Ghost said, answering the call.
“He’s got her.”
“You sure it’s him?”
“I’m sure. The fucker snatched her from the parking lot at her work. The whole thing’s on video. I just saw it. I saw him.” He hadn’t seen the face while the man had actually been snatching her, but he’d seen the fuckwad pull into the lot without the mask then get out and climb into the backseat. No one else came near the car between the time the fucker got in the backseat and the masked man got out. While it was theoretically possible there had been a second person, Malice didn’t think so. Either way, the fucker had been in the car while it happened, and he was complicit. That was what mattered. That and finding her now.
“Did you call the cops?”
“I didn’t. I knew they’d tie me up for hours with questions and I couldn’t let them do that. I watched the video with her boss then left, telling him to call. I told him to tell them everything, but I was getting started looking for her.”
“Good call. Where you at now?”
“On my way to his place. Can Jake try to track her phone? Then maybe he can do some snooping and see if the stupid shithead has anywhere else, he might have taken her?”
“I’ll get him started, but I’ll do one better and get a hold of Gizmo to look. Giz’s better and faster at this kind of thing. If it’s out there to be found, Giz will find it. I’ll let Lurch know what you’ve found out and see what he wants to do. Should I head out to help?”
“I don’t know, man. I can’t wait. I have to go see if he has her at his place. I have to find her as soon as I can. The thought of what he could be doing to her even now makes me want to puke.” He knew he sounded like a pansy, but he’d seen some horrific things while he’d been over seas and now he was imagining nearly all of them being done to Bonnie. Just the thought of it made him want to hurt someone. Hurt them bad enough they’d never hurt anyone again.
“I know man. Take a deep breath. Look for her.” Ghost kept his tone gentle and almost soothing. “When you find her, and I have no doubt you’ll find her, only hurt him enough to make sure he won’t leave then worry about her. Make sure she’s okay. Can you do that?”
“I can try.” Malice did as his brother instructed, at least as far as he could for now. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly then another. He forced himself to focus on one thing at time.
First, he had to find Bonnie.