Chapter 20
Henley sat next to Jasna’s bed at the hospital with one hand gripping her daughter’s and the other grasping Finn’s.
The last few hours had been the worst of her life.
Even worse than what she’d gone through when she was ten.
Losing her mom so violently, having to listen to the attack, was devastating…
but not knowing where Jasna was, if she was being hurt, if she was even alive, was excruciating.
Every time she’d gotten a text from Finn saying they hadn’t found her yet, it was like dying.
When he’d called her to say he’d found Jasna, and was on the way to the hospital, the relief was overwhelming.
Pipe had driven her and Alaska to Los Alamos, and she’d been able to see her daughter briefly before Jas was brought into one of the examination rooms. Got to see for herself that she was whole, that she seemed to be okay.
When she and Finn were finally allowed to sit with Jasna, she’d still been sleeping.
The doctor had bandaged a cut on her foot, done a thorough exam and confirmed she hadn’t been raped—which had been a massive relief to everyone—and run a blood panel, finding both alcohol and Rohypnol in her system.
Knowing that her baby had been drugged was a blow, but it explained why Jasna hadn’t fully regained consciousness.
She’d been in and out of it since then, waking up enough to recognize her mother and know she was safe before falling back to sleep.
The doctor said she could be out of it for up to twelve hours, and it was likely she wouldn’t remember much of what happened to her, if she remembered anything at all.
As far as Henley was concerned, that was a blessing.
The doctors had inserted an IV to make sure she was hydrated and wanted to keep her overnight for observation, just to make sure there were no lasting effects of the drug or from her ordeal.
Finn had told her about how they’d had no luck finding any trace of what had happened at the camp, and how someone had called in a tip to the police officers about where to find Christian.
She hadn’t yet heard the story about how Finn himself had ended up finding Jasna, but they hadn’t had much time to talk.
Now it was after midnight, and Henley was alone in Jasna’s room with Finn. She sighed and leaned against him, not letting go of either his or her daughter’s hands.
“Can you tell me the rest of the story about what happened tonight, and where Jasna was?” she asked quietly.
“We went to the cabin the tipster said Dekker would be at, and he was. He came outside with a shotgun and shot at one of the officers.”
“He was killed?” Henley asked.
“Yes.”
“You’re sure?”
Finn hugged her tightly, as if he knew what she was thinking. “Yes. He’s dead. He can’t hurt anyone again.”
Henley nodded. She should feel bad. Christian was only sixteen.
He’d had his entire life ahead of him. But what kind of life would it have been?
There was something seriously wrong with the boy.
Had been since he was a child, maybe even since he was born.
It wasn’t a sickness. Wasn’t a mental illness. He was just…wired wrong.
Finn went on. “One of the detectives spoke to me in the waiting room, while the doctor was with Jas, and he told me what they’d found inside the cabin.
From all indications, he’d planned on…hurting her.
There were handcuffs, and he had various items laid out.
They’re assuming he was waiting for her to wake up.
He also had gasoline, probably to burn the cabin down.
The cops found a notebook filled with ramblings about how many people he wanted to kill, which neighborhoods in Albuquerque were most likely to have homeless and prostitutes.
The assumption is that he was going to leave here after burning the cabin and head to the city, where he’d find others to kidnap and murder. ”
Henley’s entire body shook. She closed her eyes. God, Jasna’d had such a close call. She’d been in the hands of pure evil, and somehow she was still here. Nearly unscathed. It was literally a miracle.
“How?” she whispered, turning to look at Finn.
“How did she escape?” he asked.
Henley nodded.
He shook his head slightly. “I don’t know.”
She frowned at him. “You can tell me. I’m not going to freak out.”
“Honey, I honestly don’t know,” Finn repeated.
“The only thing Dekker said when he came outside with that shotgun was, ‘Where is she?’ and ‘Did you take her?’ I didn’t think much about it at the time, as I was more worried about the weapon in his hands and whether Jasna was going to get caught in the crossfire of the inevitable shootout.
But if Dekker was talking about Jas…then he had no idea where she was at that point either. ”
“I’m so confused. How did you find her then?”
“I got a text. It was after the police realized Jas wasn’t in the house. I was seriously losing it, Brick and Tiny were literally holding me up…when my phone vibrated with a text. It was from an unknown number. Whoever it was, they let me know where Jas was located.”
Henley waited, but Finn didn’t say anything more. “And? Where was she?” she asked with a tilt of her head.
Finn sighed. He looked around the room as if someone might be lurking nearby, listening. Then he looked her in the eyes. “What I’m about to tell you, only eight people in the world know. Shit, well…maybe nine. You’d be the tenth. And it’s really important that you never tell anyone.”
He looked so serious, Henley got slightly worried. “I promise.”
Finn nodded. “There are seven hidden bunkers on The Refuge property. They’re underground and were put in when we were building the retreat.
None of us were in the best frame of mind, and we needed the security those bunkers provided.
When that man was here, looking for Alaska?
Brick hid her in one of the bunkers while he went to track down the asshole. ”
Henley could certainly understand that. She nodded.
“The text I got said Jas was in one of them. It wasn’t from any of our friends. We have no idea who it was from—or how the person knows about the bunkers.”
Henley was still confused. “So, this mysterious person somehow found Jasna, got her away from a serial killer, brought her to one of the bunkers, and left her there? Then texted you so you could go get her?”
“Yes.”
The implications were disturbing. “Can you trace the text or something to see who sent it?”
“We’ve got a friend of ours working on that. He’s a genius when it comes to techie stuff. He’ll let us know when he has a name,” Finn said.
“So there’s someone out there who knows about the top-secret bunkers and…what? Were they in on Jasna’s kidnapping? Maybe working with Christian?”
“Breathe, Hen. I’ve talked about this a little with Brick, and we don’t think that’s the case.”
“Then how…what… I don’t understand, Finn!”
“We’re baffled ourselves,” he admitted. “But whoever texted me…if they wanted to do Jas harm, they had plenty of time to do so. They could’ve taken her far away and we never would’ve found her.”
Henley winced. His words were a little harsh, but he was absolutely right. “So what now?”
“We take Jas home and get on with our lives,” Finn said firmly.
“But…what about the person who knows about the bunkers? They might be watching The Refuge.”
“Tex will figure out who it was, but in the meantime, we continue living. Maybe we’re a little more careful, but again, I don’t think we’re in any danger from whoever led me to Jas.”
Henley turned and looked at her sleeping daughter.
It was an absolute miracle she was here.
The statistics of missing children were heartbreaking and depressing.
Most kidnapping victims were killed within two hours of going missing.
But Jas had beat the odds. She’d been in the hands of someone who could’ve become the most prolific serial killer the country had ever known.
And yet…here she was. Smiling in her sleep and completely oblivious as to what had happened.
She spared a moment to actually be thankful that Christian had used Rohypnol on Jasna. That she wouldn’t remember being in his clutches. At least, Henley hoped she wouldn’t.
She turned back to Finn. “How are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m good.”
“No, Finn. Seriously. How are you doing? I know nothing about what happened was easy for you. I wanted you to stay with me, but I knew you needed to go and help look for Jasna. Where’s your head at right now?”
Finn gave her a small smile and squeezed her hand. “Are you pulling out the shrink on me?”
“Yes,” Henley said without an ounce of hesitation or remorse. She needed the two people she loved most in this world to be okay. And now that she knew her daughter was fine, or would be, she had to figure out where Finn stood.
“I’m honestly okay,” he said softly. “You’re right, I did need to be out there looking for Jas. I couldn’t sit back and simply watch what was happening, like I did with Steel.”
Henley opened her mouth to object. To again tell him that if he’d done anything differently back then, he might not be here today, but he held up his free hand, stopping her.
“I know what you’re going to say—and you’re right about that too.
But it doesn’t change how I feel. I won’t lie.
Tonight scared me. I fought with my demons and there were a few moments when I thought they were going to win.
But here we are. I’m going to miss Steel the rest of my life.
I’ll never forget what happened, but the pain I felt that day, and every day since, is fading. You know why?”
“Why?” Henley asked gently.