Chapter 20 #3
No, that’s not what he was doing. He wrapped a hand around her throat and pushed her hard against the wall, cutting off what little air she was getting into her lungs.
“I want you to beg while you die, slut.”
Please.
No sound escaped her throat, but he obviously read her lips.
“More,” he ordered.
Kara jerked in his grip, but she was completely defenseless. She had no use of her hands and all she could do was stand there as he strangled her.
Just when she thought that was it, she was dead, his fingers loosened. He didn’t remove his hand from around her throat, but he wasn’t squeezing anymore.
The air made a wheezing noise as she desperately tried to suck breath into her lungs. It was like trying to breathe through one of those tiny little cocktail straws that came with the frou-frou drinks at Anchor Point.
Kara was light-headed, but still glad for the reprieve.
It was short-lived. He tightened his grip once more.
“Beg some more, slut!”
This was a game to him. He was going to keep this up for as long as it entertained him. Bringing her to the edge of death then backing off. Kara’s eyes filled with tears as she stared at her tormentor.
She was done begging though. He could fuck all the way off.
* * *
“There,” Casper said urgently, pointing to the FLIR readout.
Chaos’s head whipped around to see what his team leader had spotted on the radar screen.
“I see it,” Pyro said in a calm tone.
It was the sixth time that one of the pilots had spotted a heat signature on the thermal imaging system.
They’d been flying in a crisscross pattern over a section of the Appalachian Mountains, not too far from a popular ski area.
This time of year, there weren’t nearly as many tourists as there were in the winter, which made the locals more attentive to those who may not belong.
Tex had suggested this might be a good place to start the search. That they should look for unattended cabins. The first five heat signatures around remote cabins had seemed promising, but the images on the cameras had been large animals, mostly bear and deer.
But something about this latest sighting had Chaos’s sixth sense screaming. For one, it wasn’t a single heat signature…but two.
“That’s it,” he blurted.
Casper glanced at him, then back at the screen. He nodded and radioed the other chopper and gave them the coordinates for the images on the radar.
“We don’t want to give them any idea we’re here, so we’re holding altitude as we look for a place to set down.”
“I can fast-rope out,” Chaos said, urgency riding him hard. He needed to get boots on the ground. Get to Kara. He didn’t know how he knew her time was running out, but everything inside him said if he didn’t get to her in the next ten minutes, he’d be too late.
“We all can,” one of the SWAT members said.
“Let me find a clear spot,” Casper said, making Chaos unclench his teeth in relief. If Casper had disagreed, he wouldn’t have been able to bail out like he had over the flash flood. He needed his team leader’s cooperation this time.
As he and the officers double-checked their harnesses and ropes, Casper and Pyro searched for a good place to let them out. One that wasn’t so close to the cabin to alert whoever was on the thermal imaging cameras that they were coming, but not so far away that they couldn’t get there quickly.
“Got it,” Casper said.
Looking out the open door of the chopper, Chaos immediately saw what Casper had spotted. An outcropping of rock with a flat top, sloped at the back. It was perfect.
“Gonna let you out, then land there,” Casper informed him. “Don’t wait for us. Go get Kara.”
Chaos nodded. In any other situation, he would’ve given his friend shit about leaving his chopper, especially since lately, it had been hammered into their heads repeatedly that Night Stalkers don’t leave their helicopters under any circumstances.
There was still a chance that the heat signatures weren’t Kara and Nolan, but deep down, Chaos had no doubt. The innate sense he’d had his entire life was screaming at him to hurry. That Kara was in extreme danger and needed him. Now.
“Go!” Pyro said.
Without hesitation, Chaos stepped out of the helicopter, using the rope system to slow his descent just enough to not crash into the ground below.
The SWAT officers were hard on his heels, and the second they were unhooked, all three were on the move toward where they’d seen the bright red, orange, and yellow blobs on the FLIR.
And before long, through the trees, Chaos saw a miracle.
Jen’s teal PT Cruiser. There was no mistaking it.
They’d done it. Found the bastard who’d tried to kill Jen and had kidnapped Kara.
A feeling of calm settled around Chaos. The danger hadn’t dissipated. If anything, it had ramped up even higher. But he’d spent the last day and a half praying to be able to find the woman he loved with all his heart and soul—and now he had.
Pausing for a beat to let the two officers go in front of him, Chaos took a deep breath. He had a pistol with him, but breaking down doors and confronting assholes was what the SWAT officers did. And Tex’s voice was echoing in his head. His only concern was Kara.
The officers communicated with hand signals, pointing at the door, deciding who would kick it in and who would enter first.
He sensed movement behind him, and a moment later the two officers became four.
“Easy, Chaos,” Buck said from his back, voice low, obviously having joined the SWAT guys from his chopper.
Nodding, Chaos waited for the newcomers to be updated on the plan.
Then one of the officers lifted his foot and kicked in the door.
All four poured into the room, yelling loudly, as Chaos and Buck followed right behind them.