Chapter 39
Max had barely cut the truck’s engine before he shoved the door open and jumped out.
Cold air slammed into him, but he barely felt it. His boots hit the ground hard as he sprinted toward the kennel, adrenaline surging through his veins.
From inside the building, a dog’s howl cut through the night. The sound was long, low, and desperate.
A chill went down his spine.
Max pushed through the kennel door, and warmth rushed over him, thick with the scent of disinfectant and something else.
Fear.
He scanned the place. The dogs paced in their runs, barking and whining in uneven bursts. Naomi stepped from the back.
Relief flashed across her face when she saw him. “Max.”
“What happened?” The words came out rough, already edged with urgency as he rushed to meet her.
“We called 911. The ambulance is on the way.” Her voice shook despite her effort to steady it. “Deputy Vaughn is still unconscious. Caleb is outside with him. I just came in here to check on the dogs.”
Max hurried back outside, Naomi on his heels, and rounded the corner behind the kennel. His gaze locked onto the figure sprawled on the ground.
Deputy Vaughn lay on his side, one arm bent awkwardly beneath him. His chest rose and fell in shallow breaths.
For a split second, Max’s mind flashed to another body on the ground—another moment he’d arrived too late.
Sarah.
He shoved the memory away.
“Vaughn hasn’t moved,” Caleb said. “Whatever happened, he’s out cold.”
“Any signs of injury?”
“None.”
Max nodded, his focus still on the deputy. What had happened to him? Then he remembered Susie.
She’d been drugged. Had Kendra done that to Vaughn as well?
“Kendra is behind this,” Max announced.
“What?” Caleb stared at him.
“It’s a long story. I can explain more later. Right now, we need to find Hadley.”
Howling started in the background again, louder this time.
“It’s Juno,” Naomi explained. “She’s been doing that since before I stepped inside.”
Max slowly exhaled. “If only she could talk . . . she could tell us what happened.”
He turned back to the deputy, scanning him more carefully this time. He needed confirmation of his theory.
His gaze slowed at the man’s neck, and he leaned closer.
A small pinprick was barely visible in the dim light.
Caleb crouched beside him. “What is it?”
Max pointed. “Right there. See it?”
Caleb leaned in, his brow furrowing. “That looks like—”
“A needle mark,” Max finished.
Naomi sucked in a breath. “You think Vaughn was drugged?”
“It looks that way.” Max rose to his feet, and his gaze swept the back of the kennel.
The door there led to the customer-access side of the building, the part of the property anyone could reach without clearance.
“Kendra must have entered from that side,” he said. “She must have known Hadley would come here.”
Juno let out another broken howl, and Max’s jaw clenched.
He forced himself to breathe, to focus. Think. Don’t react—think.
But it was getting harder by the second.
Images kept flashing through his mind—Hadley’s tired smile, the way she’d looked when he found her curled up on that blanket in Juno’s pen, the quiet strength in her voice.
And then . . . Sarah’s image filled his mind again.
Crumpled at the bottom of the stairs.
He’d been too late.
He was always too late.
Max’s hands curled into fists at his sides.
But not this time, he told himself. He would find Hadley if it was the last thing he did.
Caleb paused and turned toward him, something thoughtful but uneasy crossing his expression. “You know . . . Kendra used to be a nurse.”
Max blinked, unsure if he’d heard correctly. “What?”
Caleb shrugged. “Before she came here. She changed professions. Said she wanted something different.”
Max stared at him. “She never told me that.”
“It was on her résumé, but the clinic where she worked shut down. We couldn’t call for a reference.” Caleb’s mouth tightened.
“There seems to be a lot about Kendra that doesn’t quite add up,” Max murmured.
The words hung in the air, heavy and unwelcome.
He shoved the thoughts aside.
They didn’t have time for that. They didn’t have time for anything except one thing.
“We’ve got to find Hadley.” Max’s gaze flicked toward the door, toward the darkness beyond it—toward whoever had taken her. “Before it’s too late.”
A deep, pulsing ache throbbed through Hadley’s skull.
Darkness surrounded her, heavy and absolute.
She forced her eyes open.
Nothing changed.
Her lashes fluttered as she tried again, slower this time. She willed her vision to adjust.
There was no dim outline, no hint of light. Everything was black—thick, suffocating black.
A groan slipped from her before she could stop it. As she shifted, the movement sent a sharp spike of pain through her temples. Nausea rolled through her stomach, and she swallowed hard against it as her thoughts struggled to catch up.
Everything felt delayed, like her mind was wading through something thick and slow.
She lifted a hand toward her head. When her fingers brushed the back of her skull, she sucked in a breath. “Ouch . . .”
A large, tender knot swelled beneath her skin.
She held her fingers there for a second, trying to make sense of it. The grogginess. The heaviness in her limbs. The lag in her thoughts.
She’d been drugged, she realized. Had she been injected with something?
The realization hit with a cold clarity that cut through the fog. Her pulse jumped, and with it came memory.
The kennel. Juno and the puppies. The look Juno had given her as if trying desperately to communicate that she was in danger.
Then a sound behind her. A footstep.
Hadley’s breath hitched as the scene replayed in her mind. She’d started to turn, her instincts already prickling with unease.
Before she could see who it was, something had struck her head, fast and hard. Everything had gone dark.
Kenny. This had to be Kenny, didn’t it?
Hadley’s stomach twisted as awareness sharpened further, and with it came another sensation.
Movement.
There was a subtle, uneven jostling beneath her body.
She stilled, forcing herself to focus.
The motion came again—a bump, then another—and she became aware of the surface beneath her. Rough carpet pressed against her palms. The space around her felt tight and enclosed. The air smelled faintly stale.
Understanding settled in, heavy and undeniable.
She wasn’t in a room.
She was in a car trunk.
Her chest tightened as panic tried to take hold, clawing its way up her throat.
Think.
She swallowed hard and drew in a careful breath, fighting to stay in control of her thoughts.
Max’s face flickered through her mind—his voice, the concern in his eyes, the calls from him earlier that she’d ignored.
She’d even turned her phone off to avoid them, to buy herself some time as she gathered her thoughts.
She should have answered. Should have talked to him.
If she’d known this would happen . . .
No. She stopped her thoughts. Regret wouldn’t help her now. She didn’t have time for that.
She needed to put all her energy into coming up with a survival plan.
Hadley shifted, ignoring the way her head protested, and she began feeling along the interior of the trunk. She searched the edges of the space for anything that might give her an advantage.
Most car trunks had release mechanisms, she remembered. She’d seen them before.
She just needed to find it.
Her fingers brushed along a seam. Then she felt a small indentation.
Hope flared as she pressed against it.
Nothing happened.
She tried again, more deliberately this time. The shape was there, but something was wrong.
It was gone, she realized.
The handle—the release—had been removed.
Her stomach dropped.
This was planned out. Premediated.
She drew in a shaky breath and forced herself to keep going. There had to be something else. She couldn’t lose hope.
She shifted her body as much as the tight space allowed and reached along the sides, the floor, the corners.
Nothing.
No tools. No loose objects. No gaps.
Just carpet and metal and the steady motion of the vehicle.
What else could she do?
An old news story filled Hadley’s thoughts. She remembered hearing that if someone was abducted, they could kick out a taillight from inside a trunk. Doing so could create an opening, and she could signal for help.
It was worth a shot.
Hadley drew her legs in and tested the space, pressing her foot outward.
There was no give.
The structure felt solid, reinforced. There was nothing to break, nothing to push through.
For a moment, panic surged again, threatening to overwhelm her. The darkness pressed in harder, the air feeling thinner with every breath.
She couldn’t see. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t get out.
Hadley pressed her head back against the rough surface and immediately winced as pain flared across the back of her head again. Tears pricked at her eyes, and she clenched her hands against the carpet beneath her.
This couldn’t be happening.
Not like this.
She squeezed her eyes shut again. Lord . . . please help me think. Help me stay calm. I don’t know where I am. I don’t know what’s going to happen . . . but You do.
The car hit another bump, jostling her, but she held onto the thought.
Her breathing began to steady, just enough to give her a foothold. The fear didn’t disappear, but it no longer controlled her.
Hadley opened her eyes again to the darkness. Her mind was already working, searching for anything she might have missed.
She didn’t know where this person was taking her.
She didn’t know why.
But she knew one thing with absolute certainty.
She didn’t have time to waste.