Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Shadow suddenly froze and stood stock still, trying to figure out what was wrong.
“Shadow?”
He held up a hand, listening intently. He cocked is head, trying to figure out what he’d heard and where it was coming from. But all he noted was the chirp of birds and the wind.
He and his team were setting up a base camp for the new land-nav training area about ten miles south of the Army base. But now a shiver went through him. Something wasn’t right, but he had no idea what it was. “Anyone see anything? Moose? Bear?” he asked quietly.
The other six men went still and looked around, searching for a threat.
“Negative.”
“Nothing.”
“It’s clear.”
“What is it, Shadow? Talk to us.”
Shadow looked at Echo in frustration. “I don’t know. Something just seems…off all of a sudden. I can’t explain it. I could have sworn I heard a scream. But it was muffled. Someone…they’re in trouble.”
Everyone stayed completely still, listening intently to the woods around them.
But Shadow didn’t hear the sound again. Everything was silent. Had he imagined it?
No. It had been as clear as day.
“Should we fan out? See if we can find anything?” Kodiak asked.
Shadow shook his head. Not knowing why, he pulled out his phone.
It was ridiculous, because they never had cell reception in this area—but he was shocked when he saw he had one bar…
and Brinley had tried to call him, then sent a text.
He read the message first, then clicked on the voicemail to see what she was talking about.
She’d asked if he could meet her new client with him, said that Cypress had convinced her to meet Natasha at a public place before bringing her back to their apartment.
Unease sat in his gut like a cold fist, tightening from the inside. The text told him not to worry about the message, that she’d contact him when her client—and apparently her boyfriend and mom, as well—had left.
Looking at his watch, Shadow saw that it was just after ten. She would’ve just met with her new client and was probably on the way back to her apartment. He clicked on her name to give her a call, to check on her. It went straight to voicemail.
The dread in his gut grew exponentially.
Brinley didn’t turn off her phone. Ever. And if she was at her place or on the way, her phone should be connected to her Wi-Fi or a tower, so connection wouldn’t be an issue.
“I need to go back to town,” he blurted.
“What’s wrong?”
“Why?”
“What’s up, Shadow?”
“I don’t know. Hopefully nothing. It’s a feeling.”
“I’ll finish up here, you guys go.”
“I’ll stay with Atlas,” Zero said.
“Me too. Take Kodiak, Grinder, and Echo. I’ll call Zamora and let him know what’s going on,” Torch offered.
Shadow didn’t argue. He was grateful he worked with men who understood that sometimes a gut feeling was just as valid and accurate as concrete intel.
The scream he’d heard…he couldn’t shake the sensation that it had been Brinley.
And that she was in trouble. He had no idea what could’ve happened, but he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he ignored his instincts and Brinley got hurt. Or worse—
He shut off that line of thinking immediately. He’d just lost his mom, he couldn’t lose Brinley too.
As he headed for one of the Army trucks they’d driven out to the land-nav site, he couldn’t help but remember how Brin had taken over when he’d learned about his mom. He hadn’t had to ask, she’d just done what needed to be done. What he hadn’t been capable of doing at that moment.
Shadow had always been the strong one. Always been a leader.
The one to take charge. But he hadn’t been able to think straight that day.
Had been completely numb. Having Brinley take care of him like she had…
he couldn’t put into words how much that meant to him.
He loved her. So much it was almost scary.
He’d never had a woman do what she’d done for him.
She was his rock. The fact that she’d put her own life on the backburner for him and a woman she’d never met in person…
if Shadow hadn’t already known the kind of person she was, that day would’ve told him.
The bottom line was that all the men who’d ever overlooked or dismissed her for whatever fucked-up reasons they might have had, were idiots. And their loss was his gain.
He saw Brinley for the amazing, beautiful, sexy, passionate, kind, and unselfish woman she was. And if she was in trouble, he was going to be there for her. No matter what. He wasn’t a trained special forces soldier for nothing.
Maybe he’d trained his entire life for this very moment.
He shook his head as Kodiak drove like a man possessed, not caring that the ruts and bumps in the road were making all of them have to hold on for dear life in the truck. Shadow was holding his phone in a death grip, and when he glanced at it, he saw that he no longer had cell service.
How in the world he’d been able to check his messages while at the camp was beyond him. It shouldn’t have been possible. There were no towers in any of the locations where they set up training camps, which was intentional. They never had cell reception.
That was just one more reason for him to feel in his gut that something was wrong.
It was Brinley he’d heard screaming. He was certain of it. He didn’t know how but Shadow didn’t question it. He just held on as Kodiak drove way too damn fast back to town, and hoped that he wasn’t too late to protect Brinley from whatever was happening.
* * *
Brinley was completely lost. She had no idea where she was, and it wasn’t as if Tamika or her boyfriend were being forthcoming about where they were going…and what they’d do once they got there.
Apparently the man’s name was Louis. It was such a normal-sounding name. A geeky one, in fact. But there was nothing normal about the look of excitement on his face as he stared at her. The gun he was holding never lowered an inch.
Brinley had considered bailing out of the moving car, but where would she go? There was nothing around them but trees. She wasn’t exactly in shape, and Louis seemed as if he’d be able to catch up to her if she ran without any issues.
No, her best bet was to be compliant and see if she could talk her way out of whatever these two had planned. “Why are you doing this?”
“You know why. Because you refused to work with me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, I bet you are. Now. But you weren’t the other times I contacted you. You’re a fucking bitch, you know that? An ugly, disgusting bitch, and I have no idea how people even stomach being around you. You know you’re a laughingstock at pageants, right?”
Brinley refused to let anything this woman said get to her. She was obviously unhinged. She’d freaking kidnapped her. She couldn’t take any of her words to heart.
Thankfully, Tamika didn’t seem interested in an answer.
She just kept talking. “People only put up with you because they want what you can give them. They barely tolerate you otherwise. I mean, look at you! You’re so fucking weird-looking.
Dumbo ears, huge-ass nose, and that hair…
girl, you need a stylist in the worst fucking way.
Although, I don’t think anyone would be able to do anything with that frizz and color. Turn here.”
Glancing over her shoulder, Brinley saw that Tamika had a cell in her hand, and she obviously had some kind of destination in mind.
The only good thing about that was, hopefully a detective would think to track it at some point.
To find out where Tamika had been. She had to assume the woman had no intention of letting Brinley go back to Fairbanks and her life. Not after kidnapping her.
Detectives wouldn’t be able to track her own phone, because Tamika had turned it off.
“Turn here!” Tamika screeched out of the blue, scaring Brinley so bad, she stomped on the brakes in reaction instead of turning the wheel as instructed.
Which seemed to piss Louis off, because he lifted the gun and jammed it against her temple so hard, Brinley’s head flew sideways and hit the driver’s side window.
“She didn’t say stop. She said turn. Now turn fucking here!” Louis ordered in a low, harsh tone.
A sob threatened to escape, but Brinley ruthlessly pushed it down. She couldn’t lose it. Not now. She had to keep it together. Her head was spinning, but she cranked the steering wheel and turned down yet another dirt and gravel road.
“I could’ve helped your career, you know,” Tamika went on, as if nothing happened.
As if they were having a normal conversation in a coffee shop or something.
“If you had agreed to work with me, we could’ve been a great team.
I could’ve gotten you so many more clients.
But instead, you chose to work with people who have no chance at winning anything.
“Natasha Blue? Seriously? She’s not going to go anywhere.
Too short, too fat, too plain. And I can’t believe you thought she’d actually want to work with you.
You’re so fucking gullible, but since that worked to my advantage, I can’t complain too much.
This is all your fault. All you had to do was work with me instead. ”
The woman was delusional. This wasn’t her fault.
Okay, so earlier, Brinley had thought differently.
But the more time that passed, the more she refused to take the blame for this messed-up situation.
Most normal people would move on with their lives when they didn’t get their way.
Not Tamika. Besides, Brinley couldn’t work with everyone who contacted her.
She was only one person and all her designs were handmade.
But Tamika was obviously a spoiled brat who was used to getting her way.