Unhinged (Vantage Security #2)

Prologue

TEN YEARS AGO

Sometimes trouble found people; other times they went looking for it. Carrie paid no attention to the shoppers swirling around her as she stared at her best friend. “Are you crazy?”

“What? It's not like they're going to miss them.” Selah rolled her eyes as she dangled the earrings from her fingertips, shaking them in Carrie's direction. “Come on, I got a pair for both of us.”

Selah held a set out to Carrie, but her feet felt rooted to the floor. They weren't expensive, and she knew that Selah could more than afford them. But it was the adrenaline rush for Selah, the exhilarating feeling of narrowly escaping trouble.

On the heels of the shock gripping her came anger. “You need to take those back.”

“And get caught? Are you out of your mind?” Selah slipped the earrings she'd lifted from the store back into her purse, igniting Carrie's ire.

“Seriously.” Carrie grabbed Selah's arm and tried to propel her toward the store. “We're taking them back.”

Selah dug her feet in, pulling against Carrie. “I'm not going back in there.”

A low growl welled up Carrie's throat and aggravation took over. “You don't have to tell anyone. Just put them back where you found them and we'll leave.”

“Don't be dramatic.” Selah let out a long-suffering sigh. “They're, like, ten-dollar earrings.”

Carrie's gaze narrowed. That was exactly the point. She'd never understood why Selah did stuff like this. Selah had always been the defiant one, pushing boundaries that Carrie abided without question. She’d lost her virginity at fifteen to one of the school’s bad boys and rebelled at every turn, from stealing merchandise to smoking pot.

Selah was often in trouble, but her parents always smoothed the way, keeping any infractions off her permanent record. Carrie had wondered on more than one occasion if Selah was crying out for attention from her parents, but she never said anything to her.

Carrie had always been the shy one, self-conscious of her petite, curvy figure and mousy brown hair.

Selah was popular, outgoing, always comfortable in her own skin, and she exuded confidence to the point of arrogance sometimes.

The Wilsons were wealthy, Selah’s father being the third-generation owner of a very successful local plastic manufacturer, so her self-importance came honestly.

Selah was kind of a mean girl, but Carrie loved her anyway.

They’d been friends forever, and Carrie knew that behind the blonde exterior lay a smart, sweet person, even if Selah didn’t let her out nearly as often as she used to.

Since they’d been in high school, Selah had lorded her superiority over others, and Carrie sometimes wondered if Selah kept her around to make herself look better.

Not willing to argue about it anymore, Carrie dragged Selah toward the exit, and they stepped into the warm summer night. Selah leaned into Carrie as they rounded the corner of the building. “I wonder if Brock’s coming to Angie’s party this weekend.”

A figure in the shadows caught them both off guard, and Selah let out a high-pitched squeak of surprise. A man stood on the sidewalk, lit from above by the yellow glow of the four-foot-tall letters on the side of the building. Carrie's heart jumped into her throat as her eyes swept over him.

Somewhere in his early twenties, his eyes were black as midnight behind his thick glasses, and his sandy blond hair was parted to one side, giving him a serious, bookish demeanor. The most outstanding feature, though, was the abnormal cleft in his upper lip.

Swallowing down her initial fear, Carrie nodded in silent greeting and skirted him as she pulled Selah toward her car.

“Oh, my God!” Selah exclaimed. “What a creep.”

Carrie lightly elbowed Selah in the side. “Stop it, he can hear you!”

The man lifted a hand their way, and Carrie offered a small smile even as Selah yanked on her arm.

“Um…” His voice stopped Carrie in her tracks just as she grabbed the handle to open the driver’s side door. The man’s gaze dropped to the pavement as he shifted from foot to foot. “I hate to ask, but um… do you think you could give me a ride?”

“We’re busy, sorry,” Selah’s unrepentant voice cut in before Carrie could even open her mouth. Shooting Carrie a hard look over the roof of the car, Selah made a face before sliding into the passenger seat.

Carrie studied the man. “How did you get here?”

He shrugged uncomfortably, his eyes reluctantly meeting hers. “My friends.” He pointed to a car peeling out at the red light on the main road. “They decided to play a joke on me and left me here.”

They kind of sounded like jerks, to be honest. “I have a cell phone. Can you call one of them?”

“Thanks, but I don’t have their numbers memorized.” He dropped his gaze to the ground and shoved his hands in his pockets. “It’s no big deal, I can walk. Maybe someone at the truck stop will help me out.”

The truck stop was all the way out by the freeway, several miles away, and it was already dark out. Sympathy tugged at Carrie's heart. How often did this happen to him? How often did people treat him badly just because of the way he looked?

“Where do you live?”

He glanced up, hope and wariness mingling in his expression. “Just out of town, near Cherry Ridge.”

Cherry Ridge was a fairly upscale rural area, the homes large and placed far apart, surrounded by dense woods flanking the river.

He didn’t really look like he fit in with the Cherry Ridge crowd, but Carrie tried not to be judgmental.

His clothes were cheaply made but clean, a sign that he took care of himself.

The trailer park. Rolling Meadows was out that way, too, a rundown grouping of doublewides spread over a few dozen acres. Carrie's heart went out to him. He probably couldn’t afford a car, let alone a cell phone. Guilt assailed her.

“Well…” Carrie bit her lip, carefully considering the dilemma. She’d been raised to help people, and he seemed harmless enough. “I guess we can take you.”

“Carrie!” Selah screeched from the passenger seat. “Are you crazy?”

“Hold on one second.” Carrie held up a finger to the man and leaned into the car. “He’s stranded, Selah. We should help him.”

Selah shook her head. “No way is he getting in this car!”

“Selah.” Was she serious right now? “He needs help.”

“Not from us!”

It was rare that Carrie ever stood up to Selah, but… she shot the guy a look again. Standing with his shoulders slumped forward dejectedly, he made for a pathetic sight.

“What’s your name?”

His gaze darted to Carrie's. “Thomas. My friends call me Tommy.”

“Hop in, Tommy.”

“Really?” Hope lit his features, and Carrie smiled.

“Yep, come on.”

“Thanks!”

Carrie slid into the driver’s seat and shot a look at Selah who glared back at her, arms crossed over her chest.

“This is a terrible idea,” Selah tossed over her shoulder as Tommy climbed into the backseat. “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

Carrie glanced in the rearview mirror and caught Tommy’s grim expression. Having been on the receiving end of Selah’s sharp tongue before, she knew exactly how he felt. She quickly changed the subject.

“Cherry Ridge, right?”

He met Carrie's gaze in the mirror. “Yep. Head that way.”

Something in his tone made Carrie's insides twist. The way he phrased it made her think that her initial assumption was correct. He’d have them drive toward Cherry Ridge, then let him out before they got to the trailer park.

Probably a good thing, too. Rolling Meadows wasn’t exactly known for its upstanding citizens.

Putting the car into gear, Carrie backed out of the parking spot and pulled into traffic on the main road, then headed toward the truck stop. Passing the ramps for the freeway, she gestured at the road. “How much farther?”

“Just a few miles. There’s a road up here to the right. I’ll let you know where to turn.”

With a nod, Carrie turned her attention back to the road. Streetlights became fewer and farther between, and traffic was almost non-existent at this time of night. Out here in the country, most everyone was probably already bedded down for the night, ready to greet an early dawn and work the land.

“Right up here.”

A road came into sight and Carrie flipped on the blinker.

Dust clouded the rearview mirror in the red glow of the taillights as the car churned down the bumpy road.

Trees flanked them on both sides, blocking the light from the moon, and Carrie glanced around.

She hadn’t seen any houses out this way yet, not even a light of any sort indicating anyone lived out here.

Unease crept into her stomach, sending up a flurry of butterflies.

“How much farther?”

“Not long now.”

Carrie took a deep breath and pressed the brake. “I’m sorry, this is all the farther we can go. We’re running late, and we really need to get home.”

“This is close enough.” Tommy’s voice was suddenly at Carrie's shoulder as he leaned forward between the front seats.

“What are you—?” Before Carrie could even blink, his hand whipped out, and she froze as the blade of a knife pressed against her throat.

Selah sucked in a gasp as Tommy stretched his free arm toward her, shoelaces dangling from his fingers. “Tie her hands to the wheel.”

Selah hesitated, and the blade dug deeper into Carrie's skin. She cried out in pain and tears welled in her eyes, clouding her vision. “Oh, God, just do what he says, Selah.”

Selah’s hands trembled as she reluctantly took the shoestrings and secured Carrie's right hand, then the left to the steering wheel. Tommy deftly slipped the keys from the ignition, and Carrie heard the soft jangle as they hit the floor somewhere in the back.

In the passenger seat, Selah whimpered. Carrie tested the bonds around her hands, but they were too tight. She didn’t have a chance—but Selah did. “Selah, run!”