Chapter 39
Icame to with a smack of metal to my temple. My body bounced but didn’t move much. Something was holding me in place. Another bounce. Another smack of my head to cold metal. A rumble in my ears.
I was in a vehicle.
I’d been on the trail. How had I gotten in a vehicle?
Light stabbed into my eyes, and I slammed them shut, clarity pushing through the haze in my head and the chemical taste in my mouth. There were zip ties around my wrists, pulled tight, cutting into my skin. I wasn’t tied down; I was wearing a seat belt, my body slouching to the side, shoulder and head leaning against the door, smacking into the metal frame every time we hit a bump.
I strained my ears, listening for other cars, trying to gauge how fast we were going. I caught the rough grind of gravel under tires. Light flickering as if filtered through trees. I let my eyes drift open the tiniest sliver. Looking through my lashes, dense trees flashed by. A fire road or a long, private driveway. I didn’t dare glance over at the driver. Not yet, not while I was still figuring out what was going on.
How had I gotten here, wherever here was? We”d been walking up the trail, Sterling taking the lead, followed by the couple with the twins, then me and Jay, a repeat hiker who’d shown up at the last minute. Holly and James had stuck close to me, no more than an arm’s reach away. The air was cold, the sun shining, my ankle twinging only the tiniest bit.
And then a scream. The girl. A wail of agony from below and her mother’s cry of alarm as she rushed to the bridge. And that was it. That was all I remembered.
“I know you”re awake.”
The flat, cold voice grated on my ears. I knew his voice, but I’d never heard it like this. He was fun. Friendly. Always laughing or cracking a joke.
My eyes open, I forced myself upright, off the doorframe, though it was hard to maneuver with my hands secured in front of me. Dragging my eyes from the road, I looked over at Jay, trying to make sense of what the hell was going on. I didn”t recognize him as anything other than Jay Reynolds, my repeat client who liked to hike and fish.
I shifted in the passenger seat, testing my wrists against the zip ties. A glance down told me I was out of luck on that front. Hawk had shown me the difference between hardware store zip ties and those used for restraints. These were the latter. Thin bands of metal ran through the plastic around my wrists, and there was no give when I strained my arms.
We were driving too fast to jump out of the truck, and I was too high up. If I could get my hands free?—
As if he was reading my mind, Jay said, “I wouldn’t try it. I’ll just have to put you out again. That was my mistake the first time. I didn”t want to knock you out. Didn”t realize you’d fight like a demon.” His smirk was almost approving.
I stared out the window and slowly recognized the fire road we were on. Fire roads like this were all over the place, narrow gravel roads that gave access to the deeper parts of the mountains. This one led to Sawyer land after a short hike through the national forest. If you weren’t coming from Heartstone Manor, this was the fastest way to get to the hunting cabin. My cabin. This fire road was how Jay had escaped Hawk the first time. And now it seemed we were heading back.
“Who are you, really?” I asked. “You’re clearly not who you said you were, so what do you want with me?”
He flicked a glance at me, his eyes a pale sky-blue. Not the eyes of the man who’d attacked me in the woods.
“Your eyes were brown,” I said.
“Contacts,” he answered succinctly.
“Which ones are contacts?” I asked, not sure it mattered, but letting my instincts to find out more information take over. I didn”t know what mattered and what didn’t, because I had no fucking clue what was going on.
“These,” he said, rolling his pale blue eyes. “The brown is real. My version of a disguise.”
“Why did you need a disguise?” I pressed.
“I didn”t want Hawk to spot me before I was ready,” he said as if it was obvious. He clearly assumed we’d both had a good look at him the first time he’d come after me.
“Why were you looking for the necklace?” I didn’t know how much time I had to get information from him or if I’d get a chance to use it. But I had to try.
Jay, my mystery kidnapper, let out a low chuckle, his icy eyes flicking to me again, then back to the road. “Not everything is about you Sawyers. You’re so self-centered. I don”t give a shit about the necklace or your poor brother rotting in jail. None of this is about you. You”re just a convenient tool.”
“A tool for what?” I asked, confused.
Jay shook his head again. Not in disagreement, but in commiseration. Or sympathy.
“You don”t know what you let in through your door, do you? Your brother does. Griffen Sawyer might be playing captain of industry these days, but he knows. Instead of hiring Hawk Bristol, he should have put him down like the animal he is.”
My heart chilled at his words. We’d been so wrong. What the hell was going on? “Is that what you”re here to do?” I asked.
Jay ignored me.
No one was putting Hawk down. He wasn’t an animal. I knew that. He was a man who’d made mistakes, mistakes he regretted deeply. But he was also a man who loved. Who cared and protected. He was kind. Patient. And I loved him more than I’d known I could love. No one was going to hurt him. Not while I was alive to stop them.
My eyes fell to my zip-tied hands. Big words for a woman with her hands bound. How the hell was I supposed to save Hawk when I couldn’t even save myself?
“What do you want with Hawk?” I asked. I couldn’t do anything physically, but if I could keep him talking, maybe I’d learn something I could use.
“I”m here to remind him.”
“Remind him of what?” I asked, more confused with every word this man spoke.
He didn”t answer, his fingers tightening on the wheel as the truck skidded to a stop. The man I knew as Jay Reynolds turned to look at me, his pale eyes cold and hard. No pity. No compassion. It hit me that I wasn’t sure he saw me as human. As soon as I wasn’t useful?—
“What are you going to do with me?” I asked, not sure I wanted to hear the answer.
“That depends on how much trouble you give me,” he said, his tone close to friendly as if we were talking about the weather. “We”re going to hike up to the cabin. Bristol is going to come rescue you. Then he and I are going to have a conversation.”
Fuck.I was bait. And Hawk would come, I had no doubt.
“What if he doesn’t come to the cabin? What if he looks somewhere else?” I asked.
“He’ll come. I know him. He’s already figured out this is where I was taking you the first time. He’ll be here.”
“And when you”re done with your conversation?” I asked. “What happens then?”
Jay stared at me for a long moment, studying my face as if he saw something there I couldn’t decipher. He was a stranger, but he looked at me like he knew me. He gave a short nod as if deciding something. “After,” he said, “I’ll let you go.”
After Hawk was dead. I couldn’t let that happen.
“What if I don”t hike up there?” I asked. “What if I run?”
“Then I’ll knock you out again,” he said in that same almost friendly tone.
I think I preferred it when he sounded scary.
“I can carry you up if I have to. It’s your choice. One way or another, you”re going to end up in that cabin. You can hike in, or if you’re comfortable being unconscious in my arms—” His gaze skated over me, lingering on my breasts, sliding down my legs. “You”re not my usual type. I like my women tall and curvy, but I could make do. Bristol always had good taste.”
Well, that answered that question. On one hand, I didn”t like going along with anything this asshole wanted, but he made a valid point. I didn’t quite believe his leer, but I”d pick conscious over unconscious any day.
“Are you going to undo my wrists?”
He let out a chuckle that sounded like he was having fun. “Not a chance in hell,” he said. “You’re enough trouble like this. It”s not a difficult hike when it’s not iced over, something you know well. You can handle it.” He put the truck in park and unsnapped his seat belt. “Stay put.”
He jumped out of the truck, circling around the front to collect me from the passenger seat. In the few seconds I had alone, I scanned the front seat of the truck, frantically looking for anything I could use as a weapon. A screwdriver, spare keys, a flashlight. Anything. The truck was weirdly empty. Not a napkin or soda can in sight. No fast food bags littering the floor or dust on the dashboard. And nothing I could use as a weapon.
Then the door was opening, and he was there. The truck was so high I looked him dead in the eye as he leaned in to unsnap my seat belt. Without thinking, I jerked my bound wrists up, aiming for his Adam”s apple. I didn’t get close. He was fast, so fucking fast. My bound hands moved only inches before his were there, his fingers wrapping around my fists, wrenching my hands back down to my lap.
Like when we fought on the trail, he didn”t hurt me, but he controlled me with barely any effort. “Option number two is still on the table,” he reminded me. “Easier to get you up there under your own power.” He gave me another one of those assessing glances, this one more calculating than sexual. “You don”t weigh much.”
He didn’t have to convince me. I didn”t want his hands on me. Especially if I was unconscious. Just the thought of him touching me while I was out, of not knowing what he was doing, what he’d done— I shivered.
“I’ll walk,” I said. I let him pull me from the car and set me on my feet.
“This way.” He tugged on my shoulder and aimed me at the hillside. There wasn’t a trail from this side. Anyone hiking here would stick to the fire road if they were smart. Wandering off the trail was a fool’s game, especially this time of year. I knew how easy it was to get turned around in the forest. A few years before, we’d lost an experienced pair of hikers to exposure. They’d stepped off the trail to take a picture, wandered a little farther than they meant to, and never found the trail again.
At the moment, getting lost was the least of my worries. I’d have to hope Jay knew where he was going. He reached up to swipe at his eyes, and when he looked back, they were their familiar brown.
“Let’s go.”
I followed him up the mountain, trying desperately to figure out how I was going to warn Hawk before Jay could hurt him.
The first really steep section we hit, my ankle twinged as I dug my boot into the earth. The hikes I’d taken over the past week had been more like walks, chosen to let me get back into shape gradually. This was more like hiking with some climbing added in. The terrain was steep and uneven once we got away from the fire road. I had to concentrate just to keep myself from slipping and tumbling down the mountainside.
At a particularly sharp twinge, I felt a new flutter of fear in my chest. If my ankle gave, I was fucked. I didn”t want him to knock me out again, which he certainly would if I was unable to walk. And if I somehow managed to get away from him, I had to be able to move. I needed my hands free. I needed my trekking poles. Neither were options.
“What do you have against Hawk?” I asked, trying to distract myself from the ache in my ankle.
“You don’t need to know. I told you; this isn”t about you. If you keep your mouth shut and do what I tell you, I’ll let you walk away, and you’ll never have to think about any of this again.”
I wanted to call him a liar, but instead I kept my mouth shut. Antagonizing him wasn’t going to help. I knew he wasn’t going to let me go. I’d heard this story before. Do what I say, and then I’ll let you go. That was what bad guys said to get what they wanted without resistance. Then they killed their victims anyway. I”d seen his face. Been in his truck. This had all gone too far for him to just let me go. Especially if he planned to hurt Hawk.
Which meant I had to stay focused.
“Are you going to kill him?” I asked, not sure he”d tell me the truth but needing to hear his answer, hoping his tone or his expression would tell me something I could rely on more than the lies coming from his mouth.
He gave me a considering look as we hauled ourselves over the crest of a ravine and trudged through the underbrush at the top. “I don”t know,” he said, and something in his voice told me this was the truth. “I haven”t decided yet.”
“Are you going to kill me?” I found myself asking.
His voice was flat when he said, “No. Unlike Bristol, I don”t kill women. Everyone has a line. Women and children are mine. Not something Hawk can say. Did he tell you about that? Did he tell you about all the times he committed cold-blooded murder? The innocents he killed?”
I shook my head, dropping my eyes to the uneven terrain beneath my hiking boots. Hawk hadn’t told me specifics, but he’d told me enough. I hadn’t asked for more. I knew he regretted so many of the things he’d done. He was torturing himself enough. He didn’t need me to pry and make his pain worse.
“You never killed an innocent? You didn’t make mistakes?” I asked.
Jay kept his eyes on the forest. After a long silence, broken only by the crunch of our boots in the dead branches and leaves, he gave a short nod. “Maybe. But I figured it out before he did.”
“Figured what out?” I pushed.
“The lies,” Jay spat out. “I figured out what was a lie and what was the truth. I figured out who I couldn’t trust. I learned what you don”t know yet.”
He slowed, waiting for me to catch up, his hand closing over my braid at the base of my neck, jerking me to a stop. Pain stabbed through my ankle at the unexpected change of direction, and I let out a squeak of surprise.
His face shoved into mine, his breath hot on my cheek. Fire burned in his brown eyes. “You haven”t learned yet. Hawk Bristol is a fucking killer. You think I”m the problem? Did you ever consider that I”m the one coming to the rescue?”
“I don”t need you to rescue me from Hawk,” I said, knowing I should keep my mouth shut. Don”t argue with crazy people, Quinn. But it was too late.
“He took what I loved.” Jay let go of my braid and stepped back, fury blazing off him. This man wasn’t cold or flat. He was aflame with rage. “He took what I loved and left me alone. You think he”s a man? He”s a killer. Worse than me. Worse than anyone. And now I”m going to take what he loves. And that”s just the beginning.”
This time I kept my mouth firmly closed. I couldn’t have spoken if I”d wanted to. Emotionless Jay had scared me, but this man, alight with vengeance—he was terrifying. I put one foot in front of the other, following the man who held my life in his hands. Probably letting him lead me to my death.
I didn”t know what else to do.
I had no doubt that Hawk would find me, no doubt that he was headed to the cabin. And when he got there? How was I going to warn him? How was I going to tell him to run? To run, and not look back.
Jay prodded me and I picked up the pace. I knew if I slowed him down, he”d knock me out again. If I was unconscious, I couldn’t fight for my life. If I was unconscious, I couldn’t warn Hawk.
One foot in front of the other, again and again. It took me a minute to realize we were on familiar terrain, and sooner than I’d expected. By the time the cabin came in sight, I was limping. Dragging myself up half the mountain had been far too much for my newly healed ankle. But that was the least of my problems.
Jay shoved me ahead of him into the dark, cold interior of the cabin. Memories of Hawk spilled over me. The dinner he’d cooked. The night we”d spent in that bed. This cabin was the beginning of the best time of my life. I didn”t want it to be the scene of the end.
Jay grabbed one of the chairs at the table and swung it around to face the door. Turning me by my shoulders, he shoved me down. My butt hit the seat hard, and I tilted to the side, my bound wrists and weak ankle throwing me off-balance. I was still getting my bearings when the first loop of duct tape tightened around me. Another loop and another, securing my body to the chair.
When he was done, he tore off a six-inch strip of tape and slapped it over my mouth.
“Just in case you feel like getting chatty,” he said. “Your part in this is done. You just sit there and look terrified. I’ll take care of the rest.”
I raised my eyes and looked through the open front door of the cabin into the bright sunshine of a spring morning.
I’ll take care of the rest.
The rest was exactly what I was afraid of.