11. Hunter #2
“Shit,” Mace mutters. He’d been so absorbed with his work that he’d clearly forgotten he was on camera. “One of the, er, marks is moving. They’re in Brimstage, and Hugo’s heading in that direction too. I’m hoping it’s a coincidence, but we need to check it out.”
His gaze is fixed on me, and there’s a hidden message behind his words, I just don’t know what it is.
Mace has a habit of putting trackers on everything, and that included Hugo’s car when we’d first arrived in Brimstage.
The only other mark I can think of that’s close by is Ray Forsyth.
Given that the Emerson executive was best man at Barrett’s wedding, he’s a significant player in this game.
He could be trouble, and Mace’s reaction suggests the threat is imminent.
I don’t understand why he can’t be more explicit in front of Ash, but I follow his lead. “Like now?”
“Yes. Now.” He’s already on his feet and nods to Reid. “Bring the SUV to the front.”
“We’ll catch up later,” I say to Ash as Reid sprints out the door.
“Sure, keep me informed. I’ll wrap things up here as soon as I can,” Ash replies. “There’s a new proposal I need to thrash out with Rory, but it shouldn’t take too long. Do you think you can spare me for another week? ”
Mace leans around his desk so his face is back on screen. “Stay in fucking Scotland. We’re enjoying the peace,” he says to our older brother. “And what part of ‘we need to leave now’ did you not follow? Finish your drink, Ash. Some of us have work to do.”
Before Ash can respond, Mace kicks him out of the meeting.
“What the fuck is Barrett up to now?”
“It’s not Barrett you need to worry about,” Mace says, which only makes me tense more. He shows me his cell. It’s a map of Brimstage and there are two red dots blinking. “The tracker that’s moving is Hugo. The one that isn’t, is on Maddie’s phone.”
“Are you kidding me? She left the house?” I ask, as my blood runs cold.
I’m not surprised that Mace put a tracker on Maddie’s phone. I expect he did it at the same time he removed Hugo’s spyware, and I’m glad he did. I’m already heading for the front door as my brother brings me up to speed.
“I checked our security cameras. She took Jake’s Audi. It doesn’t look like she told anyone she was going, but none of the guys would have thought to stop her. We never said she was our prisoner.”
“Because she shouldn’t want to leave,” I add as we race outside.
The fresh air hits me like a slap in the face. Have we caught Maddie sneaking off to meet her brother? Is she about to betray our trust? Dust flies as Reid pulls up in the SUV. Mace and I dive into the back.
“Is someone going to tell me what’s going on?” he asks.
“Maddie’s gone into town, and Hugo is…” Mace checks his phone. “At the speed he’s going, he’s maybe ten minutes away from her. While it’s going to take us half an hour. ”
“I can do it in twenty,” Reid says at the same time he puts his foot down and I’m jolted back in my seat. “What’s she doing in town?”
“That’s what I want to know,” growls Mace. “She could be passing on information to her brother so he can sell it on to Barrett. Or maybe she’s been working for Barrett all along and he’s trying to plant her as an insider.”
I bite down on the inside of my cheek so I don’t leap to her defense. I want to say Maddie wouldn’t do that, but I need to be led by my head and not my dick. What if this is the final layer I’m peeling away to see the real Maddie?
Trees and traffic signs flash past, but not fast enough. “Can you see if she’s been messaging Hugo? Was the meet-up planned?” I ask Mace.
“Not that I can see, but believe it or not, I can’t see everything.”
“There’s no way she’d willingly meet him,” Reid says. “Her fear at the Corbyn house wasn’t an act.”
I want to agree, but I’m struggling to find another explanation.
And if she has betrayed us, if I’ve been conned by her deep blue eyes and soft lips, I’m not sure I’ll be responsible for my actions when I track her down.
“Are you sure you removed Hugo’s tracker from her phone?
Or could he be tracking her movements another way? ”
“Give me some credit,” Mace mutters. “And I scanned all the luggage she brought here.”
We fall silent, and I straighten my shirt cuffs as I try to find an explanation. It’s a small town. Someone could have got word to Hugo that they’d seen Maddie. But that doesn’t explain why she sneaked off.
“Where’s Hugo now?” I ask.
Mace hasn’t taken his eyes off the blinking spots on his cell. “He’s just arrived at the library.”
My head turns slowly towards him. “She’s in the library?” When my brother nods, heat blooms in my chest and the cold fear of betrayal evaporates. I hiss out an exhale. “She’s gone into town to pick up some damn books. I’m going to fucking kill her.”
“So, she doesn’t know Hugo’s about to find her?” Reid asks, eviscerating my relief.
“You need to get me there now, Reid,” I grind out.
Brimstage high street is indistinguishable from any other small town in Illinois. We zip past familiar branded storefronts and a scattering of independents before coming to a screeching halt outside a two-story red brick building.
“Reid, stay in the car,” I bark as I jump out.
“Do you have a plan?” Mace asks as we head for the set of double doors that have been left wide open, inviting readers in.
“We get Maddie out, and then you try to stop me from killing Hugo.”
“I’m not promising anything, brother.”
When we step into the eerily silent and cavernous space, my stomach sinks.
The library is crammed with row upon row of high bookshelves that obscure my view from every damn angle.
I turn in a circle, my breathing sharp and my heart pounding.
I hate that my ears are straining for a telltale sound of Maddie in distress.
Mace tips his head to the upper floor. There’s a mezzanine that might give us a better vantage point, and I’m about to agree when the librarian behind the counter catches my eye. Our presence hasn’t gone unnoticed. “Wait, I have an idea. ”
The woman looks to be in her forties and doesn’t try to hide her approval as she looks me up and down. “And how can I help you?” she asks with a sweet smile.
“Where’s the romance section?”
She looks at me like I’ve just saved a puppy from a burning building. “It’s not often we get a man who–”
“Where is it?” Mace hisses from next to me.
She points to a far corner on the ground floor. “Would you like me to…?”
“Stay,” I tell her, aiming a finger at her in warning as I walk away.
We move quickly and quietly so as not to draw any further attention, checking down each row we pass just in case I’ve got this wrong. I think I know Maddie, but what if I’m…
When I hear a thud and a gurgled hiss, I have some warning of what I’m about to face.
I round the last row to find Hugo with his back to me.
He’s not a big man, but he’s big enough to obscure his sister’s slender frame.
All I can see are Maddie’s sandals. She’s on tiptoe and her feet move in a pitiful dance as she tries to keep herself from being lifted off her feet.
From Hugo’s stance and the sound Maddie makes, he has hold of her by the throat. His free arm is pulled back, his hand balled into a fist, ready to strike. That’s what I’d heard a moment ago. Hugo had punched Maddie in the stomach while constricting her airway so she couldn’t cry out.
Mace and I move fast. I see my brother raising his gun as I dip slightly to reach for the strap at my ankle.
I rear up behind Hugo and press my knife not-too-carefully against his throat.
My other hand wraps around the fist he’s about to slam into Maddie’s midriff, and I twist his arm sharply up his back.
Hugo goes to cry out until I press the knife more firmly.
It’s a move I’ve put into practice plenty of times, and luckily, I can do it without thinking because as Maddie’s terror-filled eyes come into view, I’m about to lose it.
“Take your fucking hand off her before I slit your throat,” I growl.
Hugo jerks his hand away from Maddie’s throat and she slumps against the wall. As I catch sight of the finger marks blooming around her neck, my grip on the knife tightens. I’m beyond tempted to slice through Hugo’s carotid artery anyway.
“Mace,” I say through gritted teeth. This is where he needs to remind me that we’re in a public place and we’re soon to become the town’s principal employer. Not to mention the small complication of how Hugo’s estate would be managed if he should meet a premature end.
“If you don’t, I think I will,” Mace mutters.
Not the help I needed. What does stop me from doing something reckless is Maddie’s tear-stained face. Those blue eyes pierce through the red mist that had me blinded. I need to comfort her more than I need to torture her brother.
Hugo gasps in relief when the knife disappears from his throat, but he has only a short reprieve.
I grab his hair and pull back his head until I see the whites of his eyes staring up at me.
I save my words for Maddie and smash Hugo’s face into the wall with a satisfying crunch.
When he crumples to the floor, Mace presses his boot against Hugo’s back to keep him there.
I step towards Maddie, desperate to pull her into a tight hug, but I don’t want to hurt her. Luckily, I don’t have to hold myself back because she crushes herself against my chest. I wrap my arms around her and kiss the top of her head. “You’re safe now.”
When she lifts her head to look at me, she grimaces with the strain she puts on her injured neck. “I’m sorry I sneaked off,” she says in a hoarse whisper. “But I wasn’t going to stay out long.”
There’s fear in her eyes. She’s used to being punished for her transgressions, and even after what she’s just gone through, she’s expecting what? More of the same from me? I feel sick to the stomach.