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Sally woke slowly from a deliciously naughty dream. One that she wished she could go back to sleep and finish. A disappointed sigh echoed around her until Luke filled her mind’s eye. He would no doubt be more than willing to help her begin and end her dream…when he returned. She glanced at the bedside clock.Ten forty-five? No way.She’d only meant to close her tear-filled eyes for a few minutes’ rest after saying an emotional good-bye to Jen and Luke. Not an hour and a half.
It’d been her idea to send Jen away. Yet when Luke had returned to tell her the plan had been set in motion and they’d be ready to leave within the hour, she hadn’t been ready to let her daughter go. Through an abundance of caution, Daniel had agreed that Ellen and Bridgett would travel to the lodge too. Ellen would drive the girls in their Suburban while Travis and Coop followed closely in Travis’s Chevy until their little caravan met up with Garrett and Jonathan. Then Travis and Coop would turn around and hightail it back.
The plan had broken down, however, when Luke discovered there was no cell service. At that point, the decision had been made that Luke would follow the others in the Jeep until he acquired a strong-enough signal to phone his brother and make the necessary arrangements. It’d been the last straw for Sally’s frayed nerves to see them both drive away. She’d held it together until the three vehicles were out of sight, excused herself to Daniel and Matt, saying she’d been looking forward to a long soak in a bubble bath, and scurried back to the cabin before her tears betrayed her.
Enough of feeling sorry for myself. Jen will be safe even if the worst happens. Luke will probably be back by noon at the latest.
With a determined toss of her head, Sally slid her legs over the side of the bed. Forty-five minutes later, she’d showered, dressed in jeans and a pale blue tank top and tidied up the small cabin. With the aid of some plastic wrap she’d found in the cupboards beneath the sink, she’d been able to shower without getting her butterfly bandages wet. The wound looked good, just the right shade of pink, and the swelling had disappeared. Probably not ready for any races yet, though.
Sally’s stomach grumbled loudly. Time to investigate the leftover situation in Ellen’s refrigerator. Perhaps the boys would be interested in lunch too. She laughed at her choice of words to describe Matt and Daniel. No one would mistake those two forboys.
Savoring a deep breath of clean mountain air as she stepped from the cabin, Sally started up the foot-worn path. A slight wind tossed the tall grass around, and a host of lacy clouds dotted the sky with thunderheads building to the north. They might get some rain before the day was over. Hopefully, Ellen and the girls wouldn’t get caught in a lightning storm.
Sounds of pounding drifted to her from the direction of the barn. Two bay horses and Bridgett’s spotted pony grazed in a pasture nearby. Daniel, no doubt, working on something. Otherwise, the peaceful setting was undisturbed. She looked around for Matt but didn’t see him. He was probably helping Daniel on some project in the barn.
The other cabins she passed all stood silent but clean, thanks to their frenzied activities the day before yesterday. Of all the things Clive Brennan had said and done, paying Ellen the full rent on the cabins for the length of his reservation was what had impressed Sally the most. Well…that and his informing her she didn’t have to live in fear of him any longer. She still couldn’t believe it.
As she walked by the last cabin before Daniel’s, wood slapping on wood caught her attention. She stopped and searched the windows, porch and sides of the smaller cabin for signs of Matt. No one. She started to call out, but then the wind gusted again and a branch from a large willow scraped against the corner of the cabin.
Jumpy.That was apparently her lot in life now. It was true they still hadn’t determined who blew up her house or tried to run them off the road, but they were a long way from Huntington. Besides, if she didn’t count Jen’s father, she didn’t have any enemies. Try as hard as she could, Sheriff Connors simply didn’t fit the role of killer.
As she stepped from the shadow of the cabin and continued along the path, suddenly an explosion rocked the ground. The tremendous roar deafened her. The air currents propelled by the blast, and a barrage of flying debris, slammed into her, knocking her flat on the ground and the air from her lungs. Ringing in her ears disoriented her as she tried to sit up. Heat from the inferno singed her skin. She pushed herself along the ground backward to escape the superheated air. A small particle of wood caught her above the eye as it flew by. Blood obscured her vision.
Daniel’s cabin! What happened? Where are he and Matt? Please, God, don’t let either of them be in that blaze.
The next instant, Sally was surrounded by blurry figures. The one straight in front of her smiled and said something. All she heard was the ringing in her ears. He reached out as though to help her up, and she let him have her hand. Gaining her feet at the expense of her equilibrium, she squeezed her eyes closed and refused to throw up.
“What happened? Who are you?” She addressed her questions to the nice-looking blond man who’d helped her up, but since she couldn’t hear herself and all she got from the blond was a perplexed smile, it was quite possible she hadn’t spoken out loud.
There were others as well. Were they ninjas? She sensed their blackness surrounding her…or was that her pending unconsciousness? That question was answered when someone behind her tugged a musty-smelling bag over her head.What the hell?She twisted away and brought her hands up to jerk off the offensive thing, but she was too slow. Someone yanked her arms behind her back. She heard a zip as they fastened her hands together cruelly, the bindings cutting into her skin the more she struggled. Everywhere she turned to get away, she ran into another body. Hands touching her, pushing her into the next person.
Finally, someone grabbed her arm and pulled her roughly against him, and she could feel his breath on her cheek through the bag. “Can you hear me?”
He must be yelling because she could. She nodded, biting her lip against the tremble that signaled her fear. She couldn’t afford to be afraid.
“Good. It doesn’t matter to me whether you live or die. You are insignificant. Only a distraction for me and my men while we wait.” He trailed his finger across her throat and down to where the neckline of her tank top met her skin. A few of the other men laughed, speaking in a language she’d never heard before.
She shrank from him, but he apparently wasn’t ready to let her go. His grip tightened around her arm. “There are some rules that will help your chances of staying alive. You will not speak unless spoken to. You will bow your head in our presence, and you will do exactly what we tell you to do. Do you understand?”
Not a chance in hell, buddy.Sally nodded again because she had no choice.
“That’s good.” He dropped her arm and ran his hand down her side until he reached her bottom, where he squeezed a handful.
Sally sidled away from him, bumping into the men on the other side of her. They all laughed crudely and then the apparent leader—probably the blond man—said something in their language. One man on each side, they dragged her along by the arms over rough ground, snickering each time she tripped. The good news was, the ringing in her ears was getting less noticeable and she could hear again. Or maybe that was the bad news.
They were getting closer to the river. Sally could hear the water lapping over rocks in the current. Were they taking her to the barn? She’d heard pounding there earlier. What if Daniel and Matt were there?
The silence was like a wall when they dragged her inside the structure. If there was anyone else here, they weren’t letting it be known. The men jerked her to a stop while one of them shuffled another few steps. She heard a metallic click and the squeak of rusty hinges. Then the one beside her pushed her forward, bending her over with a blow to her stomach, and shoved her inside something metal. She sprawled on the rough flooring, unable to break her fall, her already painful knee taking the worst of the hit. Before she could move farther away from them, one of them grabbed her feet, holding them tightly together, while another bound her with a zip tie.
The rusty hinges squeaked again until the door she’d come through clicked shut and the men left her alone. When she could no longer hear their booted feet outside the barn, she struggled to sit up, drawing herself as far from the opening as possible.
This wassonot good. Who were they? What did they want? And what had they done to Matt and Daniel? The roaring fire ripped through her memory and she shuddered. No. She wouldn’t believe they were dead.
Minutes dragged by with only the sound of her breathing. She occupied herself by feeling the inside of her enclosure, pleased when she determined it was a cage of some sort. That was good. If she ever got the bag off her head, she would at least be able to see her enemy. A supreme effort had brought her heart rate down to a reasonable level. It was hard to be unafraid when she was absolutely, mind-numbingly terrified, but that was what it would take if she was to survive this ordeal. Not just survive. Somehow, she had to get away, find Daniel and Matt and warn Luke before he drove into the middle of whatever this was.
The worst was not knowing what these animals wanted. Blondie had said they were waiting. For what? He’d also said she was incidental. Meaning she was just in the way—they weren’t out to kill her. Yeah; somehow, they didn’t seem like the kind of men who would leave anyone alive. Were they the people who’d planted a bomb in her house? Their latest act of destruction seemed to support that. If they weren’t after her, who were they trying to kill?
Luke!
