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Griff leaped onto the bar and ran the length to the end closest to the kitchen door. Men stood between him and the door. Griff flung himself into the men, knocking them over like so many bowling pins. He didn’t stop to help them to their feet. Instead, he ran across them. With no way to miss the pile of people, he stepped on them as he crossed the space.
Griff made it to the kitchen door and pushed through the swinging door to find opportunists scarfing down the sandwiches Gunny, Enzo and Thorn had made right before the riot had started.
“Did you see a woman with black hair when you came in?” Griff asked.
The men stopped chewing long enough to shake their heads.
Griff raced for the back entrance and slammed through it so hard the door banged against the outside of the building.
“Rachel!” he yelled. Only one person stood in the rear area, close to the edge of the woods surrounding the bar. He bent double and emptied the contents of his belly into the dirt.
Griff ran to him. “Did you see a woman with black hair out here?”
The man shook his head. His eyes rounded, and he clamped a hand over his mouth. He staggered away and barfed again.
A lighted trail led back to the lodge.
Had Rachel gone back to the lodge without telling anyone?
No way. She wouldn’t have. Period. She knew how vital it was for her to stay with him.
Griff ran back into the kitchen, grabbed the flashlight from a hook on the wall and raced back out. He shined the light on the dirt beneath his feet, searching for tracks.
Shoe prints disturbed the dust, large feet with treads for hiking.
All he could think was someone had snatched her from the kitchen after Gunny and the others ran in to help stop the fight.
He was certain now that the same person had started the fight as a distraction.
And that person now had Rachel.
Rachel faded in and out.She wasn’t sure she was awake. Every time she thought she opened her eyes, all she could see was a pitch-black void.
With each surfacing to consciousness, she grew more and more aware. She lay on her belly, over something hard and loud, her arms trapped against her sides. The air she breathed smelled of dust. Her body heaved right, then left, bumping along as if she were traveling on an unimproved dirt road.
What had happened? Where was she? Where was she being taken?
Her arms and legs were bound. She felt groggy, as if she’d drunk herself into a stupor and couldn’t come out of the effects. With no idea how long she’d been out, she also had no idea how far she’d been taken. The sound of the engine indicated some kind of motorcycle or ATV, and she was draped across the legs of its driver.
Slowly, her memory returned, jolted into her head by the roughness of the ride.
She’d run into the kitchen to tell Gunny a fight had broken out and customers were destroying the bar.
Gunny dropped everything and ran for the door, followed by Enzo and Thorn. Gunny slowed long enough to tell Rachel, “Turn off the gas burners.”
“I’ve got this.” Rachel moved from burner to burner, twisting the knobs until the gas pilot flickered off. “Go on, keep those construction men from destroying your place.”
The three men disappeared behind the swinging door, leaving Rachel alone in the kitchen. By the time she realized her mistake, it was too late. A needle jabbed into her neck, the liquid inside spreading fire into her veins.
Her legs grew weak, and she couldn’t lift her arms. As she went down, she thought of Griff.
He’d be beside himself when he realized she was gone.
Unable to move, all of Rachel’s promises to herself to fight to the death went out the window. She was entirely at the killer’s mercy. She prayed he was taking her a long way to give her time for the drug to wear off so that she could regain her strength.
She could feel the pendent Jake had given her, tapping against her chest with every bump. Rachel prayed Griff and the others would find her before the killer strangled her with a wedding veil. He might add her as his third notch to his belt. But if they could track her, they might catch up to the killer. Please, Lord. If I have to die, make sure they catch the killer before he gets away.
The ATV rumbled to a stop. Her captor slid backward and out from under her, leaving her draped across the seat like a floppy sack of potatoes.
