He was going to die.
Alex’s lungs burned to the point he thought they were about to give out. He’d pushed hard through the snow, following the trail he and Thomas had broken during their search. Thirty minutes had passed since the shots. The forest had been silent since then.
Is she OK? Dear Lord, please keep her safe.
The plane came into view. All was quiet. Thirty yards away, Alex stopped at the top of a small rise and rested his hands on his knees, panting hard.
“Brynn! Ryan!” he shouted.
Still quiet.
He squinted at the snow by the plane door. Is that blood? His mouth dried up.
“Brynn!” His voice cracked and he sucked in another burning breath to yell again.
The door opened a few inches. “Alex?” Ryan yelled.
Alex fell to his knees, eyes watering. Thank God. They are OK.
“Alex? That you?” Ryan’s call wavered, and Alex heard his fear.
Sparks of panic shot through his spine as he fought for breath.
“Ryan! It’s me.” Alex pushed to his feet and started to stumble down the slope. “What happened?”
Ryan stuck his head out. “He’s got her! He’s fucking got her!”
Noooo! Alex’s heart split cleanly in half.
Darrin was a dead man.
Ryan pushed the door open as Alex staggered closer. There was blood on the snow. And it made a trail away from the plane. Brynn? His gaze followed the red-smeared path.
“Oh, God. Is that her blood?” Alex whispered. He fought down the bile in his throat.
“No.” Ryan said. “That’s Kiana’s.”
“Kiana’s?”
“He fucking shot the dog. Kiana attacked him, and he shot her.” Ryan’s voice faltered. “He walked right in…no warning or nothing. Scared the shit out of me when he grabbed Brynn…I thought he was gonna shoot her. He held a fucking gun to her head and demanded a GPS. He was shocked that we were here. He’d counted how many people left the plane and expected it to be empty. He didn’t know Tyrone, Liam, and Matt had joined us.”
“A GPS?” Alex repeated. His brain spun wildly. He stared at Ryan, who held a rag to his bloody mouth. The kid looked ready to collapse. “Where’s Tyrone?”
Ryan jerked his head toward the back of the plane. “He’s lying down. Got kicked in the head.”
“Oh, shit. With his injury…”
“I know,” Ryan said. “He’s thrown up twice since then. Not good.”
Alex stepped inside. The sharp odor of vomit hit him in the face. He swallowed hard and squatted next to Tyrone. “How you doing?”
“I’m good,” the hurt man croaked.
Like hell.
“Fucker took her.” Tyrone winced. “Walked right in the door. Ryan and I were asleep back here. He caught Brynn off guard.”
Anger flowed through Alex’s veins. “I’m going to kill him.”
“He took Ryan’s gun…Brynn had it. She got off one shot…missed.”
“Then Darrin punched her,” Ryan added. “Right in the side of the head. Took the gun from her and got her in a headlock.”
Tyrone pointed at Ryan. “This idiot tried to rush him and got nailed in the mouth with the gun…fucking lucky he didn’t shoot him…”
“You shouldn’t have grabbed at his boot!” Ryan argued.
“Jesus Christ! How long ago did they leave?” Alex couldn’t sit still. He had to go after her.
“Twenty minutes maybe,” Ryan said. “Damned dog went after them. He shot at Kiana when she lunged at him…thought she was dead.” He shook his head as he met Alex’s gaze. “Man. Brynn’s scream…”
Furious, Alex ran a hand through his hair. Shit. The image of Brynn in Darrin’s insane arms…
“I gotta go.” Alex strode to the door and hesitated, looking back. “The other guys… Shit!…Thomas and I found Liam! He’s alive, but barely.”
Tyrone let out a loud breath. “Thank God.”
“I left Thomas with him when we heard the shots. He was gonna try to get a hold of Jim.”
“Just go, Alex!” Ryan urged. “Get her back.”
Powered by rage, Alex stepped outside and followed the bloody trail.
“Hurry the fuck up!” Darrin roared in her ear.
Brynn stumbled in the snow. Pain shot through her shoulders as Darrin yanked her up by her hands that were tied behind her back.
“I could move faster if you untied—”
“Shut up!” He shoved at her back.
Brynn concentrated on keeping her balance. Asshole. She wiped a wet cheek on her shoulder. Darrin had yelled and pushed the whole way. She couldn’t count the number of times she’d tripped. At least walking along the river was a little easier. The snow wasn’t nearly as deep. She just had to watch out for slick rocks with her snowshoes or else she’d slip and fall down the steep slope into the water.
“I don’t know how far it is to the train trestle,” she told him again. “We could be walking for a week.”
He let out a crack of sharp laughter. “I’ll find it eventually. I’ll move faster once I don’t need you.”
What? “Need me for what?” Her stomach twisted woozily. “I’m slowing you down, you just said so.”
“You’re bait.”
“Bait?”
“Man bait.” He laughed again.
Alex. The lunatic is trying to draw him out. Fresh tears prickled at her eyes. First he killed Kiana and now he’ll kill Alex.
Darrin roughly yanked her to a stop. “Sit.” He motioned at a fallen tree. Brynn gratefully sat and immediately continued her subtle fingering of the bungee cord he’d wrapped around her wrists. If she could only figure out where it hooked…
He pulled a short rope from a pocket and started to wrap it around her ankles. Brynn started. Apparently, she was done walking. He fumbled with the rope and then abruptly spun around, pulling her down from the log and close to him, slapping a hand over her mouth. “Quiet!” he whispered in her ear. Goose bumps rose on her arms, and Brynn shuddered.
Darrin peered over the fallen tree. A wide grin crossed his face.
“Alex,” he breathed.
Brynn jerked in Darrin’s arms, dread filling her stomach. Alex.
At the river he lost the trail. Along the water, the snow was choppy and uneven below the trees and the blood had slowed to the occasional drop. Scanning for the next drop, Alex stopped at the top of a ten-foot drop-off and eyed the icy, rushing water. Pure snow runoff.
“Morning, A-man.”
Alex’s throat closed as he slowly turned.
Brynn. His heart warming, Alex looked into her terrified brown eyes and held her gaze, ignoring Darrin, who had an arm around her neck and a gun at her head. She stood motionless in the man’s tight hold, gasping with short breaths, her cheeks flushed.
“Beautiful girl, isn’t she?” Darrin smirked.
I’ll get you out of here, Brynn.
From twenty feet away, Darrin didn’t look too tired for a man who’d been sleeping in a freezing forest. Alex had expected him to look as exhausted as he felt. Worse, even. Instead, Darrin looked downright pumped. Energetic. The killer’s gun hand shook slightly, and Alex knew it was from excitement, not fear.
“Drop the gun, A-man.” Darrin grinned.
Alex fixed his gaze on the killer and tossed his gun between them. He slowly raised his hands. Damn. He’d brought only one gun.
Alex’s heart rate had nearly reached its limit, but he held himself calmly, eyes steady on Darrin’s. Alex imagined knocking him down, wrapping his hands around his neck and squeezing. Using all his strength as Darrin’s eyes bulged and he struggled for air, watching the light fade in his gaze as the evil exited his shell.
Alex saw himself standing up in victory, a corpse at his feet.
But why didn’t he feel the satisfaction?
Darrin stepped closer and noticed Alex’s gaze flick to his snowshoes and back again. “Surprised? I was when I stumbled across a backpack chock-full of just what I needed to make it out here. Thanks for leaving me the gift.”
“You found Thomas’s pack.”
Darrin nodded, eyes gleaming. “The clothes were a little big. Not too bad.”
“Who changed the flight plan? Whittenhall?”
Darrin sneered and gave Brynn’s neck a tighter squeeze. Her eyes briefly flared in pain.
Alex took that as a “yes.”
“How did you get on the rescue team?” Darrin asked. “Whittenhall would never send you out here.”
“I was waiting at the airport in Hillsdale. When you didn’t land as scheduled I made some calls. They told me the flight plan had been closed. Then I figured out your flight hadn’t landed anywhere else. When I called the tower at Aurora to see if your flight had rerouted there, he told me about the small charter plane going down in the Cascades. I decided it was a definite possibility that the plane was yours.”
“So the locater was working. That’s how you found my plane.”
Alex shook his head. “Gotta be in line of sight to pick up its signal. They weren’t able to get any search planes in the air because of the storm and wind. Someone on the ground saw your plane in trouble and called it in. We had to guess where you went down.”
Breathe in and out. Keep it even. His arms started to ache from their elevated position. Brynn’s gaze never dropped from his. She was his lifeline. Focus on her. “What have you got on Whittenhall? Why would he change the flight plan for you?”
One side of Darrin’s mouth twisted up, but he didn’t answer.
Alex could tell the man wanted to answer. Darrin liked to talk. Especially when he thought he held the upper hand. Alex pushed harder. “I knew Whittenhall was dirty, and he pulled Linus into it with him.”
Darrin smirked. “Idiot. Linus couldn’t handle his addiction. Put that lovely family at risk because he was too spineless to handle a little gambling.”
Rage ripped through Alex’s nerves. Don’t think of Linus’s kids. He loosened his locked knees.
“What happened to Linus?”
Darrin shrugged. “He was dead when I woke up.”
“The pilots weren’t.”
“One pilot was. The other was on his way.”
Brynn struggled at Darrin’s words, her eyes narrowing.
“You could have done something,” Alex shot back.
Darrin’s eyes widened. “Like what? Hold his hand? He called me an asshole. I was more than happy to let him watch the blood slowly drain from his body. I didn’t owe him anything.” His eyes darted about as he snorted.
“What did Whittenhall owe you? What was big enough to make him set up a chance for you to walk away, disappear?”
Darrin tilted his head as if debating an answer. “He’s my cousin.”
Alex blinked. “Family ties? He’s breaking you out of prison because you’re related? I don’t believe it.” That can’t be all. If Darrin were his cousin, he’d put as much distance between them as possible.
Darrin shook his head, a grin splitting his face. “No. It’s much more than that. Cousin Paul and I were very close while growing up. Even if he was ten years older.”
“So you were close. How close?” Alex gave a smirk and raised a brow. He’d learned early on that Darrin got agitated if Alex hinted he thought Darrin had homosexual tendencies. It was one of the ways he could get Darrin to talk more, spill more secrets. Anger seemed to loosen the filter between Darrin’s mouth and brain.
“Fuck you!” Darrin’s knuckles whitened on the gun. “I’m not a faggot! It wasn’t like that!”
“Then what are you talking about? You’re not making sense. You’re just talking in circles.”
“He was there! He was there for my first!”
“Your first faggot blow job?”
“My first kill! He was there! He watched and did nothing to help her!” Darrin’s grip tightened on Brynn’s neck again. She shuffled with her bound feet, fighting to keep her balance.
“Who? Brenda?” Brenda Jeal had been Darrin’s first victim twenty years ago. Her lovely face flashed through Alex’s mind, followed by a dozen others.
Darrin laughed, anger evaporating, and waved a dismissing hand. “God no, way before that. Shit. We were still kids.”
Fury bubbled up Alex’s spine. Kids? He’d killed as a child? And Whittenhall had been there? “Kids?”
“Paul’s younger sister.” Darrin said the words like they tasted like the finest chocolate. Rich and delicious.
“What?” Bile curdled in his stomach. Darrin was lying. No one would…
“She drowned and we watched.”
“You couldn’t get to her?” Please, God.
“No, we were there in the pool with her. She couldn’t swim. We watched.” He gave a slow smile.
Pool. Drowning. Samuel. Alex physically deflated, his arms dropping. A wave of Darrin’s gun had him lifting them back in the icy air.
Darrin laughed. “Oh, sorry. Remind you of someone?”
Alex blinked to get Samuel’s innocent face out of his mind. He mentally steeled his determination.
“I’m not armed. Let’s see you try to take me down. You’ve always said you could kick my ass if you weren’t sitting in a jail cell. Here’s your chance to prove it.”
Darrin rolled his eyes, but Alex saw the interest flicker. “Yeah, right. I’m the one with a gun. Try to talk me into putting it down.” He turned the gun on Alex. “I’ve thought a lot about how I would kill you if I had the chance. I’ve had lots of time to think. A bullet in the brain would end things too quickly. I wouldn’t like that. I’ve heard kneecaps are nice and painful, but I don’t trust my aim to be accurate enough to hit your skinny legs.”
Alex closed his eyes. Better the gun on me than Brynn.
“Open your eyes!” Darrin shrieked.
Alex obeyed. Darrin looked overstimulated, crazed, like a kid who’d been sucking down sugar and caffeine all day.
“Gut shot. I should be able to do that. You don’t die right away unless I rip your aorta or something. I’ve heard people can suffer for days after being shot in the stomach. You’ll be begging me to shoot you in the head.”
Darrin’s eyes lit up, and his gun lowered slightly to line up with Alex’s stomach. Brynn thrashed in his grip. “No! Don’t!”
Darrin gave her neck a rough twist. “Shut up!”
A gray blur lunged at the killer. Kiana’s teeth clamped around Darrin’s hand, and he shrieked as he dropped the gun. He flung Brynn to one side and kicked at the dog. Alex tuned out Kiana’s howl as he sprinted and tackled Darrin at the waist.