by Kat Martin
The boy gave an almost imperceptible nod.
“I told you to keep going,” the gunman said.
“I just need a minute.” She dragged in a couple of deep breaths, as if the climb had been too much, and yanked on the plastic cuffs as hard as she could. A layer of skin came off with the plastic, but her hands were free, and so was she.
Billy moved at the same time, whirling toward the gunman and kicking out, knocking the man’s gun hand upward, but his grip on the pistol didn’t falter. As Ellie rushed him, the gunman swung at Billy, using the weapon as a club, hitting the boy in the side of the head hard enough to knock him down. He didn’t get up.
“Billy!” Ellie punched the man in the face, then slammed her fist into his stomach. She tried to knee him in the groin, went for his eyes, but he was taller and stronger, his body lean and fit.
He leveled the pistol at Billy as he wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth. “I knew you’d be a fighter.” Billy was unconscious, and there was no way she could abandon him and run for help.
“Leave him here, and I’ll go with you,” she said. “I won’t give you any more trouble.”
“Oh, you’re going with me.”
That voice. Anger burned through her. She forced herself to stay calm. “I know who you are. You’re Richard Egan.” She had to keep him talking. Every minute out of the car was a chance to survive. “Earl said something about Frank knowing you from the mine. The more I searched, the more I thought it was either you or Phillip.”
“Frank should have kept his mouth shut. If he had, Earl wouldn’t be dead.” He reached up and pulled off the ski mask, stuffed it into the pocket of his jeans. “Now get going. It’s going to take us over an hour to get there.”
“Where? Where are you taking me?”
“You can’t guess? I bet you’ll figure it out on the way.
She looked into Rick Egan’s too-handsome face. Dark-haired and good-looking, Savannah had said. Solid athletic build. Ellie had theorized that the man who’d killed Frank and Earl was the same man who’d killed Heather, the same man who’d killed Barbara Meeks. She thought of the ski mask. Vail and skiing, the common denominator. Icy fear clawed at her insides.
She glanced down at Billy, couldn’t tell if he was breathing and prayed that he was.
Egan followed her gaze. “The kid was just a means to an end. He doesn’t know jack shit. If he lives through the ball-freezing night, maybe he’ll make it. Now head for the car. I won’t ask you again.”
It took a few minutes to reach the Hummer, which she could now see clearly through the trees. Ellie waited until Egan pushed her toward the passenger side of the car and opened the door. Knowing it was her last chance, she went for the gun, but Egan jerked his hand free and backhanded her hard across the face. Ellie stumbled but didn’t fall. When she regained her balance, she saw the pistol pointed at the center of her chest.
“You little wildcat. I’m really going to enjoy you.” Egan’s fist hit her squarely in the jaw, and she went down. Ellie groaned as he kicked her in the stomach with a heavy leather boot, once, twice. Then he kicked her in the head, and everything went black.
* * *
As Rick drove the Hummer toward his destination, his thoughts strayed from the unconscious woman and the pleasures that lay ahead to another woman he had known. Barbara Meeks wasn’t as beautiful as Heather, but she was undeniably lovely. He figured fate had played a role in bringing the two of them together.
After the police had found Heather’s car, emotions returned that he had managed to bury for years. Memories of Heather and how deeply he had loved her. How happy he had been when they were together.
Thoughts of her swelled inside his head, pounding, pounding, like a hammer battering the inside of his skull until the pain was nearly unbearable. Warm memories clashed with ugly dark images, the memory of her last-minute refusal to leave her husband, the rejection that had sent him spiraling out of control.
Fighting to crawl out of the quagmire of pain that had started when the cops found her car, he’d returned to Vail, the place he and Heather had met, the first time he had made love to her.
That Friday night, he’d gone to the same pub, one of their favorites, and just as before, a beautiful woman had sat down beside him at the bar. Rick recognized Barbara Meeks from the Denver society pages, had even met her and her husband once at a charity benefit in the city.
Bryan Meeks was a corporate executive, CEO of some big software company. A powerful man—like Rick’s father, who held the fate of his employees in one of his godlike hands. Like Mose Egan, who disrespected Rick again and again, even chose Rick’s sister and her husband for the highest positions in the company, instead of his eldest son.
Seducing Barbara was easy. Just a few sweet words to a woman starved for affection, followed by a few lusty hours in bed.
Nothing gave him a rush like cuckolding a wealthy, influential man, to secretly know he had taken what the man held most dear—his wife’s fidelity.
For a while, sleeping with Barbara had been enough. Then everything had fallen apart, and once again he’d been forced to deal with a deceitful, lying bitch.
Now he had Logan’s woman. Rick smiled, already anticipating the outcome.
This time Rick would make sure Logan knew she was dead.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
KADE FOLLOWED SMOKE UNTIL THE DOG STOPPED ON THE TRAIL and began to run in circles. Smoke ran up the path and then back. Ran off into some downed pine trees, out into the wet grass, then ran back. The rain had washed the scent away.
Kade swore foully, rage and fear mixing until it was nearly impossible to think. He decided to go back and continue up the main trail, follow the path until he came to the old logging road that wound up the back side of the mountain. He prayed he would find a vehicle, but when he arrived, no one was there, and the dirt road was too muddy to find any tire tracks.
Kade’s chest felt leaden, pressing in on him until he could barely breathe. Billy was just a kid, a boy just starting out in life. Ellie was the woman he loved. He had to find them. Had to clear his head enough to make rational decisions. He wanted to keep searching, but sounder thinking told him he needed help.
He started back down the mountain, pausing to phone Wyatt and the sheriff as soon as he got in cell range. By the time he reached the barn, the hands were assembled there, some of them ready to ride off on ATVs, the rest planning a mounted search. Wyatt bent over a table set up in the middle of the barn, drawing up a search grid.
He looked up as Smoke rushed in. The pain on Kade’s face must have said it all.
“We’ll find them,” Wyatt said. “Sheriff Carver called. He’s got men and equipment on the way. In the meantime, we’ll start looking where you left off.”
“Tell the men to arm themselves. If this is the guy who murdered Keller and Dunstan, he won’t think twice about killing someone else.”
“That’s what you think happened? You think he came back for Ellie and Billy?”
“It’s worse than that. Ellie thinks he might be the same guy who killed Heather. If he is, Billy was just a way to get to her. I think he’s been watching us from up on the hill. He must have seen her with the boy. She wouldn’t do anything to put Billy in danger. I think he had this all worked out.”
“Jesus, Kade.”
A muscle flexed in his jaw. “If he planned as well as I figure, he had a vehicle parked somewhere along the old logging road on the back side of the mountain. He’s taken them somewhere. We need to figure out where that is.”
Kade heard a noise outside and walked out of the barn as a caravan of sheriff’s SUVs and pickups rolled through the big timber gate toward the ranch house. Carver pulled up in front of the barn and turned off the engine.
He walked right up to Kade. “We’re going to find them.”
Kade didn’t argue. He wasn’t giving up until he brought Ellie and Billy home. He filled Carver in on his search and the theory that the
kidnapper had a vehicle parked on the old logging road and was already out of the area.
“We’ll check the road, see if we can find any evidence, but with the rain—”
“The question isn’t if he was there. The question is where would he take them?” Kade took a deep breath and walked away, leaving the search strategy to Wyatt and Carver. He needed to think. Needed to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
He started with the basics, the connection between Keller and Dunstan and the shootings on the ranch. Dunstan had mentioned the mine.
He and Ellie had gone to Mountain Ore Mining in Denver. Murphy, Russo, and Egan all had connections to Keller. Zoe was running DMV records to see if one of them owned a dark green Hummer.
As the search parties dispersed, Kade retrieved Ellie’s cell phone from her purse and hit Zoe’s number. He’d rather be on the hunt, but he trusted Wyatt and his men. If Ellie and Billy were out there, the men would find them.
But Kade believed they were already gone. Finding where the killer had taken them was the only chance they had.
The phone kept ringing, but Zoe didn’t pick up. Kade swore softly and left a message, telling Zoe that Ellie was missing, possibly abducted by the man who’d killed Frank Keller, and urging her to call him as soon as she could.
“Let’s go inside where it’s warm,” Carver suggested. “No use working out here in the cold.”
Kade just nodded. It was getting dark, the clouds a thick low barrier over the mountains. The rain was turning to freezing sleet, and the wind had come up, blowing the frozen rain sideways. By the time he and the sheriff walked into the house, Maria and Dolores were back in the kitchen. Maria rushed toward him.
“Wyatt told us what happened. Señor Kade, I’m so sorry.”
Kade pulled in a steadying breath. “We’re going to find them. We won’t quit until we do.”
Maria touched his shoulder in sympathy, turned, and went back to work. The women had made coffee and sandwiches for the search crew. Webb Fischer pounded on the back door and walked into the kitchen. He spoke to Kade, grabbed a cup of coffee, and joined Carver at the kitchen table.
Kade turned away from them, grabbed his oiled-canvas duster, and walked back out to the barn, hoping the icy chill would clear his head. The temperature had dropped into the twenties, and the light was almost gone.
Soon they would have to call off the search until morning. If he believed for a moment that Ellie and Billy were anywhere near, he would be out there with the search teams. Instead he was here, trying to piece things together, make the information fit and tell him what he needed to know.
Kade walked through the barn to the door at the back. Smoke was lying there, his head on his paws. Worried brown eyes stared forlornly at the door. The dog struggled dejectedly to his feet.
“We’ll find them,” Kade said, running a hand over the dog’s thick, damp fur. “We’ll bring them home.”
The dog’s ears twitched, then went up. He lunged toward the back door and started barking. Kade’s heart jerked. Striding over to Smoke, he opened the door to see Billy stumbling down the path toward the ranch. Blood covered the side of his head and the front of his shirt.
Kade ran toward him. “Billy!”
The boy looked up and took a couple more staggering steps. “Kade . . .” Billy collapsed in his arms.
“You’re okay, son.” Kade’s throat tightened. “You’re home. I’ve got you. Everything’s going to be okay.”
The blood on Billy’s face was beginning to congeal, and his icy body trembled with cold. Kade lifted the boy over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry and strode back through the barn, across the yard, and into the kitchen.
“Billy!” Maria rushed toward him. Carver shoved up from the dining table, took out his phone, and dialed 911.
“Let’s put him in Ellie’s room,” Kade said; it was downstairs and the closest. “Get a heating pad and some blankets. He’s hypothermic. We need to warm him up.” Maria and Dolores both went into action.
The boy remained unconscious. As Kade got him undressed and under the covers, put the heating pad on his feet, and heaped more covers on top of him, Billy stirred but didn’t wake up.
“Get the medical kit,” he said, and Maria raced off once more. Kade headed for the bathroom, grabbed a couple of towels, and returned to Billy’s bedside as Maria ran back into the room with the medical supplies.
Working together, they cleansed the wound and wrapped a white cotton bandage around Billy’s head, but the boy didn’t stir. The cut wasn’t as bad as it looked, but it would still need stitches. It wasn’t the blood Kade was worried about. It was the concussion.
“I’ll take care of him,” Maria said. “You go find Ellie.”
Kade nodded, his jaw tight. “Let me know the minute he wakes up.”
“Sí, I will.”
Kade strode out of the bedroom and returned to the kitchen. “Boy’s still unconscious,” he said. “No idea when he’ll wake up.”
“Ambulance is on its way,” Sheriff Carver said. “I called for a chopper, but the weather’s got them all grounded.”
“Son of a bitch.” Kade had been hoping they could add an airborne search, but it wasn’t going to happen now. He paced the kitchen floor, trying not to think of Ellie and what might be happening to her, trying to keep his mind functioning, desperate to solve the riddle that meant life or death.
He went back to the basics, the connection between Keller and Dunstan and the shootings on the ranch. Dunstan had mentioned the mine. He and Ellie had gone to Mountain Ore Mining in Denver. They had spoken to Murphy, Russo, and Egan. All of them knew Frank Keller. All three were suspects. According to Ellie, so was Phillip Smithson.
Kade headed down the hall to his study, found Jane Egan Smithson’s card on his desk. Her cell phone number was listed. He punched in the number, and Jane picked up.
“Jane, this is Kade Logan. Sorry to bother you on a weekend, but this is an emergency. Is your husband at home?”
“Yes, he’s in the living room.” So it couldn’t be Smithson. “What’s this about?” Jane asked.
“As I said, it’s an emergency. I need to speak to Clive Murphy, Anthony Russo, and your brother, Rick. Any chance you have their cell phone numbers?”
“I don’t have Clive or Tony’s number. My brother’s on a hiking trip into the mountains. He’s been out of cell phone range all week. He isn’t due back until Tuesday morning.”
Kade tipped his head back and sucked in a deep breath of air. Egan. Had to be. “Any idea where he went?”
“No idea. He backpacks into the high country every year.”
“Any place special?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Thanks for the help.” He started to hang up. “By the way, does your brother own a dark green Hummer?”
“Mostly he drives his Porsche, but the Hummer’s what he drives in the mountains.”
Kade felt sick to his stomach. “Thanks.” He hung up the phone and headed back to the kitchen to speak to the sheriff.
“Glen, the man who took them is a guy named Richard Egan. Calls himself Rick. He’s one of the VPs at Mountain Ore Mining. Drives a dark green Hummer, and he’s supposedly off backpacking in the high country, somewhere out of cell range.”
“We’ve got a BOLO out on the car. I’ll add his name and get out a photo.” Carver went to work, and so did Sheriff Fischer.
Kade’s cell phone rang. “Logan.”
“Kade, it’s Zoe. You said Ellie was missing. What’s going on?” Kade filled her in. “Oh, my God. Richard Egan is the guy at Mountain Ore who owns a Hummer. I should have gotten back to her sooner, but I was working on a child-abduction case.”
“Not your fault.”
“The plate number is QXA 555.”
“Thanks, Zoe.”
“If you need anything—anything at all—let me know.”
“I will, thanks again.” He turned to the two sheriffs and rattled off Egan’s p
late number.
Carver frowned. “How’d you come up with that? Only law enforcement can access DMV owners’ information.” At the hard set of Kade’s jaw, he shook his head. “Never mind. I’ll tell them the suspect should be considered armed and dangerous.”
Kade just nodded. “One more thing. Ellie’s been working the theory that the guy who killed Keller and Dunstan is the same guy who murdered Heather and Barbara Meeks.”
Fischer’s head came up. “That’s a helluva stretch.”
“You think she could be right?” Carver asked.
“She’s good at what she does, Glen.”
“I’ll have the department pull up everything they’ve got on the sonofabitch.” Carver got back on the phone, and Fischer continued his call.
Kade thought of Ellie and forced himself to stay calm. Egan was out there. Kade just had to figure out where.
Maria appeared in the doorway. “Señor Kade, come quick!”
Kade raced after her, following her down the hall to Ellie’s bedroom. Billy lay on the bed, his face as pale as the bandage around his head. Worried blue eyes fixed on Kade’s face as he strode through the door.
“Y-You have to find her, K-kade. H-he . . . hit her. H-he hurt her. You h-have to f-find her.”
Kade gripped the boy’s shoulder. “I’m going to find her, Billy, I promise you. Do you know where he was taking her? Did he say anything? Try to remember.”
Billy moistened his lips. He was still shaking from the cold, barely able to force out the words. “I h-heard some of what h-he said. H-he told her h-he had a place all fixed up for h-her.”
“Where, Billy? Did he say where he was going?”
“H-he said the place was over an h-hour away.”
“Anything else?”
“H-he said she should be able to f-figure out where it was.” Exhausted from the effort, Billy lay back against the pillow.
Kade took the boy’s cold hand and gave it a final squeeze. “Help’s on the way, son. You just take it easy. In the meantime, I’m going after Ellie.”
