Twist My Heart

by Brooke Taylor

  Through his binos, he watched Coleman take a call, and soon after his phone vibrated with a text from the bodyguard. Clay confirmed he’d be there in ten minutes, thanking the asshole again for taking care of his sweet angel. Meanwhile he scanned the building, noting a delivery truck parked at the back.

  Pulling onto the street, Clay went the long way around and entered from the rear, well hidden from the pumps. As expected, the stockroom door was propped open with a plastic crate. Clay pulled in behind the van and hopped out. Hastily lighting a cigarette, he quickly disheveled his hair and tried to look disenchanted with his shitty life. Hearing the delivery man return, he hustled to hold the door open wider.

  “You work here?” the guy asked as he wheeled the dolly through.

  “Yeah, we’re not allowed to wear the logo on smoke breaks.” Clay lazily pointed to a red Pump-N-Go vest hanging off a hook by the door before stubbing out the cigarette on the cement block wall. “Corporate bullshit.”

  The man nodded. “Here’s the invoice. Sign down here.”

  Clay scribbled out an illegible name. “Thanks, man. Drive safe.”

  Inside the darkened storeroom, he slipped into the vest, slapped on a logo hat and grabbed a mop cart. Buying himself time, he texted he was stuck in traffic but almost there. Then, leaving the storeroom door slightly ajar, he rolled past the bathrooms with his head kept down.

  Between the shelves, Thea was milling about, alone. Her eyes, gorgeously wide, flicked out to the pumps where the bodyguard was waiting. Her rabbit heart was thumping away a mile a minute. Her fear was as delectable on her as it’d been fifteen years ago, when she had hid under her covers.

  This time he wouldn’t deny himself the full flavor of it.

  * * * *

  Coop was taking way too long. I strained to see if he’d made contact with anyone yet. Just in case, I backed toward the hallway leading to the bathrooms where an employee mopped floors with his back to me. I stayed close, even though the smell of the mop water mixing with his cologne unsettled the yogurt in my belly. The far-too-jaunty tune he whistled grated my frazzled nerves. But standing near him seemed a safer choice than standing alone.

  No. Move.

  I caught sight of Coop through the front windows. He kept glancing at his phone, the expression on his face growing more agitated with each passing second. I trusted him, but I didn’t trust his plan was playing out the way he’d hoped.

  Run! Now!

  Wheeling on my toe, I went to sprint down the hallway and out of the back door…smacking right into the employee instead. He blustered out an apology as his hand clamped my arm to steady me. The grip turned bruising as he squeezed down, but it was the whiff of a familiar aroma tickling my nose that sent my fear into a tailspin.

  The oil Aimee had given me at the mall, which had knocked me out at Nik’s house.

  The man’s other hand came around with a red cleaning rag in its grip. Before he could cover my face, I sucked in a deep breath of fresh air and held it. Making a production of fighting him off, I hoped my struggling would catch the cashier’s attention. Lungs burning, I landed an elbow into his gut, back kicked his shin…his knee. I relished his groan, hurting him, but I couldn’t keep it up while holding my breath. His big body easily propelled my smaller one through an employee-only area where there was no one’s attention to draw.

  I wanted to scream, but I didn’t dare pull in air through the rag he held over my face. I’d be dead. Not immediately, but soon enough. The more I thrashed, the more I needed to gasp in air. Gripping the pain tight, my focus was the only thing keeping me from blacking out. The back office and storage area slipped from my periphery as he slammed me into a door, my body hitting the bar opener. Doused in sudden sunlight, I realized his car was parked directly in front of us. There was no chance of anyone seeing or helping me now.

  Sharp pain gripped my desperate lungs. I slumped over his arm, pretending the drugs dousing the rag had taken effect. My dead weight slowed him down and he would need both hands to get my body into the car. Removing one from my mouth, he shoved the rag in his pocket and opened the door.

  Holding my breath had been hard. Maintaining the relaxed panting breath of a passed-out person was truly torture. But I had to keep up the pretense if I stood any chance of catching him by surprise.

  He pressed so close against me I could tell his gun had to be at his back. I wouldn’t be able to wrangle it off him from this angle. I could also tell capturing me aroused the sick fuck.

  I didn’t have the air to scream. He’d probably knock me out physically if I did. Folding me into the backseat, he bound my hands in front of me with quick zip plastic ties. He was too rushed to do more, like check my pockets. Even so, my heart ramped up in panic as the car engine rumbled to life. The vehicle lurched, moving away with speed. He’d successfully taken me.

  I prayed for Coop to follow as I focused on steadying my breath.

  Hands bound, I worked my fingers into my pocket. I stretched and pinched until I awkwardly grasped my greatest asset—the cell phone Nik had given me. Toggling the notch on the side, I turned the ringer off. The last thing I needed was Nik or Coop calling and alerting my abductor to its presence.

  Eyes closed, I tried to orient myself by memorizing the turns the car was making, the speed and distances. I wasn’t familiar enough with the area to know the streets, so I only kept track of the direction. Even that I second-guessed. But as my body lulled ever so slightly back, I knew we were headed west, up into the mountains.

  It wasn’t long before I felt a vibration and looked down to see Nik’s call coming through. Swiping to answer it, I fumbled with my fingers to immediately mute it. I let out a cough, desperate to keep him on the line. Just knowing the call remained connected gave me hope. I wasn’t alone. Nik was with me and could hear me. For now, it was enough.

  My abductor had been focused on the winding mountain roads. But my cough hadn’t gone unnoticed. “You’ve really fucked yourself good, Thea,” he muttered.

  It seemed too soon for the drugs to wear off, so I didn’t verbally respond. But I desperately wanted to get the man talking, giving some indication of where he was taking me, so Nik could follow. I groaned as if barely coming around.

  “I can’t believe you squealed to Todd Coleman. Fucking ungrateful. I should put a bullet in you and be done. But you’re so nosy. So freaking nosy, I’m going to let you see exactly what you’ve been snooping around for weeks trying to find out. I’m going to show you exactly what kind of a monster I am. I can’t decide which would be better, for me to sell your untouchable virgin ass to the highest bidder or put you where it’ll get the most use. Quality versus quantity—the age-old debate. Which do you think I’ll choose?”

  He glanced up into the rearview, his ice-blue eyes catching mine. Shit.

  I swallowed hard. Swallowed again to keep from telling the asshole there wasn’t an untouched place left on my body anymore.

  I forced my voice to sound groggy and subdued, when I wanted to thrash and scream and yell at him…rip those clear blue eyes from his stupid, oversized skull. “Both. First, you’ll make as much money off me as you can, and then you’ll torture me until I’m dead.”

  “You’ve always been so smart. Too smart for your own good. But you give me far too much credit—I’m a selfish, selfish prick, Thea. More selfish than I am greedy. You’re mine and I’ve been patient. You think keeping my hands off you was easy? Letting you live all these years? No. It wasn’t. And now that I’ve had you thrashing in my arms, fighting for your life…” He drew in a long breath, his nostrils flaring wide. As he exhaled, a low, aroused groan escaped. “You got me so excited, I don’t think I’ll be able to keep you alive for all of the things I want to do to you.”

  “I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you from back here—my ears are sensitive to the mountain pressure and I can’t pop them with my hands bound. Where did you say you were taking me? Back to Estes?” I said more to the phone than to the madman dri
ving. When Clay didn’t respond, I asked, “Where’d you get this red Subaru? I thought you had a black Tahoe.”

  “If you don’t shut up, I’ll cut your tongue out first.”

  I probably should’ve left it alone, but I wanted to be sure Nik knew exactly who had me, and besides, holding my tongue wasn’t in my skill sets. “What’s wrong, Clay? Can’t drive and talk at the same time?”

  “The only thing you should care about is that I can fuck and kill you at the same time.”

  The winding mountain road kept the asshole from flicking his cold eyes to the rearview, giving me a chance to roll to my side. I dangled my legs over the seat edge, so I’d still appear to be laying down if he checked, but could also sit up at a moment’s notice.

  From this position, my fingertips were able to grip Nik’s knife in my pocket. But with my hands bound I wasn’t sure how steady I could hold it. Angling it enough to cut through the heavy plastic of the zip ties would be impossible without slitting my own wrists. Besides, Clay would hear my movements and have time to pull over and knock me out for real this time. About the only thing I had going for me was the element of surprise.

  The car rocked into each turn, climbing steadily along the mountain highway for miles. His eyes remained calm, focused as he drove through the curves. He wasn’t being followed, or if he was, he didn’t realize it. He was going somewhere specific, not merely driving to get as far away as possible.

  Noting a shift in his eyes, I knew he’d be making a turn soon. From the quickening to his breath, he was getting close to wherever his final destination was. He was too excited not to be.

  We slowed as he angled hard through a turn. Sensing it was my last chance. I went for broke—lunging my arms up over the headrest. I dragged them back, forcefully hauling my bound wrists hard into his throat.

  The car careened sharply, thrashing me from side to side. I braced for impact, ducking my head behind the driver’s seat. The little SUV bucked and pitched down the steep slope as I strangle held Clay even tighter. Every impact jarred my body hard. Then came the collision, so final it punched the air from my lungs as it sent the rear of the car skyward, before abruptly slamming back down with a jolting bounce.

  Choking on my tongue, I fought for air. I closed my eyes, replacing the deafening sound piercing my eardrums with Nik’s whispered voice, Stay with me. Breathe.

  Chapter Forty

  I opened my eyes to a spiderweb of broken glass. Loud ringing noises whirled through my brain. The airbag bulged out, holding Clay’s slumped and bloody body upright. My arms still encircled his neck, but my hands had lost circulation. I couldn’t tell if the pulse throbbing against my forearm belonged to him or me, but something told me he wasn’t dead.

  I couldn’t make any assumptions, but there was no way in hell I’d ever be his prey again.

  I yanked back to choke out his oxygen. The sudden motion woke him. Sputtering, he grappled at my wrists. Clawing fingers kept mine from finishing the job. His gasped pleas—don’t kill me…you need me…I can help you—blended with something else he was trying to say—only one…where to find her.

  I stopped cold. “Find who?”

  His fingers slid from my wrists, his hands fluttering to his sides in surrender. I loosened my grip enough for him to gather his voice back. “Who, Clay?”

  After several minutes of coughing and sputtering, he croaked out, “Mandy.”

  I dropped my forehead against the back of the headrest. Killing him would destroy the only link I had to my sister. With my arms wrapped around his throat, and the airbag keeping him from being able to struggle, I waited for help to arrive.

  My eyelids lulled. Before they closed, I caught sight of his fingers curled around the rag as it pressed against my face. I jerked the zip-tie cuffs hard into his throat. The angle wasn’t enough to cut off his air in time and I’d been breathing too hard to avoid the impact of the drugs. Everything went black.

  * * * *

  “Clay has her in a red Subaru. They’re already in the mountains, almost to Estes. Her hands are bound and she’s in the backseat,” Nik said as Coop answered his phone. “I’m headed toward her now.”

  “How’d you get all of that from tracking her cell?”

  “I got it from Thea. She managed to answer. She must’ve put it on mute without him knowing. We got disconnected and I can’t get her back. Her phone’s pinging close. I’ll text you the location when I get there. She better be okay.”

  “I’ll check for any Subarus reported stolen. We’re running facial recognition on CCT footage around Estes to see if we can pinpoint where he’s been staying. His coming back this direction suggests he’s got a place nearby.”

  Seeing skid marks and broken branches, Nik slammed on his breaks. A familiar sense of panic and fear coursed through him, like he was reliving a nightmare. “Gotta go, I may have something.”

  “We’ll get her back, Steele.”

  Nik hung up without comment. Knowing this wasn’t Coop’s fault didn’t alleviate his frustration. He should’ve insisted he be the one to take her to Boulder.

  He shook the guilt off in favor of getting shit done to save her. Jumping into action, he exited the Jeep as Titan shoved his own way out right behind. Thea’s phone was close by. She’d likely gone right over the edge of the road. The force of the scene froze him.

  His family’s crash had been miles from here, but it didn’t make the situation any more unique. Everything from tire tracks on the road to the crushed red metal below, eerily similar. The wreck killing his family had consisted of photographs, this was in living color—smoke still rising, gasoline and burnt rubber strong in the air.

  A loud, succinct bark broke through Nik’s trance, reminding him how, unlike his family’s wreck, there was something to be done about this one.

  The dog scrambled recklessly down the loose scree of the mountain. Desperation had Nik skidding right behind. Sharp rocks dug through his pants, tearing into his skin. His own safety came secondary to getting to Thea.

  Had she been thrown from the car, like Cora had? Was she buried under it like his mother? Where the hell was she?

  Anger and fear rocked heavy in his gut, but he twisted them into determination. His desperate search revealed nothing. No body was better than a dead one, he rationalized. But it was no guarantee Thea was still alive. Blood stained the deployed airbag as well as the backseat. He could only hope it all belonged to Clay.

  Digging through the Subaru, Nik lifted out her cell phone. Finding her would be damn near impossible now. Bracing his forearms to the crushed roof, he dropped his head to catch his breath. To think. They had to have left on foot. Thankfully, his tracking skills were still fairly sharp.

  He called Coop to update him on his current position and plan.

  “Almost to you. Nik, there’s something else. My source was able to dig a bit deeper into Clayton Kenyon. Kenyon is his mother’s maiden name. He changed it at seventeen when he and his mother moved to Chicago. His full name is Daniel Barclay Dalton III.”

  “Where do I know that name?”

  “His father was Danny Dalton. Clothing found with Margaret Miller’s body linked his father’s DNA to her murder and Amanda’s disappearance. Danny never confessed to either.”

  “How did the kid of a pedophile, a fucking murderer, get in the Bureau? Aren’t the Feds supposed to do thorough background checks on all their agents?”

  “According to Coleman, they knew exactly who he was. The name change was to disassociate from his father and the press. He claimed to have joined the Bureau to stop people like his dad.”

  “Such a crock of shit. The way Clay was talking to Thea…he’s as sick a fuck as his father.” Nik grunted, hanging up.

  With this new information, Nik realized how desperate the situation was. Kenyon was not only unstable, but this was personal to him. There’d be no bargaining, no deals to be made, and no time before he started hurting Thea.

  Glancing around, he spotted Ti
tan snuffling at the ground not far from the wreck. The dog trotted a few feet, sniffing again before tearing off down a trail.

  “Right behind ya!” Nik sprinted after the beast, thankful Titan had insisted on coming with him instead of staying behind with Leo at his house. With his far superior nose, he’d find her faster than any tracker.

  * * * *

  A hard thud jarred me into awareness. I awoke with my cheek flattened against an unwavering surface. The last thing I remembered was the blur of trees and boulders as I jerked and lurched downward toward my death. This was not death and I wasn’t still hugging the driver’s seat or pressed against the metal of a car. Nor was I outdoors. But I was on the ground. On a floor. Wood.

  Pain penetrated my skull. I knew better than to try to move too much or the throbbing would only get worse. I should’ve killed Clay when I’d had the chance. Why hadn’t I killed him?

  Mandy.

  He knew where my sister was. He might be the only person in the world who did. No telling how long I’d been out for. Clearly, I’d been relocated from the crash. When? How far? What direction? By whom?

  I blinked, struggling to focus. My brain reoriented the objects in front of me to account for my unusual position and vantage point. I was next to a bed, not far from a couch that backed up to a log wall. A cabin?

  Moving could attract the attention of the man pacing with a limp in front of the television. From my position, I could only make out his legs. His stiff gait jerked without coordination as if the pain were fresh and still hit him unexpectedly. I recognized his voice. The man who had taken me from the gas station. Clay.

  I couldn’t quite make out his hoarse words as he spoke into a cellphone, but his clenched, barking tone radiated annoyance.

  A cool draft of air spun up as a door opened and closed.

  “The Tahoe’s out of sight,” a woman’s voice said. Arching my eyes as far as they could go without visibly turning my head, I watched her sit down in a chair with her back to me. Blonde hair, but the strand of red peeking out let me know it was a wig. Then I caught sight of the tattoo. Aimee.