Dangerous Attraction

by Sidney Bristol

  The girl.

  She was bound to be a problem. Nothing like her sweet sister.

  He tossed the cans down and jerked the door open. The bench top to the cage rattled. Bliss. No, he had to stop thinking of her like that. She was an object. A thing.

  His newest test subject had her feet pulled up, as if to kick the lid. No doubt that’s what he’d heard.

  Daniel stomped into the RV, leaving clumps of snow on the floor in his wake. It was beyond time to get her settled and out of his way. It would be interesting to see how she survived in this weather, what she could stand.

  He unlocked the lid and grabbed a handful of her hair.

  “No! No, wait!” She grunted and clutched his wrist as he hauled her to her feet.

  The nice thing about being out this far was that there was no one around to hear her scream.

  She scratched at his gloves and kicked his ankle, but otherwise she was too weak and clumsy from multiple doses of tranquilizers.

  He scooped a length of chain out from under the passenger seat before dragging the female subject outside.

  “The air smells fresher here,” he said, pausing for a second to appreciate it.

  “Kill me already,” the subject said.

  He glanced at her but didn’t respond. Her name was already fading from memory. She was no longer a person, or even a thing with feelings. She was part of his experiment. Part of his great test to figure out just how much a human body could withstand.

  Daniel led the subject all the way back to the A-frame and secured his latest pet to the tree and then to the subject by way of a pair of handcuffs. He pointed at the shelter.

  “Do your best to not die.”

  Yet.

  3.

  “Travis, man, you gotta eat something.” Ethan plopped a bag of fast food down on the hotel room desk.

  Travis glanced at it.

  He’d had burgers with Bliss yesterday. They’d talked about sex and vibrators. He hadn’t cared they were in a crowded, family establishment. One day with her and now it felt as if he were missing a crucial part of himself.

  “Not hungry,” he said.

  Travis tossed his clothes into his suitcase and carefully gathered his files while his Aegis Group co-workers, Ethan and Mason, ate. They had their own adjoining rooms, but hadn’t let him be since returning to the hotel.

  “Where you going?” the kid, Mason, asked. He was the newest Aegis recruit, barely out of the SEALs.

  “Don’t know yet.” Travis zipped the duffel bag and pulled his phone out.

  “Where do you think he’s gone?” Ethan asked.

  “Not sure yet, but he’d have somewhere outside of Vegas to run to if he needed. Some of the bodies they identified were from as far away as Flagstaff, so we know he travels. I just don’t know what the Vegas connection is.”

  “What Vegas connection?” Ethan had forgotten his food and now leaned forward.

  “The women. Every one of the women he picks are blonde, born and raised in Vegas, and until Wendy, they’d never had a child. We know he impregnated them, kept them alive until they had the kids, and then killed them. From what Bliss saw, we know he kills and keeps the babies. I’m thinking since he dumped the last two before they carried the babies to term, he just wanted to make sure the women could carry a child.”

  “I think I’m going to be sick.” Mason’s lips curled, but he didn’t go anywhere.

  “Why not set up here? Wait for him to come back, if Vegas is that important to him?” Ethan suggested.

  “No.” Travis shook his head. “He’d keep those women for a year or more if they survived childbirth. If he escapes with Bliss, I don’t think we’d find her.”

  “Okay,” Ethan brushed crumbs off his jeans and gestured to the files on the bed, “So saying he—”

  Travis’ phone lit up, vibrating and ringing on the bed. He snatched it up and jabbed at the screen.

  “What did you find out?” Travis asked.

  “We got a hit. I’m not supposed to be able to ask for this kind of favor, but someone turned a blind eye.” Grayson’s voice was hushed and strained. Probably trying to keep Wendy fleeced.

  Good luck, buddy.

  “Where?” Travis didn’t give a fuck who he owed, not when Bliss’ life was in danger.

  “Truck stop. I-95 up around Lake Tahoe.”

  “That’s not much of a lead. He could be anywhere up there.” Travis grabbed his bags.

  Both Ethan and Mason jumped to their feet, rushing into the adjoining room. Their half-eaten burgers and fries remained on the desk.

  “I’ll see what else I can find out, but they got the make, model, and license on that motorhome, and the trailer he’s hauling.”

  “Wait. Trailer? What kind? How big?”

  “I’ll send the picture to you. It’s small. There’s a tarp over it, so I don’t know what is there. What do your fed friends have?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Damn. Will this be useful to them?”

  “Don’t know. I’m not telling them.”

  “What?”

  “Later, Grayson.”

  Travis hung up and paused at his hotel room door, mentally flipping through the scene at Daniel’s house that morning.

  The Buick was there, but not the ATV. They’d rightly assumed he used that to get away, now they knew where to. Somewhere out there, he’d stashed an RV and the means to escape detection.

  “We’re ready,” Ethan announced. He strode into Travis’ room, bag slung over his shoulder, followed by Mason.

  “What are you doing? Go home,” Travis said.

  “No way.” Mason shook his head. The kid was stubborn.

  “We can stand here and argue about it, or you can accept that we’re going to fucking help you. What’s it going to be?”

  Travis ground his teeth together. It was almost Christmas, and they should be with their families. Except Ethan had no one, not anymore. Travis didn’t know Mason well enough, but if the kid was anything like the rest of them, he probably didn’t have someone keeping the light on.

  “Fine. We got to book a plane to Tahoe. Tonight.”

  Hang in there, baby, we’re coming for you.

  BLISS HUDDLED UNDER the old, moth-eaten blankets. She’d unearthed them from the pile of discarded things in the crevices of the shelter Daniel had left her in. The wind had picked up since the sun set, and icy fingers found their way through every crack and joint in the structure.

  Her teeth chattered so loud she feared she might not be able to hear anything approaching. Frozen teardrops still clung to her lashes, but she didn’t bother wiping them away. Instead, she gently examined the business end of a stick she’d salvaged. It wasn’t old or rotten. For the last indeterminable span of time she’d worn one end down into something like a spear.

  She wasn’t kidding herself. Even with a collection of stones and her spear wouldn’t deter anything set on eating or killing her. All she had to do was hold on. If she could just hold herself together, Travis would save her. She had to believe he was out there under the same night sky looking for her, otherwise, what hope did she have?

  DANIEL PLACED THE LAST child in the half-circle. He smiled at the beautiful, shining faces. He was asking a lot of them to be up this early, but it was worth it. They needed to learn what they were. It was time they knew they weren’t just men and women.

  They were gods.

  And today they would receive a master lesson in where they stood with the rest of humanity.

  He held up his finger to his lips, willing the children to be quiet. Of course they were excited, why wouldn’t they be? Most had only seen his wives. Until now, they weren’t old enough to understand what they were.

  The little voices hushed.

  They knew what would happen next. Last night he’d let them all watch as he studied his test subject in the dark. She’d never noticed the night vision camera bolted to the top of the structure. In his long years, he saw plenty of subje
cts attempt to thwart their fate, so her efforts were nothing new. Just one more habit to be broken. Until it accepted its fate.

  He grabbed the side of the A-frame and pulled.

  The structure splintered and cracked apart.

  The subject yelped and screamed. The chain clanged as she scrambled to the side, breaking free from the debris.

  She never made it to her feet.

  Daniel grabbed her hair and thunked her head against the tree.

  She lost her grip on the makeshift weapon and curled in on herself, huddling in the snow like the animal she was.

  He crouched next to her. Unlike this subject, he didn’t need a weapon. He was the weapon. He was the creator of her fate.

  “Oh my God.” She gulped and stared at his children.

  “Look at me,” he snapped.

  Her gaze returned to his face. Her pupils were slightly dilated, her focus off. Probably from the knocks to the head she’d taken yesterday and today. Well, that was her fault.

  “Children, look at it.” He reached out and pinched her chin between his fingers, directing her to look up so they could see her throat. “This is what we rule over. We make them listen. We make them what we want them to be. This one will be the mother of our subjects. What?”

  Daniel tilted his head to catch the faintest of voices.

  “No, she will not give you a brother. She’s not worthy of that.” He spat at her feet and stood. “She’ll give us more subjects. More playthings.”

  TRAVIS PEERED INTO the darkened ranger station. Just his luck people got Christmas Eve off. Tahoe City was blanketed in new snow, and the police were spread too thin this holiday season to be of much help.

  They were on their own.

  Snow crunched as Ethan approached, phone in hand and a frown on his face.

  “Can’t get anyone on the horn about a chopper,” he said.

  “What about a small plane? There’s got to be someone who’d want to earn a buck,” Mason suggested. The kid was showing a surprising amount of ingenuity. Too bad the holidays rendered every solution a moot point.

  “Nah.” Ethan shook his head. “They’re all short-staffed and grounded thanks to last night’s ice storm. Maybe we could get someone from the south side of the lake though. Sounds like they just got a dusting of powder.”

  “Where are the ATV rentals?” Travis asked.

  “I don’t know. Let’s find out.” Mason pulled out his phone.

  Damn. Google. Why hadn’t he thought of that?

  Travis’ brain was seriously scrambled. He should be focused, but every other second his mind went back to last night when he held Bliss. When she pulled him back to bed instead of kicking him out.

  This was all his fault.

  “Why ATVs?” Ethan asked.

  “Daniel used an ATV to dispose of the bodies in a ravine. It was missing from the property when the cops swarmed the place. Grayson said the RV was pulling a trailer with a tarp on it. I’m guessing that was either supplies or the ATV.”

  “Why the hell are you just mentioning this?” Ethan scowled.

  “Sorry, it was in here.” Travis pointed to his head.

  “You’ve got to get your head out of your ass,” Ethan said.

  “There’s a bunch of ATV trails around the south side of the lake,” Mason announced. He turned his phone around and showed them a cluster of red dots.

  “Let’s hit the road,” Travis said.

  “What else haven’t you told us?” Ethan asked, falling into line next to Travis on their way back to the SUV rental. “Start at the beginning.”

  “Which beginning?” Travis asked.

  “The very beginning. We’ve got a drive ahead of us.”

  The very beginning was almost a decade ago. Maybe longer. There was no telling how many bodies littered Daniel Campbell’s past. If they didn’t find her, Bliss could be next.

  4.

  Bliss hauled the bundle of straw and thatch over the burrow she’d made for herself out of rocks and packed snow. It was slow going. She couldn’t feel her hands, and most of her clothing was either caked in ice or soaked. The handcuffs were the worst. Solid bands of freezing cold metal she couldn’t escape from.

  One more step.

  One more handful of snow.

  One more rock.

  Since Daniel had scared her awake that morning, that had been her mantra. One more.

  Bliss had never been one for the outdoors. She liked her comfortable apartment and her cushy bed. Beyond trying to stay warm, she didn’t know what else she could do. The stick spear had been her great, innovative idea, but even that was gone now, buried in the pile of rubble that had been the A-frame hut.

  All during the trip in the RV she’d imagined a bloody, horrible death, full of screaming and pain. Freezing hadn’t been on her radar until last night. Now, even with the sun reaching its zenith, she couldn’t feel her toes.

  Hell of a way to spend Christmas Eve.

  At least Wendy was safe. The silver lining, if there was one, was that Bliss stood a better chance of surviving the elements than her sister. If there was ever a time to love her fuller figure, it was now. In her place, Wendy might already be dead.

  “On your knees.”

  Bliss cringed and turned toward the voice. She hadn’t heard Daniel’s approach, not with all the noise the chain made.

  “I said, on your knees!” Daniel took two ground-eating strides toward her and lifted his hand.

  “Okay, okay!” She dropped to her knees, hands lifted to ward off the blow.

  He pulled back at the last second, slapping one hand into the other. She cringed anyway and curled her hands into fists. Fighting back hadn’t gotten her anywhere, so she needed to play along and hope she lived. At least she knew he didn’t intend to kill her yet. Just have her raped for his sadistic pleasure. It would take time to put his plan into motion, so all she needed to do was hang on. Just a little while longer.

  Daniel muttered something under his breath and turned to face the tree. He produced a single key—not the one to her cuffs—and unlocked her tether.

  “Come on. Keep up.” He jerked the chain, pulling her off balance.

  Bliss threw out her hands to brace herself but still got a face full of snow. The chain rattled over the ground. She scrambled to her feet, partly crawling until she got them under her. Her frozen, numb limbs screamed at her, but she couldn’t take it easy now. Just a few more minutes on her feet, and then she could collapse. Granted, she didn’t know what was at the end of this walk.

  It couldn’t be that bad, could it? Her kidnapper hadn’t had time to gather new atrocities to throw at her.

  He led her back to the RV. She almost wept when he opened the door and attached the end of her chain to the chair leg of the passenger seat.

  “Inside,” Daniel snapped.

  Inside meant the jar babies and Daniel, but it also meant warmth, maybe a potty break and water, if she were lucky. She climbed into the RV, squeezing past Daniel, and stopped on the top stair, her jaw hanging open.

  It was worse.

  A body—a man—lay on the rolling metal table bolted to the floor. Blood dripped off the side. Her stomach churned, and she tasted bile.

  Another man was on the floor, wearing a pair of handcuffs. He groaned, curled up on his side. Blood stained his clothes, and there was a gash on his forehead.

  The man on the table gasped, and blood bubbled up between his lips.

  “Oh my God,” Bliss whispered. She gripped the side of the built-in shelves.

  “Yes, I am your god.” Daniel grinned at her. “Now we can get started.”

  He walked to the other end of the RV. Metal cabinets stood open, each displaying their gruesome wears. Knives, kitchen utensils, tools—she didn’t want to know what he used them for.

  “Patch his head up.” Daniel gestured to the man lying on the floor.

  Bliss glanced around until she saw a small, black case with gauze sticking out of it. She could let t
he man die and postpone her torture. The idea repulsed her. She grabbed the case and hobbled around the table, keeping her distance from the body.

  Where was Travis?

  She’d thought for sure he’d find her in a day, maybe two. But...what if he wasn’t looking? The only reason he’d gone looking for Wendy was because the FBI asked him to, and Grayson paid him. No one would shell out that kind of money for her. What if this was it—stitching up Daniel’s victims, being tortured, and worse?

  What would be the price of survival?

  Could she pay it?

  TRAVIS GLANCED AT HIS phone.

  Ryan Brooks’ name flashed across the screen, and the device buzzed.

  Again.

  Travis rejected the call and pocketed the phone.

  “The feds?” Ethan asked.

  “Yeah. You’d guess they’d be off for the holidays or something,” Travis muttered.

  They’d hit each ATV rental on the off chance one would be open on Christmas Eve, but no dice. Their leads were running out and Grayson wasn’t accepting his calls. The forecast tonight was for more snow. Any trail they might find would be covered up, and Daniel Campbell would get away.

  Travis pulled into a scenic turn-off overlooking the bay and slammed his fist into the dash.

  “Dude, it’s a rental,” Ethan said.

  Mason was passed out in the back seat. They were chasing ghosts across the mountains. They weren’t going to find Bliss. Not at this rate.

  “We’re too far behind him,” Travis said. He bit his thumbnail and stared out at the water.

  “What do you want us to do?” Ethan turned toward him.

  “In his position, what would we do?” Travis asked.

  “Get out of the country.” Ethan snorted.

  “At this point the only way Daniel could get out of the country would be to cross into Canada or Mexico. He’s on the do not fly list. So do we head for Canada and hope to find him?”

  Ethan blew out a breath and laced his finger together behind his head.

  “If I took Nate I’d never make it over any border. Amber Alerts would be everywhere, so I wouldn’t make it five counties over. The best thing to do would be to lay low, go off grid.”