by Misty Evans
Without looking at Jon, she blew out a slow breath and disconnected the call.
“Damn it, Jaya.” Colton jammed his hands through his hair. “What do you call that?”
Her body trembled as if cold, even though sweat beaded along her hairline. She ignored Colton and looked at Jon. His face was tense. He obviously sided with Colton.
Shit. “What if he doesn’t call back?” she asked.
“I appreciate your gumption,” Jon said, “but it’s not wise with a guy like Watt to throw out a bluff like that.”
A tense snort escaped her. “I wasn’t bluffing. Serial killer or not, he wants the cross, right? I’ve been running around, giving him and the others all the power in this scenario, and I don’t even know if Finn is alive.” She pointed at the phone. “That was me, taking back control, and I happen to know a thing or two about dealing with grifters, thieves, and blackmailers. I grew up surrounded by them. This Watt asshole thinks he’s pulled one over on us, manipulating you, me, and my family with his little game. I just want him to know he doesn’t have the upper hand in this scenario. Not anymore.”
Colton’s hands smacked his legs as he dropped them to his sides. He eyed her with something she didn’t see much from him—respect. “She has a point.”
Jon opened his mouth to say something but the blaring of the phone cut him off.
Their eyes met, Jaya’s heart beating like a drum inside her chest.
He nodded at the phone. The ID showed it was Finn’s number. “Show time.”
Swallowing the lump in her throat, Jaya hit the connect button. “Finn?”
“Jaya?” Her brother’s voice was faint and echo-y. “Is that you?”
“Yes, it’s me.” She shut her eyes for a second. He’s alive. “Are you all right?”
He chuckled. “Define all right.”
Crud. “I’m coming to get you, so hold on, okay?”
“Did you find it? The cross?”
“Yes, I have it. Tell your kidnapper I’ll meet him in…” She glanced at Jon and he flashed all ten fingers at her. “Ten minutes. Runner’s Break. He knows the place.”
The voice that came back wasn’t her brother’s this time. “Jon will bring the cross to me.”
She picked up the phone and gripped it. “No deal, you bastard. How do I know you won’t kill Finn? You’ll meet me with Finn at the Break.”
“And expose myself like that to Jon’s buddies?” The voice was husky, mean. “Put your lapdog on the phone.”
Jon held out a hand but Jaya waved him off, pushing to her feet and sending her chair scraping back on the worn wooden plank floor. “Jon isn’t here. You successfully ruined that relationship for me, you dirtbag, so listen up. I’ve had it with you. You want the cross? Then meet me at Runner’s Break in ten minutes, like I told you. I’m not kidding when I say I have three buyers for it, and one is more than willing to hunt you down and make your life miserable if you don’t release my brother. It’s amazing what a couple million dollars can buy, you know? Assassins, law enforcement, you name it. You hurt my brother and I will make your life—what’s left of it—a living hell.”
Jon was on his feet now giving her a wide-eyed look and making slashing motions across his neck. She’d gone off-script again and he was none too happy about it.
There was a tense silence from the other end and Jaya felt her insides crumbling. Had she overplayed her hand?
“Look you little bitch,” Watt snarled. “I’m not meeting you at Runner’s Break. That place makes me easy pickins for anyone you brought with you. You wanna meet somewhere besides ol’ man Wolfe’s cabin, fine. There’s a cabin near the Break, two hundred yards east of the cistern. Jon knows it. I’ll meet you there. Come alone. First sign I see that you brought company, Finn is dead. You leave the cross outside the cabin and I’ll send your effing brother out. Got it?”
Her eyes darted to Jon’s, and she raised her brows in question.
He nodded, annoyance still twisting his face.
“Jon’s not here,” she repeated to Watt. Her eyes went to the map, to the other red circle. Watt’s cabin. “But I’ll find the place.”
The line went dead.
Legs trembling, Jaya sank into her chair. Jon touched her shoulder then cheek. “You did good, J.”
The strain in his voice said otherwise.
“I’ll get my coat.” The bag with the cross sat next to her phone and she picked it up and forced her knees to lock as she stood. “Let’s get this over with.”
His hand went back to her shoulder. “You’re not going.”
“You heard Watt,” she argued. “I come alone and bring the cross.” She motioned at the group. “Even if you guys are doing your ninja routine in the trees, it has to be me.”
Jon shook his head. “The cross is staying too.”
The other men were already suiting up, checking their weapons, and pretending not to eavesdrop. Parker and Charlotte had no qualms about listening in, however. “Watt won’t take the chance of dragging Finn from my dad’s place to his,” Jon said, dragging a finger on the map from one red circle to the other. “That’s nearly a mile out in the woods, exposed. That means he’s either already got Finn there and that’s where he planned the meeting all along, or Finn’s at my dad’s place and Watt has no intention of hauling him through the snowy woods. We can work with that. Half the team will go to my dad’s with me, the other half to Watt’s cabin. We’ll get Finn back and take down Watt.”
“Meanwhile, I sit on my butt and do nothing?”
“Charlotte and Parker will stay here with you. Ruby’s on her way. I’ll stay in constant contact with you, I promise.”
In other words, yes. “Why can’t I go?” the words were barely more than a whisper.
His fingers lightly touched her abdomen. “I can’t risk it. You and the baby. I’ve done my best, Jaya, through this whole thing to respect your wishes and let you go along, but this time? I’m asking you to respect mine. You’re staying here.”
Resolution made his face fierce. A warrior.
My warrior.
A strand of his jet-black hair had come loose from its entrapment at the back of his skull. She reached up and touched it. “I’ll keep our baby safe, I promise.”
He grabbed her hand and kissed her palm. “I’ll hold you to it, Wind Catcher.”
Within minutes, he and the others were gone, disappearing into the woods like smoke. Half the team, led by Jon, headed for Jeremiah Wolfe’s underground bunker, the other, led by Trace, to Watt’s cabin. Percy and Nyx went with them. Charlotte babysat the communication center that all of their comms were linked to, and Parker checked the doors and windows, making sure everything was locked tight once they left. Satisfied, she headed to the kitchen to make more coffee.
Jaya paced, the bag with the cross hanging from her wrist by its strap. The coffee smelled good but her stomach was a pit of sludge. She touched the wooden logs of the walls, stared at the map. How long would it take each team to reach their destination? Would both Finn and Jon make it back?
Parker returned to the main room with three fresh mugs of steaming coffee in hand. “I know Savanna wants all of us to put our hair up on Saturday, but I’d rather wear mine down.”
Charlotte looked up from the portable receiver and accepted one of the mugs. “What do the dresses look like? Bare shoulder?”
Parker pulled out her phone and showed Charlotte photos. “Strapless and classic. I think soft curls maybe for the bridesmaids and Savanna can have a fancy up-do if she wants. What do you think, Jaya?”
Seriously? She wanted to talk about her sister’s wedding?
Jaya’s gaze swung to Parker’s, impatience clawing at her. “I don’t—”
And then she saw it—the clever spy at work. Parker was doing her damnedest to take Jaya’s mind off the situation and Charlotte was her partner in crime.
They’d done so much for her, treating her like a friend. Her impatience evaporated as quickly as it had
risen. “Let me see.”
The dress Parker was going to wear was, indeed, a classic silhouette, but with a beaded belt at the waist and demure crystals on the bodice. The back revealed a low cut with crystal buttons. “A braid would be lovely,” Jaya said, “and we could insert a few crystal studded bobby pins to bring the eye up from the buttons and compliment them.”
Charlotte and Parker exchanged a look. Charlotte hugged her coffee mug with her good hand. “She’s spot on. That would be perfect.”
“For Savanna’s, I can braid several sections and weave them into an up-do with a few crystals to match as well.”
Something caught Charlotte’s eye and she looked over at the security cam. “Ruby’s here.”
On screen, a curvy gal with dark hair and a penchant for leather hustled toward the cabin from the woods on the north side. Parker went to the door, Jaya following. There, Parker unbolted it and let Ruby in.
Ruby’s lips were dark red, her eyes making contact with Jaya’s before swinging back to Parker. “You’ve got company arriving any minute.”
“Company?” Jaya asked.
Ruby raised her hand and that’s when Jaya saw the compact handgun she held. “Hey, I’m Ruby. Nice to meet you.” She went back to Parker. “Six men, all with hunting rifles, coming down the road on foot.”
“Shit,” Parker swore under her breath, closing the door and throwing the deadbolt once more.
Charlotte appeared from the back. “Who the bloody hell are they?”
“Survivalists,” Parker answered. “Has to be. There are several dozen in this area from what Jon said.”
Ruby went to the window and peered out from behind the lacy curtain. “They look like they mean business. I suggest we disappear into the woods.”
“We can’t just leave,” Jaya said as Parker pushed her down the hall toward the meeting room. “Jon and the others might need us.”
Back at the table, Charlotte shut down the receiver and handed each of them an earbud and comm unit. “We’ll have to keep in touch this way.”
Parker tucked a bud into her ear. Jaya did the same.
But Parker shook her head. “We need to stay put if at all possible. Taking Jaya out of here is as risky as confronting the men outside. Ruby and I will find out what they want. Charlotte, you and Jaya be ready to run if necessary, okay?”
Charlotte grabbed Jaya’s arm and steered her toward the kitchen, where the back door was. “Roger that. Be careful.”
They heard someone pound on the front.
“Never known a situation I couldn’t talk my way out of,” Ruby said, “except for that damn terrorist Jax saved me from.”
The pounding continued. “Hey, you in there!” a man’s muffled shout reached them. “Get on out here. We want to talk to you.”
Jaya made a mental note to ask Ruby about that story someday. Surely a handful of survivalists were nothing compared to a terrorist.
Right?
As Parker and Ruby headed to the front once more, Jaya heard Parker giving Jon and the others a heads-up. “Nickleback, Coldplay, be advised, we have incoming. Six armed hostiles. Will do our best to handle them and keep you updated. Over.”
Jon’s voice came back, low and quiet so Jaya strained to hear. “Roger that. Sending help your way. Over.”
“Roger.”
Charlotte killed the lights and handed Jaya her coat. “Are you armed?” she whispered.
“Not outside of this.” Jaya held up the cross.
In her earbud, she heard Parker answer the door. “Well, hello boys. Can we help you?”
Charlotte ransacked a drawer and handed Jaya a long, wide knife. Something you might use to cut heavy slices of meat.
Okay then. Jaya tried to tuck it in a coat pocket as Parker and Ruby continued to talk to the men out front. The knife didn’t fit in any of her pockets.
Slipping the cross into her coat instead, she held the knife pointed down next to her leg.
Commotion erupted out front, men yelling, Ruby and Parker trying to yell over them. Charlotte pulled Jaya toward the back door and held a finger to her lips, listening carefully.
In the span of a heartbeat, Jaya heard a loud boom, then the sound of breaking glass. Flinching, she started to take a step back when Charlotte fell forward, doing a bellyflop on the floor and whacking her head.
“Charlotte!”
Jaya lunged for her. A shadow fell over the floor beside her. She whipped her head around and her blood went cold at the sight of a man filling the doorframe. In his hands was a bat.
The crashing glass had been from the back door’s window. Through the broken window, he’d nailed Charlotte in the back of the head.
“You must be Jaya,” he drawled as he reached through the opening and unlocked the door.
And damn it all to hell. She recognized that voice.
Shielding Charlotte as best she could, Jaya struggled to make her throat swallow the bile coming up from her tender stomach. “This wasn’t the deal,” she managed to get out.
Justin—Dalton—smiled. “The deal just changed.”
He raised the bat and swung.
18
She was gone.
Jon’s stomach wouldn’t unclench, his fist beating against the bark of an oak tree, brittle pieces breaking off and falling to the snowy ground.
The six men who’d attacked Parker and Ruby were all incapacitated, most tied to nearby trees. Nothing more than troublemakers that Watt had managed to stir up and create a diversion while he kidnapped Jaya.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Jon had known the people in this area were suspicious of everything and everyone. They could be dangerous. They took their privacy and security to new heights of paranoia. He’d been so intent on saving Finn, he’d put Jaya and the women who’d stayed to safeguard her at risk from the survivalists.
“It’s not your fault.” Ruby approached him. “It’s mine. I knew as soon as I saw them, they were going to give us a headache. I should have insisted we hide Jaya in the woods rather than engaging them.”
Parker joined the party, Moe right behind her as she came down the back steps. Her boots crunched on some broken glass. The door hung on one hinge. “It’s my fault. I was in charge.”
“No,” Jon said, peeling a piece of bark off the tree and tearing it in half. Nyx circled around him. Time was slipping by fast and he needed to start tracking.
He scanned the direction Watt had taken from the door, down the steps, into the woods. “This is on me. I should have left Moe and Percy to back you up. I wasn’t expecting trouble from the locals.”
Jon started for the edge of the woods, his focus on the frozen ground. Nyx trotted alongside him.
Moe checked his weapon, following as well. “The precautions we took to stay invisible would have worked if it hadn’t been for Watt. He obviously still has friends in these parts.”
The scent of pine teased Jon’s nose. He’d always loved these woods until Isaiah had gone missing. They’d been a safe place for him to explore and get lost in when his parents were fighting. “I should have anticipated this scenario.”
“Bullshit.” Colton sat on a tree stump, rifle across his lap, eyeing one of the men who’d created the disturbance, now unconscious thanks to Ruby. “They’re all accessories now.”
Miles voice came from behind Jon. “Ready?”
Jon turned to find the man at the top of the stairs, face grim.
“You stay with Charlotte,” Jon told him. “I’ll take Trace.”
Colton popped up from the stump. “I’m going too.”
Rage and Percy were at Watt’s cabin in case he showed up there. Clash was keeping an eye on Jon’s dad’s cabin on the off chance the man went to ground there. They’d gone through both locations and no trace of Finn or Watt had been present.
Where else would he go? Think!
Charlotte emerged, holding a damp rag to the back of her head with her good hand. She seemed okay except for the swelling kno
t and residual pain. Jon wanted Miles to take her into the nearest town and have a doctor look at her but she’d refused. Stubborn woman.
Miles kissed her cheek and clomped down the steps. “I want this bastard.”
Get in line.
“No drag marks.” Jon pointed to the area in front of him, leading into the woods. Trace came around the corner of the house. “He carried her.”
“Probably knocked her out like he did me,” Charlotte said.
“She’s right.” Ruby tracked the line with her eyes from the back porch to the woods. “Heavy to carry an adult far in these woods, but a struggling 120-pound woman is pretty hard to disappear with. There was a lot of commotion out front, but I never heard a shout for help or a scream.”
Meaning, Jaya hadn’t been able to.
In his mind’s eye, Jon saw Watt swinging the bat like he had at Charlotte, this time at Jaya’s head. His nerves went hard as steel, his fists clenched.
The baby.
God, if either of them were hurt, he would…
A skeletal branch a few feet ahead caught his eye. Nyx was sniffing at the ground under it. He reached out and touched the broken tip. “This way.”
His band of merry trackers followed.
Wandering in these woods was a fool’s quest. He needed a plan. A way for them to figure out where Watt had gone and how to sneak up on him.
Jon prayed he didn’t find Jaya’s body dumped along the trail. She’d had the cross on her, Charlotte had told him. If Watt found it, he didn’t need Jaya or Finn anymore.
A boot print, pressed into a pile of wet leaves, was his next marker, but the direction in front of them was blocked by a fallen ash tree. Jon stopped. It must have been hundreds of years old, its massive trunk impossible to see over, much less lug an unconscious woman over.
Jon looked left then right. Which way had he taken her?
A trickle of recognition. His sense of direction nudged him. The memory of a trail flashed across his brain.
