by Paige Tyler
“It’s a strawberry,” Danica said matter-of-factly.
“It is?”
He looked at it more closely. Sure enough, there were those little seeds that were always on strawberries.
“Yeah, a strawberry.” She frowned. “What did you think it was?”
He didn’t answer. Danica would think it was gross. “Never mind,” he grimaced. “Figuring out what it means is more important.”
Clayne followed the trail, but it led back to the driveway where McDermott had most likely tossed Beth in his car.
The decision not to tell Carhart or anyone else about the clue wasn’t difficult. It wasn’t an option, not if they wanted to get Beth back alive.
Clayne made a show of looking around some more for a few minutes so no one would realize they’d found anything, but Carhart intercepted them before they could make it back out the front door.
“Did you find something?”
Clayne shook his head. “No. I’m going to get an assist from Homeland on this one. Maybe our intel people will have something to point us in the right direction.”
Carhart’s mouth tightened, but he nodded. “Okay. We’ll let you know if we find something here. And I want you to do the same. I don’t want you going after this guy on your own again. Got it?”
“Yes, sir,” Danica said.
Clayne thought that’d be enough to satisfy the fed, but instead he pulled Danica to the side to talk to her in private. He probably thought they were too far away from Clayne to overhear. They weren’t.
“I know you want to help Moretti, but don’t forget who you work for,” Carhart told Danica. “If you learn anything, call me ASAP. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir. Very clear.”
Clayne and Danica made it as far as the car before Tony caught up with them. He glanced at her, then back at Clayne.
“Can I talk to you privately?” he asked.
Clayne looked at Danica. She nodded and got in the car, leaving him alone with Tony. He had a feeling he knew what the FBI agent wanted to talk to him about.
“I know that you of all people understand what it means to have a woman mean more to you than your own life. If anything happens to Beth…” Tony’s voice broke. He threw a quick glance at the house. “Carhart wants me to sit this out.”
No surprise there. “Maybe that’s a good idea.”
“Like hell it is,” Tony muttered. “I know they’re going to do everything they can to get Beth back safely, but you and I know the FBI doesn’t have a prayer of finding that asshole McDermott. I’m going with you and Danica.”
Clayne’s gut told him to say no. Tell Tony he’d get in the way, slow him and Danica down. But he couldn’t do it. If he was in Tony’s place and a psycho serial killer kidnapped Danica, no army in the world would be able to stop him from going after her.
He jerked his head toward the backseat. “Get in.”
Clayne glanced at his watch as he got behind the wheel. Eight o’clock. They had four hours to find Beth.
Chapter 10
“You found something at the house, didn’t you?” Tony asked.
Danica looked at Clayne. When he nodded, she handed the bloody piece of fabric back to her partner—ex-partner, she supposed. Regardless of what happened between her and Clayne, something told her neither she nor Tony would be employed by the FBI after tonight.
“Oh God, what the hell is this?” Tony moaned.
She cursed herself for not telling him what was inside the little pouch before handing it to him. “Calm down. It’s only a pinecone and a strawberry.” She reached around to take them from Tony’s trembling hand before he dropped them. “These are the clues McDermott was talking about.”
“Is that…blood on them?”
“Yeah,” Clayne said. “But not much.”
That wasn’t true. There was quite a lot of blood. But Tony didn’t need to know that.
“What do the clues mean?” Tony asked as Clayne merged onto the interstate and headed east.
“We don’t know yet,” Danica admitted.
“Then why the hell aren’t we on our way to the field office to talk to the profilers so they can figure it out?”
Clayne snorted. “Because they did such a bang-up job of it last time, right?”
“Clayne, stop it,” Danica said.
He glanced at Tony in the rearview mirror. “Back at the house you told me the FBI didn’t stand a chance of finding McDermott. What’s changed since then?”
Tony didn’t answer.
Danica turned in her seat as she dialed the DCO’s number. Her partner’s face was pale in the passing streetlights, his eyes haunted with fear. “We have other resources that can help us. Resources that are a lot better at this stuff than the FBI.”
“You mean the Department of Homeland Security?” He gave her an incredulous look. “What the hell do they know about serial killers, strawberries, and pinecones?”
Danica saw Clayne give her a warning look. She ignored it. She needed to calm Tony down before he lost it. “They know more than the FBI. I’m calling them now, but I need it to be quiet, okay?”
Crap, she sounded like she was talking to a two-year-old.
Tony must have thought so, too. “Why?”
“Because I’m trying to save your wife, dammit,” she snapped. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I know you’re just afraid for Beth. I’m worried about her, too. She’s my best friend. I wouldn’t do anything that’d jeopardize her life.”
Tony was silent for a long time. Finally, he nodded. “I know that. So, okay. We’ll do it your way. But I’m trusting you with Beth’s life, Danica.”
“I know,” she said softly. “And we’ll find her.”
Turning around in her seat, she waited for someone at the DCO to pick up. She glanced at her watch and did a quick conversion. Crap, it was the middle of the night there. They really didn’t have time to drag everyone out of bed. She prayed there was someone manning the phones besides the normal on-duty staffer.
It was Kendra, thank God. “Danica, hey. I’m putting you on speaker so John can hear. What do you have?”
Danica thumbed the speakerphone button so Clayne could hear. “McDermott grabbed another victim and plans to start the hunt at midnight.”
“Did he give you any clues?” John asked.
“He left us a bloody piece of the victim’s clothing with a strawberry and a pinecone in it.”
“Gross,” Kendra said. “But we can work with that. Give us any other details you can think of. What kind of fabric was it?”
Danica held it up to get a better look. “Cotton. Pink cotton.”
“What about the victim’s name?”
“Beth Moretti.”
“Your partner’s wife?” John asked. “Why the hell did this whack job change his MO like this?”
“He thinks we cheated playing his game,” Clayne answered. “He said we weren’t supposed to figure out who he is. We were supposed to be happy trying to stop him from killing on the hunt. This is his way of upping the ante and showing us he’s in charge, I guess.”
John swore under his breath. “You need to end this. Sooner rather than later.”
“I intend to,” Clayne told him.
“Good. The cleanup team is already in Sacramento. You give the word and they’ll be there.”
“What the hell is a cleanup team?” Tony asked.
Danica snapped her head around to fix him with a glare.
“Who was that?” John demanded. “Is there someone else with you?”
Danica gave Tony her best shut-the-hell-up look as she answered. “Clayne was fiddling with the radio. I turned it off.”
“I think I have something,” Kendra said a few moments later. “There’s a small town in the Stanislaus National Forest called Strawberry with a mountain nearby called Pinecrest Peak about three and a half hours southeast of you. Based on what you gave us, combined with the killer’s previous MO, my best guess is that he’s go
ing to hunt Beth Moretti there.”
Danica looked at Clayne and he looked back at her, a line of doubt clear on his brow.
“This isn’t the time for guessing, Kendra,” Clayne said.
“The analysts said that the probability of this being the—”
“I don’t care what the analysts say,” he told her. “I care what you say. Are we going to the right place? Because Beth is going to die if you’re wrong.”
There was silence on the other end of the phone, then, “It’s the place. I’m sure of it.”
“Give me the GPS coordinates,” Danica said.
Kendra gave her the coordinates, telling her there were several small country roads—and a few trails—that would get them close to the peak.
“But none of them will get you all the way there,” she added. “You’re going to have to go the rest of the way on foot.”
“Get the weather patterns for the area and bring us in from the downwind side of the peak,” Clayne told her.
“Already did,” Kendra said. “I’m sending the directions to your phone now. But there’s a lot of real estate in that area. How are you going to find Moretti’s wife in time?”
“I’ll find her,” Clayne assured her, though Danica wasn’t sure if he said it for Kendra and John’s benefit, or for Tony’s.
Danica hung up, then fed the coordinates into her GPS.
“You’re not really from the Department of Homeland Security, are you, Clayne?” Tony asked.
* * *
As they drove deeper into the mountains outside the small town of Strawberry, Clayne could sense Tony’s anxiety increasing by the mile. He had to be thinking there was no way they’d find his wife in this pitch-black wilderness. It probably didn’t help that Clayne had never answered his question. But anything he told the fed would have generated even more questions that Clayne couldn’t answer.
“The road should end just up ahead,” Danica said as she checked the map on her phone.
It didn’t exactly end, but instead turned into a dirt path leading into the forest. Clayne stopped the car and turned off the ignition, then got out. Danica and Tony got out and came around to stand beside him. Clayne stared into the pitch-black trees. Somewhere in the darkness, critters scurried along the forest floor in harmony with the ticking sound of the car’s cooling engine, but he doubted anyone but him could hear them.
He closed his eyes and let his other senses take over. He picked up the scents of all the people who’d passed this way recently but couldn’t smell Beth or McDermott. He roamed farther, picking up various odors carried on the breeze, listening for the chatter small animals made when something bigger came into their territory. Like a woman running for her life—or the crazy-ass shifter chasing her.
“What the hell have I done?”
Clayne looked over his shoulder to see Tony pacing back and forth in front of the car.
“I put my wife’s life in your hands!” He jabbed a finger at the dark, unforgiving forest. “How the hell are we going to find them in that? There are thousands of acres out there. And we don’t have a clue where to start, if we’re even in the right place to begin with.” His voice ended on a cry of desperation, tears welling in his eyes. “Beth’s going to die, isn’t she?”
“No, she isn’t.” Danica walked over to take both of Tony’s hands in hers. “Clayne will find her in time. I swear it. And if you don’t trust him, trust me.” She turned to Clayne. “Go. We’ll be right behind you.
The total commitment of the words was overpowering. With Danica by his side, there was nothing in the world Clayne couldn’t face.
He shifted, letting the wolf inside take over. Hunting would be easier this way because his senses would be so much more alive.
He heard a gasp but ignored it. What Tony saw—or thought he saw—didn’t matter now.
Clayne turned and entered the forest. With his built-in night vision, the darkness seemed almost inviting. He took off, letting the beast take over and guide him. He knew shifters like Ivy and Declan were afraid to lose themselves in their animal side like this because they were worried it would somehow diminish their control at the wrong time. But Clayne never had that problem. Probably because his wolf side handled situations the same way his human side did—violently.
As he raced deeper into the forest, he ignored the natural trails and man-made pathways, letting his nose and instincts tell him what line to follow. He went up steep inclines, jumped gullies and streams, leaping downed trees in his way. He wasn’t necessarily following a scent yet, but he knew he was going the right way.
Danica and Tony would be forced to move slower up the mountain. They were falling farther back even now. He knew because he could sense where she was as easily as if she had a GPS tracker on her. If she ran into trouble, he could be at her side in moments.
On the flip side, Danica followed in a near straight line behind him, as if she was could see him ahead of her, which was impossible. Not only was he moving twice as fast as she was, but it was too dark for her to see anything. But something told him that if he stopped, she’d catch up to him.
That knowledge was comforting and he gave himself over to the chase, letting the wolf guide him.
He felt more than heard the sound of running feet. One set was unsure as if the person didn’t know the terrain, while the other was quicker, surer.
He turned and headed in their direction. As he moved around the ridgeline into the oncoming breeze, the scents hit him all at once. First Beth’s, followed by McDermott’s. They were close by.
Clayne growled softly. According to his watch, it wasn’t yet midnight and the hunt was already on. Who was cheating now?
But Beth had a lead on McDermott, and the cat shifter didn’t seem to be closing on her as quickly as he could have. He was playing with her, letting her think she might just get away.
Beth was headed downhill, probably instinctively knowing she could run faster that way. She wasn’t screwing around, trying to swerve or hide, either. She was hauling ass straight down the mountain—straight at Clayne. And since Clayne was coming from downwind, the cat shifter was going to be in for one hell of a surprise.
* * *
“How the hell does Clayne even know where he’s going?” Tony asked as he pulled himself to his feet. He’d taken a header over a fallen tree—again.
Danica threw him a look over her shoulder. “He just knows. This is what he’s trained to do.”
“Then how do you know where he’s going?”
Danica didn’t have a good answer for that. She couldn’t see Clayne in the dark, and his quiet footsteps had been swallowed up by the trees before she’d even lost sight of him. But she knew he was out there, directly in front of her. She couldn’t say how far away he was. He wasn’t near and he wasn’t far. He was somewhere…in between.
“I can’t tell how I know where he’s going,” she finally said. “I just know.”
Tony muttered something under his breath she couldn’t hear. But he didn’t stop, and he didn’t fall over any more trees. Danica put on more speed, forcing Tony to push hard to keep up. She started up a small hill, but then stopped. Clayne had turned and was now heading left.
Freaky feeling, knowing that, but she wasn’t going to argue just now.
“What did I see back there?” Tony asked so quietly she could barely hear him. “Right before Clayne took off?”
Danica was the one who almost stumbled that time. Why the hell hadn’t Clayne waited until he was out of sight before going all shifter? Because he didn’t give a crap about stuff like that when someone was in danger. Or when someone needed their ass kicked. Or whenever the situation required action before thought. It was one of the reasons the DCO had teamed her up with him in the first place. They’d wanted her to control his natural response in those situations.
She climbed over the trunk of a pine that must have been two feet in diameter before answering, “I don’t know, Tony. What do you think you saw?”
When he didn’t answer right away, she thought he might drop it. She should have known better.
“His eyes looked like they went yellow and his face…changed.”
She opened her mouth to answer, then closed it again. That little funny sense she’d been following told her they were getting closer to Clayne. Much closer. He’d slowed down—or stopped. He was just up ahead.
Danica stopped and turned to look at Tony. She couldn’t see much in the dark. “We’re catching up to Clayne, so we don’t have time to talk about what you saw right now. All you need to know is that he’s going to get Beth back for you safe and sound. That’s the only thing you need to care about.”
Tony swallowed hard, then nodded. “Okay.”
She turned back around and pulled her Glock. Behind her, she heard Tony do the same.
Up ahead, she heard someone crashing through the trees. It was faint, but getting louder with every passing second. She started forward, moving as quietly as she could. Tony did his best to imitate her.
If she didn’t know better, she’d swear she had a radar detector in her head, one that blinked faster the closer she got to Clayne. He couldn’t be more than a hundred feet away.
Just then, a howl so familiar that it couldn’t belong to anyone but the man she loved split the night air, and her feet almost faltered. There was an answering yowl and a thud, as if two huge bodies had slammed into each other. That was quickly followed by growling, crashing, and a woman’s scream that sounded like it came straight out of a horror movie.
Danica ignored the fight or flight instinct telling her to run the other way and hurried in Clayne’s direction.
* * *
The cat shifter was closing in on Beth, his hooked claws extended and swiping toward her back, a feral grin on his bearded face, when Clayne burst out of the trees. He didn’t know who was more shocked—Beth or McDermott. He put his money on Tony’s wife. She’d been so focused on running away from her kidnapper that she didn’t even see Clayne until he was practically on top of her. She tried to stop but slipped and fell. On the up side, she avoided the killer’s razor-sharp claws. On the down side, it put her in what could be an even more dangerous position—in between two shifters intent on killing each other.
