by Violet Duke
“Can you track both cars by traffic cam footage?”
“Already on it. Sonny looked like he went straight to that motel you found Lara at. The other black sedan headed north on the 101. I’d say they have roughly a three-hour lead on you.”
“My gut’s telling me to follow the sedan. Have Grayson keep on Sonny. Can you stay on the black sedan and get me as close as possible to its current location?”
Drew grunted like it was an insult he’d even asked. “Already hacked your phone and synced it up with my satellite app so your Bluetooth will now work as a com link. I’m going to focus on tracking the sedan, but you’ll get updated coordinates guiding you. Just be sure to keep your phone charged.”
An hour later, Caine had covered the distance between him and the black sedan in half the time thanks to his police sirens. But it still wasn’t fast enough. With nightfall just hours away, if he didn’t catch up to the sedan’s real time location soon, there was a good chance he’d lose them.
As if on cue, Drew swore over the com line. “Shit, I can’t find him anywhere. The last street cam sighting was in Pinnacle Peak, but then he vanished off the main roads after that. I’ve been looking for the last ten minutes, but haven’t found a single vehicle matching his. The only logical reason is that he headed toward the mountains. I can’t track him up there. And worst of all, there are a hundred different routes he could take out.” The sound of loaded f-bombs and fists connecting with some expensive equipment filed the air waves. “This is all my fault, Caine. I took too damn long to find him.”
“Hey, stop that.” Caine used his big bad big brother voice to make sure his point got across. “Dude, you are the only reason I’m this close to finding her. Without you, I’d have nothing to go on. Without you, I wouldn’t have any hope at all right now. You got that?”
Drew made a non-committal sound, which Caine fully expected. The kid just put too much of the world’s weight on his shoulders; always beating himself up for things well beyond his control. “Drew, I’m serious, this isn’t your fault.”
“It’s not your fault either, you know,” replied Drew finally.
Geez, what the hell were they teaching the kid in college? Invasive psychic tactics 101?
“You’ve been muttering to yourself for the last hour while you were driving.”
Huh, no kidding? “What was I saying?”
“A lot of crap that just isn’t true,” chimed in Gabe, breaking into their conversation over the com line. “You know as well as we all do that David would’ve eventually found Addison, whether you stayed away from her or not.”
No, he didn’t know that. “But if I hadn’t pulled her over that day, if I’d just left well enough alone afterward, maybe she’d still be—”
“Miserable,” finished Gabe matter-of-factly. “She’d be as miserable without you as you’ve been without her. You and Addison belong in each other’s lives. Don’t let this asshole take that away from you.”
“If he hurts her in any way—”
“He won’t.”
“If I lose her again—”
“You won’t.”
While he knew Gabe’s assurances had absolutely no foundation, they still managed to calm him down.
“By the way,” added Gabe, “If you look in your rearview mirror, you should see me right on your tail. When—not if, but when—you find Addison, no worries bro, I’ve got your back.”
Caine peered into the mirror and found one of Gabe’s drones hovering behind him.
He had no clue how the drone related to the rest of Gabe’s cryptic statement, however. But before he got a chance to ask him about it, Drew’s weary voice broke in again over the coms.
“Caine, I think I found them.”
Caine felt like he was taking his first breath of oxygen in hours. “How?”
“I just hacked all the rental info in the area like you had me do in Phoenix. Luckily, there aren’t all that many cabins and homes out there so it wasn’t hard to find one that’d been booked as a vacation rental a week ago. The alias is a fake and the payment was wired from a temp account. Won’t have full verification for a little bit, but all the evidence so far adds up.”
“You’re a freaking genius. Can you send me the coordinates?”
“Already uploaded.”
Caine quickly re-routed and turned his sirens off.
Just fifteen miles away.
When he got within a hundred yards of the coordinates, he surveyed the area surrounding the cabin. It was a friggin’ tactical nightmare. His best bet was to go the rest of the way by foot. “I’m going dark, guys. Don’t want to risk spooking David.”
“Wait.” Drew clacked away on his keyboard as he quickly exchanged a few words with someone on his other line. “Alec needs to talk to you first. Sounds important. Hang on a sec; I’m patching him through.”
A loud crackle echoed through his Bluetooth. The connection was fuzzy at best, and noisy as hell. “Caine, can you hear me, man?”
“Barely. You okay? Where are you? Addison said you left in a hurry.”
Static sputtered over the phone line, but Caine was pretty sure he heard Alec say Mexico.
“What’re you doing in Mexico?”
His voice came through stronger for a bit. “Had a hunch…turned out I was right.”
“Alec, look, can we talk later? Drew can fill you in, but he thinks he found the cabin David’s holding Addison in.” Caine hid his car at fifty yards out and started gearing up.
More static.
Not that it mattered. He was nearly checked out of the conversation completely at that point. Positioning himself behind a large boulder behind the cabin’s blindside, he used his tactical scope to survey the interior. There was definite movement.
Alec crackled in again sounding like he was all but shouting something.
“What? Say again. Your connection is really bad, man. I can’t hear you.”
“It’s not David,” barked Alec, his voice finally coming through clearly again. “David’s here in Rocky Point. I just apprehended him. David’s not the one who has Addison. It’s—”
“Georgia.” Dumbfounded, Caine stared into his scope and saw her clear as day inside the cabin, keeping a gun trained on someone out of his line of sight.
Caine felt the betrayal deep in his bones.
All this time.
“Georgia’s been the one helping David stay a step ahead of you,” confirmed Alec. “He’s been paying her a shit ton in exchange. She’s the one who delivered those notes to you every year. And she’s the one who’s holding Addison for him right now.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Addison eyed the gun-toting woman she’d never once suspected as being in cahoots with David, and tried to get a better measure of her current situation.
So far, things weren’t looking so good.
For one, the blow to the back of her head—courtesy of Georgia’s gun—had knocked her out for the entire ride over here so she had no clue where she was.
And more importantly, if Georgia’s irate phone messages to David were any indication, the woman was certifiable.
Who screamed and left threatening voicemails on a psycho’s answering machine?
A bigger psycho.
Maybe if she got her talking…
“How could you do it, Georgia? Caine treated you like a sister. How could you throw away years of friendship for some quick cash?”
A demented, twisted smile freeze-dried across Georgia’s lips for a long moment as she stood there, fists squeezed, limbs shaking in fury. Until a violent sneer slashed across her face.
Oookay, so maybe this wasn’t the best idea…
“That asshole was never my friend!” Georgia snarled. “Did he ever tell you why Internal Affairs started investigating my husband to begin with?”
Uh oh.
“That’s right, it was Caine. Instead of talking to Rick first and giving him a chance to explain or make it right, he just threw him unde
r the bus without a second thought.”
“But Caine was just doing his job, reporting a dirty cop.”
“Rick had his reasons for doing the things he did!” she screeched. “But Caine didn’t care. He just hung him out to dry. Even helped the department dig up more dirt on him. Enough to make Rick a liability to bad folks who would’ve hurt me or the kids as punishment. That’s why Rick killed himself. To protect us. That’s all on Caine. He stole the love of my life from me, stole my kids’ father from them. And he deserves to suffer for that.”
Addison couldn’t begin to imagine what Georgia had gone through. A part of her even sympathized with the woman. “I’m sorry you lost your husband.”
That seemed to throw Georgia for a loop. But only for a second. The ugly rage returned an instant later. “You’re not nearly as sorry as you’re going to be. I realize you’re just an innocent bystander, but so was I, so were my kids. When David finally gets his ass over here to cart you back off to Mexico to do whatever sicko fantasies he’s been planning all this time, Caine is finally going to know what I went through, what I continue to go through every day. And your siblings are going to feel the pain my kids went through when they lost their father.”
Okay, not feeling so sympathetic anymore. Back to the original plan. “So were the annual notes to Caine your idea or David’s?”
Georgia was back to the twisted, cracked smiles. “Those notes were all me. I mean the money David was paying me was good and all, but it didn’t make up for my having to put up with Caine all these years. Like I said, the man deserved to suffer.” She grinned as if remembering a fond memory. “Actually, the notes had been the extant of my plans in the beginning. The day David skipped town, I’d planted the first note just to torture Caine, not thinking it’d bloom into all this.” She waved her gun in the air. “He just made it so darned easy. Letting me and the kids hang out in his apartment while my house was being ‘fumigated,’ thinking that silly lock on his bedroom door was enough to keep me out of his files. From there, I just had to find David first and strike a deal. You coming back into town was just gravy. An even half-million to deliver you to David, and a lifetime of pain for Caine. Win-win.”
“Caine’s going to figure it out.”
“Haven’t you been paying attention? He’s an idiot. Who the hell trusts the widow of a guy he all but murdered?”
Clearly, there was no reasoning with the delusional woman. “Who the hell trusts an insane stalker who likes to drug and rape women?” she shot right back.
Georgia’s glare filled with hate. And then turned mean. Slowly, her scowl warped into a sick, sadistic smile. “Do you know why you aren’t pumped full of drugs yet? It’s because David wants you to be totally coherent when he’s raping you for the first time. He’s been making all these fancy drugs to use on you to punish you. He doesn’t just want to wipe Caine from your mind, he wants to torture every good thought you have of Caine out of your memories.”
She shrugged then. “So yeah, maybe it’s a little risky to trust David, but what’s a little risk when the reward is that good? I’ve been waiting seven long years for this. I’m going to get to watch Caine agonize over what David could be doing to you, and torment himself over it being all his fault. And the best part is that none of this is ever going to get traced back to me.”
“Think again.” growled a rough, menacing voice from across the room.
“It’s over, Georgia. Let her go.” Caine stepped into the room with them and watched for some opening, however miniscule, to take his shot.
It never came.
Georgia kept her gun on Addison without once flinching, without even bothering to turn in his direction. “Way to take my fun away.” She narrowed a calculating gaze on Addison, while continuing to direct her words at him. “But all isn’t lost, I suppose. David just said I couldn’t kill her. Shooting her right in front of you would be loads of entertainment, too.”
She cocked her gun. “Where should I shoot first, Caine? How about one in each of her pretty legs?” Her voice turned eerily calm, almost clinical, as she threw out another sick suggestion. “Or maybe I don’t shoot her at all. What if I just take a bat to her womb instead?”
He flinched.
She chuckled. “Looks like we have a winner. How many hits do you think it’ll take for me to make her sterile—”
“Shoot her, Caine,” shouted Addison, cutting her off. “She’s a complete psychopath. Just shoot her—”
Suddenly, Addison screamed and dropped to the floor.
Caine felt his heart seize when he saw her clawing at her neck, muscles jolted tight like she was being tasered.
“Oh, did I forget to mention that the electric shock dog collar around your neck doesn’t just activate when you breach the perimeter of the cabin, but also when I push this little remote as well?” Georgia gave them both a saccharine smile. “I can practically fry your vocal chords if I feel so inclined. True, David might shave a little off my pay for doing that, but I think it might be worth it just to get you to shut up.”
Caine was sorely tempted to tell her David wouldn’t be paying her a dime. But right now, her thinking that David was still coming was the one and only thing keeping Addison alive.
“Georgia, you said you want revenge. So why don’t you just shoot me?” Just spare her.
“No!” cried out Addison, getting back up on her feet. “Caine, just take your shot.” She took a step toward Georgia.
Georgia faltered and looked at Addison like she was the crazy one. “What the hell are you doing? You think I won’t shoot you?!”
“Oh, I know you’ll shoot me; you’re a total whack job. But at least I’ll have the satisfaction of knowing Caine will shoot you too. If you shoot me, you’re dead. So what are you waiting for? You miss your husband so much, this is your way to go join him.”
Addison, stop it.
She, of course, didn’t heed his silent demand.
As Addison took another step toward her, Georgia swung her eyes over at Caine. But her gun never wavered. Dammit.
He kept his expression neutral, his voice cold. “Addison’s right. If you shoot her, I’ll kill you. So choose your bullet wisely.”
Choose me. If he thought it’d sway her, he would’ve said that plea out loud.
“Nice try, you two.” Georgia flicked the button on her remote again and sent Addison to her knees once more before walking calmly over to her. “See, Addison. Didn’t I tell you he was an idiot? Even more so where you’re concerned. He won’t risk a single hair on your pretty little head.” She yanked her back up to her feet and turned her into a human shield, repositioning her gun at Addison’s temple while turning to fully face him for the first time.
Caine hardly recognized her. How had she masked all that hatred all these years?
“Now I get to shoot her point blank and watch you watch her die—”
The sudden sound of a nearby chopper and dozens of men mobilizing outside cut her off, and sent panic shrieking across her face.
Looking her dead in the eye, he said evenly, “That would be the cavalry. You know the drill, Georgia. They’ll shoot to kill. If you want to make it out of this alive, just drop your weapon and let Addison go.”
That’s when Georgia played her final trump card. “You won’t shoot me. You wouldn’t leave Kevin and Millie without a mother.”
Even though he knew what she was doing, he still couldn’t stop their innocent faces from flashing before his eyes.
Georgia pulled the trigger.
Addison screamed. Just as a bullet went blasting through his thigh, the explosion of pain nearly slaughtering him. But he shifted all his weight to his other leg and stood his ground. He just needed one opening to fire without hitting Addison.
He’d stand there all day bleeding out if he had to to get it.
Hate-filled eyes boring into his, Georgia raised her gun back up to Addison’s temple for a kill shot.
…But it never came.
&
nbsp; Because his sweet, can’t-fight-for-squat girl drew back her right arm and slammed an elbow right into Georgia’s throat.
When Georgia doubled over in pain, Addison broke free.
Before he could finally take his shot, however, he watched in shocked disbelief as Addison spun around and threw a half-cocked, horrendously executed, awkwardly-arced punch that somehow landed square in Georgia’s chin, knocking her head back like a flip-top toothpaste cap.
Georgia went down.
Addison kicked her gun away.
With his gun trained on Georgia’s fallen body, knocked out cold, he stormed over to them, the bullet lodged in his leg shredding his muscles with every stomping step he took. “What the hell were you thinking, woman?”
He quickly detached the electric shock collar from her throat and yanked her into his arms. “You actually told her to shoot you.” And took years off his life as a result.
“So did you,” she replied calmly as she dropped to the ground and began to apply pressure to his leg wound.
At her sharp wince on contact, he immediately reached for her hand. “Let me see your wrist. You might’ve broken it with that Rocky Balboa punch.”
“I’m fine.” She ignored his fussing and continued to press her hands—cringing pain and all—against his bleeding while she hollered out, “We need an ambulance in here!”
A small smile slid over his lips. “Honey, no one’s out there.”
When she shot her gaze toward the window overlooking the dark, empty field outside the cabin, her jaw dropped. “But…I heard them.”
Caine shook his head and pointed to the other window toward the back of the cabin where Gabe’s drone was hovering just beyond the glass. “That was just Gabe playing a sound clip through his drone’s speakers. I recognize it from a video game Max developed a few years ago.”
“Ambulance is almost here,” called out Gabe, in a reverberating Oz-like voice from the drone’s speakers. “Addison, that upper cut to the chin was a thing of beauty. Seriously, I wish I’d caught it on film.”
