She had to stall, get him to hesitate long enough for the police to arrive.
“I need to put Sophia in the car seat,” she said, speaking through the cotton that seemed to have filled her mouth and throat.
“And I need to get you somewhere where no one will find you,” he snapped. “So, I guess you better hold on tight to the kid.”
He stepped on the gas, and the car jumped forward, Sophia nearly slamming into the dashboard, her cries escalating.
“And get that brat to shut up! Do you hear me?” the man shouted.
Annie’s hands shook as she pulled Sophia closer, singing quietly in her ear as she buckled the seat belt around both of them. It wouldn’t help if they were in a crash, but it made her feel better. More in control.
She needed to think, not panic. Needed to come up with a plan that would get her out of the car and give her a chance to escape. Or, at least, to find a way to save Sophia.
Please, God, help me save her. Please, let me get her out of this alive, she prayed silently.
Her kidnapper turned down a side street, flying through the residential area and speeding downtown. She didn’t know this section of St. Louis, and it didn’t look like a part of town that she wanted to know.
Tall brick buildings pressed close together, most of them boarded up. Graffiti offered the only splashes of color in the gray-black world.
“Where are you taking us?”
“Somewhere where we can have a little chat.”
“About what?”
He turned down a narrow alley between two huge buildings. Both looked abandoned, windows broken and doors boarded over.
“My brother, and what you did to him,” he said, parking the car and grabbing her arm. “We’re getting out my side, and we’re going into the building. Don’t bother screaming. There’s no one around to hear.”
He dragged her from the vehicle, nearly breaking her hold on Sophia. Annie tightened her grip, fear beating a hard, hollow rhythm in her chest.
“Move!” He pressed a gun to her side, forcing her across a crumbling sidewalk. Three steps led down to a basement entrance and the only door in the building that wasn’t covered with slabs of plywood.
He yanked the door open and pushed her into the dark dank interior. It smelled like mold and death.
She gagged, trying to see in the pitch-black darkness.
“Now,” her attacker said, flicking on a light that barely illuminated the area around them. Old factory equipment and machines littered the area, blocking her view of anything beyond the place where they stood.
“Let’s get started.” He pulled off his ski mask, his thick brown hair standing up, his eyes dark like deep pools of malice. The face looked familiar. She’d looked into eyes like this before. Seen the same malice and hatred in them. He wasn’t Saunders, but he could almost have been his twin.
“You’re Saunders’s brother,” she gasped, taking a step back.
“That’s right.” He pulled a cell phone from his pocket, the gun lax in his left hand as he dialed. “Hey, boss. It’s me. I got them. Yep.” He grinned, his gaze never leaving Annie. “The kid’s with her. It went down pretty easy. Not sure if I killed the marshal, though. What do you want me to do now?”
Annie took another step back as he listened to the answer.
Please, God. Please.
Her heart thundered as she scanned the room, the darkness beyond the one bare bulb so complete that she couldn’t make out an avenue of escape.
Sophia whimpered, and she patted her back.
“It’s okay, sweetie. Everything is okay.”
Sophia stuck her thumb in her mouth and lay her head against Annie’s shoulder, trusting that the words were true.
“Don’t worry,” Saunders’s brother finally said. “She’s not going to say a word to anyone about anything. Are you?” he asked as he shoved the gun into his pocket.
“I already testified. There’s nothing else to say.”
“Yeah, you do have a big mouth. That’s a problem. Got my brother put away. Of course, I’d probably have done the same in your shoes. Luke did off your husband, after all.” He leaned against a support beam. “You’re a young woman with a kid. You’re a good mother, too, protecting your little girl like you are. If it were up to me, I’d be tempted to let you live, but my boss wants to make sure you don’t tell anyone what your husband told you. Since he pays the bills, my hands are tied.”
She went cold at the words.
Was there more to Joe’s murder than she knew? Had he been involved in something else?
“The only thing my husband said was that I needed to keep Sophia safe,” she told him, her voice airy and light with fear. “Don’t you think I would have already told the police if he’d given me other information?”
“You got a point,” the man said, smiling the kind of smile that said he didn’t care. “But it doesn’t make any difference. I have my orders, and I’m going to follow them.”
“What orders?”
Something thudded overhead.
Saunders’s brother swore, his attention shifting for a fraction of a second as he took a step back, looked up at the ceiling.
Annie didn’t hesitate, didn’t think through anything but sprinting into the darkness, hiding among the equipment. She dived behind a support beam, ran behind heavy-duty machines that must have been there since the turn of the twentieth century.
A shot rang out, the metal near her head vibrating with the force of the impact. Something grazed her cheek, but she kept running, Sophia clinging to her as lights went on all over the room.
Up ahead, a door yawned open, hanging from one hinge.
She ran through it, stumbling into a dark corridor, something sticky and wet sliding down her face. She didn’t have time to wipe it away. Doors lined the walls on either side of the hallway. Some open. Some closed. If she went in one, she might be trapped. If she stayed in the hall, she’d be a moving target.
She ducked into a room, shushing Sophia as she scurried deeper into the interior. Moonlight shone through floor-to-ceiling windows, and she could see a door at the far end of the room.
She crept toward it, her heart pounding so loudly that she was sure Saunders’s brother would hear it and find her. Long tables filled the room. A break area, maybe, or cafeteria? She didn’t know, didn’t care. All she wanted to do was find a way to safety.
She could hear footsteps in the corridor, and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. He was probably checking every room, hunting for her.
If she didn’t find a way out, he’d find her.
She ducked through the doorway, found herself in what looked to be a kitchen.
There had to be a way out. A delivery door or something.
She didn’t dare turn on a light as she eased through the darkness, making her way past a counter and a sink. There was a window above it. If she could get it open, she could crawl out and run.
“Where we going, Mommy?” Sophia asked, popping her head up.
“Shhhhh,” she said, her muscles taut with fear.
Had he entered the room behind her? Was he creeping toward the kitchen?
She felt sick with terror, but she climbed onto the counter, set her feet in the sink. The window was stuck tight, too many layers of paint preventing the lock from opening.
Something rustled in the darkness beyond the doorway, and her heart nearly burst with fear. If she couldn’t get out, she had to be ready to fight.
She jumped off the counter, opened a cupboard beneath the sink. Nothing that she could use as a weapon, but the area was large, and she thought she and Sophia could both fit. Or, maybe, she’d just put Sophia in the cupboard, hide her there until it was safe for her to come out.
“Let’s play hide-and-seek, Sophia,” she whispered. “Be really, really quiet, okay?”
“Okay,” Sophia agreed, but she didn’t sound very confident.
If Annie died, would anyone find her daughter? Would Hunter f
igure out what had happened and come looking?
She kissed Sophia’s soft cheek, put her in the cupboard, leaving the door open just a crack so that she wouldn’t be scared. She couldn’t let anything happen to her daughter. She had to find a weapon, she had to fight and, most important, she had to win.
NINETEEN
Hunter ran down the flight of stairs that led to the basement of the old warehouse, his heart thundering in his ears, the beam from his flashlight bouncing on old marble. Two St. Louis police officers pounded down the steps behind him. They’d planned to enter silently, approach cautiously, but a gunshot had broken the stillness of the building, the sound echoing up from the basement.
Please, Lord, let them be okay, he prayed as he reached the stairwell door. A glass window looked into a long dark corridor. Hunter thought he saw someone moving through the gloom.
He put up his hand, signaling for the officers to approach slowly.
“I think I see our perp,” he whispered.
More movement in the hall, and he could make out a few more details. A man, moving cautiously. No sign of anyone else.
Had the bullet found its target?
He refused to let his mind go down that dark path. He had to believe that Annie and Sophia were okay.
He watched as the perp disappeared in a room.
Now was his chance.
He signaled again, opening the door and stepping into the corridor, pressing close to the wall, his body humming with adrenaline. Thank goodness Annie’s father and Burke had followed the fleeing suspect. If not, the St. Louis P.D. and U.S. Marshals would still be hunting for Burke’s stolen car.
He eased into the room the suspect had disappeared into, heard a loud bang and a sharp curse.
He stepped into the room and flashed his light straight into the eyes of a man who looked so much like Luke Saunders, Hunter could have almost believed they were the same. The guy had one hand pressed to his thigh and the other wrapped around a handgun.
“Drop the weapon,” Hunter commanded, his firearm pointed straight at the guy’s heart.
The perp released the Glock he’d been holding, letting it fall to the floor with another curse.
“I think I need stitches,” he moaned, lifting his hand so that Hunter could see blood bubbling up from a deep cut there. He must have slammed into the edge of one of the metal tables and ripped his leg open.
Hunter had no sympathy for him.
“You’re going to need more than that if you don’t put your hands up and leave them where we can see them,” one of the officers said.
“I know my rights, and I got a right to medical treatment.”
“Trust me,” the other police officer responded. “You’ll get everything you deserve.”
Hunter stepped aside and let them frisk the suspect, read him his Miranda rights and cuff him.
As soon as they finished, he approached. “Where are the Delacortes?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the perp spat, his dark eyes flashing ire.
“Just like you don’t know how one of my men was shot twice or how the gun you were carrying was used to do it?”
“I’m not saying nothing until I have my lawyer,” the guy said, pressing his lips together.
It was all Hunter could do not to grab him by the collar and shake the truth out of him.
“We’re not playing games here,” the older of the two cops barked. “Did you come here alone, or is there someone else working with you?”
The perp smirked and kept his mouth shut.
Hunter clenched his fists to keep from doing something he’d regret. His fault. All of it. He should have stuck with the original plan, refused to go to the prison to meet with Fiske.
That had been a waste of valuable time.
Fiske had insisted that he and Saunders were working for a guy named Mr. Big. According to him, Mr. Big had hired Saunders’s brother to make sure Annie didn’t testify.
Saunders’s brother Don.
No wonder the perp looked familiar.
“Look, Don,” he growled and was pleased to see the guy’s eyes widen in surprise. “We already know what you’re doing and who you’re working for. Tell us where the Delacortes are and you might not spend the rest of your life in jail.”
“I told you. I got nothing to say,” he insisted.
“We’ll see how much good that does you once you’re booked on attempted-murder charges,” Hunter muttered, stalking from the room. He had to find Annie and Sophia. He had to make sure they were okay.
Please, let them be okay.
The younger of the two officers followed him into the hall. “Sergeant Cline is going to take the suspect out to the patrol car. He’s calling for a K-9 team. That will make the search easier.”
“Agreed, but I don’t want to stand around twiddling my thumbs until they get here. Why don’t we split up? You head right. I’ll go left. Check every room. A shot was fired. We just need to figure out where that happened. And be careful. We don’t know if Saunders was working alone. There could be someone else hiding around here.”
“Will do.” The officer took off.
Hunter made his way down the long hallway, cautiously checking one room after another. Nothing. No sign of a struggle. No hint that Sophia or Annie had been there. He would have called for them, but if there was a second perp hanging around, he didn’t want to give advance warning.
A splotch of something gleamed in the beam of his flashlight, and he bent down to examine it.
Blood. He didn’t need a forensic team to know it.
He ran the beam of his light along the floor until he found another splotch and another. He followed them into what looked like a cafeteria, where he thought he heard a baby crying.
He cocked his head, the cry so faint he wasn’t sure he was really hearing it.
He crept through the room, the sound growing louder as he approached another doorway. He flashed the light in before he crossed the threshold. A kitchen. One window and a long counter. Plenty of cupboards.
A shadow moved to his right, lunging out from beside the large fridge, tackling him with enough force to send him tumbling backward. The flashlight flew from his hand, clattering onto the floor and rolling away.
He fell hard, but managed to twist so he was on top, his hands tight around someone’s wrists. Someone’s very slender wrists.
Not a man.
A woman.
He could smell her perfume, flowery and light, feel the fabric of her dress scrunching up near his legs.
“Annie,” he whispered, releasing her wrists, smoothing his hands up her arms. “Are you okay?”
“Hunter?” Her voice was shaky, and her cheek was bleeding, but she was alive. Thank the Lord.
“A little late but finally here.” He pulled her to her feet, his heart pounding with the need to drag her into his arms. “Where’s Sophia?”
“I’s still hiding,” Sophia said, her voice muffled.
“You can come out, sweetie.” Annie hurried across the room and opened the cupboard under the sink, lifting Sophia from the darkness.
His muscles went weak with relief, all the icy fear that had been in his heart since Burke called to say that Annie and Sophia had been kidnapped melting away.
He crossed the room in two long strides, pulled them both into his arms. They fit perfectly there, and he knew it was exactly where they were meant to be.
“Thank God,” he whispered. “You’re both okay.”
“Burke isn’t. I think he’s—”
“Okay. The first bullet grazed his shoulder. The second one creased his scalp. It’s a good thing Saunders’s brother is a poor shot and that Burke has got such a hard head. He and your dad are the reason why we found you so quickly. They were able to follow Burke’s car while Bud called 911. The guy who kidnapped you is already in custody.”
“I can’t believe it. Burke was out cold when Luke’s brother grabbed me. I was sure…” She shook h
er head. “I’m just glad Burke and my father are okay, and I’m even more glad that you’re here.” Her arm snaked around his waist, her hand clutching his waistband. “I have never been so scared in my life.”
“I’m sorry, Annie. I should never have let you go to dinner without me.”
“You couldn’t have known this would happen.”
“I still—”
“Don’t.” She pressed a finger to his lips. “I’m okay. Sophia is okay. Tomorrow, we’re going off to start our new lives, and we’re going to do it knowing that the guy who planted bombs and threatened me is behind bars. That’s a wonderful gift, Hunter, and I can’t thank you enough for it.”
“I don’t need you to thank me, Annie,” he said, looking into her face, seeing everything he’d ever wanted there.
“Then what do you need?”
“You by my side while I start my new life.”
“Hunter—”
“I’d already decided to take some time off work because I need it and because I can’t imagine not having you and Sophia in my life. I’m going to bring you to your new home and help you settle in.”
“But—”
He pressed a finger to her lips, sealing in any protest she might have made. “Let’s just call it a first step to forever, okay? We don’t have to know where it leads—we just have to start the journey.”
“I’d…like that,” she admitted.
“Then how about we get started?”
She looked into his eyes. He didn’t know what she was searching for, but he wanted to give it to her.
“You know what?” she finally said. “I think we should.”
He smiled, lifting Sophia from her arms. “How about you, munchkin? You want to find forever with me?”
“And cookies?” she asked.
“That, too,” he promised as he linked hands with Annie and led them both from the room.
TWENTY
Obviously, it isn’t a straight shot to forever, Annie thought as a doctor stitched the deep gash in her cheek.
She’d thought they’d go to Hunter’s house, grab their things and head out. Hunter had insisted they go straight to the hospital.
She was glad. Her parents were both there, playing with Sophia. Seeing them with her was bittersweet. They’d have to say goodbye again, be separated again, but she had to trust that eventually God would bring them back together.
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