by Elle James
Reggie gasped as her driver’s license photo displayed on a monitor.
“Apparently, someone turned you in as missing,” Swede said.
Sam slipped an arm around her.
Reggie leaned into him, her body trembling. “Missing for two weeks,” she whispered. “It felt like a lifetime.”
Swede brought up a map with points illuminated. “The highlighted dots are where each of the women were taken.” He touched a finger to the monitor and drew a circle around the dots. “He seems to be consistent about taking women within this area.”
“That’s a pretty wide area,” Sam said. “It covers several counties in Montana.”
Swede tapped his finger on the desk, staring at the images. “He’s targeted women from Bozeman to Kalispell.”
Chapter 7
“How does a man who goes to all these towns not get noticed?” Reggie asked. “These aren’t big cities where people get lost in them.”
Research shows that predators with this level of experience are usually repeat offenders. Many have been caught before.” Swede pulled up another monitor. “I’ve run a check on the Sexual or Violent Offender Registry and come up with a couple names we can check on.” He brought up images of the men in the area who were on the registry for sexual offenses. “It would take less time if we could enlist the help of the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation.”
“No.” Reggie shook her head. “We can’t let the Master know we’re coming for him. He has to think I’m dead, and he will have no one looking for me or him.”
“Do any of the people on the registry live along the rivers?” Sam asked.
“The house could be off the river a little way,” Reggie said. “I ran through the woods a considerable distance before I reached the edge of the cliffs overlooking the river.”
Swede nodded. “I came up with three potential suspects.” He brought up the first mug shot of a man who appeared to be in his early forties. “Matthew Ogletree was convicted of raping a thirteen year old girl in Bozeman eighteen years ago. Released on parole two and a half years ago, he lives along this highway in a house owned by his parents.”
Reggie squinted at the photo. “I wish I could, but I won’t be able to recognize a face. He wore a ski mask every time he came to get me. Now, if you had a voice recording…I might be able to pick him out. I think he had dark eyes.”
Swede clicked on a satellite image of the address and zoomed in on a small cabin.
Reggie shook her head. “The house seemed much bigger than that, and it stood on the side of a hill.”
“He could have been using an abandoned house nearby,” Hank suggested. “We’ve had a lot of wealthy people from California come to Montana to buy land and houses. They rarely come out to live in them, and only vacation in them once a year.”
Reggie pinched the bridge of her nose. “I can’t remember much about the place. He kept us drugged for the most part. I had to stop eating what little food he gave me to avoid the drugs he laced them with.”
Sam’s jaw tightened. The bastard had to die. “The sooner we find this guy, the better.”
Reggie nodded. “He’s pure evil. I just hope the other women are still alive.”
Sam held out his hand. When Reggie placed hers in his, he held it firmly. He wouldn’t let that man hurt her again. He turned to the monitors. “Who else?”
Swede brought up another image of a man with a scar stretching from the middle of his forehead to his right cheek. His eyes were brown, almost black, and his lip was curled in a snarl. “Ed Knowles spent time in prison for raping a waitress who worked in Whitefish. He lives here.” Swede brought up the address on the satellite image and zoomed in. The address was a mobile home with what appeared to be abandoned vehicles strewn around the yard.
“Again, not a house and not on a hill,” Reggie said. She raised her hand. “True, they could be using an out-of-state resident’s house, but let’s see who else you have.”
Clicking on his keyboard, Swede brought up a mug shot of a man with gray eyes, bushy brows and salt-and-pepper hair. “Timothy Thomas was convicted of two counts of rape. He spent twenty-five years in prison and has been out for less than a year.” Swede brought up the rapist’s address on the satellite image. “He lives closest to the river in a house he owns.”
Sam pointed at the house. “It’s bigger than the others, and it appears to be on a hill.”
“I don’t know,” Reggie said. “His eyes aren’t as dark as the Master’s.”
“It could have been the lighting in the house or the ski mask that made his eyes appear darker,” Hank said.
Sam watched the expressions pass over Reggie’s face.
Her brow puckered, and she chewed on her bottom lip. Reggie sighed. “I wish I’d seen his face.”
Sam touched he arm. “If you had, he might have killed you. He seemed pretty concerned about keeping his identity from all of you.”
“I’ll have Bear do a covert check on Thomas’s residence,” Hank said. “We can probably rule out the houses of the other two, though we can’t rule out their involvement altogether. Where do these guys work? I can get some of my guys to follow them and see where they go during or after work.”
“Two of them work in Eagle Rock. Ogletree works at the feed store. Knowles works at Lucky’s Automotive as a mechanic. Thomas works at home as a contractor, doing graphic design work. They all report to the same parole officer in Eagle Rock.”
“I don’t suppose you can hack into Thomas’s computer remotely?” Sam asked.
“I’m working on that,” Swede assured him. “I have to get to his internet account, and through that, I can obtain his IP address. It’ll take a little while.”
“Good. Let us—”
“If I find anything,” Swede concluded. “You’ll be the first to know…after Hank, since he’s been working with me in this effort.”
Sam nodded and looked toward Reggie. “In the meantime, Reggie and I want to retrace our steps to the place I found her on the river.”
“Just be careful,” Hank warned. “If the kidnapper is concerned about finding Reggie’s body, he might be out looking for her.”
“Ginnie and I have our cover story, and she’s rocking the wig Sadie gave her.”
“We should be all right,” Reggie said.
“But we’ll keep a low profile to make sure no one suspects her of being the woman who got away,” Sam said.
“How far up the river will you go?” Hank asked.
“As far as we can walk in an hour?” Reggie said, looking at Sam.
He nodded. “I have my pistol. Reg—Ginnie would like one as well. I can show her how to use it while we’re out by the river.”
Hank tilted his head toward another door. “Follow me.” Sam’s boss led them into another room and switched on the light. The room lit up, displaying an impressive number of weapons of all shapes and sizes, from AR-15s to .40 caliber pistols.
Reggie gasped. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many weapons in one place, other than at a gun show or pawn shop.”
“You’ve been to a gun show?” Sam asked. “And a pawn shop?”
She shook her head. “Not actually. I saw advertisements for one that was to be held at the Expo Park in Great Falls one year. Guns for as far as the eye could see. Or so it seemed. I used to go to pawn shops with my mother, looking for antique jewelry.” She shrugged. “My mother liked the old pieces best.”
“Is your mother still alive?” Sadie asked as she entered the room, carrying a tray loaded with cookies, milk and coffee.
“She is. She remarried and moved to Florida. They’d had enough shoveling snow to last a lifetime.” Reggie chewed her bottom lip, a habit Sam noticed she did when she was worried about something. “I hope she doesn’t come looking for me before we find the Master and free those women. My mother can be like a pit bull with a bone. She won’t give up until she gets what she wants.”
Sam fought a grin. “Much like her da
ughter.”
Reggie nodded. “Damn right. Especially in matters of life and death. My mother won’t take my death lightly.”
Hank chuckled. “We’ll consider ourselves forewarned.” His smile faded. “Are you sure you don’t want to let her know you’re okay?”
She shook her head. “Too many people know I’m alive already. I can’t risk it. Besides, if my mother shows up, it’s one more reason for the Master to believe I’m dead.”
“Fair enough. Could you hold Emma, please?” Hank handed his little girl to Sam and grabbed the tray his wife held, setting it on a counter.
Before Sam could lodge a protest, he found himself holding the child awkwardly, not sure what to do with her.
Emma had no such qualms. She smiled, giggled and planted a wet kiss on his cheek.
“She likes you,” Sadie said with a smile.
Sam grinned back at Emma. “You’re a little sweetheart, aren’t you?” He held her closer and looked up to see Reggie staring at him.
“You look like you belong together,” Reggie said. “I never thought to ask you if you were married or have children?”
He lifted one of Emma’s hands. “No to both. I was never in a place, mentally or physically, to have a family. Navy SEALs belong to the Navy, twenty-four-seven. It’s not a stable life for families.” He shrugged. “Although some manage, others end in divorce.” His gaze met Reggie’s. “It’s one of the reasons I left the Navy. I wanted to get on with my life.”
Reggie’s eyes widened. “As in having a family of your own?”
He shrugged. “Someday.” He bounced Emma on his arm. “If all babies were as sweet as this one, the world would be a better place.”
“I thought I wanted to have children once,” Reggie murmured.
Though he wasn’t staring right at Reggie, in Sam’s peripheral vision, he could see her face pale and shadows darken her eyes. His heart squeezed hard in his chest. After what Reggie had gone through, he doubted she’d ever want to have sex again. Any woman who’d been raped multiple times would be rightfully wary of men. He was glad she hadn’t shied away from him when he’d only wanted to help and protect her. Intuitively, he knew she needed tender care and kid gloves to get her through what was her own hell of Post-traumatic Stress Syndrome or PTSD. Finding and stopping the bastard who had done this to her and the other woman would help in her road to recovery.
He snagged a cookie for Emma and glanced at Sadie. “Can she have one?”
Sadie nodded. “Just one, though, or she won’t eat her meal.”
After giving Emma a cookie, Sam grabbed a glass of milk and a cookie from the tray and handed them to Reggie. “Sit and eat a cookie.” He led her to a chair and urged her to sit.
“But I want a gun,” she protested.
“You can choose from here. I’ll bring them to you.” Sam hurried toward a light, sleek .40 caliber pistol, lifted it in his free hand and felt its weight in his palm. “This one should do.” He carried it to Reggie and waited while she laid her cookie and milk to the side and took the gun in her hand.
“Isn’t bigger better?” she asked.
Hank chuckled. “Only if you can hold it steady.” He brought her a .45 caliber pistol, a little bigger and definitely heavier. “Hold this out in front of you for thirty seconds.” He took the .40 caliber from her and waited while she held the other pistol as he’d told her. After the first few seconds, her arms shook, and she nodded. “I see what you mean.”
Hank handed her the .40 caliber H&K.
She held it in front of her longer than she had the other before her arms shook. “Yes, this one is better. But will it stop a man or a Rottweiler?”
“Depends on where you hit him,” Sam said.
“If you hit him in the heart, it’ll drop him where he stands. If you hit him in the side, he could still come at you.”
“Right,” Reggie said. “I need to practice.”
“And we will, once we get out to the river,” Sam promised. He looked to Hank. “Do you have a shoulder holster for this gun?”
Hank dug in a cabinet and pulled out what they needed, handing it to Reggie.
She slipped the straps over her shoulder.
Sam balanced Emma on one arm and adjusted the buckles with the other hand so that the straps fit snuggly against Reggie’s body. His knuckles accidently brushed against the side of her breast.
Reggie sucked in a sharp breath.
“Sorry,” Sam said and jerked back his hand.
“No. Really. It’s okay.” She gave him a hint of a smile and slid the pistol into the holster.
“Won’t do you much good without ammo,” Sadie noted. She handed Reggie a box of bullets.
Reggie patted the weapon, her cheeks pink. “Right. I’ll take those, but I won’t load until I’ve had a chance to familiarize myself with how to fire the gun.”
“And how to use the safety switch,” Sam said, his lips thinning. “Finish your milk and cookies. I’d like to get out to the river.”
Reggie dipped her cookie in the milk and took a bite. Then she upended the cup and drank down all the milk. When she finished, she wiped her face with the back of her hand. She smiled at Sadie. “Thank you, Sadie. The cookies are great.”
“I’m glad you liked them.” Sadie wrapped four cookies in a napkin and placed them in Reggie’s hands. “Here, take some extras with you. Sometimes, the guys keep working and forget we have to eat to keep up our strength.”
Sam grinned at Sadie. “Hank’s lucky to have you, Sadie.”
“Are you kidding? I’m lucky to have him. I wouldn’t be alive today, if it weren’t for Hank.” She took Emma from Sam. “And Emma wouldn’t be here if Hank hadn’t come along when he did. We’re both lucky to have him in our lives.” She blew a raspberry into Emma’s belly. “Aren’t we, sweetie?”
Emma giggled and grabbed Sadie’s face, making an attempt at blowing a raspberry against her cheek. She made a loud grunting sound and slimed Sadie’s cheek with spit but came up giggling.
Sadie laughed and wiped her cheek. “I’m teaching her all the wrong things.”
“You’re teaching her how to have fun and laugh,” Hank said. “In my book, that’s all the right things.” He slipped a hand around her waist and pulled her and Emma into an embrace. “I’m lucky to have you both in my life.”
Sam watched the display of love and devotion and envied them for what came so naturally for them. He’d known Hank when they were deployed together many years ago. He’d never seen the man as happy as he was now. It gave Sam hope for his own future.
If Hank could find happiness, so could Sam. He just had to give it time.
He turned to Reggie and studied her while she was busy adjusting the shoulder holster beneath a jacket Sadie had loaned her with the stack of clothing she’d sent earlier that day. He was amazed that she had gone from lying naked and nearly dead on the riverbank to being the cool, calm badass she appeared to be in front of him.
When he got ready to choose a woman to share his life with, he hoped he’d find someone as courageous and determined as Reggie.
Why was he even thinking in that direction? Because that was the reason he’d left active duty. He wasn’t getting any younger. He’d move aside for the newer crop of Navy SEALs to take up the gauntlet, so that the life he’d put on hold while he’d served his country could begin. He wanted what Hank and Sadie had. That same level of love and companionship. And now that he’d held Emma in his arms, he had to admit, he wanted children.
Perhaps because he was so ready for this next step in his life, he was eyeing Reggie. Hell, it could be any woman he might be considering for the future Mrs. Franklin. But deep in his heart, he knew that wasn’t true. He wanted someone like Reggie. He hadn’t known her long, but his gut told him she was the kind of woman he needed in his life. And his gut had never steered him wrong.
Reggie wouldn’t be ready or willing to embark on exploring any kind of relationship for a while. She had to work throu
gh the physical and emotional trauma of having been sexually abused. Until she’d had the time to do that, she would be strictly off limits. He wouldn’t want to start something that was doomed to failure through no fault of his own.
The beauty of being out of the military was that he was on his own clock now. Nothing said he had to rush into a relationship. If someone was worth waiting for, he could wait. Not only would waiting give Reggie time to recuperate and get any help she might feel she needed, it would give him time to decide if she was really the one.
Chapter 8
Reggie stuffed the cookies into the pocket of her jacket on the opposite side of the .40 caliber pistol.
Every move she made, she could feel the cool, hard metal of the pistol against her side and the inside of her arm. Knowing she had a weapon didn’t make her feel any safer than when she hadn’t had one. Perhaps once she learned how to use it, she’d gain some measure of comfort. Until then, she’d just have to get used to it feeling awkward and unwieldy. Heck, maybe that feeling wouldn’t get any better. Still, having something to protect herself and others was better than having nothing. She could put up with a little discomfort.
Sam tilted his head toward the stairs. “Ready?”
She nodded.
“Oh, wait,” Sadie said. “I have one more item you need to add to your disguise.” With her free hand, she fished in her pocket, pulling out a plain gold wedding band. She held it out to Reggie. “It’s not fancy, but it’s a wedding band. And if you want people to believe you two are married, you really need to wear one. It’s all about what people expect to see.”
Reggie frowned. “I can’t take this.”
“It’s okay,” Sadie said. “It belonged to my mother. She wasn’t into wearing expensive jewelry. She was all into cooking and didn’t want a big diamond to get in the way of kneading dough or washing pots and pans.”
“But it’s your mother’s.” Reggie shook her head. “I can’t.”
“If you don’t wear a ring, people won’t believe you’re really married. Even if you show them a marriage certificate.” Sadie placed the ring in Reggie’s palm and curled her fingers around it. “I think it’ll fit.”
