by Elle James
Reggie met him in the front entryway, standing back in the shadows, out of sight of the street beyond the door. “Did you see where he went?” she asked, her voice shaking, her body trembling.
Sam shook his head. “No. There were too many people, and they were already driving away by the time I got outside.”
Maggie found them by the door. “Oh, good, you’re still here. I thought you’d left without your credit card.” She held out Sam’s card and a receipt. “I need your signature.”
He scribbled his name at the bottom and added a sizeable tip. “Maggie, that man who bumped into you…”
“I feel so bad. I’m not usually so clumsy.” She grimaced. “He did have a potty mouth though. I’m so sorry you had to hear that.”
Sam shook his head. “I’m not worried about that. Do you know who he is?”
Maggie shook her head. “I’ve only seen him in here one other time. He sat by himself and didn’t talk to anyone except to order his food.”
“Did he pay with a credit card?” Reggie asked.
Maggie’s brow creased. “I don’t know. One of the other waitresses had his table tonight. I can ask. Why?”
“I’d like to know his name,” Sam said. “He looked familiar, like someone I know.”
Maggie stood on her toes, looking back into the tavern. “Wait here. I’ll ask Janice if she knows him, or if he used a card to make his purchase. I’ll be right back.” She took off, weaving her way through the tables and people coming and going.
From where Sam stood, he could see her talking to the other waitress. They walked to the register by the bar and opened the bottom drawer. After a moment or two they both looked up, shaking their heads.
Maggie returned a moment later, her lips pressed into a line. “I’m sorry, but Janice thinks he paid with cash. She checked the register, but most of the receipts were people she knew. If you see the man, please let him know I’m super sorry for knocking into him.” Maggie went back to work, waiting tables.
“God, I hope he wasn’t here to target any of the women in Eagle Rock,” Reggie said. She slipped her arm through the crook of Sam’s elbow and leaned into him. “Let’s get out of here.”
Sam led her out the door and settled her into the passenger seat of his truck. He untied Grunt from the light post and held the back door open for him to jump inside, closing it behind him. When Sam climbed into the driver’s seat, he cast a glance her way. Though her face was still pale, she’d stopped trembling. “Do you really think it was him?”
She shrugged and grimaced. “It could have been him. Or I could have been too sensitive to a similar voice.” Reggie wrapped her arms around herself and looked at him, her brow twisted. “Is this how it’s going to be? Me jumping at every voice or worrying that he’s in the same room as me, and I can’t recognize him?”
“No. We’re going to find him and put him away for good.” Sam shifted the truck into reverse, backed out of the parking space and headed toward the White Oak Ranch. “We’re getting closer. I just know it’s only a matter of time before we catch up to him.”
Reggie didn’t say it, and she didn’t have to. It was only a matter of time before the Master hurt those women. Maybe even killed them. They had to hurry before it was too late.
“I feel like he’s close,” Reggie said, twisting the ring on her finger. “Like we could have been the ones to bump into him instead of Maggie, if we’d left a couple minutes earlier.”
“We’ll find out what Hank’s guys came up with and put it together with what we learned today. Maybe it will lead us straight to him.”
“God, I hope so.” Reggie sat quietly for the rest of the drive to Hank’s ranch.
No sooner had Sam hit the intercom button at the gate, then Swede’s voice came over. “Sam, glad you made it here. See you in the war room.”
The gate slid open, and Sam drove along the winding drive to the ranch house. He helped Reggie out of the cab and up the steps to the front door where Sadie and Hank met them.
“Come on in,” Hank said.
“Have you had supper?” Sadie asked.
“We have.”
“Good. Then we can get right down to business.” Hank led the way down the stairs into the war room.
Sam squeezed Reggie’s hand reassuringly as they descended into the basement and came to a halt behind Swede.
Three other people were in the room with him. A big man with a barrel chest, broad shoulders and a thatch of thick brown hair. A man with black hair and piercing blue eyes stood beside him, the same height, also broad-shouldered, but nearly as thick as the bigger guy. Beside him stood a woman whose head came up to his shoulders and had dark red hair.
As Sam and Reggie entered the war room, the redhead flashed her bright green eyes at them. “You must be Sam and Reggie.” She held out her hand. “Molly Greenbriar. FBI.”
Reggie shook her hand, a frown forming on her brow. “I’d forgotten you were with the FBI. I was just thinking that you were Kujo’s woman, accompanying him on the river.”
The black-haired man beside Molly stuck out his hand. “I’m Joseph Kuntz, affectionately known as Kujo.” He rested a hand at the small of Molly’s back. “Actually, I’m with Molly, aka Special Agent Greenbriar. She’s the one with all the training.”
Molly elbowed him in the gut. “Don’t listen to him. He’s prior Delta Force. And yes, we were on the river all day with a drone.”
Sam held out his hand and shook Kujo’s and Molly’s. “I’m Sam Franklin, the new guy with the Brotherhood.”
“Good to know you,” Kujo said. He motioned toward the dog at his feet. “This is Six, retired military war dog extraordinaire.
The Belgian Malinois lifted his head briefly and laid it back down on his paws.
“I hear you adopted one as well,” Kujo said.
“I did,” Sam reached down and let Six sniff his hand. “Grunt’s out on the porch keeping an eye on the squirrels.”
Kujo turned to the big guy beside him. “Oh, and this is Bear.”
“Nice to know I rank after the dog. Tate Parker,” The big man engulfed Sam’s hand in his larger one. “Glad to have you aboard. You can call me Bear.”
Sam turned to Molly and Kujo. “Which way did you go at the fork? North or South?”
“We took the south fork. Why?” Kujo asked.
“We ran into a local who knows the area fairly well. He said the north fork has the high cliffs. Reggie jumped from the cliffs into the river. Did you see any cliffs beside the river on the south fork?”
Molly exchanged a glance with Kujo. “Not anything over a couple meters.”
Sam turned to the man at the computer keyboard. “Swede—”
“Pulling up the contour map now.” His fingers danced across the keyboard, and the monitor flashed an image of a contour map with squiggly lines depicting the elevation of the terrain. He scrolled across the map, following the blue line of the river to the point where it split into two around a long, broad island that stretched for several inches across the map. Based on the legend, the island was approximately a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide.
Swede zoomed in on a grouping of contour lines that converged into one with tick marks pointing toward the river.
Sam pointed. “There. Abe said it was on the north branch of the river. It has to be the one Reggie jumped off. Bring up the satellite map of that area.”
“On it,” Swede said. A moment later he had the satellite map displayed beside the topographical contour map. Matching the sizes, he zoomed in on the cliff then backed out slowly. “The problem is that there are so many tall trees, unless the houses have been cleared around them, you might not see them.”
Sam studied the satellite image, his brow furrowing. Finally, he pointed to the image. “Isn’t that the place where you said one of the registered sex offenders lives?”
Swede nodded. “Thomas. But his cabin was too small to have a basement big enough to hide five women in individual cells.
”
“I checked with the parole officer today, asking about Ogletree, Thomas and Knowles.”
Reggie cringed. “What reason did you give them?”
Bear said, “I told him I was concerned about them being in this area as my fiancé was a rape victim. I wanted to know if they were reporting regularly to their parole office and if he’d had any issues with any of them.”
“And?” Sam prompted.
“They are all playing by the books,” Bear said. “So, I drove out to Knowles and Ogletree’s houses while they were away at work in Eagle Rock and had a little snoop around.” He shook his head. “Nothing. Like you said, the cabin at Ogletree’s place was small with an even smaller basement beneath it. No women in there.”
“You broke in?”
“Not really,” Bear shrugged. “The place was unlocked. And Knowles’s place was a mobile home. No basement and no outbuildings with basements. Just a veritable junk yard filled with discarded truck chassis.”
“What about Thomas?”
Bear nodded. “I drove out near to his place and went in on foot to keep from being seen or heard. The man lives like a hermit. Just him. He lives in what I’d call a cottage. It has a cellar, but it’s not on the side of a hill, and the cellar was really small from what I could see through a dirty window. Again. It wasn’t on the side of a hill.
“Maybe we’re focusing on the obvious people and not on the real culprit,” Hank said. “Who owns the land directly north of the cliff?”
Swede brought up the county plat map of the area from the state website and scrolled over the areas slowly. “This is going to take some digging. I’ll look into these owners and run some background checks. Likely, it will take into the night.”
Sam shot a glance toward Reggie. “We could use showers and sleep.”
“I’m okay,” Reggie said, though her face was pale, and the shadows beneath her eyes had darkened.
“You might be, but I could use a few hours of sleep after tromping around in the woods.” Sam held out his hand. “We should head back to the cabin.”
“Nonsense,” Sadie said. “It’s late. You two can stay here. We can loan you some clothes to wear for the night and Swede will have information for you first thing in the morning.” She looked to Hank.
“Sadie’s right,” Hank said. “There’s plenty of room for all of you to stay.”
“If you really don’t mind, I’d like to do that,” Reggie said. “The cabin’s comfortable but a little distant from the computer and the information it can generate.”
“Agreed,” Sam said. “But I was serious, you need some rest.”
“I know my limits.” Reggie squared her shoulders as if ready to fight. Then she gave him a twisted grin. “And you’re right. I’m on the edge of them.” She turned to Sadie. “I feel bad accepting anymore clothing from you when you sent over so much to the cabin.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I’ve got more clothes than I’ll wear in my lifetime. Clothing designers send me stuff all the time, hoping I’ll represent their lines. Come on. I’ll find something suitable for sleeping.” She turned to Hank. “Make sure your guys have what they need, will you?” Her gaze went to Molly. “Come on, us ladies have to stick together, or these men will run all over us.”
Kujo laughed. “You obviously don’t know Molly very well. She can hold her own.”
“I’m sure she can,” Sadie said.
Molly followed Reggie and Sadie up the staircase out of the basement.
Sam remained behind, not sure why he felt as if he was missing something important. Like the woman he’d been with fulltime for more than twenty-four hours. She was growing on him. So much so, that he didn’t like it when she wasn’t within sight.
“Hank, Reggie and I ate at the Blue Moose Tavern this evening. When we were finished and waiting to pay our bill, Reggie thought she heard the voice of the man who’d held her captive. He was on his way out the door when she heard him. By the time I got outside to check it out, he was gone. I’m not sure that information buys us anything since we didn’t see him, but it might prove that he’s from around here, if that was in fact the man who’d kidnapped all those women.”
Hank’s face set in grim lines. “All the more reason to catch this guy. None of the women of Eagle Rock or the surrounding areas are safe as long as he’s running free. I’d like to issue a warning to the area.”
“But we can’t,” Sam said. “Not until we find him and the women he’s currently holding captive.”
Hank nodded. “In the meantime, we can only hope and pray he doesn’t kidnap anymore women.”
Chapter 12
Sadie, carrying Emma in her arms, led Reggie and Molly up the stairs to the second level of the ranch house and into the massive bedroom she shared with her husband, Hank. She kept walking to the other side of the room where a door led into a walk-in closet larger than Reggie’s apartment in Bozeman.
Molly whistled. “Holy hell, I could live in here.”
Sadie blushed. “Hank went a little overboard designing the closet. He seems to think a movie star needs a closet big enough to house a small nation.” She grinned. “I have to admit, I love it. And Emma likes playing in here while I’m getting ready in the morning.
Emma flapped her arms and leaned over.
Sadie set her on the floor and closed the door to keep her from wandering out. “Let’s see. You both need something to sleep in.” She shot a glance from Molly to Reggie with raised eyebrows. “Unless you sleep in the buff.”
Molly shook her head. “I rarely sleep in the nude. My mother told me I should never go to sleep in anything I don’t want to stand outside in, in case of a fire.”
Reggie chuckled. “Same.” Though she’d slept in the nude for over two weeks while being held in the basement of the Master’s house, wrapped only in a threadbare blanket he’d sparingly provided. The memory brought her back to that bad place she never wanted to return to.
Sadie broke into her morose thoughts by handing her a soft pink, baby doll nightgown. “This should fit you. It’s short, but it covers the bases.” She gave Reggie’s arm a squeeze. “And pink is cheerful and will compliment your strawberry-blond hair. You look like you could use a little cheering up. I can’t imagine what you went through, and I won’t pretend I do. But you’re safe here, and Sam will make sure you stay safe.”
Sadie handed Molly a mint green nightgown, also short and sassy. “Sorry, ladies, Hank likes me in baby doll nighties or nothing at all.” She winked.
“Suits me,” Molly said. “I don’t like things that tangle up around my legs at night. I used to sleep in gym shorts and a T-shirt while at the academy at Quantico.”
Sadie sifted through a drawer and pulled out silky bikini panties. “You’ll need some of these.” She added them to the top of the nightgowns the two women held. Moving to another drawer, she pulled out two loose cashmere sweaters, one in a deep forest green, another in powder blue, handing the green one to Reggie and the blue one to Molly. “I take it you’re okay with the jeans you’re wearing?”
Reggie nodded, grateful for anything. Until she returned from the dead and could visit her apartment in Bozeman, she was at the mercy and kindness of Sadie. “Thank you for putting me up in your home.”
Sadie waved her hand. “Oh, please. I love having company out here. You’re doing me a favor by staying.” She wrapped her arms around Reggie. “I’m just so sorry we’ve met under such dire circumstances. But I’m not sorry we met.”
Tears welled in Reggie’s eyes. “Thank you.” She stepped back and turned to admire the racks of dresses hanging behind her.
Emma had found her way in among the long dresses and tugged at their hems, playing hide-n-seek among the folds.
“Come here, you rascal.” Sadie swooped in and gathered the happy child in her arms.
“Mama, play,” she said in her little baby voice.
Reggie’s heart squeezed hard at the love she saw in Sadie’s eyes for the little
girl.
One day…she hoped and prayed she would have a little girl like Emma to hold in her arms.
“Let’s show these ladies to their rooms. I’m sure they’re tired and could use a good night’s rest, like you.” She kissed her daughter’s chubby cheek and led the way out of her closet and down the hallway to a door on the left. “Molly, you can have the blue room. It has its own en-suite bath. The bed is already made. If you need anything, just let me know.”
“Lord knows, I need a shower after being on the river all day. I’m sure I smell like fish and sweat.” Molly thanked Sadie and entered the room, closing the door behind her.
“Reggie, I’m putting you in the room near the end of the hall. Sam will have the room beside you, since he’s in charge of keeping you safe. Not that you have anything to worry about here. Hank had the entire ranch wired with security cameras and alarms. No one can get in without triggering some really loud and annoying sirens. Seriously, I thought I’d lose my mind when they were testing them.” She flung open a door. “You have the yellow room. It’s one of my favorites. Yellow reminds me of sunshine and makes me happy. I hope it does the same for you.”
“I’m sure it will. Thank you.”
“Again, if you need anything, let me know.” Sadie glanced down at Emma. “Say night-night, Emma.”
The little girl waved her hand and gurgled, “Night-night.”
Reggie waved at Emma as Sadie closed the door between them.
Left alone in the yellow bedroom, Reggie’s body sagged with weariness. She’d held it together all day, because she refused to give up on finding the women. Now, alone in a stranger’s house, the weight of the world seemed to settle on her shoulders.
Before she collapsed from exhaustion, she carried the clothing Sadie had equipped her with into the bathroom, started the water in the shower and stripped off the clothes she’d worn on their hike through the woods that day.
Naked again, she shivered and faced the mirror. She didn’t look much different from the woman who’d had a life in Bozeman, working at the office she’d set up to manage the various businesses and investments her father had left to her and her mother in a trust. Maybe she was a little thinner, with darker shadows beneath her eyes, but not much had changed on the exterior.
