She gripped the handle and held it low, the edge pointed to the floor. Rufus spun in a circle at the door, sensing her exit.
Crash!
Something sharp pelted her legs. Lana let out a shriek and backed away from the shards. Her free hand clutched her throat. She whirled around. Glass scattered across the floor, as the window smashed in. A baseball bat swung at the window again, caving more glass. Rufus charged for the window. Her heart pumped wildly in her chest.
“Rufus!” She grabbed his collar with her free hand and dragged him back from the glass.
He stayed by her side. Her fingers fumbled madly on the door lock. Another crash sounded behind her. He was almost inside.
She tore the door open and charged out. Rufus raced into the hall, his ferocious bark enough to bring silence from the kitchen.
Her bare feet scuffed down the smooth hardwoods. Rufus’s dark form rounded the corner to the kitchen. Her chest heaved violently. She sucked a deep breath into her nose.
It was silent.
She hesitated at the corner of the hall and the kitchen. Icicles prickled her spine.
A tall, black form rounded the corner of the kitchen. She screamed. Her back slammed against the wall behind her. She sliced the air with the knife.
“Lana!”
Cal.
She dropped the knife to the floor. It landed with a clatter and danced at their feet. She flung herself against his chest. He closed her in his arms.
“I told you to stay,” he growled into her hair. Another crash sounded from the bedroom.
“Someone broke the bedroom window. He’s almost inside.” Her voice shook, and her body trembled like a leaf.
“Sonofabitch.” His body bunched. He kept her close to his chest and led her into the kitchen with him. He snagged his phone off the counter and handed it to her. “Take this.” He grabbed his keys from next to the spot that his phone had vacated. “Go in the garage, wait in my truck, and lock the doors. Don’t unlock them until I come for you. Call Nate once you’re safely in the truck.”
She slipped the phone into the front pocket of the hooded sweatshirt she wore.
“The code is 1-1-2-7. His number is programmed in my phone.” He turned her in the direction of the front of the house, where the garage access door was located. She nodded and started away.
“Cal, please be careful.”
“Go. I won’t be long.” His voice was low, barely audible.
He crept to the edge of the kitchen and rounded the corner of the hallway. He moved as soundless as the wind. Rufus crept behind Cal.
She didn’t look around for the attacker. Cal would surely have him restrained, unconscious…or worse. She made her way through the house. When she reached the garage access door, she shoved her feet in her shoes, unlocked it, and entered. The air was cool in the garage, sending a shiver over her skin. She took a deep breath and found the fob on his key chain. The door shut behind her with a soft click.
She depressed the unlock button. The truck’s lights flashed in her eyes and beeped.
“Don’t move.”
Something hard and metallic pressed against the back of her head. Her breath sucked in sharply. Ice shot through her veins. Her body turned to lead, anchoring her to the spot. A scream caught in her throat. The cool metal kept it trapped in her chest.
The speaker snatched the keys from her hand. Another shape moved in the darkness. The rear passenger door opened.
“Get in,” the cold, dead voice hissed. “Make a sound and I’ll blow your head off.”
Chapter 23
Cal motioned for Rufus to stay at the bedroom doorway. He inched his way into the room, his Glock poised in front of him. Someone else was trying to get in his damn house. Whoever it was was halfway through the window, his booted foot on the sill and gloved fingers on the side of the window frame. His head was down, shielded by a black baseball cap.
Anger rippled down his spine. He balled his hands into fists at his side.
Hell, no.
He was done with this shit. Done with people terrorizing Lana, done with people thinking they could enter his property. The alarm company would have contacted the police already, but it would be a while before they arrived. He moved across the room on the balls of his feet. The intruder grunted as he tried to heave himself over the window ledge.
Cal’s hands itched with the urge to jump him. Like the unconscious fuck in the kitchen, this sonofabitch was going to get a beatdown.
In one swift movement, he snagged the back of the man’s jacket and flipped him through the window. His back slammed against the hardwood floors with a thud.
Air wheezed out of his lungs. He cursed over a groan.
Cal crushed the side of his foot into the man’s throat. He choked and sputtered. Pleasure tickled his insides. They were going to pay…all of them. The guy’s hands flew around like baby birds trying to pluck at Cal’s sweatpants.
Light from the bedside lamp shone over his reddening face.
“You stupid little bitch,” Cal snarled. The man’s eyes rolled back. He eased enough pressure off of his throat for him to catch some air. Having him unconscious would do no good when the police got here.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Stamos?”
“I”—his breath rasped through his scrunched-up face—“had no choice.”
Anger surged through him. He put more weight on his foot. Stamos’s arms flailed in panic. Something popped beneath his foot. Stamos squinted in pain, and sweat rolled over his brows. He had a lot of balls coming here to Cal’s hideaway, especially with an already bum shoulder.
“Why are you here?” Cal pointed the gun at his head, his hand unwavering.
Stamos’s throat convulsed against his foot. His face flooded with purple, and each breath he fought to suck in stayed trapped at his lips.
“C’mon, Stamos, I don’t have all night.”
“P–please,” he gasped between useless breaths.
Cal eased his foot off, but kept it placed against Stamos’s windpipe. “Who sent you? Hurry up,” he barked when Stamos sucked in another greedy breath of air.
“It was the old lady, man. She told me I would end up like Will if I didn’t do what she said.”
Cal’s fingers flexed. His brain worked at rapid speed. “What ‘old lady’? What’s her name?”
“I don’t know. I swear. She never told me.” He pressed his lips together. Tears wet his lashes.
“How’d you find this place?” He’d kept his cabin discreet for three years, and he liked that he always had a backup plan. He’d been careful not to bring Lana here when he’d first taken her, but there hadn’t been any help for it this time. And now it was fucking useless.
Stamos’s eyes hardened in defiance. Stamos was pissed that Cal had fucked the job up for him, but he didn’t give a shit. Cal aimed the gun at his injured shoulder.
“Alright! We hid a couple of guys along the road near where my other men crashed and followed you.”
Anger rippled through him. No one had been on the road when he and Lana had returned from Tanner’s. He was always careful about tails. But it had never crossed his mind that people could be waiting in the bushes to see what drive he pulled into. He reached down to grab Stamos’s jacket and hauled him to his feet. He shoved him against the wall.
“Rufus, come.” Rufus charged from the doorway. Stamos let out a squeal and cowered against the wall. Cal smiled. Had he known Stamos was afraid of dogs, he would have started with that first. Rufus paused, teeth bared, spit flying through his murderous snarl.
“You better think fast, before I let Rufus tear your balls off.”
Stamos whined. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. Just keep that mutt away from me.”
“How did she contact you?”
Stamos licked his l
ips. His eyes never left Rufus. “Shawn called me and I met them somewhere.”
“Give me your phone.”
Stamos dug into his front pocket and handed it to him. Cal slipped the device into his back pocket. He would search through it later and find the source that way. Sirens screamed from the distance. The cops were on their way.
“You gotta let me go, man. There’s a warrant out for me.”
Cal snorted. “Why the hell would you think I’d give you a break?” He stashed his Glock at the small of his back and propelled Stamos out the door and down the hallway. He wound him through the dark halls and toward the front door.
Stamos was a dumb, snitchy sonofabitch. He wouldn’t survive a week in prison. He paused in the foyer to enter the alarm password in the keypad. The blaring silenced. Stamos twisted in his hold, his efforts futile. Red and blue bubble lights flashed outside the cabin.
Bang, bang, bang!
“Police, open up!”
“Oh, look, someone’s here for you,” Cal said in a singsong voice.
Stamos groaned. “Fuck, man.”
Cal shook his head. He unlocked the door, yanked it open, and welcomed the armed officers inside. One of the large officers took Stamos, cuffed him, and put him in the back of the patrol car. Cal gave a quick briefing of what had happened.
“There’s another man restrained in my kitchen. If you’ll excuse me for a moment, my girlfriend is in the garage.”
The officers disappeared through the house. Cal opened the garage door, flicked on the light, and stepped in.
“Lan—” His breath sucked in. The force of it burned his lungs. His truck was gone. The garage was empty. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He turned in a circle.
“Lana?”
No. It couldn’t be. His hands fisted at his temples.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
He dug his fingertips into his scalp and paced the garage. She was gone. While he’d been wasting time getting information from Stamos, someone had taken her. An iron fist gripped his heart. He had to get her back. God, how had it happened? He needed help. The police were here, but he needed someone with more resources. Someone who could act now.
He searched his pocket for his phone. He pulled it out and stared down at it. Lana had his phone…he had Stamos’s. His fingers hovered on the buttons. His brain told him to call his own phone, but he couldn’t. If it rang, it would alert whoever had her that she had a phone on her. And if they found it on her, they would destroy it and he would have no chance of finding her at all. It was a shot in the dark without it. He dialed Nate’s number. It rang and rang.
Goddammit, answer the phone, you asshole.
On the fourth ring, a breathless Nate came to the phone. “What is it?”
“Lana’s gone.” His words came out rough and broken. Rage shot through his veins, and every syllable required effort.
“What?” Nate rasped. An annoyed woman’s voice sounded in the background. Nate shushed her. The fucking guy was getting laid while all this shit was going down. A sharp pain pierced behind his eyes, the headache nearly blinding him. Cal pinched his temples together with his thumb and forefinger and willed it away. He had to find Lana.
“Stamos and some other guy came to the house. I told her to wait in my truck, and when I went to get her, she was gone. Along with my truck and my phone.”
“She has your phone?” The sound of a belt buckle clanked.
“Yes. Please tell me you’re getting dressed and not the other way around.”
“Of course, you dipshit.” Nate’s muffled voice sounded in his ear. He whispered something appeasing to the woman, then came back on.
“I can trace your phone. I just have to get my equipment up and running. Call E, tell him to come to your place and call me when he gets there. By then I should have a location.”
Dammit, he hoped to hell Ethan could get there fast. He never should have taken Lana so far from town.
“Done.” Cal disconnected, placed a call to Ethan, and after he promised to be there as soon as possible, Cal raced back inside. One of the cops, a shorter one with close-cropped reddish hair, propelled the man from the kitchen toward the door.
Fear tightened its evil fingers around his soul. If someone had been waiting in the garage, she would have been grabbed the moment he’d sent her in there. Cal glanced at his watch. That had easily been twenty-five minutes ago. Christ. If they’d driven as fast as the cops, they could be anywhere by now.
He stepped in front of the red-haired cop and the sonofabitch with the broken nose and blackening eyes. Cal’s fists bunched at his sides. The need to hit him again roared through his body.
“You,” he spoke low, his voice even. “Who else was here?”
“Easy.” The buff cop with short blond hair stepped in. His hand extended to part Cal from their prisoner.
Cal ignored him. He wasn’t going to wait for a goddamn judge or some two-bit cop to question the stupid sonofabitch. Not while Lana could be anywhere—with anyone.
He didn’t take his eyes off of his one good eye. “Who hired you?”
“Sir, you have to let us do our job.”
Cal held his hand out. “One minute”—then, under his breath to the guy—“if I were you I’d answer the damn question, and fast.”
He shrugged. The left side of his mouth lifted with indifference. “The old lady. S’all I know.”
The redhead sidled past him, the other man in tow. Cal reached out for the other cop. “My girlfriend is missing. She was hiding in the garage when they broke into the house. Someone took her and my truck.”
The cop scratched the beard on his face. His pale blue eyes watched Cal carefully. “Did she have access to your keys?”
Cal’s brain crackled with frustration. “Of course she did.”
“Could it be possible she just left? Maybe she was scared?”
He bit back the response that burned the tip of his tongue. “Can you at least report my truck stolen?”
He looked at his watch, nodded, and pulled out a pad and paper. At the very least, it wouldn’t hurt to have more eyes out looking for his truck. He asked Cal a few more questions about the break-in, then left.
Cal couldn’t bring himself to wait inside. Goddammit. He’d wanted to buy another vehicle many times to keep here, but he had been too busy. It had seemed pointless to buy a second truck when he barely had time to drive the first. But if he had indulged, he wouldn’t be pacing the fucking driveway right now. Another fifteen minutes passed. He pulled Stamos’s phone out of his pocket to dial Ethan. The battery flashed. Almost dead.
Headlights cut down the drive.
Thank God.
He jogged down the drive and met Ethan halfway. After climbing in the passenger seat, he dialed Nate on Ethan’s phone.
“Don’t worry, bro, we’ll find her.” Ethan peeled out of the driveway. Nate answered on the first ring. Cal put him on speaker.
“Take WA-203 South. They’re moving, so that’s a good sign.” Nate’s tone was even, his meaning unspoken. He didn’t have to say the words. If they weren’t moving, that meant they’d stopped. If they had stopped, they would be following through with their intent…to kill Lana.
Cal’s throat clenched until pain shot through his chest. His hands opened and closed on his lap.
Ethan weaved in and out of traffic effortlessly. Minutes stretched, making them seem like hours. He couldn’t take the silence. His heart thumped against his rib cage like a wild beast. When he got a hold of them, they would pay. He would be sure of it. Ethan pulled onto the interstate, thankfully clear of traffic at the hour.
“Are they still on 203?”
“Yup.” Nate’s breath came over the speakers. “Looks as though they’re heading for Mount Teneriffe.”
A beat passed. Images flashed through his mi
nd. There were a million and one ways to dispose of a body in the deeply wooded trails and cliffs there. He massaged his temples.
“E, you have to go faster.” His voice shook. He pinched the bridge of his nose. Every muscle in his body tensed.
A cold rivulet tickled his forehead. He wiped it with his sleeve. The inky liquid shone on the gray material of his shirt. Blood. From the bastard who had bashed him on the head with a solid stone candlestick holder. It should have hurt like a bitch, but was only an irritating throb.
Hang on, baby. I’m coming.
Ethan nodded. His foot slammed on the gas. Cal’s head tilted back with the force of it.
After a few minutes, Nate spoke again. “You’re gaining on them nicely.” He took an audible, shuddering breath. “Not sure if this is a good time or not, but I thought I’d tell you guys that I met someone.”
Ethan snorted. “You meet someone every night, dude.”
“Yeah, but I think this is different. It feels different.”
Cal’s eyes rolled skyward. He appreciated Nate’s efforts to distract him, but nothing and no one could intervene in his thoughts. Not now. Not until Lana was safe in his arms. He licked his lips. They were reaching the outskirts of the city, and with it came the raw, tinny taste of fear to his mouth. He never should have sent her to his truck. Never should have let her out of his sight. He’d been off his guard. Slipups like this didn’t happen to him, and they sure as hell shouldn’t have happened with Lana. She was his Achilles’ heel.
He’d quit his career tonight if it meant getting Lana back safe and sound. He didn’t need the money, he didn’t need the rush, and he sure as hell didn’t need anything but her as long as he lived.
“Nate, where are they?”
“Still moving. Looks as though they’re coming up to the off-ramp to Mount Teneriffe. You need to hurry.”
Ethan’s knuckles turned white on the steering wheel. Horns blared around them. Cal’s vision turned hazy. Clouds shielded the moon, and soft drops of rain landed on the windshield.
“Cal, buddy, you there?” Nate’s voice was low, uneven. So out of character that it made Cal’s skin prickle.
Abducted Page 20
