by Tori Scott
Poor Brandy. She'd screwed up by telling Rand about his text message. He would have taken her with him, taken care of her. But she'd betrayed him. If he had more time, he'd hang her beside her mother, but he could always take care of her later. She'd have to let her guard down at some point. And it would give him something to look forward to.
When he reached the house, he climbed the steps to the safe room door and stopped to listen. No sound came through the door. This would be the trickiest part. If they were in the safe room, they would see him before he got inside.
He eased the door open quietly, just far enough to see that the room was empty. Then he settled in to wait. He knew they'd come. Why else would Rand choose this location if not for the safe room? They could have taken her almost anywhere, but he'd chosen this place And if they didn't come soon, he'd go looking for them.
***
Rand used the prearranged signal, three long buzzes of the doorbell, followed by two short bursts. Cody opened the door, gun in hand. "Rand? What are you doing here? Did you get him?"
Rand pushed his way inside and closed and locked the door behind him. "No, he hadn't shown up by the time I left. Why didn't any of you answer your phones?"
Cody looked at his phone. "It never rang. Damn, there's no signal at all."
"All the way here I was imagining you all dead and Maddie gone." His voice caught and he cleared his throat. "We need to get them into the safe room. I think Aaron is here somewhere."
"Here, boss? How would he know where we are?"
Rand shrugged. "He probably followed you. He's a lot smarter than we've given him credit for."
"Dad!" Brandy ran into his arms and wrapped her arms around his waist. "I was afraid something had happened to you."
Maddie appeared in the doorway and he breathed a sigh of relief. She was okay.
"Listen, I need you both to get into the safe room and stay put until I tell you it's safe to come out, understand?"
"Do we have to?"
"Yes, Brandy, you have to. Come on. I'll show you where it is." Rand ushered them down a hallway to a heavy steel door. A key hung on a hook outside the door and he used it to unlock the room. He flipped on the light and scanned the twelve by twelve space to be sure it was empty, then waited until they were inside before closing the door and locking it behind him.
By the time he got back to the main room, the driveway was filling up with state police, officers from several nearby towns, and even deputies from Smith and Kaufman counties. He spent several precious minutes organizing them into search teams. He'd bet his last dollar that Aaron was somewhere nearby, and he wasn't leaving anything to chance. They had to find him, now, before he could get to Maddie again.
He sent Cody to guard the safe room, along with one of the deputies. He doubled the protection around the house, then sent the teams out to search the grounds and nearby woods. He teamed up with one of the state police officers to search the outbuildings.
***
"This room is so cool!" Brandy roamed the small space, checking out the electronic equipment. She flipped a few switches and the overhead monitors came on, giving them a close up view of what was going on outside. "Look, Mom. We can see everything, inside and out."
Maddie looked up and, sure enough, they could watch the teams heading out two by two, fanning across the yard, some headed for the woods while others moved toward the sheds and storage buildings.
"This is awesome. It's just like watching one of those cop shows." She flipped another switch and the view changed to the inside of the house. They could see the guards outside the door, a couple of state troopers helping themselves to the pizza in the kitchen, the undercover FBI agents who'd switched places with them coming in the front door. "I wonder what this button does?"
"You probably shouldn't touch this stuff. You might mess something up."
"Geez, Mom. Give me a break. I'm not hurting anything." Brandy pushed a button and now they could hear what was going on, as well as seeing the activity. "I want a room like this in our house. Can you imagine how much fun that would be?" She switched the screens back to the outside.
Maddie smiled at Brandy, then froze as Rand came into view. God, please, protect him from Aaron.
With their attention riveted on the screens, they didn't see or hear Aaron sneaking up behind them.
He grabbed Brandy and held a knife to her throat. "Not a sound, or I'll cut her throat. You know I'll do it."
Maddie nodded. "Don't hurt her. I'm the one you want. Let her go and I'll go with you."
Aaron sneered at her. "Of course you will. There was never any doubt." He pulled a roll of duct tape and a handkerchief from his pocket. He stuffed the gag in Brandy's mouth, then wrapped the tape all the way around her head to hold the gag in place. He pulled her hands behind her back and slipped a pair of plastic cuffs over her wrists.
Brandy tried to kick him and he backhanded her across the face.
Maddie made a move toward him and he put the knife back against her daughter's throat. "Don't make another move or I'll kill her."
Aaron marched Brandy across the room, taped her ankles together, and shoved her into a closet. Then he turned to Maddie, triumph shining in his eyes. "I always knew I'd get you some day." He grabbed her arm with one hand and held the knife against her throat with the other. "Let's go. We don't have much time."
He shoved her ahead of him down the steps to some kind of tunnel. Where did it lead? If she took off running, could she beat him to the other end and scream for help? Or would he go back for Brandy?
Her hesitation cost her. He reached the bottom of the steps and twisted his hand in her hair, giving it a painful jerk. "Don't even think about running. I'll catch you and kill you. Then I'll go back for your daughter. But I wouldn't kill her at first. I'd take her away with me, keep her as my personal slave for a while. But I would kill her eventually."
He pushed her forward. She tried to drag her steps, delaying the inevitable. Would anyone know she was no longer in the safe room? Probably not for hours yet. They'd left food and water in the room and locked the door. They might not even open the door before morning.
There was no one to save her this time. She'd have to figure out a way to save herself, and her daughter. Maybe if she talked to him, tried to figure out why he'd fixated on her, she could find a way to change his mind. Not too likely, but worth a try. "Can you at least tell me what I did to make you hate me so much?"
"Shut up!"
She tried to look at him over her shoulder, but he held her hair tightly. Too tightly. "Don't I deserve to know why I'm about to be murdered?"
"You don't deserve anything."
"Exactly! That's my point. I haven't done anything to deserve this. Neither did any of those other women."
He stopped and jerked her head back until they were nearly nose to nose. It was disconcerting, looking at him upside down.
"Women are supposed to be subservient to men. They used to know their place. At home, cooking and cleaning. Keeping their mouths shut. Now they talk too much, tell things that are none of their business. A man's business is his own, not for a woman to judge and spread lies about."
"So you think I told someone about something that was your private business? But I didn't. I never had a chance to say a word."
His hot breath washed over her face. She was grateful that he at least paid attention to basic hygiene, like brushing his teeth. "You threatened to tell. I don't like tattletales. Now shut up and quit stalling." He pushed her forward again.
"Is that why you killed your mother?"
She didn't see it coming. The butt end of the knife caught her across the temple, almost making her black out. She howled in pain.
Aaron jerked her around to face him and grabbed her chin. "If you want me to cut your tongue out now instead of after you're dead, just keep talking."
Maddie shut up.
"That's better. Now move."
***
Brandy couldn't breathe
. She was hyperventilating, getting light headed. She tried to calm down. Passing out wasn't going to help her mother. Okay, breathe through your nose. Slow and easy. You can do this.
She looked around for anything that might help her get out of the handcuffs. The closet was dark, but Aaron hadn't kicked the door all the way closed. A shaft of light did little to help illuminate the dark closet, but as her eyes adjusted she could see a bit more. Shelves lined the walls and held large cans of food, bottles of water, flashlights, blankets. And what looked like a medical kit. She scooted into a sitting position. How was she going to get on her feet with her ankles taped and her hands behind her back?
She scooted back against an empty section of the wall, then inched her way up until she was standing. Her ankles were bound tightly, so walking was out of the question. She took small, careful hops across the short distance to the shelf where she'd seen the kit. So far, so good. But the kit was on a shelf just out of reach of her bound hands.
Damn it. Okay, time for some innovation. She turned around to face the shelf and used her lips and teeth to tug it toward the edge. Then she gave one final tug and it crashed to the floor, scattering supplies everywhere. She eased herself back down to the ground until she was kneeling and looked around for scissors, a scalpel--something sharp enough to cut through the ties. She finally found it under a small pile of bandages.
The scalpel was so sharp she cut her finger trying to pick it up without being able to see it, but she kept trying until she finally had it sharp end up in her right hand. She started sawing at the plastic tie until, finally, it popped loose and her hands were free. Then she cut the duct tape loose and tucked the scalpel into her pocket, just in case.
Where had Aaron taken her mom? There was no way he could have gone out the main door, so that left the way he came in. Where did that door lead? She eased out of the closet, looking around to make sure the room was empty, then crept over to where the door had been. The wall looked blank. But she'd seen a door there just a few minutes ago! It had to be hidden somehow, but damned if she could find it now.
How much time had passed? Five minutes? Ten? Her Mom could already be dead. She had to find a way to get help. She flipped the monitor back to where it showed the inside of the house. The guards were still at the door, so she tried screaming as loudly as she could. There was no reaction. So that meant the room was soundproof. She scanned the electronic controls and found the button for the sound. If she could hear what was being said outside, did it have a setting where those outside could hear what was happening inside?
She tried pushing the button again and the voices outside went silent. Then she yelled, "Help!"
***
Rand's radio crackled to life as he walked across the pasture toward the well house. "Rand, he's got her."
His heart froze. How in the hell had the bastard gotten past a dozen armed deputies, state troopers and FBI? "Are you absolutely sure? What happened?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. Brandy's right here. He came in through a hidden door in the wall of the safe room. Our guys are trying to find it now. He couldn't have gotten in the house, so there has to be some kind of tunnel down there."
A tunnel. Where did it lead? "Which wall? North, south, east, or west?"
There was a short silence, then, "South wall."
He looked at the house, then across the pasture to the south. The only thing in that direction was a barn. "Got it. Send everyone to the barn. You and Cody stay with Brandy. Do NOT let Aaron get near her. Shoot him on sight, you understand?"
"Got it boss."
Rand took off running for the barn about four hundred feet away. In the distance, he could see flashlights bobbing up and down as the other offices ran in the same direction.
As he neared the building, he dropped low and slowed, easing his way to the side and around to the main door. He peeked around the door frame, his heart in his throat, afraid of what he would find, but the building appeared empty. He slid inside, gun drawn, and stopped, transfixed by the sight of a rope hanging from a rafter in the center of the room, a noose tied neatly at the end.
The sound of Maddie's voice, getting louder by the second, sent him scrambling for cover in a vacant stall. Where was his back up? They should have been there by now. But there was no more time to worry about that. The floor opened up and Maddie stepped into the barn, her head twisted at an odd angle. Then Aaron appeared behind her, his hand fisted in her hair. He shoved her, and she hit the ground, hard.
Rand nearly leapt from his hiding place. He wanted to strangle Aaron with his bare hands, then string him up by his own noose. But Aaron grabbed Maddie and now held a gun to her head.
"Put the noose around your neck," Rand heard him say.
Maddie struggled to stand and tried to pull away from Aaron.
"Do I have to do everything?" he said? Because if you don't do what I say, I'll go back for Brandy and let you watch while I do the same thing to her that I did to your friend."
Maddie was shaking so badly she could barely hold on to the rope, much less put it over her head. Rand aimed his gun, steadying his gun hand against the wooden rail of the stall. Aaron had his back to him, but he was standing too close to Maddie. Rand couldn't risk shooting him and hitting her.
Aaron grabbed the end of the rope with his free hand and pulled it, tightening the noose around Maddie's neck. Her eyes widened and she choked as she struggled to breathe. Her hands tugged fruitlessly at the rope.
Aaron laughed and walked away a few steps to loop the rope around a post. "Now, it's time for some fun."
Rand stood and aimed for Aaron's head. "Can I join in?"
Aaron whipped around and brought his gun up.
Rand's shot caught Aaron dead center in the middle of his forehead.
Rand kept one eye on Aaron to be sure he was dead, though from the amount of blood seeping onto the concrete floor there wasn't much doubt. He picked up the gun and turned to check on Maddie. His back up had finally arrived and cut her down. She sat on the floor rubbing her throat. When he knelt down in front of her, she launched herself into his arms and sobbed.
He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back. "It's okay. It's all over. He's dead."
"B-B-Brandy?" she finally managed to choke out. "Is she okay?"
Rand looked up at a nearby state trooper. "Can you check on my daughter, please?"
The trooper made a call. "She's fine. Cody will bring her to the hospital."
Rand helped Maddie up. "Are you okay?"
She nodded. "I don't need a hospital. I need to see Brandy."
Rand shook his head. "You're getting checked out. You have a nasty bruise on your head, and your throat looks bad, too. I'll make sure Brandy gets there safely." The paramedics arrived and Rand helped her onto the gurney.
She wiped her wet cheeks and nodded. Rand watched as she gathered her strength and slid back into the cloak of toughness he'd come to know. And love.
***
Maddie finally convinced the doctors to release her once they'd determined she suffered from nothing more serious than a mild concussion. She'd had enough of hospitals and doctors and people fussing over her. Everyone but Rand, that is. She'd barely seen him when he dropped Brandy off after taking her statement. He'd stayed long enough to tell her about Brandy's brave actions and how she was the real hero. Then he'd disappeared without a word.
Okay, fine. If that's how he wanted it, she could handle things herself from here on out. She never should have shown weakness after the shooting, but for that one small moment she'd needed his strong arms around her, had needed to release all the pent up emotion of the last few minutes.
Evidently it had been more than he could handle. Just like the last time, when she'd needed him, emotionally, he was unavailable. She was grateful he'd been there to rescue her, at least. Even if he couldn't handle the aftermath.
Brandy paced the room while Maddie got dressed. "Where's Dad? Have you talked to him ?"
"No. I don't
know where he is, either. It doesn't matter. Ellie is picking us up and taking us back to the house."
"Cool. Maybe Dad will stop by."
Maybe, but Maddie wasn't going to hold her breath.
Ellie helped Maddie pack their clothes and the things they wanted to take back with them to Oklahoma. "Are you sure you have to go back there? I thought maybe you'd decide to stay, pick up where you and Rand left off."
Maddie laughed, the sound hollow and empty. "Don't think that's going to happen. He has better things to do than take on a ready-made family. Besides, our lives are back in Oklahoma. Brandy has school, friends. I have a job. We need to get things back to normal."
Ellie gave Maddie a hug. "At least promise to come back for a visit, or invite me up there to see you. I've missed my best friend."
Maddie hugged her back. "You're welcome to come visit any time."
By the time they had the SUV loaded and had arranged for the furniture to be picked up, the sun was beginning to set. They were going to be very late getting home, but since Rand hadn't even called or come by, Maddie couldn't wait to get out of town.
She thought about calling him, but decided against it. What could she say that wouldn't sound weak and petulant? She wrote him a polite thank you note and gave it to Linda when they stopped by to pick up Domino.
Linda frowned at the envelope in her hand. "Don't you think you should give this to him yourself? Or stop by to see him?"
Maddie shook her head. "No. I'm sure he's busy." Too busy to see us, obviously. "He knows my number. He can call me if he wants to."
Brandy refused to speak to her all the way home. They'd already fought about her not getting to say good-bye to her father. Maddie felt bad, but she'd been down this road before and didn't want to give Rand a chance to break her heart again. She feared, though, that it was already too late.
***
Maddie was getting worried about Brandy. While she'd seemed happy to be back with her friends, now that school was out and summer was in full swing, her daughter barely left the house. Her friends had stopped calling after a few weeks when Brandy refused any and all invitations. She spent more time on the computer than Maddie liked, but as far as Maddie could tell, Brandy was playing online games, not talking to friends.
