by Cora Blu
He flipped the deadbolt then stepped back into the room and shoved the couch out of the way. It made a wrenching screeching sound over the floor. She bounced off the couch when he dropped her to move the rug to expose a wood panel in the floor.
She felt dizzy, gripping the arm of the threadbare couch, her legs felt like lead.
On his knees, Mark angled away, then back, shaking something long from a small satin bag.
“This will only sting a little, so I’m told.” He shoved something through her sweater to pierce her skin, the sensation licked around her waist like fire ants crawling through her veins.
What did he give her? Drugging only meant one thing. He didn’t want her to know where he was taking her.
She couldn’t form the words to ask when he’d lifted the floorboard and the musty scent of mold filled her nose.
They were going underground. He was going to kill her.
Chapter 22
Mikhail
Frantic not finding Bethany in the loft, Mikhail tossed chairs around the hay-strewn floorboards.
Why did he even trust her with Mark? He whirled around looking for clues that they’d even made it up there, and all he saw was the pile of hay where Bethany broke down and where he handed her straight into her next nightmare.
Where could he have taken her that no one saw them leave? The sound of Seth’s hollering echoes pulled his attention over the railing.
“There’s too many tracks from the slopes out to the river, and the cub’s paw prints are everywhere.” Seth shook his head eyeing the snowmobile. “I checked the chalet. Sim didn’t see her or Mark come in. I’ll put an instructor on the snowmobile to search the trail…we’ll jump in the chopper with the ranger and hunt down the bastard. It’s getting dark and Bethany’s probably not dressed to be out there in the cold.”
He wanted to leap over the railing; he couldn’t get down the stairs fast enough. “She’s out there with that asshole.” Scanning the grounds, he burst through the stable door to the launch area and the waiting chopper with his brother at his side. “All this shit going on with Stanic’s damn bear, and Mark got away with Bethany. Nobody saw them leave or get in a truck or anything.”
Shining the flashlight around then up to the chalet gave him nothing but a headache.
He shot Greg a heated stare standing in the center of the crowd forming out front before the lifts. A tight grimace gripped Greg’s face as he approached.
“Where were you when she went to the barn?” Condemning the man, he suspected after the conversation in the loft with Bethany.
Greg drew back biting the inside of his jaw under a deep frown. “She told me you’d be her protection today. I thought you could handle it.” Greg’s green eyes darkened with every word.
“And you didn’t confirm it with me? You’re her guard, not her cruise director. Your job is to keep her safe,” he forced, inches from the man’s face. He couldn’t stop the fight that was already on his tongue.
He angled around, hearing Seth moving up beside him. “We’re losing daylight. I’ll deal with this once we find your girl.”
His anger would get Bethany killed if he didn’t get out there instead of arguing with this piece of nothing.
“Okay, listen up everyone. Mark has Bethany, and that means they could be anywhere. Crazy you take a group on horseback down along the road leading back to the village. Seth and I’ll search by helicopter. Greg.” He took a breather. “You stay around here with my other guards and if he comes back call everyone back.”
Greg nodded.
“Everyone clear on Mikhail’s direction?” Seth asked trailing his gaze over the open faces, their eyes gleaming in the waning daylight and their heads nodding. “Finding Bethany is priority one. We don’t know how volatile Mark is but remember he’s our stalker,” Seth ordered the crowd.
The Ranger stepped up. “We’ll need something with Ms. Cansler’s scent on it for our tracking dogs when they get up here,” he said, in between speaking into the radio clipped to his collar.
Mikhail looked down as Glenda touched his sleeve. “I’ll get the sweater she had on yesterday…so embarrassed I never suspected Mark,” Glenda said with her shoulders slumped forward. “He helped her with the guys harassing her so I just…I’ll go get her sweater,” she complained her blond curls swinging side to side as she shook her head. “He used me, asking about her all the time. I thought he was being concerned, because she’s my best friend.”
And that didn’t strike her as odd? “What did he ask?” Mikhail questioned, stepping closer to her.
Glenda tugged nervously on her jacket zipper as she spoke, “Uh, nothing specific, or questionable. He knew she didn’t have many friends and thought it was nice she and I got along. Considering many reps found her to be a threat, he just paid attention, making sure she felt at home at Heinemann’s. Bethany never mentioned him bothering her. To be fair, she never had anything bad to say about him. So naturally his concern didn’t come as a surprise.”
They’d all missed it. “Let’s concentrate on finding Bethany,” Mikhail said.
Crazy stepped up slipping a gun behind him into his waistband. “Offer a reward. People will dime out their mother for money.”
Not a bad idea, Mikhail thought. “Listen everyone. Fifty grand to whomever finds Ms. Cansler alive.”
Murmurs filled the air.
“A hundred grand will be the reward for finding Ms. Cansler,” Josef, Mikhail’s father, emerged from the chalet zipping up his jacket and stood next to Mikhail. “This woman’s important to you, which makes her important to us. Go bring my daughter-in-law home.”
“And my granddaughter.” All faces turns as his seldom seen grandfather emerged seconds behind Josef with Anya at his side. Pepper hair shot through with strands of fading red decorated his uncovered head. “I was on my way up when your mother told me what’s happening. My son has gone rogue on his family. I can’t have that. My chopper’s at your disposal. Bring your woman home, Mikhail.”
Mikhail’s pride surged seeing his family supporting this search for his woman.
“You don’t know what this means to have your support, Grandfather,” he said embracing the lean man.
“I know son, go bring that young woman home. You’ll need heirs to inherit your company one day. And your mother’s being a baby hog with my grandbabies. Don’t correct me, family’s made up of those closest to your heart, not just by blood. You know that better than any man.” He slapped Mikhail and Seth’s back. “Go…” he finished, with Anya and Josef nodding toward the chopper standing at his back.
Pride settled down his spine giving him the support of his entire family…Bethany was family once he found her. He’d bring his woman home or nobody on this mountain would rest tonight. Mikhail tucked the gun in his waistband at his back.
Crazy got his attention nudging his arm dipping a nod toward the gun at Mikhail’s back. “Need a second magazine?”
He didn’t look up, just admitted through compressed lips. “If he’s got Bethany… and all I had were two bullets, that’s still one too many,” Mikhail assured, slapping him on the shoulder before pulling his jacket over the bulge at his back. “Let’s go find my woman.”
“Let’s do this.” Slapping a hand to his back, he jogged off to his large white horse. The horse appeared to dip with Crazy’s solid frame coming down on the saddle.
“Mr. Shamochernyi, it’s getting dark in the forest. If we’re going to find her we have to leave now.”
Mikhail and Seth hopped in the helicopter.
Crazy led the team of thirty horses into the darkening forest, and their hooves pounded over the ground running down the trail, arcs of blinding white snow filled the air, spewing off hooves beating a trail into the shadowy forest. The whir of the chopper blades sent snow in the air veiling the chalet from view once they rose above the pines.
The searchlights blazed a line through the trees. Passing the scavenger hunt markers, Mikhail examined everythi
ng that moved in the snow. The sun had set, and Bethany would be in pitch dark soon with no direction to tell her which way to go.
Mikhail pulled on the headphones. Holding the binoculars, he peered down over the landscape darting glances through the thick forest praying he saw any signs of Bethany.
“Mr. Shamochernyi.” The pilot got his attention. “If you see something that catches your eye…speak up.”
“Got it.”
Where was Bethany? The question flashed repeatedly through his mind. Heart pounding, he scanned the landscape for her jacket or movement. He couldn’t lose her, not again. This woman was his future.
From the sky the thick forest shielded most of the ground and the white snow only showed where the forest was the thinnest. It splashed sporadic blotches of light between the trees.
A glint of disturbance in the distance down to the left hit Mikhail’s peripheral, and he yelled into the microphone getting the pilot’s attention, “Over to the left…broken trees…beyond the river past the bluff.”
“Roger that,” the pilot confirmed angling the helicopter to make a return pass over the trees. Pointing the search light over the area Mikhail caught the flicker of something gleaming between the ravine and the last ski jump before heading toward the hiking shanties.
As they cleared the tops of the trees, he pointed to the ground. “Down there…something keeps reflecting under the strobe light. Get down there!” he barked, uncertain of what it was, but if there was a chance it was Bethany it was a chance they were taking.
“There’s no place level to set her down.” The pilot angled back around. “I’ll have to pull back about a hundred yards and set her down on the flat.”
“Get me down there, close to the ground. I’ll jump. Do it now.” Hollering at the pilot wasn’t helping, but soon the wolves would be out and Bethany had no protection. She wasn’t a nature girl.
“Mikhail,” Seth said pointing down the ravine. “Look, over there to your left. That’s a car or small SUV in the ravine catching the searchlights.” He motioned to the pilot. “Any accidents reported in the area?”
“No,” the pilot answered pressing and flipping dials on the dashboard. “Just your neighbor Stanic’s missing cub. Bet Mark released it to come up here on purpose to keep us busy.”
Mikhail shot a hurried look to the pilot while pointing to the car. “Makes sense…Shine the light on the car down there and get in closer.”
The pilot shook his head. “Too many trees. I’ll get you close as I can. You’ll have one hell of a bumpy trek.”
Uncaring of his safety, Mikhail jabbed a finger in the air indicating a clearing between the massive pines. “Set her down,” he demanded unbuckling his seat belt, as the helicopter wobbled. Frantic to get down there, Mikhail swung the door open the second it touched the ground, the blades still whirling, tree branches bending under the force of air. He leapt from the chopper sprinting through the trees.
He slid down the ravine his jeans snagging on the small rocks, rolling to a stop at the badly mangled car.
Panting, he pounded a fist against the ground at the picture forming before him in the shadows.
“No!—no—no!” he screamed with the cold air burning his lungs, every terrifying breath his heart ripping open the closer he got to the truck.
Claw marks marred the snow on the windshield. The motionless form inside lay crumpled over the steering wheel, something dark crusted down the side of the person’s face…dried blood.
He scrambled over the brush and downed branches. Falling, he got up and landed on the door. Yanking on the handle, it didn’t budge, but rocked side to side.
“Bethany—baby wake up—c’mon Bethany sit up for me. It’s Khail, honey, sit up and look at me,” he urged pain stifling his English. He couldn’t make out Seth’s words over his ranting.
Fighting the frozen latch on the door, he pounded a fist on top of the roof, unable to control his anger.
“Mikhail it’s not her…”
Struggling to catch his breath, rationally he knew it wasn’t Bethany. She hadn’t been gone long enough, but he had to see for himself. Picking up a rock, Mikhail pounded the windshield over and over, tiny spider fractures splintered out from the center.
“Mikhail it’s not her. I can see from this side it’s a boy…nineteen maybe.”
“I know damn it, but I have to see, Seth. I have to see it’s not my woman,” he yelled into the night still slamming the rock against the glass. Seth was at his side dragging him around the hood of the car to the passenger side window.
“Look…it’s not her…” he forced over Mikhail’s ranting, “that boy’s only nineteen maybe twenty. Come on man keep it together. Calm down bro, it’s not Bethany. I know you’re going crazy—I know—Bethany needs your head on straight.”
Mikhail pounded a fist against the windshield then fell back recognizing the young man and his world splintered.
“Shit—shit—shit, that’s Bethany’s friend. Goddammit Seth, she was supposed to ride up with him.” The longer he stared the barbed wire knot tightened in his gut. Mikhail scrubbed a hand over his face and dropped to his knees in the hard snow suppressing the urge to punch the ground—or vomit.
Seth dropped down beside him. “You know him?” he asked, placing a comforting hand to his back.
Mikhail nodded. “…Bethany’s ski partner.”
Seth frowned holding the flashlight to his face. “They were…?”
“No.” Drawing in the cold air, he scrubbed a finger under is nose. “Robert, her brother, was killed in a kitchen accident. Last year when she moved into the condo she met Yannik and he filled that brother void for her. Stupidly I accused her of being naïve about his intentions. Had it not been for him teaching her to shut down the mainframe at the office…he saved her life.” He paused picturing her soft face tightening when he’d said Yannik wanted sex. She was pissed. “Now I know why he never made it up. But she said he’d called. So how did he end up down here?” He closed his hands over his head then leaned against the door. “Fuck!”
Seth closed a hand over his shoulder. “Killed? Damn. I’m sorry man. This will be her brother’s death all over again,” Seth, said pulling out his phone taking pictures around the car and the form slumped over the steering wheel, evidence for the polizei.
Mikhail got to his feet staring at Yannik’s frozen form inside the truck then smacked a hand to the glass, his gut clenching.
“We’re going to find your girl and then get a recovery team down here for Yannik,” Seth said.
“Where is Bethany?” Anguish tore at Mikhail’s soul.
“If this were closer to the road I’d say he lost control.” Seth deduced then peered around shaking his head shining his flashlight’s beam up the mountain then down over the ground. “Look, car tracks. Somebody pushed it over here. And it wouldn’t have been hard at this angle. It would have slid easily.”
This was intentional.
“Dammit, Seth. Mark’s dating Glenda, Bethany’s friend. He knew about Yannik coming up to ski with her,” And if he’d ever been in Bethany’s condo he’d seen her password on her refrigerator.
“Think for a second we have to be missing something, there’s a bigger connection somewhere,” Seth, thought aloud a hand closed around Mikhail’s arm. “Who assigned Greg as Bethany’s partner?”
“Munson.”
“Great, our useless detective…And who decided he should be her partner? I mean who knew Yannik couldn’t make it up if he called Bethany’s cell while you were on the road?”
“Munson had her phone until he returned her things before she left. And he assigned Officer Greg, and Greg didn’t leave until we left…supposedly watching to see who followed us out.”
“How long have you known Greg?”
“We hire extra security in the summer working longer hours. He started working the afternoon shift…been there months before this happened.”
“So he’s been watching Simone all this time
…knowing her habits and probably followed her home,” Seth concluded.
“Yeah…”
Seth picked up large branches from around the vehicle. “Munson had Yannik’s number after Bethany used his phone to call Yannik and likely gave it to Greg to call from the road.” Seth marked an X over the ground with broken branches for the recovery team to see from the chopper. “And Munson supplied Greg as Bethany’s guard.”
Mikhail was enraged. “I can see it now. Greg took her number and when he killed Yannik he texted Bethany from the road with Yannik’s phone. Once up here she had no argument to not partner up. Glenda had partnered with Mark, and the last thing Bethany wanted was to partner up with me.”
“Making it easy to accept his offer,” Seth added.
“Munson is working with Greg, and I’ll bet he’s working with Mark.”
“I’ll bet Greg held Bethany in the cabinet for Mark, but she jacked up their plans shutting down the system.”
Seth screwed up his face. “We have our kidnapper back at the chalet.”
Mikhail cursed. “And I set him up to watch her all week. Dammit, how did I not see that? We have to get back, now.”
They slogged their way up the berm to the chopper. “I’ll radio for a recovery team to pick up Yannik and the ranger can notify the polizei to meet us up there, ready to take Greg into custody.” Seth put a hand on Mikhail’s shoulder in the helicopter. “We’re going to find her, no matter how long it takes or where we have to look, we’ll find her.”
They hopped in, jerking the glass door shut, the blades whirring overhead.
“Turn around. Get us back to the chalet. Hurry up.” Pitching to the right and clearing the trees, they headed toward the chalet, the choppers, and lights shining on the pulsing teams of horseback below plowing through the snow to get back to the resort.
Reaching in his pocket, Mikhail took out his cell. Getting a signal, he texted Crazy to get the team back to the chalet. Mark was a problem, but Greg was a stalker, a different sort of danger.
Chapter 23
