Crossroads 4: Shot Through the Heart (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Dixie Lynn Dwyer

  They were all silent, and Murdock knew this was really bad. There wouldn’t be any leads. He hadn’t fucked up and left any clues or even ditched the truck.

  “Mia has to be scared out of her mind,” Mitch said and then ran his fingers through his hair.

  “We’ll find them, guys. We’ll do everything we can to find Mia and get her back safe and sound,” Chief Cummings said to them, but one look at everyone’s faces and Murdock knew her chances of living were slim to none.

  * * * *

  It was four o’clock in the morning when the call came into the police department. They had set up a command center at the main station in Wellington. Every one of their friends and colleagues in law enforcement that were part of the community were there to help or be on standby for assistance. Tiegen. Mitch, Mosley, and the federal agents were organizing searches by air on the roadways. They had first centered their searches around the immediate vicinity and then began to move farther out past Yarland and into Pennsylvania in hopes of getting a clue and finding the vehicle.

  Murdock sat in the chair, his head in his hands, feeling angry and exhausted. He still couldn’t believe that this was happening.

  But just as he started to feel the exhaustion kick in and his eyes close, someone yelled out about a sighting.

  “We’ve got the vehicle,” the federal agent called out, and Murdock jumped up.

  “Where?” Nash asked.

  “Pennsylvania. An hour from here.”

  Murdock looked at Nash and Tiegen.

  “We’ll take the chopper and get there faster. We’ll land outside of the area just in case that cabin is within earshot,” the federal agent told Tiegen.

  “Let’s go,” Mitch said.

  Murdock followed them out the door.

  As they got into the SUV to get a ride to the field where the FBI helicopter would land, Murdock looked at Tiegen and Mitch.

  “It’s been hours.”

  “Listen, we don’t know what we’ll find at this site. It doesn’t mean she’s nearby, just that he ditched the truck there in the gas station.”

  “I understand how this works, but if he took her on foot, he wouldn’t be able to carry her too far. He would have to have another means of transportation,” Murdock told him.

  “Could take up another vehicle,” Mitch added.

  “I’ve got some pictures coming in of the area. One of our teams is already on the scene and securing the vehicle, asking questions of local residents. It’s a small town and known for summer getaways and some snowmobiling trails in the winter months. It’s way up the mountains, so there could be some decreased temperatures,” the agent told them. It was pretty damn cold down here in Wellington. There was a chance of snow showers all day today, so up north in the mountains was bound to be ten to fifteen degrees colder.

  He didn’t say a word. He didn’t want to jump to conclusions and assume the worst, but he had to try to prepare himself as best he could.

  “Gerry,” Tiegen said to the agent in charge. He nodded toward him.

  “That second set of people you have coming by helicopter following us, have them grab Damien, Elwood, and Toro Vancouver. They’re amazing trackers, along with my brother Murdock. If Peter took her into the woods and the mountains, they’ll help find her and quick.”

  The agent nodded, and Murdock typed into his cell phone, probably already in contact with Toro.

  “Good idea. We don’t need to waste more time when we get there waiting another thirty minutes for backup,” Mitch told him.

  “We need gear if we’re going to track through that weather. Otherwise, none of us will be any help,” Murdock said, and Tiegen’s cell phone buzzed again. He smirked.

  “Toro has it covered. For all of us.”

  * * * *

  Mia was so cold she could hardly feel her hands. Her blouse was ripped open, there were cuts all over her hands, arms, and shoulders, and her head was pounding. She had to stop and vomit numerous times, but Peter was there to care for her and then push her to continue walking through the woods and up the steep inclines.

  She teetered again, and he gripped her tightly. “Keep moving. We’ll be there in a couple of hours.”.

  They had been walking all night. Or at least it felt that way once he got rid of the truck and then strapped her onto a four-wheeler to head into the woods. He seemed to have planned out everything, including where they were headed. She tried to remember aspects of the other cases, indicators as to why he’d left his victims in the wooded areas a good hour from their homes, but her head hurt so badly it was too difficult to think.

  She didn’t want to stop walking, or he would strike her again. Hit her like he had when she first refused to walk and get onto the four-wheeler. Her eye was swollen shut now. The blood from her head wound had dried into her eye, which made blinking sting. She shivered, and her teeth chattered. She didn’t think they had gone too far because she kept having to stop to throw up or lose focus. He carried her several times, but this hill was steep. He hadn’t even noticed her ripping her blouse at the pocket and leaving pieces with her blood on it. He seemed to be completely focused on getting to this cabin, this place he said would be home forever.

  She smelled the snow in the air, that cold, crisp scent that made her think of the white stuff falling. Ten minutes later, as they got to another small clearing, she saw the flurries begin to fall. He chuckled.

  “I couldn’t have planned this better. They’ll be several inches by the time we make it to the cabin.”

  “Several inches? We’ll freeze to death,” she said, teeth clattering as she stopped walking and held her arms around her waist.

  “Don’t stop.” He shoved her, and she lost her balance and hit the ground. Her wrist twisted funny, and she felt the ache and pain as she hugged it to her chest.

  “I’ll take care of you. A nice hot bath, some warm new clothes I brought for you, and you’ll be fine.” He pulled her up and dragged her along the trail.

  She thought about R.J. and hoped he was still alive. She thought about her men, and the tears filled her eyes. She had to be smart. Peter had planned this well, and finding her would be impossible. By the time they found the truck and then figured out where to look for her, she would be dead, tied to this guy’s bed and raped, beaten, and murdered like the others. She needed to do something. She had to.

  “Why are you doing this to me? Why did you kill the others?” she asked him.

  “Because you’re the one I’ve been waiting for.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked as they climbed along the rocky terrain.

  “You were mine from that first moment we met. I made mistakes. They’re rectified now.”

  She slowed down and looked around them. The snowflakes were getting heavier, thicker, as they stuck to the ground, hiding the dangers of rocks and jagged edges.

  “You mean at the apartment where I lived with my parents?”

  He stopped and turned to look at her. “You remember me from then?”

  She nodded, and he smirked. He was creepy, his eyes dark and Charles Manson-like. His hair was jet-black with gray, indicating he was much older than her. She vaguely remembered thinking of him back then as an older man. But perhaps now he was in his fifties. He was big though. Large shoulders, big muscles, and almost as tall as Mitch.

  She thought of Mitch, Murdock, and Tiegen, and she knew she wouldn’t want them to find her raped and murdered in some cabin somewhere. If she was going to die and this man was going to be her maker, then she was going to die fighting.

  “I remember you seemed kind. That’s why I don’t understand why you killed all those women. Why you’re here with me now when you were protecting me from that guy back then.”

  “Stop talking and walk,” he yelled at her and gave her another shove. She stumbled forward sliding on the slippery leaves in the woods. He pulled her along.

  “We’re almost home, Mia.”

  “It’s not my home. I don’t want to be
here. I want to go back.”

  “To them?” he asked and grabbed her upper arm and started dragging her the rest of the way. As they got to the top, she saw the cabin.

  “Yes to them and to my life. I don’t belong here. You need help, Peter. Let me help you.”

  He grabbed her face and held it tightly as he looked down into her eyes.

  “You are helping me. You’re my woman now. You and I are going to live here forever, and no one will ever find us. Never.” He pressed his lips to hers.

  She shoved away from him and spat then ran her sleeve over her mouth. “No I’m not. I’m not your wife. I’m not staying here.”

  He struck her hard, sending her into the snow. The cold stung her bare skin along her belly and chest.

  He pulled her up. “Now move it. It’s been too many hours. I think we’re both grumpy. We’ll get inside, and I’ll make us something to eat, and we’ll start a fire. I have candles, too. It will be romantic, Mia. You’ll see, and I’ll teach you so much. You’ll love your new life. I promise.”

  Dread filled her heart. She wasn’t going to let him touch her. He would have to kill her first. That was the only way.

  * * * *

  Between Toro, Vancouver, Elwood, Damien, and Murdock, they were able to figure out that Peter had gotten a hold of a four-wheeler. Tracks were located by the edge of the parking lot where the gas station was and up a small trail. People living nearby said they’d heard what sounded like a four-wheeler during the night head into the woods toward the mountains. From there Tiegen and the agents got a full satellite image of the wooded area. One of the locals said that the only thing up the mountain was an abandoned old cabin from years ago. He thought he’d heard that someone purchased it but nothing more.

  “The weather is getting worse up there. The weather forecast is calling for a few inches of snow, give or take. Finding their tracks is going to take longer,” Toro said to them.

  “Well, I say our only choice is to head in the direction of this cabin. If there isn’t anything else around, then it has to be where this guy took her. It’s not like he would just head with her into the woods,” Damien said.

  “Unless he planned on killing her now. But that doesn’t add up to what R.J. and I have gathered over the months with the other cases. It seems that Mia is the one he was looking for and comparing these other women to,” Mosley said.

  Tiegen pulled the zipper on his jacket up and secured his weapon. The others did the same. There were groups of two, with Toro and Murdock in the lead with Tiegen and Mitch. Behind them would be the agents, plus Damien and Elwood leading the way.

  “Okay, let’s do this. We’re losing daylight and need to move now,” Toro said, and they all headed toward the woods to make the hike up the mountain.

  * * * *

  “Sit there,” he told her as they entered the cabin, and he gave her a shove to the floor. She fell, landing on her hands, trying to stop from tumbling over. But her wrist was sprained and gave out, and she landed on her left shoulder. She cried out, but he didn’t even glance at her. He started to light candles. The smell of mold, old wood, and dirt filled her nostrils. She tried to see in the darkness, now that night was falling. Combined with the snow coming down hard outside, and how high they were in the mountains, there was no sunlight, and soon it would be pitch-black out there.

  She shivered on the floor, her blouse torn along the edges, and it didn’t even matter. The snow would cover their path and the pieces of cloth she dropped, and that was only if they were looking for her.

  He walked by and tossed a thick flannel shirt at her. She didn’t care that it smelled like him. She was too cold to care. Her feet ached, her head pounded, and she wished for sleep, for rest, but she wouldn’t close her eyes. God knew what he had planned for her next. As the chills and then exhaustion overtook her, she leaned her cheek against the dirty floor and closed her eyes. I have to think of a way out of here. I have to.

  It seemed like seconds had passed when she heard something drop. She jerked upward and caught sight of him. He’d pulled some sort of cot out from the wall and was sitting on the edge of it. Then she smelled the scent of food and saw him holding a bowl and a spoon. He held her gaze with a firm, hard expression.

  “Come,” he said.

  Her belly rumbled, the need for nourishment so great, but she didn’t want to accept anything he would give her. Then she thought about it. If she ate, she would have energy, and maybe if she were smart enough, she could get away from him and run. If she tried running now on empty, she wouldn’t get far, and the beating he would surely give her would send her closer to the grave.

  She eased up, licked her swollen lip, and could hardly focus with her left eye. The right eye was swollen shut.

  She eased closer, crawled along the floor until she was at his feet.

  “Open,” he said, and she opened her mouth as best she could with the cuts and swollen skin. He brought the spoon to her lips, and she drank from it. It tasted like canned soup, and he continued to feed her, in between caressing her hair and brushing his thumb along her chin.

  “I wish you hadn’t made me hurt you, Mia. You’re too beautiful of a woman to injure.”

  She hoped that were the case and he wouldn’t want to kill her like he had the others. Could she count on that, or would this psycho lose it and pounce?

  He ate from the same spoon, and she didn’t want any more. It was too intimate, too personal to share a bowl of soup with someone.

  But then he gripped her jaw. “We’re husband and wife now. We share everything.”

  She felt like throwing up. Her stomach lurched, and she swallowed down the urge to vomit.

  “I need to use the bathroom.”

  He continued to hold her chin as he set the almost empty bowl of soup onto the bed.

  He lowered closer, and she tried pulling back, but his hold was firm on her jaw.

  “You use the bathroom. There’s no plumbing, but I did put in a mirror and some things you might like.”

  She went to move, and he gripped her harder and jerked her face. She could feel the bruises under her skin.

  “Say thank you,” he warned.

  “Thank you,” she replied, and then he kissed her lips.

  When he eased her body up off the floor, he escorted her to the bathroom. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pressed hard against her. He sniffed her hair, her neck, and then ran his hand up her blouse under the flannel she wore. He nipped her skin by her neck, and she tried pulling away. He squeezed her tighter.

  “When you’re done, we sleep.”

  He cupped her breast and then rocked his hips against her ass. She felt his hardened cock, and she felt the tears fill her eyes. He was going to rape her. She had to do something. She had to.

  Mia got into the bathroom and closed the door. She saw the square wood seat and the darkness that led to something below the house. It wasn’t the first time she’d used an outhouse, and it wasn’t going to be her last. She did her business, knowing that she would need to be ready to make a move and a run for it.

  She looked around the small bathroom for anything at all to use as a weapon.

  She felt frantic, helpless. She knew that no one was coming for her and that she had to do this alone. She would fight him off, but her physical strength, even if she hadn’t been injured, wouldn’t beat a psycho like Peter.

  She saw the mirror and cringed from the reflection of her face, which was battered, bruised, a mess even through the vision of one poor eye.

  She buttoned the shirt. It would be her only source of heat against the elements if she got away.

  She searched in the cabinet, and there was nothing but a brush, some hairbands, a bottle of perfume—her favorite, the sick fuck. She pulled it out. She reached for the mirror, pulled the small frame off the wall, and then placed it onto the floor. She put the towel over the mirror and then stomped on the towel. The sound was thankfully soft enough not to alert him as to what she was do
ing.

  She lifted the towel and saw the large, sharp piece. She pulled it out, grabbed some toilet paper, wrapped it around the bottom so she wouldn’t cut herself, and then she pulled the top off the perfume bottle. She gave one spray, confirming it worked.

  “Let’s do this, Mia. You had a good run. Let’s go out fighting,” she whispered to herself and then opened the bathroom door.

  * * * *

  “What’s this?” Toro said as they got higher up the mountain and began to hit the snow covering the ground.

  “That’s my girl,” Murdock said as he looked at it and smelled Mia’s perfume.

  “It’s Mia’s?” Tiegen asked.

  “Sure the fuck is. Smell it.” He passed it to Tiegen, and Tiegen smiled.

  “She left it on purpose. We have to be headed in the right direction,” Murdock said.

  “Who the hell is this woman?” Elwood asked him.

  “She’s our woman. She’s resourceful, and she knows how this guy thinks. Either way she wants to be certain we find them and he’s captured. We need to move,” Murdock said, and they continued up. The farther they went, the more they came across, despite the snow. Another bloody piece of blouse, some blood, and he knew she was fighting to live.”

  “This is a long fucking way to make her walk if she was injured in the car accident,” Toro said to them.

  “She’s tough. She has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, knows how to use weapons, and graduated top in her class, plus the position she has with the BCI Unit and coroner’s office was created just for her,” the agent told them.

  “I’m not surprised,” Mitch said, and they continued to go farther up.

  “We should keep these flashlights down just in case he’s keeping watch,” the agent said.

  “Once we get to that hill, the cabin should be another hundred yards up. We’ll use the night vision glasses,” Damien told them, and they continued on their path.

  Keep on fighting, Mia. We’re coming, baby. We’re coming. Murdock clenched his teeth and trudged on through the snow, his weapon cocked and ready.