by Tara Rose
Van had a security system on the house, and they had so many nosy neighbors that nothing would get past them on that street. But he wouldn’t feel completely safe again until they could find Martin. Tommy had every available Passion Peak cop out looking for him right now. The only reason Phil hadn’t left to join them was because he first had to tell Eve what was going on. Then he’d make sure either he or Knox was with her all the time. Fuck. This was bad news. His worst nightmare had come true.
When Van was finally in the truck and had started it up, Phil backed up the SUV so he could get out, and waited while Van drove the truck out of the garage. Van waved and took off, which made Phil feel better. The sooner he got back to his house, the better. Phil then had to wait again while Knox did a bunch of things inside the garage that Phil really thought could wait for another day. He was about to honk his horn to hurry his cousin up when the lights inside the garage went out.
Phil thought that Knox had tripped a breaker until he got out of the SUV and looked up and down Pioneer Lane. Everything was out, including the street lights. What the fuck was going on? A horrible icy fear began to creep up his spine, but he told himself to calm down. It was only a blackout. Anything could have caused it, from someone hitting a light pole to a blown transformer. There was no reason to assume anything else.
“Can you pull down the door by hand? I’d like to get Eve home.”
Knox nodded. He dug inside a toolbox, and eventually pulled out a flashlight. Phil waited while he pulled down the door, and then he finally emerged from the side door and locked it behind him. He slid into the front seat, and Phil started toward Rowena’s house. The entire town seemed to be out. He had no idea how large the grid was that served Pioneer Lane, but even Juniper Street was dark, and the foreboding that had started when the lights first went out only increased as he drove through town.
“Is the entire town out?” asked Knox. “What the fuck? That’s some Halloween prank.”
Phil glanced at him. He looked as unsettled as Phil felt, and that wasn’t good. “I hope that’s all it is.” Phil had just turned onto Ponderosa Pine, one street over from Arapaho, when his cell phone rang. When he saw it was Tommy, Phil’s stomach contracted in fear.
* * * *
Once Eve and Rowena were inside, Rowena sprinted upstairs to get her sewing supplies and something for Eve to wear, while Eve sat on the sofa in the front parlor and petted Snowball. Rowena came downstairs and handed Eve a pair of PJ bottoms and a tank top. “Closest things I could grab. They’re clean.”
Eve took off the dress and put on the tank top and PJ bottoms, then sat next to Rowena and watched her start to repair the skirt. When the lights went out, Rowena swore. “Fucking circuit breaker box. I told Van the lights have been acting up. I have a flashlight in the kitchen. I’ll go down in the basement and check the box, and then I’ll light some candles. You might have to wear my PJs home but I’ll have the dress back to you tomorrow.”
“That’s fine.” Eve rose and looked out the window, glancing up and down the street. She could hear Rowena in the kitchen, rummaging in drawers. “Ah, Rowena, don’t bother.”
“Why not?”
“It’s not your circuit breaker box. The whole street is dark.”
Rowena came up behind her and peered out the window. “Wow. I wonder what happened? Even the streetlights are out.”
Eve didn’t answer. She was too busy watching a truck drive down the street, without headlights. “Whose truck is that?”
“Where?”
She pointed, her fingers trembling. Where was her phone? She wanted to hear Phil’s and Knox’s voices. The compulsion to call one of them was very strong. Had she left it in the SUV, or was it on the sofa where she’d been sitting? She suddenly couldn’t remember.
“Where did it go?”
Eve followed Rowena’s gaze, squinting into the darkness, but Rowena was right. The truck that both women had seen only seconds ago was gone. Eve grabbed the flashlight from Rowena’s hand and turned it on, sweeping the beam toward the sofa, but it only fell on Snowball’s big eyes. She couldn’t see her phone. “Is your cell around?” Her voice was shaky, and suddenly she found it difficult to take a deep breath. The flashlight nearly slipped from her fingers which were suddenly damp.
“I think it’s upstairs. Why?”
She handed Rowena the flashlight. “Get it please.”
“Why? Eve, it’s only a blackout.”
“Please. I need to call Phil or Knox. I need to call them right now.”
“Okay, okay. Take some deep breaths. I’ll be right back. Everything is okay.”
“Please go and get it.”
Rowena sprinted up the stairs. She hadn’t looked or sounded the least bit afraid, but Eve knew something was wrong. She had no clue what it was, but she felt like she was going to throw up, and she had to blink back tears. All she wanted to do right now was hold Phil and Knox in her arms. She loved them both so much. She should have gone home and not worried about the damn dress. She’d be with them right now, and she’d be safe.
Eve screamed as the sound of breaking glass shattered the silence. She started for the stairs thinking something had happened to Rowena, and watched in disbelief as a figure emerged from the hallway and advanced toward her.
Chapter Nineteen
Phil put his cell on speaker when he answered Tommy’s call, and Knox listened to the detective tell them that a four-by-four had been stolen an hour ago from the parking lot of the Belle Meade hotel. Then Tommy said that power was out in the entire town, and they were trying to get in touch with someone at Notus to find out why.
“Tommy, send cars to Rowena’s house now.” Phil looked terrified, and his voice was actually shaking. Knox had never seen him that way.
“Why?”
“Eve is there alone with her. And if the power is out, their security system might be out as well.”
“Fuck.”
Tommy disconnected the call and Knox didn’t speak. What was there to say, after all? Van couldn’t be more than a couple of minutes ahead of them. They were almost there. She would be all right. She had to be. “Call Van. See if he’s there yet.”
Phil did, but Van’s phone went straight to voice mail.
“Let’s call Eve,” said Knox. “I want to hear her voice.” Phil handed his phone to Knox, and it was then that Knox noticed Phil’s hands were trembling. He punched the button for Eve’s number, and both men listened to it ring from the back seat. She’d never taken it with her.
“Call Rowena’s number. It’s probably in Eve’s phone.”
Knox reached into the back seat and grabbed Eve’s phone, then scrolled through her contacts and called Rowena’s number, but it went straight to voice mail. They didn’t have a land line, at least not that Knox knew about.
“Should we call Van again?”
Knox shook his head. “He might have stopped for gas. There wasn’t much left in the truck. But since the power is out, he’s probably almost home by now.”
“Right. You’re right. We’re almost there, too.”
Knox had never had such a horrible feeling of dread. He was so in love with Eve, and he’d never told her that. He’d kept quiet about it for Phil’s sake, but he realized now how ridiculous that was. Phil had a right to know he felt that way. He should have told them both. If anything happened to her…
No. It wouldn’t. It couldn’t. Not now, when his life was perfect. She was all right. She had to be.
“Here we are.” They turned onto Arapaho Lane, and Knox tried to squint into the darkness, but there were a lot of trees on this street and it was difficult to make out one shape from the other. The snow helped a bit, but most of it had melted from the pavement. It still covered the lawns, though, and as they approached Rowena and Van’s house at the end of the street, a shape loomed ahead of them.
“Fuck!” Phil pulled the SUV sharp to the right and ran up onto Cathy Hill’s lawn. The four-by-four hadn’t had its headlights o
n, and had nearly hit them head on. “Goddamn. That was the stolen truck Tommy described. Oh fuck. Oh shit…”
Knox got out of the SUV as he spotted Rowena running up the street. At the same time he sprinted toward her, Van’s truck came around the corner and stopped in the middle of the road. Van jumped out and left his motor running. “What the hell is going on? Some big-ass truck nearly ran me off the fucking road? The whole damn town is dark, and…” He stopped and stared at Phil’s SUV on his neighbor’s lawn. “Did he hit you? What the hell happened?”
“Eve…” Rowena was crying and it was obvious she could barely speak. “He has Eve.”
“What?” Van looked thoroughly confused, and Knox fought to hang on. He was going to pass out. Hot fear raced through his body. He glanced toward Phil, who was on the phone. He hoped it was with Tommy.
As if on cue, a Passion Peak police cruiser came screaming around the corner, and stopped behind Van’s truck. By now, neighbors were coming out of their house and had gathered around the group. Van was still trying to understand what his wife was saying, and the cop who exited the cruiser was talking to Phil.
Knox ran for the nearest tree and fell to the ground. He threw up everything he’d eaten that night, and then he threw up a couple more times. Eve was with Clay Martin. The same Clay Martin who had raped and murdered countless women. He didn’t know what to do. He’d never felt so fucking helpless or afraid in his life. He couldn’t lose her. He couldn’t.
Knox glanced at his cousin. This would kill him. He worshipped Eve. She was his entire world. They had to find her. They had to get to her before Martin hurt her. Knox would kill the motherfucker with his bare hands. No matter what happened to him for doing so, Knox vowed that Martin would not get away with this. Not while he still drew breath.
* * * *
The man grabbed her left arm and twisted it so badly that Eve screamed a second time. It hurt so much that she was sure she was going to pass out or puke. Maybe both. His hot breath grazed her right ear and she flinched, desperate to get away from it.
“Scream again and I’ll kill Rowena.”
How did he know who they were? Who was he?
She heard Rowena run down the stairs, calling her name, as the man dragged her through the kitchen and out the back door. She realized what the breaking glass sound had been. He’d broken the window and opened the back door. Why hadn’t the security system kicked in? Didn’t it still work when the power went out?
“Eve? Eve where are you? What happened?” Rowena’s voice came from inside the house, and Eve opened her mouth to call out, but gasped as the man slapped her face, hard.
“One more fucking scream and I swear to fucking hell I will fucking kill her while you watch. And I promise you it won’t be pretty, Eve.”
The man dragged her toward the same truck that she and Rowena had watched come down the street. She had to get away. She twisted in his arms, but when the burning agony shot up her left arm, all that came out of her throat was a loud moan as she collapsed.
He tossed her in the backseat and she landed on her arm, sending shock waves of horrible pain throughout her body. He grabbed a piece of twine and wrapped it around her wrists in front, pulling hard on the knot, sending yet more pain up her left arm. She tried to cry out but couldn’t catch her breath. Her pulse raced and sweat stung her eyes.
As he jumped into the front seat and backed out of the driveway, she heard Rowena’s voice, screaming her name. Was she outside? Had she seen the truck?
She tried to get up, but sickening waves of nausea forced her back down to the leather seat. She had to stay awake. She had to work through the pain. She saw flashing lights and heard a police siren and screeching tires as they raced down Arapaho, but by the time she managed to lift up high enough to look out the back window, they’d already turned off the street. It was too dark to see anything. The entire town must not have power. What the hell had happened? Who was this man?
The certainty that it was Clay Martin wouldn’t stop rattling around inside her brain, and she fought hard to stay in control. She’d never been so afraid in her entire life. Phil had told her about him and the others he’d helped send to jail some time ago, and she’d heard Phil say something to Knox last week about Clay being out on parole, but she hadn’t asked him about it because she knew he wouldn’t discuss police business with her, and she hadn’t wanted him to think she’d been eavesdropping.
But why was he here, in Passion Peak? Had Phil known? Is that why he’d been so upset at the party? Is that what Tommy had told him?
If this man was Clay Martin, she was going to die the same horrible death his victims had. She had to get away. She’d never told Knox how much she loved him, and now she’d never have the chance to.
She tried not to cry, but her breath caught in her throat and tears spilled over her lashes. Her cries started off soft, but soon they were huge hitching sobs that she couldn’t seem to control. She tried to undo the crude twine that he’d tied her wrists with, and was working the knot loose when his hand whipped around the headrest and knocked her against the side of the head.
“Shut the fuck up, you stupid fucking bitch!”
Eve screamed as she fell again, landing on her left arm. The searing pain made her shake uncontrollably and she had to suck in deep breaths not to pass out. Eve whimpered, fighting hard not to cry out loud again. It was so difficult to concentrate on anything.
Her heart still raced and her mouth was now bone dry. She pictured Phil’s and Knox’s faces, but that only made her cry harder. She wanted them both, right now. She willed them to know where she was, somehow, and to find her and rescue her from this man.
Police sirens wailed, but Eve thought she was imagining them. Had she passed out? She had no sense of time or space. There was only the pain and fear, like a miasma floating in her brain. She couldn’t process anything beyond it.
“Fuck! Goddamn fucking hell!”
That was the man’s voice. Why was he so upset?
The police sirens. He heard them, too. They were real, and they were getting closer. The man let out a string of swear words that would make anyone blush, and Eve sucked in a deep breath, determined to lift up again. She finally did, and what she saw out the back window made her start to cry again, but this time they were tears of joy.
No less than five Passion Police cruisers were on their tail. The cavalry had arrived.
* * * *
That’s Eve! I see her!” Phil leaned forward in the front seat of Tommy’s cruiser. “She’s in the truck. We have to stop it.”
“No shit.” Tommy was on the radio, barking instructions.
“Shoot the tires.”
“Shut up, Phil.”
“We have to stop him! He has Eve.”
“Shut the fuck up right now or I stop this cruiser and you can wait at the side of the road, got it?”
Phil leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes, fighting to keep it together. All his police training felt fucking useless right now. How long had Martin been on that mountainside, living in a damn tent, watching him? He knew who Eve was, and he knew where Rowena lived. That meant he’d been following them. Had he been responsible for knocking out power to the entire town, or had that merely been a convenient coincidence?
Phil would never forgive himself if anything happened to Eve. He’d die if she did. She was everything to him. They had to save her.
“Oh fuck.”
He opened his eyes and cried out in fear and frustration. The truck lay on its side up ahead. “What happened?”
“I don’t know. Come on.”
Phil jumped out before Tommy barely had time to stop the cruiser, gun drawn, as they advanced on the truck.
* * * *
Eve worked the knot loose and brought it up to her mouth. She gave it a hard tug with her front teeth and then her wrists were free. The man must have realized what she’d done, because he tried to reach around again and grab her, but she was faster. She moved
away from his arm, and steeling herself for the expected pain, lunged for the steering wheel. He turned it too fast, and she braced herself as the truck teetered.
“You stupid fucking bitch! Sit back down!”
Yeah, right. Eve was in so much pain she could barely think straight, but she was determined to stop this truck. She took a few deep breaths, then gritted her teeth and stood up again. This time, she got one hand on the wheel and turned it, hard.
The truck teetered again, and then it rolled onto the passenger side. Pain shot through both arms and then her head. She heard screaming and wasn’t sure if it was hers, or his. She called out for Phil and Knox, and then her world went dark.
Chapter Twenty
“I think she’s awake.” That was Phil’s voice. Where was she? Eve opened her eyes and groaned as sharp pain raced through her body. She blinked against bright lights, and then Phil’s face swam into view. Tears stung her eyes, and suddenly the pain wasn’t quite as bad.
“She’s awake. Knox, she’s awake.”
Knox’s beautiful face leaned over her left side, and Eve blinked away tears. They were here. They were both here. She was alive and they were both okay. Joy filled her body, chasing away both pain and fear, until Eve could hardly breathe she was so happy.
It was now or never. “Knox, I love you. I should have told you. I was afraid I would never see either of you again, but now you’re here, and I’m going to say it every single day for the rest of my life. I love you both you so much.”
Knox smiled, and she swore his eyes were wet. “Oh, Eve. Don’t try to talk, sweetheart. Just lie still right now.”
