Twisted Truths

by Rebecca Zanetti

  The lady sighed. “Are Ryker and Heath in Montana?”

  “Dunno.” Where were Ryker and Heath? Wasn’t Montana close? Wait a minute. They were somewhere else. She should tell the lady. They were in a south place. Right? Weren’t they in a south place?

  “Have you been to Montana?” the lady asked.

  “Yessss,” Noni said gleefully.

  The lady caught her breath, her fingernails tightening on Noni’s legs. “That’s good. Where in Montana?”

  “To the park,” Noni said, her head starting to loll. It was too heavy. She couldn’t keep it on her neck any longer. “When I was sixteen.” The family vacation had been so much fun. Parks were fun.

  The lady slapped her face again, but she just couldn’t care. Her eyelids closed. Yeah. That was better.

  “Damn it.” The voice came from far, far, far away. Maybe where Prince Charming lived.

  Noni snorted. Prince Charming. Dude had blond hair. She liked dark hair. Like Denver’s hair.

  A male voice pierced her clouded mind. “We need to go now. Are we taking her with us?”

  “No,” said the lady. She asked more questions, and Noni may have answered. There was talking, but her brain seemed removed somehow. The lady even slapped her a few more times.

  Noni didn’t open her eyes.

  “Sheriff Cobb said to bring the girl after you were finished with her,” the man said.

  What girl? There was a girl? Noni tried to open her eyes, but they wouldn’t lift. Girl. Talia. Where was Talia? She had to get to her.

  The lady sniffed loudly. “Elton chose to go against my wishes when he failed to bring in Denver. If he shall not cooperate, neither shall I.”

  Neither. What a fancy word. The lady used fancy words. Noni breathed out, her chin hitting her chest. Tired. She was so tired. Where were the unicorns?

  “What are you going to do with her, then?” the guy asked, his deep voice vibrating around in every direction.

  “Oh, I have plans,” the lady replied. “We’ll return her to Denver in a way he’ll never forget.” She laughed then, her voice tinkly. “She’s going to get me everything I want. Soon.”

  Noni frowned as darkness surrounded her. The laugh had been tinkly, but something had been off about it. “Bad laugh,” she slurred. Very bad.

  * * *

  Denver stole a phone off the nurse’s desk before exiting the hospital and quickly hot-wiring an old car sitting on the edge of the parking lot covered with snow. Hopefully it was owned by a patient who wouldn’t know it was missing for a while. Gritting his teeth against the pain in his side, he drove out of the lot and turned west. Cobb had said Noni and Talia were in Coeur d’Alene. But Denver wasn’t focused enough to drive through a mountain pass while it was storming.

  He took the nurse’s phone and dialed his brother.

  “Hello?” Ryker answered the unknown number by raising his voice several octaves.

  “Ry. It’s Denver.”

  Ryker’s breath rushed through the line. “Thank God. Where are you? What’s going on? Your phone is off, and—”

  “They have Noni and Talia.” Black dots danced across his vision, and Denver shook his head to clear it. “I need help.”

  “We know. Jory was monitoring your area and saw it go down. We changed course and headed that way immediately. Where are you?” Ryker asked urgently.

  Denver’s chest heaved. His brothers were there. Of course they were there. That’s what brothers did. Relief and gratitude warmed through him. For a second. Holy shit. His vision went completely black. He swerved the car over and shook his head again. The world cleared. “I think I’m going to pass out.”

  “Get somewhere safe,” Ryker ordered. “Denver. Now.”

  Denver swallowed down bile, his head ringing. He took a turn into a residential area, drove around, and came out the other side. Driving several blocks, he pulled into a parking area at a fast-food restaurant. “I’m at the McDonald’s in Bordertown, Idaho,” he mumbled, trying to shift his weight so his ribs stopped hurting. “Might wanna bring a first-aid kit.”

  He cut the engine and leaned his head back on the seat. Silence surrounded him. Snow dropped onto the windshield in big fluffy flakes, soon covering it. That was good. His brothers would come. He trusted them.

  Swallowing, he tried not to think about Noni and Talia. Yet his thoughts kept going to them. They had to be safe. Noni would fight to the death for that baby, and so would he. He’d give his life for either one of them. Where were they? He should’ve stayed and tortured Cobb, but there hadn’t been time. God, his heart hurt. Was Noni still alive?

  He had to find her. Digging deep, he opened his eyes. He leaned over and grabbed Cobb’s phone, quickly disengaging the GPS. Maybe they could find Madison with it. Find wherever she’d taken Noni and Talia. He had believed Cobb when he said Isobel would’ve escaped without him. She was a snake.

  His side hurt like a bitch, and the smell of his blood filled the car.

  The door was suddenly wrenched open, and Ryker stood there with Heath by his side.

  So much relief filled Denver he couldn’t speak.

  Ryker winced and bent to help him from the car. “Dude. You’re bleeding all over.”

  Denver gritted his teeth to keep from groaning. “Need stitches.” He allowed Heath to set a shoulder under his other arm. They moved through the snow to a dark green Suburban, where they put Denver in the middle seat. Heath sat next to him.

  He tried to turn and smile at Anya and Zara in the far back. Their eyes were wide. “Hi. Missed you guys,” he mumbled.

  Zara handed over a blanket. “How bad is it?” she asked.

  “Just a flesh wound,” he lied, his vision going again.

  Anya patted his shoulder, her gaze concerned but her voice level. “You’ll be okay.”

  Ryker grabbed the phones from the other car and ran to get into the driver’s seat, then quickly pulled out of the lot. “Where to?”

  “Cobb said the soldiers took Noni and the baby to Coeur d’Alene to meet Madison,” Denver said, his entire body in pain.

  Ryker coughed. “Then it’s a trap. Somewhere.”

  “Yeah, but we have no choice,” Denver said, his ears ringing. And it was a shitty trap since he didn’t even know where to go.

  “Okay,” Ryker said grimly. “Can you make it about an hour to the Coeur d’Alene safe house at the lake? We should regroup there.”

  Denver closed his eyes. He’d failed them. “Yeah.”

  “Madison isn’t just sitting around here in northern Idaho,” Ryker countered. “She’s probably already gone from there, but at least we’re headed in the right direction.”

  Denver couldn’t think any longer.

  Heath ignored them both and started unbuttoning Denver’s deputy shirt. Denver didn’t have the strength to fight him and it was irritating his wound, so he let his brother discard the shirt.

  “Whoa,” Heath said, giving a slow whistle. “Knife wound, looks like.” He balled up the shirt and pressed it against the long wound. “I’ll sew you right up.”

  Denver fought a groan and tried to ignore the sharp pain. “They have Noni and Talia. Soldiers took them,” he whispered, his voice hoarse.

  Ryker studied him in the rearview mirror. “We know.”

  “We’ll get them back,” Heath said, his hand firm on the wound. “Is that how you got stabbed?”

  Denver wanted to hang his head, but he kept staring straight ahead. “No. Cobb stabbed me in the hospital.”

  Heath jerked. “Cobb? You fought with Sheriff Cobb?”

  Zara gasped quietly.

  “Yeah,” Denver said. “I think he was there in defiance of Madison’s wishes. He was there to question and then kill me.”

  “Is he dead?” Ryker asked tersely.

  Denver flushed, his face heating and then cooling. “God, I’m sorry, but no. We were in the hospital, and there was another cop, and I couldn’t kill them both.” He’d let his brothers down aga
in. Cobb had been there, and Denver had had the opening to end him.

  Heath squeezed his good arm. “You did the right thing.”

  Ryker drove through the mountain pass to get back to the Coeur d’Alene safe house. “Agreed. You kill a cop, or you kill Cobb with a cop knowing, then we’re on the run for life. When we take the fight to Madison and Cobb, we’ll end them without a trace.”

  Denver set his head back on the seat. “I know, but I had him. In my hands. I could’ve ended him.” Finally. He could still see the bastard’s sneering face.

  “You did the right thing,” Ryker repeated, speeding up through the snowy forest. He held up the two phones Denver had had with him. “Can I toss these?”

  Denver opened his eyes. “Toss the blue one. I stole it.”

  Ryker slid down his window and threw the phone into the snowy trees. “What about the other one?”

  “It’s Cobb’s. I disabled the GPS already. Maybe I can hook it up to the laptop and somehow find where they’ve been.”

  Heath pulled the fabric away from the wound. “Ry? I’m gonna need to stitch this up now. An hour is too long to wait.”

  “Want me to pull over?” Ryker asked.

  “No.” Heath reached beneath his seat and drew out a bright red first-aid kit. “Keep going. We need to get as far away from that hotel and hospital as possible.” He grasped a bottle. “This is gonna hurt, brother.”

  Denver leaned his head back again, shut his eyes, and lifted his arm. “Do it.”

  The sound of a bottle being squeezed echoed two seconds before unbelievable fire consumed Denver’s rib cage. Antiseptic was a bitch. He kept perfectly still and didn’t make a sound, holding his breath for a few moments. The pain ebbed, slightly, and he let his lungs relax.

  Then a needle pierced his skin.

  “You’re doing well,” Heath said, drawing the thread through.

  Man, it hurt. Denver kept his body loose and allowed the pain to flow through him. It wasn’t his first injury, and it wouldn’t be his last.

  Cobb’s phone suddenly rang.

  Denver’s eyelids snapped open. Heath’s shoulders straightened, but he kept sewing.

  Ryker pressed a button on the phone. “Yeah.”

  A female voice said, “Is this one of my boys?”

  Nausea poured through Denver’s gut. Dr. Madison sounded exactly the same as she had when they were kids. God, he hated her.

  Ryker glanced at him in the rearview mirror, and Denver nodded.

  “What do you want, Madison?” Ryker asked.

  She giggled. Not a chuckle or an educated laugh. The bitch giggled like a little girl.

  Denver fought to keep from puking and looked at Heath. He’d gone a little green around the edges, but he continued to pull the thread through Denver’s flesh, his hand steady as he sewed up the knife wound.

  Ryker’s shoulders visibly tightened. “Talk now, or I throw the phone out the window.”

  “You smart boys have already disabled the GPS,” she said smoothly. “Elton just called in, and apparently his phone is gone. I figured my Denver was smart enough to take it.”

  Denver forgot all about the pain in his side. “Where are Noni and Talia?”

  Madison giggled again. “If I just told you, what fun would that be?”

  “I swear to God I’m going to kill you,” Denver said, heat flowing through him.

  She sighed. “You were such a nice mannered young man. Oh, all right. Your last location was the hospital with Elton, so I’m guessing you’re still on the Idaho-Montana border.”

  He kept silent. They all did.

  “You’re about an hour away from the Coeur d’Alene Airport. They’re there.”

  So there was the trap. She’d laid it perfectly. “Are they okay?” Denver asked, unable to help himself. His voice cracked, and his body shuddered. They had to be all right.

  The line went dead.

  Chapter

  29

  The drive to the small regional airport was made in record time with Ryker speeding way too fast. Denver and Heath suited up with tactical gear Ryker and Heath had brought, and as soon as Ryker pulled into the main parking lot, he did the same. The entire place was silent, and the small main building dark. Huge snowflakes continued to fall, whipped around by a wind making shrill whistles. Lights from Coeur d’Alene illuminated the sky to the south, but the immediate area was dark.

  Heath gave Zara and Anya guns. “Stay in the car, and if anybody approaches, just shoot them. We’ll come running.”

  Anya nodded, her gaze serious. “Not a problem.”

  Denver scanned the area for threats as he gingerly eased from the vehicle and followed Ry to the nearest hangar.

  Ryker handed him a Sig, and Denver took it, carefully controlling his breathing. He’d had to put his bloody shirt back on, and it stuck to him beneath the vest. His injured side pounded in pain, but that was nothing compared to the raw panic ripping through him. Had Madison killed Noni? The crazy scientist wouldn’t have just told him where to find her. Either this was a trap or he was about to get his heart sliced from his chest.

  “Let me take point,” Ryker said quietly.

  “No.” Denver leaned against the metal building and closed his eyes. “Do you guys hear anything?”

  They all silenced their breathing.

  He tuned in, trying to find signatures. Breathing, heartbeats, anything. All he got was the wind. Giving the signal, he moved around the building toward the rear, his gun at the ready.

  Again, nothing.

  When they reached the rear, he looked around. The nearest runway had been plowed. “She took them,” Denver said woodenly, his gut aching. Then he looked to the south. Private hangars, quiet and still, lined the way. His breath caught. The fourth one had its wide hangar doors open. Oh God. Breaking into a run, he was barely cognizant of his brothers on his six.

  “Slow down,” Heath hissed. “This might be a trap.”

  God, Denver hoped it was a trap. If it wasn’t, then Madison wanted him to find bodies. So he slowed. “Sorry.”

  They reached the building and fanned out outside the door. The main lights in the hangar were off, but a small light showed in the back. Was there an office?

  “Let me go first,” Heath said, his face grim.

  Denver almost let him. “No.” There was no way Noni or Talia had been killed. They were alive. There was no other option. He had to believe that or he’d lose his mind. He swept in, his footsteps silent on the smooth concrete. He scouted the area. Nothing. Giving a hand signal, he moved toward the office in the back.

  The second he got close, he could smell her. Wild orchids. “Noni!” he yelled, bursting inside.

  Then he stopped cold, unable to process what he was seeing. Cut zip ties were still on a chair, but it was empty. He swung around, his heart pounding. “Noni?” he whispered. “Talia?” He could still smell Noni. How long had she been gone?

  Ryker looked around, his gaze hard. “There’s no clue here. Why would Madison want us here?”

  Heath shook his head, keeping his gaze outside the room. “Doesn’t make sense unless she’s just messing with us.”

  Denver looked at the floor, trying to focus. “Okay. Think.” Normal office stuff was on the desk in the room. Tape dispenser, file folders, flight maps. No computer, though.

  He leaned down, and something silver on the floor caught his eye. He grunted and grabbed a letter opener. Standing, he looked from the sharp metal object to the ripped zip ties. “Wait a minute.” What if? He turned and started running for the doors, yelling for Noni, with Ryker and Heath following him. She wouldn’t have just taken Talia out into the storm, would she?

  Maybe. If she thought she was escaping Madison.

  “They weren’t at the main building,” he said tersely, looking around frantically. Where would she go?

  Ryker ducked his head and squinted into the swirling snow.

  Denver followed his gaze past the plowed runway to a secon
d one blanketed in snow. Was there a figure? He started to run, his boots slipping on the ice, his arms pumping. He leaped over a snowbank and then another one, finally focusing on a person farther down, barely discernible through the storm. “Noni,” he yelled. Was it her?

  He ducked his head and kept running, his brothers covering his back.

  “Noni!” he yelled.

  She turned, and her hair fanned out. Then she stopped moving, just stood in the snow.

  He made it to her in seconds, grasping her up. She was wearing only a T-shirt, which was already wet. The woman felt like an icicle. “Noni?” he leaned back, his instincts flaring to the point of pain.

  She blinked up at him, snow landing on her face. “Denver?” Her voice was low. Confused.

  He looked around crazily. “Where’s the baby? Where’s Talia?”

  “Huh?” Noni wavered, looking around. “What?”

  He shook her and then stopped himself. “Noni. Sweetheart.” He pulled her in, his heartbeat thundering in his ears. “Where’s the baby, honey?” If the baby was out in the snow, he was too late. He’d never find her.

  Noni swayed and clutched his vest. “Talia.” She shook her head. “They, ah, took her. In a plane.” Noni turned her head and looked up at the sky. “Gone.”

  “You’re sure?” He was already picking Noni up and running back toward the vehicle, stretching his new stitches. He didn’t care. If he didn’t get her warm, she’d die of pneumonia. Or frostbite. Her damn feet were bare. What if he was too late? “The baby is in the plane?”

  Noni dropped her head against his chest. “Yes. In the plane.” She still sounded lost and bewildered.

  He fought the storm to get around the building, and Ryker was already there, opening the Suburban door. Heath jumped in on the other side. Zara handed up a nonbloody blanket from the back as Ryker started the engine, and heat began pumping.

  Denver held Noni on his lap, tugged off her shirt, and wrapped her in the blanket. “Baby? Talk to me.”

  Her head fell back, and she looked at him through hooded lids.