So much for leaving her tied to a tree. This had all gone to shit.
“Make another sound,” I threatened softly. “And I’ll slit your throat.” To show her I meant business, I removed my knife from the sheath at my side and pressed it up against her neck beneath the hood. I wouldn’t really hurt her, but she didn’t know that.
She whimpered.
“Are you going to stay quiet?”
“Yes.” It was a soft whisper.
I removed the knife and hauled her to her feet. This time, she kept quiet. She stumbled after me as I dragged her through the trees, my breath frosting in front of me as I ran.
A grunt floated across the forest. Then the thwacking and smacking sounds of hand-to-hand combat. Ryan and Luke had encountered the intruders.
Shannon paused and pulled back.
I spun to face her. “If you want to live, Shannon, come with me now.”
“How do I know that isn’t the cops coming to arrest you?”
“It’s not the cops,” I assured her. Ryan and Luke wouldn’t engage with any law enforcement. Instead, they would have retreated, simply sneaking away. We only engaged if we had to. My guess was that it was Company soldiers, who had followed Shannon here.
Though I wanted to ditch her, I couldn’t leave her at the mercy of The Company.
I shoved her down beneath a large Loblolly pine. “Stay here,” I ordered. “I’m going to help my friends. If you want to live, you’ll stay hidden and not make a sound. I’ll come back for you, assuming you’re still alive then.” Hoping she would heed my warning, I darted forward and quickly disappeared into the trees, circling back around to help Ryan and Luke.
If Shannon was smart, she would stay put. And not make a sound.
Ryan and Luke were my dreg brothers, and therefore, my first priority.
I reached the area where the fighting was underway. Ryan and Luke were fighting about five or six soldiers, two of which they’d already wounded. I jumped in to help them take down the rest.
Several moments later, the soldiers were all down. Dead.
“Are there any others?” I asked, glancing at the bodies.
Ryan shook his head. “This was all of them.”
“What are you going to do with the girl?” Luke wondered.
I sighed. “I don’t know. Drop her off at her car, I guess.”
Luke nodded. “Let’s get out of here.”
Shannon, amazingly, was still sitting beneath the tree where I’d left her. I hauled her to her feet and ushered her through the forest toward the underground maze and the garage where our vehicles were parked.
We paused in the garage, Ryan, Luke and I exchanging glances. Now that we’d dealt with The Company soldiers, we could give Shannon a final scare before leaving. But how?
I steered her across the garage and forced her down onto the floor against the wall. “Sit!” I would make this quick, then get rid of her.
“You going to have her first?” Luke asked with a snicker, making her flinch and press back against the wall.
“Yeah,” I responded in my best mean-sounding voice. “I’m going to have her first.”
She let out a soft gasp, but she didn’t speak.
“That’s not fair! You never let me go first!” Ryan winked and smirked at me.
To be truthful, we were completely out of our element here. We could take out bad guys without any hesitation. But when it came to innocent women, we all faltered, unsure how to scare Shannon away without hurting her.
“I found her,” I reminded them, making my voice sound cold and emotionless. “That means I get her first.”
I stepped up beside her and leaned close.
It was time to finish this.
CHAPTER NINE
Shannon
Michael Kent had warned me not to go after The Hacker, that it could be dangerous. But I hadn’t listened.
Now I would likely be raped. By all three of them. Possibly tortured.
Then killed.
I was their captive now.
And I couldn’t deny I was terrified.
The Hacker led me blindfolded across the forest. Then the sound of an overhead door opening indicated we had arrived at some type of garage or warehouse. He ushered me across the room and shoved me down onto a cold concrete floor. Helpless with my arms bound and my vision obscured by the hood, I could do nothing but sit there and await my fate.
They joked about who got to “have me first”, making me cringe back against the wall. My heart thundered wildly. My breathing grew rapid. My skin grew clammy. Please God, don’t let them rape me.
I felt them all moving away from me.
Then…silence.
Had they left? If so, where had they gone? Since my arms were bound behind my back, it would be physically impossible for me to remove the hood from my head unless I managed to somehow rub my face against something and pull the hood off that way. Impossible.
So, for now, I sat.
And waited.
I’d come all this way to find out the truth about my father’s death. I wasn’t about to give up now. If they raped or tortured me, I wouldn’t let it destroy me. I would somehow survive whatever happened over the next several hours. Or days. Or weeks.
My heart gave a frightened jolt.
Please don’t let this last for weeks.
There was the faintest sound, and the hair stood up on my arms beneath my coat. I felt him standing close, contemplating me. The Hacker. For some reason, my body was hyperaware of his, and I instinctively knew it was him just by my body’s reaction.
“Did you have a chance to read the file before it was stolen from you?”
I jumped at the sound of his voice. It came from my left. Very close. Was he leaning over me? He spoke softly, barely above a whisper, his voice deep and sexy. I hadn’t really thought about his voice out in the forest, but here, in the quiet of the garage, I noticed everything about him. He was a Southerner, his drawl similar to other men in the area. My nostrils picked up his scent then, and I wondered why I hadn’t noticed it in the woods. Probably because I’d been too scared. Purely masculine, with a hint of spice and pine and earthiness, and something else. Something that had flowed over me when he’d talked. Mint? The man smelled good, which shocked me. How could I think my captor smelled good?
Because he does. And for some reason, I was extremely aware of that fact.
A sudden feeling of breathlessness hit me. Was he chewing gum? Sucking on a mint? The mint smell caught my attention the most. He smelled good and he had nice breath? The Hacker’s presence was every bit as virile, as masculine as his picture had suggested. His unexpected magnetism washed over me, sucking me in.
Good God, Shannon. What’s the matter with you?
Silence stretched, then I remembered he’d asked me a question: Did you have a chance to read the file before it was stolen from you?
Why? So he could know whether or not to torture me first?
“You mean before you stole it from me?” I demanded.
He let out a soft snort. “Did you see the file?”
“Some of it, but not much.” I saw no reason to lie. I was a truth seeker, after all. And if I cooperated, maybe they’d let me go. “Michael gave me a brief breakdown of what was in the file, but I was going to take it home to read it. All I really saw was a wanted poster and a few of Michael’s notes about his investigation.”
“Humph.” I felt him moving away from me. I braced myself as I waited for the unknown.
“I can’t figure out what to do with you,” he admitted softly, his voice now coming near my right ear. I jumped, letting out a soft gasp. How did he move so silently?
“You can just let me go,” I suggested. “And give me my file back.”
He let out a grunt of disagreement. “Not. You’re certainly stubborn, I’ll give you that. But you’re nothing but trouble, Shannon. And trouble must be dealt with.”
“Michael was innocent! You’re a murderer! You deserv
e to go to jail.”
A moment of silence passed in which he had plenty of time to deny it. A part of me hoped he would deny it. Hoped he wasn’t as bad as the rumors suggested. As bad as he seemed.
“True. I am a killer. But I’m not going to jail.”
My breath caught. He’d just admitted he was a killer. Was I next on his hit list? Would he hack off my head now?
Where was he standing? I caught a faint whiff of his cologne, but I couldn’t smell the breath mint.
He sighed. “It’s time to deal with you, Shannon.” Then he moved off, his scent drifting away.
I stayed still and waited.
Ten seconds.
Fifteen.
Twenty.
Had he left? Where were the other two men?
Should I jump up and try to flee?
Right. With a hood over your head and your hands bound behind your back? Don’t be stupid.
I don’t want to be raped.
I don’t want to die.
I didn’t even know where I was.
How did they plan to punish me? Rape? Torture? Death?
Then urgent whispers floated my way. They were arguing about something. I froze, unable to determine where they were. Were they all standing there, staring at me? Several words flowed over to me: no time for that…need to leave…just dump her off somewhere…
A tentative hope swept through me. Were they going to release me?
Silence fell. Though I wasn’t a beggar, I was prepared to beg for my release, if necessary.
“If you promise to stop prying into your father’s death, we’ll let you go.” The voice came from my right. I gasped, startled, turning to face him. It was The Hacker. I recognized his voice. Deep. Sexy. Southern. “If you want to live, you’ll drop your investigation. Do you want to live? Do you agree to drop it?”
Should I agree? If I said yes, they might let me go. If I said no, they might kill me right here, right now.
“Yes, I agree,” I responded. But inside, I was thinking: Fuck that. I’m not giving up until I know the truth.
“She’s lying.” A different voice came from right in front of me. Cold. Hard. Like a knife scraping along steel.
How did he know that?
One of them sighed loudly. The Hacker? “Go ahead, then. Have at her.”
I cringed, my heart racing. No. Please.
“They call me The Enforcer. You know what that means?” It was Steel Voice again, his words causing me to shiver.
I lifted my chin. “No, but I imagine I’m about to find out.”
Another man snickered somewhere close by, but I couldn’t sense The Hacker anymore. Strangely, I was more afraid now that he’d moved back. Where was he? Had he left? Or was he just watching from farther away?
“I’m going to ask you some questions,” Steel Voice said. “And if you answer me honestly, we might let you go. But if you lie, then we will have no choice but to punish you. I’m very good at enforcing punishment. And a little word of warning…if you lie, I will know. So just be honest, and we can get this over with.”
My mind filled with all sorts of morbid things that “enforcing punishment” might entail. I would lie through my teeth to stay alive. But I had to convince them I was telling the truth.
Lying will only get you in trouble, Shannon. Just tell the truth.
“I l-lied before,” I admitted. “But I promise to be honest now. So go ahead,” I urged, my voice sounding shaky and scared. “Ask away.”
A moment of silence stretched wherein I imagined they were all exchanging glances.
“Why did you come here?” Steel Voice demanded.
“B-because I was looking for The Hacker. I’m trying to find out the truth surrounding my father’s death.”
“Why him?”
“Because he’s responsible somehow. If you’ve read Michael’s file, then you already know that. Dumbass.”
He snorted at the insult, and the other man chuckled. I didn’t hear anything from The Hacker. Was he still here? I wanted him to be, though I wasn’t sure why. He’d been the one to kidnap me.
“Are you still here, Mr. Hacker?” I called softly. “I want you to hear all of this.”
A pause.
“I’m here.” His voice came from my right again, and the hint of mint floated into my face. He was leaning over me. I sensed it. Felt him. Strangely, his presence comforted me, whereas the presence of the other two men frightened me.
“Please don’t leave me with these two,” I begged. “Don’t let them hurt me.”
Another long silence, as if I’d startled him. “Then cooperate, and no one will hurt you.”
“Do as he says,” Steel Voice interjected. “If you lie, you die.”
How could they possibly know if I was lying?
Somehow, Steel Voice knew. I sensed it. He must be some kind of interrogation specialist.
An involuntary shiver swept over me. “I don’t know anything else. And since you killed Michael Kent and have the file, no one else knows anything, either. So you can let me go now. I’ll leave. I promise I won’t come here again.”
A moment of silence stretched. “You won’t report anything about this night, or any of the information you learned from MK Investigations to anyone,” Steel Voice said coldly. “You won’t write about it on your blog, and you won’t talk about it on television. You won’t tell another living soul. If you do, we will find you. And we will deal with you. Got it?”
That was a threat if I ever heard one. Fear wrapped around my heart, squeezing tightly. I believed him. I sensed Steel Voice didn’t make idle threats.
But I hadn’t come all this way to learn absolutely nothing. “Why won’t you just tell me what happened to my father? Please. I have a right to know the truth.”
Another pause.
“Do you know anything about your father’s involvement with The Company?” Steel Voice asked.
“What company? I’ll need more than that. My father was involved in lots of companies.”
“The Company,” Steel Voice repeated.
Confusion swept through me. What company? What was he talking about? “I still don’t understand.”
Another moment of silence. Then Steel Voice announced, “She doesn’t know about The Company. She has no idea what kind of man her father was.”
What kind of man my father was? What did that mean?
“She’s telling the truth?” The Hacker asked.
“Yeah. She’s telling the truth.”
How did he know that?
“So, what are we going to do with her?” This was the third man, the one who’d snickered, I think.
“I don’t know,” The Hacker spoke again. I recognized his voice, the southern drawl. The other two men weren’t from around here, their accents and dialects more westerly, like mine. “We need to get the hell out of here before more Company soldiers show up.”
What company soldiers? Was that who they’d fought out there in the forest? What was going on here?
“Agreed,” Steel Voice said. “Let’s head out. We can just leave her here and let her find her own way home.”
I gasped. What? “No! You’re not leaving me here like this! I can’t see anything with a hood over my head and I’m helpless with my hands bound! At least take me back to my car! Please.”
You’re in over your head, Shannon. You should have stayed away.
“Maybe we should just kill her,” the third man said. “Toss her body out for the scavengers to eat.”
I shivered. Please don’t kill me.
There was another sigh, then The Hacker said, “I’ll untie her. She can find her own way back out of the woods.”
I shivered in fear. I’d lost my flashlight in the forest. How would I find my way back to my car in the dark?
“Will you at least take me to the edge of the woods?” I begged. “Please.”
Silence.
Then another long sigh. “Okay, fine,” The Hacker said, “I’ll drop you off
at your car. But only if you behave. Got it?”
Relief gushed through me. He was taking me to my car. I should be grateful for that, and I was, but I was still pissed that I’d come all this way and gotten nothing. If I kept investigating, would they really come after me? Would they kill me?
Footsteps sounded as the men strode away. “We’ll meet you at the designated location,” Steel Voice said. “And hurry the fuck up. We’ve dallied too long as it is.”
A car door slammed.
Then another.
Engines rumbled to life.
Big hands landed on my shoulders, making me jump. “Get up.” The Hacker’s voice came from right in front of me. “I’ll take you to your car. I’m assuming you left it somewhere along the edge of the woods?”
“Yes. On the south side of town.” Was he really going to take me to my car? Let me go? Hope slid in, warming me with its promise.
What if he really planned to take me back to the woods so he could shoot me in the head like he’d done to my father?
“After I drop you off, you’re on your own,” he continued. “You should heed my advice. Stop investigating your father’s death. There are people other than me who don’t want you to know the truth. And they won’t hesitate to kill you.”
Then he pulled me to my feet and steered me across the room.
You should heed my advice. Stop investigating your father’s death.
I would do no such thing. As soon as he released me, I was going to follow him. This was one story I intended to get to the bottom of. I had a right to know what had happened to my father.
I wasn’t stopping until I discovered the truth.
CHAPTER TEN
Noah
Shannon was turning out to be a complication I didn’t need. I doubted Luke’s threat would scare her for long. I had a feeling as soon as I let her go, she would continue her investigation.
That was why I had to just drop her off at her car and hightail it out of here.
I paused when we reached my Jeep. Shannon wouldn’t be very comfortable with her hands tied behind her back. But if I untied her, she’d likely pull off the hood.
“I’m going to free your wrists, so you won’t be uncomfortable,” I told her. “Don’t try anything, or I’ll just leave you here to fend for yourself and figure out how to get back out of the woods on your own.”
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