"Where are they, Parker?"
The words almost snapped in two with the intensity that he spoke them. Parker's voice kept its authoritative calm about it because he couldn't imagine the anguish that Ciarán was going through. He kept it hard when he wanted to commiserate with him. He knew it was the only tone of voice Ciarán would hear right now.
"I can't tell you exactly because I don't know, but I can say where they found the car. It was up by the old canyon drive. You know—"
"Where we dump old vehicles. How the hell did that guy know about that place?"
"Well, seems he has been around a few months. Probably not much after that run in she had with him in Missoula, folks started seeing him off and on about then. You know, café, grocery store, places like that. We got his driver's license picture."
"Yeah, well don't look for him to sport the same smile or anything. All I've got to say is his only hope for survival is the guys getting to him first."
Parker ignored the threat.
Ciarán shoved the phone in Liam's direction. Liam was the tracker. Probably the best in three or more states in these types of conditions. Parker filled in the gaps Liam's questions pointed out. He was able to devise the best route now that they had an idea of where they were going. Then Liam answered Parker's questions.
"When he sees Katie, he will be good. Until then, he is going through hell and we can all walk the path with him but we aren't going to the places he is going. Now that we have this information, we'll find her soon. Keep us posted and we'll do the same."
Hanging up, Liam called his brother's phone to ask for a more accurate update and then adjusted his route even further. Liam and Ciarán agreed to allow their brothers to track for a while because they would save time that way. Ciarán was predominately silent and Liam allowed him to be. As was well known, when Liam was feeling out of control of his situation, he snapped at everyone, brought down the house. Ciarán did not. Ciarán was quiet, eerily so, and logically and methodically figured out his next plan of action. After some minutes, he finally spoke.
"Liam, this is what we'll do. Let's give the boys about another hour to see if the direction changes or stays valid. At that point, we should be able to calculate exactly where we would meet them on the way and the dogs should be able to take us on from there."
Liam agreed when he realized that it was a better plan than his original one of waiting longer and trying to go to the brothers' exact spot. They would be saving time and time was precious. They would cut up to where the path would end in proximity to where they already were. The next conversation was when the call came in about an hour later. It was Quinlan. Of his group, he was the best map reader because of his law enforcement and forest service training.
"Hey, what is your position?"
"Liam, you aren't going to believe this, but the dogs are tracking them back towards home."
"Do you think that Katie got away and is trying to get back home?"
"I wouldn't say so because one dog is tracking Landau's scent from the car and one is following Katherine's scent and they are still going in the same direction. We have been able to run onto a few bits and pieces dropped by Katie, but I'm sure we have missed some because of the darkness. They are helping the dogs stay the course, though."
Ciarán was listening and his gut clenched with pride. Good girl, you are doing just as you were trained. Hold on, baby, we are almost there, lómhara.
"We are going to just keep going but let me tell you what the trajectory is looking like."
Liam pulled out their map and his GPS, and soon he said, "I think we have it, I know where they are. We have overshot the place that would allow us access so we'll have to do some backtracking, but based on the trajectory of the trail with the dogs, it runs almost straight to the forest service cabin about a mile past Trapper's Lake."
"What? That is almost in our back yard." Ciarán ground out the words painfully.
"I know, but that is where this is taking us. It's about two miles over and up. I'll call Parker and let him realign the rescue and let everyone else know."
"Are you sure about this?" Ciarán needed some reassurance and Liam wanted to give it to him.
"I'm staking a branch of the O'Connors' future happiness on it so, yes, I'm as sure as I can be."
While Liam called and filled everyone in on the plan, Ciarán was standing impatiently ready for when Liam rang off.
"Ciarán, the sheriff's department just got a notification that a PLB signal emanates from near where we identified and they were able to locate the placement pretty well because of the GPS attached to it. Man, you had that girl trussed up and good job of it. Somehow, she was able to flip on the device. They say it's stable, not moving, and within a half mile of the same cabin and lake that I had thought. We'll be coming from three directions now and we'll get her soon."
Ciarán was relieved as he and Liam took off in the direction they knew would get them to her. Regardless of their renewed vigor, they still had to take it slow because of the terrain once they were off the trail. It would be several hours before they would be able to come up on the cabin with the darkness and the thick brush, but at least, now, they knew they would be able to get to her. They knew where she was. Now, if she weren't hurt, he would be thankful beyond words. He owed so much to these men who had been wandering the mountain looking for the love of his life, and he would never be able to repay them, but he would try.
Parker sent Kelli for some hot refills and waited until she was too far to see or hear him. Then he gave his command gear to the sheriff saying, "I may be just as close as anyone, right here, so I'm taking a couple of these men and going up the established trail. When Kelli gets back, tell her I went to relieve myself. When she asks again, pretend to send someone to go find me. Then send her to go check the house for me. By the time she has figured out that I'm gone, I will be about a mile up the road. I hope."
*****
"Here is your plate. I brought paper so we could just burn them and not do so much cleaning. I bet you appreciate my thoughtfulness, don't you?"
The effort to speak was beginning to be too much, but she tried. "Thank you, Stuart, I do. I appreciate the food as well. Can I sit by the fire to warm up? You… um, I dislocated my shoulder getting out of the car today and I really am in a lot of pain. I need to sleep a little and hope the swelling goes down some."
"You're a nurse; can't you just put it back into place?"
"Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way; it's too swollen now. I will need a doctor to help put this back into place."
"Well, we won't have a doctor near us for about a week, so you need to think about how we could do it or you will just have to figure out how to deal with it. I have some aspirin."
"That would be great. I would like four. It shouldn't hurt my stomach with the food on it." Crap, why did I ask for them? It could make it worse if I bleed. Well, I'll have to take them now, because I'm not going to tell him I'm pregnant. I have to remember to think before speaking.
Katie began to doze in the chair near the fire and fight as she might, she was having difficulty staying awake. Just as she thought Stuart was going to let her sleep, he moved towards her and sat down next to her, fondling her breasts. Shocked, she tried to shift away from him but he stopped her.
"Oh, no, I need to play for a while. Remember when we used to spend hours just massaging each other?" His hands were becoming rougher in their touch.
"You mean when you made me massage you for hours? I don't remember you spending more than a couple of minutes pleasuring me." Katie was not feeling generous in her responses.
"Ah, having a soft husband has made you forget how this works, Katie. You get pleasure by giving me pleasure. Remember? I hope I don't have to retrain you because that won't be fun for you."
Refusing to speak, she just sat there, stiff, while he began to go quickly from massage to tweaking to more pain-inducing techniques. Katie's nipples were already very tender and she knew
he got off on pain but if she didn't say anything, he would just get more abusive, so she squeaked often and didn't hold back the volume. It seemed to make him happy and lessened the real pain he gave her and ultimately that she felt. The effort to play the charade was astounding.
As though he remembered something that disturbed him, Stuart began to look around on the floor and around the occasional furniture in the cabin. "Where is it?" He asked jerking at the cushions up.
Glad for the reprieve, Katie asked, "What? Where is what?"
"Where is that bag you were carrying? The one you had from your car?"
"Oh, I was so tired and it felt heavy so I left it a ways back. My arm was too achy for me to deal with both of…" Stuart slapped Katie hard on the side of her face and head.
Katie had to wait even to begin to think again. She felt waves of nausea and she was dizzy. It made her disoriented for a short time. When she could understand what he was saying to her or that he was speaking to her, she heard him ask, "What are you talking about? You left it so someone looking for you could find you."
Still trying to still her nausea, she felt the warm trickle of blood coming from her nose and lip. She didn't think it came from anywhere else. Finally, she was able to speak over her rolling stomach and in a faint voice, she answered him.
"Stuart," Katie tried to get his attention, "You were much too smart for that. You backtracked and no one would think to do that. If I had known you wanted my pack, I would have told you." She stopped talking as another wave of nausea came over her. She groaned in the effort to stay the vomit.
Stuart began pacing the little cabin and Katie tried not to do anything to draw attention to herself and simply focused on not vomiting. She gagged the bile several times and still held the eruption at bay. She had to keep the blood from going into her stomach. Think. Head down. Pinch.
Parker was coming up on the cabin and he sent a message to Liam, who said they were about a quarter mile from the cabin. Liam called his brothers and they agreed that they were not far, a bit farther but not too far. Everyone muted their phones and kept them on light notification only. Since Shane was the furthest, he would call both when they were within sight of the cabin and everyone would meet in the woods near the trailhead in front of the cabin.
*****
"Andrew, what are you doing, sleeping?"
"Kelli, I have the phone right by me and if we don't get some rest, then there will be no one to take care of things tomorrow. I know we'll have Katie out tomorrow sometime. However, there are so many other things that have to be taken care of, that we both need our sleep. It will take both of us to accomplish them. Other than checking in, the ranch will be okay. There will be so many loose ends from this mess. We'll need to be on our toes. The guys are going to be too tired to do more than sleep when this is over. Where is Jocelyn, anyway?"
"I think she went to bed a couple of hours ago. She said Paddy would wake up and if she didn't get some rest, she might not hear him."
"Good thinking. Where is Molly?"
"She's in the guest room. She is pretty quiet. Do you think Cián is serious about her? I mean, how will she ever handle this bunch of crazy people?"
"She will work it out like the rest of the imports. We all figured it out and settled in for the ride. Katie's dad is sleeping or trying to sleep in one of the boys' rooms. I'm glad the other kids are sleeping with friends tonight. So go to bed or lay on the other sofa if you must stay here but go to sleep. Goodnight. And Kelli…"
"Hmm?"
"Do not leave the house."
"What?"
"You heard me."
"Why would you think that I would leave the house?"
"Because, a stór, I'm married to your sister. Goodnight." He grumbled and turned over to find a comfortable spot to settle into.
"Fine. Goodnight." Kelli threw herself around a bit and pushed on her pillow some before she settled down to sleep.
Chapter Four
Finally, Liam got the call that they were waiting for. His brothers had made the trek and were close enough to see as they finished the last few hundred feet to the group. Thank goodness, because Liam was sure that if they had not arrived very soon, no one would have been able to keep Ciarán from tearing down the cabin himself. They almost had to physically restrain him from going to the window, but Liam carefully walked up to check on things. Even though it was covered by a makeshift cloth, it was not difficult to see inside. With great relief, he saw that while she wasn't looking great, she was still alive. She was trying to get away from her captor, but it looked like her arm was hurt and she was having trouble moving.
When it appeared as though this Landau character was getting off assaulting Katie, Liam could see she seemed to be making more noise than experiencing real pain. He could see her face and the grimace didn't meet the noise she released. The son of a bitch was massaging his cock when she would cry out. Ciarán talked about how she had held out twice as long as he would have liked or expected the night she had tried to go after the poacher and he heated her butt. That was not what was going on here.
Landau was attempting to climb on her in a brutal way and he was slapping her breasts and pulling her hair to bring her head back to maul her face with his mouth. He tried not to look at his brother's wife, his sister, partially undressed and focused on the act of getting her out. Katie glanced up just as Liam was taking one last look before backing away from the window.
The pain was becoming truly more than she could bear. Between her arm and his yanking, slapping and twisting, she was succumbing to the pain. The blood was only a trickle now but it attributed to more of her light-headedness. She looked pretty bad as she took a peek at her body. At one point, she was so repulsed and in pain, that she had pushed him off her, but he came right back quickly with a hard slap to her face, which made her head ring once again. And started the bleeding again. She panted and gagged. As she began taking breaths in huge gulps, only partly hearing Stuart rant about allowing anyone else to touch her besides him. Katie was lifted off the couch and tossed on the bed, creating such an enormous amount of pain that it brought tears to her eyes. She had not passed out like she had hoped would happen at some point. She began to panic. What if Ciarán does get in here and he sees me all laid open to this lunatic? What will he think? Bathroom… breathe… quit crying. She tried again.
"Stuart, okay, I know you want this and if you are careful with my arm, I will do as you want, but I need to go to the bathroom. Can I step outside and relieve myself? Look, you can put one end of the rope on my foot and I won't be able to get away from you. I just really need to go." And, she said under her breath, puke. I need to vomit.
Stuart contemplated for a bit and then shrugged his shoulders apparently believing that the payoff was much better than the alternative, so he tied her ankle to one end of his rope and when she would put her shoes on he said to leave them off.
Katie hesitated for a moment and nodded agreement. Opening the door, she stated in a normal voice but facing outward to the forest, "I will just go over here to relieve myself. You can stand in the doorway if you like. I will be quick." She stepped out onto the cold ground and added that to her list of reasons she was miserable.
Quickly, just as Katie had hoped, it was over. As soon as she had cleared the doorway, men rushed in from all sides, tackling Stuart. This sudden movement yanked her ankle out from under her and she fell, landing on her shoulder creating a significant scream that fell from her lips before she went black for a few seconds. She awoke to pain, torrents of tears rushing down her face, and the eruption that had been staved off for several hours.
She vomited bile, disgust, pain, fear, and relief. From the side of the cabin, Katie heard a string of cursing from her husband which made her cry as much from the pain as the relief of hearing his voice. He grabbed her hair up off her face and held her steady while she finished her retching. When the last of her stomach contents was expelled, she was scooped up and the rope untied before
being gathered totally in her husband's strong, warm embrace. She screamed again. Her pain of her arm was excruciating.
Ciarán relieved any pressure on her shoulder and held her for a bit, wiping her mouth and face with his shirtsleeve. He swore again in two languages as he cried in her matted hair. He kissed her tears that seemed not to slow as they mingled with his. He kissed her hair, her mouth, wherever he could touch with his lips. Finally, the doorway clear, he carried a shivering Katie into the cabin and sat her on his lap on the couch. She let out another yell at the pain in her arm and shoulder as well as her whole, abused body.
She looked over at his face and said in a bit of disbelief, "Ciarán, you are here, I'm not dreaming, right?"
"No, mo chroí, you aren't dreaming. I have you. I love you. How hurt are you, lómhara?"
He asked as he began to pull away from Katie to see for himself. His tears had ended, leaving a man determined to take charge. Katie screeched and refused to let go with her good arm. Ciarán spent more time assuring her that she was safe so he could separate some from her to assess her wounds.
When she wouldn't, he changed his tone to match the grimness in his face, "Katherine, eyes on me. I'm protecting you and you aren't going to be hurt again. Keep your eyes on me, mo chroí."
Ciarán grabbed her chin lightly so as not to hurt her more, boxing it with his thumb and forefinger. He steadied her movements and placed his face in her full view to focus her on him and his words.
Slowly and firmly, he spoke to his wife, "Tell me where you hurt, Katherine. Tell me how to help you."
Without moving his eyes from hers, he captured her thinking and fear, calming both. Taking a ragged breath and letting it out, Katie seemed to draw strength from her husband and finally she spoke, still not releasing her hold on him.
Katie Consents (Ciaran O'Connor Book 3) Page 5
