Stars Over Alaska

by Jennifer Snow

  How the hell had she been so stupid not to see who he really was?

  She cleared her throat and his gaze shot to the rearview mirror as though she’d scared him with the noise. His wild-eyed expression made him look unhinged. Wonderful. She was indeed dealing with a dangerous person. “Don’t make any noise or do anything stupid or I’ll shoot you and throw you out of the car,” he said.

  Her own gun and handcuffs were in her bag, sitting on the front seat, and she didn’t have her cell phone.

  Her heart thundered in her chest. Just what was Eoghan capable of? What had he done already? The break-in at Selena’s house, the messages in blood—was that all him? How had she missed the signs? The connections?

  She took a deep breath. Gauging his mental state and finding out his intentions was the first step in getting them out of danger. “Eoghan, let’s talk about this. How do you plan on executing this kidnapping?”

  He stared at her through the mirror. “You made it very easy. No one knows where you both are. Only I knew where to find you.”

  About that... If it hadn’t been Selena’s fault, if the photos weren’t real, then what had given away their location? “How did you know? I mean if you doctored the photos to convince me it was Selena’s fault...then how did you know?”

  “I put a tracking device on your vehicle months ago,” he said, returning his gaze to the road. “On all of Selena’s vehicles too.”

  Jesus. He’d had access to the star because of Leslie.

  All the clues—the letters, the photos, the intimate details about Selena, the knowledge about her daily schedule, when she’d be on set, when she’d be at home...everything had been because of her relationship with Eoghan, their closeness, her trust in her co-worker. Letting her guard slip had put them in this position.

  The first person she’d tried to open up to in years and this happened. Maybe she was right to stay closed off, guarded.

  Or maybe she needed to trust the right person...

  Thinking of Levi only made her stomach twist in the worst way. What if their last goodbye really was the last one? What if she never saw him again? Panic at the thought made it hard to breathe; and her regret was so strong it had her chest tightening, so she pushed all thoughts of him aside. Survival was the priority right now.

  “So why didn’t you abduct her before?”

  “You know the answer to that,” he said.

  Right. The toying, the intimidating, the pleasure of watching a victim become more paranoid, then scared...

  “But all things have to end,” he said casually. “I knew once you heard about the suspect being released, you wouldn’t head back to LA and I was tired of waiting. And besides, you really did create the perfect situation for my next steps.”

  Next steps. Truly abducting the star. Where would he take her? They certainly weren’t heading back to LA right now. He could take them anywhere. No one would know.

  He’d never tell her where they were heading, so instead she asked, “Why Selena?” Hollywood royalty had never really seemed to interest him. He claimed to hate LA and said the job was a stepping stone to a career with the NYPD. That mutual sense of not really belonging in California and not identifying with most people living there had been one of the things that had bonded them. Either he’d really presented himself as someone he wasn’t or he had a reason for targeting Selena.

  He glanced in the rearview, but this time his gaze was locked on Selena as he spoke. “I was fifteen when she starred in Surviving Junior High.”

  The after-school special that taught morals in a fun, often lighthearted and touching way. Leslie vaguely remembered watching it as a teen. Selena had said she’d been ten acting like a tween in the popular show. She’d seen her sign posters for her fans with catchphrases from her character.

  “In the show her parents were going through a divorce—so were mine,” Eoghan said. “I felt like she understood what I was going through. Her struggles were my struggles, even though she was only twelve in the show.”

  Leslie nodded. “I can understand that.” He was a teen and going through a hard time. Easier to sympathize with that than the stalker he was turning out to be, but plenty of children lived through divorces and deaths and tragedies; it didn’t turn them into dangerous people.

  “For three years I watched her on that show. Our connection grew stronger and stronger...”

  Connection? He really was twisted up in this tortured, warped kind of way. Confusing fiction with reality...as a means to escape?

  She glanced at Selena, but the woman just looked even more terrified as Eoghan continued to explain the origins of his obsession.

  “Then out of nowhere, the show was canceled.” The irritation in his voice warned Leslie to tread carefully. He was driving really fast on snow-covered, slippery, winding roads.

  “She abandoned me,” he said, his glare icy as he stared at Selena.

  An oncoming transport truck wailed on the horn as the vehicle started to swerve into the other lane.

  “She abandoned me,” he repeated, hitting the steering wheel and pressing down on the gas a little harder.

  Jesus, they may not even survive wherever they were going.

  Could she talk him down? Help him realize that his anger was misdirected? “It wasn’t her choice,” she said softly. “Shows get canceled all the time...”

  “She wasn’t there anymore,” Eoghan said and the car sped up. He struggled to keep it from sliding off the road and Leslie saw Selena shut her eyes tight.

  “I’d turn on the television and she was gone,” Eoghan said, to no one in particular now, as though talking to himself. “She left me all alone. I had no one. My father left and my mother was useless. Kids were assholes.” He hit the wheel with his fist over and over and then drove even faster, coming up close to the bumper of the truck in front of them. “I had no one and she didn’t give a damn. I wrote letter after letter and she never responded.” He looked in the rearview at Selena. “You never responded! Why didn’t you respond, April?” Calling her by her character’s name, he wasn’t seeing Selena Hudson. He was seeing the young girl he’d watched on his television, the one he’d felt understood him, was there for him. “You left me all alone,” he said.

  Tears slid down Selena’s cheeks and Leslie knew the star could sense the immediate danger they were in. Engaging Eoghan in this conversation had been a mistake. He was losing his temper and with it, his ability to navigate the treacherous roads.

  She had to do something. She tugged on her hands, desperate to loosen the ropes enough to break free. She scanned the back of her vehicle for something—anything—to use as a tool or a weapon, but Eoghan had wiped the back seat clean.

  Selena glanced at her and her expression changed. Gone was the terror and the tears had stopped. Now there was only a look of sheer determination.

  Shit. What was she going to do?

  “Selena...” she whispered, a note of caution in her voice. One wrong move and this guy could snap—or worse, they could go off the road. Plunging to their death off the side of the highway wasn’t the way Leslie wanted to die.

  Selena motioned toward Leslie’s head and Leslie inched slowly and quietly as close to her as possible. She saw her raise her hands and quickly slide a bobby pin from Leslie’s messy bun.

  Eoghan glanced at them over his shoulder and neither of them moved.

  Her heart pounded in her chest as she watched Selena maneuver the bobby pin into the lock... She struggled with her shaking hand but Leslie nodded her encouragement to keep trying. There was no way she could get free of the ropes.

  Selena wiggled the pin desperately in the lock as the car continued to pick up speed on the highway and finally the cuffs broke open.

  She did it!

  Leslie clamped her lips together and tried to signal Selena to make a dive out of the vehicle. She might
get injured but at least she’d be out of this car. She’d have a fighting chance.

  Instead, the star gripped the handcuffs in both hands and, leaning over the seat, she wrapped them around Eoghan’s neck.

  Surprise registered on his face as he reached up to try to free himself, but Selena leaned back, using all her strength and body weight to choke him out.

  “Selena, the car...” Leslie said. With Eoghan out at the wheel, they’d surely crash. But the car was slowing...his foot releasing pressure on the gas as he struggled with Selena. His eyes bulged and Selena tugged harder.

  She had to help. Yanking with all her might, she felt the ropes cut into her hands as they broke free from the door handle. Her hands still tied, Leslie crawled over the seat and took control of the wheel as Eoghan’s head fell forward, passed out.

  She pressed her foot to the gas and slowly brought the car to the side of the highway, putting it in Park and exhaling a deep breath.

  Oh my God...

  Selena collapsed back against the seat and ripped the tape away from her mouth. “Motherfucker!” she said, rubbing her lips. She kicked the back of the seat and glared at Eoghan, slumped to one side, his head against the driver’s side window. “Can you believe this asshole?”

  “No...but you called it.” And she hadn’t listened. “Can you untie me?” She extended her hands toward Selena but the movie star folded her arms.

  “So, I was right about him.”

  Leslie sighed. “You were right about him.”

  “And you were wrong?”

  “Seriously?”

  “Say it.”

  “Okay, I was wrong. Now untie me before he wakes up and murders you.”

  Selena moved closer and untied the rope quickly.

  Leslie grabbed her bag and retrieved her gun and handcuffs, then she dug around in the console for her cell phone. Battery was at twenty percent...but no cell service.

  Fucking fantastic.

  But at least they were no longer at the mercy of a stalker.

  * * *

  ARRIVING IN WILD RIVER twelve hours after receiving the call from Eddie, exhausted and fueled only by coffee and adrenaline, Levi headed straight to the police station. Leaving his crew to fight the fires in Florida on their own had been one of the toughest, quickest decisions he’d ever had to make in his life, but he couldn’t ignore his gut feeling that something was wrong. Leslie’s vehicle had a tracking device on it. That meant Selena’s stalker could know where they were. At least they’d been safe at the cabin, but the shop had reported that Leslie had picked up her vehicle hours ago.

  “Any word from her?” Levi asked as he hurried into Eddie’s office. He’d had no luck reaching her on her cell phone and by now, he must be looking like a stalker himself with the number of missed calls she’d find on her phone.

  He hadn’t showered or changed and he was dirty and he stank, but none of that mattered right now.

  “No,” Eddie said. “But I’ve been tracking her car with the tracker and they’ve been driving south.” He looked worried, but not entirely convinced that something was legitimately wrong. “I tried calling you, but it went straight to voicemail,” Eddie said, taking in his gear.

  “I was on a domestic flight back here,” Levi said.

  “I hate to say it, man, but I might have put out the emergency call a little early,” Eddie said. “This could just be Leslie being Leslie.”

  No way. His gut told him something was definitely off. “Normally, I’d agree but we’ve both been trying to reach her and by now she’d have at least sent a ‘Fuck off’ text,” he said.

  Eddie nodded. “You’re right about that.” He paused. “So what should we do? They are about ten hours away already and other than asking a highway trooper to pull her car over, I’m not sure how to reach her.”

  “Could we do that?”

  Eddie grinned, reaching for his cell phone. “Probably not, but I can threaten it,” he said, texting her.

  Levi sat in the chair across from Eddie’s desk, exhaustion catching up to him. He’d left base camp and hiked to the Florida station ten miles away, where he’d gotten a ride to the airport. He’d been prepared to pay anything for a last-minute flight back to Anchorage and the entire eight-hour flight, he’d been on edge. Desperate to get back, hating to be out of range, out of contact.

  Now maybe Eddie was right. It could have been an insane overreaction.

  “So, she was at the cabin these last few days?” Eddie asked, leaning back in his chair.

  “Yeah. Listen, I’m sorry, man. She didn’t want me to tell anyone. She thought maybe your family might have a difference of opinion on how she was handling things.” He ran a hand over his scruffy beard.

  “She’s not wrong,” Eddie said, then he frowned. “So, were you done in Florida?”

  Levi shifted in the chair. “Not exactly.” And if Leslie was fine and just ignoring them the way Eddie thought, his rushing back there, following a gut instinct, was enough for him to maybe hand over his position to Chad. He’d made a judgment call that he never would have made for any other reason, for any other person.

  “But you came back early?”

  “Yep.” This would be an amazing time for that Forrester guy to be around. Levi’s actions would have highlighted his point exactly. The woman he loved might have needed him and that had taken priority.

  “Because you thought Leslie might be in trouble?”

  “Yep.”

  The knowing look on Eddie’s face told Levi it was time to go before this conversation took a different turn. He stood.

  “Are we going to talk about that or...?”

  “I’d rather not,” Levi said, heading toward the office door. “Keep trying her and I’ll let you know if I hear anything.” Right now he needed a shower and a nap and time to reevaluate his priorities. The last week he’d taken far too many chances with his career and while he’d give up anything and everything to be with Leslie, he had to start facing reality—a future with her might not be in the cards and he had to salvage what he did have left.

  “Sounds good, man. Take care,” Eddie said.

  “Hey, Eddie...call for you on line two,” said Jan, the department receptionist, paging his office.

  “Do you know who it is?” Eddie asked as he nodded his goodbye to Levi and reached for the landline on his desk.

  “I think it’s your sister,” Jan said.

  Eddie sat forward and Levi paused in the doorway. “Katherine?”

  “Leslie,” Jan said.

  * * *

  IT WAS ALMOST forty hours since he’d last slept, but the adrenaline pumping through Levi’s body as he paced the station had him wide awake.

  “They’re here,” Eddie said, tapping him on the shoulder as the station doors opened and the highway troopers led Selena’s stalker in through the doors, his hands in cuffs behind his back. Eoghan. Leslie’s co-worker. Another agent. She’d been right about it being an inside job and not trusting anyone. Unfortunately, she’d trusted the wrong guy.

  Six-foot-two and at least two hundred pounds, the guy’s long hair blocked the view of his face as he kept his head down, shuffling his feet as he passed Levi in the hallway.

  Son of a bitch. Levi’s hands clenched at his sides. Resisting the temptation to knock the guy out took everything he had. And several officers watching him.

  If this man touched one hair on Leslie’s head...one hair on Selena’s head...

  But when the door opened again and Leslie entered, all anger disappeared, replaced only by relief. She was okay. They were okay.

  Only her face wasn’t okay. Deep bruising around her right eye and cheekbone, swelling that made one side of her face balloon had Levi’s heart racing and he turned to head back toward Eoghan.

  Eddie intercepted. “Hey, it’s okay. He’ll get what he dese
rves. Channel your energy where it matters most,” he said quietly, nodding toward Leslie and Selena walking their way.

  Levi took a breath. “Yeah. You’re right.”

  “Hey, sis...looking good,” Eddie said, as the two women reached them, but even Levi could detect the note of concern in his teasing as he pulled Leslie in for a hug. “You good?” he heard the other guy whisper.

  “Yeah,” Leslie said. “Fine.”

  Her voice was steady and strong. No sign of fear or anguish. Forever the professional badass, she would never let on if this experience had shaken her.

  When she pulled back and her gaze met Levi’s, she looked happy to see him but also slightly confused. “Weren’t you...?”

  “I came back,” he said awkwardly, staring at his feet.

  Two arms were wrapped around his waist, but unfortunately, they were the wrong ones. “So happy to see you,” Selena said, smiling up at him.

  He forced one of his own, squeezing her quickly with one arm then releasing her. “Happy to see you in one piece as well,” he said. She looked tired and she was dirty and wet from the hike along the highway to get cell reception, but other than that, she was injury-free.

  “I knew not to trust that guy,” she said and he saw Leslie’s irritation mount.

  Eddie saw it too and quickly addressed Selena. “Hey, why don’t I start taking your statement? Get you some coffee and something to eat.”

  The movie star nodded, but then glanced at Leslie as though for reassurance.

  “It’s fine. Go with Eddie. I’ll be there in a minute,” she said.

  Selena followed Eddie to his office. Leaving the two of them alone.

  Levi cleared his throat. “I want to kill him for doing that to you,” he said.

  “It’s not as bad as it looks,” Leslie said, forever tough, forever strong. “Um, aren’t you supposed to be in Florida?”