Cooper

by Lagomarsino, Giulia

  We ran until we got to a cliff’s edge where several trees were down, hanging over the edge precariously. There was a steep drop, but that’s where the footprints ended. I stared down at the rocks down below, my heart thumping wildly at the thought of her being thrown over the edge. I started shaking my head, unwilling to believe what I was seeing. It couldn’t be. It wasn’t real. None of this was fucking real.

  “Coop,” Rob’s voice came over coms. “That’s the property line. That must be how those men got through without any alarms going off.”

  “What are you talking about?” I snapped.

  “That area has a bunch of downed trees. One of the trees must have taken out some of the sensors. It’s just about fifty feet to the west of where you’re standing.”

  “Then why the fuck weren’t the sensors fixed?” I shouted.

  “Calm down,” Cap said, walking up to me. “We’ll get down there and find out what’s going on.” He turned away from me and talked over coms again. “I need climbing gear now. I want it all in a half hour. We don’t have any time to lose.”

  “I’m not waiting,” I said, shrugging off my gear and pulling a rope out of my bag. It wouldn’t do jack shit for me if I fell, but I wasn’t waiting a half hour for the proper gear. She might not have that long.

  “Be smart,” Cap said. “If you fall and break your fucking neck, what good does that do her?”

  “I can’t wait.”

  He grabbed my arm, but I spun around and grabbed the front of his vest, yanking him closer to me. “My daughter is out there with two men that could do anything to her. I have no clue if she’s dead or alive, but I do know that she needs me. I’m not fucking waiting to have the proper gear.”

  I shoved him back and he nodded, holding out his hand for the rope. I handed it over and started looping up carabiners to hook up to my belt. It wouldn’t hold me in a fall, but it would help me with a controlled descent. I tied the rope around three carabiners and attached it to my belt loop, then found a good starting point. I was just climbing over the edge when I saw Tacos to the right of me throwing over his own rope.

  “You can wait for gear.”

  He shook his head. “It’s not worth the wait. Besides, what’s the worst that happens? I fall to my death and you guys feel like shit for the rest of your lives for giving me such a terrible fucking nickname?”

  I started climbing down, being careful to find my footing. “I love that nickname.”

  “I might too,” he said as he started his own descent, “if I was fucking Mexican.”

  Tony and I carefully made our way down to the bottom, only having one incident. The rocks at the bottom were jagged and large. I wasn’t sure how they made it down here with her. I shone my flashlight around, but there was no sign of her anywhere.

  “How the fuck did they make it down here with her?” Tacos repeated my thoughts.

  “You got anything?” Cap asked.

  “I can’t see for shit down here,” I grumbled. “And the creek is covering up where they might have gone. Get your asses down here so we can search both sides.”

  “On our way. Chance and Ice, take your teams and start searching along the cliff line.”

  “That’s a waste of time,” I growled. “We need them down here.”

  “The rest of us will be down there, but we need teams searching up top.”

  I hated that he was overriding my decision, but deep down, I knew he was right. While the guys worked on making their way down, Tacos and I started searching the area for any clues as to which direction Kayla was taken. I crossed the creek and started searching along the other side, but there was nothing.

  “They must have gone further downstream,” Tacos said when we came up empty.

  “Who the fuck are we dealing with here? I mean, they were sloppy when they took her right from the fucking property, but now they’re washing away the evidence?”

  “They could have stayed in the water for any number of reasons.”

  I shook my head. “No, the water’s too cold. They wouldn’t just hang out in the water unless there was something to hide.”

  “Like blood,” Tacos said grimly. “Footprints can be tracked, but blood is evidence that she was there.”

  I didn’t need him to fucking tell me that. I was well aware what blood meant. Fuck, I couldn’t believe this shit was happening. “Rob, where does this creek lead? Is there a road close by?”

  “About two miles west of where you are.”

  I turned and headed in the other direction and started searching for signs of her.

  “You think they dragged her two miles west? What are the chances that a truck was just waiting for them on the road?” Tacos asked.

  “Fuck if I know, but what were they doing on our property to begin with?”

  “Hold up,” Cap shouted from behind us. I spun around in irritation. Several of the guys had already made their way down. “I know you want to find her, but we need to figure out some kind of plan. We can’t just go wandering around.”

  “I don’t have time for this shit. I can’t just sit around here while she’s out there!”

  “Calm the fuck down. If we don’t get a solid lead, then we’re just wasting valuable time.” He held his earpiece. “Rob, I want to know about every shed, house, cabin, whatever the fuck you can find that’s in the area.”

  “Already on it, Cap.”

  “Alright,” Cap turned to all of us. “Now, they weren’t careful when they took her, but now they are. Why?”

  “Because the creek is here to wipe away all the evidence. We already know this.”

  “But where was their gear? How did they get down the cliff?”

  I wracked my brain to try and figure out a way, but as I looked up at the cliff again, I realized that we hadn’t moved the ropes, because there was no one there to untie them from the top. All the guys had moved on to searching along the cliff.

  “Shit, they didn’t bring her down here. They just wanted us to think that they did.”

  “Or they realized they couldn’t make it down here,” Cap said.

  Fuck, this was why Cap was in charge. He had the cool head and had been thinking things through. While I was letting my emotions get the best of me, he knew that there was no logical reason for anyone to bring Kayla down here. That’s why he had the guys searching along the cliffs.

  I ran for the ropes and started climbing, irritated that I had been so focused on finding her that I hadn’t bothered to think that they hadn’t brought her down here. When I got to the top of the cliff, I knew we were fucked. We had all followed the tracks over here, and now our tracks covered up anything that would have been here.

  “Goddamnit!” I shouted, kicking out at one of the fallen trees. Cap made it up and put his hand on my shoulder.

  “Rob, anything on the sensors?”

  “Not yet.”

  Fuck. I had wasted too much time not thinking with my head, and now they had an even bigger lead than before. If anything happened to her, I would never forgive myself.

  “I’ve got tracks!”

  I didn’t wait for orders. I took off and prayed that I got to Kayla in time.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Kayla

  My body shivered as I was shoved through the forest, my feet barely touching the ground. Blood dripped in my face from smacking my head against a tree. When I saw them, I knew that I was screwed. I might have had a decent chance of getting away, but I twisted my ankle on the uneven ground. After that, they tackled me and I hit a tree hard. Now I was dizzy and just barely able to move along with them. Fighting back wasn’t much of an option when I could barely focus on the ground in front of me.

  I had thought for a moment that they were going to throw me off the cliff, but then they changed direction and started hauling me over downed trees. We had been wandering through the trees for the past hour or so. I was so fucking tired and cold, but deep down, I knew that I had to find a way out of this, or I was screwed.
I stumbled again and gripped at the man in front of me as I fell forward. It was then that I saw a gun in the back of his pants.

  Hope sparked inside me and I began to formulate a plan. It wasn’t perfect, and there was a very real possibility that I wouldn’t make it out of here alive, but I had no clue if anyone knew I was missing, and I couldn’t wait for a better opportunity to come. I had to try and save myself. I stumbled once more to judge the right distance, and then walked a little closer so that the next time I stumbled, I would fall right where I needed to grab the gun. The man behind me kicked at me, shoving me closer to the man in front. I swiped at the blood that was close to dripping in my eyes and made my move.

  Stumbling one last time, I grabbed onto the man’s shirt and simultaneously pulled the gun out as I fell. I quickly released the safety, but before I could fire, he kicked at my hand and the gun slipped from my fingers. He was on me in a flash, punching me in the face and ripping at my shirt. I tried to scream, but the other man slammed his palm over my mouth and gripped onto my wrists to hold me down. Panic flared inside me and I started bucking my hips, doing anything I could to get him off me. His cold hands groped at my breasts and moved to my waistline, ripping at the material. Once his weight was off me, I brought up my knee and then slammed my foot out, crushing his windpipe with the bottom of my foot. He choked and gasped as he backed off me, clutching at his neck for air.

  Something hard came down on my head and everything dimmed around me and swirled in a dizzying pattern. I felt hands move over my body and jerk at what remained of my clothes, but I couldn’t move or do anything to defend myself. I stared off at a tree, trying to focus on the base of it to steady my vision. I felt his body on top of mine, but everything was so hazy that I couldn’t figure it out in my mind. I fought to clear my head. The only thing that mattered right now was getting out of here alive.

  My body jerked with every movement from the man and I slowly began to realize what was happening. I caught sight of something shiny on the ground and willed my fingers to reach out for it. I felt the sharp edge and slowly curled my fingers around it, gripping it tight in my hand. Blood trickled down my palm, but I didn’t pay attention. I squeezed my eyes closed and tried to remember where to strike out. When I opened my eyes and looked at the devil on top of me, a surge of energy spiked inside me and I jolted upright, slamming the knife into his shoulder. I had meant to slam it into his neck, but my aim was off as the world continued to spin.

  The man screamed and pulled away from me, cradling his shoulder in his hand. I stumbled to my feet and hovered above him, ready to plunge the knife into his chest. I fell and swung with all my might, but knew that I missed my intended target. Instead, my knife plunged lower. Much lower. I collapsed on the ground, my face plastered to the mud as I lay on my stomach. My breathing roared in my ears for just a few seconds before everything went dark and the pain subsided.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Becky

  My fingers flew across the keyboard as I repositioned cameras and tried to find some clue as to where Kayla was. The one thing I hadn’t really counted on when Cap said that we were expanding our property was how hard it would be to cover everything. We really needed some infrared cameras right now. We had them closer to the building, but nothing this far out.

  “She’s going to be fine,” Rob reassured me.

  “You don’t know that.”

  “I know that the best guys are looking for her right now.”

  I huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, and they wouldn’t have to be looking for her if I hadn’t helped her sneak out. This is all my fault.”

  “Becks, this is not all on you. This is on Kayla too.”

  “No, it’s not. She’s a kid. It was my job to keep her safe and help her make good decisions.”

  “Why did you help her?”

  Tears pricked my eyes and I moved another camera, searching the picture for any sign of her. “I just wanted to help her. She was locked in that damn room all the time, and I just wanted…I just wanted her to be a kid and have some fun.”

  “Becky, you should have told him.”

  “I know,” I snapped. “Look, I get it. I fucked up. Can we just focus on finding her now?”

  Twenty minutes later, I was panning through another area of the forest when something caught my eye. It was just a glimpse of something, but when I zoomed in, I knew I had something. I needed a different camera angle to be sure. Switching to a different camera, I got the angle and gasped. Alarms sounded next to me and Rob was hurrying to find out what was happening.

  “We’ve got a breach two miles from your location,” Rob said over coms. “It looks like they’re headed off the property.”

  “We’ll head that way,” I heard Cap say.

  I almost forgot to speak up. “Wait. She’s not with them. I have her on camera, only about a half mile from you. I’m sending you coordinates now. Coop…you need to hurry.”

  “Cazzo, Ice, Chance, and Alec, you take the perpetrators. The rest of us move to Kayla’s position. Rob, get a maintenance team on the downed sensors. I don’t want this shit to ever happen again!”

  I couldn’t tear my eyes off Kayla. She looked dead, but I prayed that she was just unconscious. If she was dead, I would never forgive myself. Not that I would anyway. All of this was my fault, no matter what Rob said. I was the adult, and I was responsible for her.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Coop

  I raced through the trees to the coordinates Becky sent. I could hear the other guys behind me, but I didn’t know who was there. Becky told me to hurry, like there was another option. I glanced down at the GPS on my phone again and slowed my pace. I was almost there and I didn’t want to pass her up.

  When I looked up, I stopped running and just stood there, staring at my daughter…my naked daughter, laying on the ground unmoving. Time stood still as I watched through blurred eyes as Hunter and Rocco ran to her side and immediately covered her body.

  “No!” I shot forward, but arms held me back as tears blurred my eyes. “Let me go! That’s my daughter!”

  “Let them look her over first,” Cap said in my ear.

  An animalistic sound tore from my throat as I fought against him, needing to get to her. “I need to help her. I need-” A sob tore from my throat as flashes of what I ran up on spun through my mind. I shoved at Cap, just barely breaking loose before more hands were on me, holding me back once again. I fought and kicked, biting at one hand that wrapped around my chest. I would do anything to get to her. She needed me.

  “Get the fuck off me!”

  “You need to calm down,” he said, still struggling to hold me back.

  “She’s alive,” Hunter shouted over his shoulder.

  “Just let them check her out first.”

  “You don’t understand,” I cried, tears falling fast from my eyes as I struggled to breathe. My chest was so tight and I felt like I might be on the verge of having a heart attack.

  “I do,” Cap said quietly, his arms still wrapped around me to hold me back. My legs gave out and I collapsed to the ground, fucking sobbing as I was held back from going to my daughter, the one person that I was supposed to protect in this world. I had failed her.

  “She’s okay,” Rocco said, turning around and motioning me over. “She’s alright. We have to get her to the hospital, but she’s going to be okay.”

  Cap’s arms slowly eased up, as did the other arms that were holding me back. But the thing was, once they released me, I couldn’t seem to move. I wasn’t prepared for what I might see. Slowly, I got to my feet and swiped at my face as I approached her. She was unconscious and was bleeding from her head. She was pale and there were defensive wounds all over her, but I couldn’t see all the damage. She was covered, and I wasn’t sure if I could handle the worst of it right now. I needed to keep it together until we got her to the hospital.

  “Is she…”

  “She’s alive. She’s cold and probably has a concussion,�
�� Rocco stated matter-of-factly.

  “Was she…”

  I couldn’t finish the thought, even though I knew the answer already. It was so obvious. Rocco looked up at me with pity in his eyes. He gripped my shoulder and slapped his other hand against my face, forcing me to look at him.

  “She doesn’t need your tears right now. She needs you there with her and to be strong for her, okay?” When I didn’t answer, he smacked my face again. “Okay?”

  I nodded slightly and looked back down at my baby girl. Sliding my hands under her body, I lifted her in my arms and let the guys tuck the blanket tightly underneath her. She was so limp and lifeless that I worried I would never see those fierce eyes glaring back at me again.

  “Let’s move!” Hunter shouted. I let my feet carry me back to the compound as fast as I could. It was a complete blur of movement around me. I knew that all the guys were there with me and doing everything they could to be there if I fell, but I wouldn’t fall. I would get my daughter to the hospital, and then I would get the fuckers that did this to her and make sure that they paid. They would never see the inside of a jail cell or go before a judge. I was the fucking judge and jury, and I was going to make sure that they suffered for what they had done to her.

  It took only forty-five minutes to run back to the compound. Becky was standing in the garage with tears in her eyes, but I ignored her and slipped into the back of an SUV, cradling Kayla to my chest. When we got to the hospital, the doctors immediately took Kayla from my arms. I almost started fighting, not wanting to let her go, but I knew there was nothing more I could do for her.

  Becky came running into the hospital soon after. When I saw her, tears streaming down her face and looking so fucking sorry, I almost lost it. Who the fuck did she think she was coming here? She didn’t have any right to be here after what she did. She must have thought that I would be forgiving, because she walked right up to me and actually put her fucking hands on me. I wrenched away from her angrily, my anger leeching to the surface.