Abby landed hard on her back in the gravel. The impact knocked the air from her, but she didn’t let that stop her. She twisted away from him, and tried to get to her feet. She’d only made it to her knees when strong hands bit into her shoulders and pulled her to her feet.
Suddenly headlights blinded her. Breathing hard, she squinted, a small part of her brain praying that Jake had somehow found out where they had taken her and come for her. She drew a mental picture of him rushing to her, weapon drawn, flanked by an army of deputies. And while the deputies arrested the men who’d kidnapped her, Jake would take her into his arms, kiss her gently and lovingly and tell her how wrong he’d been, how much he loved her….
The car stopped ten feet away, jerking her from her reverie. She watched, her heart hammering like a piston as a man climbed out. She squinted against the headlights, only able to make out his silhouette. A silhouette that was disturbingly familiar….
“Hello, Abby.”
Her blood ran cold at the sound of Jonathan Reed’s voice.
“Jonathan…my God….”
He stepped into view. Abby gaped at him, stunned. He halted less than a foot away from her, his expression vaguely amused. It had been more than a year since she’d last seen him, but he hadn’t changed. He still had the look of a wealthy doctor, an air of impatience about him. He wore perfectly creased navy slacks. An expensive leather jacket and kid-skin gloves. Cool, intelligent eyes traveled the length of her.
Without speaking he removed one of his gloves. “Ah, prison hasn’t diminished your beauty. It’s good to see you again.”
She cringed when he reached out and gently brushed the hair from her eyes. “What do you want with me?” she asked.
“Abby, Abby, Abby.” He shook his head as if she’d disappointed him. “Why couldn’t you just do your time like a good little girl?”
“The police know you’re behind this.” Her voice shook with each word, but she didn’t care.
“The police?” He arched a brow as if he found the thought amusing. “Oh, you mean that strapping young stud deputy of yours?” He clucked his mouth. “Please, Abby, you really should be more careful about who you…associate with and why.”
She launched a kick at him, but Reed managed to twist aside. The man holding her arms jerked her back. “I see prison life hasn’t done much to rectify that temper of yours. I’ll bet you hate having people telling you what to do twenty-four hours a day.”
“Why the two goons, Reed? Afraid you can’t handle me yourself?”
“You still know how to push those buttons, don’t you?”
“An insecure worm like you has a lot of buttons to choose from.”
Anger flashed in his eyes, but he covered it with a smile. “Still have that smart mouth, too. I always liked that about you.” He removed his other glove one finger at a time. “A man in my position has to have some…shall we say…muscle.”
“You mean someone to do your dirty work.”
“The last transplant operation I performed earned me over two million dollars. That calls for a certain amount of…protection.”
“The police know about your twisted operation. It won’t take them long to come up with some proof. You might be smart, but you’re not that smart. I mean, I figured it out.”
For the first time he looked at her, equal to equal. “You’re going to make killing you very easy.”
“I think they’re all easy for you.”
“Tell me, dear Abby, what is so terribly wrong with what I do? What kind of an impact is an uneducated wino derelict going to have on the world in comparison to a genetic scientist with the IQ of a genius who is a few years from curing heart disease or cancer?”
Abby contemplated him, aghast at what she knew he was going to say next, appalled because she knew he truly believed it.
“Why shouldn’t the derelict sacrifice his miserable life for the good of mankind?” Moving closer to her, he took her chin in his hand. “I don’t use those organs for just anyone. I use them for people who can pay for them. We’re talking millions of dollars, Abby. People who lead productive lives. People who have families and careers. People who will contribute greatly to our society.”
“Nothing gives you the right to play God with people’s lives.”
“I’ve bestowed that right upon myself.”
“I told the cops everything I know. They’re on to your sick scam. Once they get proof, you’re going down.”
A cruel smile twisted his mouth. “By the time the media gets finished with your…cop, everyone in the state of Colorado will know he acted inappropriately with a female convict. Everyone will know he engaged in hot sex with a prisoner while they were snowbound in that cozy cabin.” A cruel laugh rumbled from his chest. “The photographs should help. Well, as long as they edit out the more…graphic details for their more sensitive readership.”
Outrage flashed through her.
“Imagine the headlines. ‘Deputy Beds Convict in Mountain Love Nest.’” He chuckled. “No, I don’t believe your deputy will be a problem.”
“He knows about the black market organs,” she choked. “He knows everything. I told him all of it. And he believed me, Reed.” Emotion wrenched at her with each word. Abby closed her eyes against a hot rush of tears. She didn’t know for sure that Jake had believed any of what she’d told him. But she couldn’t let Reed know that. “He’s going to blow your little scam wide open.”
Serious now, anger flaring in his eyes, he stepped close to her and grasped her chin roughly. “Ah, Abby, you overestimate your charms. I suspect your young stud wasn’t quite as…shall we say…emotionally attached about what happened in that cabin as you are. Some men can be rather calculating when it comes to sex.”
“That’s not the way it was.”
“You’re a convicted felon. You’re nothing more than a smear on the bottom of someone’s shoe. Maybe your stud thought he was doing you a favor. Give the poor little lifer one last thrill since she’s going to be spending the rest of her days in prison.”
Abby tried not to let the words hurt her, but they cut her as surely and deeply as any knife. She knew that wasn’t the way it had been, but the doubt was there. The sharp edge of a blade slashing her with each word.
“He’s going to destroy you,” she said. “He’s going to make sure you spend the rest of your miserable life behind bars.”
“Enough. I’ve grown bored with your dramatics.” Stepping back, he nodded at the men holding her. “Get rid of her.”
Terror burst like a bomb in her chest. For the first time she contemplated her life ending here and now. On this terrible night at the hands of a man she’d once trusted. Oh, God, why couldn’t she keep her mouth shut? Why had she taunted him when she should have been trying to buy some time for herself?
“Why are you doing this?” she asked. “I was in prison. I wasn’t a threat.”
His eyes glinted cruelly as he contemplated her. Stepping forward, he pressed his mouth against hers in a sick imitation of a kiss. Abby endured the contact, closing her eyes against the revulsion rising inside her. When he pulled away, she spat.
Reed smiled. “I’ve experienced your charms firsthand. Let’s just say any man who’s had a taste of you might just fall hard enough to believe you. I didn’t want to take that chance. Even with that country bumpkin cop of yours.” Stepping away from her, he spoke to the two men. “Take her out into deep water, cut through the ice, weight her body and dump her.”
* * *
Jake drove like a madman through the darkness, pushing the SUV to speeds that were dangerous on any highway, let alone a dirt road in the dead of night. All the while Donna Sullivan’s voice rang in his ears.
Reed told me he was going to take care of her. I don’t know what he meant by that, but I can only assume that meant he was going to kill her. The last thing he mentioned was the Antero reservoir….
Jake had dropped Buzz at the Chaffee County jail to work that angle and taken off
to find Abby. The Antero reservoir was located off of Route 285, not far from Fairplay. Jake broke every speed limit in the book on the drive west, pushing Buzz’s SUV over one hundred miles an hour on the straight stretches of highway. Now, less than a mile away from the reservoir, he was terrified at what he might find. That he was too late. That Reed hadn’t taken her there to begin with.
That he was wrong about everything and Abby was going to wind up dead because of him.
Fear crawled up and down his spine like a sharply honed spur. If Reed had, indeed, taken her to the reservoir, there was only one reason Jake could think of. Antero reservoir was deep and stayed frozen most of the winter. If someone were to chop a hole in the ice and drop a weighted body into the water, it wouldn’t ever surface….
* * *
Abby tried not to imagine what it would be like to drown in the frigid water of the reservoir, to have her body weighted, the black water closing around her. Panic threatened to overwhelm her, but she fought it back. She couldn’t afford to panic. She needed time to think. She needed a plan. A clear head. There had to be something she could do to save herself.
Reed walked away without looking back. She watched him go, aware of the two men standing on either side of her, the nylon cuffs cutting into her wrists. Her heart beat out a wild staccato, fear pumping through her veins with every hard beat.
“Let’s go.”
Vaguely, she was aware of one of the men taking her arm and guiding her toward the frozen shore of the lake. Twenty feet ahead, the other man stepped out onto the ice, an ax in one hand, a coil of rope in the other.
Abby’s mind rebelled against the horror of what would happen next. Things were moving too fast. Her life couldn’t end like this. She had too much to live for. She thought of Jake, of all the things she wanted to say to him, all the things they’d left unfinished. It struck her then that she’d never heard him say he loved her. The need to hear him say the words was an ache in her heart.
Closing her eyes, Abby stifled a sob. She knew he loved her. No man could make love to her the way Jake had and not love her. She’d seen it in his eyes, heard it in his voice, felt it in the gentleness of his touch.
Oh, Jake, where are you?
“How far out we gonna take her?” the stocky man asked.
“About halfway. Ice isn’t too thick yet. Hole ought to be easy to chop out.”
The man yanked on her arm. “Come on. We ain’t got all day.”
Sick with terror, Abby took another step toward the ice. Abruptly, the man holding her arm slipped. His feet went out from under him and he went down hard on his rump.
Hope burst through her. She lunged backward, breaking his grip on her arm. The other man turned, dropped the rope and ax. By the time the ghastly tools hit the ground, she was running all-out and halfway to shore.
She heard a shout. Unable to keep herself from it, she looked over her shoulder. The second man had fallen. Another burst of hope sent her up the steep bank. She looked wildly around, spotted the van thirty feet away and dashed toward it.
“Stop!”
A gunshot snapped through the air. Abby didn’t slow down, didn’t look back. She picked up speed and ran a zigzag pattern, praying she didn’t get shot in the back.
A moment later she reached the van. Hampered by the cuffs, she turned, fumbled with the door handle, jerked open the door. Fueled by terror and anger and the raw will to live, she threw herself onto the seat. She spotted the keys in the ignition, twisted her body and started the engine.
The windshield shattered. Abby screamed, turned her head and saw one of the men running toward her, his gun leveled at her back. “Stop!” he shouted.
Leaning forward, she somehow got her hands on the gearshift and rammed the van into gear. Another gunshot rang out. Dropping sideways onto the seat, Abby stomped down hard on the gas pedal. The truck shot backward, the momentum nearly throwing her to the floor. She hit the gas again. Gravel spewed. She couldn’t see from where she was on the seat, but the driver’s side door was open. The ground blurred past as she put distance between her and the man. If she got lucky, she could get out and run into the woods and get away.
A tree slammed against the open door, ripping it off with the screech of metal against metal. Abby kept her foot on the gas, struggled to a sitting position. An instant later the truck crashed into something solid, stopping it cold. The engine sputtered and died. She looked through the windshield and tried to get her bearings. She’d backed into the dense forest adjacent to the gravel lot.
Suddenly, headlights flashed over her, blinding her. A vehicle moving fast approached. Reed, she thought, and another wave of fear sliced her. Through the open door, she saw a man running toward her. It was difficult to maneuver with her arms cuffed behind her, but she managed to get her fingers on the keys. She turned the ignition. The engine groaned.
“Start!” she cried.
In her peripheral vision she saw a man slide to a stop at the door. He leaned in and reached for her. Screaming, Abby lashed out with her feet. “Get away from me!”
“Easy, honey, it’s me!”
The voice registered slowly. She stopped fighting, turned to look at him, felt her heart turn over in her chest. “Jake?”
He uttered her name. Once. Twice. Then he was reaching for her. Pulling her out of the truck and into his arms. A sob bubbled out of her as his strong arms went around her. His words cut through the terror and despair and filled her with hope. “Easy, honey, I’ve got you.”
Relief made her legs buckle. He caught her just in time to keep her from slinking to the ground. “Sweetheart, are you hurt?”
“Oh, God, Jake, you came. I thought—”
“I couldn’t stay away. I couldn’t stop thinking about you.” He looked over the hood of the van, toward the reservoir. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Where’s Reed?”
The hairs at her nape stood on end. “I don’t know. He was here….”
“How many of them are there?”
“Three.”
“Okay.” He tugged the radio from his belt. “RMSAR Homer Two, this is Coyote One, do you read me? Over.”
The radio crackled, then a voice answered. “This is Homer. What’s up, Jake?”
“I’m up at the Antero reservoir. Three suspects. Armed and very dangerous. I was wondering if you guys can get Colorosa’s ass out of bed and get him up here. I’ll contact Buzz.”
“Chopper is already en route. Buzz called ten minutes ago. ETA—now.”
“I hope he has the night vis.”
“He’s got it.”
“Over and out.
Looking quickly from side to side, Jake unholstered his sidearm. “Are you sure you’re okay? They didn’t hurt you?”
“I’m fine. I’m just…really glad you got here when you did.”
As if he wasn’t quite sure he believed her, he ran his hands over her shoulders, down her arms. Abby could feel his hands trembling against her.
“I’m okay. Do you think you could get these cuffs off me?”
The whine of a police siren filled the air as a sheriff’s vehicle sped into the clearing and ground to a sliding halt a few yards away. Jake watched two deputies disembark, then turned back to Abby. Vaguely, she was aware of him reaching into his pocket, of using a knife to cut through the nylon bands around her wrists.
“I’m sorry you had to go through this,” he said.
“They were going to kill me.”
“I know, honey.” He took her hands in his and rubbed the feeling back into her wrists. “You’re cut.”
She looked down at where the nylon had cut into the flesh of her wrists. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not. I’m so damn sorry.”
She glanced through the broken windshield at the flashing strobes beyond. In the distance, the rat-tat-tat of a chopper’s rotors sliced through the night air.
Jake’s radio crackled as two deputies located Reed and his
two goons hiding in an outhouse by the pumping station. He smiled at Abby. “Talk about appropriate setting.”
“What’s going to happen to him?” she asked.
“He’s going to prison for a long, long time.” Jake listened to the deputies’ voices crackle over the radio for a moment, then glanced at Abby. “I got a full confession from Donna Sullivan.”
The meaning behind the words jolted her. “Donna knew?”
“Reed had threatened her children. She’s held this inside her for more than a year because she was afraid he’d murder her two little girls.”
“What a terrible thing to live with.”
“I offered her police protection and promised her immunity if she testifies against him.” He looked beyond the truck where several deputies were tussling on the ground with one of Reed’s thugs. “That will exonerate you.”
The meaning was almost too overwhelming to contemplate. She would have her freedom back. Her career. Her life. The emotion that followed made it difficult to speak. “Oh, Jake…”
“Abby, I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you. I shouldn’t have turned you over to D.O.C.”
“You’re here now. That’s what matters.”
Leaning close, he kissed her once, hard on the mouth. It was a powerful kiss, full of tangled emotions and urgency and the jagged remnants of fear. “I’ve been wanting to do that since I left you,” he said.
“I didn’t know if you’d come. I didn’t even know if you—”
His arms tightened around her, silencing her. Abby looked at him, surprised to see the glimmer of tears in his eyes. She thought he would look away, shamed by the display of emotion, but he met her gaze head-on and let the tears fall unnoticed. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe in you, that I wasn’t there for you. I’m sorry I let you down.”
“I know this isn’t what you want to hear,” she said. “But I need to say it—”
He silenced her with another kiss. It wasn’t a sexual kiss, but one filled with high emotion and unspoken promises. A kiss flavored by the salt of their mingled tears and the burden of all the things they’d left unsaid. “I almost lost you.”