She gasped, gripped the wheel tighter, and pressed on the gas to take the next turn as her adrenaline surged. The neighborhoods on her left disappeared. Now all she could see were thick trees on both sides of the road. One glance in the rearview told her the older van couldn’t keep up with her Audi. It had dropped back, but she knew she hadn’t lost whoever was in it. If she didn’t get to Emma first, they would. And if that happened, she knew she’d never find her daughter.
Flooring it, she swerved around corners, holding on tightly so she didn’t lose control. Her heart pounded hard. Her palms grew damp against the steering wheel. The car banked to the left. Ahead she spotted a paved drive, blocked by a wrought-iron gate. The stone address marker read “49273.”
She slammed on the brakes, swerving off the road onto the gravel shoulder. Shoving the car into park, she threw the door open and jumped out. Her muscles contracted as she raced toward the arced metal gate, flanked on both sides by two towering stone columns topped with decorative lights.
There was no time to buzz the intercom. Heart in her throat, she grasped the top of the gate at its lowest point, stepped up on the bottom rung, and pulled herself up. Metal cut into her hands. Her knee cracked against the top of the gate as she threw herself over. Her body sailed through the air as she dropped down the other side and landed hard against the concrete.
The sound of an engine revving echoed on the road. She stepped back. Then turned and ran.
The drive dropped down to the left and curved to the right. Her feet pounded hard against the concrete as she ran downhill, trying not to stumble and fall. At the bottom of the drive, she spotted a giant, contemporary mansion set on a cliff overlooking a sea of trees. Pushing her muscles harder, she raced toward the portico and rushed up the three elongated steps to the twelve-foot, ornate, double wood front doors.
She pounded her fist against the doors and yelled, “Hello?” Not waiting for an answer, she grabbed the iron handle and pressed down on the latch, but the door was locked. Slamming her hand against the door again, she hollered, “Hello? Is anyone in there?”
A rush of heavy footsteps sounded on the driveway. Whipping around, Raegan spotted two burly men in black racing toward her. Her eyes flew wide. She let go of the door and ran back down the steps, sprinting around the side of the three-car garage.
A flat concrete pad spread out behind the garage. Three steps led up to a back door. She jiggled the doorknob, only to find it locked. Jumping off the landing, she followed more elongated steps down the side of the house. Her pulse roared as she hustled to the bottom level. A staircase swept up to a deck that ran all along the back of the main level of the house. She paused to catch her breath and scanned the deck. There would be nowhere to hide up there. Heart thundering, she rushed underneath to the patio below.
The patio at the lowest level gave way to another deck that arced out over the cliff. No lights shone down here, and even in the middle of the day, with the trees all around blocking the daylight, it was hard to see. Her feet skidded to a stop just before she went sailing through a giant octagonal-shaped hole in the decking.
She jerked back several steps and gasped. The wood around the hole was fresh, unstained, as if it had been recently laid in preparation for a hot tub. Raegan scanned the railing on the far side, realizing there was nowhere here to hide either. She turned to go back the way she’d come when a voice shouted from the deck above.
Her heart shot into her throat as she froze and looked up. She strained to listen, but all she could hear was her pounding heartbeat. And then . . .
At her back, footsteps shuffled just before another voice chuckled close.
“There you are,” a man said behind her. “Feisty, aren’t you?”
Raegan swallowed a scream and whipped around. She couldn’t see more than a silhouette, but she knew the man was big, at least six three and over two hundred pounds. Panic built in her chest, making her skin prickle and her breaths shallow. She glanced to the right and left, only to find she was trapped.
The man moved toward her. “Come on, now. You’ve had your fun. It’s time to go.”
Defiance rose up inside Raegan. She wasn’t leaving. Not without her daughter. Swiveling away, she ran. The man behind her swore and sprinted after her. His hand darted out, grazing her elbow. Pushing her muscles as hard as she could, she jumped and prayed he didn’t jump with her. A grunt sounded at her back as she flew through the air, followed by a strangled scream and, finally, a thud.
Raegan’s body slammed into the wrought-iron railing. The air whooshed out of her lungs as she gripped the banister tightly, holding on as she looked over the cliff. The man sailed through the hole in the decking and hit the rocks far below.
Gasping, Raegan stumbled back from the railing and turned before she fell through the hole too. But she didn’t have more than a moment to catch her breath. A shout echoed on the verandah above, followed by the rush of footsteps. Her adrenaline spiked all over again, and she knew she had only a split second before the other thug found her. Looking across the deck, she spotted French doors on the house. She quickly rounded the hole, raced forward, and grasped the door handle, praying it had been left unlocked. The knob turned in her palm.
Relief sparked in her veins like a live wire. She stumbled inside the house, whipped around, and locked the door. Stepping back, she looked up and around. The game room was decked out with a giant TV along one wall and a bar along another. An archway past the bar opened to another room. To her left she spotted stairs that ran up to the main level.
She bolted toward the stairs, grasped the railing, and used it to help pull herself up. The stairs curved up to the right. Skipping steps, she rushed up to the main level and screamed, “Emma!”
No answer met her ears. No voices. She sprinted through rooms on the main level, searching. “Emma!” The elaborate kitchen opened to an enormous great room. Still no voices, no sounds met her ears, nothing to indicate anyone was home. “Emma!”
Fear tightened her throat as she checked one room after another—formal dining room, office, library, guest room—finding each empty and silent. In the marble entry, she scrambled up the ostentatious curved staircase and hurried across the bridge flanked by railings that looked over the entry on one side and the great room on the other. A whir sounded near her ear, followed by a thwack in the Sheetrock to her right.
Raegan’s eyes grew wide as she jerked forward, twisting around to see a hole where a bullet had torn through the wall. Her adrenaline surged. One glance over the side confirmed the man she’d heard outside had found a way in. In the center of the great room below, he lifted the gun again and pointed it right at her.
Another whir sounded. She yelped and threw herself around a corner.
“Little bitch,” the man yelled. His footsteps pounded against the marble in the entryway. “Come back here.”
Fear closed like a noose around Raegan’s throat. She lurched forward and raced down the hall, searching for a place to hide. A set of double doors at the end of the hall sat open. She rushed inside, turned, and slammed the doors closed behind her. Pulse thundering, she flipped the lock with shaking hands and stumbled back.
“Where did you go?” the man hollered. “You can’t hide from me! I’m not going back empty-handed.”
Sweat beaded on Raegan’s brow as she backed farther into the room. The lock wouldn’t hold him for long. She was trapped unless she found another way out. Turning, she quickly scanned the master bedroom. A wall of curved windows looked out over the trees. A massive bed sat against the far wall. She spotted doors to her left, and turned that way only to discover a closet. Panic built in her chest, making her body shake. He’d look there first. Whipping around, she lurched for the massive bathroom. A huge glass-enclosed shower took up one whole corner. A raised whirlpool tub sat in front of an arched window. Frantic for something—anything—to camouflage her, she dashed across the marble tiles, ready to climb inside a cabinet if she had to, when she spotted an
open door off the bathroom that led to another room.
Exercise equipment surrounded her. There was nowhere to hide in here. But on the far side of that . . .
. . . a back staircase that led down. Relief pushed her a step forward.
Wood splintered and cracked in the bedroom, pulling a yelp from Raegan’s throat.
“I know you’re in here, bitch.”
Fear stabbed through Raegan with the force of a thousand daggers, and she jolted forward, racing around a stationary bicycle and treadmill toward the staircase on the far side.
A whir sounded just as she reached the top step. The decorative molding just to the left of her head exploded in a burst of fragmented wood.
Raegan screamed and lost her footing. Her body cracked against the wall and dropped to the stairs. Pain shot into her shoulder and across her back as she tumbled end over end. Her face smacked into the steps, the staircase spun around her. She grappled for the railing to stop herself, but her fingers only grazed the spindles as the force of her body pulled her down two flights of curved steps to the bottom level of the house.
The back of her head cracked against a marble floor. Something warm and wet trickled down her temple. Groaning at the pain stabbing into every inch of her body, she shifted her hands beneath her and tried to push herself up, but her arms ached and didn’t seem to be working. The sharp scent of pool chemicals filled her nostrils. Struggling to see where she was, she lifted her head and looked around, but the room was spinning, and the black dots in her vision made it hard to focus.
Footsteps pounded somewhere above, bringing her focus around. Fear surged inside her again, but her energy lagged, and she struggled to stand. Grunting, she finally managed to reach her feet, but her head felt light, and she swayed. She grappled for the wall and stumbled back. A voice echoed in the stairwell. Followed by a curse and a shout.
No, she realized, squinting up the stairs, shaking her head to get rid of the spots. Not one voice but two.
Another crack sounded, but this one was different. It wasn’t the sharp thwack of a bullet digging into wood. It was more dull, like a fist hitting flesh and bone. Like—
A series of thuds echoed down the stairwell, and Raegan had a split second to jerk backward before two tangled bodies hit the marble floor and rolled, fists flying.
Shaking, Raegan scrambled back from the stairs, out of the way. The man who’d shot at her landed on his back with a grunt and threw a right hook up. Raegan yelped as his big fist slammed into another man’s face above, and she flattened herself against the wall, praying they hadn’t spotted her. Blond hair whipped through the air as the second man’s head snapped to the side, but just before Raegan turned to run, her eyes caught the shape of the man’s jaw and nose and the curve of his neck. And in a heartbeat of horror she realized that the second man wasn’t another thug chasing after her. It was Alec.
“Alec!” she screamed, her eyes growing wide.
Alec grunted, bared his teeth, and shoved his forearm hard against the man’s throat. The man gasped and struggled against the hold, face red, muscles straining. Alec only glared down at him with wild eyes. “Son of a bitch. You’re fucking done.”
The man grunted and threw his weight to the side, dislodging Alec’s arm and shoving him over to his back.
Raegan screamed, paralyzed against the wall with fear as she watched them roll across the floor again. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the thug’s gun on the ground at the base of the stairs, a silencer screwed on to the end.
A rush of adrenaline pushed her forward, and she scrambled for the gun. Her hand closed around the hilt just as a splash sounded. Looking up, she fumbled with the gun and caught sight of Alec wrestling with the other man in the rectangular lap pool. The man got the upper hand and threw his weight onto Alec, forcing him under the water. Alec sputtered and splashed. Fear sucked all the air out of Raegan’s lungs as she watched the hulking man holding Alec under.
He was going to kill Alec if she didn’t do something fast. Hands shaking, she lifted the gun and pointed, praying she was aiming in the right direction, that Alec wouldn’t pop up out of the water too soon, that there were still bullets in the chamber to fire.
Sucking in one last breath, she pulled the trigger.
The gun recoiled in her hands, thrusting her back. She gripped the gun tightly so she wouldn’t drop it. A whir sounded, followed by a thwack. Her spine hit the wall, and she scrambled to keep from falling over. The man jerked back in the water and went under. A split second later, Alec broke the surface and stumbled to the wall of the pool, gasping for air. Waves sloshed onto the travertine tile and ricocheted back.
The gun in Raegan’s hands shook as her arms dropped to her sides, but her adrenaline was still pumping, and the fear was still real, tightening around her throat, keeping her from being able to think or speak or move. Her legs wobbled.
Alec’s head turned her way, and his gaze found hers. “Raegs.” Brushing the water out of his face, he slogged through the pool and up the steps.
His arms closed around her before she hit the ground. In a daze, she was aware of his wet body pressing against her, of his hands carefully taking the gun from her trembling fingers, of his strength pulling her in and holding her up. But she still couldn’t speak. Couldn’t do anything but hold on.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered. “You’re okay. I’ve got you.”
A tremble rushed through her, and she knew it was the adrenaline crashing, but she couldn’t stop it from happening. “I . . .”
“You’re okay.” He held on even tighter, one arm locked around her waist, the other at her shoulder blades, his warm, wide hand threading into her hair to cradle the back of her head. “I’ve got you,” he said again, almost as if he needed to reassure himself of that fact, not her.
Her cheek pressed against his damp shoulder. She closed her eyes and breathed through her nose, trying to ease the shakes. The instant her eyes were shut, though, a hundred different emotions pummeled her chest, the strongest of which was terror.
“I thought . . .” She curled her fingers into the back of his wet shirt and clung to him. “I thought he was going to kill you.”
“He didn’t.” He rocked her gently, his heartbeat just as fast and erratic as hers. “I’m okay. You’re okay. Scared the shit out of me, though, when I came inside, saw those bullet holes and heard you scream. I thought . . .” His voice trailed off, and a shudder rushed through him, but he only held her tighter.
Her fingers tightened in his dripping shirt. “I should have waited for you, but . . .” Feeling a little steadier, she drew back and looked up at him. Water ran from his hair down the side of his handsome face, making her heart pinch because . . . he’d come after her. He’d saved her life. And she’d failed.
Her stomach dropped, and tears welled in her eyes. “I was afraid if they got here first they’d take her. She’s not here, though. No one’s home, and I don’t know where she is.”
“It’s okay.” He brushed the hair away from her temple and tipped her face up so her eyes met his. “We’ll find her, Raegan. The FBI is on their way, and Hunt’s not letting Kasdan out of his sight until the cops get to her place. I saw the files. They can’t hide Emma from us anymore. It’s over. We’ll find her. I promise we’ll find her.”
She swallowed the dread threatening to consume her and sank against him, hoping and praying he was right. But the fear didn’t seem to want to let go, and she felt as if the fight was being sucked right out of her, draining her of energy, of strength, even of hope.
Alec’s arms closed around her once more, pulling her in. She sank against him and turned to press her cheek to his wet chest as she just tried to breathe, as she told herself this wasn’t the end. Emma was out there somewhere. They had proof now that she was alive. They were going to find her. Her gaze drifted across the pool area and landed on the man who’d attacked her. His big body floated facedown in a sea of red water.
“Oh my Go
d.” Sickness welled in her stomach at the sight, and she closed her eyes quickly, turning her face against Alec’s shirt.
He stilled, muttered, “Shit,” and shifted so he was between her and the pool. “Don’t look.”
Voices echoed somewhere in the house. Raegan heard them but couldn’t turn to look. She was too fixed on not losing the contents of her stomach.
“Down here!” Alec hollered, massaging his fingers against the back of her head while she just tried to breathe.
Footsteps echoed in a nearby room—many—followed by shuffling and the sounds of cloth rustling.
“Damn.” Bickam. That was Jack Bickam’s voice somewhere close. “You two okay?”
“Yeah,” Alec said, still rubbing the back of Raegan’s head. “We’re okay. Just a little banged up.”
“Raegan,” Bickam said gently. “Can you talk?”
Swallowing hard, Raegan lifted her head and looked to her left where Jack Bickam stood nearby, his face filled with concern. Behind him, several people moved into the room, talking quietly as they stepped toward the pool. “I-I’m okay. H-he chased me through the house. I tried to run, but he had Alec in the pool, was holding him under the water. I grabbed his gun from the ground. I just wanted him to let Alec go. I—”
“Sh,” Bickam said in a soothing voice. “It’s okay. We’ll work it all out.” He looked to Alec. “You see anybody else?”
“No.”
“There was another one.” Raegan swallowed hard, fighting back the image of that body hitting the rocks. “H-he chased after me outside. He went over the cliff.”
Bickam smirked. “You took down two attackers? I may need to recruit you for the FBI.”
Alec chuckled against her, but Raegan didn’t find any of it funny. She was too busy trying to get the images of those men out of her head.
Voices picked up in the room. Alec and Bickam spoke quietly about what had just happened, but all Raegan could think about was her daughter. “Jack,” she said, interrupting them. “Emma’s not here. She’s not here and—”