Chance Encounter (43 page)

With death breathing down her neck, Kacie ran into the night.

Chapter Forty-two

Dawn broke over the trees, giving just enough light to reveal the small cabin nestled beneath tall pines and giant oaks. A light blazed in a small front window, giving Brennan hope that they’d at last found Vincent’s hiding place.

They’d parked the SUVs several yards down the road and off to the side, hidden behind bushes. McCall stood beside Brennan. Justin, Riley, and Gabe Maddox were just a few feet behind them.

McCall hadn’t wanted Maddox to come, claiming Gabe’s affection for Kacie might cause problems. With a raised brow, Maddox had glanced over at Brennan. “More problems than taking along the man who’s in love with her?”

All eyes had been on Brennan as the other LCR operatives waited for him to refute that claim. He didn’t bother. What was the point of denying something he knew to be true?

After a long, quiet pause, McCall had nodded and said, “Good point.” And that had been that.

When they’d been in the air, Angela had sent them schematics of the house and a detailed map. Other than the occasional campground and US Forest Services outpost, miles of dense forest covered the area.

The cabin was small, with only a large great room-kitchen combination and just one bedroom. There were three porches—front, back, and a small side porch, meaning three exits to cover.

“Ingram and Kelly,” McCall said, “take the back. Maddox, you take the side. Sinclair and I will take the front.” After a pause, “Go,” McCall said softly.

Softly, stealthily, the five of them moved as one. A few yards from the cabin, Brennan felt rather than saw Riley and Justin veer right to go around the house. Maddox went the other direction to the side porch.

McCall nodded at Brennan, giving him the okay to go first. Gun at the ready, silent and quick, Brennan ran to the front, took the five steps in two, and eased onto the porch. McCall was a couple of feet behind, to his right.

Though it was daylight, the trees obscured the light. The flashlight attachment on his Glock revealed two disturbing things. The front door was open, and a dark-looking substance trailed from the front door and down the steps. Even without bending to check, Brennan knew it was blood.

Pushing the door open farther, he stepped inside, going in high. McCall came in low behind him. The room, Spartan in both décor and furniture, was empty. A noise to his right had him turning. Maddox stood in the kitchen and gave a shake of his head. Seconds later, Riley and Justin appeared from the back door and gave the same news. Nothing.

Worry clawing at his insides, Brennan followed the trail of blood to the bedroom. Stopping at the door, he swept his flashlight over the empty room. Swift steps took him across the floor, and he quickly checked the bathroom. The small room consisted of a sink, a toilet in the corner, and a large tub. His gut clenched as he noted the chain attached to the floor beside the tub. His mind refused to envision their purpose.

Turning back to the bedroom, he called out, “Clear.”

McCall stood at the doorway and flipped on the light switch.
 

His jaw clenched, rage and sorrow swirled like bitter acid through his veins. The chain in the bathroom took on greater significance as he took in the chain that hung from the headboard.

McCall turned to Riley, who stood at the doorway behind him. “Ingram, go outside and make a thorough search of the perimeter.”

When Riley’s eyes spotted the chain hanging from the bed, her face went a sickly white and a small moan left her mouth.

“Now, Ingram,” McCall barked.

Riley turned away, and Brennan heard her run through the cabin and out the door.

Giving McCall an odd look, Justin came inside the bedroom and let out a low curse. “Son of a bitch.”

Maddox and McCall stood at the bed. There was no need for Brennan to get any closer. He could see the horror from here. The entire bed was splattered with fresh blood.

McCall leaned in closer and then gave Brennan a grim nod. “Yeah, there’s a lot of it, but not enough to cause death. Whoever it belongs to is injured, not dead. And it’s still wet, so we may have missed them only by a few minutes.”

Damn sucky timing, but he’d take what he could get. She was alive, that was what mattered.

“There’s a car in a shed out back,” Justin said. “Unless he’s got other transportation, they’re on foot.”

Hope rose higher. “She hurt him somehow and got away,” Brennan said. “He’s gone after her.”

McCall took one more look around the room. “I agree. Let’s go.”

Feeling a small percentage better, Brennan stalked out the door of the cabin. He stopped at the bottom of the front porch steps. Which direction would she have headed? Since the sun had just risen, it would’ve been dark when she took off. Had she managed to grab a flashlight, or was she running blind? Did she have any kind of weapons?

He was aware that McCall was on his cellphone behind him, talking to local authorities. It would be an hour or more before additional help could arrive. No way could they wait.

A minute later, the LCR leader joined everyone in the middle of the yard. “An official search party is being formed. They’ll have dogs, helicopters, equipment. If we don’t find her, there will be plenty of people here in a couple of hours.

“Let’s split up. With five of us covering the area, there are damn good odds one of us will find Kacie. Stay in radio contact. You see the remotest sign of either of them, call it in.”

With a nod and good wishes, they separated. Brennan plunged into the dense, thick foliage with only one thing on his mind. Kacie was running for her life, and no matter what he had to do, he would save her.

Breath rasped from her lungs as Kacie leaned back against a giant tree and gave herself a few seconds to rest. She’d been running for at least a couple of hours, maybe more. Though she still had no idea where she was or where she was headed, she had eluded the maniac, and she was calling that a win.

Her tender feet were a mess—bruised, scratched and bleeding. Since there was nothing to be done for them until she got some help, she chose to ignore the throbbing pain.

Her small bag of supplies had been of little use yet. However, if Vincent caught her, she knew she’d be glad to have them.

When she’d opened the sideboard yesterday, she’d had no idea she would find a hoarders paradise. Apparently, whoever owned the cabin had used the sideboard as storage for everything from fishing gear to old dinnerware and everything in between. If someone else saw her pillage, maybe they wouldn’t be too impressed, but thanks to Brennan, she saw a weapon in more than half the items she’d found in the sideboard. He had taught her that…and so much more.
 

So she had gathered her small treasure of unlikely weapons, found a small pouch-like bag to store them in, and then hid it out of sight but within easy access until the time was right.

Though it was probably well past dawn, the thick foliage from the giant trees made it seem like almost nighttime. The small flashlight she’d found was no real help, but it was just as well. She couldn’t risk Vincent seeing the light.

He was out there somewhere, no doubt about that. Unless he was an expert tracker, he probably wouldn’t be able to follow her tracks. So unless he saw which direction she had taken, he might be in a completely different part of the woods.
 

She could take no chances, though. She needed to get going. Her goal was to find either a road or another house. Either one could lead her to safety.

Her breathing now at a manageable level, she pushed off from the tree and took a step. Then went still. For the last hour, the only noises had been chirping birds and squirrels scampering through the ground cover. A noise to her left sounded like neither of these creatures. Breathing halted, she tilted her head to listen intently. Yes, there it was again. Definitely larger and moving fairly rapidly.

Finally locating which direction the sound came from, Kacie turned, and then every limb froze. Less than thirty yards away stood Vincent, and in his hands was a shotgun. He was standing where she could see his profile. Blood stained his face, and even from here, she could tell his nose was off-kilter. Even as terrified as she was, she knew a moment of triumph. She’d definitely broken the lunatic’s nose.

Now she just needed to figure out what to do. If she made any movement whatsoever, he might see the motion out of his peripheral vision. The shirt he’d put on her after the last bath was his. Though it reached almost to her knees, it was white and would be easy to see. If she didn’t move, he could turn any second, and she would be a sitting duck.
 

Run and risk a bullet in her back? Or face a pissed-off crazy man with a weapon that could easily cut her in half? Either way, she might be dead. But if he didn’t shoot her right away, he would take her back to the cabin, and she had no trouble imagining what he would do to her then.

She took a breath, let it out slowly. Running away would at least give her a chance to survive. Being a captive again? She’d rather be dead.

Inhaling a silent breath, sending up a quick prayer for strength, Kacie made her choice and ran.

The blast of a shotgun cut through the quiet of the forest. Brennan took off, running toward the sound. He didn’t care about making noise. Attracting attention might well get Vincent’s focus off Kacie. He’d gladly stand in front of a shotgun and take a bullet if it meant saving her life.

McCall’s voice sounded in his ear. “Anyone able to tell which direction that came from?”

“Yeah, boss,” Justin answered. “Hard to tell with a shotgun in this kind of terrain, but sounded like it was northeast of me. I’m headed in that direction.”

“Roger, that,” Maddox said. “It was south of me.”

“Sounded west of me,” McCall said, “I’m headed that way.”

Breaking protocol, Justin said urgently, “Riley?”
 

Sounding winded, Riley answered, “Yes. Heard it, too. North of me, I think.” She swallowed and added, “Sorry, just had the pleasure of almost running into a mama black bear and her cub.”

“Shit,” McCall said softly. “Are you clear of them?”

“Yes. They’re gone.”

“Okay,” McCall said. “Let’s find Kacie.”

Brennan sped through the undergrowth, soaring over tree limbs, jumping over stumps. He told himself one shot could mean a lot of things. Vincent had thought he saw Kacie but missed. He’d fired a shot in warning. Hell, maybe he’d stumbled, the gun had dislodged, and he’d blown his own fucking head off.
 

Only, Brennan knew they wouldn’t be that lucky.

He should be close now. Brennan slowed and adjusted his plan. Sneaking up on the man would make it easier to take him down. Never had he been more grateful to have had three Navy SEALs put him through the most grueling, brutal training imaginable. One of the many valuable lessons he’d learned from them was walking through the woods without making a sound.

The sound of rough, raspy breathing hit his hearing. Sounded almost like a man sobbing in grief. Brennan stopped, strained to listen. Yes, to his right. He took a few steps forward. Several large bushes obscured his sight. He pushed the limbs aside. His breath hitched and caught in his throat, the sight that met his eyes the stuff of nightmares.

Vincent was looking down at his feet where a half-clothed Kacie lay facedown on the ground, unmoving.
 

Crap, she hurt. Even the slightest breath made the pain in her chest almost more than she could bear. He had shot at her and missed. If he had hit her, she wouldn’t be breathing at all. She told herself pain was good…it meant life. Didn’t stop her from hurting, though.

When the gun had blasted, she’d jerked in surprise, lost her footing, and rolled down a hill. With her hands still cuffed in front of her, she’d had almost no way to protect herself or stop the momentum. She had just continued to roll and had finally landed several yards from where she’d been. Unfortunately, there’d been no way in hell she could get up and move quickly enough for her to avoid him. She knew without a doubt he wouldn’t miss again.

Amazingly enough, even tumbling down the hill, without any control over her body, she had kept hold of her small pouch of weapons. When she’d finally come to a stop, she was facedown with the bag beneath her. Could she move her hands and open it without him seeing? He was now standing beside her…she could hear his harsh, sobbing breaths right above her.

Maybe if he thought she was dead, he would just leave. No, he would reach down and double-check to make sure she was dead. And when he realized that not only was she still alive, but also that he hadn’t shot her, what would he do?
 

She had to get to the small bag of weapons beneath her. She already knew which item she would use. It was her only hope of surviving. She refused to consider that it was barely a weapon by anyone’s standards. It was all that she had, so she would make do.

Now, if only something would distract him.

She heard the snap of Vincent’s shotgun and then his oddly cheerful voice saying, “Well, lookee who’s here. Hey there, buddy.”

And like an answered prayer from heaven, Brennan’s deep voice growled, “You son of a bitch. Put your weapon down. Now.”