Force of Attraction (36 page)

The thought so enraged her she kicked out wildly when she was lifted up, her steel-toed boot connecting with muscled flesh.

Blinded by the cloth, she didn't see it coming. The blow of a fist jerked her head back. Through a burst of stunning pain brilliant comets shot across her vision. She tasted blood as she was dumped in the back of the van. And then she was sliding down into a suffocating slack-limbed blankness.

*   *   *

The coordinates the county police dispatcher had just given Cole's backup team were for an area of Montgomery County Scott didn't know well. That didn't stop him from driving like a street racer as his GPS locked onto the location.

He looked back over his shoulder. Hugo and Izzy were with him, in the back of his truck. That was little comfort. No one yet had eyes on the target.

Ever since they'd been alerted to Cole's abandoned cruiser in the convenience store parking lot he had been going nuts behind his calm exterior.

Locked inside the cruiser, Hugo had been beside himself, barking and whining and tearing at the upholstery.

No one had wanted to go near the distraught K-9. But Scott knew exactly what the Bouvier was feeling. The same adrenaline-pumped rage and sense of helplessness was running through his veins like burning jet fuel. Cole had been taken, and neither he nor Hugo had been there to help and protect her.

When released, Hugo had jumped out of the vehicle and into Scott's truck without any coaching.

The guy behind the counter at the convenience store barely remembered Cole's presence, until reminded that she'd bought the bottle of coffee and package of nuts the police had found dropped by her driver's side door.

Scott had questioned the cashier himself.

“I only called 911 because that big scary dog was barking and acting crazy, and scaring my customers. I seen the lady cop. Only I didn't see nothing after she left. Dude came in, arguing about the gas pump not being honest. How he was being cheated of pennies per gallon. By the time he stomped out, nothing else was going on in the parking lot. Dude, I have no idea where the lady cop went. I swear.”

Scott had a few ideas, and each of them a worse scenario than the one before it.

If not for the wire on Cole, the police wouldn't have a clue where to look for her. As it was, they'd lost precious time. Surveillance be damned.

He tightened his fingers on the steering wheel, tearing through the dark well above the posted speed limit.

For the past four days, Cole had been under constant, if distant, surveillance by him. He couldn't be spotted shadowing her. For a change, the authorities agreed: X wasn't going to back off. He was just waiting for his next opportunity. Though there was no obvious gain in his need to hurt, humiliate, and harass Scott, they doubted X would cease until he was once again locked up.

Cole's night duty made her the likely target. Alone, after dark, patrolling lonely areas with Hugo. X wouldn't be able to resist.

Cole was more than happy to be their bait.

Scott had had his doubts. But DEA and the Montgomery County Police Department were in agreement to let her try. Scott fought for and won a spot on the surveillance team. He was the only agent assigned to devote full-time to surveillance. He had to be in on the takedown. This time, he wouldn't let Cole down.

Hugo pushed his muzzle through the opening, whining as he gazed at Scott. “I know how you feel, big fella. We'll get our chance. I promise you.”

To keep himself focused, Scott went over in his mind what he knew. Cole was a professional law-enforcement officer and should have been able to hold her own against X until backup arrived.

She was supposed to signal for help the moment she spotted him. Why hadn't she signaled them as planned? And why had Hugo not been released?

The van. X wasn't working alone this time.

Scott shoved aside all thoughts about what that might mean. His gaze went to the GPS. Her signal was still moving. He would find her. He and Hugo would save her. That was the only scenario he could allow his mind to entertain.

And when he got his hands on X …

*   *   *

Cole didn't know how long she was out. Her head pounded. Her stomach heaved with every jolt and buck of the van flooring beneath her. Her arms were tied behind her, allowing her to bounce helplessly as the vehicle suddenly swerved when someone up front shouted, “Turn here.”

She bit back a moan as she rolled over, not wanting anyone to know she was conscious. She ignored the taste of blood in her mouth and tested her bonds. They had used plastic handcuffs, pulled so tight her fingers tingled. She opened her eyes a slit as she tried to assess her situation. Think and assess.

She was no longer wearing her tactical belt. She lay flat on her stomach. No way to tell if they had taken the gun strapped to her ankle. Probably. They were efficient. She rolled a little to the right and left as the van left smooth paved road for rough gravel. Nothing in her pockets. No cell. No badge.

She shivered, chilled by sweat from the fight. But she fought the fear threatening to close over her head. She wasn't alone. She was under surveillance. The police, and Scott, would arrive soon. Meantime, she had to stay alive.

What did she know? She heard two men's voices. She didn't get a good look at them, but she knew neither of them was X. And they weren't amateurs. She'd been attacked and disarmed by men familiar with police and military tactics.

The van slowed. She lifted her head to try to see out but it was a panel van, no windows.

“Fuck it. He said there was a park here somewhere.”

“Turn off there. Yeah. There's his hog.”

The van rolled to a stop but Cole continued to bounce in rhythm to shocks badly in need of replacement. She choked on the irony. As if it mattered whether or not the shocks in the van that snatched her were safe.
She
was not safe.

“She's coming round.” Someone reached back and grabbed her ankle. A whimper escaped her as she kicked out in fear.

“Shit!” She was released.

Maybe she was making things worse for herself. How could it be worse?

She swallowed as the doors up front opened and slammed, and then the panel door was sliding back.

There was a click and light flooded the interior from a high-beam flashlight probably taken from her belt. “Out, bitch.”

Two pairs of hands reached for her. She cowered back in spite of herself. Then redoubled back on anger. She needed to stay angry. Fear was the enemy. Help was on the way. She had to think her way through the next minutes. Stay alive. That was all that was required.

They hauled her to her feet on grass and stepped back, two male silhouettes no more detailed than bulky shadows behind the high beam. They were taking no chances on being identified, if caught.

“Well, look who we got. Rhino's bitch.”

Cole's gaze jerked left. X stood several few feet away. Easier to see because he wasn't behind the beam of light aimed at her. Confirmation of target. This was good.

What else? They were in a parklike area with grass and distant trees, and the sound of running water, and road traffic. They couldn't have taken her far.

“You've abducted a police officer. This isn't going to end well for you. You should let me go.”

X moved in on her quickly and grabbed her chin in a hard hand, jerking her face up to his. “You don't get to talk until I say so. Open your mouth again and I'll stuff it until you choke.”

Cole met his gaze. Straight-up bat-shit crazy. Nothing there to negotiate with.

He released her. “You get her gear?”

“What we could before we rolled her up.”

X looked back at her, a grin pressing back the rows of wrinkles in his cheeks until he looked like a Joker mask. “She's a cop. She'll be carrying concealed. Cut her hands loose but hold her.”

The plastic around her wrists came free as the two men each grabbed a wrist and hooked a foot behind each of hers, forcing her to a wide stance.

Cole gritted her teeth, not wanting to give X the satisfaction of her fear. But the men holding her had to feel the shivers rocking her.

Then she stood taut between them as X moved in to frisk her. He found her ankle holster and removed it. She didn't fight that. Even when his hand slid up between her thighs she looked straight ahead, giving away none of the revulsion she felt. His hand moved to the apex of her thighs. He cupped her mons and squeezed, hard. “I'm going to do a cavity check next. You know what that means.”

Cole bit her broken lip, tasted more blood. Her heart beat in strokes so heavy she shook with each one.

Help was coming. Stay alive.
Lots of variations on what “alive” meant. Sooner would be better than later.

She thought she heard a siren in the distance. That wouldn't be surprising. The men around her didn't seem to think so, either.

“Bring her along.”

They half carried, half dragged her farther into the clearing of the deserted park. In the distance the hiss of traffic could be heard but the streetlights didn't penetrate very far. Only the yellowish glow of the sky overhead reassured her that they were still in a suburban environment. Yet they were enveloped in darkness so dense no idle passersby would notice them.

They pulled her into the ring of light made by the headlights of the van.

X moved to within six feet of her. “Free up the bitch.”

After they had stripped her of her belt and Kevlar vest worn under her uniform shirt, Cole was let go so quickly she stumbled and had to catch herself.

“Let's party, bitch.”

She looked up at X. He held a wicked-looking knife in his hands.

She backed up instinctively but the two other men were behind her. One shoved her back toward X, careful to stay out of range of a kick or fist.

X moved in closer, the Ka-Bar blade reflecting silver-blue light off its edge. “The Pagans have a ritual. When a bitch becomes the property of a gang member she becomes gang property. You been banging Rhino, and he hasn't shared. Tonight you get to pay his debt. Here's how it's done.”

Cole looked away and tried not to hear what he was saying because the words were too ugly. She knew they were going to give her nightmares even if she really didn't listen hard.

He beckoned her with the edge of his blade. “Step over here and take off your clothes.”

“No.” Her response was pure instinct.

He stalked over to her and made a slashing movement. Cole didn't feel a thing but her tee ribboned open from neck to waistline. “Take off your clothes.”

Cole's teeth were chattering so hard she could barely make her mouth work as she gathered up her shirt. “Come over here and take them off.”

The smile that spread across X's face changed him from a run-of-the-mill lunatic into a cold-blooded killer. “You just bought yourself a world of trouble.”

She took another backward step, preferring her odds with his friends. They laughed but gave her space. Wolves around a wounded prey, they smelled blood and were eager for more. Except she wasn't prey. She wasn't a sheep.

She looked up at him, using her will to survive to steady her nerves. “You kill a police officer, they will hunt you down.” This much, she knew was true.

“I ain't gonna kill you.” X moved his blade back and forth in slow figure eights, like a magician trying to hypnotize a volunteer. “You'll just wish you were dead.”

The push from behind sent her stumbling headfirst into X's embrace, a grip that held a knife. She scrambled desperately to right herself before she reached him.

The blade passed over her shoulder and down, this time slicing through her sports bra. She refused to register the hit. Fisting a hand over his shirtfront, she brought her knee up as fast and hard as she could.

She pushed herself away from him as he doubled over in pain, knife slashing out wildly. The momentum sent her sprawling. The air went out of her in a hard push. Her eyes filled with dust and began to tear even as she tried to get to her knees.

She didn't know which of them heard it first. Engines gunning through the night, and then the bounce of headlights through the trees as vehicles tore up the gravel road toward them.

*   *   *

The blip on the GPS had stopped moving five minutes ago, just about the time Scott's spit dried up.

He was in southern Montgomery County, in a parkland, if one could call the wooded stretch between the main road and the embankment of the Potomac River a park.

As he swung around a curve in the unpaved road, the woods opened up into a broad stretch of grass. His headlights lit up a van. Beyond it, in the vehicle's headlights, he saw a figure slumped on the ground with the letters
MCPD
on her back. Three men surrounded her, one holding a knife.

Scott sprang from the truck, leaving the door open, weapon drawn. “DEA! Drop your weapons! And get down on your knees!”

“Fuck this!” One man broke and ran back toward the van. The second man hesitated only a few seconds more before heading off in the darkness toward the trees. Neither of them interested Scott. He concentrated on X.

X grabbed Cole by the back of her shirt and pulled her up against his chest. He held a knife, oily with blood, to her throat.

Scott could see she was bleeding from her nose and mouth, and there was blood on her shirtfront. He swallowed down his emotion. None of that was important until the scene was secured. He steadied his gun as he moved slowly forward. He might get only one shot off. “Let her go, X. You got what you wanted. I'm here.”

“Shit. You want me to do her first then deal with you? I'll do it. I will do it.”

“I'm not going to give up my gun. You know why. You were Blue, too, Officer Harney.”

“Fuck you! I was SOG. And now Pagan. You weren't ever one of us.”

Scott glanced back as the van spun out behind him. If he were going to be run over— No, flashing police lights were spinning through the trees. Sirens erupted, splitting the silence.