Killer Scents (23 page)

He blew out a rush of air. With
a definitive nod
,
he
clicked
TALK
. “Hello?”

“How nice it is to hear your voice. If I knew you were coming I
would’ve
had Becca bake a cake.”

“
Danny
? Is that you?”

“Don’t play me for a fool Detective Do
-
Good
er.
I’m a cop and a damn good one.
Did you think you could sneak up on me and I’d come out with my hands up?” His laughter sent a shiver up his spine.

Chief put his hand out for the phone
and held it between them.

“
Danny
, this is the chief. Can you tell me if Becca and Jacob are okay?”

“I’ve never been better, thanks for asking.
M
aybe you should define
okay
before I answer
your question
.”

Randy
snatched the
cell
. “You son-of-a-bitch. If you hurt one hair on her head, I swear you’ll wish you’d never been born.”

“You are in no position to threaten me. You’d be wise to remember that.”

He
pushed the
phone
back in the chief’s hand and stormed off
.
It took everything in him not to knock down the door and go after the pompous ass
-
wipe himself.

Pull yourself together
.

He rubbed his face and looked back at
the farmhouse
. “I’m here
,
Becca. I’m coming to get you.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

A glimmer of hope broke through the shroud of despair that encased her.
It’s
Randy on the other end of Danny’s phon
e
call.
Her gaze darted to the sofa where Jacob lay. She thanked God to see the slight rise and fall of his chest. Nothing seemed real after having to watch Danny perform such a despicable act on
him,
an image sure to haunt her for quite some time
. T
hat
was
if they
got out
of this nightmare alive.

Sensation s
lowly
returned to
her body. Once she was sure Danny wasn’t looking, she lifted each finger in turn. It felt like someone slowly filled her up with hot coffee, setting her nerve endings abuzz. She blinked back tears of relief.
He
need
s
to think I still can’t move.
Maybe
the
dark
ness would give her
half a chance of pulling this off. Upon hearing his laughter again
, s
he shivered

Focus...focus...focus...
.

Danny walked over to the window
.
H
e folded his arms across his chest and smirked. “
Always
have a plan B.” He turned
,
fac
ing
her. “It looks like we have visitors.” He strode over and kneeled before her.

Becca knew she didn’t have enough strength to knock him down and run for it.
No, I have to remain perfectly still.
One, two, three, four
...
.

H
er captor
moved to the zipper of her rain suit and slowly parted it until the cool air hardened her nipples.

“You want to be ready for your lover boy, don’t you?” He chuckled
,
pushed the jacket off her shoulders
, and tossed it on the floor. Next, he
free
d
her arms
so they hung
limp
ly
at her sides.

An ear
-
popping bang
issued
from the back of the house
.
He
jumped up and ran from the room.
Becca
allowed the shudder she’d
suppressed
to travel through the length of her.

“Sssss...
.
”

Jacob?
Is
that you?
Although he didn’t turn to face her, his hand
rose
a few inches off the so
f
a and dropped to the exact same position. Tears clouded her vision. Even after all he’d been through, he wanted her to know the drug was wearing off.

“Sssss...
.
” She prayed he understood her muffled response.

“If they think they’ve won, they’d better think again.” Danny stormed in the room
,
flailing his gun in the air. He stopped in mid-stride
and
glare
d
at her. “Will you put some fucking clothes on? You’re going to make me puke.” He scooped the jacket from the floor and threw it on her lap, standing there
like
he expected her to put it on herself. Several seconds passed before he
stomped over and
wrapped the jacket around her
,
and pulled the zipper up,
tear
ing the flesh of her breast and forcing it up to the top with her skin still caught in the teeth.

She
bit the inside of her mouth to stop from crying out. The taste of blood took her mind off the pain.

The crazed killer
strode
up and down the length of the room
, his
finger on the
weapon’s
trigger.

“
This is the police!
We have the place surrounded. Come out with your hands up,”
a voice through a
loud speaker echoed
in
the farmhouse.

Danny
opened the bigger black duffle bag and pulled out a semi-automatic
.
He
stuffed a few extra magazines in the pocket of his newly acquired vest, making it perfectly clear he wasn’t going down without a fight
.

He pulled
his buzzing cell from his shirt pocket. “I’ve got nothing to say to you. If you’re going to bring out the big guns, I can play that game, too. Oh, and you can kiss your slutty girlfriend good bye.” He tossed his phone. It slid across the floor, coming to a stop under her chair.

“He’s not giving up. The asshole wants a show down.” Randy gritted his teeth.

His boss heaved a sigh.

Randy jerked, startled by the ringing in his hand. “Hello?”

“He’s got a few guns and ammo. Jacob is hurt. Danny thinks I can’t move.”

“Becca?” Relief washed over
him and he stumbled back to lean against the car.

“Hurry.”

The line went silent.
Why didn’t I have more faith in her? She’s a damn good cop.

His friend rushed to his side. “Becca?”

“Yes, how she got hold of his phone is beyond me.” He chuckled wryly. “Jacob is hurt and Danny thinks Becca can’t move.”

Chief’s expression sobered. “Dammit, he used that blocking drug on them.”

Becca’s partner swallowed hard. “What the fuck did he do to them?”

The shatter of glass pierced the silence. Randy turned to find the muzzle of a gun stuck out the side of the broken pane.

“I want you all to leave and I want it to happen
now
. If you ever want to see these two again you’ll back the fuck off!”

“
Get behind those bushes,” Chief ordered everybody standing by Danny’s car.

Larry hunkered down beside him. “Hey, Chief, now that we have him back here it leaves the front of the house unmanned.”

“Good thinking. I’ll have Jerry and his team go to the front. Maybe we can keep Danny distracted
long enough to get those two out before he
realiz
es
what’s happening.”

Randy
positioned himself like a runner at the starting line. “I’m going with them.”

Chief
put a hand on his arm. “You need to stay here. If he wants to talk to you and you’re not here, he’ll know something is up.”

He
clenched his jaw.

“Come on
,
Danny
.
I
f you don’t give yourself up now
,
you got to know this is all going to end badly.” Chief wiped his
sweat-
beaded
forehead
with his shirtsleeve. “Why don’t you let Jacob and Becca go? Things will go easier on you in court if you do.”

Danny’s laughter resonated madness.
Randy knew he had
no intention of handing anybody over to them
. The killer was a cop, too, for fuck’s sake.
No matter what
The Florist
did, the rest of his days would be spent behind bars.

A blast from Danny’s gun turned a riding lawn mower into a raging inferno
, sending an officer flying through the air in eerie silence
.
Judging by the force needed to launch a
body
like that, Danny must have planted some kind of explosive. He knew a single bullet couldn’t ignite the gas tank.

Chief spoke into the radio strapped to his shoulder. “Team One
, open fire
.”

A barrage of bullets slammed into the aged clapboard, where Danny fired from only moments before. Wood and glass
fl
ew
in every direction.

“Cease fire!”

An ominous silence permeated the far
m
. The acrid stench of
burning
fuel set his throat ablaze and he cover
ed
his face with his arm. His eyes
ight blurred,
as he tried
to access the situation through the
haz
e.

A short exchange of gunfire
crackled
from the
front of the house
, quickly followed by a resounding boom and billowing smoke
floating
up into the trees.

“
Jerry
? Are you there?” Chief spoke into his radio with no response.

“
Alan
, do you think you can
get up there
without him seeing you?
” asked Chief Thomson. “
I need to know what the hell happened up there.”

The officer
dropped the shield over his face before hunkering down and
weaving
his way through the trees. It seemed a lifetime before
Randy
heard the radio crackle. “Team Two is down. I don’t see any survivors. It looks like some kind of trip wire
.
T
hey never even made it to the door.
”

Chief
looked at
Randy
in horror and disbelief. “He’s got the place wired. Alan? Can you see into the house?”

“There
’
s a light coming from the
front
room. Hang on.”

With
ba
i
ted breath
,
Randy
waited for the response.

“The room is empty. There’s nobody there.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

In the midst of all the chaos outside, Danny stormed into the room
with
knife in hand. He
no longer resembled the clean-cut cop she’d worked with over the years. His face now blackened with soot and always perfect hair askew.
Becca squeezed her
eyes
shut and prayed
she wasn’t about
to die.