Montana D-Force (Brotherhood Protectors Book 3) (12 page)

“I can’t go out in the diner. Larry’s out there. He’s looking for me. I can’t go out there. Please. Let’s go out the back. We can slip away, and he won’t know. He won’t find me.” Tears slipped from her eyes. “I can’t let him find me.”

“I need to tell Bear where we’re going.”

“No! Don’t leave me.” She clung to Mia, refusing to let her go back into the diner. “I have to get away. Now. You told me you’d help me. I’m asking for your help. Please.”

Mia rubbed her friend’s back, glancing over her shoulder to the lighted diner beyond. Now would be a good time for Bear to come looking for her. He didn’t appear in the hallway and Kylie was edging for the rear exit, pulling Mia with her.

“Please help me,” she pleaded.

Mia’s heart banged against her ribs. She couldn’t leave Kylie in the hallway. If Larry came along, he’d take her home, and the Lord only knew how he’d punish her for trying to run away.

Stiffening her back, Mia gripped Kylie’s arms. “Okay. I’ll get you out of here. But we’re going straight to the sheriff’s station and filing charges on your husband.”

“I don’t care where we go. Just get me out of here.” She flung the door open and ran out.

Mia raced after her. “Kylie, wait for me.” As the door closed behind her, she searched the encroaching darkness for Kylie.

She spotted her racing around the corner of the diner and out of sight.

“Kylie!” she called out.

Then a burlap bag descended over her head, and strong arms wrapped around her, locking her own arms to her side. The nightmare she’d endured when she was sixteen started all over.

Mia screamed as loud as she could, the bag muffling the sound. This time, Mia knew a little more about self-defense. But without her arms, she could do little more than stomp on her attacker’s instep and kick his shins with her heels. She dug her heels into the dirt and tried to flip him over her head, but he was bigger, stronger than last time, and he had her completely trapped.

She kicked him again, wiggling and ducking, trying to work her arms loose. Mia fought desperately and pounded her heel into the man’s foot.

He cursed and hit her hard in the temple.

Mia’s thoughts turned to haze. She blacked out.

T
hree and a half
minutes passed before Bear finally got out of his chair and marched toward the hallway through which Mia had disappeared. Something wasn’t right. He could feel it in his gut. In all his years in the Army, his gut had never lied.

He stormed into the ladies’ room only to find it empty. By now, his mind and body were at full alert. “Mia!” he called out. He raced down the hallway opening doors along the way. All he found was a broom closet and an empty office. At the end of the corridor was an unmarked door. He pushed through to the outside, and his blood ran cold.

No one was there. Bear ran to the corner of the building and around the side and back to check the other side. He couldn’t find any sign that Mia had been there, or which way she might have gone.

He’d watched the hallway from the moment Mia entered. She hadn’t come back into the diner, meaning she had to have gone out the back. Whether she’d gone out on her own, or was forced, Bear didn’t know.

He had to find her.

Weaving through the cars in the parking lot, staring into the windows of each parked vehicle, Bear pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. With limited reception, he prayed he’d have enough to get through to Hank. Before he could press the call button, the phone buzzed in his hand and Sadie’s caller ID came up.

“Sadie, where’s Hank?” Bear demanded before she could say a word.

“This
is
Hank. When I walked out of the house, I grabbed Sadie’s phone instead of mine. I have some news for you. Dr. Sanders woke up. She can identify her attacker.”

“Mia’s gone,” Bear said, his voice flat, his heart sinking to the pit of his belly.

“When? Where?” Hank demanded.

Bear told him. “She’s only been gone for less than three minutes. She can’t be too far.”

“Call the sheriff. Have him check all roads in and out of town.”

“They don’t have enough people available to look everywhere.”

“I’m leaving the hospital now. The Bozeman PD will keep an eye on Dr. Sanders. Oh, and the man who ran her over was driving a sheriff’s deputy’s car. He had sandy blond, curly hair and sat fairly tall in his seat. She said she thought he might be Larry Maynard.”

Bear’s heartbeat stuttered, and then raced ahead. “I’m going to talk to Larry’s wife, if I can find her.”

“Do that. I’ll be back in Eagle Rock in thirty minutes. Keep me informed.”

“Will do.” Bear clicked the end button and ran through the front door of the diner, nearly running over Linda as she carried the tray of food he and Mia had ordered.

“Your food is ready,” she said.

Bear took the tray from her and set it on the table behind him. Then he gripped the woman’s arms. “Where’s Kylie?”

“I don’t know. She was in the kitchen just a minute ago. I think she got something in her eye.”

Bear set Linda aside and raced for the kitchen. A big burly man with tattoos lacing his arms looked up from the stove. “Employees only back here,” he said, his voice like rough gravel.

Bear didn’t flinch. “Kylie Maynard.”

The cook jerked his head to the far corner on the other side of the industrial, stainless steel sink. “She’s been back there blubbering like a baby. Get her out of my kitchen.”

Bear hurried past the cook and found Kylie curled in the corner, her knees pulled up to her chin, tears streaming down her face.

“I didn’t want to do it. She was my friend.”

Bear’s gut clenched. Kylie had just confirmed that her husband, Larry Maynard, had Mia. “Where’d he take her?”

Kylie sobbed louder and buried her face in her hands. “I don’t know. He said he couldn’t let her talk. She would ruin his life if she found out.”

“Found out what?”

“He’ll kill me. You don’t know what he’s capable of…” Her words ended on more sobs.

Bear lifted her out of the corner and stood her on her feet. “Think, damn you! Where would he take Mia?”

“I don’t know.” Tears streamed down her face and her body shook.

Bear took a deep breath and tried to talk calmly. The woman was hysterical. Shouting at her wouldn’t bring him any closer to finding Mia.

“Kylie, look at me.” He tipped her chin up and stared into her red-rimmed eyes. “Does your husband have a place he likes to go to get away?”

She sniffed and wiped the tears from her cheek. “He likes to take his dirt bike up into the mountains outside of town.”

“Does he stop anywhere? Is there a cabin or hut or campsite he likes to visit? Does he go hunting?”

Kylie’s brows furrowed and she stopped sobbing long enough to think. “I think he has a campsite up there. He goes up there to hunt in the fall.” Her eyes widened. “He took me there once.” Her bottom lip trembled, and the tears ran down her cheeks again. “He was terrible to me. He…he…” She buried her face in her hands again.

“Tell me, Kylie. I won’t let him hurt you again.”

“It was shortly after we were married. He took me up there and made me… He tied me to a post and he…he hurt me. God, he raped me. I didn’t say anything to anyone. We were married. I thought he had a right to use my body any way he wanted, but he hurt me. I think that’s why I haven’t gotten pregnant.”

Anger burned in Bear. If he got his hands around Maynard’s neck, he wouldn’t stop squeezing until the man stopped kicking.

“Think, Kylie. Where was the campsite?”

“There’s an old road a mile or so out of town. You can barely see it. It’s past the turn-off to Mia’s house. The road winds up into the hills. I rode with him on the back of his motorcycle. The trees hung over the road so much we had to duck several times. It might be completely grown over by now.” She glanced up at Bear. “Do you think he took her there?”

“You have to show me where the road is.”

Kylie shook her head. “I can’t.”

“You have to. If Mia truly is your friend, you can help her by getting me to that road. You can leave after we find it. I don’t care, but you have to show me where that road is.”

Kylie’s bottom lip trembled. “I’m not sure I can find it.”

“I need you to help me. You’re all I have. Mia needs us.”

Kylie nodded, her shoulders stiffening. “You won’t let Larry hurt me?”

“I promise.”

For an excruciatingly long moment, she stared up into Bear’s face. “Okay.”

Bear hooked her arm and led her out the back door and around the side of the building to his truck. There, he helped her up into the passenger seat.

He pulled out his phone and called Sheriff Wilson. “It’s Maynard. He’s the rapist, and he has Mia.” He told the sheriff what Kylie said about the campsite. “It’s a long shot, but it could be the place he originally raped Mia.”

“I’ll have someone check his house. I’m on my way from north of town. You might get there before I do.”

“I’m taking Kylie Maynard with me. I’ll leave her at the entrance to the road. Make sure she’s safe.”

“Will do.”

Bear drove his truck out onto Main Street and sped through town, headed south toward Mia’s house. As he passed her driveway, he slowed to a crawl.

Kylie leaned forward until her nose practically pressed to the front windshield. “I don’t know. It wasn’t dark outside when he brought me here; and it’s been several years.” She watched the tree line to the right as Bear drove slowly past.

“There,” she pointed to the right. “I remember seeing an old fence post with a NO TRESPASSING sign on it.”

An old post, weathered by the sun and snow, listed to the side with an equally old sign hanging at an angle. When Bear turned toward the post, his headlights shined off the sign. He could barely make out the faded lettering. NO TRESPASSING.

His pulse raced as he noted fresh tire tracks in the dust. He might be on a wild goose chase, but if there was even half a chance of finding Mia out there, he had to check it out.

“I’m getting out here.” Kylie opened the truck door. “He’ll kill me if he knows it was me who led you to find him.”

“Stay low in the bushes. The sheriff is on his way.”

She nodded and slipped out of the truck and into the darkness.

Bear drove along the rutted track, branches scraping the sides of his vehicle. He had to progress with his lights on to keep from running into trees. He prayed Maynard wouldn’t spot him until he was close enough to help Mia.

The going was slow and finally, Bear stopped altogether, preferring to continue on foot.

He pulled his gun out of his shoulder holster. Following the road using only the light from the stars above, he jogged up the hillside, pushing back the pain in his bum leg, afraid he was headed the wrong direction. Even more afraid he wouldn’t be there in time to save Mia.

M
ia surfaced
to consciousness as she bounced against a hard, lumpy floor. The burlap bag, now loose, kept her from seeing around her, but by the dust filtering through it and the shape of the objects in front of and behind her, she reasoned she was wedged into the back floorboard of a truck or SUV.

Dust filtered through the doors and windows, tickling her nose and making her want to sneeze. She fought against the urge, preferring to keep the fact she was awake from her captor, whom she had yet to see.

Instead, she shifted her head, trying to work the burlap bag off so that she could take stock of her situation and come up with a plan to liberate herself.

Her head ached, and when she tried to move, hard plastic zip-ties constrained her wrists behind her back.

Using her teeth to pull and lifting her shoulders, she inched the bag over her head until she could see again. As she’d suspected, her attacker had dumped her into the back floorboard of a pickup, and, based on the bumps and ruts, he was taking her out in the wilderness.

Her heart beating hard in her chest, she wiggled her wrists, straining to loosen the zip ties. When that didn’t work, she rubbed the plastic against the metal fixtures holding the front seats in place. After several attempts, the plastic broke, and her wrists were bleeding, but free.

Just when she got the courage to sit up and take matters into her own hands, the truck jerked to a stop.

Mia might only have one chance to escape. She had to make it good. No one would find her in the Crazy Mountains. Not until it was too late to help her. She wanted to live to see another day. To make love to Bear. To have children and be happy.

She waited for the man to open the back door. When he reached for her ankles to drag her out, she let him pull her halfway through the door.

The bag fell away from her head, and she saw that he wore a sheriff’s deputy uniform. When she could finally see his face, Mia swallowed her gasp, fighting to keep her eyes as closed as possible.

Larry Maynard leered at her. “Mia, Mia. You should have stayed away from Eagle Rock. Now, I have to kill you, like I should have all those years ago.”

Inwardly, she railed,
You bastard!

But she kept her arms behind her, pretending they were still tied. When he leaned forward to lift her onto his shoulder, she grabbed his hair, yanked his head down, and slammed her knee into his face.

Larry staggered backward, his eyes watering, blood gushing from his nose. “You bitch!”

He reached for her, but Mia ducked out of his reach and ran as fast as she could, heading for the brush. If she could make it that far, she had a chance. She could hide in the shadows until he gave up looking for her. Then she’d find her way back to a road, back to civilization, and bring the sheriff back to arrest his ass and hit him up with attempted murder.

She ran across an open clearing, the stars in the big Montana sky lighting her way and making her all too visible to her pursuer.

When she’d almost reached the edge of the encampment, something caught her ankle and she pitched forward, landing hard on her chest, the wind knocked from her lungs.

“Bitch! You’re going to die, but now I’m going to make it slow and very painful.” The hand gripping her ankle tightened.

Fear and adrenaline running high in her veins, Mia kicked hard, aiming for Larry’s wrist, trying to dislodge his hold. His other hand slapped at her flailing foot, and finally caught her other ankle.

“No,” she cried. He couldn’t take her again. This couldn’t happen. She hadn’t taken all those self-defense classes to end up a victim yet again. To the same man who’d attacked her before.

“I’m going to make you cry and scream for mercy, just like you did when you were sixteen. And it’s going to feel so good when I drive my dick deep inside you. Again. And. Again.” He dragged his body up her legs, his weight heavy against her.

When his chest crushed her body into the ground, Mia worked her knee free. Grabbing his face with both hands, she dug her thumbs into his eye sockets and jammed them hard at the same time as she jerked her knee into his groin.

Larry screamed and fell onto his side.

Mia shoved him hard, rolled out of his reach and scrambled to her feet. She ran for the brush and dove into the shadows. She landed near a pile of rubbish and splintered boards that might once have been parts of a hunter’s deer stand. Her hand curled around a three-foot long two-by-four.

“I’m going to kill you!” he called out, blinking hard and rubbing his eyes. “I’m going to fuck you like I fucked the good Dr. Sanders. Like I fucked that stupid Severs twit, and the woman from Bozeman. You’re going to squeal like the redhead I strangled and left for the vultures to pick her bones clean. Mia, you’re going to wish you were dead when I finish with you. You’re going to wish I’d killed you when you were sixteen.”

Anger roiled inside Mia. This bastard had raped and murdered his last victim. If he came one step closer…

Larry Maynard pulled a gun from his pocket and straightened. He pulled a flashlight form his other pocket and shined it toward the bush behind which Mia hid.

“Come out, little Mia. It’s time to face the music. You’ve caused enough drama.”

Mia waited, shrinking lower to the ground as the flashlight’s beam swept past her, swung wide and started back toward her position.

Two steps closer, and he’d see her. He’d also be within her range.

Mia took a steadying breath and tensed her muscles, ready to spring.