ten
Tranquillity
The deafening blare of the warning siren woke Alden from a dreamless sleep, causing him to jackknife from the bed. A second later the phone beside the bed rang. He answered with a furious growling, “What’s happened?”
“One has gotten away.”
“Who?”
“One of the new ones. The brown-haired one.”
Shit, she was the one he’d been the least sure about. Not only did she seem too worldly and street-smart for his liking, she hadn’t displayed the kind of helpless loneliness he liked to see in the women he chose. But Tabitha had convinced him to take her. Said she’d be a good match for one of the more strong-minded men in the community. And, dammit, he had acquiesced.
“How did she get past the guards and through the gate?”
“She stole the keys from her keeper. Guards must’ve not seen her go through.”
“Are the dogs out?”
“Yes. She won’t get far.”
“Call me with an update every fifteen minutes.”
“Will do.”
“What’s wrong?”
Alden turned and backhanded the woman standing behind him. “Damn you. She’s the one you talked me into taking and now she’s escaped. Just how did that happen?”
She withstood his fury, as she had many times before. “I don’t know, Father. I double-checked all the doors myself. They were locked.”
“I’m deeply disappointed, daughter. Get your clothes on and help with the search. You do not return to my bed until she’s found. Understand?”
Wasting no time, she gathered the clothes she’d folded and placed on the chair when she’d come to him last night. Dressing rapidly, she pulled on her shoes and ran from the room.
Alden took his time putting his clothes on. Hopefully, by the time he was dressed and had his morning coffee, the girl would have been rounded up. How hard was it to keep a skinny bitch chained or a damn door locked? Tabitha had received her just punishment. After the girl was located, he’d find out who’d been on guard and have a very stern discussion with him.
Eerie sounds in the distance caused her to stop abruptly. Gasping another breath into her overtaxed lungs, she leaned against a pine tree and listened. Bloodhounds howled. Terror increased the shivers running rampantly through her body. She’d heard the siren a few minutes ago, and now the search, including dogs, was apparently on. Were they the kind that tore humans to pieces? No, she couldn’t let herself think about that. She had to keep on going. Besides, being torn apart by ravenous beasts would be better than what she’d been through the last few weeks. No way was she going back there. Ever.
Despite the fear, she couldn’t help but feel a small sense of triumph. She’d been gone for hours and they had just discovered her absence.
The pants she’d stolen were much too large; even the leather belt she’d knotted at her waist barely kept them up. She didn’t care; they were clothes—the first ones she’d had on in days. The silent, odd-looking man had come in to give her the nightly injection and she had rammed him with the lamp beside the bed. He’d only been stunned the first time and had tried to make a grab for her. She’d managed to evade him and get in more bashes. On the third one, he’d gone down with barely a whimper. Then she’d taken the damn needle and injected him instead.
Getting the keys from the belt at his waist had been easy. Even stripping his clothes off and putting them on hadn’t taken that much time. It was the stops she’d made on the way outside that had slowed her down. She’d had to try to save them; it had been useless. The two girls were so out of it, she’d been able to wake them for only a few seconds. If he’d given her the injection, she would have been the same way.
After she’d run into the night, she had been stunned to discover that she was in the midst of a small community. For an instant, she had considered knocking on a door and asking for help. She had resisted that temptation. Several of the buildings looked too much like the building she’d just escaped from. Meaning there were probably no people around who would help her.
When she’d reached the gate, she’d been doubly glad she hadn’t asked for help. The entire area was a fortress. She’d ended up crawling the last few yards to the gate on her stomach and had prayed with all her might that one of the keys fit the lock. Her prayers had been answered.
It would be daylight soon. If she’d been able to wear the man’s shoes, she could have run faster, but his giant shoes had swallowed her small feet.
Holding her hand to the painful stitch at her side, she looked around. Dawn was breaking, giving her an opportunity to see her surroundings better. She appeared to be in the midst of a forest. Giant trees surrounded her, as far as the eye could see.
If only she could find a road somewhere, maybe she could wave down a car. Once she got to the police, she could tell them about these people. They would save the other girls.
The throbbing in her feet made her look down at them; she winced. Though the light was still dim, she could see well enough to tell that they were a bloody mess. She couldn’t let that stop her … she had to keep going.
Pushing away from the tree, she broke into a flat-out run. There had to be a way out of here. There had to be.
Halo, Arizona
Electricity crackled in the air. Honor sat beside Mrs. Bradford on the sofa. Seth sat in a chair across from them. Mr. Bradford paced back and forth in front of the window, half the time looking like a grieving father, the other half like a five-year-old on the verge of a temper tantrum.
“You’re the one who suggested she go to that school in the first place,” Joe Bradford snarled.
Her eyes glistening with bitter hatred, Elaine Bradford snapped back, “So all of this is my fault?”
“If she was living with me, she wouldn’t have changed schools. If you—”
“Mr. and Mrs. Bradford, arguing isn’t going to help us find Anna.” Honor used the tone she’d honed to perfection to deal with overemotional, grief-stricken parents. “If we can just concentrate on Anna and—”
“If you hadn’t slept with that slut, this never would have happened in the first place.”
Seth shot to his feet. “Hell, this is getting us nowhere. If you people want to behave like two squabbling idiots, that’s your problem. We’re more interested in saving your daughter.”
“You can’t talk to my wife like that.”
Honor resisted rolling her eyes. Between the Bradfords blaming each other for their daughter’s disappearance and Seth’s justified fury, she was wishing she had a gavel to bang.
“Mrs. Bradford, could I perhaps have some more tea?” she asked, shooting a speaking glance at Seth.
Elaine Bradford jumped to her feet. “Of course.”
“I’ll help you.” Honor followed the older woman into the kitchen. Hopefully, by separating the spouses, who’d been sniping at each other nonstop since she and Seth had arrived, half an hour ago, they could get something out of them other than bitterness.
Family strife and one parent blaming the other for a missing child wasn’t unusual. Combining those issues with the fact that the Bradfords were in the middle of a messy divorce only made it more volatile.
“I’m sorry. I know what we’re doing is childish and not helpful.” Mrs. Bradford’s red-rimmed eyes and trembling mouth made it hard for Honor to be angry. Her grief was apparent, as was the tremendous hurt she obviously still felt about her husband’s infidelity.
Honor sat at the kitchen table and watched the older woman flutter around nervously. The goal was to keep her out of the living room, where, she sincerely hoped, Seth was getting somewhere with Joe Bradford. And while Anna’s mother busied herself with making tea, Honor concentrated on learning what she could. So far, they’d gotten almost nothing from either parent.
“Tell me about your daughter.”
The woman’s face lit up, making her look years younger. “I know I may be prejudiced, but Anna isn’t like most young women her age.”
“In what way?”
“She’s much more responsible, more mature. That’s why I knew almost immediately she was missing.” Her mouth twisted bitterly. “I couldn’t get the police to believe me, though.”
Honor nodded in sympathetic understanding. She had read the police report, and this was the only thing Mr. and Mrs. Bradford had agreed on. Anna was twenty-four, the oldest of the missing girls. The police had thought she might have gone off with friends and chose to wait twenty-four hours before declaring her a missing person and beginning their investigation.
Relieved to be getting to the heart of their reason for coming, Honor asked a leading question. “Anna is a year or so older than the average college student …?”
“She worked for a couple of years before she decided to start college.”
“Where did she work?”
“At the mall, a real estate office, an insurance company, a bank. It seemed every three or four months she was looking for something new.”
“She was trying to find herself.”
Mrs. Bradford smiled. “That’s what we figured, so Joe and I didn’t say anything. We trusted that she would find her way eventually.”
“What did she finally decide on?”
As the woman turned to adjust the kettle on the stove, Honor could see only the side of her face, but it looked twisted with grief. “Criminal justice.” She faced Honor, her eyes swimming with tears. “Isn’t that ironic?”
“Is Anna an outgoing person?”
“Yes, but she’s smart, too. She wouldn’t just go off with a stranger.” Mrs. Bradford shuddered and turned away. “She would have had to been taken by force. After all that training, someone still took her.”
“Training?”
Mrs. Bradford poured the boiling water into the teapot. “Starting in high school, Anna became interested in martial arts. We encouraged it because we thought it could save her life.”
“It might still save her life. You can’t give up hope.”
She nodded. “I know. That’s what I keep telling myself.”
Honor touched the hand that clenched nervously on the counter. “Then hang on to that. It sounds like Anna is an amazing young woman. And she sounds like a survivor.”
The smile that brightened Elaine Bradford’s face was almost too painful to watch. Honor prayed that she wasn’t giving the woman false hope.
“I need a break. How about you?”
Honor eyed Seth. He’d been quiet since they’d gotten into their car, half an hour ago. Since they’d been with the Bradfords most of the day, they hadn’t had much breathing room. Even before he’d said the words, she’d been thinking that he needed to get some air. He looked close to explosion.
“The hotel we’re going to has a gym.”
There was a barely perceptible pause before he said, “Sure. And then maybe a run after?”
One of many things she and Seth had enjoyed when they were dating was working out and running together. After they’d broken up and she’d moved to Atlanta, Honor had gone almost a month without working out, which had made things a thousand times worse. Not only had she felt like crap, but when she started working out again, she’d realized how stupid she’d been. Working out had been a great way to get over Seth.
“A run sounds good, too. After drinking all that tea, I need to get rid of some of this excess energy.”
“And I need to expend some energy that doesn’t include slugging Joe Bradford in the face.”
Honor grimaced an apology. “Sorry about leaving you to deal with him alone. I figured the only way to get any information was to separate them.”
“No apology necessary. You were right to do that. It was obvious they couldn’t be in the same room together without arguing. I’m just glad you got something useful.” Seth snorted with disgust. “Bradford’s number one concern is himself. Even after I had a very frank talk with him, if I didn’t keep him focused, he’d go back to talking about himself.”
“Mrs. Bradford was more than happy to share. I don’t know if I’m more encouraged or discouraged after talking with her, though.”
“Why?”
“The college transfer … that’s a commonality. But Anna is different from the other girls. Not only in age, but maturity and life experience.”
“Yeah, but you’ve got to admit that out of the five girls, so far we know three transferred to another school. I know it’s small, but I still think there’s a thread.”
“I agree. I’m just not sure how big of a thread it is.” She turned into the parking lot of a large chain hotel. “I’ve scheduled a conference call with Jared and Aidan for nine tonight.”
“Good. If we find out about another transfer, I think we’ve got to do some research on how they’re done and what’s involved.”
Honor nodded absently as she got out of the car. Yesterday, she’d believed it was something, but now that she’d thought it through, that one small thing seemed insignificant—useless information that would lead them nowhere. As far as she knew, transferring from one college to another didn’t constitute much of anything other than paperwork. She hoped Seth wasn’t getting his hopes up over something she wished she’d never brought up.
As they rolled their bags into the lobby to check in, Seth blew out a ragged, silent breath. He’d told Honor he needed a break, which was true. What he couldn’t say was that he needed some time away from
her
. Last night’s kiss had reminded him of how good they’d been together. She had tasted as good as he remembered … better, actually.
Except for the time they’d separated the Bradfords to talk with each one individually, he and Honor had been together for most of the day. He was more than aware of her scent, the delicate arch of her chin when she disagreed with him. That small smile that sometimes curved her mouth when she was thinking. So mysterious, so damn sexy.
He needed to do something physically demanding to deal with all the explosive thoughts he’d been having. That sure as hell didn’t include seeing her work out in a gym or running beside her, watching that beautiful body move with her natural grace while her creamy skin dampened and glowed.
Suddenly feeling like a mountain lion that’d been deprived of breakfast, Seth grabbed his key card and growled a thank-you to the sweet-looking lady behind the counter. She looked a bit startled that he’d gone from pleasant to caveman in a matter of seconds. He grimaced a smile of apology and turned away.
“So I’m in room 412,” Honor said. “What about you?”
“Tenth floor,” he growled. Hell, he sounded like a grizzly.
“Everything okay?”
Just got a major boner thinking about you
. Yeah, Cavanaugh, tell her that. It’ll go over real well. Jerking his bag toward the elevator, he nodded. “Just want to get to my room.”
“Okay … well. Do you still want to work out?”
Hell, Honor was the least insecure woman he knew, but she sounded uncertain, decidedly hurt. He turned back to her and made the effort he should have made before. “Sure. Give me about fifteen minutes to change. Want me to come to your room?”
“No, we can meet in the gym.”
Stretching his mouth into a semblance of a smile, he punched the elevator button to go up and was relieved when the doors opened immediately. Honor got in beside him, still eyeing him as if he were an alien.
The doors opened on her floor and, thankfully she got out before he could grab her and show her exactly what had been bothering him for the last half hour.
“See you in a few minutes.”
Seth nodded and let the doors close in her face. Better to be rude than pull her back into the elevator, push the stop button, and strip her naked. Although, judging by her expression last night, he’d probably get a black eye instead of satisfaction.
How in the hell had he expected to work with the one woman he’d never been able to forget?