Mack switched off the lights as they neared the location of the lake cabin. Half a mile away, he pulled the car to a stop and shut off the engine. He checked the weapon he wore beneath his jacket and opened the door to get out.
“Why are we stopping?” Riley got out of the car and stood beside Mack.
“We’ll go the rest of the way on foot. That way, Pruett won’t know we’re there before we get to the door. If he has the boy, he won’t have time to hide him.” He shot a glance her way in the light from the stars overhead. “Ready?”
Riley nodded.
They followed the road, checking numbers on the mailboxes as they went until they neared Pruett’s. From the road, they couldn’t see anything but a dim light in the woods, along a rutted gravel road that led in.
Abandoning the road, Riley and Mack entered the woods, moving in the deep shadows of the tree canopy, with limited patches of starlight to guide them as they walked parallel to the gravel road. Soon the cabin appeared in a clearing, a single light shining through a window.
When Riley started forward, Mack held out a hand to stop her. “Let me go first.” Pruett might be an engineer and a desk jockey, but he also might understand booby traps and how to set them.
Easing forward, Mack checked for trip wires and security cameras. When he found none, he waved Riley forward.
The cabin stood on piers, the windows a little higher than eye level unless one was to climb up on the porch. Since the porch would expose them too much, Mack ruled that out.
“You’ll have to look,” Mack whispered. He bent his long body, squatting low. “Climb on my shoulders.”
Riley gave him a hesitant look. “Are you sure?”
He nodded and jerked his thumb toward his back. “Hop on. You’ll be able to see into the window. Be careful no one sees you.”
Riley slipped her legs over his shoulders and rested her hands on his head.
Mack straightened and, holding on to her thighs, shifted sideways toward the window.
“Stop,” Riley said softly, her fingers curling into his hair.
He liked the warmth of her legs around his neck and the way her fingers feathered through his hair. But they were there to find Toby. “See anything?” Mack said, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Not yet.” She leaned a little to her left. “Wait. I see someone lying on the couch.”
“Pruett?”
“I can’t tell,” Riley said.
“What’s he doing?”
“I can’t tell,” she said. “He’s not moving.”
“Not moving asleep?” Mack asked. “Or not moving dead?”
“Uh...” She leaned a little farther to the left. “I don’t know.”
Mack didn’t like that he couldn’t see in, but Riley couldn’t lift him up. “Any sign of Toby?”
Her body seemed to sag. “No.”
“Hold on, we’re moving around to another window.” Mack walked with Riley on his shoulders around to another window at the back of the cabin. The ground sloped toward the lake, making the window even higher from their level. “Can you see inside?”
“This is a bedroom.” Riley leaned forward, pressing her hands on top of his head. “It’s dark in the room. I can’t see much, but I don’t think Toby’s in there.”
“Moving.” Mack moved to the next window.
“Another bedroom. I can’t see Toby,” she said, her voice flat, disappointed.
The next window proved to be the kitchen and again, no Toby.
Riley tugged at his hair. “Let me down.”
Mack bent to a squat.
Riley dropped to the ground. “I’m going in.”
“What if he’s armed?” Mack asked.
“You’re armed. You can shoot him.”
Mack shook his head. “I’d be trespassing on his property. He’d have every right to shoot me first.”
“Then we’ll ask him to let us in. No guns necessary. We’ll be stranded on the road because our car broke down.”
“And he’ll believe his coworker just happened to be in the neighborhood?”
“If Steve’s got Toby, I’ll shoot him myself. We won’t need an excuse.” Riley turned toward the porch. “Stay here. It might get sticky.”
“I’m coming.”
“Suit yourself.” Riley marched up the steps and knocked on the door.
Mack followed, just as determined to find Toby as Riley, and even more determined to keep her from getting herself killed.
Mack tugged Riley to the side of the door. If Pruett had a gun and started shooting, he’d aim for the door and the person standing on the other side. The wall gave a little bit of cover. Not much, but at least out of the direct line of fire.
The sound of feet hitting the floor came to them, and then footsteps leading toward the back of the house.
“He’s heading for the back door,” Riley said. She leaped off the porch and raced around to the back of the house.
Mack struggled to keep up, afraid Pruett would be desperate and try to hurt Riley.
Riley had just reached the back porch when Mack ran around the corner.
A man burst through the rear entry, flinging the door open so hard it hit the wall.
Before he could reach Riley, she ran up the steps and planted herself in front of the man.
“Hello, Steve,” Riley said, her tone even, dangerous.
“Riley,” Pruett said. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought you might be able to help me.”
Pruett tried to go around her, but Riley stepped in his path. “Going somewhere?”
“I think I left the stove on at my house in the city,” he said.
“Yeah?” Riley snorted. “Well, I can tell you that you didn’t.”
“But I did. I need to get there and turn it off before the house catches fire.”
“The stove isn’t on, and the house isn’t going to catch fire.” Riley stepped closer to Pruett. “But maybe we should check inside your cabin and see if the stove is on here.” She stepped closer to Pruett.
Mack climbed the porch steps. “Right. Perhaps you need to show us your stove.”
Pruett’s eyes widened when Mack stepped up behind Riley. He backed up, and his brow furrowed. “My stove isn’t on here. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
Riley shook her head and advanced on the man. “We’re not leaving until we’re certain your stove is off.”
Pruett edged toward the door. “You’re not invited into my cabin.”
Riley’s eyes narrowed. “I think we are.”
“I’ll call the p-police,” Pruett stuttered, not sounding at all convincing.
“Go ahead.” Riley walked up to the man and poked a finger at his chest. “Call the police.”
The man’s gaze shifted from Riley to Mack and back to Riley. He dived for the door and slammed it closed.
Mack reached the door before the man could lock it. He twisted the knob and applied a muscled shoulder to the paneled wood.
The door slammed open, shoving Pruett backward. He staggered until his back hit a wall. “You’re t-trespassing,” he said. “You can’t come in.”
“Yes. We can.” Mack barged in and towered over the engineer. “Unless you think you can make me leave.”
RILEY ALMOST LAUGHED at the way Pruett cowered under Mack’s glare.
“Why don’t you want to let us in, Steve?” She walked past Pruett into the kitchen. Everything had a place in the neat little kitchen, and everything was in its place. “Do you have something to hide?” She pushed the stainless steel toaster from one position to another, leaving a fingerprint on the steel, and moved on.
Steve squeezed around Mack and hurried after Riley. “No. No. I have nothing to hide.” He moved the toaster back to its original position and used a paper towel to wipe the print off.
“Nothing at all?” Riley opened a cabinet door where glasses were lined up neatly, and pulled out a tumbler. She walked to the refrigerator and took out a bottle of orange juice, sluiced it into the cup, spilling a couple of drops on the countertop. “You don’t mind if I help myself to a drink, do you?”
Pruett stared at the drops of juice on the countertop. “No. Help yourself and then leave.”
“Why are you in such a hurry to see us leave? I’d think it would be lonely out here all by yourself.” Riley drank the juice and set the glass on the counter. “Are you by yourself, Steve?” She moved toward the hallway leading to the bedrooms, searching for any doors she couldn’t see from outside the house. Could the man be hiding Toby in a closet?
“Of c-course I’m alone.” Steve lifted the glass, placed it in the sink and wiped the counter with a paper towel.
“All alone?” Riley said as she headed down the hallway to the two bedrooms. Her heart sped as she neared the first one and flipped the light switch. A dull yellow light illuminated the room. A dark walnut bed stood against one wall, covered in a neat, solid gray comforter and white pillows.
Riley checked beneath the bed and in the closet, searching for any sign of Toby or of a hidden door. The closet contained exactly five hangers with jeans on two, two button-down white shirts and a winter coat zipped from hem to neck.
Abandoning the room, Riley hurried to the next room where a white iron bed was pushed against the wall and covered in a blue-and-white quilt, trimmed in red. Pillows were stacked neatly against the headboard, and a small lamp stood on a nightstand beside the bed. Riley checked in the closet, starting to get worried they wouldn’t find anything and tired of playing games with Pruett, when all she wanted was her brother.
The closet was empty, except for a box fan. When she bent to look beneath the bed, a small swath of fabric caught her eye near the wall by the headboard. She reached beneath the box spring and snagged a garment and pulled it out into the open. Her heart sank into the pit of her belly and then rose to choke the air out of her throat. She held a small hoodie in her fist, her hand shaking as she stared at the dinosaur on the front left side.
She turned with the garment in her hand, her gaze shooting to Pruett. “Where did you get this?” she demanded.
Pruett’s eyes widened, and he dived for the front living area.
Mack was faster, catching the man by the back of his collar before he could get through the front door. Holding him easily by his shirt, Mack walked Pruett back to stand in front of Riley. “Answer her,” he commanded.
Pruett’s face paled. “I don’t know.”
“Wrong answer,” Riley said. “Try again.”
“It must have been there since I bought the house,” the engineer said.
Riley shook her head and glared at the man. “Where’s Toby?” She took a step toward Pruett and got in his face. Her lips peeled back in a vicious sneer. “Where’s my brother?”
Pruett held up his hands “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t even know you had a brother.”
Riley shoved the jacket into the man’s face. “Don’t lie to me. This is Toby’s jacket. Where is he?” Her hand and her voice shook with her rage.
Mack grabbed Pruett’s arm and yanked it up behind his back, pushing it high between his shoulder blades. “Are you going to tell us where the boy is, or am I going to have to hurt you?”
Riley wanted to be the one to inflict pain on her coworker. “Just tell us where he is and we’ll leave you alone.”
Pruett’s face screwed up in pain. “Ow, ow. You’re going to break my arm.” He danced up on his toes, trying to relieve the pressure on his arm.
“That’s not all I’m going to break.” Mack pushed the arm up higher.
“Okay. Okay. I’ll tell you what I know,” the man cried.
Mack backed off on the pressure but didn’t release the wrist he held behind Pruett’s back.
Riley crossed her arms over her chest, her heart pounding, her attention on the man standing in front of her. Finally, she’d find Toby.
Pruett looked at the jacket and glared. “Damned kid did nothing but cry.”
Riley reached out and slapped Pruett’s face. “Bastard! He was probably frightened out of his mind. Where is my brother?”
“I gave him to that woman.”
“What woman?” By this time, Riley was so frustrated she could have shaken Pruett until his teeth rattled. “Where is she?”
“At her home in the Arlington slums with her own brats. I should never have gotten involved in this. She said it would be easy money. All I had to do was take the kid. I didn’t know I’d be babysitting the brat.”
Grinding her back teeth, Riley fought to keep from pounding her fist into Pruett’s face. “What woman? Does she have a name?”
“Bridgett, the night cleaning woman.”
Riley’s head jerked up. “Bridgett? She had you take Toby?”
“She paid the loan shark to get him off my back. In return, all I had to do was get the kid and deliver him to her. She didn’t tell me I’d have to hold him overnight. I don’t even like kids.”
“Where does Bridgett live?” Riley asked, her tone tight, her fists tighter.
He rattled off the address and jerked his head toward Mack. “Now call off your Neanderthal.”
“I ought to let him break every bone in your body for kidnapping a little boy. You had no right to take him.”
“Good grief.” Pruett sneered. “It’s not like I hurt him or anything. I slipped through his window, picked him up while he was sleeping and left. It wasn’t until he woke up that he started screaming.”
Riley slammed her fist into Pruett’s gut, her anger making her see red. “I hope you rot in hell.” She strode past Mack and Pruett, rubbing her bruised knuckles. “Come on, Mack.”
“What do you want me to do with him?” he asked.
“Bring him. We can’t have him warning Bridgett.”
“We can drop him off with one of the guys,” Mack suggested.
“Yeah,” Riley agreed. “And once we find Toby, we’ll file charges and have him hauled off to jail.”
“She swore she wouldn’t hurt the boy,” Pruett said. “I wouldn’t have taken him otherwise.”
“Shut up,” Riley said without looking back at the man. “There’s no excuse for stealing a child from his home. None.”
“Why did she want him?” Mack asked.
“She said she was worried, and she was going to take him to a better place to live. I needed the money—she offered to pay off my debt. How was I to know he was related to Ms. Lansing?”
Riley didn’t slow as she pushed through the front door and out onto the porch. She couldn’t believe the man could be so callous about abducting a little boy. “It doesn’t matter who he was related to. You had no right to take him.” She dropped down off the porch and turned to Mack. “I’ll get the car.”
He nodded. “The keys are in the ignition.”
Riley jogged away, taking the road instead of cutting through the woods. Her heart hurt for Toby. The child had to be so confused and scared. She ran all the way back to her car, dived into the driver’s seat and pulled up to the house.
“Pruett and I will ride in the back seat, if you don’t mind driving,” Mack said. “I called Declan. He’s sending Gus to meet us at an exit close to where we’re going. He’ll take care of Pruett until we can find Toby.” Mack shoved Pruett into the back seat and slipped in beside him. “Make any stupid moves, and I’ll make sure you regret it.”
Pruett shook his head, rubbing his arm. “I’m done with all this. Find the kid so I can get on with my life.”
“Declan’s getting quite the collection going,” Riley muttered. “Does he have sufficient staff?” She met Mack’s gaze in the mirror.
Mack’s jaw tightened. “He’ll have to.”
Riley pulled away from the house, bumping along the gravel to the main road. As soon the tires hit pavement, she laid her foot to the accelerator and raced back to Arlington.
Within thirty minutes, she’d dropped Pruett with Gus, Mack had moved up to the passenger seat, and they’d driven to within a couple blocks of Bridgett’s house. As before, they parked two blocks away and walked the rest of the way to the address.
The building was a small cottage on a street full of similar small houses with peeling paint, sagging eaves and broken bicycles scattered across the small yards. Its windows had been blacked out, and no movement could be detected from within.
Riley and Mack circled the house, searching for any sign of occupancy. Finally, Riley shrugged, walked up to the front door and knocked.
A child’s cry sounded from inside.
Riley gripped the door handle, twisted the knob and pushed as hard as she could. The door was locked. She pulled her file from her back pocket and fit it in the keyhole. Her hands shaking, she worked to unlock the door, not knowing whether the child who’d cried had been Toby or one of the janitor’s. It didn’t matter. If there was even a small chance it was Toby, she had to get to him before anyone hurt him.
The lock clicked and the knob turned.
“Stay low.” Mack pushed past her, entering the residence, his handgun drawn.
Riley ducked down, hurried through the door and hugged the shadows. The lights had been turned off, but a dull glow came from a night-light close to the floor.
They entered a living area strewn with ragged blankets on the couches, battered toys littering the floor and dirty dishes lying on boxes used as end tables.
Nothing moved, and there was no sign of the people who’d created the mess.
Mack eased down a hallway, passing the entrance to a small, dirty kitchen with sippy cups, plastic plates with half-eaten dinners, and dirty pans scattered across the counter, as if someone had interrupted a family’s meal.
A door clicked shut in another room in the small house. The sound of a sob came from down the hallway.
Riley started in that direction, but Mack quickly passed her and reach the next doorway before she could.
Mack eased open the door to a small bedroom.
A gasp and a whimper made Riley peek over Mack’s shoulder.
Crowded in the corner, huddled close to the floor, were the janitorial aide, Bridgett, three small children and Toby.
“Toby!” Riley cried out, and pushed past Mack.
Her brother glanced up at her, his eyes wide, dark circles smudged beneath them. “Riley?” Tears slipped down his cheeks as he staggered to his feet and raced into her arms.
Riley scooped him up and hugged him close to her chest.
Mack stood over her, his gun pointed at the woman still huddled on the floor with the three small children.
“Please, don’t hurt us,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “I didn’t want to do it. But they made me.” Her bottom lip trembled and her body shook with a silent sob.
“Do what? And who made you do it?” Mack asked.
“A woman and two men.” Bridgett clutched her children closer. “They said they’d turn me in for stealing supplies from Quest.”
“Why didn’t you tell someone?” Mack asked. “Surely they would’ve understood.”
“I was afraid. I didn’t want to go to jail. Even if I didn’t go to jail, they’d take my children away. My babies would have no one.” She buried her face in the dark hair of a pretty toddler who wore pink pajamas and had a smear of cheese across her cheek. “They would split my children up and send them to foster homes. My children would not know their siblings. I wouldn’t be there to protect them.”
Riley held Toby, listening to Bridgett’s story. She didn’t care. She had her brother in her embrace, and that was all that mattered.
Toby’s little arms wrapped around her neck in a stranglehold. After a long, hard hug, Riley pushed him to arm’s length and studied him from head to toe. She brushed a lock of his hair away from his forehead and gave him a watery smile. “Are you okay?”
He nodded and flung his arms around her neck again, holding tightly as if he would never let go.
Riley laughed, the sound catching on a sob. When she turned to look up at Mack, a shadow fell over the doorway. Her heart leaped into her throat. As she opened her mouth to scream, a hand swung out with a dark stick and hit Mack in the back of the head.
Mack staggered and dropped to his knees.
A large man in dark clothing and a dark ski mask stepped through the door and hit Mack in the head again.
Riley pushed Toby behind her and jumped to her feet. Before the man with a stick could hit Mack again, she kicked the man’s wrist, knocking the stick loose, sending it flying across the room.
As she cocked her leg to kick again, another figure entered the room also wearing dark clothes and a ski mask.
This man caught her around the waist and clamped a meaty hand over her mouth. She fought, elbowing him in the gut and stomping his instep, but the hand over her mouth also held a cloth with sweet-smelling perfume.
Within seconds, the fight leached out of Riley. Her muscles refused to cooperate, and she went limp in the man’s arms. Darkness consumed her. Her last sight was of Mack, lying motionless against the floor.