Kiera looked at her watch. The watch felt foreign for she was used to her smartphone but she’d left that behind. She grimaced. It was only ten o’clock and felt like three. They’d been in Denver for four days and this morning began their fifth full day. The days were long but the nights… She smiled wistfully. The nights were like nothing she’d ever imagined. She felt hot just thinking of the positions they’d tried and the games they’d played. The nights made the days worthwhile.
An hour had passed since Travis had left. He’d gone for milk and bread—standard supplies for their small kitchen. She wondered if there was another reason for his supposed grocery run. For, despite how intimately she knew him, there were things about him that she didn’t know at all, things he kept close to the vest. The tall, strong, silent type could be utterly frustrating.
He’d been gone too long. She felt edgy, out of sorts and she didn’t know why. In his absence, she was realizing that his presence was part of the reason she felt safe. She paced the room, holding Lucy for as long as the cat would tolerate it. Minutes later, she set her down and the cat paced, obviously wanting to go out. She didn’t blame her. Neither of them had been outside since they’d moved to Denver. She would have loved to put a harness and lead on the cat and take her for a walk. She smiled at the thought. Her neighbors in Cheyenne had laughed when they’d first seen her walk the cat. But she was a firm believer in the fact that a cat should be no more left to roam free than a dog. She was in the minority in that thinking.
“I’m sorry, Luce, not today.”
The phone that Travis had picked up for her rang. New phone, different number and still her heart jumped at the sound. She answered on the first ring.
“Where’ve you been?”
“You’re sounding jealous, sweetheart,” he said with a laugh. “Did you think I was with someone else?”
“Oh, give it a rest,” she said but the disdain was missing from her voice. Instead there was a smile and a small laugh. It felt like she’d known him forever.
“Meet me in the parking lot and I’ll take you for lunch,” Travis said. “I think you need a break from that shoebox we’ve been cooped up in. Maybe a burger.”
“Sounds fantastic,” she replied.
She hung up with a rush of happiness. Leaving the apartment, going outside, made her feel like they’d successfully left the danger behind. Soon, everything would be alright.
* * *
TRAVIS HAD TO SMILE as he disconnected. Kiera had sounded like a long-term girlfriend or a wife. She was playing her part well. Too well. It was hard for him to pretend, for it made the growing feelings he had for her feel justified. Except they were in a fake marriage, a made-up relationship. She was going by her middle name Jenna and using his last name, Johnson. Fake or not, somewhere along the way, the relationship had become, to a certain point, real. Never would he have thought that the victim of a brutal crime would be the woman he fell for. It was neither the time nor the place for a romantic relationship. Except he didn’t know if he could turn it around or if he even wanted to. She was the woman in his bed, the woman he wanted in his life, and he couldn’t see himself walking away from that. The passion he felt for her had been played out every night since they’d reached the safe house. There was no going back for him and he hoped for Kiera too.
He pushed the thoughts from his mind. He was two minutes away from the place that they now called home. It was the home that they would be living in for the next few months. He couldn’t imagine where their relationship would go in that amount of time. It frightened him as nothing in his life ever had.
The parking lot was just behind their apartment building and shared with two other buildings in the area. He was just about to turn in when movement caught his eye. Someone was in the lot. That wasn’t unusual. Even as he hoped it was Kiera, his gut screamed that something was wrong. His foot was on the brake, as he put the vehicle in Park. Then he saw her. She had her dark hair braided as she liked to do. She’d said it kept her long hair out of her face.
Kiera.
He smiled. He was looking forward to seeing her, even though it had only been a little over an hour since he’d left. The truth was that he never tired of her optimistic chatter.
Then something else caught his eye and dread locked in his gut. She wasn’t alone. He opened the door and got out, closing it as softly as he could, his eyes never leaving the scene in front of him.
Something shifted. Now he had a clear view. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. She was struggling. Being held—against her will.
What the hell?
Kiera’s hooded captor was half a foot taller than her. She was held with an arm around her neck. As the pair struggled, he could see a glint—the possibility that her attacker held a gun.
Anger boiled within him. He’d made a colossal error, thinking that she was safe. Now she was in danger because of that mistake, his mistake.
Dread raced through him.
He was moving closer, cautiously to keep his presence undetected. He was at the edge of the parking lot, hidden by shrubs. Her captor was holding her in a choke hold. She was in a position that ensured that at this distance, he couldn’t get a clean shot without risking hitting Kiera. And, as he considered his options, she was being forced backward, farther away across the parking lot. He couldn’t reach her in time. And he feared that if her attacker became aware of his presence and of his intent, they would as likely kill her as not. But, if she left the parking lot with her abductor, the outcome would more than likely be the same. There was no choice. He had to take her kidnapper out. But from here, he didn’t have a clear shot.
He swore through clenched teeth. Despite the angry words, it was fear that raced through his veins. He wouldn’t let this happen. He couldn’t, not now when he’d found the woman he wanted to spend his life with, the woman he loved. Not now, when the life of the woman he loved was at stake. There was no way he could lose her now. It wasn’t going to happen. Someone would die. His attention focused on her attacker. It wouldn’t be Kiera.
But, despite the weapon in his hand, his assessment of the situation wasn’t optimistic. He might have a shot if he could get closer. The weight of the Glock was unforgiving in his hand, reminding him of its success rate. Except here, he had no chance of an open shot. Unless of course he could get a head shot. The only way to free her was first to get closer and second, to get Kiera out of the way. He wasn’t sure how he was going to accomplish either of those things without making his presence known.
And, as he was faced with a no-win situation and no other options, the unthinkable happened. Kiera was free. He’d seen her push back as if she might have driven an elbow into her captor. It didn’t matter how it had happened. It was his opportunity. With no seconds to lose, he fired, giving his position away. But her captor twisted in time and bolted away, unscathed. A shot was fired at him, as they stopped for a second to turn and shoot. The shot was wild. Then the hooded assailant was running toward a vintage van, thirty feet behind her.
Kiera was nowhere in sight.
Panic flooded him as he ran toward the scene. Where the hell was Kiera? Had she been caught in the crossfire? He couldn’t lose her, not now. He was running as if his life depended on it, except he was running toward danger. For Kiera’s life depended on him. And, as the soles of his sneakers hit the pavement, life and death flashed before him as he ran faster than he ever had before.
Kiera.
She lay in a heap on the pavement, like a sack of potatoes that had been dropped and left. Whether she was injured or not, he didn’t know. He only bent down long enough to put his fingers on her wrist and feel her pulse. It was steady. There was no more time. She was alive and he had a window of opportunity to end this—to stop the kidnapper.
But the scene had changed in mere seconds. It was like a kaleidoscope shifting without warning. The attacker was behind the wheel of an old van, which was very like one he remembered as a kid, a camping van. It was at least twenty years old. He was too late to get a clear shot. But he could cripple the van. Maybe slow them down by taking out a tire. And then, that option was taken off the table as the van spun around and took off in a squeal of tires as the sun glinted off the worn paint, the plate smeared with dirt and unreadable, as it sped out of the parking lot.
He fell to his knees beside Kiera. She was struggling to stand with a hand on the pavement steadying herself.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.” Her voice broke. “Just scraped.”
He saw the quiver of her body, realized how traumatized she was and took her in his arms. She was alive and that was all he had prayed for. Still, he had a sinking feeling that he was at war and the battle he’d lost was crucial to the victor’s success. He shoved the thought aside.
“Damn it,” he muttered, frustrated that her kidnapper had gotten away. They’d been so close. The van was out of sight; he could only call the attack in. Still, he was angry that he couldn’t do more. The anger was muted only by the knowledge that Kiera was safe. He’d succeeded in saving the one thing that was important, the one person who mattered. Her arms were around his neck, her heart was beating against his chest. He held her as if he would hold her forever. And he would, except in this situation they needed to move. Whoever had attacked her had gotten too close. The safe house was compromised.
“You’re sure?” he asked.
“Shaken,” she said.
“Was the van in the parking lot when you arrived?”
“I’m not sure. I didn’t see it. It was so sudden. I was grabbed from behind.”
Her body shook even as he held her.
“I managed to get away from her. I didn’t think I could. She’s unbelievably strong,” Kiera said in a trembling voice against his shoulder.
Admiration ran deep in him. She had more guts than almost anyone he knew. She was emotionally steady despite escaping possible death for the second time.
“Did you see them?”
“Her,” she corrected. “And no. I didn’t. She was behind me.” She shuddered. “I knew that voice.” Her own voice shook. “I remember it the night I was kidnapped.”
Travis bit off the curse that didn’t come close to tamping his frustration. If Kiera was right and if the theory of a second serial killer held, that meant that the killer had again proved herself far more resourceful and as a result, deadlier, than the one they had in custody. For, she’d not only found Kiera, but she’d flown completely under the authority’s radar. Again.
“Are you alright?”
Kiera’s voice was soft and full of concern, yet there was determination, a thread of steel running through it.
He looked at her with disbelieving admiration. Even now, she was thinking of someone else.
“I’m fine, Kiera,” he said.
But, despite the unimaginable trauma she’d been through, it wasn’t over. Whoever had attacked her had gotten too close. He didn’t doubt that they wanted to finish what they’d started so many days ago. It was a more tangled web than they’d thought. And the key to that web had disappeared—again.