Sawyer

“I don’t know,” Sawyer said after several long moments. He slung off more water, swiveled in the seat and looked around.

“You don’t know if you had sex with a woman about ten months ago?” Cassidy pressed.

Yes, she sounded irked about that. And was. She’d always been attracted to the bad-boy types, but it never felt good to know that she was in a mountain-high pile of women that Sawyer had discarded.

Even if she’d contributed a lot to the reason he’d discarded her.

“There’s someone,” he admitted. “I’ll call her as soon as I’m finished with this. But I’m pretty sure if she’d gotten pregnant, she would have told me.” And he took out his phone. “I’m calling my cousin, the sheriff.”

“No!” Even though she had to take one of her hands off the steering wheel, Cassidy did it so she could grab his phone. “No cops. No anyone but me.”

He leaned in, a major violation of her personal space. So close she could smell wedding cake on his breath. “I’m going to the drop site with you. Close your mouth,” he added when she opened it. “Because arguing won’t help. You’re taking me to those kidnappers so I can find out why they want the photo. And why they took Bennie.”

Sawyer fired off a text message. Probably requesting backup that could make this mess a thousand times worse.

“I could stop the truck and refuse to go there,” she lied.

And the flat look Sawyer gave her with those blistering blue eyes let her know that he, too, knew she was lying.

“Where’s this place?” He sounded like the tough FBI agent that he was.

“Just off Miller’s Road.” She checked the time on the dash clock. “And I have less than ten minutes to get there.”

“Where on Miller’s Road?” Sawyer didn’t address that time was ticking away, either.

“It’s an abandoned building.” Now she was the one to get in his face. For a brief glare, anyway. “Don’t you dare make me regret telling you.”

“Abandoned,” he repeated. “The Tumbleweed? It used to be a bar.”

She nodded. The sign had been rusted and battered, but the name was still partially visible. “You know the place?”

“Yeah.” And that one word held a lot of emotion. Or something. “I was raised in Silver Creek. The Tumbleweed used to belong to my grandfather.”

Oh, mercy. Cassidy doubted that was a coincidence. “So, what does Bennie’s kidnapping have to do with you?”

Sawyer lifted his shoulder. “Like I said, that’s what I intend to find out. Take that next left.”

“That’s not Miller’s Road.”

“I know. And that’s why we’re taking it. Turn!” he growled.

It was the second time in the past few moments that she’d hoped she didn’t regret this, but Cassidy took the turn. It wasn’t a road but an old ranch trail with thick underbrush on both sides. Not exactly a good driving surface with the rain, and the first pothole she hit made the truck bounce, and their heads struck the ceiling.

“Slow down and stop up there,” Sawyer instructed, and he pointed to a pile of limestone boulders.

Again, she did as he said, but the moment she stopped, Cassidy took hold of his jacket and forced eye contact. “I know you think Bennie doesn’t deserve to live, but swear to me that you won’t do anything to make this worse.”

His eyes narrowed. “I’m an FBI agent, sworn to uphold the law. That includes upholding it for people who don’t deserve it. Like your brother. Now, kill the engine and wait here.”

As if she would take that order as gospel, which she did, Sawyer stepped from the truck, his gun ready, and he climbed to the top of the boulders.

Cassidy couldn’t be sure, but she thought that Miller’s Road might be just on the other side. She’d been so frantic when she’d driven out of there earlier with the baby, that the only thing she had paid attention to was the GPS that the kidnappers had programmed with the directions to the Ryland family’s Silver Creek ranch.

What the two men hadn’t told her was there would be a wedding reception going on and that she’d have to get that photo with dozens of witnesses milling around. But certainly the kidnappers must have known because they’d told her that’s where she would find Sawyer.

So, why take the photo there?

Too many things about this didn’t make sense, and that was yet more reason to get Bennie away from these men.

“I have less than five minutes now,” she reminded him in a whisper.

Sawyer didn’t respond to that, fired off another text, and then without warning, he scrambled over the rocks, out of sight. That got Cassidy moving from the truck, and she hurried to the boulders to see where he’d gone.

She didn’t have to look far.

He was there, just on the other side, crouched down by yet another heap of boulders. Beyond that was the road.

Then, the Tumbleweed bar about fifty yards away.

It wasn’t much of a place. Rust-streaked tin roof. Weathered clapboards. Eye-socket windows with vines coiling in and out of them. What was left of the neon sign was connected by a single electrical wire, and it creaked back and forth with each gust of wind.

Sawyer gave her a stare down even though he was looking up at her. “Think hard. Do you remember me telling you to wait in the truck?” He didn’t give her a chance to respond. “Because that’s exactly what you’re going to do. My cousin Grayson will be here soon to watch you.”

She huffed. “I don’t want a babysitter. I want to help.”

“And you’ll do that by waiting here.” He tipped his head to the building. “No vehicles. Were there any when you left?”

“No. They brought me here in the truck. They already had Bennie tied up inside.”

It hurt just to think of seeing him that way. To see the terror on his face. To know that he’d seen the same on hers. She was the big sister. Had always taken care of him just as she’d promised.

This time, she’d failed.

Sawyer started to move but then stopped and caught her gaze. “If you follow me, it could get all of us killed. Nod so I know you understand.”

Her stomach twisted, the acid rising to her throat. But she nodded. “Please, hurry,” she begged. “Save him.”

Sawyer scowled as if insulted that she had to ask, and he put his hand on the top of the boulders to lever himself up. However, he didn’t make it an inch before they heard the sound. A sound that Cassidy definitely didn’t want to hear.

A bloodcurdling scream.

Chapter Three

Sawyer had to take hold of Cassidy to keep her from bolting toward the building. He had to fight his own instincts, too, because that scream was the sound of someone terrified.

Maybe even dying.

“We have to help him,” Cassidy insisted.

And there was another scream. Like the first one, it didn’t sound like a man’s, either.

“Who else was in that building?” Sawyer demanded, and because she was still in fight mode, he had to snap her to him so that her face was just a few inches from his.

Cassidy was breathing through her mouth now, her chest pumping, and she shook her head. “No one that I saw.”

The third scream got to him. Since Grayson wasn’t there yet and because he knew for a fact that Cassidy wouldn’t stay put, Sawyer shoved her behind him. “If I tell you to get down, you’ll do it,” he barked.

Whether she would was anyone’s guess, but he couldn’t wait while a woman was murdered. Heck, it could be the baby’s mother.

Sawyer didn’t waste any time getting Cassidy across the narrow dirt road. The mud caked on the soles of his boots, but he forced himself to run. Cassidy ran, too, despite the flimsy flip-flops she was wearing. They darted behind some trees, using them for cover so he could make his way to the Tumbleweed.

He knew every inch of the place and thought back to the video he’d seen of Bennie. It had been dark, but the only part of the building with beams like the ones he’d seen were in the main bar. Or rather what was left of it. Time and vandals had taken their toll.

Cassidy tapped her phone screen where the time was displayed. Yeah, he knew they were down to seconds now, but they couldn’t just go charging in there.

He led her to the side of the building and to what had once been the private entrance to his grandfather’s office. There was no door now, just a dark hole of a room. Sawyer stepped inside, pulled Cassidy in behind him and listened.

No more screams.

Just the creepy sounds of the wind and the rain pushing and squealing through the sliver-thin gaps in the wood.

Cassidy tapped the time again and put her hand on his back to push him forward. He went, but clearly not at the breakneck, run-into-a-trap pace that she wanted. Sawyer paused again in the doorway that led into the bar itself and peered inside.

“No,” he warned her. Cassidy would have rushed straight into the room if Sawyer hadn’t stopped her.

There was enough light spearing through the holes in the roof and windows that Sawyer could see the room was empty. So were the ropes that dangled from the exposed ceiling beams.

“Bennie was right here when I left,” she said, the words gusting out with her breath. “We’re too late.”

Maybe. But Sawyer doubted the kidnappers would just walk away from half a million dollars. Keeping his gun ready, he started to the center of the room. Toward those ropes.

With each step, the debris, dead insects and God knows what else crunched beneath his boots. Along with the rain bulleting on the tin roof and the other sounds from the storm, it made it hard to hear footsteps or anything else to indicate the kidnappers’ location.

Cassidy stayed plastered against his back, literally breathing down his neck, and they approached the ropes together.

Sawyer cursed.

First, when he spotted what was on the ropes. Then again, when he stepped in a puddle of dark liquid. With his luck, he figured that wasn’t rainwater from the leaky roof.

Nope.

It was blood.

“They hurt him,” Cassidy mumbled, and she pressed her fingers to her mouth. No doubt to suppress the sob.

Sawyer felt for her. If that were his brother’s blood, he’d be ready to panic, too, but panicking wasn’t going to help Bennie.

He passed her his phone. “Text Grayson and tell him we’re inside the Tumbleweed and that your brother’s missing.”

Her hands were shaking, so it wasn’t a speedy process for her to type the message, but she finally did it, and he heard the little dinging sound to indicate it had been sent.

“We have to find him,” Cassidy insisted. “He probably needs a doctor.”

Yeah. If he was still alive. But Sawyer kept that possibility to himself and double-checked the room. It was one big open space, the tables and chair long since removed so there weren’t many places for two kidnappers and their hostage to hide.

That meant they’d likely gone outside.

Of course they had.

Over the years, the woods had closed in on the place so it was hard to even tell that there had once been a parking lot back there. Since he hadn’t seen anyone on the road itself and no one was here, it was likely the kidnappersʼ escape route.

Cassidy must have figured that out, too, because she bolted around him, heading straight for the rickety-looking double doors that led out back. One of them was completely off its hinges and propped against the jamb. The other, however, was closed just enough to conceal someone who might be lurking around.

Sawyer snagged her by the shoulder and put her behind him again. He also tossed her a glare, hopefully a reminder that she was playing by his rules. And his rules didn’t involve her running out there until he was sure they weren’t about to be gunned down. He’d heard no shot to go along with those screams, but that didn’t mean the kidnappers wouldn’t pull their triggers.

Taking slow, cautious steps, Sawyer went to the remaining door. Took aim and made a quick check.

No one was there.

He glanced around, looking for any sign of the men, and he soon found it. Even though the rain was quickly washing it away, there was blood on the ground, and the underbrush had been stomped down in spots. It left a visible trail that led deeper into the woods.

His phone dinged, and since Cassidy was still holding it, she looked at the screen. “Grayson will be here in five minutes,” she relayed. “That’s too long. I want to find my brother now.”

Five minutes was indeed a long time for someone who might be bleeding out. “Text Grayson to get an ambulance out here.”

That sent her breath gusting again, but she did as he said. Sawyer did something, too. He ignored that warning knot in his gut. The one that told him it wasn’t a bright idea to go in the woods with Cassidy in tow, but it was too dangerous to leave her behind.

Too risky for Bennie not to be rescued.

So, the warning knot lost out, and Sawyer moved forward. Listening and praying this wasn’t a decision that would get them killed.

Cassidy put her forearms against his back, pushing him. Or rather she was trying to do that. But Sawyer held his pace steady, looking for any evidence that the rain would soon destroy. If they didn’t find Bennie soon, they’d need any and all clues to figure out where the kidnappers had taken him.

But why had they moved him?

Had they spotted Sawyer and decided to run? Or maybe Bennie had tried to escape. If he’d managed to get loose from those ropes, he could have run. And maybe he’d been hurt in the process.

Sawyer maneuvered them several yards deeper. Stopped and listened. This time, he heard something other than Cassidy’s breathing and the rain slapping at them.

It was just a swish of a sound. But not like anything else that he’d heard since this little trek had begun. Sawyer pulled Cassidy beneath the sagging branches of a mesquite and waited.

He didn’t have to wait long.

There was another of those swishing sounds, but this time he heard it a whole lot clearer. Oh, man. Someone had fired a gun rigged with a silencer. It was hard to tell the exact origin of the shots, but they hadn’t come from behind them.

Definitely ahead.

“Gunshots,” Sawyer whispered to Cassidy when she kept pushing him to get moving.

That stopped her. But it didn’t stop the fear from rising inside her. Sawyer could feel that in her tightened muscles and trembling hands.

“Send Grayson another text to give him our location,” he told her.

That would get her mind on something other than the panic that was no doubt about to eat her alive. Still, the texting served a necessary purpose, too. He didn’t want his cousin walking into gunfire.

There were no more swishing sounds, but Sawyer heard something else that grabbed his attention.

A moan.

Definitely human, and with the blood they’d found, it had likely come from someone injured. Bennie, maybe. At least that meant he was alive.

For now anyway.

Cassidy must have heard the sound, too, because she nudged him to get moving again. Sawyer did, maneuvering from beneath the mesquite and to some thick underbrush that would hopefully give them enough cover if those kidnappers started shooting at them.

There was a small clearing ahead, and because there were no trees, the rain was soaking the ground, making it hard to tell if anyone had gone that way. If the kidnappers had learned their way around these woods, and Sawyer had to assume that they had, they would know there were two ways out.

Doubling back to Miller’s Road.

Or continuing through the woods about a mile until they reached an old farm road.

Since he hadn’t seen another vehicle, it was possible the kidnappers had parked on that farm road. Of course, it was risky to be so far away from transportation in case something went wrong.

And something obviously had.

They likely hadn’t wanted to shoot at a hostage when they were so close to getting their hands on the entire chunk of ransom money.

“Bennie and the woman have to be alive,” Cassidy mumbled, and her breathing got even faster.

Mercy. She was on the verge of hyperventilating now, and Sawyer reached behind him and touched his fingers to her lips. Cassidy jerked back as if he’d burnt her. Their gazes met. Not one of those ordinary meets, either. This was one of blasted nonverbal connections between a man and a woman.

Who’d once been lovers.

Not a good time to remember that. Never a good time, actually. And he scowled to let her know that.

She scowled, too, her eyes narrowing a bit, and just like that, he’d cured her panic attack and hyperventilating.

“Let’s find him,” Cassidy snarled, and considering she’d just whispered it, she’d done a thorough job in conveying that snarl.

Her gaze fired around. “I have the picture,” Cassidy shouted without warning.

Sawyer reeled to her so fast that his neck popped. “What the heck are you doing?” he mouthed.

“Giving them what they want,” she mouthed back, her teeth clenched.

“If they’d wanted the photo bad enough, the kidnappers would have hung around.” And maybe they had. If so, Cassidy had just given away their position.

So, Sawyer moved again, trying hard not to let his anger turn what should be quiet footsteps into stomps. They’d only made it a few feet when he heard another moan. It was weak, barely audible, but it had come from a clump of cedars about fifteen yards away.

But that wasn’t the only sound.

There were footsteps that even the rain couldn’t conceal. Sawyer froze, holding back Cassidy again, but he didn’t have to hold her for long. There was a blur of motion, and Sawyer automatically took aim.

It was someone running.

Someone dressed all in dark clothes who quickly darted out of sight. In the video, Bennie had been wearing a light colored T-shirt similar to the one Cassidy had on.

The runner had to be one of the kidnappers.

There were more footsteps. Not from the same direction where the runner had disappeared to, but on the opposite side of the clearing. It wasn’t the running pace of an injured man who was hurt enough to moan. This was another runner.

And likely the second kidnapper.

Sawyer cursed himself for bringing Cassidy into this. Of course, if he’d left her to wait for Grayson, she would have no doubt been another set of those fast-moving footsteps trudging around in the rainy woods.

The seconds crawled by while he waited and tried to figure out what the heck was going on. He certainly couldn’t just start shooting with Bennie out there.

Behind him, he heard more footsteps. Not a runner this time, but the slow, cautious steps of a lawman. Sawyer glanced over his shoulder and spotted Grayson.

He motioned to the clearing so that Grayson would know what he was about to do.

“Stay here,” he warned Cassidy, and Grayson moved closer to her.

Good. If bullets started flying, Grayson would be able to pull her to the ground.

Sawyer tightened his grip on his gun and stepped out, making a beeline toward the cedars where he’d heard the moaning. No moans now, which might mean the kidnappers had moved their injured hostage.

When he reached the cedars, Sawyer used his elbow to push aside some of the branches. The first thing he saw was more blood.

And lots of it.

It had mixed with rainwater, making it impossible to tell just how much, but the bleeder had left a trail for him to follow.

No more footsteps. Just the sound of his own heartbeat crashing in his ears.

Sawyer pushed back another cedar branch, and he cursed when he saw the lifeless body on the ground in front of him.

Chapter Four

“No!” Cassidy blurted out. Nothing could have stopped her from running to Sawyer.

And toward the person lying on the ground.

Sawyer stooped down, touched his fingers to the person’s neck and shook his head. “Dead.”

Her heart was practically beating out of her chest by the time she made it there, and she tried to brace herself for the worst. Unfortunately, she wasn’t sure she could handle the worst.

Sawyer took hold of her to stop her from going closer, but she still got a good look at the person lying on the ground.

Not Bennie.

The victim was a woman with jaggedly chopped hair, black with streaks of blue. Cassidy had no idea who she was, but she had no trouble seeing the bullet wound on the side of her head.

Despite the gruesome scene, the relief was instant and overwhelming. It robbed her of what little breath she had left. But the relief was also short lived. It wasn’t Bennie. But where was he?

“Bennie?” she yelled.

No answer. Nothing.

Cassidy would have bolted again to go look for him, but Sawyer stopped her. “Who is she?” He tipped his head to the woman on the ground.

“I don’t know.” Again, she tried to leave, and Sawyer stopped her.

“You’re not going anywhere,” he insisted. “The kidnappers have already killed one woman. You want to make it two?”

“I want to find my brother,” she insisted right back.

“We’ll do that. Come on. This is a crime scene now, and it needs to be processed. That’s our best bet at finding Bennie.”

Maybe. But everything inside her was screaming for her to run and find her brother. Even if she knew it wasn’t the logical thing to do.

“Something obviously went wrong here,” Sawyer said as he led her away from the body. “But the kidnappers will contact you again. They’ll keep Bennie alive because they want to get that ransom.”

That made it through the panic and the haze in her head. Yes, the kidnappers wanted the money. She had to believe that, hold on to it. Because it was the only way to keep herself sane.

Sawyer and she approached Sheriff Grayson Ryland, and he handed Sawyer a set of keys. “Use my truck and get her to the hospital so she can be checked out. I already have an ambulance and CSI team on the way.”

“The woman’s dead,” Sawyer told him.

The sheriff looked as if he wanted to curse, and he made another call. This time to the medical examiner.

“Please let me know if the men come back with Bennie,” she said to the sheriff.

He nodded, continued his call, and Sawyer got her moving toward a silver pickup parked just up the road. Not a slow pace, either. They were practically jogging, and he kept watch, his gaze firing all around.

Cassidy doubted the kidnappers would kill her. But she rethought that. She’d broken their rules by not returning with the photo in time.

Was that the reason they’d killed the woman?

The emotion was already high, boiling through her, and that caused her to gasp. “Did the kidnappers kill her to punish me?” she managed to ask.

Sawyer didn’t answer because he obviously didn’t know. He stuffed her into the truck, got behind the wheel and drove out of there fast.

“I don’t need to go to the hospital,” she told him. “I’m okay. Or at least I will be when we find Bennie.”

“It’s standard practice to be checked out. After all, you were kidnapped.”

Yes, and she was rattled, but there wasn’t a scratch on her. She knew after seeing that video that Bennie wouldn’t be able to say the same thing. Those men had clearly hurt him.

“Don’t try to make sense of this,” Sawyer warned her after glancing at her face. “Let’s just get an ID on the body and go from there.”

It didn’t seem nearly enough, not with Bennie’s life at stake. Still, she knew Sawyer was right. They couldn’t go blindly running in the woods looking for him.

“But what does that woman have to do with the kidnapping and my brother?” she asked.

“Maybe she was one of the kidnappers.”

Cassidy was about to disagree, but the truth was, she had no idea if anyone else was involved. “I only saw the two men with cartoon masks.”

He spared her another glance before his eyes went back to the road. “And you’re sure they were both men?”

Was she? Well, she had been until Sawyer had asked that question. “Only one of them spoke, and it was definitely a man. But even if the other one was a woman, why would he have killed her?”