Davis, Keyonna - Faceless Enemy [Pine Valley 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (2 page)

Chapter 1

Loading the last bale of hay in the barn, Chase Matthews couldn’t be happier that he was done working for the day. He was tired and aching all over. Some days it seemed that working his parents’ ranch—well now his and his brothers and sister’s ranch—was harder than his days in the military and Special Forces had ever been. He could never remember being this tired before. Thank goodness he had the weekend off. Ever since his parents died, and he’d moved back home to take care of things, Chase had worked nonstop. This was going to be the first weekend he’d had off in almost two years, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

The nightmares and flashbacks were back, and he was hoping that a little rest and relaxation would help him push them back into the dark corner of his mind where they belonged. Evidently, his family was starting to notice his lack of sleep and grouchiness because they were all eager to pick up the slack and run the ranch for the weekend while he was gone. Now all Chase had to do was shower and grab his bag that was already packed thanks to help from his sister, Ali, and sister-in-law, Cane. The two were almost inseparable since Cane joined the family a little over six months ago. Cane decided that it was her mission to make Chase and his little brother, Riley, “as happy as she was” by finding them someone special. She would have felt the need to find someone for Ali if she wasn’t so young, but at seventeen, Ali was the only one that didn’t suffer the constant comments and hints. His brother, Duncan, and brother-in-law, Logan thought it was amusing, but they were so in love that he doubted there was anything that Cane could do that wouldn’t amuse them. It all just made Chase’s teeth ache from clenching his jaws so hard.

At thirty-two years old, and after all the violence and horrors that he had seen throughout his military career, Chase was happy to be alone. He had his family, and he had his land. As far as he was concerned, that was all he needed. He needed a wife like he needed a hole in the head. After all that Cane went through in her past, though, he just didn’t have the heart to tell her to stop with the matchmaking. He would just spend the weekend in Carlton, which was about sixty miles away. There he would lounge around the hotel room, maybe catch a movie, and just relax. Chase hoped that, by the time he returned home, he would have the nightmares back under control. It was the best plan he could come up with.

Walking into the house, Chase heard grunting coming from the kitchen. Running in that direction, he came around the corner to see Cane standing on the tips of her toes trying to reach a serving platter on the top shelf of a cabinet.

“You know, you could have asked someone to get that down for you,” Chase said, laughing.

“It’s not funny. I used to be able to reach that. Now I can’t do anything with this belly in the way. This morning I couldn’t even get out of bed. I just flopped around like a beached whale until Duncan and Logan came to check on me. Duncan had to grab my legs while Logan pulled my arms just to get me up.”

Chase tried his best not to laugh but couldn’t stop the small smile. At almost seven months pregnant, Cane was sporting a pretty huge belly. It was slightly bigger than normal because she was carrying twins. After being told that she would probably never have children because of what her psycho ex did to her, Cane was speechless when she found out that she was not only pregnant but with twins. Chase couldn’t be happier for her and his brother and Logan. They deserved each other.

“I feel like a blimp. My ankles and fingers are swollen, and I have nonstop gas, and don’t even get me started on how many times a day I have to pee. The next time your brother and Logan even think of coming near me again, I may just have to castrate the both of them,” Cane said as she turned to stir something in a pot.
Okay, way too much information for me.
Chase snuck away before Cane could turn back around.

After showering and eating dinner with his family, Chase loaded his truck and hit the road. It was around five in the evening, and if all went well, he would make it to Carlton around six fifteen. In a little over an hour, he would be able to finally relax.

* * * *

After two days of waiting, Kerri finally heard the lock turn in the door at the top of the steps. The grating noise of metal rubbing against metal, after what felt like an eternity of silence, nearly had her jumping from her hiding space under the steps. She heard her kidnapper flip the light switch a couple of times before he finally gave up, realizing that the lights were not coming on. All Kerri needed for him to do was come down a few more steps, and she would be able to make her escape. Trying her best not to second-guess herself, Kerri slowed her breathing and listened for the sounds of his footsteps. One, two, three…she counted in her head. Come on, just two more steps.

“Kerri, you should know that this is not going to work. You have no way of getting out of here, so you might as well give up. Don’t make it any harder on yourself.”

Was that laughter that she heard in his voice?
That bastard is laughing at me. Well, we will see who will be laughing in about ten minutes when I kick your ass
. Silently talking to herself, Kerri almost missed the sounds of his next steps. Just as her kidnapper lifted his foot to take the next step, she yanked at the sheet she had tied across the stairs, causing the man to fall down the last six. Not giving him time to get up, Kerri ran out of her hiding place and quickly lifted the heavy toilet lid over her head and swung it down, hitting the man. Because of the dark, she couldn’t be sure of where she was hitting her kidnapper or if she was causing any damage. She swung several more times just to make sure he wasn’t getting back up. Not hearing any movement or breathing coming from the man, Kerri threw the toilet lid down and quickly untied the sheet from the steps. Wrapping it around her, toga-style, she felt her way to the stairs and reached under the bottom step to grab the lightbulb she had hidden there. Figuring the toilet lid would be too heavy to carry if she had to run, she realized the bare bulb that she had carefully broken would make a pretty good weapon.

When Kerri made it to the top of the stairs, she paused with her hand on the doorknob. What if someone else was in on the kidnapping and in the house also? Listening through the door, she didn’t hear anything, so she slowly eased the door open. After being in the dark so long, the bright daylight that filtered through the door blinded Kerri and caused tears to well up in her eyes. Blinking the tears away, she was able to focus and saw that she was in some sort of old run-down house. The kitchen that she was currently standing in seemed to come straight out of the sixties or seventies with moss-green appliances and yellow countertops. The wallpaper seemed to have lost its design years ago due to fading from the sun, and was curling at the edges and peeling in most spots. The dust on the floors and countertops was about two inches thick and let Kerri know that no one had lived in this house for a long time. Was this the reason her kidnapper had brought her here? Did he know that not only had time forgotten this house, but people had forgotten it as well?

Snapping herself out of observations that she could only contribute to lack of food and sleep, Kerri noticed the back door and ran toward it. Grabbing the knob, she yanked but nothing happened. Then she noticed that it had been nailed shut. Just as she turned to find another way out, she heard a groan and sluggish footsteps on the stairs. Trying not to panic, Kerri knew that she was about to run out of time to make her escape. She laid the lightbulb that she realized she was still carrying down on the counter and grabbed an old wooden chair that sat at the kitchen table. Lifting the chair, she swung it at the small window above the sink, smashing the glass. Just as she was about to grab the bulb and climb on the counter, the basement door swung open to reveal her kidnapper and, from the look in his eyes, he was in pain and looking to make her pay for trying to escape him. Not waiting any longer, Kerri turned and dove through the window. Standing, she winced at the pain traveling down her leg and looked down to see that the stark white sheet she had wrapped herself in was quickly becoming stained with blood. Knowing that she didn’t have time to see what damage she had done diving through the window, she dashed in the direction of the woods in front of her.

Running barefoot did not help, but Kerri had no choice. Her feet felt like they were being run through a meat grinder as she felt every sharp poke and jab from the leaves and sticks on the ground. It felt like she had been running for hours, and she was quickly becoming tired and out of breath.

Not once did she slow down or look behind her as another one of her dad’s life lessons played through her head.
If you ever find yourself in a situation that you know you can’t win, run, and don’t stop until you get to safety. No one will judge you or consider you a coward for being smart and knowing when to fight your battles and when to give up. Always playing it smart is what will keep you alive to fight another day.

Kerri knew this was one of those moments to play it smart and run. She knew that she didn’t have a chance against her kidnapper, especially now. She could feel herself getting weaker as she ran and knew it was due to the cut on her leg. She had to get to safety soon because she was losing blood way too fast, and passing out in the woods was not part of the plan, nor was being captured again. Kerri leaned against a tree and took a few deep breaths. She squeezed her eyes closed to fight off the dark spots that were flashing before her eyes and listened. She could hear sticks snapping and leaves crunching from the direction that she had just come from and knew that her kidnapper was coming. She didn’t think her heart could beat any faster, but it seemed like it tripled in speed when she also heard the unmistakable sound of vehicles on a highway a short distance in the direction she was going.

Taking off at full speed, Kerri’s only thought was making it to the highway before her kidnapper caught up with her. She noticed that it was getting harder and harder to breathe, but she didn’t care. She knew that if she made it to the road, she would be safe. She didn’t stop once she reached the edge of the woods. She continued running the last twenty feet to the road and directly in the path of an oncoming car. The last thing she remembered was hearing tires squeal and then looking up at a clear blue sky as everything faded to black.

* * * *

Two days later

The smell was the first thing that Kerri noticed when she regained consciousness. She hated hospitals. The smell of antiseptic and sick people was what she hated the most. All the memories of her kidnapping ordeal came flooding back. Was she still drugged? Did her kidnapper catch her again? She panicked when she tried to open her eyes and couldn’t.

Evidently, she whimpered or made some sort of noise because she felt a hand grip hers, and she heard her dad’s voice.

“Shh, baby, it’s all right. You’re safe now.”

Safe
. Kerri didn’t need her dad to tell her she was safe. All she needed to hear was his voice, and she immediately relaxed. Her dad was here, and he wouldn’t let anything happen to her. Still gripping his hand, she drifted back into darkness.

* * * *

Chase took a deep breath and slowly released it as he drove toward home. This weekend wasn’t as relaxing as he’d thought it would be. Something was wrong, and he couldn’t figure out what it was. The back of his neck was tingling, and from past experience he knew that was not a good sign. He’d always had a sixth sense about danger, but his years in the military honed those skills, and he learned to trust them. Those skills had saved not only his life, but the lives of his team members on several occasions. The last time Chase had this feeling was when his parents had died in a car accident. Being halfway around the world on a mission, he didn’t find out until three days later, but he knew something bad had happened before ever finding out. He came home to find his baby sister fighting for her life, and his two younger brothers and Logan barely handling it. That was the day Chase walked away from MacGregor Inc. and combat without looking back and took over taking care of his family. Now it was happening all over again. He had called home several times over the weekend to check on his family, but not wanting to frighten them, he pretended to be checking on the ranch and how things were going. Everything seemed okay, but Chase couldn’t shake the feeling that something big was about to happen and it involved him.

The ringing of a phone snapped Chase out of thoughts about the past. He was so caught up in his memories that he didn’t realize that it wasn’t his cell ringing until he picked it up to answer it. Swearing, he threw the phone on the passenger seat and pulled over to the side of the road. He hated being right sometimes. The sound of his satellite phone ringing under his seat only meant one thing. The situation was critical.

Quickly grabbing the phone, he answered. “This is Chase,” he said.