Lindsay McKenna (23 page)

“Polite? Who are you to talk? You just broke into my condo. I want you out of here, Beau.
Now!
” She jammed her index finger toward the door.

“Oh,” he crooned, “that’s not gonna happen, Cat. You and I? Well, we got some catching up to do. And you’re going to give me a second chance to win back your hand.”

* * *

T
ALON
WAS
RIDING
his steel-gray horse down along the boundary fence between the Bar H and the Triple H ranch when his cell phone vibrated in his vest pocket. He pulled the gelding to a stop along the fence line. The sun was in the west, bright and warm. He pulled the phone out.

“Talon,” he answered, thinking it was probably Val or Griff wanting something.

“Talon? This is Matt Sinclaire. From the fire department?”

He scowled. “Yes. What’s wrong?” Suddenly, a bad feeling swept through Talon. Why would Cat’s fire captain be calling him? His fingers tightened around the cell phone.

“Cat didn’t show up for her shift. It’s four o’clock now. I thought she might be running late. I tried calling her on her cell, but everything is going to message. Is she out there with you?”

His eyes narrowed. He tensed up. “No. I left her at six this morning. I haven’t seen her.” Something was wrong. Very wrong.

“Maybe she’s with my mother. Did you call over there?”

“I did. I’d talked to Gwen first over at the quilt shop and she said it was Cat’s turn to have lunch with Sandy. And when I called her, she said Cat had left for her condo at one o’clock.”

Son of a bitch!
Talon twisted in the saddle. He picked up the reins and kicked the gelding into a gallop up a tall hill that would lead him back to the Bar H. “Something’s wrong, Matt. Can you send someone over to her condo?”

Maybe Cat got sick? God, he hoped not. It wasn’t like her to suddenly disappear off everyone’s radar. He rode the horse hard, leaning forward as they flew across the hill, the wind making his eyes water.

“Yes, I’ll send over one of my men right now.”

“I’m calling Cade,” Talon growled. “Keep me in the loop?”

“I will.”

What the hell was going on? He punched in Cade’s phone number and he answered right away.

“Hey, this is Talon. Matt Sinclaire just called me and said Cat didn’t show up for work. What do you know about this?” His chest tightened.

“This morning at nine o’clock I called Cat because Beau Magee made bail. I got her voice mail, Talon. I’m assuming she got the message.”

His heart squeezed with terror. “You called?”

“Yes. Do you know if she received it or not?”

He heard the sudden concern in Cade’s voice. Talon remembered him telling Cat that if Magee made bail, she would be notified immediately. Oh, God, nine this morning? What had Cat been doing after he’d left? Hadn’t she checked her cell phone? Had Magee gotten to her? “Can you get over to her condo? See if she’s there? I’m out on the range. As soon as I can, I’m going to drive in to her condo.”

“Yes,” Cade answered hurriedly, “I’m on my way over there right now. By the way, I just tried her cell again and I got voice mail. She’s not answering.”

Talon came galloping into the barnyard, hauling back on his horse, bringing him to a skidding stop. Griff was in the barn working on the tractor. Leading his horse into it, Talon told him what was going on.

Griff scowled and slid out from beneath the tractor’s engine. He got to his feet. “Cat’s disappeared?”

“I don’t know,” Talon said. He quickly unsaddled his gelding and put him into a nearby box stall. “I’m going into town right now if that’s all right with you.”

“Sure,” Griff murmured, frowning. “Could Cat be sick? At her condo and sleeping or something?”

“I hope so,” Talon said. He pulled the chaps off and hung them in the tack room. “I’ll call you when I find out anything.”

* * *

T
ALON
SAW
A
deputy sheriff’s black Tahoe cruiser in front of Cat’s condo. Her door was open and he saw a firefighter standing there with Cade Garner, a worried look on his face. Scowling, he parked behind the cruiser, got out and trotted up the sidewalk. Cade saw him.

“Hey, Talon, she’s not here. We’ve searched the premises.” Cade shook his head. “Cat’s truck is gone. There was little sign of a struggle in her condo. I’ve got an APB out on Beau Magee.”

Halting, Talon’s heart plunged to his feet. The firefighter said goodbye and left. He saw another cruiser pulling up. “What else have you found?”

“Not much,” Cade grumbled. “Come on in, but don’t touch anything.”

His heart was thrashing in his chest as he climbed the stairs with Cade. Instantly, he saw some marks on the door and halted. Cade moved into the bedroom.

“Were these marks here before?”

“No, they weren’t there this morning,” Talon growled, suddenly anxious.

“Then Cat put up a struggle,” Cade speculated, pointing to the black marks on the lower part of the bedroom door. “When was the last time you saw Cat?”

Rubbing his jaw, Talon looked around the bedroom. Everything was as it had been before. His heart ached with fear. “Six this morning. And she was fine when I left her.” Happy. Kissing him. That soft look of love in her eyes. Talon rubbed his chest, feeling as if his heart were shredding, the pain nearly unbearable. “Would Magee kidnap her?” he demanded.

“I don’t know. He’s got a long list of criminal activity. But kidnapping isn’t one of them.”

“Magee’s done this....” The words ground out of Talon’s mouth.

Cade scowled. “Damn. I called her the moment I heard from the jail that Magee had made bail.”

Turning, Talon cursed softly, looking around the quiet bedroom once more. “I don’t know why she wasn’t answering her phone.”

“Sometime between nine o’clock, when Magee was released, and three, when Matt Sinclaire reported her not showing up for work, he made his way over here,” Cade said, shaking his head. “Maybe the Garcia drug cartel is involved? ”

Horror rifled through Talon. Two women, a forensics team, came to the door with their kits in hand. “Have you put out an APB on Cat’s truck?” Because he wanted to wrap his hands around the bastard’s neck and choke the information out of him.

“Yes, I’ve got my deputies watching for it. Magee left the jail on foot. It probably took him at least forty minutes to make it over here to Cat’s apartment.”

“Magee have an address? Did you send anyone over to see if he was home?”

“Already done it. His truck is in the driveway and the deputies searched his apartment. It appears that he didn’t go home. Nothing’s been disturbed. His landlady said she hadn’t seen him, either.”

Talon felt suddenly helpless. Cade was doing his job, no question. He looked around the quiet bedroom. Everything was as it had been this morning. The only difference was the bed was made. The bed where they had made love, talked for hours with one another and loved one another again.

“Have you canvassed this condo complex?” Talon demanded.

“We’re doing that right now,” Cade assured him. “Maybe somebody saw something.”

Talon felt his whole world shattering around him. Tears pricked the backs of his eyes and he angrily forced them away. His hands fisted and unfisted as he stood there. Magee was in on this. He could taste it. And he wanted to kill the bastard. What had they done to Cat? Where was she?

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

T
ALON
MOVED
SLOWLY
through the condo, looking for anything else out of place. There hadn’t been a struggle. Had Magee been waiting for Cat? The condo was two stories high and there were four in the squat, wooden building. Talon looked up at the condo above where Cat lived. He knew nothing about her neighbors. Anxiety twisted through him. He was a man of action, not waiting around like this. SEALs brought the fight to the enemy.

At the jail, Talon had quickly thumbed through Magee’s extensive records. He still had sealed records from his childhood, so God only knew what he’d done at that time. His eyes traveling over the offenses, he noticed that Magee had gotten into drugs at eighteen. He’d been in and out of jail nearly every year since then.

His employment for the past two years was with Ace Trucking in Jackson Hole. He’d been clean since coming here. Talon noted that he was charged with assault against Cat. But he had only spent thirty days in jail for that crime. Talon’s rage only mounted.

Cade joined him out on the sidewalk. “Deputy Shelby Kincaid just talked to an older woman, Molly Pritchard.” He pointed up above Cat’s condo to the second floor. “She saw Cat walking out of her condo with a man around one o’clock.”

His heart jumped. “Do you have a photo of Magee? Could she identify him?”

“Shelby’s with the woman right now and she’s got her iPad with her and has Magee’s photos on it. I’m sure she’ll show it to Mrs. Pritchard.” Cade looked at his watch. “Let’s go up and talk with her.”

Relief sizzled through Talon as they walked around the side of the wooden building and quickly mounted the stairs.

Molly Pritchard was in her sixties, gray hair, wearing large glasses on her small face. She invited Cade into her condo. Talon was introduced. He saw Shelby Kincaid in uniform, sitting at the kitchen table with a report she was writing out. Talon had seen her once, struck by the fact she was very tall, wore her blond hair in a ponytail and was beautiful. She looked up and nodded to them.

“Molly, why don’t you sit down here with me?” Shelby invited. “Tell Cade and Talon what you saw.”

Molly nodded and smoothed her apron across her dark green slacks. “Of course.”

Talon sat, tense, his hands folded on the table.

Molly pushed her glasses up on her nose. “I was just telling Shelby here that I heard voices down below. Cat’s a very quiet person, so naturally, that got my attention. I went to the front window.” She pointed toward the opened drapes on the window that overlooked the sidewalk below. “At first, I thought Cat was in pain, but the yelling was between her and that man.”

“Could you pick up any of the conversation, Mrs. Pritchard?” Cade asked.

Giving him a sad look, she shook her head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t. It was all muffled.”

“You’re positive it was Cat’s voice?” Talon asked tightly.

“Yes. Muffled or not, I know Cat’s voice.”

“What did you do?” Cade asked gently.

“Well...nothing.” Molly appeared flustered. “I guess now, I should have called her on her cell. Asked if everything was all right.” She gave the two men an apologetic look. “I’m really sorry....”

Cade reached out and patted her hand. “You couldn’t know. It’s all right.”

“What happened next?” Talon asked, trying to keep the tightness out of his voice. He could tell Molly was deeply shaken by the unfolding events.

“Well, I heard more yelling and went to the window over there to look out it. I saw Cat walk out with a man.” She frowned and pointed down at Shelby’s iPad in the center of the table. “That’s the man who was with her.”

“Magee,” Shelby said.

“Were they still yelling at one another?” Cade asked.

“No. He had his hand on her arm and they were walking out of her condo as if nothing was wrong.”

“Where did they go?” Talon demanded.

“Down the sidewalk to the garage where we all park our cars.”

Shelby looked up from the report she was writing. “Molly said Cat was driving her truck and they took off down the street.” She pointed north.

“What was Cat wearing?” Talon asked her.

“She was in a pair of jeans, a red sweater and had her backpack over her right shoulder.”

“Did you get a look at Cat’s face?” Cade asked.

“Yes.”

“Did she look injured?”

“No. But she didn’t look happy. I just thought it was because she’d had a fight with that fellow in her condo. I didn’t think much of it.”

Wiping his mouth, Talon looked over at Cade. Some relief moved through him. Magee had taken her. And if she wasn’t injured, it was a good sign. He desperately wanted to speak to Cade but didn’t want to do that in front of Molly, who seemed very rattled and was wringing her hands.

Shelby smiled a little at Molly and slid the report over to her. “Molly, if you could just read this over? It’s what you’ve told me. As you read it, if anything else comes to mind, tell me?”

“Of course, dear.” She pulled the report over to her.

Cade glanced at Shelby. “We’re going back to the department. If you get anything else, will you call me on the radio?”

“You bet,” Shelby murmured.

Talon held his tongue until they were out of Molly Pritchard’s condo. “So, Magee has kidnapped her.”

“I think so,” Cade agreed, walking around the building and heading for his cruiser.

“What now?”

“I’m heading over to Ace Trucking. I’m going to talk to the manager, a guy named Keith Jenkins. We know he works for the Garcia cartel, although his hands are clean.” Cade opened the cruiser and gave Talon a dark look. “You need to wait to hear from us, Talon.”

“I want to go with you to talk with Jenkins.”

“You can’t. You’re not law enforcement and I can’t risk it.”

Anger spilled through Talon. “I feel damned helpless, Cade. I want to do something to find Cat.”

He placed his hand on Talon’s shoulder. “I know you do. But you’re a civilian.”

Talon wanted to go over to Ace Trucking and move into SEAL stealth mode. He was good at watching and waiting. “Magee hurt Cat before. Don’t you think he’s going to again?”

Cade grimaced. “It’s possible. But remember, he just got bail. My gut tells me the Garcia cartel anted up the bail money. Why would Magee screw them like that by kidnapping Cat? They aren’t going to be happy about this, either.”

“Magee has been stalking her,” Talon ground out. “That’s plenty of reason for him to do this.” And what would he do to Cat? A cold, icy feeling drowned him and Talon knew he couldn’t just quietly stand by and do nothing as Cade moved this investigation forward.

“I know.” Cade gave him a concerned look. “I’ll keep you in the loop, Talon, but you can’t go with me.”

“Has my mother been told what’s going on?” He even worried that she might be in Magee’s gun sights. He knew Cat was over there a number of times each week.

Cade shook his head. “No. Why don’t you go over and see if she might know anything.” He touched the cell on his belt. “If I hear
anything,
Talon, you’ll be the first to know.”

“Okay,” Talon said, resigned.

* * *

“T
URN
IN
HERE
,”
Beau told Cat, pointing to a cabin hidden by tall Douglas firs on all sides.

The dirt road, if it could even be called that, was nearly invisible. Cat drove up the steep, winding road, the shadows of the trees darkening the area. Her pulse leaped as she saw a two-story cabin up ahead. “You own this?”

Beau smiled a little. “No. It belonged to Curt Downing. Probably still does, but he’s dead.”

Cat frowned. Curt Downing had been murdered on a trail riding his horse nearly a year ago. Shelby Kincaid had been kidnapped by an escaped convict and Curt had been riding on the same trail. The criminal had shot Curt off his horse. The man was a powerful kingpin around the valley and had owned Ace Trucking. Shortly after his death, it was bought up by someone else and that was who Magee worked for.

“And you have permission to be here?” she demanded, giving him a measured look. She saw the slight smile that always hovered on Beau’s thin lips. She’d learned too late that smile was false, to put her at ease, that it was all a lie. Magee was a stalker. He was a predator. And now, she was his prey.

Beau shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. No one’s been in here to this cabin since Downing died. I just happen to know where the key is at and we can make ourselves at home in it. No one will find us.”

Terror filtered through Cat. So far, Beau had been his usual self, thoughtful, smiling and his voice soft. The hard glitter in his dark brown eyes warned her differently, however. She could feel the locked tension in Magee. She put nothing past him. Unsettled, she said, “You won’t get away with this, Beau. Why blow your chances? You got bail. Once the bail bondsman knows what you’ve done, you’re in so much more trouble.”

He reached out, settling his hand on her shoulder, his fingers moving slowly across her sweater. “You’re worth it, Cat.”

A chill filled her. She pulled her shoulder away and snarled, “Don’t touch me!”

Magee grinned and removed his hand. “I see I’m going to have to sweet-talk you all over again. You liked me before, Cat. I’m going to get you to like me again.”

Sandy had warned her about Magee. And she shivered inwardly, wishing Talon was here. They
had
to be looking for her. When she didn’t show up for her shift at the fire department, she knew Matt Sinclaire would have called Talon, asking if he knew where she was.

Her throat grew dry as they crawled up the unused road. They’d find her truck gone. They’d put it together. Glancing around through the thick forest, she figured they were at eight thousand feet above Jackson Lake. What should she do? If she fought Magee, he’d explode into a rage, just as he’d done before. She couldn’t stand the thought of his slimy hands on her, either. He always carried that damn knife on him. Dread filled Cat. There were many ways to die. She remembered thinking she was going to die when her raging father came after her with a belt and she’d tried to run away from him. She could never outrun him.

Cutting him a glance, she saw Beau with that sickening smile curving his mouth. He’d always tried to get her in bed and she’d always refused. His kisses, what few there had been, were sloppy and wet. Nothing like when Talon kissed her. Her heart squeezed with fear she’d never see him again. Never feel his hands caressing her, loving her. Never see that burning warmth he held for her in his gray eyes, or hear it in his voice. She wanted to cry. Swallowing several times, Cat looked at her options.

If she leaped out of the truck and ran, Magee would come after her. And more than likely, he’d catch her. She had no weapon with which to defend herself. If she played weak and let him take her into that cabin up ahead, she’d encounter a different set of horrors. She knew what he was capable of.

Biting down on her lower lip, Cat’s mind raced with possibilities. The urge to run was powerful. She was strong and she was in good shape. But Beau was a man and he had a lot more muscle. He was in good shape, she knew, because he hiked in the Tetons every chance he got. He also worked out regularly at a local gym. He would do everything in his power to catch her. And then what? If, on the other hand, she played meek and seemed to go along with his mind games, she could wait for an opening to escape. If she appeared subdued, he might lower his guard. And then, after knowing the layout of the cabin, Cat would have a better idea of how to defend herself. A kitchen always had knives in its drawer. A pair of scissors. She cringed, the thought of using a weapon against Beau sickening. She was a paramedic. She saved lives, she didn’t take them.

Yet, as she guided the truck up a long curve, Cat knew her life was on the line. Kill or be killed. It would be her choice. She never wanted Magee to touch her again. Not ever. She’d have to fight for herself.