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“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.
