I stilled. She had asked me to come to Anchor to get her. No. She couldn’t be involved in this. My stomach pitched. What if someone had hurt her? Stolen her computer. My brain flew through the possibilities, each one worse than the one before.
I dug my nails into the backs of my clasped hands. I had to stop. None of the what-ifs would help me now. The who and the how didn’t matter if I couldn’t get out of here. I was quiet for a moment, listening for any hint of sound. There was nothing, only the sound of the wind against loose shutters.
I slowly stood, trying my best to keep my balance with my feet bound together. Once I’d gotten there, I held out my arms in front of me, praying that everything I’d learned in that self-defense class would work just as the instructor had promised. I studied the pawl head on the zip ties. It looked tiny and insignificant, but I knew it was much stronger than it appeared.
I closed my eyes and steeled myself. The movement needed to be strong and quick enough that I succeeded on the first try. I took a deep breath and brought my arms down with as much force as I could muster.
It was enough to send me collapsing to my knees in a coughing fit. But my hands were free. I braced myself against the floor, willing my heaving under control. I swallowed back the second round of coughs that wanted to surface. Quiet and surprise were the only tools currently in my arsenal.
I carefully pushed to my feet and hopped over to the cabin’s small kitchenette. I pulled open drawer after drawer. All I needed was a knife or some scissors or—I stopped. I saw a single set of cutlery. The knife wasn’t sharp, but it did have a slightly serrated edge.
I grabbed it and the fork and hobbled back to the musty bed. Sitting down, I hoisted up my feet and got to work. I sawed and sawed until sweat dotted my brow and I was sure I’d throw up. I’d only made it halfway through the width of the plastic tie.
I lay back on the bed, trying to catch my breath. “Come on, Shay. You can do this. Don’t let this asshole win.” As I started to sit up, my gaze caught on the wooden frame of the bed. The post at the end looked surprisingly sturdy.
I hooked my legs around the post and tested its strength. It didn’t appear to be going anywhere. I tried a couple of different positions with gentle tugs, trying to see what my best angle would be. Down and back seemed like my best bet. I closed my eyes, steeling myself yet again, and pulled with all my strength.
I muffled my cry of pain with my hands. It felt as if I’d almost amputated my feet, and I still wasn’t free. Leaning forward to check the cord, I saw that my pain hadn’t been completely in vain. I was almost there.
I lay back on the bed again as waves of nausea swept over me. “One more. You can do this.” I moved before I could give my brain a second to back out. One sharp tug, and my legs broke free.
A few stray tears leaked from the corners of my eyes. I quickly wiped them away. If I let my emotions loose right now, I’d never get myself under control. I swung my legs around so I was sitting up on the bed. Just a minute to breathe, to steady myself. Then I would run.
I listened carefully again. Still nothing but the wind. I stood and slowly made my way to the door, my fork in hand. It wasn’t a knife, but it could still take someone’s eye out.
When I was mere steps from the door, it swung open, banging against the wall. A figure filled the frame, the sun shining from behind. But I couldn’t make out an identity, only that it was male. “You know, you’ve been a real bitch to get ahold of.”
The man took two strides forward, and his face came into focus. My stomach twisted. “Sam?” The single word came out on a croak. “W-what are you doing here?”
“What do you think? It’s time to have a little fun, don’t you think?”
My head swam as the nausea intensified. The darkness in Sam was no longer carefully disguised. Instead, it poured off him in waves. My hand tightened around the fork, the metal biting into my skin. There was only one way he’d let me go, and that was if it were in his best interest. “This isn’t smart, Sam. Think. You’re the first person they’ll come looking for when Brody can’t find me. Let me go now, and you’ll have a head start—”
His dark chuckle cut me off. “Do you really think that it’s just me? That I didn’t have help?”
Another figure stepped into the doorway and held up a phone. “It’s so fun to watch you struggle. To think you were making progress when, really, I hold your life in my hands. I’d forgotten how much I liked to watch you hurt yourself trying to get free. It’s just like the trunk, only better. Don’t you think?”
The air shuddered in my lungs, disappearing as if I hadn’t breathed at all. How? This couldn’t be real. “M-M-Michael?”
He stepped into the cabin, a gun pointed at my head. “Hello, big sister. Did you miss me?”
48
Brody
When the deputy said blood, everything in me shut down. Nothing existed except the raging fear coursing through me. Shay was hurt. Or worse. Those ugly, twisted imaginings instantly filled my mind.
I did everything I could to lock it all down. To turn off all feelings and simply go numb. Parker had wanted me to stay on Harbor, but that wasn’t happening. I’d jumped in Griffin’s boat with him and we made our way to where deputies had found the Whaler.
The boat was parked at a small public dock near one of the lesser-known beaches. We weren’t allowed to pull up to the dock itself, so Griffin slid the vessel as far up to the sandy shore as possible. Without a word, we both took off our shoes and rolled up our jeans, making a jump as close to shore as possible.
As soon as I landed, I made my way towards the gathering of sheriff’s department officers. Parker held up a hand when I reached the dock. “This is a crime scene. I can’t let you out there.”
“I need to know what you found.” My voice sounded remarkably calm, the numbness seeping into my tone. But in reality, a fire raged below the muscle and sinew, an inferno that would burn me alive if Shay wasn’t okay.
Parker’s jaw worked. “There were only a few drops and smears of blood on the boat. Not enough to suggest serious injury.”
All the air in my lungs left on a single whoosh. She was okay. “What does that mean? If this monster’s idea was to kill her, he would’ve done it already, right?”
“I’m honestly not sure. But this is a good sign. He’s keeping her alive for a reason. And whatever the reason is, it’s giving us time.”
But how much time did we have? I turned, scanning the beach and the surrounding areas. There were a couple of places he may be holding her, but not many.
Parker leveled me with a stare. “I have officers searching the area. I need you to go with Griffin. Get some food and wait for my call. We’ll find her.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but Griffin’s hand landed on my shoulder and squeezed hard. “I’ve got him, Parker.”
“Thank you. We’ll update you as soon as we know anything.”
Griffin steered me towards a road that led away from the beach. I shrugged out of his hold. “What the hell? I need to know what’s going on.”
Griffin stepped into the path. “Look around. Whoever did this isn’t keeping her here. He probably loaded her into a car in the parking lot and drove somewhere else.”