“Perfectly,” she answered.
“Then I suggest you get moving because you have less than twenty minutes to reach the destination.”
The phone went dead. Marlee’s heart beat so fast, she thought it might burst from her chest. She wanted so badly to tell the others, but she didn’t want to chance it. If the man knew her location, he could have bugged her phone, which meant he would know if she told anyone. Besides, there wasn’t time for her to speak to those at the ranch since he hadn’t given her much time to drive thirty miles.
She snuck around the kitchen and waited until everyone was occupied before she grabbed the keys to Abby’s Suburban and slipped out the door without even grabbing her coat. The rain soaked her as she ran to the garage. She moved quickly, shoving her wet hair out of her eyes as she looked around for anyone who might try and stop her.
It wasn’t until she pulled away from the driveway and got onto the road that she breathed a sigh of relief. The others at the ranch would discover her gone soon enough. Until then, she was going to concentrate on the instructions she’d been given.
* * *
Stella paced the house as the hours slowly ticked by. Chuck had left sometime in the night without a word. It was unusual, but she couldn’t help but be worried. No sirens could be heard coming her way, so she had to assume she was safe.
For the moment.
The meeting the night before hadn’t happened because the couple’s plane got delayed due to weather. She should’ve been long gone from this area. Instead, she was back at the house, waiting for the meeting to happen tonight. And she wasn’t happy. Remaining in Clearview felt as if she were giving the authorities time to catch her.
“Dammit, Chuck. Where are you?” she asked aloud.
* * *
Cooper woke on his side to find himself in a darkened building. His right shoulder throbbed relentlessly as blood dripped down his arm. He pushed himself up into a seated position, gritting his teeth at the pain. He needed to stop the bleeding. By the puddle of blood pooled on the floor, he had lost a significant amount.
He reached for the knife he always carried in his pocket, but it was gone. So was the one in his boot. A quick check confirmed that his phone was also missing. Cooper removed his jacket as well as the button-down beneath to reveal a white thermal shirt. Sweat beaded on his skin and dripped into his eyes as the pain consumed him.
With no other choice, he tried to use his one good hand and his teeth to rip his shirt. It took several attempts before he got the fabric to do as he wanted. The moment he had the tiniest of tears in the material, he tore off the bottom part all the way around. He worked fast to then wrap it around the wound and tie it tightly. He rested for only a moment before he put his shirt and jacket back on. Then he climbed to his feet.
By the looks of things, he was in an old structure. Probably one of the many buildings downtown that the city council was trying to bring in money to revitalize. He walked until he found a door, only to discover that it was chained from the outside. The three other doors he found were also locked.
The bastard who had shot him had wanted Marlee. There was no way for Cooper to tell any of his friends that he was alive and fine. Which was exactly what the man wanted.
“Be smart, Marlee,” he whispered like a prayer.
His thoughts turned to Jace. He had no idea if his friend was alive or not, and that was like a knife to the chest. With Jace and Marlee in danger, Cooper needed to do something. He couldn’t sit back and allow anything to happen to them. They were too important to him.
He grabbed the door he stood before and yanked on it again and again, hoping the chains would give way. “Come on, guys! Find me! You can find me!”
Cooper pressed his heated forehead against the cold metal of the door. “Y’all have to find me,” he whispered.
Chapter 39
Clayton slowly lowered his phone to the island after the call with Danny and looked around at the faces staring at him intently. He couldn’t believe this was happening. Not again. Not after what they had gone through with Danny. But no matter how much he wanted to deny it, Clayton couldn’t. The truth was there before them.
A knock sounded on the back door, right before Ryan opened it and stepped inside. His face was as hard as granite when his brown eyes met Clayton’s.
“Someone say something,” Caleb stated, looking between the two.
Abby walked to Clayton and put her hand on his back. “Honey? What is it?”
“Where’s Marlee?” Ryan asked with a frown.
Clayton’s gaze scanned the area, looking for Marlee’s auburn curls. “She was just here.”
“We need to find her. Now.”
Brice held up his hands and faced Ryan. “Why? What is it you and Clayton know but won’t tell us?”
“Everyone fan out and look for Marlee,” Abby ordered in her best mom-voice.
Clayton saw both Brice and Caleb hesitate before they turned and began calling for Marlee. Clayton’s gut churned. They had been lucky so many times before. Had their luck run out? Was this the time their ever-growing family couldn’t pull out a miracle at the last minute?
“She’s gone,” Caleb said as he came from outside. “Marlee must have taken the Suburban.”
It didn’t take long for everyone to reconvene back in the kitchen. Their family and friends had stood in this very spot so many times. They had shared good news, bad news, sad news. They’d celebrated, mourned, and rejoiced. There had been more happy times than bad, at least. That was life. Clayton understood that. But this … this was too much.
Brice slammed his hand down on the island. “Dammit, Clayton. You or Ryan better start talking.”
Clayton glanced at his wife to find Abby’s blue eyes full of tears, because she knew him better than anyone. And she felt his pain. He nodded and cleared his throat. “That was Danny. He was at the motel because Jace called him. From what Danny has been able to piece together—”
“Piece together?” Caleb asked, his brow furrowed. “What the hell does that mean?”
Ryan put a hand on Caleb’s shoulder and calmly said, “Let Clayton finish.”
Clayton gave Ryan a nod of appreciation. “Jace went out to load up some boxes from Marlee’s room when he saw someone’s reflection in the truck window. He woke later on the ground. He’d been struck from behind.”
“Oh, God,” Abby whispered and reached for Clayton’s hand.
He held on to her tightly and met his brother-in-law’s gaze. “Jace managed to make it back inside the room, but Cooper wasn’t there. He used the motel phone to call Danny. Danny told me the hit Jace took was meant to kill.”
“Fuck me,” Brice murmured.
Caleb put his hands on the island and dropped his chin to his chest as he squeezed his eyes closed. “Is Jace all right?”
“Marina and Karl are with him now, stitching the wound,” Ryan told them. “They’re trying to get him to a hospital, but he won’t go. He’s alive, but the hit was brutal. Jace’s memory of everything is piecemeal.”
Caleb lifted his head and said, “Which means, no one knows who hit Jace.”
“And Cooper?” Abby asked.