Stella’s head jerked in his direction. “Chuck, no. Leave them. We need to get out of town.”
“They’ll come after us,” he argued. “If they saw us leave, they might have already called in reinforcements.”
“You can’t know that they did.”
“And you can’t know they didn’t,” he snapped.
She blinked and stared at him for a moment before turning her head to face forward. “I’m telling you not to do this.”
“Newsflash, Stella. Right now, I’m running things. You had your chance to make the right decisions, and you couldn’t do it. So, now I am.”
“And that means leaving a trail of dead bodies behind us? They’ll come for us for sure.”
Chuck slammed on the brakes as he neared the stop sign. She pitched forward violently, the seatbelt keeping her in place. He glared at her. “Dead bodies? You’re worried about a couple of policemen when we’ve left hundreds of dead women all across the country? Where the fuck is your head, Stella?”
Her eyes narrowed on him. “Where it’s always been. I’m the one who has kept us out of trouble all these years. Do you honestly think we’d be sitting as nicely as we have been if I let you kill everyone you wanted? Well, newsflash, Chuck, but that simply isn’t the case. Killing isn’t always the answer.”
“No. Selling newborns cut from their mother’s wombs to the highest bidder is,” he retorted.
Stella’s mouth fell open.
Chuck didn’t wait for the argument to continue. He turned the vehicle toward the two officers watching the house. They were hidden pretty well, seated in an unmarked car, but Chuck had picked them out easily enough. He was going to use the fading light to his advantage. Dusk always made things more difficult to see.
He parked the truck and took the keys. Then he looked at Stella. “You’ve got two choices. You can get out and fend for yourself, or you can stay here. Either way, I don’t want to hear another word about what I’m about to do.”
Chuck got out and stalked to the police car with his gun by his side. He came up on the driver first since the window was down as he smoked. Chuck fired two shots, killing both men instantly. He then walked back to the truck.
He wasn’t at all surprised to find Stella still inside. She might have a head for business, but when it came to survival, she was clueless.
Neither said a word as he started up the stolen truck and turned around. When he came to the main road, he stopped and looked toward town. There hadn’t been any sound of an explosion from his bomb, but there was still a chance that Cooper’s friends hadn’t found him yet. Chuck really hated to miss all the fun, but he had someone else he needed to find. He turned onto the road and pressed the accelerator.
“We need to get to Houston for the meeting. We don’t have enough time to take the long way around,” Stella told him.
He noted her calm voice. She was trying, at least. “I’m not going the long way around. I’ve got something else to take care of real quick, then we’ll head to Houston. Trust me, you’ll get there in plenty of time to buy new clothes and change.”
“I hope so. The only time I’ve had this much mud on me is at the spa.”
It was her attempt at humor, but Chuck wasn’t in the mood. It was time Stella truly understood who he was and why she should’ve listened to him years ago. But she was about to find out.
* * *
It didn’t matter how fast they moved, Cooper couldn’t stop the dread that filled him. The dogs had lost Marlee’s scent after only thirty minutes. It took them another five to find it again. Each second felt like an eternity, testing his patience and control.
Then, finally, they were off again. Ryan had given him a pistol. Cash pulled out two and tossed one to Caleb. The four of them, the handlers, and dogs kept moving, each prepared for what they might find.
Cooper wasn’t going to stop looking. He didn’t care how long it took. He’d find Marlee one way or another.
“I don’t need to tell any of you what we might find,” Ryan said as they ran.
Caleb shot him a dark look. “We know very well.”
“And we’re prepared to take the son of a bitch out,” Cash said.
A muscle in Ryan’s jaw flexed. “You might be a PI, Cash, but my men and I are leading this.”
“We understand,” Cooper said quickly before Cash could retort. He then exchanged a look with Cash, letting both him and Caleb know that if they found the bastard and any of them had a shot, they should take it.
Cooper didn’t care what happened to him after it was over. He was going to find Marlee. But, more importantly, he was going to find the bastard responsible for all of this.
* * *
Marlee did her best to move quickly while there was still light, but it was like someone had drawn the shade over a window because, in a blink, the sky was dark. She wasn’t afraid of the night, but walking the streets of a city at night was vastly different than being in the middle of the woods, especially ones you didn’t know.
It would be easy to give in to all her childish fears that threatened to rise up within her, but she couldn’t do that. She needed to be aware of her surroundings and notice any sounds that might be a predator. Cougars had been seen in the area. While she didn’t begrudge any wildlife their survival, she really hoped no cougars were nearby with designs on her for a meal.
She smiled, thinking Cooper would’ve laughed at that. Then tears filled her eyes as she realized that she may never see him again. The man who had given her the instructions hadn’t told her much. She’d assumed that she would eventually come upon him and Cooper, and that was just one of the many ways she had made poor choices.
But what else could she have done? Cooper’s life was on the line.
Marlee stopped and looked up at the dark limbs above, silhouetted against the dark gray sky. “Where are you?” she bellowed. “I’m here!”
She closed her eyes, hoping there would be some kind of answer. But there was nothing.
Her options were few. She could turn around and, hopefully—eventually—find her way back to the road where she might be able to flag someone down to help her. That didn’t do Cooper any good, however. The man holding Cooper had told her to hurry. She had, but the fall had undoubtedly messed things up. And since she had no idea how long she had been unconscious, she wasn’t sure if her deadline had passed.
Marlee narrowed her eyes. “A deadline he didn’t give me.”
Why had she just realized that?
“Because I was too busy being worried about getting to Cooper. I didn’t think of the details.” Marlee could’ve kicked herself.
She knew better. She’d been trained in such tactics. But no one she had loved had ever been in such a situation. The man could’ve intentionally left off a time to lure her into the woods. But … why?
Marlee looked around. There were trees everywhere. For all she knew, someone was lurking behind each and every one. It was the perfect place to bring someone if you wanted to kill them. There was a good chance the man didn’t even have Cooper. She’d taken his word for it because he was that kind of man. He could’ve used that to his advantage.