“Tell him to do whatever is necessary to save my grandfather’s life,” Duke instructed. At this point, he didn’t care what that entailed.
“I’m afraid insurance only approves certain procedures,” she explained.
“I’ll pay for whatever he needs to have done,” Duke insisted. “Put me down as financially responsible.”
He didn’t care if it took the rest of his life to pay the hospital bills if it meant getting his grandparents back. The rest could be figured out later.
“I’ll pass along the fact we have verbal commitment, but everything has to be done in writing, Mr. Remington,” she informed.
“Okay, fine,” he said. “Send the forms to me electronically. I’ll sign whatever you need.”
“It should be so easy,” Cybil sympathized. “I’m afraid we’re not there yet. We need your signature witnessed by a hospital employee.”
Duke issued a sharp sigh. “I’m on my way as soon as I can get there,” he promised. He needed to get to Audrey.
More than that, he found that he wanted to talk to her about what was going on. Talking to Audrey brought a surprising amount of calm over him. Not being with her had the opposite effect, and his stress level hit the roof during this call.
Quickly ending the call, Duke grabbed hold of his keys and made a beeline for the back door.
Duke bent down and pulled his SIG out of his ankle holster. His backup weapon came in handy more times than not and he’d strapped it on after not having it last night. The SIG was small in his hand, easy to maneuver. He searched the home, cleared every room in a matter of minutes. Her service weapon hung inside her closet.
Audrey’s purse strap hung around the back of a dining room chair. Her laptop was charging. Her cell was sitting on the kitchen counter.
He moved to the patio door. Noted that her shoes were next to the door. If she’d gone outside barefoot, she wouldn’t have gone far.
Moving outside, he noted the dirty tongs he’d used to flip the steaks were still sitting beside the grill. Had Audrey stepped outside to grab the tongs while she was cleaning dishes?
Damn that he’d nodded off and couldn’t remember much past dinner. Exhaustion had taken hold, and he’d closed his eyes seconds after sitting down on the couch with a full stomach.
Anger ripped through him, heating his blood to boiling. Someone must have been watching, waiting.
But where did they take her?
Duke tapped the flashlight app on his cell phone and used it to check the ground around the grill. Sure enough, there were boot prints similar to the ones from yesterday leading away from the grill.
From the looks of the dusty dry soil, there’d been a scuffle. Good for Audrey for fighting back.
The boot prints were set deeper in the ground as they left a trail leading away from the house and toward the wooded area where they’d first been discovered the other morning. One set of deeper prints most likely meant the bastard carried Audrey. She wouldn’t go down without a fight, so that led Duke to believe she’d been knocked out.
Duke searched for signs of blood as he followed the tracks, covering his light so he wouldn’t advertise to the abductor that Duke was onto him. Deeper in the woods, scrub brush covered the boot prints.
At this point, it was anyone’s guess which way the bastard had taken her. Duke released a string of swear words underneath his breath. The perp wouldn’t have shot her near the house because he must have realized Duke was there. Had he seen Duke asleep through one of the windows?
A picture was emerging with Jenson, as well. They’d had the kid wrong. He’d been slipped the cash to cover the perp’s tracks once Duke arrived in town. The hunch made perfect sense. Had the perp known Duke was going to keep an eye out for Audrey?
More of that anger welled up. He couldn’t lose her again. Where the hell was she?
AUDREY’S BEST MOVE at the moment was to play dead. Trey—she’d repeated his name several times so she wouldn’t forget—had carried her far enough away from her cabin, he must be confident he could get away with murder because he dropped her off his shoulder.
Her body thudded on the hard dry earth. Her hip slammed into a rock, but she didn’t dare make a sound as she crumpled onto the ground in near fetal position. This way, she could reach into her xHolster. She might have taken her shoes off once she was home, but she’d trapped on her holster.
Risking a peek, she saw Trey reach for something... A weapon? It was too dark to make out his face clearly. She didn’t recognize his voice when he’d half whispered, half grunted at her a few minutes ago.
How far from her house had he taken her?
One thing was clear as the full moon: Trey didn’t intend to let her leave this area alive. Audrey figured he was taking her far enough from everything and everyone in the area so he could kill her and leave the body.
What did he plan to do then? Go after his next target?
Squinting, she made note of all that she could see. Her eyes had thankfully adjusted to the darkness enough to make out some images. Trees were thick here. The ground was littered with rocks—one had slammed into her hip hard enough to leave a bruise. That was going to hurt for a long time to come.
Moving slowly so as not to draw attention, she reached for the backup weapon in her ankle holster. Came up short. Could she stretch her fingers enough to release the weapon from the holster and palm the gun?
A glance at Trey caused her blood to run cold. He’d palmed his weapon and aimed it directly at her.
With no time to lose, Audrey made a play for her weapon. The metal felt cool against her warm palm. She came up with it, lifted the barrel to aim directly at Trey’s chest and fired. The second she pulled the trigger, she rolled in order to get out of the way of the bullet zooming toward her.
Did she make it in time?
THE CRACK OF a bullet split the air. Not one, Duke corrected himself, but two. He adjusted his position and bolted toward the sound. He killed his phone’s flashlight so he could move in the darkness.
Thankfully, he knew this area like the back of his hand. Now that he had a direction, he knew exactly how to get there. The question was whether or not he’d be too late. Two gunshots fired close together weren’t a good sign. He had no idea if Audrey had a weapon on her.
Duke pushed his legs until his thighs burned, then slowed down, not wanting to announce his arrival by making too much noise.
Sounds of a struggle caught his attention.
And then he heard a bloodcurdling scream. Audrey.
