Breath of Malice (18 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

In the short time she’d been in Kirk County, Paige had never been to Mountain Road. Gun drawn and held out in front of her with both hands, Paige took the path Thames had told her to. She stepped onto a rocky trail. Wild bushes and flowers grew on one side.

Paige stayed on the trail, following it as it led her deeper into the mountain. Scraggly bushes gave way to a patch of dense trees. Sunlight filtered through the thick leaves, casting deep shadows on the ground. Paige stepped carefully, aware of the uneven earth, wary of tripping over one of the many rocks or exposed roots.

A squirrel scurried into her path. Startled, she came to an abrupt stop. The squirrel moved on. Paige sucked in a deep breath, forced herself to release it slowly, then moved on as well.

She could hear Sam speaking to the other agents and law enforcement officers through the earpiece she wore.

Sam addressed her, his voice tense. “Paige, all we’re picking up near you are small animals. We haven’t picked up anything big enough to be human. Can you hear me?”

Paige was wearing a heat-seeking device that would detect another warm body. “Yes, I hear you. I’m still alone, Sam.”

She exited the trees and came to a clearing. She looked around. Nothing. No Thames. No Jonah. Still, she maintained her grip on her weapon. The memory of Thames coming up behind her when she’d relaxed her guard flashed in her mind, and a flood of sweat flowed down her spine.

She did a slow sweep of the area with her gun. Was this the spot Thames had claimed would be her obvious stopping point? How could it be if Jonah wasn’t here? Did she need to walk farther? She’d gone deep but maybe not far enough. Or was the whole thing a bust and Thames never had any intention of releasing the boy?

She fought back that panic. It would paralyze her. She’d walk some more. She’d find Jonah.

Then she saw a small camera on a large flat rock. The screen was playing a live feed, according to the clock in one corner recording the hour and each minute that passed. The feed was of Jonah lying on a stained mattress. Jonah’s eyes were closed. He was hooked up to an IV. Paige could make out the steady drip that fed into his arm and the rise and fall of his small chest.

Jonah was alive. Relief swamped her, but it was short lived. Jonah wasn’t here in the clearing with her. Paige had expected to trade herself for Sam’s son. Where was Jonah? Chills raced up her spine.

She moved to the screen and studied Jonah’s surroundings. The window behind Jonah was covered with what looked like black plastic. No way to see outside and spot a street name or something they could use to identify the location. Text began to scroll across the bottom of the screen beneath Jonah’s image.

Agent Carson, by now you’ve obviously deduced that Jonah isn’t in that clearing. I knew you would not come alone. I know that Agent McKade and others accompanied you. I know that you are wearing a communication device, and that’s why I’m not speaking to you. The boy is alive for the moment. If you want him to remain that way, you will now do exactly as I instruct you.

Remove your gun. Throw it on the ground. Likewise with your cellular phone and your watch with the GPS tracker. Leave them on the ground. Remove your heat seeker. Throw it on the ground, then step on it. Take your handcuffs and shackle one wrist. Wrap both arms around the trunk of the tree directly behind where you are standing, then shackle your other wrist. Once you have done that, the screen will display the address where young Jonah may be found. Hurry, Agent Carson. The IV drip is killing the boy. If Jonah doesn’t receive medical treatment in the next thirty minutes, he will die.

Thames was watching her. Paige couldn’t see where he’d placed the second camera, but she complied with his requests.

Very good. Now here is the address. Read it to McKade. Once you have, drop your earpiece to the ground. If you don’t, and if you try to give McKade any other information, I will give the boy a lethal dose and kill him now.

Sam’s worried voice came through the earpiece. “Paige, we lost your heat seeker. It’s no longer transmitting. Are you all right? What’s going on there?”

An address appeared at the bottom of the screen.

“I’m in a clearing. I’m alone. Jonah isn’t here.” Fear for Jonah made Paige’s words spill out. “Thames left a message. Jonah is at 115 Baltic Lane. He is hooked up to an IV drip. I don’t know what’s in the drip, but if Jonah doesn’t get medical treatment in thirty minutes, he’ll die. Hurry, Sam.”

Paige wanted to tell Sam that she was cuffed to a tree, but she didn’t know whether Thames was close enough to Jonah to make good on his threat or if he had rigged something that would give the boy a lethal dose of whatever was being pumped into him. Paige wondered if Thames had really killed Mary Emerson. Maybe Thames had kept Emerson alive, and she was with Jonah awaiting instructions from Thames to kill the boy. Paige could not take the chance.

“Go,” Paige said to Sam, then added the lie, “I’ll make my way out of here and meet you at the hospital.” She knew she would not be going to meet Sam.

Paige heard Sam shout Jonah’s location and send a full response team to that address. Blinking back tears for Jonah and for Sam, Paige used her shoulder to tug her earpiece loose. It fell to the ground, ending her communication with Sam and their squad.

Thames walked into the clearing.

Paige’s breathing accelerated. Seeing him threatened to bring her to her knees in fear.

He took deliberate steps to her. Paige braced. She would not make it easy for him to take her, to kill her, but maybe anticipating her reaction, Thames kept his distance. He smiled then, keeping his gaze on hers, crushed her earpiece beneath his boot heel.

Thames watched her without blinking. In the bright sunlight, his pale eyes appeared almost colorless.

“Now it will be just the two of us,” he said. “Isn’t this cozy?”

Perspiration slicked Paige’s skin. “What is in the IV? Sam needs that information to save Jonah.”

Thames was carrying a duffel bag. He turned off Paige’s phone and tracker, then placed them and her gun in the bag. He added the camera focused on Jonah and a second camera that Paige now saw had been placed a short distance from the first.

Thames zipped up the bag. “There is a drug label on the IV bag. If McKade gets his son medical aid quickly, the boy will be fine.” Thames shrugged. “The next move is McKade’s.”

Paige’s cheeks heated with anger at his callous disregard for this boy’s life. “This isn’t a game. This is the life of a child.”

Thames’s eyes fixed on her, predator to prey. “My dear Paige, matters of life and death are the ultimate game.”

“Your game got you convicted. Sentenced to die.”

“And yet, here I am.”

“Your luck will run out.” Paige had to believe that.

Thames arched his brows in an imperious manner. “With all that you know about me, do you really believe that your Bureau
happened
to find that earring in my cabin?”

Paige went still. “You
wanted
us to find it.” Her throat tightened. “Just as you wanted the bodies of those three women found.” Paige shook her head slowly. “You knew that anything that wasn’t named on a search warrant and wasn’t found in plain view would be inadmissible.”

He gave her a shallow, mocking bow.

Paige went on. “You couldn’t have been pleased that the earring was entered into evidence.”

“Ah, but look at the adulation and acclaim I have gained.” He curled his lips in a smile that chilled Paige. “And now, I have you.”

He removed a small dart gun from a pocket and shot Paige in the neck. Paige cried out, and then everything faded to black.

They had Paige’s coordinates. Her tracker was still transmitting and showed she hadn’t left the clearing. “Mike! Riley!” Sam shouted. “Paige is coming out. Meet up with her.”

Sam ran to his vehicle. It was unthinkable to consider that they would arrive too late to save Jonah. Sam focused on the things he needed to do until he was with his son. Leaving Harry to oversee the next leg of the operation, Sam gave orders for roadblocks to be set up at Kirk County’s main entry points in case Thames was planning to leave the area, and for crime scene units to be dispatched to the address where Jonah was and to the clearing where Thames had left his message for Paige.

They would process that message. Thames had not been in that location when Paige got there, but Thames had been there at some point to leave his message about Jonah for her. They now knew without doubt that Thames had been in two places, and they would find something that would lead them to him.

The address Thames had given as Jonah’s location was a condemned warehouse. Sam arrived just as paramedics were rushing through the door. Sam hadn’t prayed since he was a child and had begged for someone to take him out of the hell his life had been, but as he charged in behind the medics and saw his son lying as still as death on a filthy mattress, Sam prayed now.

Paige felt a soft, warm breeze after stifling still air. She smelled something pungent like damp earth. Her eyelids fluttered, but she couldn’t fully open them. Again, she tried. This time, when her lids lifted for an instant she caught a glimpse of the moon above a stand of trees. Dimly, she registered that she was in the trunk of a vehicle. Then her lids drifted closed. She tried again, but opening her eyes required more strength than she had.

She heard a chuckle. She struggled again and managed to raise her eyelids long enough to see that a man was now standing over her. Thames.

“That’s right, Paige. Close your eyes.”

Goose bumps sprang on Paige’s flesh. But before she could do more than acknowledge him, she felt another small jab to her neck, and then she felt nothing at all.

Sam paced outside the hospital room where Jonah and a medical team fought for Jonah’s life. Behind him, Sam could hear Ginny crying softly in Herb’s arms as Herb rocked her gently.

Sam stared at the closed door, simultaneously willing it to open and to remain closed. As long as that door stayed closed, Jonah was alive.

Thames had given Jonah a cocktail mix of downers, according to the doctors. Jonah had closed his eyes and gone to sleep. If they hadn’t reached him in time, Jonah would not open them again.

The doctors hadn’t given any guarantees that Jonah would wake up. Sam pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes, feeling more helpless than he’d ever felt in his life.

Thames was going to die. For all he’d put Paige through, and now for what he’d done to Jonah, Sam would see him dead.

The hall outside Jonah’s room and the waiting room had filled with people as word of Jonah’s condition spread. Marian stood against one gray wall. The usually taciturn woman was red-eyed and looked like she was being held up by the wall.

Ginny’s parents, brothers, and their families were here as well. Everyone sat or stood tense and silent.

Where was Paige? She’d told Sam she would meet him here. He’d sent Mike and Riley to meet up with her. More than enough time had gone by for her to make her way from the mountain. He knew she was fine. She’d told him that Thames hadn’t been in that clearing, that she was alone there. Where the hell was she?