Forgotten Memories (SWAT: Top Cops Book 4) (15 page)

Although it could be that the maid was cleaning the truck drivers’ rooms. Maybe they’d checked out, despite the fog.

She was about to pull out her key when a warning tingle lifted the hairs on the back of her neck. She hesitated a second too late. Before she could move, a man’s arm grabbed her from behind, wrapping tightly around her throat, cutting off her supply of oxygen. Then he pressed the cold tip of a gun firmly against her temple.

She froze, struggling to breathe.

“You’ve caused me a lot of trouble, Gabriella,” the man hissed in her ear. “But it’s over. You’re going to give me what I want, what’s rightfully mine, aren’t you?”

Gabby tried to nod, but the viselike grip around her neck prevented her from moving. She considered kicking him in the kneecap or stomping on his instep, but what if the gun went off?

No, she couldn’t risk it. Better to go with him now, and look for a chance to escape later.

“Come on,” he muttered harshly, easily dragging her backward as if she didn’t weigh more than a feather. His movement tightened his arm around her throat and tiny red dots danced in front of her eyes as she struggled to breathe around the thick muscles of his biceps and forearm.

The fog surrounded them, making her feel as if she was completely alone with the gunman.

With Creighton.

How had he found her here at the motel? And especially her room number? Obviously he must have been hiding near the maid’s cart. Had he bribed the motel clerk? Was that why the guy had been staring at her so intently?

She wanted to scream for Shane and Nate, wishing one of them would wake up and realize she was gone. But she could barely breathe, let alone scream. Every step Creighton took drew her farther away from the safety of the motel.

Soon she couldn’t even see the building.

Fear was bitter on her tongue as she tried to think of a plan to escape. She was smart, surely she could outthink a thug like Creighton?

But she didn’t have a scalpel in her pocket this time. Nothing but a plastic motel key. And unfortunately she knew Shane wasn’t in a position where he could run after her, coming to her rescue in the nick of time by hitching a ride on the back of a pickup truck.

Maybe once they reached their destination she’d be in a better position to get away from the gunman. Creighton would have to loosen his grip on her sometime. She couldn’t give him what he wanted if she couldn’t talk or breathe.

Yet she knew with a sick sense of certainty that once Creighton got what he wanted, he wouldn’t need her anymore.

Once she’d served her purpose, he’d likely kill her just as he had all the others who’d dared to get in his way.

Execution-style.

FIFTEEN

S
hane woke up, instantly alert, his instincts screaming at him that something was wrong.

He rolled out of bed, barely glancing at Nate’s slumbering form. Thankfully he’d slept in his clothes, so he shoved his feet into his shoes and grabbed his gun as he strode toward the connecting doors.

Rapping sharply against the wood, he only waited a second or two before pushing her side of the door open. “Gabby?”

A chill snaked down his back when he saw the room was empty. The bathroom door was open, but he crossed over to check inside anyway. She wasn’t in there, either.

Where in the world was she?

He noticed several details seemingly at once. The coffeemaker had been used, her duffel bag was still sitting on the floor beside her bed and her shoes were missing.

Rushing toward the door, he yanked it open, peering out into the foggy mist. The maid’s cart was sitting to the right side of Gabby’s door, but there was no sign of cleaning personnel.

Or of Gabby.

Muttering under his breath, he raced back into his room to rouse Nate. He bent down and shook the other man’s shoulder. “Get up, Gabby’s missing. We need to search for her.”

“What?” Nate rolled over, blinking the sleep from his eyes. It didn’t take long for the news to sink in, and his buddy quickly shot out of bed. “Don’t panic, it’s possible she went to the lobby to get something to eat.”

“I’ll check there, you sweep the grounds,” Shane ordered.

Nate nodded as he shoved his feet into his shoes. They quickly split up, heading in opposite directions.

Shane found the lobby was empty and there were a few stray bagels sitting on a platter next to a coffeepot and a juice bar. He strode over to the guy behind the counter who was eyeing him warily. “Have you seen a woman in here this morning?” he demanded. “A slender woman with red-gold curly hair?”

The guy’s eyes shifted right and then left, beads of sweat popping out on his pale half-balding forehead. “Um, yeah. I saw her. She was here, eating breakfast.”

Shane’s instincts went into overdrive and he grabbed the guy by the front of his shirt, yanking him forward. “What did you do?” he demanded in a stern tone. “Did someone ask about her? Did you tell someone where she was?”

“Lemme go,” the clerk whined. “I didn’t do nuthin!”

“Where is she?” Shane growled, not believing his innocence for a second. He tightened his grip on the guy’s shirt, hanging on to his temper with considerable effort. “Who paid you?”

“Some guy came in earlier this morning, asking to see the pretty redhead. Mentioned something about being her long-lost uncle and traveling quite a distance to see her, that’s all.” The clerk looked scared to death, but Shane wasn’t about to let him off the hook that easily.

“When did he get here? What did he look like? What was he driving?” The questions were rapid-fire and the guy cowered, ducking his head.

“Came in early, right at the start of my shift. He’s tall and brawny and has short blond hair. I don’t know what the dude’s driving.”

Shane nodded tersely. “Now tell me
exactly
what he said to you.”

“He gave me some sob story about being away from his family for a really long time and told me he wanted to surprise his niece. I said it was against the rules, but he slipped me a fifty so I let him know what room she was in. Afterward, I was surprised to see her here alone, eating breakfast. No uncle in sight. She left twenty minutes ago. That’s all, man, that’s all. I promise I didn’t do anything!”

Shane let go of his shirt, fighting a wave of anger. “You took fifty bucks from a killer and you better hope I find her before it’s too late, or I’ll be back to arrest you for being his accomplice.”

The clerk paled and patted his pockets. “I’ll give you the money back! It’s no big deal! You can have it back!”

Shane ignored him, jogging outside to find Nate, his heart pounding in his chest and his throat thick with fear.

Creighton had Gabby.

And a twenty-minute lead. Maybe less, depending on how long it took him to grab her. But not much less.

“Nate, where are you?” he shouted as he tried to peer through the fog.

“Back here. I found the maid.”

Shane followed the sound of Nate’s voice to the small alcove at the end of the row of rooms, near the stairway leading to the second floor. There was a vending machine tucked in the corner and Nate was kneeling beside a young woman slouched against it, her eyes closed and her skin pale.

“Is she alive?” Shane asked as he joined them.

“Yeah, she has a pulse,” Nate confirmed. “I think he just knocked her unconscious. I’ve called 911, there’s an ambulance on the way.”

Shane glanced helplessly around the area. “I’ll get the desk clerk to sit here with her. We have to go. Creighton has Gabby.”

“What?” Nate demanded.

“The clerk ratted her out for fifty bucks. We need to go find her!”

“Go where?” Nate asked logically. “We don’t know where he’s taking her.”

“Then we have to figure it out!” Shane wanted to rant and rave at the top of his lungs, panic and fear threatening to overwhelm him. “We have to be smarter than he is. Don’t you get it? Once he has what he needs, there’s no reason to keep Gabby alive.”

Nate nodded slowly. “I know, I hear you. Okay, so where do you think he’d take her?”

Shane raked his hands through his hair, wishing he had a good answer. “Maybe to her house. He prevented Ambrose from torching the place, so it could be that he believes what he wanted is still there.”

“All right, we’ll head there first,” Nate agreed. “I don’t hear the ambulance yet, so we’ll need the desk clerk to come out here to stay with the maid.”

“Gladly.” Shane ran back to the lobby, pinning the guy behind the counter with a hard gaze. “I need you outside, now.”

The guy cringed, hanging back. “No, leave me alone!”

“That guy who gave you the fifty so he could grab the redhead also knocked your maid unconscious,” Shane explained in a terse tone. Every second he wasted here seemed like a lifetime. “I need you to come outside and stay with her until the ambulance arrives. Understand?”

The guy blanched but then nodded. “All right,” he agreed, the seriousness of the situation finally getting through to him.

Shane led the way back to where Nate had remained with the injured maid. The desk clerk looked shocked to see her propped against the vending machine.

“I didn’t know,” he whispered. “I’m sorry, Carla, I didn’t know!”

Shane let go of his anger on a heavy breath, knowing that the clerk really hadn’t realized the consequences of his actions.

“Let’s go,” he said to Nate as his buddy rose to his feet.

“I’m with you.”

Shane ran back inside the motel room to get the keys. Seconds later, he and Nate were inside the police-issue vehicle. Nate took the wheel, leaving Shane feeling restless and anxious, needing to do something.

Anything.

“Better call for backup,” Nate advised, sending Shane a sidelong glance. “Griff needs to know about this turn of events.”

Shane nodded, knowing Nate was right. He reached for the radio, wishing he was wearing his SWAT gear. Not that he was going to let that stop him from going in to rescue Gabby.

“Dispatch, this is unit twelve requesting to speak with Lieutenant Vaughn.”

“Ten-four, unit twelve, hold the line.”

Shane waited impatiently for Griff to answer. “What’s going on, Hawk?”

“Dr. Fielding was taken from the motel,” Shane said bluntly. “I’m here with Nate... We believe Creighton has her.”

“What’s your twenty?” Griff asked.

“Heading east on the interstate but slow moving because of the fog. We’re checking out Dr. Fielding’s residence first.”

“Negative,” Griff snapped. “The area remains cordoned off as an active crime scene, and the techs are heading out there as soon as the fog lifts. I highly doubt Creighton will risk going there.”

Shane ground his teeth together in frustration, knowing that his boss was right. “Okay, then we’ll check out her stepfather’s place. I’m requesting backup—no lights and sirens—along with extra SWAT gear for me.”

There was a pause before Griff responded. “Ten-four. I’ll send two squads to meet you. Do you have a second destination in mind if she’s not there?”

Unfortunately, he didn’t. There was no reason for Creighton to take her to the hospital; after all, the place would be swarming with personnel, even at this early hour in the morning. And it wasn’t likely that Gabby would store personal, private information there anyway.

So where would Creighton go? Especially if her house was an active crime scene?

His heart sank to the bottom of his gut. Anywhere. Creighton could take Gabby just about anywhere. And he couldn’t bear to think that Creighton may attempt to torture the information out of her.

“I don’t know,” he admitted in a choked voice. “We’ll consider the possibilities once we verify she’s not being held at Strawn’s house.”

“Ten-four,” Griff agreed. “Stay in touch.”

Shane disconnected from the radio, every muscle in his body tense to the point he felt as if he might shatter.

He didn’t want to consider the possibility they may not find Gabby at Richard’s house, but forced himself to think through other options.

If Creighton was connected to her father’s death twenty-one years ago in Las Vegas, where could they be now? At a local casino? Not likely, the casinos here weren’t the same kind as in Vegas. And all of this had to be connected to Gabby’s father’s death. So where else could she be?

An abandoned warehouse? Isolated cabin in the woods? Maybe they needed to go back to the clearing off Highway 60? Did Creighton have a place out there?

“I’m sorry,” Nate said, breaking the strained silence.

Shane shook his head. “It’s not your fault Gabby was taken from the motel. Creighton paid the desk clerk fifty bucks to tell him what room Gabby was in.”

“But the only way Creighton could have possibly found the motel in the first place is because of me,” Nate said grimly. “He must have followed me last night. I didn’t think anyone was behind me, but somehow I must have missed him.”

Shane glanced at his friend, remembering how exhausted Nate had been when he arrived at the motel. Was it possible he missed a tail? Somehow, Shane doubted it.

“It’s not your fault, Nate. If anyone is to blame, it’s me. I thought about relocating last night, but I figured we should wait until morning.”

“Oh, man!” Nate abruptly pulled off the highway, bumping over the shoulder as he sharply braked. “What if he has a tracking device on the car?”

Shane was torn with indecision. Every instinct he possessed made him want to race to Richard’s house, to be sure Gabby wasn’t being held there. But if Nate was right, and he hadn’t missed a tail, then the tracking device was still on the vehicle.

And they’d only be announcing their arrival. Creighton could take Gabby and leave again, before they caught him.

“You’re right, we need to make sure. Do you have an extra flashlight?” Shane asked, rummaging through the glove box.

“Here,” Nate replied, pulling up the cover over the center console. He handed Shane the flashlight, taking the other off his uniform utility belt.

“I’ll take the front, you take the back.” Shane slid out of the car and then turned over to scoot under the vehicle on his back, using the flashlight to scan the undercarriage.

He forced himself to go slow so he wouldn’t miss anything, no easy feat when he desperately wanted to get back on the road.

After what seemed like hours, but was only ten minutes, he saw the tiny tracking device. “I found it,” he breathed.

Dislodging the device didn’t take long, and when he had it in his hand, he inched back out from beneath the car.

He showed it briefly to Nate, who stared at it in grim silence. “Not your fault,” Shane reassured him, before throwing the device as far into the field as possible.

Nate didn’t say anything as he climbed back into the driver’s seat. Shane knew his buddy was still kicking himself, but at this point, all they could do was to move forward from here.

He closed his eyes and prayed for Gabby’s safety as Nate started the car up and merged back onto the freeway.

He hoped and prayed they would find Gabby at Richard’s house. Because if they didn’t, the odds of them finding her alive dropped significantly.

And he couldn’t bear the idea of losing Gabby.

* * *

Gabby stared helplessly down at the metal handcuffs Creighton had slapped on her wrists one-handed, holding his gun steady with the other. She hadn’t dared try to escape the moving vehicle, convinced that he wouldn’t hesitate to shoot her in the leg to slow her down.

No, at this point she wasn’t going to win a physical fight against him. Creighton was younger than she’d thought, only mid-to-late forties by her estimation, with blond hair and narrow icy gray eyes. He looked as if he lifted weights on a regular basis—his arms were as thick as tree trunks. She imagined he’d left bruises around her neck from when he’d grabbed her.

She knew only too well that he’d kept her alive because she had something he wanted.

Knowledge was power, at least for the moment.

Creighton muttered a vile curse beneath his breath when he saw that there were police vehicles parked outside her home. She wanted to smile at the fact that his heinous crimes were now working against him.

She didn’t bother to point out that he shouldn’t have left Ambrose in her backyard. No sense in angering a cold-blooded killer.

What she needed was a way to outsmart him. But how?

“I know what you want,” she whispered.

He abruptly turned to glare at her. “You do? Then tell me where you have them?”

Them?
Her first clue wasn’t very helpful. He was looking for more than one thing. Papers? Was that why he’d focused his search on her office and Richard’s office?

“In a safe place,” she hedged. “Where no one will find them.”

“You’ll take me to them, or I’ll start shooting you in places that will make you scream in pain but won’t kill you.”

The evil glint in his eye sent chills down her spine, but she kept ahold of herself. His goal was obviously to scare her, and she refused to allow him the satisfaction of knowing how close he was to succeeding.