Layers Crossed (32 page)

“And
everything is good?”

“Yes, they’re
fine. A bit concerned that she didn’t call. They were gonna call
you later to apologize for missing the dinner. Anything I can
do?”

“I may need to
borrow your truck.”

Derek had just
purchased a new set of wheels I knew I could rely on. Once this
hunt was over, I promised myself to do the same.

“Of
course.”

“Thanks,
buddy.”

I hung up and
told the brothers about my conversation.

“Fuck! She’s
definitely in trouble,” Julian said. “Why his truck?”

“What vehicle
do you have at the airport?”

The brothers
looked from one to the other and both said at the same time, “A
Bentley.”

“I thought so.
I noticed one in your driveway. Derek’s truck is all-terrain. Mine
is getting repaired. Believe me, you want a truck to where we’re
driving.”

“I don’t think
you’ve seen us drive.”

“I can
imagine. But there are holes in the road big enough to swallow an
elephant. You need the truck.”

I lowered my
head into my hands, pulling on my hair, looking back up after a few
moments. “I swear if I get her out of this, I will not have her do
another job like this again.”

Julian put his
arm around my shoulder. “Welcome to our world. But if you do that,
you’ll lose Emma the way we lost her for a while.”

I knew they
were right, and I knew there was no way I could make that kind of a
stipulation for my girl. Whatever we decided, it had to be mutual
and not forced.

When we
landed, Derek’s car was already waiting for us on the tarmac. He’d
left with his brother Blake. Tristan insisted on driving the black
RAM on wheels suitable for a tractor.

The sun was
sinking lower. Tristan didn’t obey the town’s imposed speed limit
and flew through it like a hurricane. I was afraid Derek would have
some explaining to do to the sheriff, as without a doubt the
complaints would pile up. As we passed Ogden and neared Huntz’s
house, the smell of burning wood, plastic and rubber hit me and my
gut twisted into knots.

As soon as we
pulled up, I couldn’t wait. Covering my face with my arm, I jumped
out of the car and rushed toward the flames, even while thinking
how surviving the blaze in front of me was impossible. There was no
way to enter from the front. I jumped over the fence and ran from
the yard to where the back door was still untouched by the fire.
The smell of gasoline permeated the air. Unsure where my adrenaline
came from, I kicked it open. If Emma was inside and I was too late,
I’d let myself die along her side. The brothers were right behind
me, shouting something I couldn’t make out, but it didn’t matter. I
had to get to Emma. My eyes stung from the smoke, and I could
barely see. A muffled sound echoed over the roaring flames,

In the middle
of the room, tied to a chair was Hunter, bleeding from his face,
bruised and gagged. I untied his arms while Julian pulled out the
cloth from his mouth.

“Where’s
Emma?” he coughed.

“Not here.
Huntz took her.”

We lifted
Hunter under his arms. The guy yelped in pain and I was sure he had
more than one broken bone.

“Her tracking
brought us here,” Julian explained.

“She dropped
her phone.”

We pulled
Hunter out just in time – the gas explosion inside the house
rattled the ground underneath us. Sounds of an oncoming siren
echoed in the distance, but if I knew our fire department, this
place would be burnt down to nothing before they got here. That was
a setback in our town. The medical and first-aid facilities were
close to non-existent, hence my sister’s reasoning to go to San
Francisco to become a nurse. This town’s infrastructure was only
years ahead of the Stone Age.

“We need to
organize a search team. Fuck! This will take too long!” Tristan
paced back and forth beside the truck.

Where the hell
could Huntz have taken her? He couldn’t have gotten far, and with
the team of experts I’d heard the Cross brothers had already
mobilized, Huntz would need to hide. Whoever got here within the
next hour would be on the bastard’s trail in no time – but would it
be fast enough? I knew too well what men like him were capable of,
and vowed that if Emma even lost a hair, I’d kill the son of a
bitch. There was only one place he could have gone to – a secret
hideaway that had never been found by the police or anyone
else.

“I know where
she is,” I said, the memory of my abduction finally clear for the
first time in a decade. “Follow me.”

“Sorry, buddy,
you need to take a bit more of this pain,” I said to Hunter.

“I’ve been
through worse. This is nothing.”

We seated him
in the back of the truck, and I made a mental note to clean the
blood off later on. I tightened my grip on the wheel and drove back
toward the fork in the road that led out of town, towards my
parents’ house, and out to the forest the other way. A forest I’d
run through as a kid but never remembered where it was until
now.

An oncoming
car was honking at us. I stopped when Missy’s old truck pulled over
beside me.

“Eric, it’s
him. Your parents’ house is on fire,” Missy cried. “I tried to warn
them. I really did. I’m so sorry.”

I looked down
the road toward my parents’ house and towards the entrance to the
woods. My heart stopped as I turned toward the Cross brothers.
Julian’s and Tristan’s faces paled, because they knew I was the
only key they had now to find their sister; but if I chose that
road, I ran the chance of never seeing my parents again.

C
HAPTER
29

Emma

I wished I
stayed in bed that morning with Eric. I wished I’d never checked my
phone, nor gone to Ogden without telling him, or at least kissed
him one last time. When I closed my eyes, I still felt the heat of
his body against mine from last night. The comfort and warmth of
his skin was beyond my wildest dreams and I thanked God over and
over again that he’d come back for me, that we’d still had a chance
to spend the most amazing twenty-four hours of my life before I
walked into a trap.

And now, I was
stuck in a fucking hole, the same kind Eric had described when he
was kidnapped.

I didn’t
remember much past being dragged through a forest, my hands and
feet bound before my body was thrown into darkness. I’d already
loosened the knots and gotten out of the stupid rope, but, in pitch
black, finding your bearings and keeping your mind calm and wits
about you was another story. This was a psychological game the
bastard was playing. I hadn’t heard him since he’d dropped me down
here, so I frantically looked for the hatch in the low ceiling,
scraping my fingers over rocks and adding countless splinters to
their pads. They were swollen now and bleeding, but if I didn’t get
out now, I’d probably be dead in a few days – if I was lucky enough
to survive that long. This bastard was too smart, though. He
wouldn’t come near me with a ten-foot pole unless I was tied up in
chains. Somehow he knew that given the slightest chance, I could
overpower him. Huntz would probably want ransom. There was no way
he’d still want the Waters property. There was no way anyone would
let him live there anyway. This was all about a sick need for
revenge. But why?

How could I
have fallen for this trap? Julian was right. Huntz was as
calculating as the greatest bastard my brothers had ever dealt with
– if not worse. When I knocked on Missy’s door, after being told
she’d gone to get extra clothing, the last thing I’d expected was
being banged on my head from behind with a fucking baseball bat.
And poor Hunter was Tasered at the same time. As I fell to the
floor I remembered seeing two pairs of dirty boots with baseball
bats hanging by their sides. I had no strength to lift my gaze and
passed out. One thing was for sure, Huntz hadn’t acted alone. He
had help, whereas all my research had indicated he was on his own.
I hadn’t even had a chance to pull out my gun.

Chills began
to cover my body. Despite the fact that it was early summer and the
days were getting hotter, there were still some cool nights, and
tonight was one of them. I cursed at the polar vortex. At this
rate, hypothermia could even set in. I wanted to rub my hands
together to create some heat, but that would only irritate the
stupid splinters in my hands. Plus, my fingers were so stiff, if I
rubbed them they’d break off like iced-over branches. Without
shoes, which I didn’t recall losing, I could barely feel my toes
and it wouldn’t have surprised me if they were blue. There had to
be a way out of here. I reached above my head and began looking for
the hatch once again. What felt like hours later, my hand hit a
wooden door and I fell back. This had to be it. I pushed on it
gently. The latch opened, and with hope I pushed it further as the
sound of chains rattled in my ears. It was just as dark outside as
it was down here, so either Huntz had left or he’d turned off the
lights (if there were any) and gone to sleep. I prayed it was the
former.

I squeezed my
wrist through the small opening and grasped the chain and its lock,
pulling it inside the hole. Fumbling with the metal I skimmed my
fingers over the lock, wishing I had a Swiss army knife with me, or
even a bobby pin.

I sat back
down against the wall, fumbling with my new necklace. When my
fingers touched the horseshoe, I knew that today was the day it
would bring me luck. I removed it from my neck and, pressing one
end of the charm into the lock, I started picking it. Seconds later
I smiled at the sound of a click.

I slowly
removed the chains and opened the hatch, climbing out. The room was
dark and smelled of wet leaves and moss. Moonlight illuminated the
worn wooden boards from a broken window. I picked a piece of glass
up off the floor and removed my plaid shirt to wrap around its end,
warily making my way around the room until I reached the front. The
tank top would have to be enough to keep me warm. I twisted the
handle and it swiveled, unlocking the door. The click was so loud
in my ears I was afraid that if Huntz was still around, he’d hear
it.

The sound of
breaking wood not too far from the cabin startled me. I shuffled my
bare feet along the forest ground to the side of the building,
pressing my back against its wall. I’d been lucky enough to get
out; I couldn’t give up now.

“Emma? Emma
are you here?” A whisper of hope neared.

It couldn’t
be, could it?

“Eric?” I
replied, peaking around the corner. When I saw his face,
illuminated by the full moon, I thought I was dreaming.

He hurried
toward me, almost tripping over a stray branch. With the natural
light our only guide, I was surprised how Eric had found me at
all.

“You came for
me?” I threw my arms around his neck.

“Of course,
baby. I’m so sorry he did this to you.” He held me tight against
his body, and if I didn’t let go I’d break down right here in his
arms. But I couldn’t do that. Deep inside, my instinct told me we
weren’t in the clear yet.

“Julian and
Tristan are in Ogden. We gotta go.”

“Hunter! He
was with me when we got to Missy’s house.”

“We’ve got
him. Your brothers are with him.”

“What’s wrong?
Has something happened to Hunter?” Grace would never forgive me if
something had. And I couldn’t live with myself either. There must
have been a good reason why my brothers didn’t come out to the
woods with Eric.

“My parents’
house is burning. I think Huntz set it on fire.”

Yet Eric still
came to get me. He chose me over his family. I’d never forgive
myself if anything happened to them.

“We need to
get out of here.”

“You’re not
going anywhere,” Huntz’s deep voice bellowed. I whipped my body
around, taking a defensive stance. He held a machete in his right
hand, and his legs spread slightly apart, ready to pounce. “Well,
well. I didn’t think you’d remember this place, Eric.”

“What the hell
do you want from us?” Eric barked. “Haven’t you done enough? You’re
not going to get the farm – you never will.”

He let out a
laugh from deep within his belly. Its roar echoed through the
woods.

“That’s what
you think, stupid boy. Besides, it’s not about the farm anymore. I
want revenge. Donna should have never married your father. She
should have chosen me. The farm and the inheritance would go to me.
Instead, she betrayed me.”

Donna? Was he
talking about Eric’s mother, Joanne? Was Huntz Jonathan, the
boyfriend who raped her over and over again, whose child she ended
up losing?
He
was supposed to bring the families
together?

“My mother has
always been with my father. A faithful wife and a loving
mother.”

“Donna Jo was
to be mine. Your father stole her.”

I recalled the
story Joanne told me and compared it to Missy’s – the one she’d
heard from her father as a child when he’d told her about how her
mother had abandoned her. Was Missy their love child? Was she
Eric’s half-sister, and he didn’t know it?

“Joanne had
your child,” I whispered. “You told her the baby died. You lied to
her.”

“I saw her
kissing him. She had my child in her, and she kissed him.”

It was true.
Huntz didn’t confirm it, but he didn’t deny it either.

“She never
loved you. You fucking raped her, stole her baby, and told her that
the infant died.”

He laughed.
“Ethan stole Donna Joe from me, I wouldn’t let them have Missy. I
switched the infant with one from a morgue. The stupid hospital
didn’t even notice they’d lost a body.”

“What?” Eric
said.

“Missy’s your
half-sister, Eric,” I whispered. “I’ll explain later. It was never
about the land. It was always about revenge on your father.”