Sunset Point: A Shelter Bay Novel (27 page)

“It’s probably tougher on cops,” Tess said. “I come in later, after the havoc’s been done. My job is to get justice for victims, which, while it has me dealing with the same type of people, at least has a positive goal.”

“I suppose so. Aren’t hearing schedules set months in advance?”

“The judicial board isn’t known for such unpredictable moves. But Vasilyev’s attorney has always been a slick operator. And, like Eric said, he could have bribed someone on the board to juggle the schedule in order to keep me from appearing.”

“Which means whoever that was knew you were out of town.”

“Good point.”

And one she hadn’t thought of. As Tess slipped on a pair of black suede pumps, she vowed to begin investigating the change in schedule as soon as she’d succeeded in blocking Vasilyev’s latest attempt to make an end run around the system and get back out on the street. Maybe she could even hire her dad and Jake to look into it.

A dark blue Crown Vic with yellow stripes and the Oregon State Police shield on the door pulled up in front of Nate’s house. A moment later, two men, one clad in a raincoat, the other in the blue uniform and silver badge of the Oregon State Police, were at the door.

“No offense,” Nate said. “But we’d like to see your ID.”

“I work with Eric,” Tess said.

“No problem,” the trooper, who hadn’t taken off his blue campaign hat said easily. He pulled a business card with a photo ID, name, rank, and badge number out of his pocket.

“You look familiar,” Tess said, studying the card after Nate had examined it. She handed it back and studied him more closely. “Have we worked together?”

“Not that I know, ma’am,” he said politely.

“Are you ready to go?” Eric said. Despite the rain, he was sweating. Which showed, Tess thought, how nervous he was about this situation. With his track record of so many losses the past few months, he couldn’t afford to be involved with Vasilyev getting back out on the street.

“I’ll be going with Ms. Lombardi,” Nate said.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Breslin,” Eric said. “But I haven’t been given authority—”

“I said, I’m going with her.” Nate’s tone did not invite discussion.

“Oh, hell,” the trooper said. “I knew this wasn’t going to work.” An instant later, he pulled out an S&W pistol and, to Tess’s horror, shot Nate in the chest.

Nate staggered back, falling to the floor. But not before staggering into the massive stone entry table. Tess knew that, however long she managed to live, she’d remember the sound of his head hitting the edge before he crumpled to the ground.

“Oh, my God! Nate!” Tess dropped to her knees beside him, running her hands over his chest, his head, his face, which had blood pouring profusely down it from the wound in his head. Even as she said his name, over and over, he remained terrifyingly unresponsive.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” Eric Jensen said.

“In a minute. We need the money shot.” The trooper stood over Nate, lifted the ugly black pistol, and shot him one more time in the chest. Nate’s body bucked. But unlike in the movies or TV, he didn’t jump up, rip open his shirt to reveal his bulletproof vest, and single-handedly beat the bad guys to a pulp.

“Are you going to shoot me, too?” Tess asked.

“Now, wouldn’t that be too easy?” the trooper said. “And too quick. Since we never got to finish our time together.”

He flashed her a grin that went straight to her brain, and shattered whatever bubble her memory had been protected in. She’d seen that evil smile before. Whenever he’d enter her prison, carrying a bag smelling of fast food, and cheerfully greet her with “Hi, honey. I’m home.”

Before she could fight or run, he pulled out a Taser. A moment later, there was a zapping sound, and Tess felt herself go stiff as a board and lose all motor skills. The strangest thing, was, that although she was as limp as overcooked spaghetti, she was totally cognizant as her kidnapper threw her over his shoulder, carried her out to the car, tossed her into the trunk, and slammed the lid.

Leaving her imprisoned in the dark.

Alone.

And, she feared, about to die.

Not wanting to waste energy she’d need to escape when Eric and her kidnapper got to wherever it was they were taking her, Tess had to bite her lip to keep from screaming.

She didn’t think she’d ever forget the sight of Nate, lying on that floor, two bullet holes in the front of the unfamiliar white dress shirt, and blood streaming down his handsome face. Tears were streaming down her face when the air in the trunk suddenly dropped at least twenty degrees.

“Blast it all, girl,” the captain’s deep voice boomed. “What mischief have you gotten yourself into now?”

“Unlike your damn curse that got you stuck between realms, my problem wasn’t of my own doing.” Tess was cold, tired, frightened, and in no mood to be polite. “Is Nate alive?”

“Aye, thanks to those bulletproof vests he got for both of you to wear. Although his ribs will be sore for a time.”

“He was lucky the pistol wasn’t high-caliber,” she said. When Kara, yet again taking her job of protecting Shelter Bay residents seriously, had shown up at the house with the vests the first day, Tess had believed she and Nate were being overly protective. Obviously not.

What terrified her was his head injury.

“He also needs some stitches in that head gash from the table,” MacGrath answered the question Tess hadn’t yet asked. “But the damn fool refused to take time to have them done and insisted the sheriff just wrap it. He’s out with the search team looking for you.”

“You need to tell him where I am. Actually,
I
need to know where I am.”

“You’re headed along the coast road. I heard the scallywags talking about taking you to the cave.”

“What cave?”

“It’s one carved into the side of the cliff. Pirates hid their treasures there. My guess is that they intend to leave you there to drown.”

A dark, rocky cave. Rising water. A slow death. That’s what her kidnapper had planned. With a knowledge of evil that she hadn’t possessed as a child, Tess realized that he’d never intended to let her go twenty years ago. Even after her mother had paid the ransom. He’d just been playing with them all for his own sick, twisted enjoyment.

“You need to untie me,” she said.

“I wish I could, lass. But I can’t.”

“You’re a sailor and you can’t untie a simple knot?” she asked incredulously.

“I was a seaman,” he corrected firmly. “A sailor’s a blasted landlubber’s term. And I’ll have you know that there wasn’t a man on any sea who knew his ropes better than Captain Angus MacGrath.”

“You should be proud,” Tess said dryly. “So let’s see some seaworthy expertise.”

“Hang it all, woman, in case you’ve forgotten, I’m dead. And those are earthly ropes.”

Tess couldn’t believe her ears. “Let me get this straight. You can walk through walls, you can rattle pots and pans, appear and disappear at will, but you can’t untie a damn rope?”

“Aye. Unfortunately, that’s the way the wind blows.”

She couldn’t take any more. When she began to cry noisily, the captain became openly distressed. “Now, now, belay that noisy female caterwauling.”

“Why should I?” she asked between sobs. “I thought I saw the man I love die. I’ve been Tasered, tied up, locked in this trunk, never mind the fact that I happen to be claustrophobic, threatened, and I’m probably going to die at the very hands of the man who terrorized me when I was just a girl. Excuse me if I don’t find haunting Nate’s house with you an ideal way to spend eternity.”

“You’re not going to die. At least not yet. There’s a whole crew of men out looking for you. Breslin and your father will save you.”

“Dad’s in Shelter Bay?”

“He just arrived. Seems he had a feeling something was wrong, so he came down here to rescue you.”

“You somehow did that, didn’t you?” Tess said. “The same as you put Isabella in Nate’s dreams.”

When the captain didn’t answer, she realized this might be her only time to tell him what she knew. “Isabella never stopped loving you,” she said. “And Lucia was your daughter.”

“Why in the blue blazes didn’t she tell me when I came to her?” he demanded. His normally booming voice trembled with what Tess realized was centuries-old emotion. “Why did she lie and tell me that the girl was her husband’s? And that she’d never stoop to marrying the likes of me?”

“That was because she loved you. Enzo was a dangerously brutal man and she knew, that if you were to confront him, he’d kill you.”

“She should have had more faith in me,” he said.

“I suspect, by the time you returned from sea, she’d pretty much lost faith in anything and everyone. Except Lucia.”

There was a long pause. Then, on a voice that might have been roughened by unshed tears choking his throat, he said, “Thank you, lass. For easing my mind. And my heart.

“Now, don’t you fret.” He’d gathered himself together and sounded like the bold, larger-than-life great-great-grandfather she’d amazingly come to know. “You’ll be getting out of this mess soon enough.”

As the temperature in the trunk warmed, ever so slightly, telling her that the captain was gone, Tess continued her silent prayers that Nate and the search party would reach her in time.

*     *     *

“Dammit, it’s my fault,” Nate ground out. “I was supposed to keep her safe.” If she died, it would be like Fallujah all over again. He’d already lost too many people he cared about to violence. But although there were still times when he suffered survivor guilt, Tess was different. As hard as having his battle buddies die in that battle had been, Nate didn’t think he could survive losing the woman he loved. Wasn’t sure he’d even want to.

“We’ll find her,” Mike said. The roughened stress in his voice suggested he didn’t dare think otherwise. “I didn’t raise a quitter. Tess isn’t going to give up without one helluva fight. We’re going to find Tess safe and sound. Then you can take over the worrying about her.”

Nate only wished he could be as sure of that as her father was.

What Nate had no way of knowing was that Mike was torn between being sick with worry about his daughter and fighting the inner rage that made him want to kill her abductors with his bare hands.

It fucking wasn’t fair. A man shouldn’t have to go through this twice in one lifetime. When Tess had disappeared so many years ago, he had gone without sleep for weeks, obsessed with capturing her kidnappers. That time, being a PPB detective, when he’d located the former Lombardi housekeeper, he’d followed the letter of the law, had dutifully notified the New Mexico police, and arranged for her extradition to Oregon to stand trial.

Unfortunately, he’d gotten there too late and the housekeeper had been dead.

This time a very strong part of him hoped that he’d be the one to track the men who’d taken Tess. And then he’d kill them.

Finally, after what seemed forever, the car stopped and the trunk opened.

“There you are,” the familiar singsong voice who’d been infiltrating her dreams more and more often lately said. “And didn’t you turn out to be a beauty? I’ve thought about you over the years, you know. Followed your career. Watched you grow up. And waited.”

“Why?” If she could keep him talking, the captain would bring Nate and her father and Kara here.

“Why did I wait? Because in the beginning, I stayed out of Oregon because I never knew what you’d remember. Later, I became busy with other girls. And occasionally women, as parents became more vigilant. Do you know how difficult it is to get a child to help you with directions?” he asked. “Or even find a puppy, which used to be a sure thing.”

He shook his head. “I’ve no idea what the world’s going to come to when such a cynical, distrustful generation grows up.”

“Why now?” Keep him talking.

He shrugged. “Because you recognized me, of course.”

“You looked familiar when you were at the door, but I never would have made the connection.” Though, given more time, the way memories of the events had started breaking through, she might have.

“No. In the prison.”

“What?”

“When you came to talk to the snitch you intended to use to bring down the Russian,” he explained. “I was on the way to outtake to be released. I saw you pause and look at me. That’s when I knew.”

She vaguely remembered a guard and prisoner passing her in the hallways as she’d paused to collect her thoughts before going into the interview room. But she’d barely noticed him and certainly he hadn’t triggered any memories. At least not consciously.

“You were in prison? For what?”

“That’s not important.” He waved her question away. “We don’t have all day. The tide’s going to start coming in soon.” He untied her legs, which still felt wobbly, but left her hands restrained. “Start walking.”

He held the gun to her side as the trio walked through the woods. The dark, damp earth had a yeasty smell, and what had seemed like a fairyland of ferns when she was walking through this same forest days ago with Nate was ominously threatening. The immense quiet of the shadowy rainforest closed in on her while the black, gesticulating trees seemed to reach for her. As a jay suddenly flew overhead, his screeching call echoing in the darkness, she had to bite back a scream.

“He stabbed a street hooker,” Eric revealed.

“It was a very small knife,” her kidnapper qualified. “And a very inept prostitute. She wasn’t one of my special girls. Just someone I used to let off a little steam. Unfortunately, she got away, and what I hadn’t counted on was a security camera in that alley getting my license plate.

“However, proving that I’m smarter than your average cop, no one ever made the connection to my other diversions over the years. Such as those weeks you and I spent together.”

Life meant nothing to him, Tess realized. He could kill her as easily as a normal human would swat a mosquito.

Still stalling, wondering how long it would take a ghost to reach Nate, she turned to Eric. “I don’t understand. What do you have to do with Vasilyev?”

“I’ve been working for him for a while.”