Closing her eyes, she curled into a ball to try and find some warmth and thought about him. The man who’d told her he loved her. He would come for her, she had to believe that. She didn’t want to die tomorrow.
Chapter38
Noel Linbar’s land and bunker were two hours from Ryker, according to his parents. The silence in the Range Rover had gone from exhausted despair to determination.
“It would be the place to hide someone, where no one would come looking,” Dylan said.
“She’s alive,” Fin growled.
“Yes, and she’s staying that way,” Luke added.
They nearly drove past the track. It was rutted and narrow and had no signs indicating it was a driveway unless you were looking. Dylan turned into it, with Chief Blake behind him. They followed the trail, then pulled onto the grass to follow fresh tracks.
“That’s Linbar’s Jeep,” Joe said, and Fin felt his tension notch up another level. The desperation was replaced with a steely need to find Maggie. He had hope now, and a direction, and he’d take it. She would be back in his arms today.
Dylan parked, and they all got out. It was freezing, snow starting to fall, but he felt nothing.
“No shooting,” Chief Blake said, joining them.
“Who the fuck are we shooting?” Joe snapped. “I don’t see anything yet.”
“No shooting when we find Linbar,” Chief Blake added.
“If they’ve taken Maggie, they deserve to be shot,” Fin’s father said.
“Agreed,” everyone but Chief Blake added.
“Where the hell is this bunker?” Fin looked at the ground, searching for footprints, anything to indicate which direction to take.
“Here,” Luke said. “This way.
They took off at a run, covering the distance as if they’d had a full night’s sleep instead of none. The barn appeared before them, listing slightly to the right. Fin entered first.
“Someone’s been here,” Joe said. “Two sets of prints. No, three. They end there.”
Fin dropped to his haunches to inspect the door in the floor. Raising a finger to his lips, he pulled out his gun and gripping the handle, he began to open it.
Taking the first step down the stairs he’d uncovered, he knew the others followed silently. At the bottom he found a small lounge, a kitchen, and two doors off that. Fin pointed to the one on the right, then turned the handle and stepped inside.
“Well now, this is romantic,” Fin said, raising his gun. He fired a round into the wall above the sleeping, Linda and Noel.
“I said no shooting!” Chief Blake snapped, stepping to Fin’s side.
“No killing, son.”
They woke screaming. Linda clutched the sheet; Noel reached for his gun.
“Do that, and I won’t miss next time,” Fin said with a steely calm.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Noel demanded. “This is private property.”
“Hands where I can see them,” Chief Blake said.
“Where is Maggie?” Fin aimed for Noel’s groin.
“We heard something. It’s muffled, but we heard it, and it’s coming from that room,” Joe said from behind him. “It’s locked, and my guess, soundproofed.”
Fin fired off another bullet. This one dug into the mattress, inches from Noel’s thigh.
