God, she didn’t want to die.
She must’ve broadcast her intention, because he suddenly launched into motion.
Shrieking, she turned and ran for the dark lake, kicking snow on her way. She tripped over some ice and went flying, tucking her body tight. She landed on hard ground, rolled, and desperately grabbed a huge branch that had dropped from a pine tree. Turning, she swung without even looking.
The branch hit Daniel right across the stomach, and he stopped cold, doubling over with a painedoof. Panicking, she slammed it down on his head and then kicked him as hard as she could in the balls. He squealed.
Run. Run. Run.Still holding the branch, she started crying as she ran through ice and snow toward the sinister lake. The storm threw wild whitecaps up into the air, tossing water in every direction. Sleet and snow smashed into her numb face. Her feet kept moving, but she couldn’t feel them any longer.
He grunted and swore behind her, but she didn’t turn to look.
The reeds and grass got taller, all covered in ice. She tried to shove through them and reached the lake. No dock. Panting, she looked in other directions. Just trees, mountains, and maybe a couple of darkened cabins?
She had to get out of the cold. Bunching her legs, she started to sprint into a run just as strong arms banded around her waist. She yelled and kicked out.
Daniel tackled her to the ground, face first.
She hit snow, and her forehead bounced against a rock. Stars exploded across her vision. She screamed, her head pounding and the world spinning.
He flipped her around and sat on her, slapping a hand over her mouth.
She punched out and struggled on the freezing ground, trying to dislodge him. Tears clogged her throat. He pushed so hard against her mouth that her head ground against the frozen dirt beneath the ice.
Pain fired along her jaw.
He tilted the angle of his hand, cutting off air to both her nose and mouth. “Nice hit with the board,” he hissed, his hold absolute.
She clawed at his arm desperately, her lungs swelling in pain. Air. She needed air. Her legs kicked out uselessly.
“I knew you’d be a fighter.” He wiped blood off his nose, his body almost relaxing. “You don’t know the training I have. But it was a good effort.” He squeezed harder. “Now we do things the hard way. Just the way I like it.”
Darkness swirled across her vision. She needed to breathe. God. More darkness. Her body went limp. Helplessness forced a sob from her throat. She stopped feeling the cold.
“There we go.” Daniel released her and stood, bending to lift her against his chest.
She tried to fight him, but her body hung limply in place. “Don’t,” she said weakly.
“Too late. I’ve known it would take time to earn your love. You have such a pretty voice.” He laughed and carried her along the cabin toward the front door. “I bet you can really scream.”
CHAPTER
40
Heath slammed the clip into his gun as Denver typed furiously on the keyboard. It had taken precious time to make the alterations to the antenna, and he could feel Anya slipping away from him. With every minute, he could sense his future becoming bleak. Why hadn’t he figured out his feelings and put them into words for her?
Maybe there weren’t words for how he was feeling. God. He was fucking losing it. Now he knew what the caged tigers at the zoo really felt like.
Ryker worked on another computer, and Zara was busy taping maps to a whiteboard. She started circling rural areas that held only a couple of structures, much like the ones Daniel had used in other states. There were too many circles already. They’d never have time to check them all.
“We need more to go on,” Heath muttered, scraping a hand through his hair. “There has to be a way to find her.” Maybe he should call Shane again to get more intel on Daniel, although his brother had told him everything he knew. Nobody had known that Daniel was a serial killer. Heath noted that Shane hadn’t seemed all that surprised, however.
“Radio’s ready,” Denver finally said, even more quietly than usual.
Heath instantly sat and put the earphones over his head. Concentrate. He needed to focus and do the job. Shane had sent him the buzzing frequency of the tracking bug Isobel Madison had used before, and he’d listened to it for a good fifteen minutes. If he heard it again, he’d know it. So he started twisting dials and focusing on sounds.
Shane and the rest of the Gray brothers were hacking into satellites to see if they could track Daniel’s movements, but the storm was making things difficult. Their ultimate goal was to track Daniel back to Isobel Madison so they could destroy any lab she’d created. But now was about Anya.
Just thinking her name made Heath’s chest compress. What if he didn’t find her in time? If this was love, it fucking sliced through a guy like a blade.
