He hit me again, and the blackness took me completely under.
My last thought was of Aiden.
Then time became blurry and dark. I came in and out of consciousness, trying to hold on but losing to the darkness every time. The floor beneath me was hard like wood, and I rolled back and forth, my body protesting. Finally, the hum of an engine caught my attention right before it was silenced.
I sat up to find myself in the back of a van. My vision was cloudy so I blinked several times, trying to see. Bile rose in my throat, and I swallowed rapidly, burning my throat on the way down to my stomach. The two outside doors opened, and the man, his features still covered by a ski mask, reached in and grabbed my arm, yanking me into the stormy night.
I slid and stumbled outside, my boots sinking into the snow.
Confusion blanketed me, but the cold shot right into my ears and mouth, jerking me wide awake.
He dragged me through the snow to a log cabin set in front of the lake. I blinked several times, taking notice. We were on the southern side of Lilac Lake, not far from home. Maybe twenty minutes. He pulled me up the stairs and pushed me through the front door. I moved away from the door as warmth from an already lit fire heated the place.
I shook my head, trying to concentrate. It was freezing outside, and I needed to get the keys to the van. Or I had to take care of this guy and stay in the cabin. Even so, I slowly turned to face him, my body chilled and my muscles not working very well.
He shut the door and turned to lean back against it.
The cabin was small with a bed against the far wall, a kitchenette to the east wall, and a living area in front of a fireplace. That was it. No bathroom. The only way out was the door he was currently blocking—or maybe through the small window over the kitchen sink.
“Well?” I asked, my voice shaking.
He drew off the ski mask.
My knees wobbled but I lifted my chin. “Hi, Jareth. I’ve been waiting for you.”
Jareth Davey lookedat me while I stared right back at him. The years hadn’t been good to him. His nose was even bigger than it had been before, his skin an ugly red, and his hair thin. Very thin. But he’d been working out, and it showed in the muscles beneath his black sweater. His skin sagged at the jaw and wrinkles cut lines to the side of his narrow lips. Even so, he wasn’t as big as I remembered. “You’ve been some trouble,” he said.
His voice shot through me with a jolt of painful memory. It was the voice I still heard in my nightmares.
I shook out my hands, trying to get feeling into them. My fingers were chilled, and my nails broken from my clawing the ground. Firing nerves erupted through my extremities, and I welcomed the pain, needing to be able to move. “Why now?”
He wiped snow off his face and scalp. “I saw pictures of you dating people in the paper, and I figured you were old enough to have children now. I want children.” A dresser had been placed near the door, and he opened the top drawer to toss in his ski mask.
“No,” I said. “Any other questions?” My hands were almost at full feeling, but my feet weren’t quite there yet.
He sighed. “You have always been such a problem for me.”
“I get that a lot.” I scrunched my toes in my boots to force blood back into them. “Where have you been all these years?” I had to keep him talking, but the terror racing through me wanted to run right out the door. I’d have to make it past him to the door, and then where would I run? There was a blizzard outside. “Jareth?”
He smiled, showing crooked teeth. “All over. I had to leave town, and then I just worked and lived my life, sending you cards until you were old enough to take again. I was wrong the first time. You were way too young. Everything was supposed to work out this way.” His eyes were a deeper brown than I remembered, but the insane light was still there. Bright and glowing. “This is fate.”
I exhaled slowly, taking control of my body and centering my breath. “Have you been following Aiden all these years?” Oddly enough, a couple of the cards from Jareth had come from places Aiden had been undercover. Not during the same timeframe, though.
“No. Didn’t find him until I came home last summer, and then I was on his trail.” Jareth preened, apparently wanting to show off. “Almost got the big bad agent killed, didn’t I? Guess I’ll have to try again. Once we’re settled.”
The moment was almost surreal. For so many years, I knew this was coming. Yet now that it was here, that he was in front of me, I was numb. My brain felt foggy. I shook my head to clear it, scattering snow across the uneven wooden floor. “Who helped you tonight? The guy that Aiden shot—who was that?”
Jareth shrugged. “Just a guy I hired out of Spokane. Didn’t think I’d get him shot, but oh well. He needed a job and I needed somebody to help, and it’s fate again. It’s always fate. How can you not know that by now?”
I set my stance. It was now or never.
He drew a gun out of the top drawer and pointed it at me. It was a Colt .38, and I only knew that because I’d seen one on a television show. It was a small revolver, and the hammer was already cocked.
I looked at the gun. “Mine’s bigger.” I wished it wasn’t buried in the snow at my cottage. Right now, I couldn’t think about Aiden, although my brain kept going to the sight of him unconscious in the freezing snow. I pushed the thought away and concentrated on right now. “What’s your plan here?” I subtly took a step toward him. If I tried for the window, he’d shoot me. There was only one way out of this.
“Take off your clothes.”
“No.” I took another step.
