The crowd seemed to get a little thicker, the closer they got to where the main field of bluebonnets was. “Stick close to me, Finn. I don’t want to lose you.” Even though they were holding hands, anything could happen.
The next instant she felt something jammed into her side. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll come with me. And you won’t make a fuss.”
Everything inside of her shut down. Thought wasn’t possible. Walking wasn’t possible. Her body seemed to be made up of jelly, all wobbly with no substance. But a split second later, everything fired back to life and her first thought was to push Finn into the crowd. If he was free, he could go get Brodie. But then, he wouldn’t know why she’d pushed him.
“What do you want?” she asked as the man dug the gun deeper into her side, encouraging her to keep walking.
“I really want the kid, but you’re a bonus.” He hooked a hand around her arm and steered her away from the crowd.
“Hey, Cerise, where are we going?”
“Umm...” Shit, she had to think quick to keep calm.
“Ed? What are you doing here? Where’s Aunt Poppy?”
“Hey, kid, your aunt missed you. She wants to see you and, when I saw you here at the festival, I thought it would be nice for you to go visit her.”
Finn looked like he was about to argue, and he had no idea that she had a gun pointed at her. Whatever she did, she had to keep Finn safe. “Oh, that’s really cool. Come on, Finn. I bet you want to see your aunt too.”
“Well done,” Ed spoke low in her ear. “Maybe I won’t get rid of you straightaway. Maybe we’ll have some fun together. And I’m sure the boyfriend will be happy to pay a nice sum for your freedom, when I’m ready.”
A shudder of revulsion washed over her. She didn’t think she would like the type of fun he was talking about. And how did he know about Brodie’s money situation?
What did it matter what he knew and how he knew it? If she and Finn were going to get out of this, she would have to keep a cool head. She hadn’t survived a tornado to die at the hands of a madman.
If ... no ...whenshe got herself and Finn out of this, no way was she going to let Poppy have Finn again. Not if the type of men she hooked up with were happy kidnapping a nine-year-old.
Looking at the sky, she sent a mental message:Brodie, somehow, someway,please find us.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The taco standwas just in sight, so Brodie increased his pace, anxious to see Cerise and Finn. He couldn’t explain it but about thirty minutes ago, a feeling of dread had begun to pool in his belly. He had no idea what it was or why he was feeling this way, but he knew that once he had Cerise in his arms, everything would be fine and the feeling would dissipate.
There was a crowd around the stand and he could understand why. The aromas coming from the small space was amazing. His stomach grumbled in anticipation of sinking his teeth into a meat-and-vegetable filled tortilla covered in cheese.
Going up on tiptoe to try and see over the crowd, he couldn’t find Cerise and her pink cowboy hat. No hint of glitter anywhere. He checked his watch and saw it was five minutes past their organized meet-up time. Maybe they’d got caught up with looking at something. He pulled out his phone and hit her contact number. The call went directly to voicemail. Sometimes, when there was a large crowd, cell service was spotty, but they had a large cell phone tower behind the fire station. Reception shouldn’t be a problem and there was no way Cerise would have her phone off. She always kept it on in case she needed to be called into work.
He tried again and slammed his fist against his leg when her voice message sounded again in his ear.
“Hey Brodie, you look worried. What’s wrong, son?”
Standing behind him was Gene along with a man he didn’t recognize. “Looking for Cerise and Finn. We’re supposed to meet here. But I can’t see them. And her cell is going straight to voicemail.” He glanced around again, hoping that they’d arrived within the minute it had taken for him to talk to Gene, but no such luck.
“Is she normally late?” The stranger asked, his voice serious and there was a certain stillness about him that came with someone who sat back and observed before he usually jumped.
“Sometimes, but she’s with her foster son, Finn. If I know him, he’d have dragged Cerise here so that they were early.” He wasn’t trying to be arrogant, but he knew how Finn felt about him because he felt the same.
“Maybe they got caught up somewhere,” Gene said.
“Maybe but...” he trailed off, not wanting to sound silly by saying he had a weird-ass feeling that something was wrong.
“But your gut is saying something different, right?” The stranger asked again.
He was about to answer but closed his mouth. Who was this guy? Sure, he was with Gene, but Brodie hadn’t met him before. And how had he narrowed in on the fact Brodie was uneasy with Cerise not being nearby?
“Brodie, this is Julian Bennington, he’s a consultant with the FBI.”
Julian held out his hand and Brodie grasped it. “Good to meet you, Brodie. Sorry if I’m being a little forward, considering we’ve just met.”
