Thanksgiving Target Read online

  Lighter guy shrugged and slipped the phone back into his pocket, his attention centered on the game.

  Max couldn’t have cared less about the game. He continued to repeat Gary’s number, waiting a good ten minutes before he headed off to the men’s room. Inside the privacy of a bathroom stall, he quickly took out his phone and entered Gary’s number for future reference.

  Satisfied, he snapped his phone shut. Maybe he’d been too hard on himself. His undercover efforts hadn’t been worthless after all. At least he’d gotten one clue. He could try calling Gary again, but identifying himself might give him away. It made more sense to turn the number over to the cop who was supposed to be working on Lissa’s case. Newton could probably dredge up an address for the guy. And once they had an address, they’d have Gary.

  Things were definitely looking up.

  His phone beeped, indicating he had a message. He frowned when he saw the call was from Tara.

  “Max, Dr. Kappel has been trying to reach you. Melissa’s condition has taken a turn for the worse. I’m heading over to the hospital to see her now. Please hurry.”

  Lissa was worse? His heart jumped into his throat as he stared at the message, realizing Tara’s call had come in over an hour ago.

  He needed to get to the hospital to see his sister.

  Max shouldered his way through the crowd to get out of the bar. He broke into a run the minute he cleared the door.

  Hoping and praying he wasn’t too late.

  Tara woke up slowly, biting back a moan as every muscle in her body throbbed with intense pain. She blinked and glanced around, realizing she was still in Gary’s truck. Outside, the lights from the city were directly behind them. They were speeding down the highway, heading toward the river, going farther away from the hospital.

  Her brain was still sluggish from whatever was in the cloth he’d pressed to her face. It took a few minutes to realize her hands were bound together at the wrists with something shiny. Duct tape? Her wrists hurt, and her fingers were already starting to go numb. She tugged against the bonds, but they didn’t give an inch.

  “So Sleeping Beauty is finally awake, huh?” Gary said with a sneer.

  Tara swallowed hard and licked her dry lips. She would not let him see her fear. She counted her blessings. She was alive and he hadn’t gagged her. “Where are you taking me?”

  “Does it matter? It’s not like you have a home to go to anymore, right?” He let out a bark of laughter at his own sick joke. “I have to say, watching your house explode was awesome. Huge points for the entertainment value, considering I only started following you because you interfered in my business.”

  “Your business?” She thought it would be best to keep him talking. Maybe if he was preoccupied she could find a way to escape.

  There was no way to know when anyone would realize she was missing. Maybe her boss, if she didn’t show up for work in the morning, although it was possible they’d assume she simply took another personal day. Max would get her message and try to find her.

  “My business with Melissa. You drove her to that shelter, trying to get her to stop seeing me.”

  She was surprised. How on earth had he known? She hadn’t put Gary on her list of suspected stalkers because Melissa had promised to keep Tara’s identity a secret. “She told you?”

  “She flaunted it in my face.” His eyes turned cold. “Do you know how hard I had to work after that little stunt you pulled? Do you have any idea how much money I had to dump on her in order to get her to give me another chance? You’re lucky to be alive after what you put me through.”

  Tara wasn’t surprised at his revelation. Poor Melissa. She never should have allowed Gary back into her life.

  “I hated you for that alone. Imagine my surprise when I saw you that next morning, outside your half-burned house, with none other than Max Forrester standing beside you. I knew at that moment my luck had changed.”

  “What do you mean?” His logic wasn’t making much sense. He’d resented her for interfering with his and Melissa’s relationship. What difference did it make that Max happened to be with her?

  “You still haven’t figured it out yet, have you?” His tone was full of disgust. In the dim lights, the expression on his face twisted with evil. “The only reason I targeted that stupid Melissa in the first place was to get back at Max Forrester for ruining my life.”

  Revenge. Tara’s stomach sank to her knees. Gary had been motivated by nothing more than bitter revenge. Everything that had happened to Melissa had been nothing more than a way to get back at Max.

  Payback. For arresting Gary and putting him in prison.

  “Outside the veterinary hospital I had the perfect shot, so I took it. Your yappy dog made me miss. But seeing the way Max jumped in front of you, risking his hide to protect you gave me the idea.”

  What idea? She could only stare at him, too afraid to ask.

  “You see, he obviously cared about you,” Gary went on, seemingly enjoying filling her in on the gory details. “Maybe not as much as he cares about his stupid, brainless sister, but since Melissa was out of reach in the hospital I needed a new plan. Someone else to use as bait.”

  “Bait?” She couldn’t help suppressing a shiver.

  “Yeah. Bait.” Gary stopped the truck at a red stoplight, leaning toward her with a leering grin. “You see, first I’m going to use you to get my hands on Max. Then I’m going to force him to watch as I kill you.”

  Tara sucked in a harsh breath, staring at him in horror.

  Gary’s eyes glittered with fevered hatred. “And then I’m going to torture him very slowly and painfully until he begs me to let him die.”

  Tara didn’t want to hear any more of Gary’s awful plans. There had to be a way out of here. Somehow, someway she needed to warn Max.

  She couldn’t let him walk blindly into Gary’s evil trap.

  But while she sought a way out, Gary continued to drive, heading farther out of the city, to an area near the water that she wasn’t very familiar with. She tried to memorize the highway and street signs but lost track after he made several turns. Finally he turned onto a remote road, the truck bucking over the bumps in the road, until he reached a small, rustic log cabin.

  “Home sweet home, baby doll,” he drawled in that awful voice. “You can scream all you want. There isn’t anybody within a fifty-mile radius who’ll hear you.”

  Glancing around at the woodsy area, Tara was afraid he was right. She hadn’t seen many signs of civilization over the past several miles. The gleaming water of the Mississippi River was only a hundred feet away, but there was no sign of a boat. Was she strong enough to swim across the river? It was worth a chance.

  “Of course, if you annoy me, I’ll be forced to punish you.” Gary hopped out of the truck and swaggered around to her passenger door. “Get out,” he snapped.

  Awkwardly, unable to use her hands for leverage, Tara shimmied down from the truck, landing with a grunt in the dirt, nearly falling on her face but catching herself just in the nick of time.

  Gary reached for her, but she shied away from his touch. Could she run for it? Swimming with her hands bound would be impossible, but she might be able to hide in the trees.

  As if he’d read her thoughts, he grabbed her and tossed her over his shoulder, carrying her like a sack of potatoes into the cabin.

  The interior was pitch-black. He threw her on the floor in the corner, and she couldn’t suppress a cry of pain when her body landed with a thud and her head cracked against the wooden surface of the wall.

  Closing her eyes she waited for the physical pain to ease, listening as he moved about the cabin. Finally, he lit a lantern, providing some reassuring light.

  Struggling to sit up, she leaned back against the wall, slowly inching upright, breathing hard with the effort.

  The cabin was simple. Rustic. There was a fireplace against one wall and what looked to be a small bedroom off to the right. The kitchen was just as basic, w
ith a two-burner stove next to a tiny refrigerator. A small wooden table and two chairs sat near the center of the room, in front of the fireplace. There wasn’t any other furniture that she could see.

  The place was messy, but from the discarded fast-food containers and the pile of wood near the fireplace, she thought it was possible Gary had been living here all this time while they’d been searching the city for him.

  Gary tossed some wood into the fireplace and lit some of the kindling until he’d created a nice blaze of heat. Of course, she was in the corner farthest away from the blaze. Then he glanced over at her, his face drawn into a grotesque smile, since the muscles beneath the scar didn’t move normally. Her stomach twisted when he slowly walked toward her, stopping mere inches from where she sat.

  Give me strength, Lord, she prayed again, fearing the worst. Please give me strength.

  “Here.” Gary surprised her by thrusting a cell phone in her face. Her cell phone. He must have taken it when she’d been unconscious.

  She stared at it blankly.

  “Call him.”

  Max. He wanted her to call Max. When she made no move to take the phone with her bound hands, he pulled out a long, lethal-looking knife. The blade glinted sharply in the flickering light from the lantern. She shrank against the log cabin wall, but there was no place to go. He reached down and pressed the edge of the blade gently, but with clear intent, against her cheek.

  “Call him,” he repeated in a harsh tone. “Or I’ll cut you until you look far worse than me.”

  Max rushed into the hospital, bypassing the elevator and taking the stairs two at a time until he reached the fourth-floor ICU. He wasn’t breathing hard from exertion, but fear caused a cold sweat to dampen his skin.

  Irritated at being slowed down by the woman seated behind the desk, he impatiently waited for her to unlock the door to let him in.

  “Lissa,” he said, rushing to his sister’s bedside. He glanced up at the monitors, but it seemed like the numbers weren’t much different than they had been earlier that day. He took his sister’s limp hand in his. “Lissa, it’s Max. I’m here for you.”

  He thought it was odd that there weren’t a mass of doctors and nurses hovering at her bedside. He walked out into the hallway, glancing up and down the hallway but didn’t see anyone sitting around. Several people were busy at other bedsides, obviously working hard. Had they completely given up hope for his sister? Was Lissa’s condition so bad they couldn’t do anything more?

  He went back inside to sit by Lissa. Surely they’d be in soon to talk to him.

  And where was Tara? She’d told him she’d be here. Maybe she was down in the chapel praying.

  Praying. He closed his eyes on a wave of overwhelming guilt. No matter what happened, he knew Tara believed in God’s plan. In life after death. Life in heaven. Hadn’t she told him to have faith? She was probably right now praying on his sister’s behalf.

  Praying. That’s what he should have been doing, instead of going after Gary. What made him think he could play undercover cop? So he had Gary’s phone number? What good would that do him if Lissa died?

  No good at all.

  Max sank into a chair next to his sister’s bed, still clasping her hand tightly. Maybe this was his punishment for not believing in God. For not having enough faith. He’d grown up believing in heaven. But then watching Keith die, leaving a wife and children behind, and then seeing more of his men dying had made it difficult to believe. Now he knew that if Lissa was going to die he wanted her soul to be saved.

  If it wasn’t too late.

  Humbled, he rested his forehead on Lissa’s hand. “Forgive me, Lord. Forgive me for losing faith. For not believing. Please forgive Lissa, as well. She didn’t mean to stray.”

  He hadn’t meant to stray from the church, either. All this time, he’d lashed out at God when really, he hadn’t admitted his own guilt. As if he could have changed the outcome of Keith’s death? If only he had realized God’s will far surpassed his own.

  Keith’s death wasn’t his fault. God had chosen to bring Keith to heaven. The way he had now chosen Lissa.

  Finally a nurse came into the room, startling him from his prayers. “Hello, my name is Jennifer. I’m Melissa’s nurse for the evening.”

  He scowled at her, Jennifer was far too cheerful considering the dire circumstances. “I got a phone call that Lissa’s condition took a turn for the worse. What happened?”

  Jennifer frowned. “Took a turn for the worse? No, not that I’m aware of. When was that? I started my shift at 7:00 p.m., and she’s been doing fine since I arrived. In fact, Dr. Kappel’s notes say he’s planning to wean her from all the medications in the morning.”

  Perplexed, he stared at her. He hadn’t misunderstood Tara’s message. “But I don’t understand.” Suddenly his phone rang. Jennifer frowned at him when he glanced at the screen.

  Tara.

  “I’m sorry, but you can’t use cell phones in here,” Jennifer said. He ignored her. Something was wrong. Tara had left him a message about his sister being worse, but he belatedly realized he had no other missed calls from the hospital. A chill of apprehension snaked down his spine.

  “Tara? What’s going on? Where are you?”

  “Hi, Max.” Her voice sounded strange. “Gary wants me to say hello. Don’t come,” she suddenly said urgently, talking so fast the words ran together. “It’s a trap! Don’t come…” The last word was punctuated by a sharp scream.

  The phone went dead.

  THIRTEEN

  Tara gasped. The sharp pain on her cheek where Gary had cut her with the knife had been far worse than she’d expected. Blinking away tears, Tara cowered in the corner, holding her bound hands over her burning cheek. A trail of blood dripped down her neck, soaking the collar of her sweater.

  He ripped the phone from her hands, opened it and pressed the speed dial. “I have your little girlfriend here,” Gary said to Max, having ripped the phone from her hands. “If you want her to live, you’ll do exactly as I say. Understand?”

  There was a pause as Max responded.

  “Yeah, I thought so.” Satisfaction surged in Gary’s tone, and his face was pulled into that eerie lopsided smile. “Here’s the deal. You’re going to meet me. Alone. You get one chance. Don’t mess it up. Because if I see anyone who even smells like a cop, I’ll kill her.”

  Another pause.

  “Don’t hurt her?” Gary laughed maliciously. “Trust me, your sister’s condition is going to look healthy compared to what I’ll do to your girlfriend if you don’t follow my orders. Don’t even try to mess with me. I’ll call you back in exactly one hour.”

  Tara pressed her eyes closed, wishing Max would just hang up on Gary. But she knew he wouldn’t. He’d willingly risk his life for her. He’d done it before outside the veterinary hospital, hadn’t he?

  He’d come to her rescue. Even though he had to know Gary didn’t plan on allowing either of them to survive.

  Max was too honorable to walk away.

  When Gary hung up her phone, he fiddled with the controls for a minute and then shut it off. Bracing herself for the worst, she looked up at him.

  “Now I’ve got him,” Gary gloated. He stuck her cell phone into his pocket and then began to pace the length of the small cabin. “He thinks he’s so smart. Lieutenant Forrester? Thinks he can get promoted and arrest me? As if I did something wrong? I’m the one who’s been scarred for life. What makes him so special? It’s about time the lieutenant gets what he deserves.”

  Gary became more and more agitated, increasing his pace and mumbling unintelligibly. With the wall against her back, Tara pulled herself together. Her cheek didn’t hurt that bad, but it was a prelude to something worse. She glanced around, seeking some way to escape. She wasn’t just worried about herself. Somehow she had to prevent Max from giving up his life for hers.

  The rustic cabin didn’t offer a lot of options as far as weapons to defend herself. The small wooden table a
nd two chairs maybe, if she could lift them over her head. But not very practical. There weren’t any fireplace tools, like a sharp poker or even an ax, near the woodpile. There might be utensils in the drawers someplace, but no doubt Gary would get to her before she found anything useful.

  Turning her body slightly, to hide what she was doing, she smoothed her bound hands across the rough surface of the log-lined walls. Even a long splinter of wood would be better than nothing.

  “He’s going to pay for what he’s done to me.” Gary’s voice dripped with fevered hatred. He still clutched the knife in his hand as he paced, the blade stained with her blood. “He’s going to be sorry. I’m going to make him pay.”

  As she listened to his ramblings, she understood Gary’s obsession was worse than she’d realized.

  His thirst for revenge was insanely irrational.

  Her fingers stumbled across something sticking out from between two logs. A nail? She didn’t dare take her eyes from Gary but began to work on the nail, trying to wiggle it out from the log, even though there wasn’t much more than a half inch protruding from the wood.

  “He’s going to watch while I hurt her. He’s going to suffer. And when he begs me to let her live, I’ll laugh in his face.” Suddenly, Gary spun toward her. Her fingers froze on the nail, still partially imbedded in the wall.

  She gasped when he thrust the knife in her face, the tip of the blade pricking her skin. His foul breath made her gag. “You’re going to die tonight. He’s not going to beat me. Not this time. I hope you’re prepared to die.”

  Instinctively, she shrank back against the wall, unable to tear her gaze from the threatening tip of the knife. She’d never been this close to instant death before. A metallic taste of fear coated her tongue. Gary’s eyes were wild, his face twisted with hatred. She braced herself for another sharp swing of the knife.

  Pure fear rushed over her, overwhelming her.

  Her body trembled, and she couldn’t breathe as she strained against the duct tape wrapped around her wrists. Tears of despair filled her eyes. He was going to cut her right now. Torture her. This couldn’t be happening. She didn’t want to die like this. She wasn’t ready to die! There had to be a way to escape. There had to be.