29

This mother fucker ! First it was walls, then it was bouncy house balloon walls, now he was just chucking things at me. Bats, chairs he picked up from the hallway, sand—anything and everything he could think of on the fly, apparently. Some of it nearly hit me, one of them I had to deflect with my arm—which fucking smarted—and I was all out of patience with this bastard.

Gonzalez had joined in on the chase about five minutes ago and was sprinting as madly as I was. He’d said something about Marc having Jon, so I wasn’t worried about where my fiancé had gotten off to, but I was determined to bring this to an end.

We left the building through an open doorway, Chad running into the woods. This place had been abandoned for so long, the place was ringed with trees and dense underbrush. It would slow him down, sure, but it would also be harder to chase after him. I did not need to be running through Georgia woods, where ticks abounded, thank you very much.

Gonzalez abruptly stopped, pulled his gun up, and fired off two shots. They landed right next to the perp’s head, hitting bark, and I had to admire the shot. Damn, he was good.

Chad abruptly stopped as well, catching himself on a slender sapling, panting hard. He was dripping sweat, his black hoodie sticking to him, and he was clearly out of juice. Both psychically and physically. Otherwise, he’d still be chucking things at me.

“Listen, I’m really tired of chasing you,” Gonzalez informed him flatly. “You make me chase you any more than this, I aim for your leg next.”

Chad straightened, taking off his hat and throwing it forcefully to the ground. Then he turned, glaring at us. He did not look great. Kinda like a druggie who was in need of rehab, six months of decent meals, and a long shower.

“You have no right to do this!” He threw his hands out wide. “Fine, I’m trespassing, but you don’t have to do this!”

“Dude.” I couldn’t believe my ears. “You really think we’re chasing you this hard because of trespassing ?”

He faltered at my question. Then all color drained from his face. I could tell he’d put the pieces together.

“We’re here because you’ve kidnapped and held captive Tylesia Evans.” Gonzalez was still in the no-fucks-to-give mode. “Put your hands on your head and walk toward me slowly. You’re under arrest.”

Idiot tried to bluff his way out of this. “What? Who’s Tylesia—”

“Don’t start with me, asshole. We know damn well she’s here. The best Tracer in the country told us you have her here.”

“You shoot me, I don’t tell you where she is!”

Wow, he sure changed tunes in a heartbeat there. I just rolled my eyes. Like we couldn’t find her. It wasn’t going to be hard.

“Gonzalez, cuffs?”

He took them out of his handcuff case with his free hand and passed them over to me.

Seeing the action, Chad protested louder. “I mean it! You cuff me, I don’t tell you where she is!”

“Dude, don’t be more stupid than you already have been.” I approached steadily, making sure I wasn’t in Gonzalez’s sights. “There’s not even roofs and doors on most of this place. You’ve put her in a place with a door on it. It’s not rocket science.”

His face fell. Like, I seriously think before I pointed it out, Chad hadn’t thought about that. Not the brightest crayon in the box, was he?

I slapped cuffs on him, and even though he tugged a little on my grip, he wasn’t really fighting me. More like a silent protest. Tough shit, dude. I do not care if you don’t like cuffs. Not after what you did to two innocent people.

“Havili, secure?”

“Secure,” I assured Gonzalez.

“Good. I’m calling Marc, then.” He fished out his phone from his pocket.

I heard sirens in the distance, and for a second, I almost dismissed them. But the longer I listened, the more I realized they were heading this direction. Did we have backup coming? I mean, we’d need a forensics team anyway, just to provide evidence in the trial.

“Hey, mi amor . How’s— Oh, so that is our backup? No, we’ve got him. Havili’s got a firm grip on him, too.”

You’re damn right I did. I wasn’t chasing this guy anymore tonight.

Gonzalez’s expression lit up. “You found her? All right! How is she? Well, yeah, I’d be mad as hell too. Sure, sure, let’s walk toward the front. I’ll meet you there.”

Chad slumped in my grip as all the fight went out of him. He didn’t resist as I escorted him toward the main road. He apparently realized that with Tylesia found, there was nothing he could say or do to get out of this situation. He was absolutely correct. In fact, a judge and jury would throw this guy under the prison after what he did. Don’t get me wrong, kidnapping a person and holding them captive was bad enough on a regular basis. But doing so with an anchor and framing her psychic for her supposed murder? The population as a whole had a very romantic notion of what an anchor-slash-psychic bond was. It was like telling someone Cinderella was stolen from Prince Charming after they were married and she was kept away from him, all while painting Prince Charming as the villain. Outrage was incoming on a bullet train.

Normally people like Chad got years in prison. But honestly, considering the severity of his crime, I wouldn’t be surprised if he got either life or execution for this.

I’d try to feel bad about that later.

By the time we made it to where we’d parked our cars, Marc and Jon were already there. The backup FBI agents were scattering already, pulling out boundary tape, and the forensic guys were hauling their equipment out of their van. They were certainly not wasting any time.

I saw Jon and felt a sense of relief. I mean, I knew Marc would protect him if it came down to that, but I always felt better when I had eyes on Jon. It was a thing.

Next to him, though, was a petite woman who looked rough around the edges. It took me a second, as initially her back was to me, then I realized—this was Tylesia Evans. Wow, she was up on her feet and moving fine? She was one resilient woman.

The second he saw her, Chad started babbling.

“Tye, Tye, you have to talk to them.”

She turned, spotted him, and her face hardened. Now, I’d seen anger and righteous fury on a woman’s face before. Usually walking into a typhoon was safer than coming anywhere near her. And here the typhoon was walking toward me. Yikes, uh, someone help? Pretty sure she wasn’t mad at me, but still, I did not want to be in the blast radius.

Chad, being stupid, kept talking. “Tell them I brought you here because I love you, I just wanted to love you, and you were fighting with me—”

Tye reared back, fist clenching, and then slammed her fist right into his nose. It was an excellent straight punch. I admired its form and execution.

“You motherfucking asshole ,” she snarled. “I hope you rot in prison and someone makes you their bitch. I hope you feel every bit of the agony you put me through. Death is too good for you. The only words I’ll speak of you will be ones of pure, unadulterated hate, and I’ll make sure the entire world knows just what kind of person you are.”

Chad’s nose was bleeding freely, but I didn’t think the tears in his eyes were because of pain. He looked heartbroken that she hated him so much.

Oh. My. God. I stared at him, absolutely without words. Dude, you locked her up and forced a broken anchor connection, and you’re surprised she hates your guts? Was he hoping for Stockholm Syndrome or something to kick in? He must have been.

“I do not want to even breathe the same air as you.” She turned and gestured for the nearest FBI agent. “Ma’am, lock his ass up.”

The agent grinned and came at a trot. “With absolute pleasure.”

“Thank you.”

Chad was marched off to one of the cars. He was still shell-shocked and bleeding. No one had any sympathy for him.

Seeing as how Tylesia was obviously coherent, I thought it best to offer something. “Ma’am, I’m Donovan Havili, Jon’s anchor.”

Her eyes came back to me and softened. “Jon told me you were here, how everyone has worked for weeks to find me. Thank you, Mr. Havili.”

“You are more than welcome. Would you like to call home? I have your parents’ phone numbers.”

Her eyes turned abruptly bright with tears. “I would like that very much.”

I pulled out my phone and unlocked it, then found her mother’s contact before hitting dial. Then I passed it over.

She put it to her ear, staying close. The call was answered almost immediately and with her so close, I could hear it easily.

“ Donovan, what’s the news ?”

Tylesia’s voice wavered. “Mama?”

A sharp intake of breath and then Serena screamed, “ TYE ?!”

“Yeah. They found me. They found me.” Tylesia was openly crying now, but her smile was breathtaking in its joy. “They have that rotten bastard in cuffs, too.”

“ Oh my god, baby, are you all right ?”

“I will be now. I mean, I want a shower, a full day in a spa, and a week of just being with you guys, but I’m all right.”

“ Of course you are. You’re my daughter. Where are you, Tye ? We’ll come get you right now .”

“I…” She cast about, then looked at me askance. “I have no idea where I am.”

“Put it on speaker,” I encouraged her.

She promptly did so, leaving the phone in the palm of her hand.

“Hi, Mrs. Evans.”

“ Donovan Havili, I could kiss you for finding my little girl. ”

“I don’t think Jon would mind too much.” I laughed. “She really is okay. We’re dead center of Atlanta, at the abandoned old Prison Farm. I’ll text you the address in a minute. If you’d like, you can join us down here at the hotel we’re in. It’s a long drive for you guys, after all.”

“ Sounds marvelous, let’s do that. Tye, what can I bring you ?”

“My family, to start. But please, Mama, bring me fresh clothes? I’m deathly sick of everything here. And I’m dying to have my phone back.”

“ We didn’t get rid of a single thing of yours, don’t worry. We’ll pack up and be gone within an hour. Donovan, you shoot me the address for the hotel, and I’ll make arrangements to have a room there. And let’s all have breakfast together in the morning .”

“Yes, ma’am. That sounds wonderful. If you want, you can keep talking to Tye for a while. I’ve got to check in with Jon.”

“ I don’t want to get off the phone just yet. Tye, let me tell you all that happened while you were gone .”

“Yes, please! And tell me Dwayne’s okay. I know our bond tearing apart like that had to hurt.”

“ Oh, baby, that’s sadly not even the worst of it. ”

“Oh, Dwayne’s calling! Hold on, I’m adding him to the call.”

I wasn’t surprised Dwayne was calling. I was sure he’d felt the bond snap back into place, what that meant, and called me immediately. Fortunately, he got to speak to the person he really wanted. The thought made me grin.

I walked away and let them talk. Tylesia had been in an information blackout for months. Just wait until she learned all that had happened to her brother. Her anger would turn apocalyptic after, I had no doubt. She might try to kill Chad herself, and who could blame her? He must have been quite graphic in his description of how much her brother suffered with their bond ‘broken,’ although why he’d done that, I did not know. It certainly didn’t help his case.

I trotted over to Jon, who turned to welcome me with a smile. He was proud of himself, as he should be, because he had unraveled one hell of a cold case. This one was going into the history books for sure.

“Tye talking to parents?” Jon guessed.

“Yup, her mom and Dwayne. They’re going to come down here and fetch her home again.”

“I do not blame them. I’d do the same.” Jon nodded, satisfied. “We did good here, babe.”

“We did super good. You going into interrogation tonight?”

“Yeah. I’m too curious to not get some answers, and I want this all on record before leaving.”

“Fair enough. Let’s hear what the asshole has to say for himself.”

Jon grimaced while looking around. “Whatever it is, he’s not going to be able to justify this .”

I snorted. “No. No, that he will not.”