CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER TWELVE

The next afternoon, April hung up the phone and sat back in her office chair with a sigh. Jack had called to let her know the meeting he and the other guys were attending with the town council, their attorney, and the insurance company about the ropes course they wanted to build on the outskirts of town was running late, so he might not make it back to the office before five.

Jack’s Lumber had bought a parcel of land not too far from Newton, and they had big plans to make it a recreational destination for tourists and locals and also a retreat for businesses where they would emphasize teamwork and trust. And the best part, at least in April’s eyes, was that in the winter, it could be transformed into a play area. With sledding hills, tubing runs, and even an area where handicapped children—and adults, for that matter—could get in on the fun in a safe, friendly environment.

April was incredibly proud of Riggs, Chappy, and Jack. Instead of dismissing Bob’s need for excitement—the reason he’d been working with the FBI on very dangerous rescue missions behind everyone’s backs—they’d embraced it, working with him to come up with ways he could be content here in Newton and still get the adrenaline rush he craved every now and then.

Jack had sounded tired on the phone, but also excited about the opportunities. Jack’s Lumber was doing well financially, but there were only so many trees they could remove for developers and only so far they could go as a business with smaller jobs. The course was a great way to build a legacy for the children of their friends and keep the guys involved in the community.

It had been four weeks since April’s accident, and while she’d hated what happened to her and it had been extremely scary, she was more than thrilled with how it had jump-started her and Jack’s relationship. She was a bit worried that they’d jumped into being together too quickly. April hadn’t gone back to her apartment since the fateful night she’d gotten her memory back . . . but she didn’t miss it.

How could she when Jack had moved practically all her stuff to his house? She was making plans with her landlord to break the lease and didn’t feel even a twinge of concern about moving in with the man she’d loved secretly for years.

He was everything she’d ever wanted in a relationship. No, things weren’t always smooth, they were two adults who were used to living on their own, but there was no comparing her relationship with Jack to what she’d had when she was married.

For one, Jack always seemed excited to see her, whether they’d been apart for two minutes or ten hours. They shared the responsibilities around the house. He didn’t expect her to do all the cooking, cleaning, laundry, and everything else typically thought of as “women’s work.” Just as she didn’t expect him to always deal with garbage or the yard or any other male-associated tasks. They were a team, working together to get things done, and it felt amazing.

But it wasn’t just that, of course. It was how Jack made her feel. As if she was the most important person in his life. When she talked, he looked her in the eye and listened, and they could talk about everything from intellectual subjects like space travel and what it might look like in the future to ridiculous topics . . . such as whether the spider who’d made a home on their front porch would like the name Eric or Thomas better.

He made her laugh, and she couldn’t wait to see him at the end of every day, something she couldn’t have said about James toward the end of their marriage. He also took care of her better than she took care of herself, paying attention to the smallest details.

April had no clue why she’d ever thought she and Jack wouldn’t be a good idea. Of course, things were still new, and there was a possibility they wouldn’t work out in the end, but she worried less about that with each passing day. Now that they’d both admitted their feelings for one another, she was confident they’d be together for the long haul.

And then there was the sex.

She’d be the first person to claim there was more to a successful relationship than sex. But Lord, Jack was good at it. He always made sure she came first. He made her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world in bed, when she knew that definitely wasn’t the case. And he had the ability to turn her into someone she didn’t even recognize. Someone passionate, almost desperately so at times.

She loved Jack so much and couldn’t imagine her life without him. He was smart, extremely loyal to those he cared about, intense, protective, very hardworking, sometimes absent minded when he was involved in a task, kind of messy, and a cautious driver, and when he did let himself go, his laugh was contagious.

In short, Jackson Justice was even better than April could’ve imagined, and she felt like the luckiest woman alive. She’d do everything in her power to be someone he could rely on and be proud of.

The buzzer on the back door made April jump in surprise, tearing her out of her inner musings. She snort-laughed under her breath. She’d been so lost in her head, thinking about Jack, that a UFO could’ve landed outside the front door and she probably wouldn’t have noticed.

She wasn’t sure who was out back, as they weren’t expecting any deliveries today, but she pushed her chair away from the desk to go greet whoever it was anyway.

As April unlocked the back door, she had an easy smile on her face.

That smile died when the man standing there—holding on to June’s upper arm—pointed a pistol in her face and growled, “Back up. Now.”

Surprised, April quickly did as ordered, stumbling backward, her brain trying to comprehend what was happening. The man entered Jack’s Lumber and slammed the door behind him. He smiled then, a scary, evil twisting of his lips, as he said, “Hello, April. I’m glad to see you doing so well after your accident.”

His words were polite, but the insinuation behind them made her skin crawl.

April tilted her head and tried to place where she’d seen the guy. Then it hit her. “You’ve been here before. You came in, inquiring about hiring Jack’s Lumber for a job.”

“Yes,” he said without seeming concerned that she recognized him.

Even though April’s memory had mostly returned a couple of weeks ago, she still got flashes of things that had happened in the past five years now and then, things she hadn’t immediately recalled. Most of them were trivial, and the doctor said her brain was still healing, so he wouldn’t be surprised if she continued to have small flashbacks for weeks to come.

She had one that very moment, as she stared at the man who seemed familiar for more than one reason.

Gasping, April said, “You were there.”

His eyes gleamed at her words. “At your accident? I was.”

“The black truck,” April whispered. “You saw it all but drove away without helping me.”

“Why would I help you? I didn’t cause your accident, but it made me happy all the same.”

April’s stomach lurched. Who said things like that?

“Here’s the thing . . . I’ve been waiting a very long time for this day. Years, in fact.”

“I don’t understand,” April whispered, terror making her mind feel sluggish, in turn making it difficult to think.

“You will in time.”

“Who are you? What do you want? We don’t keep money here.”

He chuckled. “I don’t want money,” he informed her. Then he shook the pistol he hadn’t stopped pointing at her and said, “I want you to text Carlise and Marlowe. Tell them you need them to come here.”

Horror made April recoil. “No!” she exclaimed. There was no way she was going to get her friends involved in whatever was happening here. It was bad enough seeing June’s pale face and the tears in her eyes.

The man with the gun tsked in his throat and shrugged. Then he turned toward June, who’d been silent the entire time, and jammed the pistol into her belly, making her grunt with pain. “You want to reconsider?” he asked with narrowed eyes.

Nausea churned in April’s stomach. She swallowed the bile that made its way up her throat. She could handle violence toward herself. But even not knowing this man or what he wanted, she had no doubt he’d do what he threatened. He’d shoot June in the stomach and kill her unborn child. The evil and emptiness in his eyes confirmed that without a doubt.

“Please don’t hurt her,” she whispered, hating how helpless she felt.

“Text them,” the man said in a low, menacing tone as he gestured to her hand with his head.

It wasn’t until right that second that April realized she had her cell phone in her grip. Hope soared briefly. Maybe she could pretend to be texting one of the other women and she could call 9-1-1 instead.

But the man got close enough to see the phone in her hand, yanking June along with him. “Hold it out so I can see what you’re typing,” he told her.

With the man so close, there was no way she could do anything but what he ordered. For a second, she thought about trying to overpower him. There were two of them, she and June, and only one of him. He wasn’t very tall, only around five-eight or so, but he was fairly muscular. And he had crazy on his side.

At a loss as to the best course of action, April hesitated. Chappy and Bob would never forgive her for getting their wives involved in whatever was happening, but she didn’t know what else to do! According to Jack, the guys would be tied up with their meeting for a couple more hours yet. She wasn’t expecting anyone to stop by. She couldn’t stall for hours, not with the look of determination in the man’s eyes. Whatever he was planning, he’d come here obviously knowing he had time to get it done.

She hesitated too long. The guy swung his hand and hit June in the face with the gun.

She cried out and fell to the floor like a stone. The man didn’t let her stay there. He hauled her up with one hand and hit her again. This time, he left her crumpled on the floor, holding her face with one hand and her pregnant belly with the other.

April was horrified for a single moment . . . then she was outraged. This man dared to touch her friend. Hit her twice!

Clarity struck. He wasn’t bluffing. He’d kill June without a second thought—but he hadn’t yet.

That meant he needed them. As long as they did what he said, he’d keep them alive. And the longer they were breathing, the more time Jack and the others would have to save them.

April had lived through her friends’ worst days. June being shot, Carlise being buried underground in an avalanche, and Marlowe almost dying of strangulation. She’d always wondered how she’d react if she were in a similar situation and had figured she’d be a basket case. Would cry and fall apart completely.

But no. At this moment, determination swam in her veins. No one had the right to do what this man was doing. She didn’t know what his endgame was, but she’d play along and not give him the satisfaction of knowing she was afraid. That deep inside, she was screaming and crying and curled into a useless little ball.

“Don’t hit her again,” she said in an even tone she barely recognized. “I’ll text Carlise and Marlowe.”

“Do it,” the man growled, pointing the gun down at June’s stomach. The bastard was holding all the cards at the moment. And he knew it.

She quickly sent a separate text to her friends. She kept it short, saying she needed them at Jack’s Lumber and to come to the back door as fast as they could get here.

April wasn’t surprised when both women immediately said they were on their way. That was the kind of friends they were. If someone needed something, they’d all drop everything to get to them.

Her nausea hadn’t dissipated. If anything, it was worse now than before. But April stood tall and glared at the man as he smirked at her and pocketed her cell phone.

Time seemed to crawl as they waited for Carlise and Marlowe to arrive. April had never hoped for a flat tire, or one of their cars to be out of gas, or something, more in all her life.

But when the first knock came on the back door, she knew her prayers had been for nothing.

“Open it,” the man ordered. When April hesitated, he pulled back his foot as if to kick June, and April quickly said, “I’m going! Don’t hurt her.”

Feeling as if her shoes were filled with concrete, she walked to the door and opened it. Carlise was there with a worried look on her face. “Are you all right? I came as soon as I could.”

April stepped back—and saw the moment Carlise spotted the man with the gun. “What the heck?”

“Come in and join the party,” the man said, again with that disgusting smile on his face.

For a moment, Carlise looked as if she was going to turn and run—but the man simply turned to June and fired the gun.

To April’s surprise, it wasn’t that loud, and only then did she realize he had some sort of silencer on the end of the weapon.

Carlise screeched in surprise, and April’s heart nearly stopped.

But he hadn’t hit June. He’d fired into the floor right next to her.

“Get in here or the next bullet goes into her belly,” the man threatened.

Carlise stepped inside the door, and April shut it behind her.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered to her friend.

But Carlise didn’t seem to hear. Her eyes were fixated on the small hole in the floor the bullet had created.

“Now we wait for the last one to arrive, and we can go.”

Go? Go where? But April didn’t ask. She didn’t think the man would answer her anyway.

“Please, can Carlise go to June?” April asked instead.

“No.”

“She’s bleeding. It’s not going to change anything that’s going to happen if you let her help her,” April cajoled.

The man stared at her for a beat before nodding once. “All right. But no funny business. Otherwise, the next bullet goes through a baby’s head.”

April hated this man more with every word out of his mouth, but she didn’t let any of her feelings show on her face. “Go on,” she told Carlise, nudging her. “Go check on June.”

Carlise was nearly as far along as June, only a month or so behind in her pregnancy, and she was at the point where her belly seemed to protrude more with every day that passed. She also had started to waddle a bit when she walked. Just the other day, the two women were making fun of their awkward movements.

But now, when Carlise walked with her head held high toward June, April couldn’t have been more proud. Carlise was obviously scared and confused. She’d walked into a situation in which she had no idea what was happening, but she was doing her best to hold on to her composure.

April watched as she managed to get to her knees next to June, pulling her into a long hug. Then she used the sleeve of her shirt to dab at the blood on June’s forehead from where she’d been struck.

“What’s your name?” April asked quietly, still standing by the door. If she could get this man to see her and the others as humans, not as objects for whatever nefarious plans he’d concocted, maybe she could squeeze an ounce of compassion out of him.

“Ryan Johnson.”

April blinked. The name was so . . . ordinary. She wasn’t sure what kind of name she’d expected from someone so evil, but it wasn’t that.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ryan,” she said from lips that felt numb.

He laughed. Loudly. A sound that grated on April’s nerves. “No, it’s not. You don’t mean a word of that. And I know what you’re doing. It won’t work. Your path is set. Nothing you say or do will change the outcome. No matter how hard you try to humanize yourself and your friends, you’re all just pawns in this game.”

“Does that mean you’ll let us go?”

He smiled, and it was anything but comforting. “If you do what I tell you and don’t cause me problems, you and the brats you carry in your wombs will live to get to our next destination.”

That didn’t sound good to April. She swallowed her fear and asked, “And where’s that?”

But a knock on the door sounded before Ryan could answer . . . not that April thought he’d really tell her where he was planning on taking them.

“Let her in,” Ryan said, turning and pointing the gun at June and now Carlise, who were huddled together on the floor.

Taking a deep breath, April reluctantly opened the door for Marlowe.

“Hey, girl, what’s up?”

And just like Carlise, Marlowe saw Ryan in the room and the other two girls on the floor, and her eyes got huge.

“Get in here,” Ryan told her in a harsh tone.

This time, it was April who considered running out the open door. She could move much faster than her pregnant friends. She could get help. But almost as soon as she had the thought, she dismissed it. Ryan might very likely shoot someone in retaliation if she left. She couldn’t live with herself if that happened.

So she calmly shut the door behind Marlowe and waited to see what he did next.

It didn’t take long. Ryan leaned down and grabbed June by the arm once more. She whimpered as he hauled her to her feet. Carlise awkwardly managed to get to her feet as well. Ryan jammed the barrel of the gun back into June’s belly and said, “This is what’s going to happen now. You’re going to give me your cell phones, and then you’re all going to walk outside, nice and calm, and get into my vehicle. If you speak, or scream, or do anything to draw any attention to yourselves, I’ll shoot the fetus. Understand?”

Everyone stared at him, unmoving.

“Understand?” he yelled.

Quickly, everyone nodded.

“Good,” he said in a normal tone once more.

The man was unhinged, and April realized once again how much trouble they were all in.

“If you do what I tell you, you’ll be fine,” he said in an almost gentle voice. “You aren’t my concern. You’re all just a means to an end. So be good girls, and you and your unborn brats will stay alive. Defy me, try to escape, or be a pain in my ass, and I’ll use your bellies for target practice. You might live, but your babies will not. Got it?”

Everyone nodded once more.

Marlowe and Carlise handed over their phones, and April assumed Ryan had already confiscated June’s. She prayed that he didn’t understand the phones could be tracked and he’d leave them on, but she had a feeling he was way ahead of them where that was concerned. That the phones wouldn’t help their men, or the police, find them.

April hated the looks of fear on her friends’ faces. There was nothing she could do to help them. They were all equally helpless.

“Open the door, April,” Ryan said.

She wondered how in the hell this man knew her name, and the names of her friends, but supposed it didn’t matter at the moment.

She opened the door and watched as her three friends shuffled through.

“Lock it behind us,” Ryan told her, and April did as requested. She knew the front door was still open, and if anyone came by and found the place unlocked and empty, maybe they’d notify the police or call one of the guys. She had to hold on to that hope.

Ryan led them over to a black pickup truck, the same one April had finally remembered driving off from the scene of her accident. This time, there was an enclosed trailer attached to the back.

“No,” Carlise whispered in horror.

“Open it,” Ryan ordered April.

She knew Carlise was remembering the hole in the ground where she’d taken refuge when the avalanche had almost buried her alive. She still struggled with small, dark spaces as a result. But again, none of them had any choice at the moment.

She opened the back of the trailer and peered inside. It was completely empty except for a bucket in one corner. The ramifications of what that bucket was for made her previous resolve to be strong waver.

“Get in,” Ryan ordered.

April saw the defiance spark in both Marlowe and Carlise. And it scared the hell out of her. She and June had already witnessed the violence their kidnapper was capable of.

Even as April shook her head subtly at her friends, Marlowe suddenly went flying forward. She fell to her knees right behind the trailer, her head whipping forward with the momentum and smacking the metal floor of the oversize box.

April turned in time to see Ryan’s foot lowering to the ground. The monster had kicked Marlowe in the back! Quickly moving to help her friend, April couldn’t help but wince at the scrape marks on Marlowe’s pants and the huge bump that was already forming on her forehead.

“Get in,” Ryan ordered again.

Without a choice, the women did as they were told.

The sound of the doors closing behind them echoed in April’s head. They all heard the unmistakable sound of a lock being clicked shut, and the pitch dark seemed to close in like a malevolent fog.

Someone whimpered, and it snapped April away from the pit of despair she’d been in danger of tumbling into.

“Come here, you guys,” she said softly, bracing herself on the side of the trailer. She heard shuffling as the others moved. The second she felt someone brush against her, she gently grabbed hold of an arm. Within seconds, the four of them were standing in a huddle, their arms around each other and their bodies shaking with fear and shock.

The sudden movement of the trailer almost sent them all to the ground. “Sit, everyone, so we don’t fall.”

They moved as one, not willing to let go of each other.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” April said as the trailer began to move faster.

“No, I’m sorry,” June sniffed. “He came to my house, and I opened the door. I knew better! After everything that happened to me, I shouldn’t have answered the door when Cal wasn’t there, especially when I wasn’t expecting anyone.”

“It’s not your fault,” April soothed. “How could you know an insane asshole would kidnap you?”

“June, are you all right?” Carlise asked.

“I think so,” June answered. “It hurts.”

“What does?” Marlowe asked.

“Everything. My arm where he grabbed me and hauled me around. My head where he pistol-whipped me. My hip where I fell.”

April closed her eyes, which was stupid, as it was just as black whether they were open or shut, but somehow she felt that by closing her eyes, she could block out the pain she heard in her friend’s voice.

“What the hell is happening?” Marlowe whispered.

“The buzzer on the back door sounded, and when I went to answer it, the guy was there with his gun on June. I never would’ve done what he asked and texted you guys if he hadn’t struck June and pointed his gun at her belly,” April told her friends.

“We know,” Carlise said, and April felt an arm tighten around her waist. “But where is he taking us? Why?”

“I have no idea,” April admitted. “But I’ve seen him before. He came into Jack’s Lumber before I got my memories back.”

Before anyone could reply, the trailer bounced as they picked up speed, and April winced as she thought about how June might be feeling as they were all jostled about.

The longer they drove, the colder it got inside the uninsulated trailer. The floor was uncomfortable, and April knew the three pregnant women would be even more miserable than she was herself.

As they drove toward an uncertain fate, one by one, the women around April broke down. They began to cry and tremble even harder. But April’s eyes were dry. She was just as scared as the others. Just as freaked out. But she was also furious. This Ryan guy had no right to do what he was doing! She had no idea what his problem was, but taking them, threatening her friends’ unborn children, was downright sadistic, and April was going to do everything in her power to screw with Ryan’s plan—whatever it was.

“Listen, ladies. Listen hard. We’re going to get out of this.”

“You don’t know that,” Marlowe whispered.

“I do,” April said, her confidence and anger rising with every word that came out of her mouth.

“How?” June asked.

“Carlise, when you were missing in that avalanche, Chappy wouldn’t stop until he found you. He dug through that snow with his bare hands, ripping them to shreds and not caring one bit about his own pain. His only goal was to get to you.

“And June, when you were shot, I’d never seen a man so determined to make the people who’d ordered that hit pay dearly. When he wasn’t at your side at the hospital, he was on the phone, using every contact at his disposal to make sure you got justice.

“Marlowe, Bob broke you out of a freaking prison. You told us all about how he refused to let your body touch that nasty drainage water, and how he slept in dirty straw, despite the gouges on his back, so you wouldn’t have to. Do you guys really think our men will sit back and wait for someone else to find us? Do you think they’ll not do everything in their power to get us back?”

“But how?” Carlise asked, repeating June’s question in a quivering tone.

“I don’t know. But they’ll do it. Jack told me he’d never let anyone hurt me. I believe him. We just have to stay strong,” she said firmly. “We can’t fall apart. We have to stay alert, observe what’s going on around us, catalog it all, so when the time comes we’ll have the information we need to either save ourselves or help our men save us. Understand?”

There were sniffs from the women still huddled together around her, but they all agreed.

“And we have to take care of each other. No keeping secrets. If you’re hurting, speak up. If you’re about to lose it, let us know, and we’ll hold you until you feel strong enough to keep going. We need to keep each other warm, comfortable, and calm. We need to trust each other,” April went on.

“Ryan’s going to want us to fall apart. I have a feeling he’ll delight in scaring us and seeing our tears. We can’t let him get to us. But we can’t do anything stupid either. We have to do what he tells us to do, to protect ourselves and our babies.”

April heard someone take a deep breath, then Carlise said, “You’re right. We can do this. We’re tough bitches. Look what we’ve already lived through.”

“Yeah,” Marlowe agreed.

April waited for June to speak, and when she didn’t, she prompted, “June?”

“I’m scared,” the other woman whispered.

“I know. I am too,” April told her.

“You don’t sound like it,” she argued.

April let out a snort. “I’m terrified, but at the moment, I’m more mad. Mad at this jerk who used my love for my friends against me. Against all of us. Mad that a psychopath was able to get a gun. Mad at lawmakers, mad at the people who made the stupid door at Jack’s Lumber without a peephole. I’m even a little mad at our guys for being in a meeting when we needed them most, however irrational that sounds. I’m mad at the entire freaking world—and right now, that anger is getting me through. Have no doubt that I’m scared, June, but I’m trying to channel what I know our guys will be thinking and feeling. They’re going to turn over every rock to find us. And they’ll make this Ryan asshole pay.”

“What if he’s got people helping him?” Carlise asked.

“Then our guys will make them pay too,” April said without hesitation.

“I’m having cramps,” June said in a voice so soft, it was almost inaudible.

“What?” Marlowe asked.

“I think they’re cramps . . . but what if they’re not? What if I’m losing the baby? Or . . . going into labor?”

For the first time, April’s bubble of anger deflated slightly, and she almost panicked. First, it was a little too soon for June’s baby to be here, but second . . . she couldn’t have a baby in the middle of whatever fucked-up situation this was. They didn’t have any drugs or doctors, nothing to make sure her little boy was born healthy.

She took a breath. No. She couldn’t panic. Her friends were relying on her to be the strong one. She was the den mother; she had to act like it.

“Take a deep breath,” April ordered June. “Now another. Good. You have to stay calm. You’re here with us. We aren’t going to let anything happen to you or your baby.”

“I think I’m having contractions. What if I go into labor?” June asked.

“Then we deal with it,” April said matter-of-factly, while inside, she was freaking out.

“We’ve got this,” Carlise agreed.

“Yeah, who better to help you give birth than two women pregnant with their own kids?” Marlowe said a little shakily.

“Two pregnant women and a badass warrior woman,” Carlise said with a small laugh.

April was flattered they thought of her that way, but it also scared her. Put a lot of pressure on her. She pushed those feelings aside for now.

“Come on, let’s get more comfortable. Lie down. We can share body heat easier that way,” April said.

Everyone shifted, and April made sure to put herself against the side of the trailer. The wall rattled and was cold at her back as she curled herself around June. She placed a hand on her friend’s extended belly and swallowed hard when June covered her hand with her own. The other two women were cuddled into them as well, and as the miles passed beneath them, toward whatever destination Ryan had in mind, April closed her eyes and thought about Jack.

Find us,she thought. Please, I need you to be the badass, pissed-off boyfriend you told me you’d be if anyone ever put their hands on me.

Just thinking about Jack made her relax a little. She had no doubt, not one, that when Jack found out she and the others were missing, he’d move heaven and earth to find them. And Lord help Ryan when he did. Jack wouldn’t have any mercy . . . and since she was feeling a little bloodthirsty right about now, April was glad.