CHAPTER 31

Cassie woke suddenlyto a sharp pain on her backside, and her head was throbbing. She slowly opened her eyes to find herself outside on the hard ground, staring up at a wide open expanse of dark night sky. She tried to lift one hand, but they were both still duct-taped behind her, her mouth was still covered, too. She rolled to one side, pushing herself up into a sitting position, and more pain stabbed behind her eyes. Grains of sand flowed down her back and off her hair.

“Too bad,” Brett’s voice drawled out of the darkness. “Olga hit you so hard I was hoping I’d be able to off you while you were still unconscious.”

Cassie’s gaze swept the pale swell of dunes that surrounded them in every direction. Then she saw the shadow of Brett in front of her. The cold metal of the gun Olga had given him glinted in the starlight.

Cassie realized that he must have carried her into the sand dunes outside the state park. In the darkness, she couldn’t even see the road far below.

“You didn’t even wake up for the exciting car chase, Cassie. Your stupid boyfriend was hiding up the road from Olga’s house. When he saw me pass by, he started to chase me. But he was no match for my racing skills. I swear, it only took me like a minute to lose him,” Brett gloated. “He’s probably halfway to the next town by now.”

Cassie fought back the fear rising in her as desperation over her situation threatened to overwhelm her. The wire was gone and there was no way that Wade, Hugo, and Zack could know where she was now. If she was going to get free from this, it was going to be all up to her.

She started to make sounds behind the duct tape covering her mouth, and Brett frowned. “It’s no good, Cass. There’s literally nobody around for miles and miles,” he said. “I need to get this done and collect my massive reward.” He aimed the gun at her.

Cassie continued making sounds, and Brett sighed. “Fine, I suppose I can let you have a few last words.” He bent down to rip off the tape in one yanking pull. Cassie’s head snapped with the force of it, making the pain on the side of her head throb even harder, and red spots swam in front of her eyes.

She took in great gulps of the cool night air, steadying herself. Then she looked up at Brett. “You don’t have to do this, you know.”

“Yeah, Cassie, I do,” Brett said.

But she could detect a slight waver in his voice and she pressed it.

“You haven’t done anything yet that you can’t turn back from, Brett. Olga is the real thief here,” she continued. “I’ll bet you could get a deal, maybe even a reward, if you turn in any evidence you have against her.” As she spoke, she struggled to her feet, almost falling back down as nausea rocked through her with the movement. The stabbing pain in her head worsened, but she ignored it. Brett had remained silent, and she could see that she was starting to get through.

“If Olga’s having you do this to me, what’s going to stop her from doing the same thing to you?”

“No way,” Brett said. “She needs me. She wouldn’t be able to get this deal done without me.”

Cassie couldn’t stop a derisive laugh. “Need you? Don’t be a fool, Brett. She doesn’t need you for any of this. She’s probably plotting right now how to cut you out of the deal.”

“Shut up, Cassie!” he shouted. And the anger in his voice let Cassie know that she’d pushed him too far. “I’m not a fool. In fact, I’m wise enough to know there’s no point in wasting any more of my time talking to you.”

The gun, which he’d lowered while she’d been speaking, was once again squarely pointed at her.

Cassie had no idea what she was going to do now, only that she wasn’t going down without a fight. She took a step toward him so that the gun pressed up right beneath her collarbone.

“Okay, then,” she said, looking straight at him. “Go ahead. Pull the trigger.”

He hesitated.

“Do it!” she ordered. She was debating whether to shove him or drop down and try to sweep his legs out from under him when a series of sharp, staccato barks exploded behind her. A white ball of fluff rocketed out of the darkness, aiming straight for Brett’s ankles.

“What is it? What is it!” Brett’s voice was full of fear as Angel attacked his legs. He stumbled backward, tripping over the tiny dog and the gun flew from his hand.

Cassie spotted the dark shape as it landed against the starlit dunes and ran toward it, squatting down to pick it up with her hands still taped behind her. When she rose, she saw red-and-blue police lights flashing in the road down below. Cassie had never been so happy to see police lights in her life. She also saw four flashlights bobbing toward her over the dunes.

“Cassie!” That was Ani’s voice!

“Cassie! Are you okay?” Wade called out.

“I’m fine!” Cassie called back.

Angel continued to growl and snap at Brett, daring him to move an inch.

“I have his gun,” Cassie called out as they drew close.

A moment later, they were beside her.

Hugo took the gun. “And with your hands duct-taped behind your back? Nice work!” he said. He pulled a small knife out of his jeans pocket and cut her free.

“It wasn’t just me,” she said, rubbing at her wrists. “I had help from an Angel.”

They all looked over at the little dog who was busy circling the fallen Brett and barking nonstop.

Ani flung her arms around Cassie and sobbed into her neck.

“It’s okay, Ani,” Cassie said, hugging her back. “I’m really okay. How did you guys find me?”

“It was Hugo and me!” Ani said.

“What?” Cassie said.

“She’s right,” said Zack. “After we lost your wire connection, we drove a bit closer to the house to see if that might help the connection. Your car was still in the driveway, so we decided to wait a bit. Not long after that, a car flew past us. Wade recognized that it was Brett’s car and swore that he saw you slumped in the back seat. We called for backup to monitor Olga’s house and took off after Brett.”

“But he spotted us right away,” Wade said. “He outmaneuvered me and got away from us. At first, we had no idea how we were going to find you.”

“Then Hugo remembered something I’d told him!” Ani piped up, one arm still wrapped around Cassie.

“What was that?” Cassie asked.

“Ani taught me about the GPS feature on our cell phones, and how we could use it to check each other’s locations,” Hugo said.

“He’s such a techie whiz now!” Ani sounded proud.

Hugo laughed. “Not really, but it’s nice to be one in your eyes. Anyway, I called up Ani and she immediately located you on her cell phone.”

“So, we swung by to get her phone,” Wade said.

“And then Ani, being typical Ani,” Hugo said with a grin, “insisted on coming and refused to leave Angel alone. We didn’t have time to mess around, so we brought them both. And using her phone, we easily tracked you here.”

“Wow! You guys rock!” Cassie said, hugging Ani again.

“Don’t I know it!” Ani said, making everyone, except Brett, laugh.

“I completely forgot that I still had my cell phone in my pocket,” Cassie said, tapping the phone tucked into the back pocket of her jeans. “And thank goodness Olga and Brett didn’t think about it either!”

Ani bent down to pick up the barking Angel, while Zack and Hugo walked over to arrest Brett.

Ignoring the flurry of activity around them, Wade pulled Cassie into him, hugging her hard. After a long moment, he eased back and cupped her face in his hands. “I have never been so scared in my life.”

“Me neither,” she said.

The starlit sky behind him cast his face in shadow, so she couldn’t see his eyes. But his voice was full of emotion. “I can’t believe I let you go through with this risky plan. If I’d lost you—” his voice broke.

She reached up and laid a gentle hand against his face. “First of all, you are not allowed to use the word ‘let’ in relation to me.” She could feel his cheek move beneath her palm as he smiled. “And second, you will never lose me, Wade Riley.”

He became very still. “What do you mean?” His voice was a breath, barely a whisper.

“I mean, you can never lose me because...because...I love you, too, you by-the-book, rule-following, control-freak cop.”

And then his lips were on hers. She wrapped her arms around him and sensation exploded inside her as the love she’d been trying to deny bubbled to the surface in that one delicious kiss. And despite the chaotic noise of the barking dog, chattering Ani, whining Brett, and Hugo reciting the Miranda Rights, all she was aware of in that moment, was him. Only him.