Page 100 of Moonlit Thorns

“Oh, okay. Good idea.” I punch in the name of the private airport, and a bunch of potential routes come up.

The most direct route down the freeway is almost all marked in red.

Kol glances at it. “Must be an accident. Let’s hope that’s the route they took.”

He selects the fastest route, which goes around the highway all together, and punches the gas.

When we reach the airport, Preston’s plane is still there. I honestly don’t know if it’s a good or a bad thing.

“What if they’re not headed here? What if he…” I can’t even finish the words.

“He’s coming here. He probably got stuck on the freeway. No way he’d kidnap her and leave his plane waiting for you to discover. He has to know you would find out it was him right away. It’s not like you wouldn’t have noticed that Anabelle disappeared. This plane is the only head start that he has.”

He’s right. Knowing that makes me feel a little better. Not a lot, but a little.

“What’s the plan?” I ask Kol when he parks around the back of one of the hangars.

“Depends on what you want to do with Preston. You plan on calling the authorities on him?” Kol looks across the dim car at me.

I arch an eyebrow and give him a look that gets across my intentions.

“All right then. He’ll have staff on his plane. Unless we plan on taking them all out, we need to ambush him before they get that far.”

“What about the single lane in?” I say.

He nods. “That’s our best bet. If I park my car on an angle there and lift the hood like it’s broken down, the driver will have to stop because he won’t be able to get past. You and I can wait in the ditches on either side of the road. As soon as the limo stops, we hop up, open the doors, and hope the element of surprise is in our favor.”

Fuck. I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment. So much could go wrong with this plan. But what option do we have?

“If the doors are locked, which they probably will be, hit the window hard with the butt of this.” He opens the glove box and pulls out a gun. “Don’t shoot it. The windows will be blacked out, and we have no idea where Anabelle is sitting.”

I nod, taking the gun from him. “You have one of these for yourself?”

He grins. “Of course.” Then he reaches down near his ankle and pulls a gun from a holster there.

Kol puts the car back in drive and drives to where we talked about, parking it so that it’s blocking the entrance.

“Ready?” he asks.

“More than,” I say and push open the door.

Fear threatens to overtake me as I lie stomach-down in the ditch at the side of the road, half covered with muddy water and rain pelting my face. Not fear for myself, but for what Anabelle might be experiencing right now.

I force it away in favor of the rage that’s like a hot coal in my abdomen.

Enough time passes that I wonder if we got it wrong, if Preston isn’t coming back here. Just when I begin to give up hope, I hear the hum of a vehicle engine over the sound of the rain.

I don’t dare peek to see if I’m right, instead waiting until it gets closer. When I hear the car approach, then the slight whine of brakes and the sound of the engine running changes, only then do I raise my head to make sure it’s a limo.

It is.

Like a shot, I burst up out of the ditch. One quick tug on the door handle of the car tells me it’s locked. With every bit of strength I have, I smash the butt of the gun against the window, and it shatters. I hear the window on the other side of the vehicle do the same.

Preston is on my side, and before he can turn the gun on his lap in my direction, I reach in and smash his head against the door. It stuns him enough that I can hit the unlock button, then swing the door open.

I yank him out and throw him on the pavement. He’s still stunned, blinking up at the rain and probably wondering what the hell just happened. I’m on him in an instant. My hand is at his throat, the gun at his temple.

“You dare to touch what’s mine!” I shout over the rain. I fist his collar, pull him up, and pummel the back of his head against the road.

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