Page 77 of Westin

There wasn’t time to panic. Remington pulled Westin away from the wall as Bowie scrambled to his feet and followed. Lee and Landry were standing by the bathroom, shock on both their faces.

“What now?” Landry demanded.

Bowie pointed. “The crawl space. That’s our only chance.”

There was a panel in the ceiling just above their heads, an opening to the small crawl space that allowed for access to the roof for repairs. Bowie could reach it easily thanks to his impressive height, tapping it a few times to loosen it before tugging it down. He turned to Lee, interlacing his fingers so that she could use them as a toehold. She went easily, almost too quickly, into the space. Landry followed, then Remington, and finally Westin. By the time he got up there, Landry and Remington were already trying to find a thin spot in the roof to break through.

“We need a knife,” Westin called down to Bowie.

The building was beginning to fill with smoke. It was difficult to see much further than the kitchen. Westin could barely see Bowie fumbling around, searching for instruments to help them get out. When he came back, he had a butcher’s knife, a cleaver, and meat tenderizer.

“It’s the best we have,” Bowie mumbled through a moist towel he was holding over his mouth and nose.

Westin handed the tools to Landry and Remington, praying it would be enough to get them out of there. The boys went to work, smashing on the plywood that created the platform on which the roof rested. They cut and slashed, pounded with the tenderizer. Finally, they got a little hole that they used their hands and feet to enlarge with every motion they could manage. As they did, the air coming in through the hole drew the smoke up from down below.

“Hurry!” Bowie called. “The fire’s getting closer!”

When the hole was big enough, Landry lifted Lee through first. Remington came over to help Westin hoist Bowie up into the crawl space. It took a bit of effort, but they managed, the heat of the fire a fantastic motivator. Landry was out of the hole next, then Remington, Bowie, and finally Westin.

The smoke was pouring through the gap in the roof, and flames started to lick the edges as they stood there. Remington was already on the ground, having found a gutter that was bolted well enough to the side of the building to hold his weight. Westin urged everyone else over, watching them all climb down before him. He pulled the handgun Lee had given him the second he hit the ground, not sure what they’d find when they got there.

It was dark and smoky, visibility down to nothing. There was the occasional burst of light from the fire, but it was inconsistent and more of a liability than an asset. That’s why it took him a few minutes to realize what his heart had already known.

“Where’s Lee?”

No one responded. They were looking, too. But Westin knew. She was gone. They’d gotten her.

Chapter 13

Lee saw the gutter and rushed for it, the heat under her feet reminding her she was standing on top of a burning building. She’d been prepared for bullets, for violence, but this wasn’t something she’d expected.

She shimmied down the gutter and they were waiting. Two of them.

Hands were on her ankles before she was halfway down, too close to the ground to climb back up, too far from the ground to let go. She screamed, but the roar of the fire was growing, probably drowned her out. Then they yanked, pulling so hard that she felt her ankle dislocate.

She let go and fell in a heap at their feet. One of them scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder like she was nothing more than a piece of a luggage. He carried her to a waiting ATV, catching her wrist in a handcuff that was already attached to the machine’s frame before she could even respond. The other guy climbed on in front of her, and they were off, just the two of them, leaving his friend behind.

What was he going to do?

As they drove away, she twisted around, saw Westin on the roof of the burning bunkhouse. She screamed, tried to warn him, but there was too much noise from the fire. She hadn’t even realized how loud it was until she needed to be heard.

Westin. Please, no!

They drove away from the occupied parts of the ranch, away from the main house and the barn, the guest bunkhouses and the other structures scattered across the vast landscape. She didn’t realize she knew where they were until the ATV started to slow and she spotted the fence sparkling in a sliver of moonlight.

The driver cut the engine and climbed off the machine, pulling a phone from his back pocket. As he walked away from her, Lee tugged at the handcuff, testing its connection to the ATV’s frame. It was on there good, wrapped around a piece of metal that was welded to the underside of the seat. And the cuff that was around her wrist was good and tight, making it impossible for her to slide her hand out no matter how long she had to try.

“We’ve got her,” she heard the man say into his phone. “Where do you want me to take her?”

Her ankle was throbbing, a shiver rushing through her as the temperatures plunged into the subzero zone. She watched her captor, waiting for him to say something else, anything she might be able to use against him.

“They’re dead,” he said. “We left them in the cabin.”

He was quiet a moment longer, then he disconnected the phone, clearly done with the conversation. He must have gotten his orders.

“I don’t know anything,” she said as he came toward her. “Will was my partner. I trusted him! I’m not going to turn on him, especially now.”

“You shot him, lady.”

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