Page 79 of Searching Blind

“Bring the women out,” Zak called, his voice hard as steel. “Or we kill him.”

A moment of tense silence followed his words, stretching until it seemed almost unbearable. Then, the heavy sound of a door being thrown open echoed through the night and Sawyer heard the soft rustle of movement. His heart hammered in his chest as he counted the beats of silence—one, two, three...

Footsteps approached, crunching against gravel and straw. He heard Lucy’s sharp intake of breath, followed by a soft sob, and something in him went cold and heavy.

They were hurting her.

He curled his hand around the knife hidden at his waistband and waited.

“We can be civil about this,” Theodore said even as Bea shoved Lucy and Anna to their knees in front of the men of Redwood Coast Rescue. “It doesn’t have to end badly.”

Lucy stared at the men. Donovan, Connelly, and the sheriff flanked Zak, who was holding a gun to?—

Her breath caught in her throat.

God. That was Sawyer. She knew it even with the hood over his head. She’d recognize him anywhere, any time. She’d know him from the way he held himself, the set of his shoulders, the faint scar on his left hand visible even in the dim light of dawn.

She blinked back tears, lips pressed into a thin line to stop herself from crying out.

He was here.

She didn’t know whether to be relieved or horrified.

Once again, he was throwing himself into harm’s way.

“Now, don’t do anything rash, and we can all walk away from this.” Theodore adjusted his glasses nervously, his eyes darting to Bea, who stood tall and menacing by his side, a gun in each hand, pointed to the backs of Lucy’s and Anna’s heads. “All we want is Pierce.”

“Yeah,” Zak called out, his voice echoing around the hollowed-out mill. “We’re all real civil here, Theodore. Now, let’s get those girls walking, and you can have him.”

Lucy’s eyes flicked to Sawyer. Was that the plan? To swap Sawyer for her and Anna, in hopes the captors wouldn’t realize they’d been duped until it was too late? If so, it was a plan she found horrifyingly terrifying and incredibly brave.

Theodore shook his head. “Once we have Pierce, we’ll let your women go.”

“No,” Zak growled. “They walk first.”

A tense silence fell over the group. Lucy glanced at Anna, who was looking straight ahead, a determined set to her mouth. Her hands were shaking slightly but her eyes were steady and hard. She was just as tough as her husband, but it was a quiet kind of strength.

Lucy’s gaze went back to Sawyer. His head was bowed beneath the hood, but she knew he was aware of everything, every move, every whisper. His body was taut as a bowstring, and she could almost feel the tension radiating off him.

Suddenly, the butt of Bea’s gun hit Lucy sharply in the back of her shoulder, and she let out a gasp of surprise and pain. “Unless you want me to put a bullet in their pretty little heads, I suggest you hand him over.”

Lucy’s hands curled into fits at her sides as fury blasted through her, burning away the fear and pain.

She. Was. Not. A. Victim.

“I liked you, Bea,” she said, keeping her voice soft and scared. “I liked both of you.”

“That was your mistake,” Bea said.

“Why are you doing this to us?”

“Shut up.” Bea raised the gun as if to hit her again. She didn’t give the woman the chance. She reared back, knocking the top of her head into Bea’s face.

It hurt.

God, it hurt, and she immediately bent forward, dry-heaving from the pain of it.

Chaos erupted.

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