Page 63 of Savage Fire

Three hours later, Ronnie pulled onto a dirt road the led away from a no-name rural route and into the gathering darkness. On both sides of the road, trees reached up into the sky, cloaking the road in deepening shadows. Ronnie flipped on the high beams and continued on.

Tessa, her body aching from sitting stiffly for so long, ignored the urge to ask them where they were. It wouldn’t matter. All that mattered was that, hopefully, Fang and the rest of the Raiders had caught up to them over the last several hours and were hanging back to remain hidden from Jacob.

Up head, a small, rustic cabin came into view.

Jacob grunted, sending Jimmy a frustrated look.

“You said it was habitable,” Jacob groused, glaring at the roof tiles hanging on for dear life, the ramshackle wooden deck that was missing a few boards, and windows so dirty you couldn’t see the reflection of the headlights.

“We only need it for tonight,” Jimmy grumbled. “We could have stayed at another motel, but since that asshole shot up that truck, we can’t been in public for a while.”

Ronnie turned and spat at Jimmy. “That fucker was on the phone, I couldn’t take the chance that he was calling for back up. If he hadn’t ducked, I could have killed him.”

Davey…that asshole was talking about Davey. He “could have killed him” which meant he hadn’t. Which meant the chances were good that Davey was still alive. For the first time in hours, a whisper of relief loosened the ache in her heart. One last thing to grieve over.

“Come on, get out,” Jacob hollered, slipping from the SUV to head toward the deck steps, walking over them gingerly to the door that swung open easily. Ugh, what kind of place was this—in the middle of nowhere, falling to pieces, door unlocked.

It was a goddamn murder cabin, is what it was.

Shit.

But she knew they didn’t plan to kill her; they only wanted to rape her and beat her. Sooo much better.

Darkly snickering to herself, she cursed when Jimmy yanked her out of the vehicle, making her stumble into him. He grunted at the impact.

“Watch where you’re goin’, bitch,” he snapped. “And don’t think about tryin’ to make a run for it. This here is my pop’s old huntin’ cabin. Nothin’ but trees and bushes as far as the eye can see. You take off, you get hunted, just like all them deer I used to shoot when I was a boy.”

“Get her in here!” Jacob bellowed.

Jimmy swore, grabbing her by the arm and jerking her toward the cabin which now had lights burning inside. At least there was electricity. Entering the cabin, Tessa could see it was a one room cabin. Literally. The bed was pushed up against the wall, there was a counter with a camp stove, a rusted sink, and an old cooler. There was one door, which probably led to the bathroom, though Tessa doubted the plumbing still worked.

“Put her right there,” Jacob ordered, pointing to a spindly chair that looked about as comfortable as being alone with three evil men. And her mother. Who was standing toward the back of the room, her hands clasped before her like she was waiting in line at church confessional.

Jimmy pushed Tessa onto the chair, pulling another set of zip ties from his pocket. Guess she couldn’t say he wasn’t prepared for kidnapping. She couldn’t let him tie her to the chair, she couldn’t get away if he did, she’d lose the chance to save herself. Fang was coming, but if he wasn’t on his way, that meant she had to depend on herself to stay alive…and maybe get her and her mother out of there. Her mother…who was staring at Tessa, a look of horror and realization growing on her face. It was like she was slowly waking up from whatever spell Jacob put her under.

Pushing aside her mounting fear, she pinned her gaze to her mother.

“Mama,” she began, switching to Spanish. “Why are you doing this? What happened? You’re the one who helped me escape, why would you help him kidnap me? You know what he plans to do to me. You know what he will do to me, how he will hurt me. Like he hurt you!”

Jacob grabbed her by her hair, snarling into her face. “Shut up speakin’ that shit. I doesn’t matter what you say to her, I broke her a long time ago. She’s my pliant little bitch…just like you’ll be when I’m done with you.”

As if his words flipped a switch in her brain, Lisa Ramos screamed, making Ronnie and Jimmy reel back, shocked.

“No! You will not break the last piece of me!” her mother screeched, beating at Jacob’s back with her fists, aiming blows at his head but missing when he ducked. Jacob turned, letting go of Tessa’s hair, and pushing Lisa back so hard she slammed her head against the wall. She slumped to the floor, unconscious, her mouth slack.

“Mom!” Tessa cried.

Ronnie and Jimmy were there, holding her in the chair. At least Jimmy had dropped the zip ties.

Give me an opening, I only need one opening to make these assholes hurt.

“Really,” she seethed, “what did you expect was going to happen, huh? That I’d come along quietly, willingly, that I’d be your happy little wifey, and pump out more kids to work your ranch?”

Jacob’s cheeks flushed red with fury, his jowls shaking.

Ronnie and Jimmy gripped her harder, making her yelp.

“I expected you to be grateful for all the years I fed and clothed you, for havin’ a roof over your head and a bright future ahead of you. I did not expect you to take off like some cowardly bitch and make me chase your ass all over Kingdom Come. You thought that I’d forgotten ‘bout you, that I’d given up. Nah,” he shook his head, an ugly smile stretching over his face. “I knew your weakness was your mama, that one day you’d break down and call her, and I was waitin’. It took seven years, but I’m nothin’ if not patient. Soon as you called, your mama had me listenin’ in. It was smart of you not to say where you were, but it took ‘bout a minute to trace the call right to Vegas. We were in the truck that night, comin’ to get what belongs to me.”

---