Page 129 of Deadly Revenge

The door opened and Sebastian appeared. “Well. We meet again.”

“So we do. Where’s Phillip?”

“Oh, he’s inside, waiting for you.”

She didn’t doubt that. Jenna stepped inside the cabin, and another of Sebastian’s men ran a scanner over her. Max had been right.

She blinked at the brightness in the room. Once her eyes adjusted, she looked around, her heart almost stopping at the sight of her dad bound in a chair. A gag covered his mouth, but he shook his head.

Jenna turned and gasped when she saw Phillip. Ropes bound him to a chair as well. She shifted a puzzled gaze to Sebastian.

He grinned at her, and now Jenna knew what Kirk meant by the creepy smile.

“Wasn’t expecting that, were you?”

68

Max jerked his head toward Alex and Nathan. “What’s Sebastian talking about?”

Alex held up her hand. “Maybe she’ll tell us.”

All three leaned closer to the receiver.

“I’m here. You can turn my dad loose,” Jenna was saying.

“Not yet.”

“What are you doing ... That’s a jam—”

The receiver emitted nothing but static.

“He’s jamming the system. Our phones are useless,” Nathan said.

Max pulled out the key he’d gotten from Weaver. “I’m going in the back door.”

“Coming with you.” Alex checked her Sig.

Max started to argue with Alex but stopped. She was the top law enforcement officer in Russell County. And Alex having his six wasn’t a bad idea. “Let’s go—there’s not much time.”

“I’ll create a distraction with the guard. Once I get him away from the door, I’ll take him down,” Nathan said in a tight voice. He drew Alex into a quick embrace.

It was plain he wasn’t happy about Alex going, but like Max, he knew there would be no stopping her.

Max and Alex circled around behind the cabin. No outside light—good. They crept to the door, and he silently inserted the key and eased it open.

The door opened a couple of inches and stopped.Safety lock.He slipped his hand in and felt the device. An arm and ball, like in a hotel room.Good.He’d practiced opening the swing bar latch a few times.

Max jerked the shoelace out of his right shoe. He quickly worked the ends of the string under the top and bottom ball bearing on the arm and pulled the loose ends toward him. Then he worked the looped string on the back side of the knobbed bar and eased the door shut.

“Pray this works,” he mouthed to Alex.

Max pulled the two ends of the lace tight and heard the lock swing open. He released the breath he’d been holding. Now, if no one else heard it ...

Max pointed for Alex to go to the right, and they slipped inside, Max to the left. Both stopped, listening as light filtered in from the hallway.

He recalled the layout of the cabin. There was one way into the kitchen—through a hallway that had bedrooms and a bathroom on one side and the living room on the other. Judging from their voices, they were in the living room.

“Let me get this straight—if I don’t kill Phillip, you’ll kill my father?” Jenna was saying.

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