Page 136 of Montana Manhunt

“For you to have stayed wherever you came from instead of muddying the waters in Morrison.”

He remained silent, praying Hanson would get to the point instead of wasting time. The last thing he wanted was for the local cops to get involved in this standoff. Noah didn’t know their training or skills. He needed to end this before anyone else got hurt, especially Violet.

“Since that’s not possible, I’m taking Violet with me. She and I will have a chat.”

“No,” Noah said flatly. “You’re not taking her.”

The lawyer snorted. “You don’t have a choice in the matter. I have the upper hand here. Besides, you’ll be too busy to stop me.”

Alarm flared through Noah. “Why do you say that? What have you done?”

“Planted two bombs.” He grinned. “One of them is on that sweet little girl in front of the beautiful Rayne. Too bad I don’t have time to play with Rayne, too. I think I’d enjoy using a knife on her.”

Oh, man. “Where is the second bomb?”

“In the hotel. I included enough C-4 to bring down the entire building. So if you want to save all these innocents, you better find the bomb and dismantle it.”

“Don’t do this, Hanson. You don’t want to hurt innocent kids.”

“I’ll do whatever is necessary to finish my job and get out of the country.” Hanson’s gaze slid to Rayne and pointed his Sig at her. “Sorry, darling.” He pulled the trigger.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

THE GUNSHOT SEEMEDto echo in the night. Hotel guests screamed and shouted while Violet watched the drama unfold in front of her, helpless to stop the disaster Hanson orchestrated.

Rayne cried out and fell to the ground, clutching her thigh.

Grant started toward her.

“Uh uh,” Hanson taunted. “You don’t move until Violet and I leave or I’ll shoot another innocent bystander, and this time I won’t aim for a limb.”

Violet’s gaze locked with Noah’s. His eyes blazed with fury.

“The clock’s ticking, Mann.” A huff of laughter from the lawyer holding Violet by an arm around her neck. “Literally. Better hurry or all these innocents you’re so fond of saving will die.”

Sorrow and determination filled Noah’s eyes as he stared at Violet. “I love you,” he said. Unspoken was his demand that she do what was necessary to stay alive.

Violet gave a slight nod. “I love you, too.” No way would she allow Jeff Hanson to end the future she envisioned with Noah. She wanted that life something fierce. Marriage, children, Westies, a house, the whole works. She wanted it all and would do anything necessary to make that happen.

“Aww. How touching.” Hanson tightened his hold around Violet’s neck, choking her. “Let’s go, beautiful. We have things to do before you die.”

He dragged her deeper into the tree line, then forced her into a jog as he adjusted his hold to a painful grip on her upper arm with the muzzle of his pistol jammed into her ribcage. “If you cause me one second of trouble, I swear I’ll flip the switch and set off both bombs. Not only will I take out innocents, I’ll also kill Mann and Bowen since they’ll try to be heroes and disarm my explosive gems.”

Violet scowled. “Don’t do that. Please. I won’t fight you.” Yet.

He chuckled as he propelled her faster through the trees. “I love it when they beg. We’ll have so much fun. I’ve been wanting to put my hands on you for years. Now that I have you, I intend to enjoy every second. Before I finish you, you’ll be begging me to kill you.”

Fat chance of that happening. All she needed was an opening, and Jeff Hanson was finished.

Violet intentionally stumbled and fell to the ground. She wrapped her hand around her watch and pressed the emergency button on the tactical watch connecting her to Fortress. The watch vibrated, showing one tech on duty had been alerted to trouble.

“Get up.” Hanson yanked Violet to her feet and forced her into a faster march through the woods. “Do that again and I swear you’ll regret it. I’ll drag your punishment out for days instead of hours. Trust me, you don’t want me to do that.”

Seconds later, a spot the size of a grain of rice heated near her shoulder blade. She breathed easier. Fortress had activated one of her tracking tags. No matter where Hanson took her, Noah could find her. The question was, would he arrive in time? “Where are you taking me?”

“Somewhere we can talk without interruption.”

Talk? Was that a new euphemism for interrogate and torture before killing her? If so, she’d endure whatever he dished out. Every minute he delayed ending her life gave Noah more timeto find her and gave Violet the chance to come up with a plan to escape Jeff Hanson’s clutches.

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