Page 77 of Abducted

Cal’s phone.

She leaned on her side and bucked her hips. It slid out of her pocket and into the mud. She wriggled in front of it, her hands searching through the wet sludge behind her to pick up the device.

She licked her lips with new hope.

With the phone in her hand, her finger swiped over the screen. All she had to do was tap the call icon and it would dial the last number he’d called. Her hands fumbled awkwardly. The mud was too thick, and her fingers were caked in it. The phone slipped out of her grasp…and landed in the shallow water beneath her feet.

No!

Her head hung. She closed her eyes as tears leaked from the corners.

She was doomed.

CHAPTER 25

Cal’s knee bouncedup and down. One hand gripped the door handle; he was ready to bolt when they stopped. The other held his seat belt buckle. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end like a metal antennae. They were almost there. He blew his breath through his lips. Ethan guided the truck to the off-ramp at Mount Tenerife.

Hang on, baby. I’m coming.

Ethan didn’t slow down. They bumped over the gravel road. The headlights caught his truck in their glow.Shit, shit, shit.

“There.” His fingers left the door handle to point ahead. Ethan nodded. Of course, he’d seen it. Three of the truck’s doors hung open. The interior light’s glow beamed through the night. A gunshot rang out, echoing in the still woods.

“Sonofabitch,” he rasped. Air expelled from his lungs.

Ethan screeched the truck to a halt. Cal flung the door open, and bits of gravel swarmed the air and pelted his legs. His feet hit the ground, and he ran as if the hounds of hell were on his heels.

“Go! I’ll get the flashlights and be right behind you,” Nate called.

He pounded the short distance to the forest. Sirens sounded behind him. Branches whipped his body. He ducked a low-lying branch and leapt over a scatter of tree roots. His heart raced in his chest. Sweat rolled over his brow. He wiped it away with his sleeve. Every muscle in his body flexed.

Crack, crack!

More gunshots. He swore. He was too late. No. It couldn’t end this way. He pulled his Glock out from the small of his back. Aiming at the trees overhead, he pulled the trigger. Once. Twice.

I’m here, baby. Hang on.

A bug hit him in the face. He slapped it away. The forest closed in around them. He had no idea where they were. The gunshots had been close. They couldn’t be far.

He cupped his hand around his mouth. “Lana!” His voice boomed through the trees. The sound echoed and bounced around him.

He waited. His breath puffed quickly around him in little white clouds.

God, please don’t let me be too late.

“Cal!” Her voice split the air.

His heart leapt into his throat. She was alive. He took off in a dead run in the direction her words had come from.

Voices sounded behind him, and the glow of flashlights bobbed the night around him. He didn’t slow. His booted feet crunched over twigs and leaves. His arms ruthlessly slapped the branches out of his path. Lights moved into his line of vision—their flashlights. Rage slowed his pulse to a flatline. He couldn’t think about them. He needed to get to Lana, make sure she was safe…then he would let loose the beast inside him that needed to kill these motherfuckers.

“Cal!” Her voice trembled through the night. Her fear was raw and ragged. Ahead, the land pitched downward into a ravine. The lights from the flashlights moved quickly along the top of the slope. He charged at them.

One form grabbed the other. “Get her. I’ll take him,” a woman hissed. A tall form hedged down the slope—toward Lana. The woman’s other hand extended.

The glow from the moon caught a metallic sheen. She pulled the trigger. He dove for her. His arms closed around her waist. The bullet whistled over his shoulder, missing his head by inches.

The woman screamed. The gun fell from her fingers as her fists collided with his shoulder. They tumbled down the ravine and landed with a splash, her beneath him. His fists clenched. He wanted to finish her. Every atom in his body pulsated with the need to destroy.

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