Page 141 of Stormswept Colorado

With shaking fingers, I pulled up all the recordings from my doorbell camera from the last few hours.

I saw Paul Ruxton appear on the porch. Running his mouth and knocking, but Ayla didn’t come outside.

Good, sweetheart, I thought, and kept watching. Listened to a little of what Paul said. That he’d never sent the flower arrangements. There was another stalker…

I skipped the footage forward. The camera showed one of my department’s vehicles pulling up to the house. Finn Mackie got out, dressed in a uniform. Seth Duncan’s uniform? Because Finn sure as hell wasn’t a sworn officer himself. Then Ayla came outside, clearly believing it was safe.

With increasing horror, I watched as Finn shot Paul.

And then…

“No,” I whispered. And fell to my knees.

I was in the middle of a nightmare, one far worse than anything I’d ever encountered. Worse than the day that IED had nearly killed me. Worse than all the pain that had followed.

He’d taken her.

FORTY-FOUR

Ayla

The police SUV’strunk was totally enclosed. Dark. I heard the wheels rolling over asphalt.

It smelled like metal and oil back here. There were doors to storage areas, maybe for police equipment or guns, but they were all locked tight. There was nothing in here I could use as a weapon or means of escape. I felt around for a latch to get out, but there was nothing. He’d taken my phone.

My breaths started to come faster. Shallower. I hated being cooped up like this. Trapped. Like the basement when I was a kid…

Teller, please find me. Thinking of him calmed me. I imagined his arms holding me tight.

All I could do was wait.

The SUV drove for a while. Enough time that I had nothing else but my thoughts and my imagination to keep me company.

This man had to be my real stalker, right? I assumed he wasn’t actually named Duncan. But how had he gotten Officer Duncan’s uniform?

At first, I’d refused to get in the trunk when the man ordered me. But the black circle of his gun’s muzzle had been aimed at me.The sharp smell of the previous shot that killed Paul lingered in the air.

His hands had shook as he held the gun. “In the trunk, Ayla. I’d rather not hurt you, but if I have to…”

So I’d done as he asked. I had to stay strong. Stay in one piece so I could fight back and escape.

Every one of my senses had been heightened as I climbed into the SUV’s rear compartment. I was surprised my kidnapper didn’t tie me up or handcuff me, but maybe he thought I’d be secure enough. He’d made me lie down, then closed the door.

Who was he?

He was young, early twenties. I racked my brain, trying to remember if I’d seen him in Silver Ridge before. At the station?

Yes, that had to be it. I’d seen him at the station the day Teller arrested me. Seth Duncan had come into the office to chat with me, but this younger man had been on the fringes. One of the onlookers when I walked through the station in cuffs.

He worked for Teller. Or at least, worked at the same building.

Then my kidnapper’s features struck a deeper chord of recognition inside me, especially given my dream from just a couple nights ago.

The one of Sergeant Carpenter.

I realized, with a terrible sinking feeling, who my kidnapper reminded me of.

The SUV came to a stop, and the engine shut off. A door opened. Footsteps crunched over gravel. The door to the trunk lifted, and I blinked at the sunlight.

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