Page 74 of Deadly Attraction
Mitch felt eyes on him and glanced up to see Will peering out the kitchen window at him. Concern etched the older man’s face. Mitch flashed his gun and cocked a head toward the van. Then he gave Will the sign to stay put.
Don’t leave Emma.
The kitchen curtain fell, Will’s face disappearing.
Grabbing the door handle, Mitch gave a tug. The sliding door was locked.
Great. The only way in was through the front, and he had to hope Danika hadn’t locked all the doors.
He also hoped the girl hadn’t killed herself in a murder-suicide.
I should have heard gunshots.
Did Danika have a shiv? Had she struck the guard with a heavy object, leaving blood on the headrest?
Mitch eased along the side, still listening for sounds inside the van as he gripped the driver side door handle. This one gave when he tugged.
“Danika?” he said, leaning slowly into the cab, gun ready. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
When he didn’t hear even the sound of her breathing, Mitch hefted himself up, braced his left hand on the seat, and hooked his gun hand around as he took in the interior of the van.
“Ah, hell.”
Danika sat on the bench seat, blank eyes staring up at the ceiling, blood flowing from long, deep wounds running up the insides of her arms. In one hand, she held a knife. Not a shiv, but an honest-to-God three-inch blade.
Officer Moses lay face down on the floor at her feet, her blood mingling with Danika’s as the stream ran across the rubber mat over to the side door.
Mitch reached between the bucket seats and felt for a pulse on Carla, found none. Stretching back, he touched Danika’s neck, hoping against hope he might find her still alive.
Her eyelids fluttered—for half a heartbeat, he thought he’d imagined it in the dim interior. But they fluttered again and then he found it…the faint throb of her pulse under his fingers.
“Danika, can you hear me?”
Her lips twitched, and damn, he couldn’t move fast enough. Whirling around, he found the button to unlock the doors, then he bailed out of the driver’s side and threw open the side door.
“Danika, hang in there,” he said, moving Carla out of the way as gently, but as quickly as possible. The woman’s jugular had been severed on the left side.
Mitch used a hanky to remove the knife from Danika’s hands, laying it in the front seat. Finding the keys on Carla’s belt, he unlocked Danika’s handcuffs.
That’s when it hit him.
Her wrists had been cuffed together and then chained to a special reinforced armrest. The chain consisted of two metal links. There was no give to it, no way the girl could have reached forward to slit Carla’s throat.
Maybe she’d done it once Carla had left her seat and was about to unhook her. But then, how did blood get on the headrest? Had Carla grabbed at her neck, then grabbed the seat before she’d fallen?
Mitch’s head rang with a warning bell.
Shedding his shirt, he ripped it in two, wrapping each of Danika’s bleeding arms to staunch the flow as he kept looking out the front windows. Keeping his gun in hand, he jumped out of the van.
There was still no movement, no one in sight. Carefully, he lifted Danika from the seat and started for the house.
The kitchen door flew open and Emma ran out, Will on her heels. “Oh, my God,” she cried. “What happened?”
“Get in the house,” Mitch said, paranoia swamping him. As Emma met him halfway across the yard, he nearly stumbled. “Emma, get in the goddamn house!”
Hearing the fear in his voice, she met his eyes, then let Will drag her back to the kitchen door. “Oh, Danika,” she said, when Mitch jogged into the kitchen with the girl. She brushed Danika’s face with a hand. “What did you do?”
“Call 911,” Mitch said. It was a long shot with the roads still congested, but worth a try. The van had gotten through. Maybe the cops and an ambulance could as well.
Will swept the cups off the table so Mitch could lay Danika there. “Already did.”
The big man had Emma’s first aid kit out as well. Mitch locked the kitchen door, then went to work on saving a girl who didn’t want to be saved.
