Page 90 of Fatal Thrill
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She was gone.
Jon’s stomach wouldn’t unclench, his fist beating against the bark of an oak tree, brittle pieces breaking off and falling to the snowyground.
The six men who’d attacked Parker and Ruby were all incapacitated, most tied to nearby trees. Nothing more than troublemakers that Watt had managed to stir up and create a diversion while he kidnappedJaya.
Stupid, stupid,stupid.
Jon had known the people in this area were suspicious of everything and everyone. They could be dangerous. They took their privacy and security to new heights of paranoia. He’d been so intent on saving Finn, he’d put Jaya and the women who’d stayed to safeguard her at risk from thesurvivalists.
“It’s not your fault.” Ruby approached him. “It’s mine. I knew as soon as I saw them, they were going to give us a headache. I should have insisted we hide Jaya in the woods rather than engagingthem.”
Parker joined the party, Moe right behind her as she came down the back steps. Her boots crunched on some broken glass. The door hung on one hinge. “It’s my fault. I was incharge.”
“No,” Jon said, peeling a piece of bark off the tree and tearing it in half. Nyx circled around him. Time was slipping by fast and he needed to starttracking.
He scanned the direction Watt had taken from the door, down the steps, into the woods. “This is on me. I should have left Moe and Percy to back you up. I wasn’t expecting trouble from thelocals.”
Jon started for the edge of the woods, his focus on the frozen ground. Nyx trotted alongsidehim.
Moe checked his weapon, following as well. “The precautions we took to stay invisible would have worked if it hadn’t been for Watt. He obviously still has friends in theseparts.”
The scent of pine teased Jon’s nose. He’d always loved these woods until Isaiah had gone missing. They’d been a safe place for him to explore and get lost in when his parents were fighting. “I should have anticipated thisscenario.”
“Bullshit.” Colton sat on a tree stump, rifle across his lap, eyeing one of the men who’d created the disturbance, now unconscious thanks to Ruby. “They’re all accessoriesnow.”
Miles voice came from behind Jon. “Ready?”
Jon turned to find the man at the top of the stairs, facegrim.
“You stay with Charlotte,” Jon told him. “I’ll takeTrace.”
Colton popped up from the stump. “I’m goingtoo.”
Rage and Percy were at Watt’s cabin in case he showed up there. Clash was keeping an eye on Jon’s dad’s cabin on the off chance the man went to ground there. They’d gone through both locations and no trace of Finn or Watt had beenpresent.
Where else would he go?Think!
Charlotte emerged, holding a damp rag to the back of her head with her good hand. She seemed okay except for the swelling knot and residual pain. Jon wanted Miles to take her into the nearest town and have a doctor look at her but she’d refused. Stubbornwoman.
Miles kissed her cheek and clomped down the steps. “I want thisbastard.”
Get inline.
“No drag marks.” Jon pointed to the area in front of him, leading into the woods. Trace came around the corner of the house. “He carriedher.”
“Probably knocked her out like he did me,” Charlottesaid.
“She’s right.” Ruby tracked the line with her eyes from the back porch to the woods. “Heavy to carry an adult far in these woods, but a struggling 120-pound woman is pretty hard to disappear with. There was a lot of commotion out front, but I never heard a shout for help or ascream.”
Meaning, Jaya hadn’t been ableto.
In his mind’s eye, Jon saw Watt swinging the bat like he had at Charlotte, this time at Jaya’s head. His nerves went hard as steel, his fistsclenched.
Thebaby.
God, if either of them were hurt, hewould…
