Page 111 of Deadly Target (Rocky Mountain Courage 2)

FORTY-SIX

Erin sat on the cold, hard earth next to her mother, their wrists and ankles bound with plastic ties. She’d learned the man’s name was Finn McPherson—he’d taken Missy when he’d meant to grab Erin.

But now he finally had his hands on her, and she struggled to remove his ghoulish face from her mind. Fortunately, she’d lost the child’s hat he’d forced onto her head. He’d kept it all these years to remind him of his mistake and that he could never stop searching for Erica.

Erin fought to gain clarity over the turbulence that had taken hold of her very soul.

Calm, deep breaths, Erin. Hyperventilate now and she could pass out.

Erin and Mom had been prodded down yet another long tunnel in the new copper mine. The flashlight beam shone over their faces as a henchman dragged someone away—to be questioned? Recognition slammed into Erin as the woman locked eyes with her—fear brimming in her gaze. Holly was gagged and bound, though her ankles were free so she could walk.

That had been what seemed like hours ago.

She couldn’t understand what Holly was doing here in Montana to begin with. Unless ... Had the woman traveled to Bozeman to check on Newt? Or was she trying to somehow reach Erin or Nathan to deliver another clandestine message? Whatever the reason, the henchmen had found her and brought her to the copper mine instead of killing her outright, but where had they taken her? Or was she already dead?

Erin thought she would lose her mind. Her back ached from the cramped position against the rocky wall, and her limbs had gone numb. Initially, their mouths had been gagged, but she and Mom were able to remove their gags since their hands were tied in front. Erin had tried to work her way out of the plastic ties with her teeth, but it was no use.

Cold started to seep right through her jeans.

But the worst part was that she couldn’t see her hands in front of her face as she lifted her bound wrists. She’d wanted answers, yes, but more than that she’d wanted to make sense out of her life. Build a stable existence in which she could escape the past that had continued to haunt her.

Now she understood why she could never truly forget about what happened—because her past, that evil, had been hunting her all along. Deep inside, she must have sensed it.

And her desperate need for answers or, rather, closure had led them back to her, to Mom, who was in some ways a stranger to Erin. But now everything that had happened made sense, and it started long before Erin was even born.

Erin pushed down the anger over the fact that her mother had hidden so much from her. She’d only been trying to protect Erin and forge a new life. Erin couldn’t blame her for that.

But now look at the two of them. The future did not look good.

Mom coughed next to her, and worry spiked through Erin. She leaned closer, feeling her mother’s movements, her rocking shoulders, and the warmth from her body. Erin should scoot closer, but she waited for the coughing to subside.

“Are you okay?” she whispered.

“Yes. Just biding my time.”

Whatever you say.“While we’re biding our time, I have a few questions. Jimmy Delaney. Jason Cain. Jamie McPherson. Somebody Cobbs. These names were on Newt’s crime board, and we believe the articles about the crime boss’s missing daughter—you—were at the center. I want to hear your story, Mom.”

Mom had gone silent. In fact, was she holding her breath?

“Mom?”

“Okay, you want to hear my story? I’ll tell you. I was born Cara Collette Byrne. I never knew my mother because she died in childbirth. I had nannies and caretakers. My father protected me from the darker side of his business, but as I got older, I saw things. I knew crimes were being committed. He always told me he wanted something different, something better for me, as though he had regrets.”

Interesting. Erin hadn’t thought a crime boss could have any other mindset, but then again, they scored lower on the psychopathy evaluations than non-mob criminals. Because, well, they actually cared about their family.

“Go on. What happened that sent you running?”

“I already told you some of it. My father killed a man. He claimed it was in self-defense. I don’t know why Ryan McPherson had come after him, or why my father was even alone without his usual protection. But Ryan was Finn’s brother, and Jamie McPherson’s son. Jamie was the head of the McPherson crime family.”

“And your father feared they would come for you.”

“Oh, he knew they would. He told me to disappear for good and never contact him. Start a new life with a new identity. My father sent me away with the tools to make that happen. I landed in Wisconsin as Celia Jones. Married your father, Tim Weeks, and had you.”

Erin thought she could hear the smile in her mother’s voice. The love. And a few tears.

“You know the rest. Your father died, and, well, Missy was taken and we had to move.”

“How did you know they had found you? And it wasn’t just a random abduction?”

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