Page 37 of Ranger Justice

She slammed her eyes shut. Whatever drug Dusty had injected her with was still circulating in her system. Hannah took a deep breath. Then another. It slowed the course of adrenaline surging through her veins and stabilized her stomach. Gradually, her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting.

An ambulance. She was inside an ambulance.

Those angry voices were still outside. Her captors. Their voices were getting louder, as if they were approaching the rear doors. Her pulse skyrocketed. Frantically, Hannah searched her surroundings for some kind of weapon. Her gaze fell on a small pair of scissors, the kind typically used to cut through gauze. She grabbed them. Then tossed herself back onto the mattress seconds before the rear doors swung open.

Hannah winced as a flashlight beam shone in her face. Her heart beat hard enough to rattle her rib cage and her breathing grew shallow as a hulking figure climbed into the ambulance. Dusty. He sported several days' worth of growth on his chin and had chopped off his hair, but there was no mistaking the sneer on his face or the scar along his neck. In one hand, he carried a flashlight.

“She’s awake.” He addressed whoever he’d been arguing with earlier. “Of course she is. As if I don’t have enough problems.”

Dusty grabbed Hannah by the arm with a bruising grip before hauling her to her feet. She clutched the scissors in her bound hands, hiding them from view, as he shoved her toward the rear doors. Her gaze swept across their surroundings. Moonlight illuminated trees and a small road. They were in the middle of nowhere.

There were no streetlights. The ambulance was tilted, half of the wheels on the pavement and the other half in the dirt. Dusty shoved her. Thanks to the drugs in her system, Hannah’s feet couldn’t coordinate properly. She stumbled while trying to navigate the step on the back of the vehicle. Pain erupted along her shins as she tumbled to the hard-packed earth. Air whooshed from her lungs.

She lay stunned. A pair of tennis shoes appeared in her line of sight. Slowly, Hannah raised her gaze.

Shock vibrated through her.

Lorrie Michaels. Thomas’s mistress was dressed in a paramedics uniform, her long hair tucked into a ball cap. She held a cell phone in one hand. She pointed it toward Hannah. “There she is, honey.” Lorrie’s voice was sticky sweet. “I promised you we’d be successful.”

“I never doubted it.” Thomas’s voice spilled from the phone speaker.

Hannah’s foggy mind tried to make sense of what was happening. Dusty and Lorrie were working together? They were doing Thomas’s dirty work.

“The job is only half done,” Dusty growled. “And if we don’t get a move on, the cops are gonna find us before we can finish.” He kicked a rear tire on the ambulance. It was flat. “The plan has fallen apart. This stupid thing has a tracker on it. We won’t make it to the cabin before the cops arrive. Let’s just kill her here and get it over with.”

“No.” Thomas’s retort was sharp. “I want her killed in the cabin like we discussed. The crimes have to look consistent. As if you’re a serial killer, Dusty. My lawyer is close to getting Bruce to drop the charges. We need one final push.”

They were discussing her murder in the same way some people argue over a restaurant. Fear threatened to choke Hannah. She battled it back, gripping the scissors in her hands. A clear head was her only way out of this. Dusty was right. The ambulance had a tracker on it. Someone would discover she was missing from the hospital, and hopefully, Ryker would discover how she’d been kidnapped.

Ryker. Her throat tightened at the thought of him. The memory of their kisses flashed in her mind. Hannah hadn’t thought it was possible, but sometime over the last few days, she’d fallen in love with him. No… if she was honest, she’d started having feelings for him a long time ago.

She fought against it. Came up with every reason why a relationship wouldn’t work out. But ultimately, none of that had mattered. Her heart refused to listen to reason. These last few days had merely forced her to recognize what was happening between them.

Tears pricked her eyes. If Dusty and Lorrie killed her, Ryker would blame himself. Just like he did when Alison died. Hannah couldn’t bear the thought of that. She would fight. For herself. And for him.

But there was no guarantee her efforts would work.

Lord, my life is in Your hands. I ask for Your guidance and Your wisdom. Give me the strength and the ability to survive this.

“I ain’t going to prison for you, Thomas.” Dusty’s tone was hard as his lips curled into a sneer. He marched toward Lorrie until he was standing over her shoulder. “Do you hear me?”

“You won’t get far without money,” Thomas snapped. Then an audible sigh spilled from the cell phone speaker. “Do as we agreed and everything will fall into place. You’ll be sipping cocktails on a Columbian beach surrounded by beautiful women by this time tomorrow.”

“Fine.” He handed his flashlight to Lorrie and then stormed over to Hannah. Once again, Dusty hauled her to her feet. The barrel of a gun jabbed into her side. “Don’t give me a lick of trouble or I’ll shoot you right here.”

His breath was hot on her cheek and his tone was stone cold. He meant every word. Tension poured off his body like a tiger ready to pounce. Hannah didn’t understand the relationship between Dusty and Lorrie, but she had the sense that he would shoot them both if need be. The only reason he hadn’t was because of the money Thomas promised him. But if it came down to it… he would do what was necessary to save his own skin.

“Let’s move, Lorrie.” Dusty growled. “We’re wasting time. The cabin is three miles away, and if I know Simon, he’s already squealing like a piglet. It won’t take long for the cops to figure out where we are once they find the ambulance.”

“Honey, I’ll call you when we get to the cabin so you can watch Dusty kill her.” Lorrie blew Thomas a kiss. “Love you.”

Surreal. And twisted. Hannah didn’t know which one of her captors was worse. Dusty, who had no problems killing an innocent person in cold blood, or Lorrie, who clearly was so enamored by Thomas she’d do anything for him.

Hannah gripped the scissors in her hand as Dusty steered her into the woods. He favored his left leg, probably due to the injury she’d given him with the screwdriver during the courthouse attack. Would that slow him down? She hoped so.

Hannah had three miles to figure out how to cut her binds without her captors realizing it. Then she had to escape. Once they reached the cabin, there wouldn’t be another chance.

How much time had passed since they’d kidnapped her from the hospital? Did Ryker realize she was gone? Even if Hannah escaped from Dusty and Lorrie, where would she go? The questions swirled in her mind, threatening to drown her in worry and fear. Once again, she reminded herself that her life was in God’s hand. She needed to focus on one thing at a time.

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