Page 47 of Marked For Revenge

Dressed, and with his hair damp from his shower, he looked far better than any man should. And her expression must have let him know exactly what she was thinking because the corner of his mouth lifted in a smile.

“You have that same effect on me,” Harley assured her in that hot drawl that caused her body to go all warm again. She was fighting the urge to get up and kiss him when his phone rang.

His smile faded and Harley tensed as he glanced at the screen. “It’s Quentin Dalton, the Ranger who’s watching Caleb.”

Ava practically rocketed to her feet, and the alarm shot through her. Oh, God. Had something happened to Caleb?

She didn’t have to ask Harley to put the call on speaker. He did, and she immediately heard the Ranger’s voice pour through the room. It was a voice she recognized because she recalled meeting Quentin a time or two when Harley and she had still been together.

“Caleb hasn’t been hurt or anything like that,” Quentin immediately said, no doubt to give them some reassurance, but Ava wasn’t reassured of anything. Just the fact the Ranger had called meant there was a problem of some kind.

“What happened?” Harley asked, taking the words right out of her mouth.

“Caleb got spooked, and he wants to see Ava and you. I’m driving him to your place now.”

“What?” Ava couldn’t say fast enough. “Why? What happened?”

“Someone hacked his social media accounts and posted pictures of the dead women.” Quentin’s response was equally fast.

“There was a warning from the hacker that you were next,” Caleb added. His voice was a tangle of nerves. “That the killer was coming for you tonight.”

“Hell,” Harley grumbled. “You’ve reported it?” he asked Quentin.

“Oh, yeah, and the lab folks will be looking into the hacking. I told Caleb that, but I couldn’t talk him out of coming to see you.”

“He couldn’t,” she heard Caleb verify. “I just didn’t want to be in that apartment when I knew what the killer had planned. God, he put your face on those women he killed. He said he was going to kill you tonight,” Caleb emphasized. “I couldn’t just sit still and do nothing.”

Ava wanted to demand that Caleb go back to his apartment. Because she knew full well the hacking could have been meant to get Caleb to do exactly this. Leave the relative safety of his apartment and go out on the road where the killer would have an easier time getting to him.

A killer who would use her son to hurt her in the worst possible way.

“Where are you right now?” Harley asked, sounding calm, but Ava could see the urgency and intensity in his expression.

“About fifteen miles from Silver Creek,” Quentin answered. “I’m turning off the interstate now. And, yeah, I know this trip isn’t smart, but I want to get to Ava’s place before dark.”

“Don’t blame Ranger Dalton,” Caleb insisted. “I told him I was coming to Silver Creek one way or another. I didn’t want him to call you until we were closer because I was afraid you’d convince him to turn around and take me back to Austin.”

Ava shook her head but didn’t press Caleb about what he thought he could do to stop a killer from coming after her. Obviously, he believed he could protect her in some way and, while that touched her, she was also worried about his safety. She was a cop. Caleb wasn’t.

“I’m going to call the sheriff and see if he can spare a deputy to go out to meet you and finish escorting you here,” Ava insisted.

Since there was only one road leading to Silver Creek from the interstate, she didn’t have to guess which route Quentin would be taking, and she picked up her phone to make the call to Theo. Before she could press the number, she heard a sound she didn’t want to hear.

Quentin cursed.

Just a single word of raw profanity, followed by something else that had her heart dropping to her knees.

The sickening boom of a car crash.

HARLEY HAD ALREADY braced himself for something bad happening, but he’d been praying that his gut was wrong. That Quentin and Caleb would be able to make it to Silver Creek without incident so that Caleb would be safe.

But that clearly wasn’t the case.

There was the distinctive sound of metal crashing into metal. And, mixed with that horrible noise, were the moans that followed.

“Caleb?” Ava blurted out. There was absolute terror in her voice now. “Are you all right?”

The only answer she got were more moans, and that was enough to get Ava moving. She was already dressed, but she grabbed her holster and made the call to Theo. Since Harley knew there was no way he could talk her out of going to the scene, he strapped on his own holster and Kevlar vest. He had her put on a vest, too, before they hurried to the garage.

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