Chosen Prey (17 page)

Her movements were slow and deliberate. She needed a few more moments before facing Dare and what Neal had said, along with the fact that she had to call him. She'd left her toiletry items in the bathroom, so she brushed her teeth, the mint paste taking away the acidic taste that had been in her mouth.

When she was ready, she took a deep breath, straightened her spine, and pushed the bathroom door open.

Dare was sitting on the bed, the phone receiver gripped tightly in one fist. His look of fury would have scared her to death if she didn't know him, and if she thought it was directed toward her.

Slowly he lifted his gaze and met hers. "He called you," Dare stated.

Lyra took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "You listened to the message."

He nodded.

She shoved her hand into her hair and clenched it in her fist so tightly it hurt. Welcome pain.

The lines around his mouth softened and she could tell he was attempting to calm himself for her benefit. She bit her lower lip and tried to take a step forward but couldn't.

He got to his feet in a lithe, smooth movement. When he reached her, he wrapped his arms around her and drew her close so that her cheek rested against his chest. She slid her own arms around his waist and held on as tightly as she could. His embrace and his masculine scent were so comforting that she couldn't help but relax and sink into him, never wanting to let him go.

For a long time Dare simply held her and rocked her. "It'll be all right," he said against her hair. "I'll make sure it is."

"How can you?" she whispered. "He threatened my mother. And I think he has Mrs.

Yosko."

Dare did his best to control his emotions as he held Lyra. He breathed deeply and forced himself to calm down the best he could. That bastard had left a message that had Dare boiling with rage. "We'll figure something out, honey."

She raised her head and looked at him. Her voice sounded rusty and unused as she said, "I've got to call Neal now."

"I don't want to ever see you hurting so badly again." Dare gently stroked her hair that sifted through his fingers like strands of silk. "I'll kill that sonofabitch before he ever gets near you."

Lyra gave a long, shuddering breath. "You're not going to kill him." Her expression hardened. "I am."

Dare couldn't help a brief smile. "That's my girl." She was so complex. Vulnerable yet strong. She'd been through so much. She was a survivor. He continued to stroke her hair.

"Although I'm not going to give you the chance."

"This is my fight, Dare." She narrowed her eyes. "I'm so tired of running. So tired of looking over my shoulder. Somehow this has got to end. I just don't know how." A flicker of wry humor twisted her mouth. "I could always cut Neal's dick off."

Dare winced but gave a soft laugh. "I'll provide the knife."

Her face paled. "I need to get this over with. I need to call him back."

The musical ring tone of Lyra's cell phone caused her to startle in his arms, and Dare's muscles tensed. He let Lyra slide from his lap until both of them were standing. He picked up the phone and saw "Becca Cell" on the caller ID.

Lyra took the phone from him. "It's my friend."

"Let it go to voice mail," Dare said.

She took a deep breath and nodded. A few moments later when she checked her message from Nick's line, her heart stuttered at the panic in Becca's voice. "Call me on my cell! Right away!"

Heart pounding, Lyra phoned Becca. She started to speak and words tumbled from her mouth. "Mrs. Yosko—she's not here. Her door was open and I went in to make sure she was okay. I've searched the whole house. She's not here, Linda. Anywhere."

Lyra's knees went weak and she sat on the edge of the bed. She glanced at Dare and he had a hard look on his face.
Oh, God. Neal really has her
.

"Call nine-one-one," Lyra said, her voice trembling. "She sometimes takes walks.

Maybe she got lost."

"I'll do it now," Becca said. "She couldn't have gotten far, could she?"

Guilt washed over Lyra in a hot wave. "I haven't been there for three days. I don't know."

Becca went silent. So quiet that the hair at the nape of Lyra's neck prickled.

"I just spotted a note on the countertop, beside Mrs. Yosko's address book. The book is open to where your name and cell phone number are," Becca said slowly. "The note says, 'Let Lyra Collins know the old lady is safe in the compound.'" Becca paused as Lyra's spine went ramrod straight. "Who's Lyra?" Becca asked. "What does it mean by

'compound'?"

"Lyra's a—a friend of Mrs. Yosko." Lyra pressed her fingertips to her forehead. "The compound is—is a sort of retirement center. I'll go visit her."

"So, everything's okay?" Becca asked. "I don't need to call the police?"

Police? Should they call the police? Could they do anything? She needed to talk to Dare first. He'd know what to do.

"Yeah, she's fine," Lyra said, pressing her fingertips harder against her skull. "I'll call you."

Becca said after a moment's hesitation, "All right. Talk with you later." She disconnected her cell phone.

When Lyra pushed the off button on Nick's phone, she looked up at Dare, who was now standing beside her, and a tear rolled from one of her eyes. "The People do have Mrs.

Yosko. They left a note saying she's at the compound. I don't know which one. The People could have taken her to Oregon for all I know."

He shoved his hand through his hair, and that dark fury was on his features again.

"Shit."

"Should we call the police?" She stood and moved toward him. "I'm afraid he'll hurt my mother. I'm afraid he'll hurt Mrs. Yosko if we do. But we've got to get her." Lyra clenched the phone. "Mrs. Y—she has meds that she takes every day."

Lyra started dialing her voice mail, sick to her stomach that she'd have to listen to Neal's voice and his threats against her mother and her friend.

"I wrote down the phone number while you were in the bathroom." Dare picked up a notepad—trust Nick to have a pen and paper in the room. Dare reached for the receiver she was holding. "Let me call the sonofabitch."

"No." She drew away and stepped back. "It's time I dealt with this."

Even as his features darkened, she dialed the number she saw on the pad.

When Neal answered, she couldn't open her mouth to say anything.

"Lyra," came Neal's smooth voice. "I know you're there. I can hear you breathing."

She swallowed and forced herself to speak. Even though she knew her words wouldn't make a difference, she still said, "Have Adam and Mark bring her back, Neal. Mrs.

Yosko's dependent on medications. She could die if you don't take her home."

"Come back to The People," Neal said in his deep, hypnotic voice. "Bring the cowboy.

He can take the old lady. But you… your place is beside me."

Bitter tears stung Lyra's eyes, but she refused to let them fall. "The Prophecy is bull and you know it. Stop chasing me and let Mrs. Yosko go."

"It's a simple exchange," he said, and she closed her eyes as he spoke, fighting to slow her breathing. "You belong in the fold, serving the Light."

OhGodohGodohGod.

The sick feeling in her belly warred with fury that burned through her like wildfire. She opened her eyes. Vaguely she was aware of Dare stirring beside her, but she couldn't look at him.

"Let Mrs. Yosko go," she said in a voice so calm it surprised her.

"It looks like I'll have to teach you your place when you return," Neal said with a hard edge to his normally serene voice. "I'll take it out on your mother for now."

"No!" Lyra shouted. "Don't touch her!"

"Then be at the Huachuca compound gate at ten tonight. The old lady will be waiting for the cowboy, and your mother won't be harmed. Mark and Adam will be ready for you, and they'll bring you to me."

"You bast—" Lyra started to scream, but the connection went dead.

She jammed her finger against the off button and almost flung the receiver across the room. Instead she took a deep breath and looked up at Dare. "Mark and Adam will trade Mrs. Yosko for me. Ten tonight. Huachuca compound gate."

"Like hell." Dare took Lyra by the shoulders. "I'm not making any kind of Goddamn trade. We're going to get Mrs. Yosko out and keep you away from those S.O.B.'s."

"If I don't go," she said, her voice shaking, "he'll hurt my mother. And Mrs. Yosko could die without her meds."

"Nick and I will take care of Mrs. Yosko," Dare said. "Then we'll figure out a way to get your mother out of the Oregon compound while exposing the bastard for weapons, drugs, rape, child molestation. We
will
figure out a way to get him."

"I'm the only way." Lyra's face was sheet-white. "Neal wants me so badly to fulfill that stupid Prophecy that I really don't have a choice."

Dare could barely keep himself from taking her by the shoulders and shaking some sense into her. "
No
," he said, almost in a shout. "That's not going to happen."

Lyra clenched her fists at her sides. "If I choose to help, that's my right."

He braced one hand on the bedpost and ran his hand over his face, frying to control his emotions. All he wanted to do was protect her, hold her, and never let her go.

Dare did his best to keep his voice calm and controlled. "I don't give a damn what you think your rights are. The discussion ends now. You
will not
go near that compound."

Lyra's complexion went from pale to scarlet. She opened her mouth. Shut it. Whirled away from him and marched out of the room.

When he could no longer see her, he sat heavily on the bed and scrubbed his hand over his face. "Goddamn. Fuck. Shit."

"They're well protected, but we can come up with a plan and rescue the old lady," Dare said, his fury like a hot blast to his skin.

They were in the surveillance room. Dare braced his hands on a portion of the wide polished wood that ran the length of the room, curved, and extended from another wall. A few padded chairs were positioned in front of monitors. Nick sat in one of the chairs, his fingers tapping on a keyboard as he and Dare both stared at a screen. A grid moved in various angles across the screen.

Dare pointed to a spot on the digital map. "There. We could take out the guards and cut through the fence."

"The guards are armed better than the Mexican Mafia." Nick tapped the keyboard and this time a clearer picture of the compound came up. He zoomed in close enough that he saw guards bearing weaponry so powerful it was illegal in civilian hands. "AK-47s and M249s."

Nick pointed to the screen. "Two ten-foot-high chain-link fences," he said, and Dare ground his teeth at the sight of the double fencing surrounding the compound.

Nick continued, "Looks like five-foot-wide rolls of razor wire from the inside to the outside fence."

Dare's shoulders vibrated with the force of his anger.

Nick clicked more keys on the keyboard and the view drew back as he said, "Guards stationed every twenty feet around the perimeter inside and out. We'll have to take out anyone who gets in our way."

"Now that we know what we're going to do with the guards," Dare said, "tell me what you've got for explosives."

After donning his Kevlar vest, Dare shoved daggers into the outside sheath of each boot while he stood in Nick's great room. He tried to shake off the fury that had gripped him since Neal Barker had first left the message for Lyra.

To prepare for the attack, Dare had dressed all in black from the pants he had stuffed into the rubber-soled boots specially designed for recon to the black cap he was wearing.

He'd slung a utility belt around his waist with more ammunition and a couple of Nick's IEDs—Improvised Explosive Devices. His Glock was tucked into the back of his pants and his SIG-Sauer 226 in the utility belt. His shirt was long-sleeved to protect his arms.

Nick was decked out and armed much the same.

Lyra came upstairs, through the archway. She wore a black T-shirt with her blue jeans and jogging shoes. "You're not leaving me," she said when she reached them. "I'm going with you."

"Hell, no." Dare shoved another knife into his utility belt and glared at Lyra. Just the thought of putting her in any kind of danger made his gut tighten.

She glared right back. "This is my fight, too. As a matter of fact, this whole thing is because of me. None of this would have happened if it wasn't for the fact that Neal is so obsessed with me and his freaking Prophecy."

"You're staying here." Dare brushed past Lyra toward the back door that led to the garage. The soles of his boots didn't make a sound as he moved. "End of discussion."

Lyra wanted to scream at the stubborn man and stomp her feet like a child. How ironic that the one place she didn't want to be was the one place she had to go. She'd been running for years. But she was tired of running and now it was time to turn and face Neal, to walk into the lion's den to save her friend, the woman who had been like a grandmother to her, and to save her own mother. With her hands on her hips, she said, "You can't make me stay."

He stopped long enough to cast a look over his shoulder. "You're not going with us."

"Oooooh!" Lyra clenched her hands into fists as Nick strode by her and followed Dare through the kitchen. "Listen, you S.O.B.," she said as she followed them.

They shut the door in her face. A couple of high-pitched beeps and the sound of door locks slamming home caused her to stumble back.

They didn't. They hadn't just locked her inside the house. No way.

Beyond pissed, Lyra jerked on the handle, but it didn't budge. Heat kicked in and she banged her fist against the door. "Let me out!" She hit it so hard her hand hurt. The door was so solid the only sound was the thump of her fist against the wood.

She lowered her hands. For a moment she gripped them tightly, then dropped her head forward in defeat, her forehead against the wood. "That S.O.B." Her limbs began to tremble with the force of her anger, and she raised her chin again.

There had to be some way out of this house. She went to the front door. Locked. The glass arcadia doors that led to a lush green backyard, just as frozen shut. It was like Nick had some kind of lockdown on the place.

"Dammit." She plopped down in one of the cushioned chairs in the great room and stared into space. A tingle crept up the back of her neck. What if something happened to Dare or Nick? She bit her lower lip hard, but the pain was welcome. She couldn't bear it if Dare was hurt… or worse. Not to mention Nick and Mrs. Yosko.

And what about her mother? Lyra had never forgiven her mother all these years for taking them into the cult. But Lyra didn't want to see Sara abused—or worse—because of her.

And because Dare hadn't taken Lyra, now her mother was in jeopardy, as well as Mrs.

Y.

Lyra ground her teeth. Damn him.

Now all she could do was sit and wait.

Nick drove the Jeep toward the foot of the Huachuca Mountains, the vehicle's headlights slicing a path through the darkness. During the drive neither man spoke. The only sounds were the hum of wheels over asphalt, the infrequent whoosh of a car passing by, and the occasional sound of Nick changing gears.

Both men knew the base of the Huachucas fairly well, and the compound was in an area that Dare was more than familiar with. The compound was laid out in a large empty stretch surrounded by thick vegetation.

Instead of heading directly up to the front gate, Nick drove the specially equipped four-wheeler along a back trail. Pine and oak, as well as piñon trees and century plants, grew thick along the rocky dirt road they were traveling on. He shut off the lights and they both donned night-vision goggles.

When they came as close to the compound as they dared, Nick shut the Jeep down.

For a moment there was only silence, with the exception of the slight tick of the vehicle from the heat of the engine. Nick and Dare both climbed out, and Dare silently shut his door to walk to the driver's side. He and Nick gave each other a quick nod before Nick slipped into the shadows and became one with the darkness.

Dare swung himself up and into the Jeep's driver's seat and started the vehicle. Dirt and rocks crunched beneath the Jeep's tires as he slowly drove back the way they came. When he reached the highway, he pulled onto it, flicked on his headlights, ripped off his night-vision goggles, buzzed up the windows, and headed for the compound's front gate.

It didn't take long to reach the well-lit compound. Dare glanced at the Jeep's illuminated clock. Twenty-two hundred hours—10:00 P.M.—on the dot.

Two guards wearing fatigues were stationed to either side of the gate, their gazes focused on the Jeep. Both held AK-47s. Dare rolled the Jeep slowly to the gate and shut the vehicle down.

He turned off the headlights.

Despite the brightly lit compound, Dare couldn't tell if one of the people in the compound was the old lady.

He held on to the thread of hope that the dark-tinted windows of the Jeep would make it impossible for anyone to tell how many people sat inside.

The twin front gates slowly swung open.

Nick had better be in position.

Dare jammed the keys in his pocket, took a deep breath, and climbed out of the vehicle.

He started toward the guards. Blood rushed through his veins as he neared the compound.

Just as he reached the first two guards, the heavens exploded.

The guards' attention whipped toward the wall of flames shooting up into the night sky.

In that moment of distraction, Dare drew out his Glock and slammed the butt of his weapon against one of the guard's temples, dropping him.

In a fluid movement, Dare jammed his boot into the other guard's midsection and took him out with one shot.

More screams and shouts along with another explosion reamed the night. People ran from one direction and the next.

Amidst all the chaos, Dare bolted for the next guard inside the front gate, who'd also swung his attention toward the explosion. The man turned and drew his gun. The compound was lit up brightly enough that Dare could pick off the man and two other guards before they knew what hit them.

A quick scan and Dare's gaze landed on an old lady. She looked at the men surrounding her, then straight at Dare.

Four men stood around her, including Mark and Adam. Mark called out to more guards around the compound to bring Dare down.

Explosion after explosion rocked the night.

The armed men posted beside Mrs. Yosko didn't move until they saw Dare running toward them. Both guards looked like they wanted to run but raised their weapons. Dare dropped and rolled. Two shots and both collapsed to the ground.

As soon as her guards were taken out, Mrs. Yosko started hauling ass toward the gate.

Pretty fast for an old lady.

Mark had been shouting directions but stopped when Dare reached him. As far as Dare could tell, Mark was unarmed, but he wasn't taking any chances. Dare held his Glock in his left hand when he reached the bastard. In the next moment Dare's right fist headed straight for the cult member's nose.

Mark countered with an upswing of his own, a powerful sweep that blocked Dare's punch. Dare caught his balance, ducked to the left.

Mark swung his fist toward Dare's jaw and shouted, "Where's Lyra?"

"You'll never get your Goddamn hands on her," Dare snarled.

From his side vision, Dare saw three men in fatigues running toward them.

With every ounce of strength he had, Dare slammed his fist into Mark's jaw—the same jaw he'd hit the other day.

The man's head snapped back.

He stumbled. Tripped and fell on his ass.

Dare didn't have time for the feeling of satisfaction that hit had given him. He'd needed the physical contact with the man who'd been chasing and threatening Lyra.

With a powerful kick to his midsection, Dare took Adam down next. The unarmed man flew back and struck his head on the rocky ground.

Dare's heart pounded full throttle. Now he had three more men bearing down on him at once. He blew away the first. Before he could fire again, Nick was behind the men. He was a blur as he took down the two still standing, using blows to their necks, backs, and knees.

They weren't going anywhere.

"Now!" Nick shouted as he bolted to the old lady. As soon as he reached her, he scooped Mrs. Yosko into his arms and ran for the gate. Mrs. Y clung to Nick and looked over his shoulder at Dare.

Two guards wearing terrified expressions came at them as they reached the compound gates.

Even holding the old lady, Nick took one man down with a single shot. Dare nailed the second with two.

Nick and Dare ran for the Jeep with Dare guarding Nick's back.

Shots pelted the ground. One whizzed by Dare's ear.
Fuck. That was close
.

Nick deposited Mrs. Y in the back, then swung himself into the passenger seat while slamming the door behind him.

Dare was already in the driver's seat. He jammed the keys into the ignition, started the Jeep, and put it into gear.

He kept the headlights off as he spun the vehicle away from the compound. Nick handed him a pair of night-vision goggles, and he jerked them on as the Jeep tore down the road in the darkness.

Pings against metal. The bulletproof back window took several drummings.

Dare floored it. When they reached the desolate highway, the Jeep skidded onto the asphalt. It fishtailed and then evened out as he pushed the vehicle to its limit.

"Clear." Nick's sigh of relief was audible. "You sure know how to throw a party."

Dare ripped off his goggles at the same time he flooded the highway with the Jeep's headlights. He cast a glance over his shoulder at Mrs. Yosko, whose hair was wild about her face, but she had a lucid, determined look to her expression.

Just as he turned back to the road, the old lady said in an irritated voice, "They didn't let me bring my cat."

Lyra died a thousand deaths as she paced in her bedroom. She rubbed her arms, feeling cold and hot all at once. How were Dare and Nick? Mrs. Yosko? Would any of them be hurt… or killed?

Lyra paced and paced. She couldn't sit still for long. She needed to do
something
.

The door to the bedroom jerked open.

Dare.

When she saw it was him, she ran to him and flung her arms around his neck. He smelled of smoke, dirt, and blood. The scratches she'd given him on his cheek when they'd met seemed fainter, but maybe that was because he had a nasty bruise developing around one eye. The bruise around his other eye from that first escape from her home was yellowing.

She pulled away. "What about Nick and Mrs. Y?"

"Here and barely a scratch." Dare rubbed his forehead with dirty fingers.

"What about you?" Lyra asked.

He settled his hands on her waist. "I'm fine, honey."

"Well, good," she said just before she drew back and slammed her fist into his belly.

Dare gave a grunt of surprise and bent slightly before straightening, a confused look on his face.