Coming Home to You (The Rockport Beach Series Book 1) (29 page)

“Beck, you’ve got a lot going on, dude,”
Ryan says. “You want me to start a trace? Erin’s given me the details, shouldn’t
be too hard to check it out.”

I exhale hard, nodding as I say, “Ryan,
that would be fucking amazing, yes, do it.”

“Will do,” he says. “I’ll let you know what
I find.”

“Thanks,” I say, hanging up. Fuck, I am
glad I have this guy for a partner. Apart from the fact that he’s smart and
always thinking outside the box, he can always be relied on to have my back too.
And apparently him hooking up with Erin has other advantages, like the two of
them coming up with a plan that the three of us didn’t even fucking consider.

I relay the information to Finn and Tony,
both of them nodding and saying it’s worth a shot. It takes forever for Ryan to
call me back, but when he finally does, I answer it on the first ring.

“What have you got?”

“Batteries are dead, obviously,” he says.
“It was the first thing Erin tried, but we managed to pick up the GPS signal,”
he adds.

“Fuck, tell me you’ve got a location?” I
say, standing and pacing the room.

“I’ve got something better than that,” Ryan
says. “I’ve got a location in Gloucester. She’s there, Beck, she’s somewhere in
Gloucester.”

“Oh fuck, thank god,” I breathe out,
collapsing into my chair.

“It’s a twenty mile radius, but from the
maps, it doesn’t look like there’s much out there. A couple of farmhouses, all
next to the water. Shouldn’t be too hard to find her.”

“Ryan, shit, thank you,” I say, my eyes
closing as I start to believe I really might get her back. “I owe you big time
for this.”

Ryan chuckles. “Dude, I’ve told you, you
don’t owe me shit for this. I’m just doing my job and I’m glad I could help you
out.”

“Well, thank you anyway,” I say. “And if
you ever need anything, anything at all. A good word put in with Erin or
something, just let me know.”

Ryan laughs now. “I think I’m good with
Erin, Beck. She can’t resist me, but thanks anyway.”

I finally smile. “Cocky bastard.”

“You know it,” he says. “I’m sending you
this info now. Go find your girl, Beck. Let me know when you get her.”

“Will do.”

I hang up and ten minutes later, we have a search
area for where this fucker might be. Tony gets out a map of the area, circling
the search site and highlighting the three potential cabins where Jason might
be keeping her.

“We should go together,” he says. “Starting
here,” he adds, indicating the closest cabin. “And moving through them. I don’t
want anyone splitting up. This guy clearly knows what he’s doing and should be
considered dangerous. No one’s getting shot on my watch, clear?”

Finn and I both look up at him. As much as
I think the three of us should split up, take a couple of guys each and go our
separate ways, I know he’s right. Part of the reason Kelsey got taken in the
first place is some young rookie with no experience, was left in charge. I don’t
want that happening again. As much as I want to believe these guys know what
they’re doing, I can’t bring myself to trust Kelsey with anyone but me or Finn.

“Clear,” Finn and I both say.

“Right then,” he says. “Let’s get our shit
together and go.”

It takes another thirty minutes for us to
get ready. Like Rockport, Gloucester doesn’t normally see this kind of action,
especially on a weekday. It’s bigger than Rockport, but still, the most they
can hope for is a couple of break-ins or the occasional car accident, maybe a
fire or two. Rarely do they see an ex-cop stalker who’s now wanted for kidnapping
and a potential murder.

“You doing okay?” Finn asks, as we walk
towards his car.

“Yeah,” I answer, giving him a quick nod.
“I just wanna get there, you know. Find my girl and make this fucker pay for
what he’s done to her.”

Finn doesn’t start the car and I turn to
glare at him, tell him to hurry the fuck up, but his look stops me. “What?” I
ask.

“Just take it easy, okay?” he says. “I know
you want to find her, we all do. But you going in there, all guns blazing, isn’t
going to help Kelsey. She’d die if something happened to you, Beck,” he says.
“So don’t make me have to go through that.”

I nod once, not saying anything.

The drive out to the first farmhouse takes
about forty-five minutes. We park about a mile down the drive, leaving the
sirens off and our cars on the side of the road. Finn, Tony and I, all take
flanking positions, each of us with two of Tony’s guys.

But the farmhouse is empty, nothing but
boarded up windows and a roof that’s half caved in. It doesn’t look like anyone
has set foot on the property in years and there’s definitely no sign of
activity or the boat.

“Fucking shit,” I say, getting back into
the car.

“Beck,” Finn warns. “Just take it easy,
remember, it’s only the first place.”

“I know, I know,” I say, impatient. “I just,
fuck, I just wanna find her.”

We head towards the second house in the
search zone. This one takes another twenty minutes and turns out, is set even
further back from the road. It’s the perfect spot for holding someone, because
it’s isolated, close to the water and nobody would ever drive past it. You’d
have to be specifically coming to visit to even notice the drive in the first
place.

We do the same as before, leaving our cars
on the side of the road, before heading up to the house. Finn and Tony take the
sides and I head up the middle, straight towards the front of the house.

It’s single story, possibly three bedrooms.
All of the windows are shut, about half of them covered with blinds. To the
side of the house is a shed and in front of that sits a dock, the
Lucky Lady
tied to it.

“Shit,” I exhale. “We’ve fucking found
her.”

I turn to the guys with me, signaling for
them to be silent as I flick the safety off my gun and get ready to move. Just
as we approach the house though, I hear a woman scream.

“Fuck! Kelsey!” I shout, ignoring
everything we talked about and bolt for the house.

I hear the shower running as I make my way down the
hallway, trying to formulate a plan so that I don’t have to get in the shower
with Jason. The thought of seeing him naked makes my skin crawl. Knowing
everything I know now, I can’t believe I ever got involved with him in the
first place.
But hindsight is
twenty-twenty and right now, I need to focus on exactly how I’m going to get
away from him.

I hit the bathroom, only to find the door open and
Jason nowhere to be seen.

I’m standing in the doorway,
cautiously peeking into the bathroom as I feel the barrel of a gun press into
the back of my head.

My eyes
close instinctively and I stop breathing. This sick fuck is bat shit crazy and
at this point I wouldn’t put it past him to blowing my fucking head off.

“Rachel,
you stupid whore. Did you really think I’d get in the shower and leave you
alone?” He laughs and it’s disgusting and evil. The gun is forced against my
head even harder until it’s almost painful.

With my
eyes closed and my breathing returning to normal, I’m suddenly hit with
memories of Finn.

After
Beck left, I was hurt and angry and bitter, but Finn wouldn’t just let me mope
around. Every day after he got through with his shift, we’d head to the gym
where we’d spend the evening working out my anger. It became a regular
occurrence and after a while he began to teach me techniques he’d learned in
defending himself against attackers.

At the
time, I felt like I was just humoring him because when would I ever need to
defend myself against an armed gunman? Even as a cop, I wasn’t entirely sure
Finn would ever have to either; Rockport has never been a town known for its
crime rate.

But
right now, on the receiving end of a gun being pointed at the back of my head
and a fucking psychopath on the other end of it, all of Finn’s teachings don’t
seem so meaningless.

My eyes
still closed, I replay Finn’s technique over in my head a few times. It’s all
very quick and I know I need to act fast before Jason makes his next move.

I scream
as loud as possible before turning around, my fist clenched and my forearm
braced, connecting with Jason’s arm that is holding the gun in an attempt to
knock it loose. Simultaneously, I bring my knee up and land a direct hit to his
balls. While it works enough for me to run away, I’m unable to jar the gun
loose from his grasp.

I
don’t know where to run, my adrenaline pumping and my body still sore. I reach
a bedroom and slam the door closed, but realize it has no lock. Knowing a door
won’t stop him and sure he’s even more pissed off now, I push whatever I can
move up against the door.

I
run to the window in hopes of seeing someone; anyone, but what I hear are
gunshots and I cower. Muffled, but still nearby, I realize they didn’t come
from inside the house. Trying to piece everything together, I can only assume
there has been some kind of shoot out between the person guarding the house and
someone else.

Looking
around the room, I figure it must have been Rachel’s. It’s decorated with a
floral quilt and a large four-poster bed. Next to the bed is a picture of
Rachel and Jason, both smiling, but I know the truth behind the picture now. I
won’t end up like her.

I
know I can’t sit here on the floor and wait for someone to save me, this isn’t
a fucking fairy tale, and there is no knight in shining armor, just a sick ass
motherfucker hell bent on turning me into his possibly dead ex-girlfriend.

The
knob to the door turns slowly and I pull myself up off the floor and unplug the
lamp and grab it from the nightstand. Even with a small desk shoved against the
door, I know this asshole is going to get through.

Standing
to the side of the door, I give myself a count of three and with my foot, I
shove the desk out of the way. It slides across the floor with a loud scraping
noise and leaves the door unguarded and ready to be opened.

Seconds
later Jason bursts through, but I’m ready and I hit him as hard as I can over
the head with the lamp.

But
again, I’m too small to cause any serious damage. He grabs the back of his head
with one hand and screams out, “You bitch,” before turning his face towards me.

His
eyes are crazy with hatred, his pupils large and the look on his face is
frightening. Jason lunges for me and I move, but not fast enough and he grabs hold
of my hair, yanking me back to him.

“Don’t
you remember what happened the last time?” he hisses. “Don’t fight me, Rachel!”
Shoving the gun behind his back in the waist of his pants, he wraps his hands
around my neck.

“Tyson,”
I gasp out, as my breathing grows weak. “You killed me last time, baby. Stop.”
I can feel the tears falling from my eyes as I connect with his.

Jason’s
grip loosens and I put my hands over his, peeling his fingers from my neck.

“I
didn’t kill you,” he says confused. “You’re right here.”

Leaving
him slightly stunned and confused, I place my hands on his shoulders in a
sympathetic gesture, but immediately knee him in the groin. A loud breath
escapes his mouth and I make a run for it.

Before
I can reach the doorway, Jason grabs my leg and I fall hard to the floor. I can’t
seem to catch a break and while I know he’s bigger than me, he seems to
anticipate my every move.

Before
I know it, I’m on the bed with Jason on top of me. I feel the heaviness of his
body keeping me from moving, while his legs have my arms pinned. I begin to
sob, each heave racking my body and making it hard to breathe.

Jason
removes the gun from his waistband, and I get a good look at it. It’s a GLOCK,
and from the looks of it, police issued. A small G30S, I remember looking at
the catalog with Finn when he was trying to find a lighter weight model to
order for the force in Rockport.

Why does Jason have a police issued gun?

But
the more I process everything, the quicker it comes together. I swallow hard as
it hits me. He used to be a cop. That explains so much now. How he was able to
avoid the police every time, how he had access to those cameras he placed in my
house, how he knew exactly how to defend himself when I came at him and even
worse, how he knew how to kill Rachel and get away with it.

Panic
is setting in as Jason smiles maliciously, the gun pressed to my temple now.

“I
don’t understand why you can’t get it through your stupid fucking head that you
are mine, Rachel,” he growls. “Mine!” he screams and I startle.

I
nod my head almost imperceptibly, but it isn’t enough for him and he smacks me
in the side of the head with the gun.

Blinding
pain burns behind my eyes and I feel like I’m going to vomit. The room is growing
dark as I realize I can’t see out of my left eye; I feel the blood running down
my face as Jason runs his fingers through it.

Oh my god, he’s going to kill me.

“Look
what you made me do?” he says, showing me his blood soaked fingers, but his
voice is anything but concerned. “Now will you stop fighting me?” he asks
harshly.

Again
I nod and this time he smiles wickedly.

His
hands move to the drawstring of my pajama pants, he makes short work of it and
begins to slip the pants and my underwear down my hips. His legs now allowing my
arms loose, I begin to struggle again. Still sobbing, my eyes are blurry and my
heart is pulsing thick in my chest and pumping through my ears.