Scream for Me (29 page)

There were more curves up ahead. Twisting, sharp curves. Drops at the edge of the road.

I can’t see them
.

She pushed on the brakes, trying to carefully guide the car to the right-hand shoulder of the pavement. Her heart was pounding in her chest, so very fast. The damn wipers.

The others had pulled out of the parking area first, leaving the base before her.
That was what I wanted. I wanted to be prey
.

She knew this growing fear churning in her stomach. This was exactly how the others had felt when they’d realized they were stranded.

Only it was still early. Barely past nine. The killer didn’t normally hunt at this time.

He also doesn’t normally shoot his prey, but that’s exactly what he did to Sheriff Coolidge and Christa
.

The glow of headlights lit up her vehicle from behind. Cadence checked her weapon. Pulled in a deep, steadying breath.

Had that been a car door slamming? It was so hard to be certain. The rain was so loud.

Cadence turned, trying to see through the driver’s-side window.

Someone rapped against the window.

She jumped. Dammit, she was an FB-freaking-I agent. This was her plan.

And she’d jumped.

She’d also curled her fingers around her weapon. There was a shadow on the other side. She couldn’t tell much about the person.

“
You okay?
”

She caught the faint words, barely, and realized…
That’s a woman’s voice
.

Cadence rolled down her window. Rain and wind rushed inside her rented SUV.

A woman stood there, pale, too thin, shaking, in the storm. She had a small umbrella clutched tightly to her. “I saw you pull over,” she said, frowning as she peered into Cadence’s car. “Are you okay?”

Cadence made sure to keep her gun out of sight. “I’m fine. Just some trouble with my wipers.” The rain might ease soon and then she’d be able to drive again.

The Good Samaritan frowned. “Do you…do you want me to call someone for you?”

“No, thank you.” Cadence forced a smile. “I have a phone. I’m fine.”
You need to get out of here. Hurry home. Lock your doors
.

But the woman wasn’t moving. “I—I saw on the news.” She bit her lip. “It’s not safe for you to be out here. Why don’t you let me give you a ride?”

“I’m good, but thank you.” Cadence turned on the car’s interior light and pulled out her FBI identification. “Thanks for stopping.”

The woman, who had dark-brown hair falling heavily down her back, reached for the ID. She held it a moment, and after a quick scan, handed it back to Cadence.

Then she just turned and walked away. The woman didn’t say another word.

“Okay,” Cadence muttered. Not weird at all. She rolled up her window.

The car’s headlights were still on behind her. But the lights were moving as the woman began to pull away.

She started to put her ID up, then she realized…

There was a piece of paper stuck to the ID. Her interior lights blazed down on the small scrap of paper. And the words that had been written there.

Help me
.

Cadence shoved open her car door and leaped out, but the woman was already driving off.

No!

Cadence jumped back in her vehicle and yanked out her cell phone. She had the sheriff’s office on the line instantly. “This is FBI Agent Cadence Hollow. I’m on County Road Four, and I need assistance. I’m in pursuit of a—” Hell, she hadn’t even been able to make out the vehicle in the downpour. “A possible victim” was all she could say. She rolled down her window and shoved her head out. It was the only way she could see. She took off after the woman.

Help me
.

Cadence was sure going to try.

She let the phone fall from her fingers as she tried to keep her vehicle on the road, and see what curves waited up ahead.

“Agent Hollow just called!” Heather Crenshaw ran up to Kyle as he entered the Paradox police station. “She said she’s out on County Road Four. There’s a victim who needs help!”

He immediately whirled back toward the front door and out into the rain. The wind was pushing harder now, gushing fiercely and howling.

As he ran for his vehicle, he yanked out his phone and tried to get Cadence.

She didn’t answer.

One of the perp’s victims? Had she found him?

Danielle was hurrying toward him, clutching an umbrella. “What’s happening?”

Heather had already made it to her patrol car.

“We’re going after Cadence,” he said grimly. Cadence and her victim.

Her phone was ringing again, but Cadence couldn’t take her hands off the wheel to answer. She was driving too fast, the curves were too sharp, and she could barely see.

She kept shoving her head out the window, staring into the night, trying to find the black edge of the road.

Who was that woman?
Doesn’t matter. She needs me
.

You didn’t turn away from someone who needed help.

You never did
.

Cadence saw the next curve coming up toward her.

She slowed down, went into it—

And never saw the vehicle that slammed into her. She only felt the impact. Heard the horrible crunch of glass and metal.

And heard her own scream.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Cadence’s voice mail picked up.
Again
.

Kyle shoved his foot down on the accelerator. The vehicle cut through the night, sending rainwater spraying in its wake.

“She didn’t say the victim was related to the Night Hunter,” Dani said as she sat beside him, her body as tense and alert as his own.

They slid into the curve. His headlights fell on the wreckage.

His heart fucking stopped.

He knew that SUV. When Cadence had left Maverick hours before, she’d been driving that vehicle.

Now it sat on the side of the road, its headlights cutting through the rain, the driver’s side door hanging open and the passenger side of the vehicle completely smashed in.

He braked and jumped from his own vehicle.

“
Cadence!
” He yelled her name as he reached the crumpled SUV. Dani’s footsteps clattered behind him. An air bag had deployed on the driver’s side, an air bag that now looked like a deflated flag. Cadence’s phone was in the front seat. Her purse. Her gun and holster. Her FBI ID. All still there.

And a note…

The rain beat down on him as he bent into the vehicle to read the note.

Help me
.

“There’s blood.” Dani’s voice shook as she shone her light at first the steering wheel and then at the open driver’s side door.

“And no Cadence.”
The plan. The plan
. His jaw locked as he spun to face Dani. “Get the tracking system up!” Their prey had taken the bait.

They’d better not fucking lose him.

Or her.

I’m coming, Cadence
.

She trusted him. He wouldn’t let her down.

Her head hurt. The pain was what brought consciousness back. The throbbing. The nausea. Cadence opened her eyes. She lifted her hands, trying to touch her aching head.

Her hands slammed into something.

Dark. Why is it so dark?

She stretched out with her hands, searching. The surface above her was cold, hard metal, but ridged in places.

She realized she was moving.

Her breath froze in her lungs then. The perp had kept his word. He’d come for her.

He’d taken her.

The woman
. How the hell did she fit into the mix? Cadence and Kyle had both been so sure they were looking for a man who worked alone.

Cadence tried to stretch down, reaching for her ankle. Her knife wasn’t in the strap on her left ankle. No gun on her right.

He’d taken away her weapons.

Kyle found the gun first, tossed away, and when he found the gun, he found the knife.

Cadence’s backup weapons.

The SOB had made sure she was defenseless.

No
. The thought immediately snapped through his head. Cadence was trained in self-defense. He’d seen her take down guys twice her size.

Only her blood had been in the vehicle. Cadence was hurt.
How badly?
Would she be able to defend herself when she was hurt?

His phone hadn’t rung. Shouldn’t the SOB be calling to taunt him?

Police lights lit up the scene, some swirling in a sickening blur from the patrol cars braking nearby. This was a crime scene, and they were all treating it as carefully as they could.

“Kyle!” Dani’s shout.

He ran back to her side. She was in his vehicle, her tablet out as she tried to connect with Cadence’s tracking signals.

Dani looked up with a cold smile. “We’ve got her.”

Hell,
yes
.

Her weapons were gone, but her watch wasn’t. A frantic grab assured her the earrings were in place, too. So was the small pin, the third tracker, that had been attached to the back waist of her jeans.

Come find me
.

The vehicle slowed.

Cadence sucked in a low breath. She knew what was going to happen next. When the trunk opened, she’d see the man who’d abducted all of those women. She’d finally have a face for the monster.