Abduction (Killer Instinct) Read online

  Jill pushed her way between the sheriff and Hayden. Her whole body was shaking. “Hayden is my friend.”

  Pity flashed on the sheriff’s face as his gaze peered down at her, lingering on her jaw. “Sweetheart, why don’t you just relax with your grandmother? You don’t have to be afraid. You don’t—”

  “Hayden saved me.” Her dirty hand reached back and grabbed Hayden’s. She held him tight. “A man...took me...from the pier parking lot.” Her words were whispered and terror clawed at her as she remembered those desperate moments. “H-he hurt me. Tied me up. But Hayden got me out... Hayden helped me.” Hayden saved me.

  The only sound she could hear was the ticking of the big clock on the wall. Jill’s desperate gaze flew around the room.

  Her grandmother was crying.

  The sheriff who’d been yelling at Hayden was staring at her in shock. And...

  “I can take you back to him,” Hayden said, his voice oddly calm and still sounding so deep and...strong. “When he took Jill from the pier, I followed him on a bike. I wrecked it near the cabin, smashed it good. So we had to run on foot to get back, but I remember everything about the place. I can take you there.”

  * * *

  AND HE DID.

  Hayden led the cops back to that little cabin that was nestled near the marsh. The authorities went in with sirens screaming and guns blazing. Jill sat huddled in the back of a patrol car, her grandmother’s arms constricted around her. Hayden was beside them looking watchful, intense.

  The sheriff and his deputies searched the cabin. They brought in dogs to track the man who’d been there, but he was long gone...

  “It’s okay, Jill,” Hayden whispered.

  Her head turned toward him.

  “I’ll make sure you stay safe.”

  Such a big promise but...

  She believed him.

  Hayden Black wasn’t trouble. Her grandmother had been wrong about him.

  He was a hero.

  And he was her friend. Her very best friend in the whole entire world.

  Chapter One

  The world was dark and twisted. It was filled with monsters and evil.

  FBI special agent Jill West kept a strong grip on her service weapon as she rushed into the little house at the end of Clover Lane. Her teammates were with her, moving quickly, efficiently. They were the agents on the Southeastern Division of CARD, the Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team, and their job was to find missing children.

  Or in this specific case...one missing child. A sixteen-year-old girl named Jessica Thomas. Jessica had been gone for three days, but they’d tracked her abductor to this location, they’d followed their leads, they’d raced against time and now...

  Be alive. Please, please, be alive.

  There were too many cases that ended in tragedy, in funerals with grief-stricken families. Funerals with mothers and fathers who were too devastated to even speak. Her team needed a win...because those tragedies were pushing them all too close to the breaking point.

  “Stay the hell back!” A man ran from the back room of that little house, a bloody knife gripped in his hand. “You ain’t taking her from me! No one’s taking her from me!”

  In that instant, Jill realized three very important things.

  One...the knife had recently been used on someone. The screaming man before her showed no injuries, so odds were high that the perp had attacked Jessica.

  Two...the jerk was definitely on something. His speech was slurred, and he was weaving as he staggered toward her and the other agents in their bulletproof vests.

  And three...this man wasn’t going down easy. He was lunging forward to attack her—

  “Stand down!” Jill yelled. “Drop the weapon, now!”

  He didn’t. He just screamed louder and lurched toward her.

  Jill fired. Not a kill shot, she’d never taken that shot yet, but a shot that blasted into the man’s right shoulder. The knife fell to the floor with a clatter as he screamed and his blood soaked his shirt. “Perp down,” Jill snapped. She was wired—all of the agents were—and her earpiece had a microphone that would pick up her words so she knew the agent monitoring the team would immediately dispatch medical personnel. Then she hurried forward, kicking the knife even farther out of his way.

  Agent Henry Shaw was at her side. He kept his gun leveled at the man howling on the floor. Henry, a tall, distinguished African-American agent, was the leader of their team. A damn good leader. “I got this guy, Jill,” Henry told her, his eyes never leaving the perp. “Find the girl.”

  Jill gave an abrupt nod and hurried to the back room. She kept her gun at the ready. All of their intel had indicated that they were only looking for one assailant, that Neal Matthew Patrick had become obsessed with the sixteen-year-old victim after first meeting her in an online chat room. He’d abducted her, determined to live out that obsession.

  But just in case the guy did have a partner, in case someone else was waiting to attack in that back room, Jill didn’t lower her guard.

  The door was partially open. She used her foot to swing it all the way inward and then—

  “Help...me...” Such a weak whisper, completely at odds with the desperate howling coming from Neal.

  Jessica was on the floor, her hands pressing to her stomach—trying to stem the heavy flow of blood that had already soaked her shirt. Her face was stark white, her eyes so big and scared in her young face.

  “Victim needs assistance!” Jill called out, knowing the monitoring agent would act immediately. “Get help in here, now!” And Jill ran to the girl’s side. She needed to see just how bad the damage was but the fear in her heart already told her...

  Bad...it’s too bad.

  “I—I want...m-my mom...” Jessica whispered.

  Jill looked at the wounds—multiple stab wounds. So deep. A pool of blood was under Jessica’s body. “We’ll take you to your mom, don’t you worry, okay?” She applied pressure, fear nearly choking her.

  “I’m sorry...” Jessica’s voice was even softer now. She was starting to shake. “T-tell her...s-sorry...n-never...should have...g-gone...”

  Because Jessica had made a date with Neal. She’d snuck out of her house to meet him at her high school football field. She hadn’t realized she was going to meet a man who’d long gone over the edge. She couldn’t have known how dangerous that meeting would be for her. Just a date. A sixteen-year-old going on a date. That was all it had been, to Jessica.

  “It’s all right,” Jill told her. “You’ll be with your mom soon and you can—”

  Footsteps rushed behind her. Help, finally coming. The EMTs ran into the room and pushed Jill back. She watched them, hoping, praying, so very desperate.

  Jessica was shaking even harder now.

  Jill looked down at her hands. The girl’s blood covered her fingers. Her hands fisted. Her breath heaved in and out. Every heartbeat that passed seemed to echo in her ears.

  Jill was still standing there, still watching them, when Jessica’s eyes closed, when the girl took her last breath. The EMTs didn’t give up, they kept trying to work, kept trying to bring her back but...

  Jessica’s body had gone still.

  She had just...

  Another victim. Another child taken.

  Jill stumbled outside, her stomach in knots. The night air hit her face, slightly chilled, making goose bumps rise on her arms. The cases weren’t supposed to be like this. She was supposed to help, not arrive in time to see a young girl die.

  Tears pricked her eyes. The perp—that jerk Neal—was in the back of a nearby ambulance. He was alive. He was yelling at the agents with him.

  Jessica was gone. Life was so unfair. So cold and dark and violent. She looked at the scene around her, the chaos, the pain, and then Jill g
lanced down at the blood that covered her hands.

  I have to get away. I can’t do this. Not anymore.

  “Jill?”

  She put her hands behind her back and glanced over to see Henry frowning at her. Henry had been her mentor from the moment she signed on to the team. He’d trained her from day one when she joined CARD. As he stared at her, she saw the pity in his dark eyes.

  He knows I’m close to breaking.

  “We’ll need to tell the parents,” Jill said, trying to make her voice sound strong. The mother. They’d have to tell the mother. Jill swallowed.

  “I can do it,” Henry offered. He always handled the families so well. He seemed to know exactly what to say to them. How to give them sympathy. How to let them grieve. “You did good work on this case,” he told her, his voice soft. “You were the one to find the house, to trace Neal here, you were—”

  “I was too late.” That was the stark truth.

  “This time,” Henry said, his jaw tightening. “But there will be other cases, other children. You of all people know how important our job is.”

  Because of her past, yes, she knew. She also knew... “I have to talk to Jessica’s mother.” She needed to look the woman in the eyes and tell her that at the end, Jessica had been thinking of her. That her daughter had loved her. When she took a case, Jill saw it through to the end. But after she met with the Thomas family... Jill’s breath shuddered out. “Then I think I’ll take some of that vacation time I’ve been saving.” Hoarding, more like. Work had become her life in the last few years. Only now, that life seemed to be tearing her apart.

  “Good idea,” Henry murmured. “Maybe you can go someplace warm. Someplace where you can forget about this coldness for a time.”

  She thought of Jessica’s last words. “I think I’m going home,” Jill said. Home. The spot of her greatest happiness...

  And her most desperate moments.

  * * *

  HE SAW HER the instant she came into town. It wasn’t as if it were easy to miss a woman like her. Jill West had always been able to stand out in a crowd. The sunlight hit her dark red head, making it gleam. She wore a pair of jeans that hugged her long legs, and she walked with an easy grace as she headed toward the pier.

  Hayden Black stood inside of the bait shop, watching her as she moved with such purpose. It had been far too long since he’d seen Jill... Too damn long.

  What were the odds that when she came back to Hope, he spotted her on that same damn pier? He hadn’t thought that she would come back. Hell, he’d been planning a trip to see her in Georgia, but for her to show up now...in that spot...

  He’d never been a particularly lucky guy. The luckiest day of his life had been when he’d met a cute redheaded girl on that same pier.

  A girl with the greenest eyes he’d ever seen. A girl who’d turned one of the most hated punks in that town into a hero.

  “You gonna watch her all day?” Jeff Mazo, the owner of the bait shop asked. “Or are you actually gonna go over there and tell that woman hello?”

  Jeff didn’t get it. The woman in question might not exactly be thrilled to see him. He and Jill hadn’t ended things on the best of terms.

  I lusted for her during my teens. When I became a man, she was all that I could think about...

  Then she’d joined the FBI and he’d become a SEAL. Two different paths. Two different lives.

  Now they were back. Both back in Hope.

  Maybe it’s not luck. Maybe it was more than that. Maybe.

  “Never realized you were the nervous sort,” Jeff snorted, as if he’d just found this discovery incredibly amusing. “Bet that made for some real interesting missions, huh?”

  Hayden just shook his head, refusing to let the guy needle him. “Don’t worry, Jeff, I’m just planning my move.” More like hoping that Jill didn’t tell him to get the hell away from her. He gave a little wave. “See you later, buddy.”

  He headed out on the pier, and the old wood was sturdy beneath his feet. The scent of salt water tickled his nose. Hope. The town was gorgeous, a sweet little hideaway on the Florida Gulf Coast. It was early spring, so the place hadn’t gotten overwhelmed with tourists, not yet. Sure, a few hours away, the college kids were running amok at some of the bigger beachside cities, but Hope was quieter.

  Softer.

  Nothing ever happened in Hope.

  Except for the abduction of a sweet redheaded girl...

  The man who’d taken Jill had never been caught. And Hayden... For years, he’d woken up from nightmares in a cold sweat because of that fact. He’d been so worried that someone would take Jill from him.

  And in the end, I’m the one who lost her. I did that all on my own.

  He marched toward her. The wind ruffled her T-shirt and her hair, but she didn’t seem to care. She kept staring out at the waves, turbulent swells because a storm was coming.

  When he was just a few feet away from her, Hayden stopped. “Hello, Jill.”

  She didn’t whirl toward him in surprise. Didn’t give any shocked explanation. That wasn’t Jill’s style. Instead, she slowly turned to him with a look in her guarded green gaze that said she’d known all along that she was being watched.

  But her green eyes widened just the faintest bit, a small show of surprise that told him... Jill had expected someone else to be on that pier. She just hadn’t expected that someone to be him.

  “Hayden?” Her delicate brows arched as her gaze swept over him. “What are you doing here?”

  He gave her a small smile even as he stalked a bit closer to her. That was the thing about Jill, she always made him want to get closer. Always pulled him in, even when he knew he should be staying away from her. Mingled with the scent of the ocean, he caught her fragrance. Sweet vanilla.

  “I could ask you the same question,” he murmured. Damn but she looked good. Better than good. Heart-shaped face, wide eyes, full lips. She had just the faintest hint of freckles across the top of her nose, a little bit of the girl she’d been still hanging on to the woman she’d become.

  She took a step toward him and her hands lifted, as if she’d reach out and hug him. Once, she would have done that. Once, she would have run right into his arms and held him tight.

  And she would have fit perfectly against him. The way she always had.

  But she faltered. Her hands fell. Uncertainty flashed on her face. “I’m here for a vacation. Isn’t that why most folks come to Hope?”

  It wasn’t why he was back in Hope, and he didn’t believe for an instant that it was why she was back there, either.

  His gaze swept over her. Jill was definitely grown-up now. She stood close to five foot six, and that meant his six-foot-three frame towered over her. When they’d been kids, she’d joked and asked him when he’d ever stop growing.

  Every good memory I have is tied up in Jill West. So he didn’t stop, he didn’t falter. He closed the last bit of distance between them and wrapped her in a hug. Probably too tight, but he couldn’t really help himself. It had been far too long since he’d seen Jill. Even longer since he’d held her.

  She still fit him. Far too perfectly. His arms slid around her back and he pulled her close. Her scent wrapped around him and reminded him of all that he’d missed. Too many years away from Jill.

  Too many mistakes. And—

  She was hugging him back. A quick tightening of her arms around him as if she were just as glad to see him. His heart thudded in his chest. Maybe it wasn’t too late. Maybe he hadn’t screwed things to hell and back between them. Maybe—

  She stopped hugging him. “Let me go,” Jill said, her voice soft.

  He did. The same way he’d let her go before, ten years ago. She’d been nineteen. He’d been twenty-one.

  His hands slid away from her. “Still as beauti
ful as ever.”

  She frowned. Right, Jill never liked to be told she was beautiful. It made her uncomfortable.

  “Am I supposed to say that you’re still as handsome as ever?” Her head cocked and her gaze swept over him. “You are. But I’m sure plenty of women tell you that.”

  No other woman was Jill. His Jill.

  “Mr. Navy SEAL.” She smiled, but the smile was just a twist of her lips. No gleam appeared in her eyes and her expression didn’t lighten. He’d always worked so hard to make her give him a grin—worked even harder to hear her laugh.

  “Shouldn’t you be out defending the world? Working those secret missions?”

  Actually... “I’m not active duty any longer.” He’d given ten years of his life to service. Now...now he knew exactly what he wanted to do with the years he had left. “I just bought a house here in Hope.”

  He heard her quick exhale. Ah, so he had surprised her.

  “And here I thought you liked traveling the world. You wanted to see everything, remember?” She turned away. “But now you’re back here.”

  He reached for her hand. “And I thought you wanted to save the world.” No, he knew she’d wanted to save children, kids who’d been just like her.

  Taken.

  Stolen.

  “So what’s a hotshot FBI agent like you doing in a small town like this?” His index finger slid along her inner wrist, a careless caress.

  Or maybe a very careful one. Even he wasn’t sure about that.

  “Hiding.” And this time, her smile broke what was left of his heart. “Because I’m really not so much of a hotshot.” She looked down at their hands. “I’ve got too much blood on me.”

  Alarm pulsed through him. “Jill?”

  “Let me go,” she said once more.

  Another caress, a gentle touch right over her rapid pulse point, and his hand slid away from her.

  “I need to head home,” she said, then seemed to catch herself. “Head to the cabin. I rented a place on the beach. The beach is supposed to be good for the soul, right?”