Page 42 of Fifty First Times (Sharing You 0.40)
“Who’s that?” Tanner asked.
“My favorite stuffed horse. Please! I need her. She’s still in our hiding place.”
“It’s okay.” I turned to the tree. “I’ll get Pinky.”
The tightness in the small girl’s shoulders melted and she placed a hand on top of Shawnee’s head.
I brushed the ivy aside, exposing a hollowed cubby the size of a beach ball. I got down on my hands and knees and reached inside the dark hole, praying the furry thing I found with my fingers was the stuffed animal. I breathed a sigh of relief when the object I withdrew turned out to be a fuzzy pink horse. Rocking back on my heels, I lifted the stuffed animal. “Is this everyone?”
Olivia nodded. “Yes.”
“All right.” I stood. “Now I don’t want you or Pinky exploring these woods by yourselves anymore, okay?”
The girl shook her head. “Oh, we weren’t exploring. We were hiding from the bad man.” She looked up at Tanner hopefully. “Did you catch him? He said he was going to hurt my mommy and daddy if I didn’t come with him, but I was too scared.”
My blood turned to ice. Bad man?
Tanner stiffened and he rested his free hand on his gun. “Where did you see the bad man, honey?”
Still holding the leash, she hugged her arms across her body. “He came into my yard while I was playing. He tried to make me go with him and I didn’t want to. I ran into the woods. He chased me for a long time until I found the hole.” Her bottom lip trembled. “Are my mommy and daddy okay?”
“They’re fine, sweetheart.” Tanner kneeled beside her and smoothed the tangled hair from her face. “You did the right thing, Olivia. I’m very proud of you. But now we’re going to have to find the bad man so we can put him in jail and make sure he never bothers you again. Can you tell me what he looks like?”
She gave a little shrug. “He was scary. His face was fuzzy like my daddy’s but he didn’t have any hair on his head.”
“That’s really good, Olivia.” Tanner patted her back. “Do you think you could come to the police station and look at some pictures? Maybe you could find a picture of him?”
“Okay. I—” She looked at me and her eyes fluttered wide. A whimper escaped her throat before she buried her head into Tanner’s shoulder. She spoke, her words muffled into his shirt, “Please. Don’t let him get me.”
“Of course not, Olivia.” He squeezed her shoulder and turned to me. A strange look crossed his eyes. He jumped to his feet, shoved Olivia behind him, and withdrew his gun, pointing it straight at me. “Don’t move.” He growled the words between clenched teeth.
I gasped. “Tanner! What the hell?” My stomach quivered and I took a step back only to bump into something solid. Before I could turn around to investigate, an arm curled around my neck so tightly, I struggled to breathe. What little air I managed to inhale reeked of menthol. Seconds later, another arm appeared—and this one held a large hunting knife. The stranger forced the edge against my throat.
“Don’t do it, Officer.” I recognized the voice as the man who we’d found wandering the woods alone. “You make one move and I’ll end this pretty little girl, here.” To prove his point, he pressed the knife deeper into my skin. Pain like fire burned across my skin and I cried out. Seconds later, something warm trickled down my neck.
Shawnee, held back by the leash in Olivia’s hand, snarled.
Tanner’s gun never wavered. “Put down your weapon!”
The man holding me laughed. “Not going to happen. I wanted to find the little brat before she identified me, but since that didn’t happen, I’ve got nothing to lose. So here’s how this is going to go; you’re going to put down your gun and radio to the other officers I have a hostage. I want a truck waiting for me when I walk out of these woods. And the girl here”—he shook me—“is going with me as my insurance. One wrong move and kill her. I swear I will.”
I could barely hear his words over my pulse thrashing inside my head. I wanted to push away from his grip, but I knew any move I made would dig the blade deeper into my neck. All I could do was curl my fingers into Pinky’s soft fluff and will myself not to scream.
“All right. Just calm down,” Tanner said, his voice as casual as someone ordering coffee. His eyes met mine and I wondered who his words were really intended for. Still holding the gun, he glanced behind him at Olivia. She trembled as she held on to Shawnee’s leash. “Olivia, I want you to take Shawnee for a walk in that direction.” He jutted his chin toward the stream. “He’s a smart dog and he knows how to get you out of the woods and to your mommy and daddy. Can you do that for me?”
“O-okay.” With shaking hands, she pulled on Shawnee’s leash. It took her several good tugs before he reluctantly turned away from me and led her back the way we came.
Next, Tanner removed a hand from his gun and clutched his radio. “Dispatch, five-one-four, copy information. I’m out with a hostage situation in progress. Have EMS stand down. Suspect is demanding a truck and free passage.”
The radio crackled before the dispatcher answered, “Copy, five-one-four. Stand by for a supervisor.”
Tanner brought his hand back to his gun. His eyes narrowed into a gaze every bit as lethal as the weapon in his hand. “You’ve got your truck. Now let go of the girl.”
The man snorted. “That’s not going to happen. She’s my insurance so she stays with me. And who knows? After she gets to know me, we might end up being real good friends. What d’ya say, darlin’?” The man’s arm squeezed my neck until black spots flooded my vision. I tried to breathe but could do little more than sputter and cough.
Tanner bared his teeth. “Cricket, do you remember what I told you earlier?”
“Don’t talk to her! I’m the one with the knife. And if you want her in one piece, you’ll toss me your gun. Now!” He thrust the blade deeper into my skin but the pain hardly registered as unconsciousness pulled at me with velvet fingers. How could Tanner expect me to remember anything when I could barely stay awake? Still, I did my best to rewind our conversation. He’d talked about how he felt about me and what he’d been forced to do. But in this moment, one thing he’d told me rose above the rest and screamed through the panic muddying my mind.
