Page 86 of Shadow of Fear
Colin lifted his gaze from Dev’s hip. “I haven’t heard a thing.”
“I’m going to look in Jada and Kinsley’s bedroom window. Stay here. Be right back.”
Dev crept along the back of the house making sure to lift his bum leg even though the pain brought those dreaded stars back. The bedroom window had been cracked open about an inch, and he risked a glance inside. His heart nearly stopped.
Jada lay on the bed, a gag in her mouth and her arms and legs tied, fear permeating her eyes. Dev swallowed the words he wanted to shout.
The assailant, who he had to assume was the guy from the lake, had his back to Dev and pressed his gun against Kinsley’s head. He was motioning toward the door to the living area. “We’ll walk down the drive and out the gate to my car. It’s parked on an old logging trail just across the road.”
“Security cameras are going to record you,” Kinsley said, sounding strong and in control.
“Then it’s a good thing I took them out on my way in.” He cackled.
Dev gritted his teeth, wishing the guy would turn so he could see his face and figure out which suspect had his gun at Kinsley’s temple. But more importantly, whoever he was, he was going to leave and take her with him.
Dev curled his fingers into fists. Everything in him encouraged him to burst through the window and rescue her. To pull out his gun and fire a shot into the assailant’s back. He wouldn’t. Of course not. Killing someone was a last resort. Besides, the guy’s muscles could twitch, and he could accidentally squeeze the trigger on his gun before he dropped from Dev’s bullet.
He had to find a better way to save Kinsley, and he had to find it fast.
The last thing Kinsley wanted to do was let this man get her outside the house. Hopefully, if she stayed there, Colin would discover their situation and rescue them. But if she left the house, Jada was the only one he could discover, and by the time they caught up to Kinsley and Yapp, she might be dead.
Her heart lurched at the thought, and it kicked up speed. She had to find a way to stall. But what?
“Wait a minute,” she said, an idea exploding in her brain like fireworks in a July sky. “We can’t go out the gate. It’s always locked, and I don’t know the code to open it.”
“You expect me to believe that?” He pressed the gun harder. “Stop stalling, and let’s go.”
“I’m not lying. I don’t know the code. I’ve only been through it once, and I didn’t see the numbers that Dev tapped into the keypad.”
He studied her face. “Then let’s ask your friend here. We’ll go over there together.”
They turned back to the bed, his gun never leaving her head.
“Do you know the code?” he asked Jada.
She nodded.
“Remove the gag,” he said to Kinsley. “Once she gives us the number, retie it.”
Kinsley took the beautiful scarf Jada had given her for her eighteenth birthday out of Jada’s mouth.
She coughed and looked into Kinsley’s eyes. “Don’t try to be a hero. He means business with that gun. He’s proven that.”
“She’s right,” Yapp said. “Now tell us the gate code.”
She rattled off a six-digit code. Kinsley repeated it to her to be sure she had the right number.
“Thank you, sweetie, and sorry about the gag. At least if you have to be gagged, it’s with the beautiful scarf you gave me.”
“It’s okay. I’ll be praying for you nonstop.” Jada smiled, but it was weak and wobbly.
Kinsley forced a smile and picked up the scarf. She gagged her best friend and kept silently repeating the gate number so she didn’t forget.
She tied the last knot.
“Let’s move,” Yapp said. “The longer we stay here the greater the risk of being discovered.”
Exactly what she was thinking, but from a far different perspective. She could only hope when they stepped out that door that Hayden or Dev had woken up or one of their other teammates was out and about and would see Yapp take her away from the property, a gun rammed against her head.
