Page 109 of Lost Truth
Took a deep breath.
Folded the third one down and charged the door.
Old wood cracked, splintered, and immediately gave away. Swinging the door in, it hit a soft target, not a wall. Perfect. He’d trapped the man. The suspect thrashed, trying to break free, but Hayden planted his feet and held firm, pinning him in place.
Abby plunged past him in a speed he couldn’t have managed. She dove for the rifle. Grabbed it up and rolled, bringing it up to point at the suspect.
“Freeze!” she shouted. “Or I’ll use your own rifle on you.”
The man stopped struggling, and Hayden shot a look at the man sitting in the chair, but he hadn’t moved.
“Kai,” Hayden called out. “Is that you?”
He received a muffled response as if the man was gagged.
“Okay, stay there and don’t move,” Hayden said. “And you behind the door. I’m going to slowly release it. You’ll come out at a snail’s pace with your hands intertwined behind your head.” He drew his handgun in case, but eased back to let the man follow directions.
Facing Abby, the man slowly emerged, his hands behind his head.
Abby gasped. “You no-good lowlife.”
Hayden wanted to spin the guy around to see who had Abby gasping, but he’d served in law enforcement long enough to know the suspect needed to be cuffed and searched first. Hayden approached him and lowered his right hand to slip it into one half of the zip tie cuff. He followed the procedure with the other one, then patted him down, finding a handgun in his boot and a knife in his pocket.
Whoever the guy was, he’d come prepared to do battle.
“Sit,” Hayden said and helped the man lower his body against the wall. Only then did he take out his flashlight and shine the beam of light at the suspect.
Wow! Oh wow! He was gasp-worthy all right, and Hayden had to blink several times to be sure he was seeing straight.
Cady raced from the vehicle toward the cabin. Lights from two police cars strobed through the night, turning the darkness into a circus of colors. She paused to search through the people for Hayden. Talking to Abby, he stood tall on the porch. Relief weakened her knees, and she had to grab onto the rear of a police car to steady herself. He was safe. Really safe. Just as he’d claimed over the comms unit to Gabe. But she hadn’t heard his voice and needed to see for herself that he wasn’t injured.
But this long-distance view wasn’t good enough. She needed to see him up close and talk to him too. She made a beeline for the cabin, but reached the ambulance first where Kai sat on the tailgate. His usual bright smile was nowhere in sight on his rounded face. He looked gaunt with fatigue etched on his features, and his shoulders were slumped.
More than anything she wanted to be with Hayden, but Kai’s dejected demeanor compelled her to stop and talk to him.
She squatted in front of him. “I’m so thankful you’re okay, Kai.” She glanced up at the medic. “Heisokay, right?”
The beanpole of a guy nodded. “We’ll transport him to the hospital for a full workup, but at this point, he’s just dehydrated and sore from being restrained. Seems like he’ll make a full recovery.”
“He’s right, I’m fine. Just a little tired.” Kai offered her a weak smile. “I’m sorry to hear about your dad passing. I expected to see him again before his illness took him.”
“You haven’t heard. It wasn’t the illness. It was Ivers. He hired Palmer to inject my dad with fentanyl.”
Kai closed his eyes. “If only I’d known what kind of man he was when I got into business with him.”
She hadn’t stopped to get answers from him, but if he wanted to give them, she would be glad to listen. “How did that happen?”
He sighed. “It started out innocently enough when I gave his son surf lessons. We got to talking one day, and he asked how business was doing. I told him we were struggling a bit. He mentioned he’d been wanting to invest in a local business and asked if I would consider taking on a partner.”
Kai tugged at the neck of his T-shirt. “It’s not something I would’ve normally considered, but he caught me at a bad time. That spring had been nothing but rain—no one wanted to be on the beach. With no foot traffic, my retail sales dropped, my rental income dried up, and lesson bookings vanished. Everything tanked.”
He glanced past her, eyes distant. “Each month, he gave me money. We called them loans—something I’d pay back once the business was stable again. That cash let me advertise, reach out, bring in people from all over the state. It kept me afloat.”
His mouth turned up at the corner. “We’re flourishing big time now. It was like finding the granddaddy of all waves except in a business sense.”
“But then…” She continued to look at him.
He dropped his gaze to her. “Then he suddenly called in the loans he knew I couldn’t pay back.”
