Once Hunted

Riley knew what Bill was leaving unsaid. He understood perfectly well that all Riley wanted was a few minutes alone with Joel. He was understandably reluctant to allow that.

Still keeping her gun pointed at Joel, Riley looked at Bill with an imploring expression. Bill slowly nodded, then went over to the man, read him his rights, cuffed him, and led him outside.

Riley shut the door behind them. Then she stood silently facing Joel Lambert, her gun still raised. This was the boy that April had fallen in love with. But this was no ordinary teenager. He was deeply involved with the drug trade. He had used those drugs on her own daughter and had obviously intended to sell April’s body. This was not a person capable of loving anyone.

“What do you think you’re going to do, cop lady?” he said. “I’ve got rights, you know.” He flashed her the same slightly smirking smile he’d displayed the last time she’d seen him.

The gun trembled slightly in Riley’s hand. She was itching to pull the trigger and blow this lowlife away. But she couldn’t let herself do that.

She noticed that Joel was edging toward the end table. He was sturdily built, and he was a bit taller than Riley. He was moving toward a baseball bat, obviously kept for self-defense purposes, that was leaning against the table. Riley suppressed a grim smile. It looked like he was going to do exactly what she wanted him to do.

“You’re under arrest,” she said.

She holstered her weapon and reached for the cuffs on the back of her belt. Exactly as she’d hoped, Joel lunged for the baseball bat, picked it up, and swung it wildly at Riley. She deftly avoided the blow and braced herself for the next swing.

This time Joel raised the bat high, meaning to smash her head with it. But as his arm came down, Riley ducked and reached for the small end of the bat. She grabbed it, then yanked it away from him. She enjoyed the surprised look on his face as he lost his balance.

Joel reached for the end table to stop himself from falling. When his hand was fast against the table, Riley brought the bat crashing down on it. She could hear the bones breaking.

Joel let out a pathetic scream and fell to the floor.

“You crazy bitch!” he yelled. “You broke my hand.”

Panting for breath, Riley cuffed him to a bedpost.

“Couldn’t help it,” she said. “You resisted, and I accidentally slammed your hand in the door. Sorry about that.”

Riley cuffed his undamaged hand to the bottom of a bedpost. Then she stepped on his broken hand and shifted her weight onto it.

Joel screamed and writhed. His feet thrashed around helplessly.

“No, no, no!” he shouted.

Still keeping her foot in place, Riley crouched down close to his face.

Mockingly, she said, “‘No, no, no!’ Where did I hear those words before? Just in the last few minutes?”

Joel was blubbering with pain and terror.

Riley pushed down with her foot.

“Who said it?” she demanded.

“Your daughter … she said it.”

“Said what?”

“‘No, no, no …’”

Riley let up on the pressure a little.

“And why did my daughter say that?” she asked.

Joel could barely speak through his violent sobs.

“Because … she was helpless … and hurting. I get it. I understand.”

Riley removed her foot. She figured he got the message – at least for now, although probably not for good. But this was the best – or worst – she could do for now. He deserved death, or far worse. But she couldn’t bring herself to give it to him. At least he would never use that hand properly again.

Riley left Joel, cuffed and cringing, and rushed to her daughter’s side. April’s eyes were dilated, and Riley knew that she was having trouble seeing her.

“Mom?” April said in a low whimper.

The sound of that word unleashed a world of anguish in Riley. She burst into tears as she started to help April get back into her clothes.

“I’m getting you out of here,” she said through her sobs. “Everything’s going to be all right.”

Yet even as she spoke the words, Riley prayed that they were true.

CHAPTER ONE

Riley was crawling through the dirt in a damp crawlspace under a house. Total darkness surrounded her. She wondered why she hadn’t brought a flashlight. After all, she had been in this awful place before.

Again, she heard April’s voice call out in the darkness.

“Mom, where are you?”

Despair tugged at Riley’s heart. She knew that April was caged somewhere in this evil darkness. She was being tortured by a heartless monster.

“I’m here,” Riley called out in reply. “I’m coming. Keep talking so I can find you.”

“I’m over here,” April called.

Riley crept in that direction, but a moment later she heard her daughter’s voice speak from another direction.

“I’m over here.”

Then the voice echoed through the darkness.

“I’m over here … I’m over here … I’m over here …”

It wasn’t just one voice, and it wasn’t just one girl. Many girls were calling for her help. And she had no idea how to reach any of them.

Riley was awakened from her nightmare by a squeeze of her hand. She had fallen asleep holding onto April’s hand, and now April was starting to wake up. Riley sat up straighter and looked at her daughter lying in the bed.

April’s face was still somewhat pasty and pale, but her hand was stronger and not cold anymore. She looked much better than she had yesterday. Her night in the clinic had done her a lot of good.

April managed to focus her eyes on Riley. Then the tears came, just as Riley knew they would.