Hunted

I will find you, you bastard. I will make you pay.

He led her past the broken front door and outside. He didn’t stop walking, not until they were near his motorcycle. Then he slid his hand under her chin. “Where are you hurt?” His voice was a rough growl. Her cheek was already darkening, the pink giving way to a bruise.

“I’m...okay.” Her eyes said the words were a lie. Her head turned, and she looked around the scene. Her voice became a whisper as she said, “Where did he go?”

Josh intended to find out.

Before he could speak, he heard the approaching wail of a siren. The local sheriff and his deputies—about time. They’d search every inch of those houses. They’d find that perp.

He started to step away from Casey but her hand grabbed his wrist. Her fingers curled around him, holding tight. “He’s going to kill me.”

The hell he will.

“He said...he won’t stop. He will kill me.”

The siren was louder. Closer.

Another tear slid down her cheek. “He said he’d been waiting for me...that the waiting was over.”

His body brushed against hers. “He’s not going to ever touch you again.” Josh intended to make sure of that. “You’re safe.”

But she shook her head, and Josh knew that she didn’t believe him.

The sheriff’s patrol car whipped around the corner. The lights flashed from the top of the car.

Casey’s hold tightened on Josh even more.

“You’re safe,” he said again, but Josh didn’t think she believed him.

Chapter Four (#ulink_d11c365d-b308-56ff-b991-056b33e246d8)

She was the story.

Casey hunched her shoulders as she sat in the back of the ambulance. The EMT had checked her out thoroughly, over her protests. The guy wanted her to go to the hospital, and she figured he’d be forcing her there soon enough. After all, she knew the routine. She’d have to be examined, evidence would have to be taken from her. They’d clean beneath her nails, they’d take her clothes, they’d—

“Tell me what happened.”

Her gaze lifted and she saw Hayden standing at the back of the ambulance. The doors were open and the fury on his face was undeniable. The sheriff was definitely not so controlled any longer.

And neither was Josh. Josh stood beside Hayden, and the FBI agent’s face appeared carved from stone. His eyes blazed as he stared at her.

The FBI and the local authorities had been searching the scene, but they hadn’t found the man who’d taken her. He’d just...vanished.

She saw a coast guard ship out on the water, darting around. Did they think the perp had escaped by sea? She didn’t remember hearing the roar of a boat. She’d just heard the growl of a motorcycle—Josh, rushing to the scene. I will never fear motorcycles again.

“Casey,” Josh said her name softly. “Look at me.”

Her gaze slid back to him. She was sitting on the stretcher in the ambulance. The space was too small. There were too many little machines and the place smelled of antiseptic.

“Tell us what happened.”

She already had, hadn’t she? At least once? Maybe twice. But if they wanted to hear the story again... Casey pushed back her hair with a weary hand.

Josh swore and he bounded into the ambulance with her.

“Your wrists...”

Oh, right. Those were bandaged, too.

His hands caught hers, his touch incredibly gentle. His tenderness kept surprising her. He seemed so rough. Not a guy who could use such care, but when he touched her, he always seemed to handle her as if she were delicate glass.

She wasn’t, though. Far from it. Her gaze darted to her bandaged wrists. “The rope was tight and when I cut myself free, I sliced the skin a bit.” She hadn’t even felt the pain at the time. Her gaze shifted back to his face. Her shoulders rolled back in a shrug, as if to say... Doesn’t matter.

Josh glanced at the watchful EMT. “Give us a minute.”

The EMT hurried out, but stopped to say, “I’m ready to take her to the hospital and—”

“And I’m not done with my witness,” Hayden cut in. “You heard the agent. We need a minute.”

The EMT nodded, ducking his head as he backed away.

Josh’s fingers slid carefully over her hand. “Start at the beginning.”

The beginning? She didn’t want to go back there. “He got away.”

Josh just stared at her.

“That means he’ll kill again.” She had to say those words. Her chest seemed to burn. “It’s what he does, right?”

“You got away,” Josh pointed out. “You’re the first one, Casey. The only one who got away from this perp.”

Because he’d killed the others. Dumped them in the ocean and hunted again. A shiver slid over her. “He said he’d been waiting for me.”

Josh shot a quick glance at Hayden. The sheriff didn’t speak.

“Is that what he always says?” Casey wondered. “Does he tell his victims that he’s been waiting for them? Because he...he acted as if I were special, somehow. Like he’d been...he’d been trying to get me for a while.” Nausea rose within her as she realized that, of course, they didn’t know what he always said. As Josh had just told her...she was...

The only one who got away.

“Go back to the beginning,” Hayden instructed her quietly. “I need to know everything about this guy.”

She shivered. How was it so cold? “I was at my hotel. I’d just...I’d just gone inside after you dropped me off.” She nodded toward Josh and his jaw hardened. “I went onto the balcony for a moment.” Her gaze dropped to her feet. Her bare feet. “When I went back inside, the lights were off, and that was wrong because—” her head was pounding “—I’d turned on the light. It should have been on. I thought maybe there was a short, and I was going to call the front desk but...” Her gaze rose once more to meet Josh’s. She swallowed the heavy lump that had risen in her throat. “He was already in the room. He grabbed me.” Her fingers fluttered over her head. It was aching. Pounding. “He slammed me into the wall. At least twice, I think. I blacked out.”

Josh swore, the words long and low and vicious.

“I don’t remember how I got out here. I just woke up, and I was on the floor.”

“I already sent a crime scene analysis team to your hotel,” Josh said, his voice flat. “Maybe the guy left evidence behind that we can use.”