"Mine! d.a.m.n you, you"re mine!"
His lips covered hers.
Possessive, demanding. The kiss marked her soul and stilled the words being torn from his lips.
Caught in the cataclysm swirling through both of them, Anna swore she felt a part of herself merge with him. Felt a part of him merge with her.
And for one precious moment out of time, Anna knew what it meant to belong-
CHAPTER 19.
The alarm that began blaring through the house brought Archer instantly out of bed and reaching for his pants. Jerking them on, he grabbed his weapon from beside the bed and turned to Anna as she quickly dressed.
"Archer, what the f.u.c.k?" Rory yelled outside the bedroom.
Archer jerked the bedroom door open. "Stay with her and get two men in here. Send the others next door to the Brocks."
Archer was running through the house as he shouted out the order.
Archer had tied the Brocks" alarm into his after an attempted break-in the year before. The parents worked midnight shifts at the Emergency Care Clinic, leaving their teenage daughter, Callie Brock, alone in the house.
"Jerking his cell phone from his jeans as he ran down the stairs, he quickly hit the speed-dial number for his deputy.
"Caine," the deputy answered.
"Get your a.s.s to the Brocks." Disconnecting, Archer was out the back door of his house and racing across the short distance to the side door of the Brocks" house.
He could hear Callie even as he shoved the key into the lock and twisted it to unlock the door.
Pushing into the house he was aware of two of Brute Force"s agents coming in behind, one of them the single female on their protective payroll.
Callie was screaming upstairs.
The sound of her cries had a growl of fury tearing from his throat. He"d spent enough time in the military overseas to suspect what had happened from the sound of those hoa.r.s.e, terrified screams.
"Cover me," Archer ordered, though he was certain no one was in the house any longer.
"Callie. Callie, it"s Archer," he yelled as he tore up the stairs.
Following her screams he burst through the bedroom door, instantly finding the teenager where she was huddled, a sheet drawn around her naked body, the cell phone she"d used to activate the alarm clenched in her fingers.
Shoulder-length blonde hair was tangled and tear damp as she stopped screaming only to collapse in tears. Callie laid her head against her up-raised knees, sobs tearing from her chest as Marta moved quickly around him and bent to her knees in front of her.
"Callie, sweetheart." The agent"s calm voice and compa.s.sionate tone made the young girl"s head lift as her breath hitched violently and her sobs became harder.
"Callie, how badly are you hurt?" Marta asked softly as Archer and the other agent moved quickly to the open doorway. "I need you to tell me how badly you"re hurt."
Archer glimpsed Callie shaking her head quickly, though the sobs became louder for just a moment before she seemed to control them once again.
"I was able-able to turn-the alarm on." Jerky and tear-roughened, her voice had fury stabbing at his senses. "He was in dark clothes-" she sobbed raggedly. "And a mask." She was rocking herself as Marta moved cautiously to rub her arm. "He said, said I was a means to an end," she cried. "I was just bait-like a worm on a hook-" she sobbed. "He said don"t forget, you"re just a worm on a hook."
Just a tool.
Archer"s head lifted and turned, suspicion suddenly exploding through his mind.
Jerking his cell phone from his pants he hit Rory"s name in his contact list and listened to the phone ring-and ring His heart stopped in his chest as Caine raced to the top of the stairs and Archer turned to him slowly.
Just a tool-a means to an end.
"Caine, with me." Archer didn"t hesitate.
Leaving Callie with Marta and the other agent he was down the stairs and out of the house in a matter of seconds.
He"d closed the side door to the house and it would have locked automatically.
But it wasn"t closed. It was open.
"Anna." Archer yelled her name, knowing, he knew- "Anna."
"Rory"s not answering his phone," the deputy yelled.
Archer all but tripped over Rory"s fallen body in the foyer.
He went to his knees, staring at the back of the younger man"s head and the amount of blood that stained his black hair, white shirt, and the honey-colored wood of the floor.
"Calling the EMTs." Caine"s voice was distant, barely heard.
There was a buzzing in Archer"s ears, in his senses. As he checked Rory"s pulse, there wasn"t even enough emotion left inside him to feel relief that Rory was alive.
He rose to his feet, knowing- Ah G.o.d, he knew.
Moving up the stairs, he turned and walked into the bedroom.
Oscar was lying on the floor, dazed, obviously hurt.
Kneeling, Archer checked him out. There were no broken bones, but blood smeared his head from a cut, and more blood smeared his face.
Pulling the cat"s mouth open, Archer saw threads, blood, and possible flesh between the cat"s teeth.
"Archer?" Nash and Caine entered the bedroom slowly.
Handing the cat to the surprised CSI he said, "There"re flesh and fabric fibers in his teeth. We have the Slasher"s DNA, thanks to Oscar."
He could hear the dull lifelessness in his voice.
"We found tire imprints in the woods behind the house. One of Ivan"s men is casting and photographing them."
"They have her." Archer stared around the bedroom.
Her gown was tossed to the floor; she"d been dressing when he tore off to check on Callie.
The clothes she had worn that day were still on the chair, but he"d seen her jerking jeans on as he left the bedroom.
"I left her alone," he said, his chest tightening to the point that he wondered if his entire body would explode.
"Rory was here, Archer," his deputy argued. "And he"s a d.a.m.ned good agent. Whoever took him out caught him unaware."
"Or it was someone he suspected he could trust," Nash interjected.
"I left her alone," he repeated. "I should have taken her with me."
"The two agents outside saw the truck leaving the woods and rushed to attempt to get a tag number. There were no tags, but they"ve seen the truck before." The agent he"d left with Marta was suddenly at the door.
"It was the same truck the shooter was driving," Archer stated.
He felt-f.u.c.k, he felt broken inside.
"It was," the agent agreed.
"The tires from that truck were unique, Archer," Nash said then. "I"ve been running them. They"re not even sold in Colorado. They"re extremely expensive and custom made-"
Archer turned back to him and saw the cat missing. "Why aren"t you digging that meat out of Oscar"s teeth? That"s f.u.c.king human flesh. It"s an ID."
"And Gregor Resnova just carried him straight out of here with a message that"s he"s called someone else in straight from New York. He took the cat to the labs."
Archer turned to Caine. "Get to the labs."
"He had half a dozen of Ivan"s agents with him," the deputy reported. "They"re covered, Archer."
Archer turned back to the other agent. "Callie?"
"Her parents are on their way. She wasn"t raped, she was used."
"She was bait," he said softly. Like a worm on a hook. Don"t forget, you"re just a worm on a hook.
It was a message.
The abductor was Sorenson"s partner. It wasn"t Sorenson, but the County attorney would be waiting wherever he took her.
"Archer?" John questioned, watching him closely.
He turned to the other agent. "Get to Wayne Sorenson"s house, see if he"s there. If he is, I want him here, and I don"t care how you get him here. If he"s not, see if you can find any hint of a cabin, or a residence near a lake, or fishing hole. A vacation home, anything. It would be close to Corbin County, if not in Corbin County."
The agent turned and rushed from the room.
G.o.d, he left her alone.
"Ryan"s on his way," John a.s.sured him.
Archer nodded.
Flipping his phone open, he hit another contact.
"Jordan Malone," a dark voice answered.
"Rory"s been hurt, bad," he told the former Navy SEAL. "They took my woman, Jordan," he said, his voice tight. "The Slasher has her, and I have no idea where he took her or how long I have."
There was a moment"s silence on the line.
"Rory called in last week about the case," Jordan told him then. "Noah Blake and Micah Sloane are currently in Corbin County, and have been for several days. As soon as they know something, they"ll contact you. I"ll be there within hours."
The line disconnected.
Archer inhaled slowly, aware of John Caine watching him, his gaze narrowed.
"There are two shadows in town. Stay out of their way and pa.s.s the word along," he warned the deputy.
"And we know them from the other f.u.c.king shadows in this G.o.dd.a.m.ned place, how?" John cursed. "There are so many f.u.c.king players here I"m about to get whiplash."
"You can get whiplash on your own time," Archer informed him. "Callie"s attacker left us a message. She was a worm on a hook. Think John. She"s bait. A means to an end. A worm on a hook."
"They have a hold on her somehow, or have her in a position she can"t escape from," John answered instantly. "Bait-it"s more literal. They"re holding her next to a place where you could fish."
"Jaymi Kramer was killed next to the lake outside of town," Archer remembered. "Thomas Jones was screaming for help when Crowe caught up with him that night. Crowe said once he had the impression Thomas thought his partner was nearby, in the area, and expected him to help. Maybe he knew his partner was close. Maybe he was taking Jaymi to his partner when he decided to stop and rape her first instead."
He and his father had gone through every rental cabin in the area that summer- He flipped his phone open again and hit another number.
"Tell me what you need," Ivan answered.
"Private cabins around Broken Bow Lake," Archer told him. "I"m looking for any way the Mulrooneys, Wayne Sorenson, or the suspects Ryan named might be connected to those cabins. I"m on my way up there now."
"Got it. Give me five minutes."
He prayed Anna had five minutes.
Running from the house, he ignored John as he attempted to call him back, ignored the security agent who yelled something about the Callahans.
He didn"t have time to worry about the Callahans.
Anna- He"d left her and Rory alone. He should have taken her with him. He should have never left her alone, not after he"d loved her, not after the mark he"d seen on her back and the realization of exactly why the Slasher wanted her out of Corbin County.
He"d given the b.a.s.t.a.r.d the perfect opportunity to take her when he raced to the Brock home. And he should have known.