have less than five minutes now,” she reminded him in a whisper.
Sawyer didn’t respond to that, fired off another text, and then without warning, he scrambled over the rocks, out of sight. That got Cassidy moving from the truck, and she hurried to the boulders to see where he’d gone.
She didn’t have to look far.
He was there, just on the other side, crouched down by yet another heap of boulders. Beyond that was the road.
Then, the Tumbleweed bar about fifty yards away.
It wasn’t much of a place. Rust-streaked tin roof. Weathered clapboards. Eye-socket windows with vines coiling in and out of them. What was left of the neon sign was connected by a single electrical wire, and it creaked back and forth with each gust of wind.
Sawyer gave her a stare down even though he was looking up at her. “Think hard. Do you remember me telling you to wait in the truck?” He didn’t give her a chance to respond. “Because that’s exactly what you’re going to do. My cousin Grayson will be here soon to watch you.”
She huffed. “I don’t want a babysitter. I want to help.”
“And you’ll do that by waiting here.” He tipped his head to the building. “No vehicles. Were there any when you left?”
“No. They brought me here in the truck. They already had Bennie tied up inside.”
It hurt just to think of seeing him that way. To see the terror on his face. To know that he’d seen the same on hers. She was the big sister. Had always taken care of him just as she’d promised.
This time, she’d failed.
Sawyer started to move but then stopped and caught her gaze. “If you follow me, it could get all of us killed. Nod so I know you understand.”
Her stomach twisted, the acid rising to her throat. But she nodded. “Please, hurry,” she begged. “Save him.”
Sawyer scowled as if insulted that she had to ask, and he put his hand on the top of the boulders to lever himself up. However, he didn’t make it an inch before they heard the sound. A sound that Cassidy definitely didn’t want to hear.
A bloodcurdling scream.
Chapter Three
Sawyer had to take hold of Cassidy to keep her from bolting toward the building. He had to fight his own instincts, too, because that scream was the sound of someone terrified.
Maybe even dying.
“We have to help him,” Cassidy insisted.
And there was another scream. Like the first one, it didn’t sound like a man’s, either.
“Who else was in that building?” Sawyer demanded, and because she was still in fight mode, he had to snap her to him so that her face was just a few inches from his.
Cassidy was breathing through her mouth now, her chest pumping, and she shook her head. “No one that I saw.”
The third scream got to him. Since Grayson wasn’t there yet and because he knew for a fact that Cassidy wouldn’t stay put, Sawyer shoved her behind him. “If I tell you to get down, you’ll do it,” he barked.
Whether she would was anyone’s guess, but he couldn’t wait while a woman was murdered. Heck, it could be the baby’s mother.
Sawyer didn’t waste any time getting Cassidy across the narrow dirt road. The mud caked on the soles of his boots, but he forced himself to run. Cassidy ran, too, despite the flimsy flip-flops she was wearing. They darted behind some trees, using them for cover so he could make his way to the Tumbleweed.
He knew every inch of the place and thought back to the video he’d seen of Bennie. It had been dark, but the only part of the building with beams like the ones he’d seen were in the main bar. Or rather what was left of it. Time and vandals had taken their toll.
Cassidy tapped her phone screen where the time was displayed. Yeah, he knew they were down to seconds now, but they couldn’t just go charging in there.
He led her to the side of the building and to what had once been the private entrance to his grandfather’s office. There was no door now, just a dark hole of a room. Sawyer stepped inside, pulled Cassidy in behind him and listened.
No more screams.
Just the creepy sounds of the wind and the rain pushing and squealing through the sliver-thin gaps in the wood.
Cassidy tapped the time again and put her hand on his back to push him forward. He went, but clearly not at the breakneck, run-into-a-trap pace that she wanted. Sawyer paused again in the doorway that led into the bar itself and peered inside.
“No,” he warned her. Cassidy would have rushed straight into the room if Sawyer hadn’t stopped her.
There was enough light spearing through the holes in the roof and windows that Sawyer could see the room was empty. So were the ropes that dangled from the exposed ceiling beams.
“Bennie was right here when I left,” she said, the words gusting out with her breath. “We’re too late.”
Maybe. But Sawyer doubted the kidnappers would just walk away from half a million dollars. Keeping his gun ready, he started to the center of the room. Toward those ropes.
With each step, the debris, dead insects and God knows what else crunched beneath his boots. Along with the rain bulleting on the tin roof and the other sounds from the storm, it made it hard to hear footsteps or anything else to indicate the kidnappers’ location.
Cassidy stayed plastered against his back, literally breathing down his neck, and they approached the ropes together.
Sawyer cursed.
First, when he spotted what was on the ropes. Then again, when he stepped in a puddle of dark liquid. With his luck, he figured that wasn’t rainwater from the leaky roof.
Nope.
It was blood.
“They hurt him,” Cassidy mumbled, and she pressed her fingers to her mouth. No doubt to suppress the sob.
Sawyer felt for her. If that were his brother’s blood, he’d be ready to panic, too, but panicking wasn’t going to help Bennie.
He passed her his phone. “Text Grayson and tell him we’re inside the Tumbleweed and that your brother’s missing.”
Her hands were shaking, so it wasn’t a speedy process for her to type the message, but she finally did it, and he heard the little dinging sound to indicate it had been sent.
“We have to find him,” Cassidy insisted. “He probably needs a doctor.”
Yeah. If he was still alive. But Sawyer kept that possibility to himself and double-checked the room. It was one big open space, the tables and chair long since removed so there weren’t many places for two kidnappers and their hostage to hide.
That meant they’d likely gone outside.
Of course they had.
Over the years, the woods had closed in on the place so it was hard to even tell that there had once been a parking lot back there. Since he hadn’t seen anyone on the road itself and no one was here, it was likely the kidnappersʼ escape route.
Cassidy must have figured that out, too, because she bolted around him, heading straight for the rickety-looking double doors that led out back. One of them was completely off its hinges and propped against the jamb. The other, however, was closed just enough to conceal someone who might be lurking around.
Sawyer snagged her by the shoulder and put her behind him again. He also tossed her a glare, hopefully a reminder that she was playing by his rules. And his rules didn’t involve her running out there until he was sure they weren’t about to be gunned down. He’d heard no