Mercer held his stare a little longer, then he stepped back. He waved toward the holding-room door. “Do what you need to do.”
Noelle straightened her shoulders and marched forward. She schooled her expression so no emotion showed on her face when she entered the holding room—and saw Patrick in his cell. He smirked at her. He was so confident of his control and power. She needed to destroy that confidence. She would.
Aaron stood just a few feet away, and he was glaring at their prisoner.
“Saw my pictures, did you?” Patrick asked her, voice nearly purring with satisfaction. “I was wondering how long it would take you to see them.”
“Why didn’t you tell us—immediately—that you’d taken her?” Noelle asked.
“I would’ve told you, but you’re the one who stopped talking to me.” His eyes sparked with fury. “So if she dies, you’re the one to blame for that.”
Thomas stalked to Noelle’s side. “You really think you’re just going to walk out of here with Agent Evers?”
“I think if I don’t go, you’ll never find Paula.”
His voice had softened a bit when he said the other woman’s name. Because she was his victim and he enjoyed his victims so much?
Enjoyed their suffering, their pain.
Noelle’s head inclined a bit as she studied him.
“Paula will vanish and her death will be on you two.” He shook his head. “And here I thought you were supposed to save people.”
“We did save Jenny,” Noelle pointed out to him because she wanted to see his response.
The fury flashed in his eyes again. “Jenny,” he bit out the name, “wasn’t worth my time. She wasn’t a challenge. She wasn’t anything to me. Just bait, to lure you out.”
“Isn’t that what Paula is, too?” Thomas wanted to know. “Bait. You stick her in the middle of nowhere, and you expect us to just follow your lead...right into whatever hell you’ve got waiting for us?”
Patrick laughed. “You have to do it! Because if you don’t, you both know she’s dead.” He pointed toward Noelle. “She can’t live with a death on her. You...” He waved dismissively toward Thomas. “You don’t care. People don’t matter to you.”
Yes, they did. He didn’t know Thomas at all.
Patrick’s eyes were on Noelle. “But she won’t let an innocent die. She can’t. Seeing Paula tied up like that, it was like seeing yourself, wasn’t it?”
She didn’t let any emotion break through. “You’re a control freak, a man who thinks that he’s the strongest and the toughest in any room that he enters. But you weren’t always that way. In fact, you first killed Emma Jane because you felt weak.” She was about to show him just how much she knew. “You got a rush from her death, one unlike anything you’d ever felt before.”
He was still smirking at her. That smirk is going to vanish.
“I don’t think you meant to hunt her. I think Emma Jane got away from you. She ran. You had to chase her. That’s when you began to like the hunt so much.”
His smirk slipped.
“You tried to recreate that rush by taking girls who reminded you of Emma Jane, but that just didn’t work.” She shook her head. “Then, of course, you found out your partner had been killed. That made you feel lost, isolated—and powerless. You hate to feel like you lack power—”
“Because I don’t! I never lack power!”
“Lucky for you, though, Duncan entered the picture then. He used you, but he also refocused you. The rush came back because your prey was more challenging, and you continued this way...for a while.”
His breath heaved out. “You think you’re so smart—”
“It was only a matter of time until you killed him. You couldn’t keep following his orders forever, even if you enjoyed the work. Following his orders meant he held power, not you. So when he pushed too far, when he told you to kill me and Agent Anthony his way, you snapped.”
Patrick glared at her. And the smirk is gone.
“You’ll always snap in the end.” Noelle sighed as if she pitied him. She didn’t. She hated him. “Control is your weakness.”
His hands flew out from behind the bars, lunging toward her, but he was too far away to do any damage. His fingers stretched uselessly into the air.
“You think you’ll get power by taking me into the wilderness, leading me on a hunt for Paula, then killing me.” She glanced from his hands to his face. “That won’t happen.”
“Your death is overdue,” he snarled at her.
“So is yours,” Thomas fired right back.
Patrick’s hands jerked backed through the bars.
“I go with you,” Thomas said, voice hard. “You’re cuffed, and you’re within sight at all times. You take us to Paula and—”
“And what do I get?”
Noelle knew it wasn’t really about what he’d get. Obviously, the man planned to try and kill them out there. But she played along, for now. “You get to walk outside once a day when you get to your future prison home. You can see the sun, and not live every single minute pinned behind bars.”
She waited.
Patrick’s jaw was clenched.
“Deal?” Noelle pressed because she didn’t know how much time Paula had left.
“Deal,” Patrick snarled. But his eyes... His eyes were glinting with triumph.
* * *
THOMAS STAYED RIGHT beside Noelle as they approached the cabin. A helicopter had brought them in as they’d followed Patrick Porter’s gritted instructions.
Those instructions had taken them back to the general area where they’d found Sarah Finway’s body. Where Patrick had been waiting to attack them all before.
Had Sarah seen Paula? Had the two women been kept together? And when Patrick decided he needed to make one of them scream, had Sarah been his unlucky choice?
Noelle had seen Thomas’s face tense as they drew closer to the area, and she knew the same questions were plaguing him. Had they been so close to another victim and hadn’t even realized it?
The chopper had landed and it waited a good two hundred yards away. They’d trudged through the snow and the woods. Patrick was cuffed and far too confident.
That confidence was about to end.
It wasn’t the first time a prisoner had offered an exchange to Noelle. It also wasn’t the first time Noelle knew that prisoner was planning a double cross.
A death.
Aaron was shadowing them. He’d been the one flying the chopper, and Noelle knew the guy hadn’t stayed behind. He was just remaining out of Patrick’s sight as he trailed them, waiting for the moment to strike.
They cleared a deep thatch of trees, and Noelle saw the cabin. It was nestled under the broader trees, its exterior nearly covered by thick snow. No wonder they hadn’t spotted it from the sky. It was too well camouflaged.
“Built it myself,” Patrick said as he expelled a rush of air, which appeared as a white cloud before his face. “That way, I knew no one would ever be able to find the place.” He waved his hand. “Go on in... She’s waiting for you.”
Right. As if they were idiots.
Thomas lifted his weapon and pointed at Patrick. “You could have the place rigged to blow. As soon as we walk in, boom.”
Patrick just shrugged. “I could...”
Noelle’s gaze returned to the cabin. Something about this scene nagged at her.
Snow crunched beneath Thomas’s boots. “And that’s why you’re going in first.”
Patrick opened his mouth to reply.
“There’s no smoke,” Noelle said. She glanced around.
“’Course, there’s no smoke,” Patrick muttered. “She’s tied up. She can’t start a fire, and I sure as hell wasn’t starting one. Why give away the place’s position???
?
No fire...but also no pile of snow in front of the door. It had been snowing off and on during the past seven hours. It was particularly heavy right after they brought Patrick into the sheriff’s station. If no one had been at that cabin in hours, the snow should’ve piled up in front of the door. Instead, it looked as if the path to the door had been freshly cleared.
Something glinted in the window of the little cabin.
Her eyes widened as Noelle realized she was staring at the barrel of a gun. She started to scream a warning to Thomas, but he was already moving. He grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her, and she slammed back into the ground just as the thunder of gunfire exploded.
Gunfire...and laughter. Patrick’s laughter.
She spat snow out of her mouth and tried to shove up, but Thomas wasn’t letting her go.
“Shooter in the cabin,” he growled into her ear.
Because Patrick had found another partner.
“Can’t see him,” Thomas whispered. “But he has eyes on us.”
Patrick was running toward the cabin.
“Stop!” Thomas yelled at the guy.
Patrick only ran faster. Another shot blasted from the cabin.
And a shot also blasted from Thomas’s gun. The bullet caught Patrick in the shoulder. The man spun around, snarling.
Thunder echoed once more. No, not thunder. The roar was more gunfire, coming from the cabin. The bullet ripped right past Noelle’s head, so close she felt its heat against her.
“We need cover,” Thomas said, “Now. You run for the thicker trees, and I’ll watch your back.”
Translation—she ran and he fired, making himself a target. Not a plan she loved. Not even one she liked. Noelle yanked out her own weapon.
Patrick was stumbling toward that cabin door. He was close, just about five feet away from the entrance.
Gunfire erupted once more. Patrick’s body jerked when he was hit, his body moving like a marionette on a string. Blood sprayed into the snow, turning it red.
Patrick’s partner had just shot him. Noelle sure hadn’t seen that coming. Noelle had thought she and Thomas were the targets.
“Go!” Thomas yelled to Noelle.
Patrick slipped. Fell.
Thomas fired into the cabin. Noelle rushed to the cover of the woods, and Thomas was right behind her.
And—and Aaron was there. She saw the darkness of his hair, and he started shooting, providing cover fire for her and Thomas as they got to safety.
When Noelle turned back again, Patrick was lying in the snow, and the red beneath him was spreading.
“What in the hell is happening?” Aaron demanded. “I thought this was a rescue mission!’
Thomas shook his head and never took his gaze from the cabin. “It was a trap, all along.”
“For us? Or for that jerk out there, bleeding out?”
Patrick was moaning and begging for help.
Fury and fear churned within Noelle. Did your victims beg, too?
“Is the woman in there?” Aaron wanted to know.
They hadn’t gotten a glimpse of the shooter, not yet.
But Noelle didn’t need a glimpse. “She is.”
Aaron grunted. “So, we’re looking at two people in—”
“Only one,” Noelle interrupted. “Just one.”
As comprehension sank in, Aaron whistled. “Paula Quill got free and found a gun in the place, huh? Payback is a—”
The cabin’s door opened then. A small, hunched figure appeared.
Paula.
She had a gun in her hand. She lifted the gun and aimed it at the begging Patrick.
Paula walked forward. Her grip on the gun was steady and her steps were slow.
She’s going to kill him.
“Stop!” Thomas shouted.
Paula’s head jerked up. So did her gun. She pointed it at Thomas.
“No, Thomas,” Noelle said as Thomas stepped forward, “that woman isn’t a victim.” Noelle was seeing her for exactly what she was.
Patrick’s partner.
Paula fired. So did Thomas. His bullet hit its target, and Paula fell back, slamming into the side of the cabin.
But her bullet had hit, too. Thomas’s blood sprayed in the air, and Noelle gave a frantic cry as she grabbed for him.
No, not Thomas. Not—
Aaron sprang forward, running toward Paula.
Thomas grabbed Noelle’s hand. Blood streamed from a wound near his upper arm. “Just a flesh wound, baby. I swear, I’m fine.”
And she realized she’d been pleading, so desperate for him to be all right.
His hold tightened on her. “It would take a lot more than this to slow me down.”
Yes, yes, it would. Relief had her feeling light-headed, but they didn’t have time to waste. She and Thomas rushed after Aaron.
The other agent had already kicked the gun away from Paula. Paula’s wound was almost an exact mirror image of Thomas’s.
But Paula was screaming, and Thomas was eerily silent.
Aaron locked his hand around Paula’s uninjured shoulder. “Wrong move, ma’am, wrong.”
“Help...me...” Patrick pleaded when Noelle drew closer to him.
She stared down at his bloody chest. His breath was wheezing in and out. If he didn’t get medical attention, he’d be dead in moments.
Noelle dropped to her knees beside him.
“What are you doing?” Paula shrieked. “Let him die! After what he did to you, let him bleed out!”
Noelle shook her head. “That’s not who I am.” She ripped his shirt away. Saw the gaping wounds. She tried to apply pressure.
“He has to die!” Paula screamed. “He killed Lawrence! He abducted me! Let. Him. Die!” She started sobbing then, deep, wrenching sobs, which shook her whole body.
Aaron swore. “Look, it’s going to be all right...”
Noelle frantically shook her head. “He didn’t abduct her—”
But it was too late. Aaron had lowered his guard, and Paula—Paula grabbed his gun.
She lifted the weapon, aimed for her target. But her target was right behind Noelle, and when Paula fired, standing less than five feet away while Noelle crouched on the cold snow, Noelle knew that bullet was going to hit her. It would hit her, then go through her as it rushed toward Patrick Porter.
She tried to brace herself. Thomas, I—
The bullet didn’t hit her.
Thomas jumped in front of Noelle.
The bullet hit him, and Noelle screamed.
He had his gun up, but Thomas didn’t get the chance to fire. The weapon slipped from his hands as he staggered back and fell into her. Noelle wrapped her arms around him. Held him tight. “Thomas, Thomas!”
Aaron wrestled the gun from Paula. The woman crumpled then, crying pitifully, but Noelle knew it was all an act. A show.
Thomas slumped against Noelle.
She felt the stickiness of his blood. Not from the wound near his shoulder, but from the wound at his heart.
He hit the snow beside her. She grabbed for him, shaking him. “Thomas!” His eyes were closed.
The wound... Desperately, quickly, Noelle looked for the entrance wound. An inch from his heart. But there was no exit wound. If there’d been an exit wound, she would’ve been hit, too. Instead, the bullet was lodged inside him.
Her head whipped toward Aaron. “We have to get him to the chopper, now!” Thomas’s blood wasn’t just on her fingers now. He was bleeding so much that the blood coated her hands.
No, no, no.
Aaron swore and rushed toward her, pulling Paula in his wake. The woman was still sobbing, still—
“I...love you...”
Thomas’s
rasped words had pain welling within Noelle. She held him tight, tried to stop that precious blood from pumping out of him. “I love you, too!”
His eyes were still closed and with every second that passed, he seemed to be growing paler.
“Thomas, I love you, too! Do you hear me?”
She didn’t think he did.
Terror clawed through her.
“You said you wouldn’t leave me alone. Not ever again.”
He barely seemed to be breathing.
“Don’t leave me. Don’t.” She pressed a kiss to his lips. “I. Love. You.”
But Thomas didn’t answer her. When Mercer and two deputies rushed through the woods moments later, Thomas was unconscious. Unresponsive.
They loaded him into the helicopter. Patrick was pushed in beside him.
Patrick was still wheezing. His color had turned ashen. Thomas... She couldn’t hear his breaths at all.
She held him tight. I won’t let you go. “Keep your promise,” she whispered as the tears burned her eyes. Then she looked toward the open door of the chopper.
Aaron stood there. A deputy had cuffed a sobbing Paula.
“Don’t let her go!” Noelle cried out. “She’s the key to this mess.”
Paula’s head lifted. Her gaze darted from Patrick to Thomas.
Paula smiled.
The chopper lifted in the air.
* * *
THOMAS KNEW HE was in a hospital even before he opened his eyes. It was the smell that told him, that antiseptic scent and the steady beeping of a nearby machine.
He remembered getting shot. Remembered the desperate fear he wouldn’t get to Noelle in time to save her. So when he forced his eyes open and struggled to speak, her name was the first word he uttered. “No...elle...”
“I’m right here.” Her hand squeezed his. “Do you hear me? I’m right here.”
He turned his head. The glow of the sun was behind her, and damn if the woman didn’t look like an angel to him.
His perfect dream. Right there.
“You’re smiling.” Noelle sounded worried. “Is that because of the drugs? Because when a person takes a bullet to the chest, a smile after surgery isn’t the typical response.”
Thomas shook his head.