CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
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The blinding light only succeeded in causing the throbbing pain to become even more excruciating. It was as if his head had caught fire.
Townes remained still, trying to get a sense of his surroundings. His training tempered his reaction to the unknown. That had been drilled into him early on in his life before being reinforced by the military. He doubted anyone would have noticed the slight movement of his lashes.
The last thing he recalled was leaving the Doyle residence.
No, that wasn’t right.
He’d been speaking with Brody on the phone regarding a lead Royce was going to follow up on. His memory began to return little by little, until he recalled being stopped at the intersection.
Someone had crashed into the back of his vehicle at a high rate of speed.
Townes strained to hear any sounds that would indicate he was in the hospital. There was no squeaking of soles on the tiled floor, no monitors beeping, and certainly no medical personnel shouting orders. The only thing he could make out were…birds?
At least another three minutes passed without hearing anything other than the rustling of leaves. He slowly opened his eyes to find the source of the light hanging directly overhead.
It was the sun.
The temperature was around seventy-four degrees, and though it was relatively cool considering the lower humidity this time of year, the heat radiating from the sun’s rays was stifling.
Moving his head had the blood pounding painfully against his temples. The muscle strand on the right side of his neck protested the movement, as well.
Fuck.
Townes gritted his teeth at the effort it took him to move, but he finally managed to roll to his side and use his elbow as leverage. His hair fell into his eyes, signifying that he’d lost the elastic band he’d used this morning somewhere along the way.
Was he lying on dirt and rocks? Had he been thrown from the vehicle?
A quick glance around the immediate area caused him to realize that his first assumption wasn’t accurate. He was in a stone pit, of sorts. The rattling of a chain caught his attention.
What the hell was around his ankle?
Townes quickly reached for the shackle that had been fastened around his right pant leg, ignoring the stinging sensation that had taken up residence in his left eye. His vision was semi-blurred, but that fact didn’t stop him from seeing just how secure the metal clasp was locked into place.
There would be no easy way of getting the metal clamp off his leg without a key for the lock. He checked for his weapon knowing full well his firearm wouldn’t be in his holster. To make matters worse, he wasn’t even wearing his shoulder holster. Someone had removed it from his body.
Townes didn’t have to guess as to who, but had it been by the man himself or by one of his acolytes?
“Son of a bitch.”
Townes assumed Moss had caused the car accident, wanting some form of substitute for Shailyn. He wasn’t looking forward to whatever the sadistic fuck had planned, but he’d take whatever Moss dished out as long as he continued to believe that Shailyn was dead.
“Moss!”
Townes listened intently for any sound that the man was near. The wildlife had fallen somewhat quiet at his exclamation, but there wasn’t the crunch of the grass or a rustle of fabric to be heard.
Did Moss believe by making Townes wait for his ultimate torture that it would cause him to be more compliant?
That sure as hell wasn’t going to happen, so Townes would use the time to formulate a plan of action. He wiped his left eye with the back of his hand, not surprised to come away with blood on his skin. Head wounds usually bled profusely.
Just how long had he been out here?
The team would have already casted a wide search net. Brody had been on the phone at the time of the accident. It wouldn’t take him long to put two and two together, especially when Townes was no longer at the crash site.
He considered himself modest, but he did recognize his fortitude. He wasn’t an easy man to take down. The crash had to be executed in a manner precise enough to make him lose consciousness, but not to the point where it was life-threatening.
Moss wouldn’t have been involved. He had someone else initiate the crash and capitalized on the carnage.
Townes took stock of his surroundings once more. He was far enough away from civilization that it was doubtful anyone would hear him call out for help. This pit he was in was rather unusual. It looked to be maybe twelve feet wide and maybe seven feet deep. Large boulders were stacked on top of one another, almost as if it were some type of shrine. He could easily have removed himself from this cavity had he not been restrained.
As for the extent of his injuries sustained in the car accident, that wasn’t so easy to appraise. The muscles in his neck had definitely been strained, cuts seemed to be covering the left side of his face, and his ribs were quite sore. The damage wasn’t enough to keep him down, though.
Townes set his jaw tight to absorb the discomfort while he unfolded his rather sore frame. The first thing he did was follow the large-linked chain back to the mounted stud in the rock. The structure he was observing overhead was new, unlike the boulders and land that surrounded him.
He’d seen this place before, but he couldn’t put a finger on a where. It had to have been in photographs. He sure as hell would recall if he’d been here in person.
The top edge of the pit was a foot taller than he, but the angle at which he stood allowed him to view a good amount of area from this side of the cavity.
Where the fuck was he?
He had no firearm, no phone, and no wallet. The absence of his phone made it more difficult for Brody to pinpoint his location, but Townes had absolute confidence that he could track the movements from the site of the accident to his current location given enough time.
And that was where the problem lay.
Just how long would Moss keep him alive?
It wasn’t that Townes had a death wish, but Moss wasn’t the type of sadistic man to just release his prey. That didn’t mean that Townes wouldn’t put up a hell of a fight. Given any chance at a fair fight, he had no doubt he’d come out the victor. But being in this pit without so much as a weapon to defend himself against the bullet he knew was coming, he was as good as dead.
Where was the sick fuck?
A niggling of doubt crept inside his usual stoic confidence at having made sure Shailyn was untouchable. It would be hard to get through twenty sentries on an extremely well-guarded property that was protected by a state of the art security system to her location. The only way for Moss to get his hands on Shailyn was if she were to willingly leave the property, and his team would never allow that to happen.
Granted, every member of SSI was most likely out in the field tracking his movements, but they wouldn’t dare relay anything to Shailyn that would have her do something foolish.
The number of the burner phone she had on her person was programed into his cell phone, but it was listed under another name. That did not mean Moss wouldn’t dial each and every number embedded into his contact list. Is that why he wasn’t here? Had he gotten ahold of Shailyn and made her believe it was in her best interest to try and leave the estate?
Townes’ chest started to tighten at realizing his mistake. Did Moss have enough time to take on such an arduous task? His concern began to accumulate to the point that he was losing sight of what needed to be done.
Sweat began to mix with the blood on the left side of his face. He wiped away the mixture with the back of his hand before starting his search for a weapon. He kept in the back of his mind that he also needed something to work the mount loose from the rock. Upon quick glance, there was nothing to be found for either use.
He pushed aside the concern that wanted to manifest itself into something more and concentrated on the task at hand. He began to test the boulders one by one to see if any were movable. It was a tedious task, but it wasn’t like he had anything else to do besides lose his mind…and that wasn’t a viable option.
*
“Shhh,” Brett murmured before taking the conversation she was having with Coen on the other side of the white curtain. “We didn’t have a choice but to call an ambulance. Her forehead was bleeding, she was having trouble breathing, and she wasn’t responding to anything Camryn and I said or did. The emergency doctor believes she had a nervous breakdown and might possibly hurt herself.”
Shailyn winced at the layman’s term used to diagnose her condition, but there was nothing she could do to correct them. She’d done what she had to do in order to get away from the well-guarded estate. Pressing the phone to her forehead hard enough to break the skin hadn’t been pleasant, but it had painted the picture she needed to convey.
All she had to do now was somehow leave this room and arrive at the prearranged meeting spot at the designated time. She peered through her lashes in an attempt to see the large black and white clock behind her. It was futile, but she understood time was slowly ticking away.
Camryn was currently sitting in the chair, talking to Caitlyn on her phone in a low tone. Shailyn truly experienced remorse for misleading them, but she fully believed they would forgive her once they were told all the facts. Right now, it was all she could do not to break down again. She forced her mind to focus and fortify herself for what needed to be done.
Shailyn closed her eyes completely when a nurse entered the small area through the curtain on the opposite side of where Coen and Brett had gone to discuss the current situation. How was she going to slip out without anyone seeing her if no one left her side for any length of time?
Another slice of fear cut through her at the thought of not doing as Moss asked. She had no doubt the consequences would be vile in the worst way, resulting in Townes’ death.
She couldn’t allow that to happen.
Unfortunately, Coen wasn’t the only agent here. Two of the sentries roaming the property had allowed the ambulance onto the property after a thorough search. They then proceeded to follow closely behind in another vehicle and had taken their post on the other side of the curtain. It had certainly caused a commotion for the hospital staff.
“Ma’am, the attending physician has decided that Remy should be admitted for observation,” the nurse stated quietly, referring to Shailyn by another name. Brett and Camryn had come up with this tale before dialing 911, deciding it would be safer for everyone involved if Shailyn didn’t use her real name. They didn’t know that Moss already had the knowledge of her false fatality. “We’re waiting for a room to open before we transfer her.”
“Thank you,” Camryn replied quietly before reiterating what the nurse had conveyed to Caitlyn. She wrapped up the call and opened the curtain slightly so she could share the information with Coen and Brett as the nurse left to check on the room. The soles of her shoes faded into the distance. “They’re going to move her…”
Shailyn opened her eyes fully, keeping her gaze trained solely on Camryn’s form. She was partially standing outside the curtain, leaving only her backside visible.
There had been a brief moment where Shailyn had made the decision to tell everyone what had happened, but she’d heard the phone call Brett had with Coen. Brody had arrived at the scene to find Townes’ firearm and holster lying in the carnage of the crash site. The leather straps had been cut from his body. It was then Shailyn realized they had no idea where Moss had taken Townes.
Shailyn didn’t waste time in removing the IV from her arm. She flinched as the needle slid from underneath her skin, but she wasn’t left with a choice but to do it herself. She quietly shifted her legs over the gurney as she used a piece of the tape on her arm to stem the flow of blood from the IV site. There was no other choice but to crawl underneath the side curtain into another patient’s area. Thankfully, she’d not been asked to change into a hospital gown. She dropped to her hands and knees without hesitation, knowing this would be her only chance.
Adrenaline and fear mixed together, pushing her forward with this foolish purpose of sacrificing herself. Moss might have already killed Townes or might very well kill her upon sight. Either way, she had to try.
She’d weighed the heavy pros and even heavier cons in explaining to Coen what had happened, but all he and the others would have done was try and set up some type of trap to capture Moss. It wouldn’t work. It never worked.
She’d thought through her options very carefully, although each had made her physically sick as to what needed to be done. She would roughly have a two-minute lead before Camryn decided to take back her seat and realize that Shailyn was no longer lying in the bed. All hell would break loose, but by then it would be too late.
Would Shailyn have this amount of confidence if she didn’t have an ace up her sleeve?
Probably not, but she still would have made the same decision. It was good that she wasn’t forced to do this without a lifeline.
Brody had given back her ring this morning. The tracer had been set in place. That act alone would eventually lead the team to her location. She just needed enough time for Moss to take her to wherever he was keeping Townes, so that they both could be rescued before either one of them got hurt.
There were no guarantees, but she had to take that chance.
She truly believed she had no choice but to handle the situation this way. Had she confessed that Moss had reached out to her, they would have kept her secluded away and taken the chance with Townes’ life. She couldn’t bring herself to allow that to happen.
Shailyn got a few odd looks from patients and their family members as she crawled on her hands and knees to where another patient was waiting to be seen by one of the attending physicians. The twenty-something individual had broken his arm from the way he was holding it against his chest. She mouthed sorry as she stood and did her best to appear sane.
“Are you alright, miss?”
“Yes, thank you. I just didn’t want to wake my daughter by moving the curtain aside,” Shailyn replied softly so that her voice didn’t carry. It also justified her quick-thinking response. “You know how children can be. I’m sorry to disturb you.”
Shailyn gave a half smile as she moved another curtain aside, still using the backside of the wall so that Coen, Brett, or the two agents who were standing outside her small area wouldn’t know she was trying to leave the hospital.
A few more concerned looks and one cubicle with choice words were endured before she reached the last closed-off area near the nurse’s station. The bed was thankfully empty. Shailyn recoiled after pulling the curtain aside. A nurse had walked passed the opening, but she thankfully didn’t look toward her left.
The double doors caught Shailyn’s attention. They were less than eight feet away.
She gave herself a moment to reconsider, knowing all she had to do was tell Coen the truth. They would have her back at the estate and under protection within the hour.
Images of the nightmare she had where Moss held a knife while threatening to slit Townes’ throat immediately came to mind. Envisioning the blood spill from his neck propelled her forward. She held her breath as she stepped through the slit in the curtain and quickly walked through the double doors without looking back.
Coen’s shouts addressed to the two agents that she was missing from her bed drifted through the closing doors. It was all Shailyn could do but to keep moving forward toward the depths of hell.
*
He was mere minutes away from having achieved his goal.
This type of success caused him to be aware of his invincibility. It was truly euphoric.
His fingertips itched with anticipation at the smooth sensation the knife would give him upon sliding the blade through Shailyn’s flesh once more.
Hearing Townes’ anguish as he could do nothing to stop her pain would only heighten his pleasure.