TIME SEEMED TO stand still in McKenzie Ridge. Though it had been only a few days, it felt like a lifetime had passed since returning to town and discovering the death of Jared Tanner. The mood was dark and eerie. It was, as if they were being chased and played with by a ghost.

No sooner did they finally see Tom Boyd on the move, and he disappeared again. Liam’s algorithms and various programs were constantly running, watching activity of any kind. They were clearing home after home from their list, which was a daunting task since it was peak tourist season, and much of the increased activity on the power grid was simply snow bound vacationers.

They did, however, find vacant cabins that hadn’t been vacant long and told a story of menace and mayhem. Tom had been moving around, leaving traces of his presence at each place. He was getting sloppy. It seemed Tom was getting antsy, perhaps anxious – that was good news and bad.

Sloppy meant they were closing in. He was feeling the pressure and was only a single mistake or two away from landing in their custody. It also meant he could break under the pressure and completely lose his shit. That was the problem with a highly trained psychopath of this caliber – when desperate, anything goes.

They were supposed to travel back to Portland for Sunday dinner in just a few days. As much as she didn’t want to ruffle the feathers of Colleen O’Reilly – taking this mess back to Portland and exposing everyone to such a potential threat was more than she could bear to ponder. Threatening a pub full of O’Reilly’s may be like entering a den full of hungry lions, but with nothing to lose, Tom just might tempt an ugly fate for the ultimate revenge.

Family was everything to Declan, and their loyalty to one another ran deep, but she knew they would understand and agree that Sunday dinner was like planning your own funeral. They would be sitting ducks, all of them, as they traveled down the mountain and back, too. Watermark Tower was safe, but the Pub and everything around it would be vulnerable.

No sooner did she think of Declan and he called.

With a smile on her face, she answered, “Are you almost here?”

“Change of plans,” He fired back.

“What happened, Dec?”

“We found him. We know where he’s staying,” he said with an intensity she’d never heard; he was fired up. “The place is covered in pictures – of everyone. He’s been here a while, watching, logging patterns, and schedules.”

“Oh, my God,” She whispered.

“His personal effects are gone, but he left the pictures, empty ammo boxes everywhere, and a letter to his mother, of all people.”

“A letter?” she questioned, “I don’t understand?”

“It’s an apology…and a goodbye. He doesn’t plan on surviving whatever he has planned, or he plans to disappear for good.”

“Declan, what do we do now?” Panic set in. Though they had waited for this very moment, she was scared to see how it all played out.

“We set it up for him. His letter said, today it’s over. He said…he’s taking care of her, so he can get him.”

“Me?” her voice was small and cracked, fear consuming her. “To get to you? No…you mean Jax – he’s taking Jax.”

“There were pictures of him everywhere. I don’t understand the plan, but Jax is his target. I’m on my way to you now, and we can go pick him up from Sugar Pines.”

“Declan, I need to get him,” Lydia cried.

“Don’t worry – it’s Young Rangers Club and the place is crawling with cops and rangers – not to mention a few of my brothers. He’s safe.”

Moving to the front of Outside In, she checked the locks on the front door, noticing the officer assigned to her standing his post. “Okay. I’m closing up right now. I’ll meet you out back.”

Lydia shut off the lights to the main public area of the space, switching to security lights, then moved to the back to close up her office. The sound of her cell phone had her quickening her pace, but the minute she saw the name on the screen, she fell to her seat. No.

“Morgan, what is it? What’s wrong?” Morgan was a cop and part of the Young Rangers – she wouldn’t be calling unless there was a problem.

“I want you to stay calm, okay? We’re all over this – Luke and Dace are already here. Dec is talking to Blake as we speak.” Morgan’s voice was calm, to the point, but she didn’t say a damn thing, just a bunch of meaningless words.

“He has him. He has my son, doesn’t he?” It was odd how panic could course through a person, driving their adrenaline to painful levels, to the point where, oddly, it paralyzes them. Lydia wanted to scream into the phone, run from where she sat, search for her son, but she sat, powerless. Reeling in pain.

“We don’t know that. We have this place covered and haven’t seen a single trace of Tom Boyd, honey. He’s on everyone’s radar,” Morgan tried to reassure her. Nobody saw him, so it must not be him? Bullshit. It was him.

“But Jax is gone? Morgan, is my son gone?”

“Honey, we’re looking. A couple of the boys went to the bathroom, and we caught them playing hide and seek in the stalls. He could be…playing the game…still hiding.”

“No. He wouldn’t do that. He would come out if you called him. He found a way in, Morgan! Tom found a way in that none of us thought of, and he took him! I’m coming – I’m on my way!”

“Stay where you are, Lydia. Wait for Declan. Do not leave by yourself, especially now!” Morgan warned.

Lydia didn’t say another word, just hung up her phone. Her son was missing, and she would not stay where she was. Fumbling for her keys, she called Declan, who answered on the first ring.

“Baby, I’m almost there – we’ll find him. Tom isn’t there. Liam has been scouring video, and he hasn’t been there.”

“Then where is Jax?” Her voice was frantic and she began to yell. “Where is my son?”

A sudden calm washed over her, her mind made up. “I’m headed there now. I’m going to find my son.”

“Lydia, wait, damn it! Wait for me! I’m almost there!” he yelled.

As she ran out the rear door, frantic, she stopped in her tracks at an unexpected site.

“I can’t, it’s my son, I…I…oh, my God. Oh, my…God. Declan, he’s…”

And then she screamed.

A blood curdling scream that was followed by a loud thud as her cell phone hit the ground.

“Lydia?” Declan yelled, driving faster, maneuvering through the small town and all of the tourists as quickly as he could.

He could hear her fighting, flesh hitting flesh, and her assailant wasn’t expecting it. She was tough. He needed her to keep fighting; he was almost there.

When the line went silent, and he could no longer hear the scuffle, he yelled, “Lydia? Fucking answer me!”

He got his answer when the phone filled with the sound of a starting car, followed by squealing tires.

Hitting his steering wheel repeatedly, he spat through gritted teeth, “Damn it!”

Only moments passed, and he was pulling into the parking lot behind Outside In and came to a screeching halt when he saw what was left behind. The source of Lydia’s initial startle laid just feet from where Declan found Lydia’s dropped phone. James Lockhart, the officer assigned to Lydia for the day, lay in a puddle of his own blood from a gaping wound on the back of his head. He had a pulse, albeit faint. Declan’s first call was for an ambulance; his second call was to Liam.

“Tell me you’re still at Lydia’s house,” Declan said to his brother.

“Yeah, it’s just me and Wylie. Why, what do you have?” Liam asked.

“He has Lydee. Get everyone there. I’ll be there as soon as the ambulance gets here.”

“Ambulance? What the fuck?”

“Son of a bitch took out Blake’s guy. The guy posted behind her shop. Took him out to get to her.” Declan shared.

“Oh shit,” Liam yelled. “We’re going to get her, man. We’re already working.”

Declan could hear Wylie in the background, rounding up the group while Liam was clearly already working from his angle, given the sound of his computer keys clicking quickly in the background.

“Start looking for her car,” Declan said, scanning the lot, watching for the ambulance he could hear in the distance. “He took her in her car.”

“What?” Liam questioned, “Why would he do that? He has to know we have her car lo-jacked. Even if he can disable or jam her GPS, he’ll never find the jack.”

“It’s because he wants us to find him.”