Maya Banks - Colters’ Gift

He yanked his head back up to stare at Adam. “Lauren said she was going to try to make it to your place. Did you leave Holly there alone? They could both be in trouble.”

“I called Max and Callie to go stay with Holly. He was fit to be tied but we told him we didn’t have any details and that we needed him there. I can understand his anger. Lauren is his sister and by rights he should be right here with us, but he doesn’t know this mountain like we do and the last thing we need is for someone to get lost while our focus is on Lauren.”

“You did the right thing,” Noah said. “We need level heads right now.”

Even as he spoke, his fingers formed tight fists and he pounded the caved-in dashboard in frustration.

“Seth and the others are nearly here,” Ryan said when he returned. “They’ve set up a roadblock at the bottom of the road, and they’re coming up the mountain balls to the wall.”

“Can you get me out?” Noah demanded.

“We’re sure as hell going to try,” Ethan said as he held up a crowbar.

Ryan held a sledgehammer and an axe.

“Stand back, Adam,” Ethan said. “Cover your head as best you can, Noah.”

The entire vehicle shook as the two men tore into the door and the frame. Several times, the pressure on his legs made him wince, but he was just grateful to be able to feel anything at all. He was damn lucky he hadn’t crushed both legs.

Using the crowbar to pry the dashboard up off Noah’s legs, Ryan strained, muscles bulging.

“As soon as I loosen this enough, pull him out,” Ryan said through gritted teeth.

Ethan and Adam scrambled to get into place. As Ryan pulled back away from Noah, Adam and Ethan grabbed for his shoulders and they hauled upward.

Noah bit back a bellow of pain when he came free.

The Colters lowered him to the ground when in the distance they heard, “Dad! Dad! Damn it, where are you?”

“Over here!” Adam yelled.

Then he knelt back down by Noah.

“Okay, talk to me, son. You hurt anywhere?”

“Help me up,” Noah said, extending his hands to Adam and Ryan. “There’s only one way to find out.”

They grasped his hands and hauled him to his feet. For a moment, the two men pressed close to Noah’s side, offering him support until they were certain he could stand on his own.

“I’m okay,” Noah said. “Nothing feels broken. Just bruised and cut.”

Ethan nodded. “Yeah, you’re bleeding in half a dozen different places.”

All four men looked up when Seth barged onto the scene, two of his deputies on his heels.

“Why aren’t you looking for Lauren?” Noah demanded.

Seth gave him a look that sent a shock of fear hurtling down his spine. “We came to get you. Liam tracked Lauren’s route back to the road where he found one of the men dead. Two gunshot wounds. Looks like Lauren shot one of the assholes and then got hit from behind. There was a depressed area of grass with a small amount of blood. A good distance from the other body, so it wasn’t his. We also found a roll of duct tape with several hairs that match Lauren’s. Half the roll had been used. There are fresh tire tracks that aren’t a match to one of ours leading away. If I had to guess, judging by the pattern and the disturbance to the area off the road, the truck was coming up the mountain when Lauren came into view. I think the guy she shot was driving. The other two were tracking her on foot and came in behind her while she was distracted by the first guy. They knocked her down, subdued her and then tossed her in the truck, turned around and hauled ass off the mountain, getting away before we arrived with the roadblock.”

Noah went numb. His mouth went dry. His pulse pounded painfully in his head.

He’d failed her. He and Liam both had failed her in a huge way.

They’d planned in detail. They’d taken into account so much. They’d made a plan of action. None of it did a damn bit of good, because those bastards had gotten to Lauren faster than Noah could have ever imagined.

How?

He put a hand to the back of his neck and rubbed, trying to alleviate the knotted tension coiled in his muscles.

“How in the hell could they have put this kind of plan into motion that damn fast?” Noah demanded. “We only called the D.A. yesterday.”

“Can you make it on your own or do we need to carry you out?” Seth asked. “We can talk on our way back up. Liam is with my brothers and volunteers and first responders. They were combing the area where the body was found to make sure we weren’t missing anything.”

“I can make it,” Noah said in a determined voice.

He took a step forward, falling into stride with Seth as Seth’s fathers followed behind. Seth’s deputies went ahead of the men, one of them talking into the radio.

“How did they manage this, Seth?” Noah asked again.

“I think Joel Knight had already made her,” Seth said grimly. “He may not even know about the meeting with the D.A. If he’s had people looking for her all these months, it’s possible they were finally able to locate her and were just waiting for an opportunity to make their move.”

Noah swore long and hard. “And the very thing we thought we were doing right—taking her to a more isolated area—proved to be their golden opportunity. They couldn’t make this kind of attack in town, even one as small as Clyde. But on a lonely mountain road that’s only traveled by the people who live on the mountain? Son of a bitch. We may as well have just gift wrapped her and delivered her to the bastard, complete with a bow.”

Seth put a hand to Noah’s shoulder as they completed the climb back to the road, where a string of police cars and SUVs were parked.

“Beating yourself up over the what-ifs and maybes doesn’t do you or Lauren any good right now,” he said quietly. “What we have to focus on is getting her back.”

Noah nodded, his jaw tight, and determination so fierce that he wouldn’t entertain any other option took firm grip of his insides.

“I heard them talking,” Noah said as they continued to walk toward Seth’s SUV. “They came looking for her and thought Liam and I were dead. They didn’t waste any time going after her, but they didn’t say a word about killing her. They specifically talked about dumping her on Knight and getting paid. Knight wants her alive, and so if we find Knight, we’ll find Lauren.”

THE entire Colter family along with Max, Noah and Liam, plus most of Seth’s police force and assorted first responders, were crowded into Clyde’s small police station.

Holly was fussing over Liam and attempting to bandage the wound on his head. She was exasperated because every time something was said, Liam raised his head, upsetting her hold on the dressing.

Max was pacing back and forth, agony in his eyes and lines of worry etched deep in his forehead. Callie and Lily’s faces were blotchy and tear-stained and they were huddled together on one of the benches, arms wrapped around one another.

Noah had just put a call into the New York City D.A. and was waiting impatiently to be put into contact with the other man. Seth was standing next to him, murmuring in a low voice for Noah to remain calm and not to accuse the district attorney of anything until they could be sure of what was going on.

Noah figured they’d know soon enough if the D.A. was involved. It would be evident by how much help he was willing to give them now that Lauren had been abducted.

“Mr. Sullivan, my secretary said it was urgent. What can I do for you?” Richard Castanetti said, his voice tense.

“Joel Knight got to Lauren,” Noah said bluntly.

Noah’s eyebrows rose at the string of curses that blew through the phone.

“How? When?” Castanetti demanded.

“When is a short time ago. The how is what we’re wanting to know.”

There was a long pause. “You think I had something to do with it? You think I’m dirty?”

There was more incredulity than anger in the other man’s voice.

“I don’t know what to think,” Noah said quietly. “We have reason to believe that he’s been searching for her ever since she left him. If that’s the case then the timing could have just been a huge coincidence. It’s possible they’ve been watching her, waiting for the right opportunity to present itself and today was that day.”

“What do you know? Do you have any leads? What about the local law enforcement? I have a few contacts in Raleigh. I can make some phone calls for you.”

“We aren’t in Raleigh,” Noah bit out. “We’re in Colorado. But if you want to help, you can help us and Lauren and your eventual case by turning over whatever information you have on Knight. His residences, the places he frequents. Any hidey-holes he has. We need to run a fine-tooth comb over his entire life and we need it done yesterday.”