“You shouldn’t have grabbed at his boot!” Ryan argued.

“Jesus Christ! How long ago did they leave?” Alex couldn’t sit still. He had to go after her.

“Twenty minutes maybe,” Ryan said. “Damned dog went after them. He shot at Kiana when she lunged at him…thought she was dead.” He shook his head as he met Alex’s gaze. “Man. Brynn’s scream…”

Furious, Alex ran a hand through his hair. Shit. The image of Brynn in Darrin’s insane arms…

“I gotta go.” Alex strode to the door and hesitated, looking back. “The other guys… Shit!…Thomas and I found Liam! He’s alive, but barely.”

Tyrone let out a loud breath. “Thank God.”

“I left Thomas with him when we heard the shots. He was gonna try to get a hold of Jim.”

“Just go, Alex!” Ryan urged. “Get her back.”

Powered by rage, Alex stepped outside and followed the bloody trail.

“Hurry the fuck up!” Darrin roared in her ear.

Brynn stumbled in the snow. Pain shot through her shoulders as Darrin yanked her up by her hands that were tied behind her back.

“I could move faster if you untied—”

“Shut up!” He shoved at her back.

Brynn concentrated on keeping her balance. Asshole. She wiped a wet cheek on her shoulder. Darrin had yelled and pushed the whole way. She couldn’t count the number of times she’d tripped. At least walking along the river was a little easier. The snow wasn’t nearly as deep. She just had to watch out for slick rocks with her snowshoes or else she’d slip and fall down the steep slope into the water.

“I don’t know how far it is to the train trestle,” she told him again. “We could be walking for a week.”

He let out a crack of sharp laughter. “I’ll find it eventually. I’ll move faster once I don’t need you.”

What? “Need me for what?” Her stomach twisted woozily. “I’m slowing you down, you just said so.”

“You’re bait.”

“Bait?”

“Man bait.” He laughed again.

Alex. The lunatic is trying to draw him out. Fresh tears prickled at her eyes. First he killed Kiana and now he’ll kill Alex.

Darrin roughly yanked her to a stop. “Sit.” He motioned at a fallen tree. Brynn gratefully sat and immediately continued her subtle fingering of the bungee cord he’d wrapped around her wrists. If she could only figure out where it hooked…

He pulled a short rope from a pocket and started to wrap it around her ankles. Brynn started. Apparently, she was done walking. He fumbled with the rope and then abruptly spun around, pulling her down from the log and close to him, slapping a hand over her mouth. “Quiet!” he whispered in her ear. Goose bumps rose on her arms, and Brynn shuddered.

Darrin peered over the fallen tree. A wide grin crossed his face.

“Alex,” he breathed.

Brynn jerked in Darrin’s arms, dread filling her stomach. Alex.

At the river he lost the trail. Along the water, the snow was choppy and uneven below the trees and the blood had slowed to the occasional drop. Scanning for the next drop, Alex stopped at the top of a ten-foot drop-off and eyed the icy, rushing water. Pure snow runoff.

“Morning, A-man.”

Alex’s throat closed as he slowly turned.

Brynn. His heart warming, Alex looked into her terrified brown eyes and held her gaze, ignoring Darrin, who had an arm around her neck and a gun at her head. She stood motionless in the man’s tight hold, gasping with short breaths, her cheeks flushed.

“Beautiful girl, isn’t she?” Darrin smirked.

I’ll get you out of here, Brynn.

From twenty feet away, Darrin didn’t look too tired for a man who’d been sleeping in a freezing forest. Alex had expected him to look as exhausted as he felt. Worse, even. Instead, Darrin looked downright pumped. Energetic. The killer’s gun hand shook slightly, and Alex knew it was from excitement, not fear.

“Drop the gun, A-man.” Darrin grinned.

Alex fixed his gaze on the killer and tossed his gun between them. He slowly raised his hands. Damn. He’d brought only one gun.

Alex’s heart rate had nearly reached its limit, but he held himself calmly, eyes steady on Darrin’s. Alex imagined knocking him down, wrapping his hands around his neck and squeezing. Using all his strength as Darrin’s eyes bulged and he struggled for air, watching the light fade in his gaze as the evil exited his shell.

Alex saw himself standing up in victory, a corpse at his feet.

But why didn’t he feel the satisfaction?

Darrin stepped closer and noticed Alex’s gaze flick to his snowshoes and back again. “Surprised? I was when I stumbled across a backpack chock-full of just what I needed to make it out here. Thanks for leaving me the gift.”

“You found Thomas’s pack.”

Darrin nodded, eyes gleaming. “The clothes were a little big. Not too bad.”

“Who changed the flight plan? Whittenhall?”

Darrin sneered and gave Brynn’s neck a tighter squeeze. Her eyes briefly flared in pain.

Alex took that as a “yes.”

“How did you get on the rescue team?” Darrin asked. “Whittenhall would never send you out here.”

“I was waiting at the airport in Hillsdale. When you didn’t land as scheduled I made some calls. They told me the flight plan had been closed. Then I figured out your flight hadn’t landed anywhere else. When I called the tower at Aurora to see if your flight had rerouted there, he told me about the small charter plane going down in the Cascades. I decided it was a definite possibility that the plane was yours.”