This wasn’t how it was supposed to be!

Fury barreled through his nerves and red anger tunneled his vision. Pushing to his feet, he strode over and grabbed that hair, yanked her head back and slapped her across the face. Then again.

“Shut up! Shut the fuck up!”

She clamped her mouth shut, but her eyes stayed wide open, fear dancing in their depths. He gloated with satisfaction. If she wouldn’t respond to his tenderness, she’d respond to his pain.

Callahan saw Pattison slap a hand over his earpiece, his body perceptibly stiffening. The man’s face blanked and his lips moved as he replied to the voice in his ear.

Something had happened.

Pattison cut a quick look Mason’s way, his hand still covering his ear.

“What happened?” Mason muttered and headed toward Pattison. Tempers be damned.

“I’ll find out.” Ray stepped past Mason, blocking him from Pattison’s sight with his bulk and forcing Mason to stop or else trip over his heels.

Mason fumed behind his partner. His fingers itched for a cigarette, surprising him. It’d been twenty years since he’d smoked.

This stress was going to kill him.

Pattison met Ray halfway and caught Mason’s eye, including him. The captain looked ready to tear down a fir tree with his bare hands.

“One of my snipers, Cordova, heard a female scream in the cabin a second ago. Stopped abruptly.”

Sweat broke out on Mason’s forehead, and his gut felt like it’d been stabbed with a torch. DeCosta had killed her. They were too late. They fooled around with this negotiator crap too long. He clapped a hand to his belly; he wanted to vomit.

“She’s all right.” Ray was calm, and the men gawked at him.

“DeCosta’s here for the glory,” Ray explained, his eyes earnest. “He’s made that clear. Think about his note and all the elaborate buildup to this very moment. It’s not going to end with a private murder in that cabin. It’s going to be a big production with him as the star.”

Mason stared at his partner. Ray was right, damn him. He was right.

But the fact wasn’t reassuring.

Jack crouched in the snow, the cabin just feet away.

The terrified screams had sent his blood boiling, but the immediate cutoff of the screams choked his veins with ice. He wouldn’t have believed there was anything worse than Lacey screaming, but the empty silence afterward was twenty times more petrifying.

He prayed he wasn’t too late.

Lacey was wide awake. Every nerve constricted in fear at the man in her face. Bobby DeCosta was furious. Spit flew from his mouth as he yelled at her and whipped her head back, yanking until she felt hair rip from her scalp, and then he slapped her.

Her head ringing from his slaps, she stared at his teeth, bared in a gloating grin. The lateral maxillary incisors were microdonts. Narrow and pointy in comparison with his other teeth. Up close they looked like short fangs. She couldn’t pull her gaze away.

The crash of shattering glass startled a scream from her throat and Bobby released her hair, diving to the floor, protecting his head with his hands. Lacey tipped over sideways, trying to get low, and cried out as she took the brunt of her fall on a damaged elbow. White pain cracked through her ribs.

She shook and waited for more gunshots.

Her kidnapper cursed and she opened her eyes. A large rock had landed on the rough floor across the room, surrounded by broken glass from the window.

Not a gunshot. A rock.

Speechless, she couldn’t drag her eyes from the gray mass. Who thought a rock would scare DeCosta off?

It had to be Kelly. Tears prickled. The stupid girl hadn’t left. Hadn’t gone for help.

“Stupid bitch.” Bobby had drawn the same conclusion about Kelly. On all fours Bobby scampered across the floor to the other room, reappearing a second later with a length of rope in his hands.

More rope? What else could he tie her to? She wasn’t going anywhere. Exhausted, she turned her face toward the floor. Her muscles were too tired to sit up, and frankly, she didn’t care. Bobby pulled her into a sitting position. She fought to stay upright, weaving like she was drunk. He yanked on the rope tied to the ring in the floor, checking his knots. He nodded, pleased.

He grabbed a piece of firewood and set it behind her, surprising her as he sat on it, leaning her gently back against his shins. Her skin crawled at being so close to him, having him touch her. Something cold and thin wrapped snug around her neck, making her eyes gape. The other rope! He was going to strangle her.

She held her breath.

But he didn’t tighten the rope. He simply held it in place, his focus on the door.

Now she understood. Bobby was waiting for an audience.

Then he’d strangle her.

I’ve got a nice surprise for you, Kelly. A little payback for the flashlight on the temple. A smile crept across Robert’s face as he sat patiently. Lacey blocked most of his body from anyone at the door. By ducking his head, no one could shoot or hurt him without hurting her first.

Kelly would witness her friend’s slow strangulation. She’d rush to help and he’d take her down. Then he’d use Kelly to pull in the police for a grand finale. The cops were still waiting in the woods somewhere. Following stupid textbook procedure. Unable to think for themselves.

“Come on in, Kelly.” Robert raised his voice enough to be heard outside. “I’ve got something to show you.” He couldn’t keep the laughter out of his words.

His captive gurgled against the rope.