The grin that crossed Reid’s face would haunt her nightmares forever. “You were both to be drugged. Rafael had planned a little going-away party. But the girl never drank the juice.”

“So you started the fire anyway? No thumb drive and one unconscious victim?” She shook her head at him. “No wonder you had to leave your own country. You suck as a crook.”

“I didn’t have to leave!” His hand tightened on his gun. “I chose to leave.”

“That’s not what I heard,” Gianna said, raising a brow. Keep him distracted and talking. “I heard your father had to hustle you out of the country and buy you a new job. Your reputation isn’t the greatest.”

Irritation and rage crossed his face.

“You’re as stubborn as your father was. And you piss me off just as easily.” His accent grew thicker as the rage filled his voice. “It felt good to beat the crap out of that old man.” The words poured out of his mouth, and she felt their loathing stab her brain. She slapped a hand over one ear as if it could stop the sounds.

“He wouldn’t give it up, and I’d never failed before. I know how to interrogate people, but he deflected my questions at every turn.” He paused. “He screamed as I kicked him, Gianna.” The tone of his voice made her skin crawl. “He screamed like a little girl and begged me not to hurt you and his granddaughter. I took great pleasure in telling him everything I planned to do to you and your daughter. He was crying at the end. He knew his years of hiding were about to come to nothing and that he’d exposed his family to a great risk.”

“You’re fucking sick,” she whispered.

She calmly held his gaze as her stomach threatened to hurl its contents at his feet. The entire time her hearing had been focused on the loft upstairs as she ached to hear any sound that Violet was alive. She wasn’t taking Reid’s word for it.

“You need the thumb drive to save face with your father,” she stated. “You think I’m going to give it to you? You killed my father. I don’t owe you a thing. And if you shoot me, then it’s gone forever.”

“I knew you had it,” he said triumphantly. “Where is it?”

“Sorry, Reid. You need to give Violet back to me. Don’t you know that a mother would give her own life for her daughter? Keeping her from me gets you nothing.” She slowly stood, holding his gaze the whole time.

Indecision fluttered in his eyes. He backed away from her and put a hand on the ladder to the loft. “Don’t move. Try to run and Violet will have two holes in her head.”

Gianna believed him. “I’m not going anywhere.”

He backed up the ladder, using one hand while keeping the gun trained in her direction with the other. She stood immobile and watched him the entire way. As soon as his head disappeared, she bent next to Chris and felt his pulse. Strong. Steady. Thank you. She looked up just in time to see Reid appear at the top with Violet clasped in front of him.

Gianna fought back her tears. She’s alive.

Every muscle in her body wanted to collapse at the sight. Instead she kept her gaze locked on the girl’s face, as if she could keep her from vanishing again.

Duct tape covered Violet’s mouth, and her arms and legs were tied. She didn’t look scared; she looked angry.

Pride in her daughter rushed through Gianna.

How will I get us out of here?

With one arm Reid hefted Violet over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. He turned his back to move down the ladder, and she noticed Chris move his head. He opened one eye and looked directly at her as he tried to pull his arms apart.

She reached to loosen his ties.

“Get the fuck away from him!”

Gianna rose to her feet. Reid lowered Violet from his shoulder and held her in front of him, facing her mother. Gianna studied her daughter, searching for any sign of injury. “Are you all right?”

Violet nodded, her mouth still covered. Reid shoved the barrel of his gun under the corner of Violet’s jaw, making her tip her head away from the pain. Her eyes widened, holding Gianna’s gaze.

I am capable of killing him.

“Now. Where is the thumb drive?”

Nora Hawes was ready to punch through Becker’s dashboard. Two good police officers had been murdered at the burned cabin.

What the hell happened?

A false lead had taken her and Becker to the other side of the city and wasted hours of time. No doubt someone had truly seen a black Escalade near Gianna’s home, but as soon as Nora had heard there’d been a different sighting in the Cascade Range near the scene of the cabin fire, she’d known they needed to be there. They’d had to cross town in heavy traffic, taking way too much time. Thirty minutes later they’d heard the officers had been killed.

Leo Berg had called her. He’d told her that Gianna and Chris were already headed up to the cabin area. Leo had also provided a name and some background to go with the face she’d seen on the video from outside the furniture store. She’d made some calls and found that Reid Kruger had a short arrest record from the Los Angeles area. Nothing worth shouting about, but enough to show that he had too much time on his hands. And too much money. “This guy has hundreds of thousands of dollars sitting in his checking accounts,” muttered Becker. “What the hell? What’s it like to have that kind of spendable income?”

Nora had shaken her head. Apparently Kruger’s father was worth millions . . . possibly billions. Enough to buy his son a new life in the United States. This time he’s fucked up. No amount of money would buy his way out of the murders of the two cops in the last hour. And then there were Richard Messina, Rafael Jones, and Francisco Green. The attempted murder of Gianna, Jamie, and Violet. And now kidnapping.