He yanked her back up and sneered at her. “This is what we’re going to do. See,” he flashed a phone in her face. “You and I are going to make a little video for Daddy.”
Daddy? Katherine tried to clear her head. Was he talking about her father? What did he have to do with this?
A tiny spark of hope kindled in her chest. Maybe this was some sort of ransom thing. Her face was throbbing, her cheek already swelling, but she managed to say, “He won’t pay you if you hurt me.”
That evil smile returned. “Oh, I think he will. Your Daddy is going to pay, and pay, and pay.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kong sat up witha groan and felt something roll off his chest. He looked down just in time to see the bloody slug his body had expelled hit the ground with a dull thud. Godwin. Katherine…
He jumped to his feet. “Katherine!”
Even before he said it, he knew she wouldn’t answer. Godwin was a sadistic prick who enjoyed beating women. Frantically, he searched the scene, hoping, praying, he wouldn’t find her body. The SUV was where he left it and still running, both the driver’s side and passenger side doors open.
No sign of Katherine, but the dig marks in the ground gave him a tiny bit of hope. They’d been made by somebody’s heels – Katherine’s heels – as she fought not to be taken. Theydisappeared near where Godwin’s car had been. He’d taken her somewhere. Alive.
Racing back to his SUV, he closed the doors and hit the phone system on the dash as he put it in gear and slammed on the gas, cranking the wheel to get him turned around. As he waited for the call to connect him to Black Bay, he noticed the time. He’d been out a little over an hour.Fuck. A lot could have happened in an hour.
Please be alive. Please.
Matt Davies, the general’s son, answered and Kong didn’t waste any time. “I need a team. Right now. I’m coming in and I need a license plate tracked. Virginia plates.” He rattled off the number he’d automatically memorized when he first noticed they had a tail. “Terrence Godwin has Katherine. I need him found. Right fucking now, Matt.”
“I’ll get it done. ETA?”
At the insane speed he was driving? “I’ll hit the tunnel in five.”
“It’ll be open.”
Kong grunted. Damn good thing. The last thing he needed was to be held up at each of the security points waiting for the concrete barriers to retract.
Matt was true to his word and Kong picked up even more speed, flooring the accelerator as he raced through the underwater tunnel. The engine roared as he hit the final incline and the heavy vehicle caught air as he left the tunnel, slamming back down hard.
Lark was already racing toward him, waving her arms above her head.
“It’s a rental!” she shouted as he opened his door. “We’ve got him, Kong!”
Thank fuck. Either Godwin hadn’t known rentals could be tracked or he hadn’t cared.
Lark’s eyes flicked to the bloodstain on his shirt and her expression tightened but she didn’t waste time asking what happened. “As long as he didn’t dump the rental for another vehicle, he’s in a remote location, roughly forty-five minutes away by car.”
Kong nearly sagged with relief. That meant, of the time Godwin had Katherine, most of it he’d spent driving. There was a good chance she was still alive. A damn good chance. They’d profiled Godwin. The bastard liked hurting women. That’s how he got his jollies, and while death had been the outcome in many cases, that wasn’t the sick sonofabitch’s objective. He would take his time, and draw it out. And while it enraged Kong to think of Katherine being hurt or in pain, the likelihood of them finding her alive had just increased.
“We’ll take the bird, rappel down, go in quiet.”
Kong nodded. “Let’s do it.”
He broke into a run and Lark fell in at his side. “He may have an accomplice. The rental was leased by a woman named Valerie Felix. It hasn’t been reported stolen.”
Possible accomplice, or knowing Godwin, Valerie Felix was dead in a ditch somewhere. But it didn’t matter if Godwin had twenty people – a hundred people – helping him. Kong was going to end him. Today.
His team was waiting for him at the helo, the blades already warming up. Jace, Leo, Perrin, Grady, and even Erik had suited up to rescue Katherine. As soon as he joined them, they started handing over gear so both he and Lark could suit up as well.
The general stepped in front of him and put a staying hand on his chest. Raising his voice to be heard over the noise of the rotors, he said, “I know you want to kill him, son. Hell, if he killed Katherine, I know damn well you’ll rip his head off regardless of what I say. But Godwin can give us Cleary. I need you to remember that. If she’s alive, you bringhimin alive. Do you understand me?”
Kong was so pissed off he couldn’t speak. He couldn’t make that promise.
Lark stepped up. “If it’s possible, General, we’ll bring him in for questioning.”
