Chapter One
Thekidnappedboyswouldbe terrified. Senior Constable Nhiari Roe’s body ached with tension and she tugged on her braid. Beside her, Sam drove with confidence, pushing the four-wheel-drive hard as they raced towards the ranges. In the back seat Nhiari’s brother, Matt, Arthur ‘Sherlock’ Hammond, and Gretchen sat just as tense. They were racing to rescue Gretchen’s son, Jordan, and his best friend.
The ten-year-olds had been snatched from school by Jordan’s father, and the man holding them was someone she’d been hunting for months.
Lee Slater.
Her gut clenched.
He had lied and seduced her with his words. She’d thought he could bethe oneuntil his lies came to light.
Now she had to stop him.
Lee was a loose-cannon. No one really knew what he was capable of, though he’d already killed at least one man.
She had to protect the people with her; Sam and Sherlock were ex-military, but Matt and Gretchen were civilians. They were all likely to go off half-cocked and get themselves injured or killed.
“Can’t you drive any faster?” Gretchen called, the worry in her voice clear.
Sam’s chuckle was strained. “Not with a police officer in the car.”
Nhiari grunted. Like that mattered. He was pushing the car as fast as it would go. “When we get there, I go in first. You wait until I give the all-clear.”
She felt the resistance to her statement as Arthur shifted in the back seat. He was as concerned as Gretchen, after protecting both her and her son, Jordan for a few days now. But it was Matt who piped up.
“Not going to happen,gunyjan.None of us are letting you in there without backup.”
She flinched. Her knowledge of her native language wasn’t as good as her brother’s, but he always used the endearment when he wanted something. “I’m in charge. You’ll do as I say.”
Sam took his eyes off the track to glance at her. “With all due respect, that’s not in our nature. We’re a team and we protect and support the team.”
Nhiari ground her teeth together. They weren’t in a team any longer. They were civilians, but she knew from experience nothing she said would change their minds. And they were right. There wasn’t another cop who could back her up fast enough. Though it didn’t mean she had to like it. “I’m going to throw the lot of you in gaol when we get back.”
“You do what you need to do,” Sherlock said. “Just like we will.”
Matt directed Sam onto a dirt road. Nhiari gripped the handle above the door as the car bounced over bumps, and she focused on the ranges in front of her. They ran the entire length of the peninsula, and the boys could be anywhere. Matt’s fiancée, Georgie, thought she knew where they’d be. Apparently she’d met Lee there occasionally, despite him being a wanted felon. Nhiari would have words to her about that later.
As they got to the base of the ranges, they pulled up behind an abandoned Parks and Wildlife four-wheel-drive.
Matt sprang out before she could stop him and yelled, “Georgie!” He swore as his call echoed off the ranges. “I told her to stay with the car until we got here.”
Which meant Nhiari might have another hostage to worry about.
“You just lost us the element of surprise,” Arthur grumbled as he got out of the car, but Nhiari paid them no attention. Her gaze took in the red ranges, the shrubby bushes behind which someone could hide, and the dark openings of a few caves in the hillside. Too many options. Nhiari pulled out her gun and started forward. As she neared the closest cave, she glanced behind her.
Sam had moved to the opposite side of the gaping hole and had pulled a gun from somewhere, Arthur had Gretchen protected behind him, and Matt was right behind her. He would have been in front if he’d had any kind of weapon.
“Where are they, Lee?” Georgie’s voice echoed out of the cave.
“I told you, I don’t know.” His voice was full of frustration, but it sent an unwanted shiver of warmth through Nhiari. That voice had promised her pleasure and understanding. A potent combination.
The man was her enemy. She needed to remember that. She held up three fingers, knowing Sam and Sherlock would understand. She lowered one at a time and on zero, they stormed into the cave. “Hands on your head, Lee.”
The darkness in the cave momentarily blinded her, but she blinked rapidly. Matt dragged Georgie out of the way, but her focus was on the slim Asian man in front of her. He held no weapon, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have one. A thin film of red dust covered his black slacks and wrinkled striped shirt, but he looked remarkably well considering he’d spent months living in this cave system. His dark hair was dishevelled, no longer the precision cut and style of the photographer he’d pretended to be. His lean body was even thinner, perhaps because of his inability to come into town for food. What had he been living on? Had someone been helping him, providing him with sustenance? Surely he couldn’t have survived out here on his own.
No, he had to be in contact with someone if Kurt had involved him in the kidnapping.
What was Lee’s role in all of this?
