He wasn’t fast enough. Just as he reached the front, Saltz clasped his weapon, rolled on his back and fired once.

The shot clipped Hunter’s shoulder, sending him flying backward. Instinct kicked in and he grabbed the railing, preventing him from falling overboard. It was as if someone had lit a grenade and shoved it into his shoulder. Pain ricocheted through his entire body. He’d been shot once before, but that didn’t make the aching any less painful. Nerve endings flared to life, screaming through his system, begging his brain for relief.

“Don’t make me shoot you again,” Saltz growled as he stood up.

“Go to hell,” he spat out.

“Fine, have it your way.” Saltz shook his head and tucked his gun away.

Confusion intermixed with his pain. What was he doing? Hunter watched as Saltz looked at something over Hunter’s shoulder and before he could contemplate trying to turn around, more pain and then blackness engulfed him.

Chapter 14

“Come on, sweetie, I need to put you down for a second.” Alexis dropped Jonathan to the soft earth and tried to catch her breath. Though she worked out and ran regularly, it wasn’t as if she did it carrying a forty-pound backpack.

“I can run too.” The first words he’d spoken since they’d escaped. And he sounded almost defiant. That little stubborn streak was back.

She didn’t have time to consider how great it was he was talking again. They couldn’t wait around to be captured and killed. “Okay, let’s go. You stay behind me.” She’d rather keep him in front of her, but there were too many protruding branches and holes in these woods.

Their shoes crunched over the fallen leaves and undergrowth as they continued racing through the forest. Guilt gnawed at her that she’d left Hunter, but she’d seen that look in his eyes. The look that said “save our son.”

She pushed the emotions down and focused on doing just that. Glancing behind her, she was relieved to see Jonathan keeping up. Their pace slowed a little, but she maneuvered through the thick trees, trying to stay on even ground. She didn’t have her cell phone, and she had no clue where they even were, so as of now, her mission was to find help and some form of communication. When the trees started thinning, her heart leapt. They must be close to some sort of civilization.

“Mom, look!” Jonathan bounded up beside her as they neared a clearing.

She saw it before he pointed. It would be hard to miss. A pale blue, two-story house with white trim sat in the middle of a field. Two white rocking chairs sat empty on a big open porch. And there was a satellite dish attached to the roof.

Looking at Jonathan, she bit her lip. She hated to leave him all alone, but she didn’t want to drag him into another horrible situation. This house was in the middle of nowhere. How did she know what kind of people lived there?

Risking a peek behind them, she couldn’t shake the fear curling through her body. Various scenarios raced through her mind.

She bent down so that she was eye level with Jonathan. “We’re going to see if we can find help here, but if I tell you to do something, you do not question me. Do you understand?”

He nodded.

“No, I need to hear you say it.”

“If you say run, I run, right?” He stuck his hands in his pockets and looked at her expectantly.

“That’s absolutely right. Can you walk or do you want me to carry you?” Dirt smeared his face, but she didn’t bother wiping it away. She could only imagine how awful she looked. Maybe the owner of the house would take pity on them.

He slipped his small hand into hers in response. After scanning the field for any other signs of life, they took a few cautious steps out into the open. When it was apparent no one was around, she picked up her pace.

As they neared the steps of the back porch, the screen door opened. A petite, older woman with graying hair stepped out and immediately Alexis’s fears subsided. She didn’t look like a crazy axe murderer.

“Oh my, look at you two.” The door slammed behind her with a thud. She rushed down the few steps until she was only a few feet in front of them.

Jonathan clutched Alexis’s hand and stepped behind her.

“We need help.” She didn’t know what else to say.

“I can just imagine that you do. How’d y’all end up all the way out here?” Her soft, southern accent soothed Alexis.

She ignored the question. “I need a phone.”

The woman paused, then smoothed her hands over her sweater. “All right. Wait here.”

She disappeared inside but was back moments later with a fully charged cell phone. Alexis’s heart jumped. “I don’t even know how to thank you—”

She waved a dismissive hand in the air. “Make your call. We’ll talk in a moment. Come in and have a seat.”

Jonathan followed her directive to one of the rocking chairs where he collapsed against a plaid cushion. Taking a seat next to her son, Alexis dialed the number Hunter had made her memorize after Connor had arrived at the beach house. She couldn’t stop her knees from shaking.

“Connor here.” He picked up on the first ring.

“It’s Alexis.” Blood rushed so loudly in her ears it was hard to hear anything else.

“Oh my God. Tell me you’re all right.”

“For right now, yes. I don’t know where we are, though.” The woman had already retreated back inside so she couldn’t ask her.

“Don’t worry about that. We’re tracking this call as we speak. Tell me what happened.”

After giving him a brief run-through of everything that had happened, he surprised her by asking, “What was the name of the boat?”

“Addiction.”

“That son of a bitch!” Connor was so loud, she had to hold the phone away from her ear for a second.

Jonathan’s eyes widened, but he was silent. Those words paled in comparison to all he’d seen and heard today.

“What? Is that important?”

“We haven’t used it in a while, but the DEA used to utilize it for missions along the East Coast.”

“How does that help Hunter?”

“All our boats are equipped with tracking devices.”

Her hopes immediately fell. The men they were dealing with weren’t amateurs. “I’m sure Saltz already disabled it.”

There was a brief rustling, and then his voice dropped a few octaves, as if he didn’t want to be overheard. “You’re right. He probably disabled the one he knew about. I shouldn’t be telling you this, but we’ve got two in place on all company property in case anything should ever happen. Only certain personnel are aware of their existence.”

“And Saltz isn’t one of them?”

“You got it…and I’ve got your location. Sit tight. We’re sending a team after Hunter, and we’ll be sending someone to pick you up.”

“Wait—” But she was talking to dead air.

A hundred questions raced through her mind. She didn’t even know if Hunter was alive. And how would Connor even locate him? She wasn’t sure how far they’d run. What if she’d given him the wrong directives? If Hunter wasn’t alive—no, she couldn’t start thinking that way.

“Mommy.” Jonathan tugged on her arm, then slid onto her lap.

The frightened look in his eyes made her ache. What if he asked about Hunter? He knew they’d left him behind. And what if Hunter died? How would she ever explain that to her son? “What is it, sweetie?”

“Is Hunter going to be okay?”

She swallowed once. “I hope so.”

“You promise?”

Not trusting her voice, she nodded.

The woman—whose name she hadn’t even bothered to ask yet—walked back outside. Her aged face lined with worry as she wiped her hands on her apron.

“Thank you for your hospitality. I’m Alexis, by the way. And this is Jonathan. We’ll be out of your hair shortly.”

Smiling, she held open the door. “I’m Anna. Nice to meet you.” She looked at Jonathan. “Just baked a fresh batch of cookies, young man. Does that sound good?”

He looked at Alexis first. When she nodded, he jumped down. “Yes, ma’am.”

They followed the woman inside, but in the distance Alexis heard helicopters. Sending up a silent prayer, she hoped that wherever Hunter was, he was hanging on.

Hunter tried to open his eyes and make out his surroundings. One eye was swollen shut, but he had decent visibility through the other. Bare beams stretched out above him, and the floor beneath him was solid concrete. As much as the restraints would allow, he tried shifting around in his chair to see if he could use anything to escape. He reeled in a curse when pain shot through his arm and chest.

Oh right, he’d been shot. He’d almost forgotten about that. Too bad his body wouldn’t let him. They’d tied off his wound so he wouldn’t bleed out until they were through with him.

As he took in his surroundings, he could see a couple of workbenches with sharp-looking tools and two windows. Trees and patches of blue sky were the only things visible outside, but at least he knew it was still daylight. Not too much time could have passed. Unless, of course, he’d been passed out for longer than he thought. He shook the cobwebs from his brain. Nah, that was impossible. If he’d been there longer than twenty-four hours, he’d be dead.

Vague snatches of being questioned and beaten surfaced in his brain. For some reason, they thought he had more information than he actually did. Despite the fact that he’d made copies of everything he’d given to Davis in the jungle, he’d still given him everything. The information he had on Davis was so bad and incriminating, he couldn’t fathom what Davis and Saltz imagined he was holding back. There was a possibility that they worked for someone more powerful and that person was calling the shots, but if they were, Hunter didn’t know about it. Thankfully his supposed knowledge was the only thing keeping him alive at the moment. That and the fact that Davis was a psycho who enjoyed inflicting pain.