Identity Crisis(111)
In the parking garage, she walked to the Mustang, with him holding her close to his side like he was the most caring, most tender of lovers. He nodded to the driver’s side. ‘You drive, darling. I want to sit next to you, bask in your brightness, savor the moment.’
He stood over her while she buckled in, then he brushed the hair away from her forehead and settled a kiss just above the bridge of her nose. She forced herself not to stiffen. ‘Don’t think you can escape before I get around the car and into my seat.’ He breathed the words against her throat. ‘I’m as good with a knife from a distance as I am up close and personal. My aim won’t be fatal, but I promise it’ll be painful, debilitating, and marring. And if I decide I’m bored with the knife, there’s always this little baby to make things more interesting …’ He leaned forward and slipped a gun from the waistband of his trousers, just enough for her to get a good view of it. ‘And yes, I’m as good with it as I am with the knife. You’re mine, Kendra. Best get used to it now, and things will go easier.’
But she wasn’t. She wasn’t his. She’d never be his. She said the words in her head, enunciating every one clearly over and over like a mantra, reminding herself that she was still in control. That there were things he could never ever take from her. This time she knew that. This time she was certain.
He slid in next to her, handed her the keys, then shifted in the seat expectantly. ‘Well, what are you waiting for?’
‘Where shall I go?’ she asked.
‘To my place, sweetheart. I’ve prepared it especially for you.’
No! she screamed inside her head. No matter what she had to do, she would never go to his place. She knew in her gut if she did, she’d never escape. She didn’t mind dying. That was inevitable, but she wasn’t about to endure the long suffering and the humiliation he had planned for her before she got there. She knew that ultimately he had been responsible for Lila’s death, and she wasn’t about to give him time to drive her to such an end. She didn’t know what she’d do, but she’d end it all before she got to his place. One way or another.
As she pulled out of the parking garage and made her way toward the freeway, he rested a hand on her thigh and heaved a sigh as he admired the Mustang. ‘Don’t worry, Kendra, I’ll take very good care of it after you’re gone. I promise.’
She shivered at the thought, but steeled herself. She had to concentrate. She had to find a way out of this. As she approached the entrance to the freeway, he shook his head.
‘Not on the freeways, darling. I hate freeways. They’re no way to put a fine car like this through its paces, and really, it would be a shame for me not to let you put this lovely vehicle to the test one last time. We’ll take the back roads.’
Garrett recognized the stolen Ford Focus in the parking garage not far from Dee’s Audi, and his hopes soared only to crash again when he found the door to her flat unlocked. Kendra would never leave her home so vulnerable. He pushed it open quietly, hoping against hope that they were still inside. But he could tell by the feel that the flat was empty. He gave the door a hard kick with his foot and cursed out loud. Goddamn it, she’d been through enough, and he’d opened her up to all of it, all over again. He grabbed Kendra’s BlackBerry from his pocket.
‘Wade, they’re not here!’ he yelled into the phone as soon as he heard it connect. ‘They’re not fucking here!’
‘What do you mean they’re not there?’ Wade yelled back ‘The signal indicates they’re right there in her flat.’
‘Well they’re not. I don’t know what the hell’s going on and … Fuck!’ Garrett’s eye caught the bright plastic of his own BlackBerry where it lay discarded on the couch and suddenly he felt like he was being swallowed alive by the horror of what that meant. ‘The BlackBerry.’ He forced the words up through the cold fear clenching at his throat. ‘She left it. It’s on the sofa.’
‘What the hell do you mean she left it?’ He heard Harris’s panicked voice. ‘She wouldn’t leave it.’
‘Only if she were forced to,’ Wade replied.
‘Goddamn it!’ Garrett ran a frantic hand through his hair. ‘There has to be something else we can do, there has to be.’
‘We’ve got to have something we can track,’ Wade said. ‘I can extrapolate from the places where Parks has been spotted, but without some way of tracking her, I can’t narrow it down any more than that.’