Amanda's Wolves(112)

»»•««

Mike Darsky was stuffing the last of his personal belongings into a box in his office when the door flew open and four armed deputies stormed inside. He didn’t bother to say a word. Instead he dropped the stack of papers he was holding and turned to face the wall, placing his hands high and stepping out with both legs.

Defeated, he set his forehead on the cool drywall and listened while one of the deputies read him his rights.





Chapter Thirty-Three


Amanda snuggled deeper under the covers between her men. She couldn’t stop shaking. No matter how tight they held her, she was an emotional mess.

“Talk to me.” She hoped if they continued to talk, it would take her mind off her own role in everything. If only she had listened to them… If only she hadn’t left the condo that morning…

“You’re tired, baby. You need to sleep,” Logan said.

She shook her head. “No. Please. Go on. Finish. I’ve never even seen this Mike Darsky guy in my life. Why did he want to kill me?”

“He didn’t,” Logan continued. “At least we don’t think that was his intention. Trace found an envelope with a note in it on his desk in his office. Most likely he’d written the note and planned the kidnapping before the fire started. The handwriting on the message matched the two you received last week at the house also. And he left another note in your car, probably before he kidnapped you. I’m sure it was meant for us to find.”

Sawyer tucked his arm across her belly tighter and hugged her against his side. “According to Darsky, he was trying to protect you.” Sawyer chuckled.

“What?” Amanda turned her head to face him. She couldn’t imagine how that made sense.

Logan continued. “Roger was growing restless, increasingly so after Jackson Wolf’s visit to his site. Even though Wolf didn’t specifically point out he knew Roger was over-logging, Roger was paranoid anyway. Mike Darsky worked for Roger. He has for several years. He’s sort of a consultant, and more of a private investigator gone bad. He’s also a shifter.

“His job was to protect Roger’s interests. Roger knew Mike was a shifter and used him to identify me and everyone else when we showed up in wolf form at his logging site. Mike was paid a hefty fee for his services. Says Roger got carried away and wouldn’t pull out when Mike started badgering him to do so. Roger had been out of control this week.”

“So Mike thought it would be best to kill me himself?” Amanda wasn’t following.

Sawyer shook his head. “Not his intention, apparently. His plan was to hide you in the shed, keep you drugged so you couldn’t communicate with us, and send a warning message to Logan and me to stand down. They only needed a few more days to finish clearing the land.”

Logan took over again. “Mike intended to take off with his cut when the job was done and leave the country, knowing you would eventually wake up when he stopped drugging you, and then you would be able to communicate with us to get freed.”

“So, no one set the fire?” Amanda pushed herself higher up the pillows so she was halfway sitting. She’d stopped shivering finally.

Sawyer shook his head. “Nope. Coincidence. Looks like a camper started it with embers from a fire they never should have started in the first place.”

Logan grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips to kiss her knuckles. “If it weren’t for the spirits hovering around that site and luring us back there several times, several men could have lost their lives. That fire was right above them. Roger Barkley was greedy enough to have continued working until it was too late. The logging site might not have been on our radar so quickly two weeks ago.”

Amanda licked her lips. “And I would have died if you hadn’t taken me up there and left a trail of red rope for me to descend.” Her voice trailed off. She pursed her lips and shuddered to consider the possibilities.

“It’s over now.” Sawyer leaned down to kiss her forehead. “You’re safe. We all are.”

“I didn’t take you seriously.” Tears escaped her eyes to trail down her cheeks. She reached with her free hand to swipe them away. “I could have died.” She choked on her words. “There were things I didn’t tell you.”

“Like what?” Sawyer asked.

“That day of the second interview, when you were waiting outside for me…” She took a breath. “I saw a kid in the stairwell. He warned me to back off because the members of his church would do anything to stop me from taking that job.”

Logan nodded. “That was Caleb Parker. He’s in one of Dr. Burnhart’s anthropology classes. His parents go to that church. The older members, including the pastor, have been using him as a pawn.”