That was why Gray had taken his day off to hike up the ridgeline, and it was why, even though he knew he should focus on returning Mawadi and the others to prison, in reality he wanted a far more permanent solution, and eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Justice.
An image flashed in his head, a baby in a PICU incubator, her tiny hands clinging to her breathing tube just as tenaciously as shed clung to life for twenty-two endless hours.
Keeping her memory in the forefront of his mind, Gray unclipped his holster and withdrew the 9 mm hed carried on this little hunting trip, and started working his way through the trees, skirting the electric fence and the range of the motion detectors, heading for the back of the cabin.
The last of the surveillance reports, filed a few months earlier, had noted a rear exit, one that looked new, as though Mariah had put it in after shed bought the cabin. Sure enough, there was a door at one end of the back of the building, with two windows beside it, blinds drawn to the sills. The rear exit was definitely a point in his favor, Gray decided. Mawadi and the others would have to power down the motion sensors when their company arrived. In that small window of opportunity, Gray planned to slip in through the back.
If he could take Lee and his ex-wife alive, he would. If not, dead was fine. Hed take his revenge however he could get it.
MARIAH FOUGHT HER WAY through fuzzy, drugged layers of consciousness and awoke to heart-pounding panic. Twisting wildly against her bonds, she looked around and found herself where shed been the last time shed awakened: tied to her own bed in her otherwise stripped-down bedroom. The nightstand and bureau were gone, as were all her books and personal things. That wasnt the worst of it, though. The worst was knowing that although shed woken up this time, it didnt guarantee that shed wake up the next.
Whenever shed regained blurry consciousness over the past few days, shed seen Lees face crowding close. And shed seen the murder in his eyes.
When the time came for her to die, she knew, he would kill her himself, and hed relish the process. Hed delight in punishing her for having testified against him, for helping break his alibi and for divorcing him while hed sat in jail. No doubt he wouldve already killed her by now if itd been up to him. It apparently wasnt up to him, though. A second man had stood behind him each time shed awakened, his figure blurry with distance and the drugs they had pumped into her to keep her sedated for hours, maybe days.
Broad-shouldered and muscular, the second man had dark, vaguely reptilian eyes. Lee had called him Brisbane, though she didnt know if that was a first or last name, didnt think it mattered. The big man had arrived sometime between when Lee had drugged her unconscious and when shed awakened the first time, lying on the floor in a pool of her own filth, still wearing the heavy layers and parka shed had on when Lee attacked her. She mustve made some noise when shed regained consciousness, because shed heard voices soon after, and Brisbane had come into the room.
At first shed been terrified of the dark-eyed stranger with the faint accent, sure he was there to kill her. Instead, hed been the one to keep Lee away from hermostly, anywayand hed been the one who, when shed begged, had untied her and let her shower and change her clothes. Hed watched her, cradling her shotgun in clear threat, but shed forced herself through the process, shaking and crying, and weak with the drugs as shed gulped shower water in a painful effort to slake her thirst.
Shed been almost grateful to collapse back onto her bed, have him retie her hands and feet, and let herself sink back into oblivion. Shed surfaced a few times after that; each time one of the men had untied her and let her use the bathroom, and once or twice shed been given some sort of liquid protein shake that had made her gag as shed forced it down. Shed been vaguely aware of questions and threats, aware of refusing to answer.
The last time, Lee had stayed behind after Brisbane left the room. Shed been seriously out of it, but had been aware enough to see the hatred in her ex-husbands eyes when hed leaned over her. Hed wrapped one big, hurtful hand around her neck, squeezing lightly at first, then harder and harder, all the while staring down at her with those beautiful clear blue eyes of his, which made him look like a good guy, when he was anything but.
Ill kill you for betraying me, he said, his voice as calm as if hed been discussing the weather. And for making me look bad. You shouldve answered questions when you had the chance. Now hes coming to make you talk. His eyes had slid to the door, and the quiet woods beyond. As soon as we get what he needs from you, youre dead.
She hadnt needed to ask who he was; shed known instinctively that it was al-Jihad. The terrorist leader was the one whod given Lee a sense of purpose, though she hadnt known it at the time of their marriage. Al-Jihad was the one whod told Lee to ingratiate himself into her life and use her father to gain inside information. Al-Jihad was also the one whod told her husband to make sure she died in the bombings. And apparently he needed something more from her now. But what?
In a way, it didnt matter, because as Lee had leaned over her in her cabin bedroom, shed seen her own murder in his eyes. One way or the other, she was dead.
Shed thought he was going to kill her right then, just choke the life out of her. He hadnt, though, and now shed awakened yet again, bound to the wall, lying on her stripped-bare mattress. She thought it had been four, maybe five days since theyd imprisoned her. Five days that theyd kept her alive, feeding and watching over her because al-Jihad himself wanted something from her. She couldnt conceive of what it might be, though, couldnt remember the questions the men had asked her.
The cops and the Feds had taken everything that had belonged to Lee during their marriage, and shed been glad to see it go. Shed given the rest of their things to charity, keeping only the few items shed brought with her into the marriage, all keepsakes from her childhood. Nothing of any real value, and certainly nothing that would interest someone like al-Jihad. What could the terrorists possibly want?
The more her thoughts churned, the more Mariahs head cleared and the room sharpened around her. Her arms and legs tingled and nausea pounded low in her gut, but the rest of her felt nearly normal, suggesting that she was coming out of her drug-induced daze. Which was good news. But it was also bad news. Lee was too smart to let her regain consciousness unless hed meant to, and she couldnt imagine that Brisbane was any less shrewd. So theyd intentionally let the drugs wear off, which suggested things were about the change. Was al-Jihad on his way up the mountain to question her personally? The idea was beyond terrifying. Al-Jihad was said to be an expert interrogator.
Nausea surged through Mariah, along with a rising buzz of adrenaline and the certainty that unless she got away now, she wouldnt be waking up ever again.
Stirring, she tried twisting on the bed. Her head spun, but her arms and legs moved when and where she told them to before hitting the ends of her bonds. Her ankles were crossed and tied with nylon rope, her hands bound behind her. A loop of rope ran from her feet to her wrists, and was threaded through an eyebolt screwed into one of the heavily varnished logs that made up the cabin wall.
Shed been lying in the same position for so long that her shoulders and hips had all but stopped aching, and had gone numb instead. As she moved, though, the tingling numbness started to recede, and pins and needles took over, making her hiss in pain. She gritted her teeth and kept going, pulling against her bonds, searching for some hint of give. The eyebolt and beam were solid, the bonds on her ankles tight enough to cut her skin. But after a few moments, she thought she felt the ropes on her wrists yield a little.
Excitement propelled her to work harder, and she yanked at the ropes, starting to breathe faster with the exertion. Blood moved through her veins with increasing force, and hope built alongside the panic that came at the thought that she was so close, but still might not get free in time.
Come on, come on! she muttered under her breath, working the ropes while straining to hear through the closed bedroom door. Was that a voice? A conversation? Or just the radio the men had been playing each time shed awakened? Was that a footstep? Were they coming for her? Was it already too late?
The doorknob rattled and turned.
Mariah froze, holding her breath. The door opened a crack.
Not yet, Brisbane said sharply from the other room. They wont be here for another hour or so.
Lees voice spoke from the doorway. But I was just going to
I know what you were going to do, and youre not doing it. You had your chance to question her, and it didnt work. Leave her be. We need her for another few hours. After al-Jihads done with her, you can do whatever you want.
Mariah barely heard Lees soft curse over the hammering of the pulse in her ears. But the door shut once again, and the footsteps moved away. She was savedfor the moment, anyway.
But time was running out.
Hurrying, nearly sobbing with terror, she fought against her bonds, yanking at the loosening ropes around her wrists and twisting against the tie connecting her hands and feet together. Slowly, ever so slowly, she worked her hands free from underneath the first layer of rope, then the second. The nylon strands cut into her skin and blood slicked her wrists, but she kept going, kept fighting, refusing to give up.
Shed given up before, accepting her marriage for what it was. Maybe she hadnt completely given up, but shed certainly given in for too long, letting herself be blinded to the truth about her husband.
Not again, she vowed inwardly. Not this time.
On that thought, she gave a sharp jerk. Her left hand came free with a slash of pain as the nylon fibers tore into her skin. But she didnt care about the injury. She was free!
Working faster now, sobbing with fear, relief and excitement, she undid her other hand, then her feet. Rolling off the bed, she stood, barefoot and wobbly, wearing only the fleece sweatshirt and yoga pants Brisbane had tossed at her after her last shower. Within seconds, the crisp air inside the cabin cut through the single layer of material and chilled her skin, waking her further.
Trying not to think of how much colder it was going to be outside in the cool Colorado springtime, especially come nightfall, she headed for the door, keeping herself from passing out through sheer force of will. Two years ago shed been too weak to deal with the downward spiral of her life. Now, hardened by time and Lees betrayal, she was stronger. But was she strong enough?
Youre going to have to be, she whispered, saying the words aloud because the volume gave her growing resolution form and substance.
Brave words werent going to get her out of the cabin, though. Not with the bedroom window nailed shut and two armed men in the front room, not to mention the motion detectors shed so carefully wired in the woods around her home. Theyd been meant to keep her safe. Now they would warn Lee and Brisbane if she managed to sneak out the back door. She didnt have her shotgun, didnt have the remote control to the security system, didnt have anything going for her except the knowledge that the men wanted her alive for another hour or two. They needed some sort of information from her, something important enough that theyd kept her alive and untouched for however many days it had been.
They might shoot at her, but theyd be aiming to wound, not kill. And everything shed learned about firearms since this whole mess began suggested that it was very difficult to purposefully wound a fleeing target. During the trial it had come out that Lee had serious skill in bombmaking, but hed claimed not to have any experience with guns. If she were lucky, Brisbane wouldnt be a sharpshooter, either. Even if he were, what was the difference, really?
Better to die trying to escape than let the terrorists use her to kill more innocents.
Mariah paused just shy of the doorway, feeling very small and alone. Raised by parents whod met as rock band roadies and liked to keep moving, shed lived in ten different places before her tenth birthday. Even after her parents had finally settled down in Bear Claw and her father had gone into engineering, landing a good job at the American Mall Group, Mariah had remained a private person, a loner who had to make a real effort when it came to meeting people. Her few forays into couplehoodincluding her disaster of a marriagehad only proved that she was the sort of person who was better off alone. Problem was, she wasnt always strong enough, smart enough, or just plain enough to do the things that needed to be done.
You have no choice, she told herself, clamping her lips together and fighting to be as silent as possible as she reached for the doorknob. Putting her ear to the panel, she listened intently but heard nothing, not even the radio. Did that mean both men were outside, maybe preparing for the arrival of the others? Or were they somewhere inside the cabin, just being quiet?
She didnt know, but she wasnt going to figure it out by listening at the door, either.
Blowing out a shallow, frightened breath, she eased the panel open and paused, tense and listening. Still no sound. She slipped through, unsteady on her numb legs, her heart beating so loud in her ears she was sure Lee and Brisbane would hear it all the way out front and come running.
But there was no shout of discovery as she slipped around the corner to the other back room, where shed installed a rear door several months earlier. The room had served as her office; now it was overstuffed with the furniture Lee and Brisbane had pulled out of her bedroom, along with her usual office clutter. She glanced at her bureau, but it was facing the wall, which meant there was no way she could pull out clothes or shoes with any sort of stealth.
Crossing the room, barely breathing, she unlatched the dead bolt, wincing when the loud click cut through the silence. Then she opened the door and paused on the threshold, stalled by the sight of the fifty feet of rawedged stumps between her and the relative safety of the forest.
Her heart thumped in her ears. She couldnt stay in the cabin. But crossing the clear-cut zone would trigger the alarms.
They dont want me dead, she reminded herself, although that was little solace as she drew a deep breath, plucked up her thin courage and plunged through the door.
She hit the ground running. Splinters and woodchips from the clear-cutting bit into her feet, but she kept going. Seconds later, the alarms went off, emitting a mechanized buzz that sliced through the air and straight through to her soul.