Deadly Fear (Deadly #1)(62)

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“Got you.”

“Then let’s go bring Sam back.”

They ran, heading for the first cabin on Briars Lane. So isolated. The two cabins on the east side were the only homes within a fifteen-mile radius. The guy was sure good at picking his kill spots.

The smell of sap had her nose twitching. So many pines here. The ground was hard, uneven, but she moved easily, leading the others.

They found the first cabin almost immediately. Small, one story, with big picture windows along the front. Not on the water, but nestled farther back in the trees. In less than four minutes, they’d gone in and searched every inch of that place, barely making a whisper of sound.

No Sam.

They went back into the woods, moving quietly, quickly. And then she saw the second cabin. Wooden, with an old-fashioned wraparound porch. A small chimney jutted from the top of the second-story’s slanting roof. A picturesque place. The lake glittered behind the cabin, dark waves moving in the sun.

Luke and Kenton stilled beside her.

“Don’t see anyone,” Kenton murmured.

Neither did she, and that didn’t mean a thing. “Go in slow,” she whispered. Maybe Sam was in the cabin, alive.

Hiding in a closet. Waiting for that one weak moment to escape. The stench of death surrounding—

Monica shook her head. “You two take the house. I’ll take the lake.” Because this place would be the perfect kill spot. Isolated, with that second-story view giving the perfect vantage point for a lookout. And the lake, so close by… Sam’s worst fear just a few feet away. If she’d awakened in the house, she would have been able to hear the water. The better to stir her fear.

Monica motioned with her hand, giving the signal to advance. Then they were moving quickly, cutting a trail through the brush and keeping their weapons up.

The men slowed near the cabin and crept up the porch. No groan of the wood. Sweet, sweet silence.

Monica circled around the back of the cabin. That water was Sam’s fear, it would— “Sam!” The scream tore from her lips even as she broke into a run. “Dammit, no!”

Sand flew from beneath Monica’s feet as she charged for the lake, and for the still figure, floating face down in that murky water.

She jumped up on the dock. Ran over the wood. The thump thump thump of her shoes on the dock perfectly matched her heart.

Monica dove into the water. Sam wasn’t out far, just drifting there, face down, so close to the dock. So close.

She grabbed Sam and spun her around. “Sam!” Pale face. Bruised. Closed eyes. Wet hair clinging to her cheeks. “Sam, breathe!”

But she wasn’t breathing. Her body was heavy and cold.

“Give her to me!” Luke’s yell. Monica kicked, turned around, and found him jumping from the dock. She pulled Sam, holding her tight.

Then Luke was there, taking Sam from her arms. Lifting her still body onto the dock and jumping up after her. Kenton laid Sam across the wood and bent over her, checking for a pulse.

Find one. Monica climbed back onto the dock. Find one. They needed a pulse. A beat— He shook his head.

Water trickled from Sam’s mouth and nose.

“You’re not dying,” Kenton’s fierce order. He turned her head to the side and forced her mouth open wider. More water poured from her lips.

Luke pressed his hands over her chest, pumping. More water.

Monica grabbed Kenton’s phone. Her fingers were shaking, trembling hard, but she managed to punch the numbers for the sheriff’s office. Lily would be there, manning the phones while the sheriff and his deputies conducted their search. Lily would be able to contact him; she’d contact everyone on the task force and the woman would be able to make damn sure an ambulance got there ASAP.

Kenton closed his mouth over Sam’s, breathing for her.

Lily answered immediately. “Jasper County Sheriff’s Office.”

“It’s Davenport. We’re at Briars, cabin two. We found her!”

Another breath.

“Get an ambulance out here, Lily, ASAP! Now, now!”

Luke’s hands were on Sam’s chest. Her chest was just lifting with Kenton’s breaths.

Monica caught Sam’s hand and squeezed. “You fight, you hear me? Fight!”

Giving up and dying was easy. She knew that. She’d thought about it often enough.

But easy wasn’t her way, and it wasn’t Sam’s either.

“You do this,” she told her, the words rasping out, “he wins. You don’t want him to win. You want him to pay, to suffer, just like he made you suffer! You don’t do this! Fight!”

And Sam jerked.

Kenton pulled back.

Sam rolled over, coughing, shaking, trying to suck in desperate gulps of air. Breathing.

Thank you, God. Monica caught Sam’s shoulders. Held tight. “Get it out, get all the water out.”

The woman seemed to have swallowed half the damn lake.

How long had she been in the water?

“It’s okay, Sam, you’re safe now, you’re—”

“No!” An ear-splitting shriek of terror. “L-let… me die! L-let… m-me…” Shaking, shuddering, Sam struck out with her fists and feet.

Her elbow slammed into Monica’s chest.

She punched Kenton in the face.