Chilled (Bone Secrets, #2)(67)

Darrin had nearly cried with relief when he did return. And had nearly dumped out every hidden body location on the table between them. Control. He’d had to exercise control. He’d spend hours thinking about how best to string Alex along. What words and phrases he needed to use to push those emotional buttons.

“Looks like I’ve got your attention now, A-man.”

Anger had flashed in Alex’s eyes as he avoided Darrin’s gaze. He’d crossed an ankle over his knee. “Don’t call me that,” he’d muttered.

They’d both known Alex had just made a mistake.

One of the unwritten rules of this game had been that Alex didn’t lose his temper or verbally react when Darrin prodded him. Darrin had licked his finger and made a score mark in the air.

Alex had shot out of his chair and slapped one hand on the handle of the door as he pounded for the guard to let him out.

Darrin had jumped to his feet. He’d f*cked up.

“Alex. Don’t…Fuck! I didn’t…I’ll tell you where Olivia is.” Darrin had breathed hard. Alex had been one step away from leaving the room, and Darrin knew he wouldn’t come back again for months.

Alex had spun around and nailed him with a direct stare. “Now. Say it now or I’m out of here.”

Darrin’s throat had tightened and he’d scratched at his neck. “Well—”

“Say it now!”

He’d swallowed. “I’m not really sure—”

“Fuck this. I’m out of here.” Alex had turned back to the door and pounded again.

“She’s in Forest Park. About twenty feet off one of the bike trails!” Darrin had screeched. Then he’d pressed his lips closed.

The guard had finally opened the door, one hand on his gun as he’d stared in surprise at the two men.

“Get me a map of Forest Park. Now,” Alex had snapped at the confused man. He’d turned back to Darrin. “You are going to show me exactly where. The first sign of shitting around or screwing with my head and I’m out of here.”

“Yes,” Darrin had whispered as he sat. His spine had slumped. He’d lost the battle.

The snowfall started up again. Darrin raised the binoculars to his eyes and rolled his injured shoulder, pleased with the low level of pain. And his head felt a million times better too. The body of the plane looked silent, and he wondered what was going on inside. Were the two men blabbing his written message to the others? Pride expanded his chest. He lowered the glasses, blew out a satisfied breath, and turned to go back to his excellent hiding place. He had to be ready when they decided to leave.

Alex scanned for footprints outside the plane. Thomas’s big tracks led upward and to the woods, with paw prints close by. Jim’s messier jogging prints followed. Alex started after them. His mind wouldn’t slow down.

Beautiful girl. Beautiful girl.

How many times had he heard Besand use those words? The most disgusting, dreamlike happiness would cover Besand’s face as he uttered the words. Like he was remembering squeezing the life out of them. Desecrating the beauty.

A profiler had told him Besand had the need to destroy beauty. The profiler couldn’t tell him why but had theorized it had something to do with the women in his life from when he was younger. Perhaps someone physically beautiful had emotionally scarred him somehow. Alex had dumped the theory with a laugh. What guy hadn’t been shot down by a gorgeous woman? With that logic the world would be crawling with serial killers.

The profiler had shaken her head at him. It wasn’t the act itself, she’d explained, it was the act in conjunction with the killer’s psychopathic thinking.

Alex made no excuses for Besand. Besand simply liked to kill.

And he had Brynn in his sights.

Alex jogged through the snow. He could hear voices far ahead. Jim must have caught up with Thomas. They were tough men. The three of them should be able to hold off one injured serial killer. Alex pursed his lips. Besand had a gun, but Alex knew he didn’t have much history handling weapons. That was a big strike against him. Three against one. Four if you counted Brynn, which he did. She was incredibly tough. Too bad Ryan was on his ass. He was a scrappy kid.

They should have no problem overpowering Besand.

Then why was his skin crawling?

Besand had a good hiding place and was obviously well enough to move back and forth to the cockpit. If he’d been a halfway decent shot he could take them out one at a time like a sniper.

He glanced back and measured the distance from the body of the plane to the closest big trees. Darrin would have to be an excellent shot. And Alex knew he wasn’t.

Kiana barked in the distance.

“Jim!” he called out the name before he could see the men. He didn’t want the cop drawing on him as he came on them in the woods. They were all a little trigger-happy at the thought of Besand creeping through the trees.

The two men were watching for him, Kiana beside Jim’s feet.

“Ryan isn’t going anywhere,” Alex said. “He can’t even stand up. His fever’s pretty high.”

“Shit. We were just talking about what to do if that was the case.” Jim twisted his lips.

“Brynn has Ryan’s gun. Announce yourself before you enter the plane.”

“Crap. She won’t use that thing. She hates guns.”