The Immortal Hunter(42)

Dani closed her eyes with obvious relief, and he knew she'd feared there might be blood or something else to suggest Stephanie had been hurt. He was glad he could reassure her that much. Nothing else he had to say was likely to.

"Lucian showed up just as I was about to call Bastien," he continued. "He knew who the volunteers were and called them himself. They'd just finished searching the airport and were on the way back so we waited there for them."

"Volunteers?" she interrupted sharply before he could continue. "You mean enforcers, don't you?"

"No. I mean volunteers. Toronto is huge, and there weren't enough enforcers in the area to cover everywhere. Bastien called in volunteers to help in the search," he admitted tightly, thinking that if the men in the first two SUVs had been enforcers rather than volunteers, things would have gone much differently and they would no doubt have Stephanie there safe and sound right now. Unfortunately, that wasn't what had happened.

"What happened to Stephanie?" Dani asked impatiently when he remained silent.

Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair and recounted what they'd been told. "When the first SUV caught up to the stolen one it was already in the parking garage. They followed it, and then our second SUV showed up and they were able to force it to a halt. But when they rushed it, there was only Stephanie inside."

"What?" Dani gasped with amazement, and then shook her head. "No way, Stephanie just turned fifteen. She doesn't have a license. She hasn't even tried a practice run or know how to drive," she said firmly, and then sighed as she added, "I was going to take her out to the country to teach her this summer."

"She was driving, Dani," he said quietly, and then added, "He was probably controlling her."

"Oh," she said unhappily, and then frowned and asked, "How could they possibly lose her?"

Decker continued grimly, "When they asked her where her kidnapper was, she told them he'd ordered her to turn into the parking garage and keep driving around in circles and then jumped out as she slowed to turn in."

"And she did it?" Dani said with confusion. "Why didn't she immediately drive off to find help? Why-?"

"He could have been still controlling her, Dani," Decker said gently.

She swallowed and nodded. "Go on. What happened next?"

"The men were afraid the rogue was trying to get away by plane, so they told her to stay put, that they'd take her to her sister as soon as they got back, and then ran into the airport to hunt for him."

"They didn't just leave her there alone," she said with disbelief. "Volunteers or not, they couldn't have been that stupid."

Decker hesitated again. He'd rather hoped to avoid telling her this part, but finally he admitted, "Not alone, no. There was a security guard in the area. They brought him over, told him they were the police and that Stephanie was a kidnap victim and that they needed him to stay with her and keep her calm while they went after the kidnapper."

He paused and peered down at the sheet lying across his body, not at all surprised to see that the tent had fallen.

"And he believed them?" Dani asked with surprise. "They don't have badges, do they?"

"They don't need them," Decker pointed out.

"Oh, right. They used that mind-control business," she muttered with realization and then frowned. "Then where is she? What happened? He didn't just let her wander off, did he? She might be out there in shock somewhere-"

"He didn't exactly let her go," Decker interrupted, avoiding her eyes. This was the hardest part to tell her, but there was no hope for it. "When they came back out, and told us Stephanie and the guard should be there, we spread out to search the parking garage. We didn't find Stephanie."

"And the guard?"

"Dead," he said bluntly.

As he'd feared, Dani's eyes widened with horror and fear. "What-? How-? Did-?"

"His throat was slit," Decker answered before she could finish the question.

Dani sat back, her face paling sickly. "The rogue killed that poor man and took Stephanie."

"That's what we think," he said carefully.

"What do you mean think?" she asked coldly. "Of course he did. She wouldn't have gone with him willingly."

"No, probably not," he acknowledged. "But we don't understand why he bothered to take her with him when it would be easier for him to slip away on his own."

Dani frowned at his words and then looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "The one who has her watched her a lot."

"Watched her?" he asked curiously.

She nodded. "I noticed him watching Stephanie in the van, but at the clearing he was left to guard us and he couldn't seem to take his eyes off her. He just stood there, his expression really intense and locked on her like his life depended on it. It was creepy. I wanted to ..." Dani shook her head unhappily and waved that away. They were both silent for a moment and then she said, "So you're still chasing him?"

He nodded.

"But then why are we here?" she asked with a sudden burst of frustration. "We should be on the road following him."

Decker caught her arm as she started to get off the bed. "He didn't take the SUV."