Trusting Danger (Danger, #2)(71)

Grayson resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Federal agent. I need a soil sample.”

“For what reason?”

“Trying to match it up to a suspect.”

King spread his feet a little further apart and casually hooked a thumb in his back pocket. “A suspect in what?”

“Kidnapping and murder.” Grayson tensed, keeping a close eye on the man’s hands. “Sound familiar?”

King’s eyes narrowed. “Are you trying to imply something?”

“Why are you here?” Grayson demanded.

The big man snorted. “Since you seem to know so much, maybe you should tell me.”

“My best guess is you’re hiding out. Who’re you working for, King? Nick Papadakos?”

A rustle came from the bushes and Grayson whipped his head around, wary of a potential attack from a second person. Too late, he realized it was a mistake to take his eyes off of King.

Electricity jolted him as a pair of sharp probes slammed into his chest, freezing every muscle in his body. Stunned, he tried to react but could only clench his teeth as pulses from King’s Taser paralyzed him with a rapid tick-tick-tick. When they finally stopped a million years later, his body folded and he dropped to the ground hard, gasping for breath.

“For a federal agent,” King said with a grunt, “you’re not too bright.”

Grayson cursed himself mentally as the large man picked up his gun and tucked it into his waistband, then tased him again for good measure. When that pulse ended and Grayson’s body went limp, King yanked out the probes and bent over to grab his wrists. Still incapacitated for a moment, Grayson couldn’t resist as he was dragged over rough ground and into the tent, and his wrists quickly bound with rope.

His heart raced while he did his best to think. He couldn’t fight the man, not tied up.

How long would it be before Eli checked on him? Given how scrambled Grayson’s brain was, it was hard to tell. Another couple of hours, at least; it would take Eli that long to get here once he realized Grayson was late calling in.

Grunting with the effort, King hefted Grayson onto a folding camp chair. More rope was wrapped around his chest and tied off.

Grayson scanned the tent, taking stock. Other than three canvas camp chairs and a lightweight aluminum table, there was no furniture. Several sleeping bags were rolled up and stacked against a canvas wall. A couple of duffel bags sat in a corner, one opened enough that Grayson could see it was filled with food. This had to be where they’d planned to hold Claire.

But who else is involved? Who’s calling the shots?

As King tied his ankles to the chair, Grayson ground out, “You’re under investigation.”

Ignoring his comment, King searched Grayson’s pockets and extracted his keys. Grayson clenched his jaw as the man took his wallet and phone as well.

Son of a bitch. How was he going to get out of this?





Chapter Sixty





En route to her parents’ mountain property, Claire fidgeted with worry in the backseat of Eli’s Explorer as she stared out the window at the passing scenery, only able to hear his side of the conversation with his admin, Joanne.

As Alex drove, he glanced at Claire in the rearview mirror. Keeping his voice low so as not to disturb Eli, he asked, “What’s the terrain like?”

“Steep and rocky.”

“And the tree cover?”

“Dense. It’s national forest all around there. Lots of trees.”

As they talked, Eli straightened in the front passenger seat at what Joanne was relaying. From the corner of her eye, Claire noticed as he exchanged a meaningful glance with Alex.

“That’s great news,” Eli said into the phone. “Have the team pick him up as a person of interest. That young man has some explaining to do. And expedite the checks on the other employees.”

He ended the call and avoided Claire’s curious gaze. “It looks like we’re still more than an hour out. Do you know of a shorter way?” he asked her.

Disappointed that Eli wasn’t sharing, she said, “No, I don’t.”

“How about if we get a helicopter out there?” Alex suggested. “Claire said the tree cover’s dense, but maybe they’ll still be able to spot something.”

Eli ran a palm over his shaved head. “Let’s see if the local authorities have been able to find anything. I called in a request for them to check things out before we left.”

He lifted his phone again, and once he was connected to the county sheriff, he asked, “Have your people seen anything suspicious?”

The sheriff’s reply sounded tinny on the speakerphone. “The deputy I sent couldn’t find anything that looked strange.”

“You only sent one person?”

“That’s all I had available.” The sheriff’s voice was harried as he said, “We have a wildfire down here. It’s taking a lot of our resources.”

Alex muttered a curse under his breath.

Eli’s voice turned grim. “Sheriff, we have a missing federal agent. We’re going to need you to re-task a helicopter.”





Chapter Sixty-One





In addition to a futile struggle with the ropes binding him, Grayson had spent the past couple of hours thinking of Claire. If he wanted any kind of shot with her, he’d need to find a way out of here.