leaned in, a major violation of her personal space. So close she could smell wedding cake on his breath. “I’m going to the drop site with you. Close your mouth,” he added when she opened it. “Because arguing won’t help. You’re taking me to those kidnappers so I can find out why they want the photo. And why they took Bennie.”
Sawyer fired off a text message. Probably requesting backup that could make this mess a thousand times worse.
“I could stop the truck and refuse to go there,” she lied.
And the flat look Sawyer gave her with those blistering blue eyes let her know that he, too, knew she was lying.
“Where’s this place?” He sounded like the tough FBI agent that he was.
“Just off Miller’s Road.” She checked the time on the dash clock. “And I have less than ten minutes to get there.”
“Where on Miller’s Road?” Sawyer didn’t address that time was ticking away, either.
“It’s an abandoned building.” Now she was the one to get in his face. For a brief glare, anyway. “Don’t you dare make me regret telling you.”
“Abandoned,” he repeated. “The Tumbleweed? It used to be a bar.”
She nodded. The sign had been rusted and battered, but the name was still partially visible. “You know the place?”
“Yeah.” And that one word held a lot of emotion. Or something. “I was raised in Silver Creek. The Tumbleweed used to belong to my grandfather.”
Oh, mercy. Cassidy doubted that was a coincidence. “So, what does Bennie’s kidnapping have to do with you?”
Sawyer lifted his shoulder. “Like I said, that’s what I intend to find out. Take that next left.”
“That’s not Miller’s Road.”
“I know. And that’s why we’re taking it. Turn!” he growled.
It was the second time in the past few moments that she’d hoped she didn’t regret this, but Cassidy took the turn. It wasn’t a road but an old ranch trail with thick underbrush on both sides. Not exactly a good driving surface with the rain, and the first pothole she hit made the truck bounce, and their heads struck the ceiling.
“Slow down and stop up there,” Sawyer instructed, and he pointed to a pile of limestone boulders.
Again, she did as he said, but the moment she stopped, Cassidy took hold of his jacket and forced eye contact. “I know you think Bennie doesn’t deserve to live, but swear to me that you won’t do anything to make this worse.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’m an FBI agent, sworn to uphold the law. That includes upholding it for people who don’t deserve it. Like your brother. Now, kill the engine and wait here.”
As if she would take that order as gospel, which she did, Sawyer stepped from the truck, his gun ready, and he climbed to the top of the boulders.
Cassidy couldn’t be sure, but she thought that Miller’s Road might be just on the other side. She’d been so frantic when she’d driven out of there earlier with the baby, that the only thing she had paid attention to was the GPS that the kidnappers had programmed with the directions to the Ryland family’s Silver Creek ranch.
What the two men hadn’t told her was there would be a wedding reception going on and that she’d have to get that photo with dozens of witnesses milling around. But certainly the kidnappers must have known because they’d told her that’s where she would find Sawyer.
So, why take the photo there?
Too many things about this didn’t make sense, and that was yet more reason to get Bennie away from these men.
“I have less than five minutes now,” she reminded him in a whisper.
Sawyer didn’t respond to that, fired off another text, and then without warning, he scrambled over the rocks, out of sight. That got Cassidy moving from the truck, and she hurried to the boulders to see where he’d gone.
She didn’t have to look far.
He was there, just on the other side, crouched down by yet another heap of boulders. Beyond that was the road.
Then, the Tumbleweed bar about fifty yards away.
It wasn’t much of a place. Rust-streaked tin roof. Weathered clapboards. Eye-socket windows with vines coiling in and out of them. What was left of the neon sign was connected by a single electrical wire, and it creaked back and forth with each gust of wind.
Sawyer gave her a stare down even though he was looking up at her. “Think hard. Do you remember me telling you to wait in the truck?” He didn’t give her a chance to respond. “Because that’s exactly what you’re going to do. My cousin Grayson will be here soon to watch you.”
She huffed. “I don’t want a babysitter. I want to help.”
“And you’ll do that by waiting here.” He tipped his head to the building. “No vehicles. Were there any when you left?”
“No. They brought me here in the truck. They already had Bennie tied up inside.”
It hurt just to think of seeing him that way. To see the terror on his face. To know that he’d seen the same on hers. She was the big sister. Had always taken care of him just as she’d promised.
This time, she’d failed.
Sawyer started to move but then stopped and caught her gaze. “If you follow me, it could get all of us killed. Nod so I know you understand.”
Her stomach twisted, the acid rising to her throat. But she nodded. “Please, hurry,” she begged. “Save him.”
Sawyer scowled as if insulted that she had to ask, and he put his hand on the top of the boulders to lever himself up. However, he didn’t make it an inch before they heard the sound. A sound that Cassidy definitely didn’t want to hear.
A bloodcurdling scream.
Chapter Three
Sawyer had to take hold of Cassidy to keep her from bolting toward the building. He had to fight his own instincts, too, because that scream was the sound of someone terrified.
Maybe even dying.
“We have to help him,” Cassidy insisted.
And there was another scream. Like the first one, it didn’t sound like a man’s, either.
“Who else was in that building?” Sawyer demanded, and because she was still in fight mode, he had to snap her to him so that her face was just a few inches from his.
Cassidy was breathing through her mouth now, her chest pumping, and she shook her head. “No one that I saw.”
The third scream got to him. Since Grayson wasn’t there yet and because he knew for a fact that Cassidy wouldn’t stay put, Sawyer shoved her behind him. “If
