“That’s the fire I remember. Come now. Alone. I know you’re at the southwest corner of the park, correct?”
“How can you know that?”
“I have my resources. You have exactly two minutes to get here. You better start running now before someone gets hurt.”
The line went dead.
She jumped up and bolted off the playing field.
“What are you doing, Carrie?” Ethel shouted after her. “You’ll be disqualified.”
“Ethel, call 9-1-1,” she yelled back. “Jena’s house. Now.”
* * * *
Josh read the message on Matt’s device.
“Brock and Cooper connected the dots on Carrie’s list of churches,” Sean said. “They have the current alias he’s using. He met with Trollinger in Denver last week and has been in a hotel over in Money for the last few days.”
Money, Colorado, was less than a twenty-minute drive away. A primal desire to protect Carrie exploded inside Josh. “We’ve got to find her. Now.”
“Since we can’t drive because the streets are blocked off, let’s split up,” Matt said. “We’ll make more ground. Sean and I will take West Street. You two go down East.”
Sean was typing away on his device. “I’ve notified the rest of Shannon’s Elite to be on the lookout for Willie and Carrie. Hopefully he’s still in Money and not Destiny.”
“Let’s go.” Without another word, Jacob began running to town.
With adrenaline coursing through his veins, Josh ran beside him, praying they would find Carrie still playing paintball—safe.
* * * *
Carrie ran through the front door.
“We’re all in here, my darlin’.” Willie’s pleasant tone sickened her. He was a monster. “In the kitchen.”
She raced to the room where Janet had just cooked her breakfast this morning. It seemed like a lifetime ago. The first thing she saw was the dear woman lying on the floor, her body sprawled out on the tile, unmoving.
Willie stood by the sink with a horrific smile plastered across his face. He had a gun holstered to his side.
Running, then kneeling down beside Janet, she screamed, “What have you done to her, you bastard?” Her head was reeling and the smoke in her mind thickened, choking the very life out of her.
“I didn’t shoot her, Carrie. Just punched her in the face.”
She checked for Janet’s pulse and found it.
In a rage, she jumped up and bolted to him, pounding on his chest. “Where’s Kimmie?”
Willie slapped her across the face so hard she fell backward to the floor.
“You son of a bitch, where is she?”
Willie stood over her, smiling. “Kimmie is upstairs playing. You shouldn’t be so upset, Carrie. Everything will be just fine. I’ll get my money and you and I can leave this hellhole town.”
“I would never go anywhere with you.”
“Oh yes you will go, if you love that little girl.”
* * * *