Danni Rose (The Sherwood)

**

Walker finished with the estate lawyer filing all the paper work that needed to be filed. His mother had put the house in his name too, so it wouldn’t have to go to probate, so he wouldn’t have to pay taxes on it when she passed.

As he walked across the parking lot, to Danni’s truck he was ready to put this behind him when a sheriff’s deputy approached him.

“Walker Wild?” He asked.

“That’s me,” he replied. The unease and fear of his past filled him.

“Could you come with me?” He asked.

“What did I do?” Walker asked.

“Nothing. I just need you to come with me.”

Danni was the first thing that went through his head. “Is my fiancé, Danni all right.”

“Hawk Simpson asked us to pick you up here and bring you to Sherwood.”

“Danni,” he repeated her name as he followed the deputy to his car. The man opened his passenger door.

“He also requested that we not put you in the back. Never had that request before. Against policy but I agreed as a favor to Hawk.”

Walker nodded and climbed inside the cruiser. He stared out the window as the deputy drove from Georgetown back to Sherwood. He knew where he was going when he headed towards Hal’s garage. Walker ran his fingers through his hair. His heart pounded in his chest. No sooner had he stopped Walker was out of the vehicle.

Matt’s truck was here. Simon’s car was parked next to it. Hawk’s police car plus a few other vehicles from the Sherwood police force. Everyone was standing in front.

“Where is she?” He shouted. “What did Jesse do to her?”

Matt met him. Face to face. Brother to brother. Matt was like his kin. They had gone through so much together in life. Now this.

“Jesse took her,” Matt told him.

He couldn’t breathe. His lungs constricted. He gripped Matt’s biceps to hold himself up. “No,” he cried. Then his knees buckled, and he dropped to the ground at Matt’s feet. He felt his dreams of a happy life slipping through his fingers and he didn’t know what to do about it.

Matt dropped down beside him and clutched him to his chest. “I promise, we’ll get Danni back.”

He cried, “How Matt? We haven’t been able to find him. How are we going to find her?”

“Walker, we will,” Matt promised. “On your feet,” he insisted. “Hawk needs to talk to you.”

**

Danni didn’t know where Jesse had taken her, but it was hours before he opened the trunk and let her out. It was dark, and she knew that Walker had to be terrified right now, not knowing what had happened to her.

He lifted Danni out of the trunk and removed the gag then cut the zip tie that had held her hands together for hours. “Jesse you, crazy bastard.” She slapped him in the chest. “What were you thinking?” She lost her balance and almost fell back into the trunk of the car. Jesse caught her.

“I need to talk to you,” he pleaded with her. Danni could see the nerves dancing in his eyes. The way they made his eye twitch. His hands were trembling and sweat soaked the underarms of his tattered t-shirt.

Jesse bent at her feet and cut the ties. Before he could stand she slapped at his head. “Dammit, Danni, stop hitting me.”

“Walker has to be terrified,” she snapped at him.

“I’ll call him and let you talk to him, but I need to talk to you first.”

She looked around and realized they were miles from home in the hills, near Logan. “Where are we?” She asked him.

“My grandfather’s cabin,” Jesse explained.