“And she could be anywhere. We’re going back for the dogs.” He yanked out his phone, but of course, there was no cell service out here. Nothing.
Noelle’s light hit to the left. To the right.
“I can’t just leave her,” Noelle told him.
She was going to have to leave her.
“You stay, you die with her.” There was no way Thomas was going to let that happen on his watch. Even if he had to carry her out of there, Noelle was leaving the woods.
* * *
“I DON’T NEED you anymore.” He let the knife trail over Jenny’s skin. She was crying. Shaking. So useless to him. “You weren’t what I was hoping for.”
It had been because of Noelle. He’d gone a little...mad there for a moment. Forgotten all of his training. That wonderful training and control Lawrence had worked hard to give him over the years.
Lawrence had wanted to use him. He had. For so long.
But Lawrence had made a mistake.
They’re my kills. My choice.
The knife cut through the gag that covered
her mouth.
“P-please...” Jenny begged him. “Let...me go.”
“It doesn’t work like that.”
“I won’t tell anyone about you! Please!”
Ah, there she went. Making promises. But Jenny knew what he looked like. If she got to Noelle and the other agent, they’d want her to describe her abductor. They’d even sit her down with a sketch artist. Get her to come up with a composite of him.
Then his picture would be everywhere. The EOD would make sure of that.
I know all about the EOD, but they don’t know about me. They have no clue just who—what—I am.
Their mistake. They thought the Jack of Hearts was the greatest threat they had to face. They were wrong. It was time to show them the error of their ways. Time for him to get all of the respect he had coming.
They’d thought Jack was a serial killer?
Jack was nothing.
He stroked the back of his hand over her cheek. “I have plans for you.”
Jenny whimpered.
* * *
“I’M NOT LEAVING HER.” Noelle shook her head, sending snowflakes falling around her. “You go back to town. You find the sheriff and get the dogs out here—”
Thomas shoved his gun into his holster and let his flashlight’s attached cord loop around his wrist as he grabbed both of her shoulders. “You think I’ll just leave you out here to die alone? We’re partners!”
She knew that. “She could be me,” Noelle whispered as she stared up at his face. Her own light was hitting the ground, so she couldn’t see his expression. “I was alone. I was trapped. The only person with me was a dead man.”
His hold tightened on her.
“I was bound to a chair. If the cops hadn’t found me...” A tip. They’d gotten a tip, which no one had ever been able to trace. “I could’ve died in that cabin.” Starved to death, slowly. But Jenny wouldn’t have to worry about death by starvation. Not when it was so bitterly cold outside.