Devour (Unbreakable Bonds 4)

“You haven’t lived here long, have you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Kentucky is full of caves. The Mammoth Cave is the biggest and most well-known one, but there’s Lost River Cave, Carter Caves, and Outlaw Cave.” His grin faded a little as he stared at the fake doe with head bent to eat some fake grass. “Mel and Rowe used to go caving or spelunking during the summer. She always made it sound like a lot of fun, but I guess I always worried about getting lost down in the darkness, never finding my way out again.” Ian gave his head a little shake to push away those grim thoughts. “But caves are a big part of the area.”

“I wonder if Jagger ever used caves for any of his smuggling activities.”

There was a soft metallic click behind them and Hollis’s hand tightened around his.

“Actually, it’s a horrible idea,” a low, dark voice rumbled.

Ian gasped, every muscle in his body tensing. His heart jackhammered in his chest as both he and Hollis turned at the same time to find Jagger standing several feet away, a gun pointed at Ian’s chest.

“As Ian said, caves attract spelunkers, and it’s not much of a hiding place if you’ve got to constantly chase away weekend explorers.”

Jagger looked bad. Living on the run, consumed by his hatred and need for revenge had finally aged the man, so he’d lost some of his model-good looks. His face was haggard and pale with dark circles underlining his bloodshot eyes. Stains and wrinkles tarnished his clothes as if he’d been sleeping in them for the past couple of days.

Ian had no doubt that the man still had money hidden away somewhere. After sneaking out of his house and escaping the cops as they raided his compound, he could have easily slipped out of the country and started all over again.

“You could have gotten away,” Ian said, surprised at how calm his voice sounded to his own ears when it felt like his entire body was trembling. “You escaped the cops. You could have kept running and been in Thailand by now.”

The smirk twisting Jagger’s lips was ugly as he tore his gaze from Hollis to affix all the hatred burning in his dark eyes onto Ian. Everything in Ian screamed to back away, but he forced himself to lock his knees and stay still. It wasn’t like he had anywhere he could go. They were already standing near a wall, Jagger effectively catching them in a corner.

“I remember the day I got you. Something in my gut swore that you were a mistake. Everything said that I should just put a fucking bullet in your head and call it a goddamn day,” Jagger said, punching the gun forward a couple of times toward Ian as if to better make his point. The snarl in his features smoothed, and he grinned suddenly. “But I couldn’t. Didn’t want to. You were so damn pretty and so damn sweet. So fucking eager to please. You ate up every little compliment and encouragement. You made it easy.”

Hollis snarled like an enraged animal and started to step forward, but in the blink of an eye, Jagger jerked the gun over so it was pointed right at Hollis’s face. “Drop it, cop.” Hollis hesitated and Ian’s fingers tightened around Hollis’s. He didn’t doubt for a second that Jagger would pull the trigger. Hell, he was pretty damn sure nothing was going to stop Jagger from pulling the trigger, but they could at least buy a little time. Hollis had told Rowe that they’d be back to the party in fifteen minutes. And that was assuming that Rowe wasn’t already listening to their conversation…unless of course, something in this corridor was blocking their earpieces.

“Drop it and kick it away or I shoot your pet,” Jagger said, moving the gun back to Ian.

This time, Hollis dropped the gun onto the tile floor with a noisy clatter and kicked it away from them and Jagger.

The sadistic leer returned to Jagger’s lips and nausea churned in Ian’s stomach. “I kept you too long. You saw too much and even then, I knew I should’ve killed you, but then Vallois came in with his friends, offering money for used goods. Wanted you still after Gratton got his hands on you. I figured he’d fucked you up enough that you wouldn’t remember shit.”

“I remembered,” Ian said in a low, steady voice. “It took me a while, but I remembered everything you did to me. Everything your so-called friends did to me. But it doesn’t matter. After tonight, you’ll either be dead or in the hands of the police. You won’t hurt another kid again.”

Jagger laughed, shaking his head. “Is that what you think? I’m the one standing here with the gun.”

“You can kill us, but you won’t stop Snow and Rowe and Lucas. You—”