Page 145 of Liar's Point

She turned, and Emmet was waving her over to a police unit on the corner.

She loped over to join him. He’d waited for her. She felt so grateful she wanted to kiss him.

He rounded the front of the car and opened the door. “Come on, we’re late.”

“Thanks for waiting.”

He shot her a look as she lowered herself inside. “Would you ever speak to me again if I hadn’t?”

He stashed her crutches in the back and then jogged around and got behind the wheel.

“So, what the hell happened?” she asked. “Where is everyone going?”

“The FBI pinged her cell phone.”

“And?”

“It bounced off a cell tower about forty miles north of here, just east of Highway 77.”

“She’s in a car with him.”

Emmet darted a glance at her as he whipped out of the parking lot. “Or her phone is in a car with him. She could be anywhere.”

“Let’s just hope she’s alive.”

***

The light was blinding.

Cassandra squinted into the sun as Malcom reached into the trunk.

“Let’s go,” he said, dragging her out by her bound arms. She stumbled against him as her feet hit the dirt. Then he wrenched her around.

She yelped with pain, but the sound was muffled against the duct tape. Where were they? He’d parked beside a corrugated metal wall topped with razor wire. Piles of old tires lined the base.

Cassandra looked around frantically. They seemed to be in the middle of a barren wasteland. The road nearby was made of dirt, not pavement, and there wasn’t a car or a building anywhere—just empty brown fields as far as she could see.

She darted a look at Malcom as he slammed the trunk. She made another sound—Where are we?—but it came out like a muted plea.

Ignoring her, he yanked open the back door of the car and dragged out a hard-sided case.

Cassandra’s stomach sank. She recognized the dull gray case instantly. Malcom pulled it to the patch of dirt in front of her and laid it on its side at her feet.

He crouched down and glanced at her. “You know what this is?”

She just watched him, heart racing, as he entered a passcode into a digital keypad. The case lid popped open with a quiet click that sent a rush of dread through her.

He glanced up at her, and a sinister smile spread slowly across his face.

Cassandra’s heart galloped. Her throat felt tight. She stared down into the icy blue eyes that she’d once thought were sexy, seductive, even loving.

But her husband wasn’t capable of love.

Well, he was. Self-love. It was the only kind he knew.

A gust whipped up, turning her clammy skin to ice, and she stifled a shudder. She couldn’t appear weak in front of him. That would only make it worse.

He reached into the case and pulled out a black drone. The quadcopter was surprisingly small, no bigger than a football, and he held it in the palm of his hand.

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