Page 64 of Hot For You

A young barista with Dahlia on her nametag was at the cash register, and she looked up and smiled as Cody came in. Her smile faded into a look of concern when she saw his expression. “Can I help you?”

Cody went up to the counter. “Did you see a redheaded woman, about five-five, wearing jeans and a T-shirt?”

“Yes.” Dahlia didn’t hesitate. “She ordered coffee and a cheese Danish, but only took a bite out of the Danish and left her coffee behind when she left.”

His heart was pounding hard as he spoke. “Did you see where she went?”

“She left with some weird looking guy,” the barista said. “I would never have guessed that she’d be attracted to a man like him, but they walked out with his arm around her shoulders. She didn’t look happy. He did have a red mustache, though, so maybe they’re related.”

Cody tried to calm himself. “What did the man look like?”

Dahlia tilted her head to the side. “I’d say he’s around five-nine because he wasn’t much taller than me and I’m five-seven. He wore a funny felt hat and a tweed jacket with leather on the elbows, and a white T-shirt under that. I didn’t see his eyes.”

“Anything else you can think of?” he asked, his whole body vibrating. “Was he wearing a ring?”

“Yeah.” She screwed up her face, clearly thinking about it. “I noticed it because the stone was such a pretty blue. It looked like silver snakes or something around the stone.”

Cody’s blood had gone colder with ever word she spoke. “Did you see which way they went?”

“All I saw was them walking out the door to the left. So they either went to the elevators or out the back exit.” Dahlia was frowning. “Is something wrong?”

Cody’s body was as tight as piano wire. “How long ago did they leave?”

Dahlia thought about it a moment. “I’d say close to an hour.”

Cody bolted out of the coffee shop and headed toward the back exit, pulling his cell phone out of its holster as he ran. He pressed the speed dial number for Reese and held the phone up to his ear. “He’s got her,” he said as soon as Reese answered.

“What happened?” Reese asked in an urgent tone.

Cody explained all that he knew and gave the man’s description as he burst out the back exit into the warm sunlight. He hadn’t expected to see anyone, but he’d had to look.

“She left a tracking program running in the hotel room,” Cody said. “Maybe one of your computer guys can see if it managed to find the bastard.”

“Right away,” Reese said, his voice sounding grim. “I’m at the hospital but as soon as they get my fingers, what’s left of them, taken care of, I’ll be right there. In the meantime I’m sending my guys to the hotel and we’ll put out an APB.”

After Reese disconnected the call, Cody stood in the back parking lot and dragged his hand down his face. His whole body felt cold and his heart pounded a mile a minute. He turned and headed back into the hotel, back to his and Carilyn’s room to look for more clues while he waited for the police.

A sick feeling made his gut feel like it was weighted by a boulder. Firebug had taken Carilyn, the one woman he loved more than anything in this world.

So help him, when Cody got hold of the bastard, he was going to rip him apart. And if anything happened to Carilyn, Firebug was as good as dead.

* * *

Carilyn’s entire body felt numb as she slouched in the chair against the ropes. Had Cody or anyone else died from the explosion that Firebug had set off? She had no doubt that he had triggered a bomb, no doubt at all.

The rage he had shown, his inhuman screams, had scared her even more than she’d already been. When he’d punched in the phone number for the bomb, her own rage had magnified, but there had been nothing she could do about that but scream behind her gag.

The sound of her phone ringing in her pocket broke the silence and she listened to it helplessly. It had been ringing regularly ever since Firebug had left. She wondered if it were Cody. Prayed it was him, which meant he’d made it and hadn’t died in the explosion.

When the phone stopped ringing, she leaned back in the chair, doing her best to swallow the spit that pooled in her mouth behind the gag. Firebug had left through the front what seemed like hours ago. She’d heard the car starting, had heard the crunch of stone beneath tires, and then there was nothing once the sound of the motor had faded. She wondered what he was going to do. Torch the cabin with her in it?

With a shudder, she looked around the cabin yet again. It was a simple place with a great room that was living room, kitchen, and dining area. There were two doors leading from the room—four if you counted the front and rear doors. She assumed the other two led to a bedroom and a bathroom.

On the fireplace mantel was a picture of a large family as well as pictures of children and adults. She wondered if they were related to Firebug, or if he’d picked out a random spot to bring his victims to play with them, or had selected this spot in which to kill her.

In one corner she saw what looked like supplies someone might use to make bombs or something. She’d watched a show on TV where they used lots of C-4 to blow stuff up, and she guessed that’s what those clay-like blocks were. There were also wires, a couple of cell phones, and tools, including a pair of pliers, and two duffel bags.

She tried to wriggle in the ropes yet again, hoping for some kind of give, but he had bound her far too tightly. He’d also left the zip ties on her wrists and ankles, and she knew there was no way she’d get out of those. Still she’d squirmed and wriggled, chafing her wrists. Somehow she’d have to convince him to take them off and she was willing to bet there was no chance in hell that he was going to do that.

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