that needed filling. She just couldn’t think. Yeah, she loved Derrick. She wanted to believe that this was all subterfuge to protect Kristina, but it wasn’t Derrick’s face that she’d seen when she was with Jonas last night; it was Michael’s.
Still, she had to know. Vic glanced up at the clock: eleven a.m.
Chapter Thirty-six
The guide called up for a second time and still there was no answer. Even if Kristina had chickened out, the guide would have called before rappelling down and trekking toward them. Derrick glanced up at the man in front of him. He hated to do it, but he didn’t have a choice. Chances were the man wouldn’t even know what happened. Derrick just had to decide if he should choke him out or hit him. It wouldn’t take but a couple seconds for him to drop. The movies had it all wrong. If you knew what you were doing, a man would drop in less than three seconds.
He decided not to hit the innocent man; instead, as the guide stared up toward the higher platform, Derrick used his hand to compress his carotid arteries, hence causing cerebral ischemia and a temporary hypoxic condition in the brain. The guide dropped before he could even lift his hand to Derrick’s arm.
After lowering the man to the deck and strapping his carabiner onto the cable in the event he rolled over, Derrick grabbed his rappelling gear and hopped off the platform, hitting the ground and leaving a deep pit. He quickly covered his tracks and took off in the direction of the first platform.
As he ran, he attempted to listen to all surrounding sounds, but it was no use; there were too many tourists on the property. Every direction he turned, he heard skiers, hikers, and animals scurrying through the underbrush.
Keeping his focus, he remained within the trees so he could run. It only took him a few minutes, but he knew it’d be too late. He was faster than most creatus, but Kristina would be barely more than a backpack to the rogue, and he had the benefit of a head start and three different directions he could have taken. The only thing that Derrick could pray was that he was wrong. Nothing had happened; she’d just been terrified and rappelled down the tree instead. The other guide just hadn’t heard the transmission.
Stopping at the bottom of the platform, all his hope melted. There, lying at the bottom, his neck twisted in an unnatural position, was the other guide. Granted, the guide could have fallen, but this appeared to be the rogue’s M.O., when he wasn’t ripping their bodies to shreds to attract the family’s attention, that is.
He dropped to his knees and felt for a pulse. Nothing. Derrick held his breath and listened for anything. Any sound. His gaze dropped to the forest floor. Nothing.
As with Janelle, no tears fell. His heart ached, but he had no time for sorrow, only hatred filled his veins— and guilt. Just like Janelle. He’d failed to protect Kristina, just as he’d failed to protect her mother.
Moving on instinct, and because his mind wouldn’t allow him time to grieve, he jumped to the platform, grabbed the rappelling gear, ripped the harness as if it had broken, and dropped it over the platform. Then he darted back to the tree stand and watched as the other guide rappelled down the tree.
“What happened?” the guide called as he dropped a few feet at a time.
Derrick gave a noncommittal shrug. “I came down to find my wife, but I haven’t seen her. She must have walked back to the hotel. Probably furious with me for forcing her to go zip lining.”
The man shook his head. “I mean. How did you get down?”
“I rappelled down,” Derrick answered, as if it was the most obvious answer. Why would he have thought anything else? He dropped his gear and turned away. “I have to go find my wife.”
“Wait,” the man called. “I woke up on the deck. What happened?”
Derrick shrugged again. “You were fine when I saw you. Maybe you’re diabetic.” He trotted off before the man could ask any more questions, charging his way through the woods the moment he was out of view.
He’d left his phone in the room. He never left his phone, but he’d wanted the day to be about Kristina and him. Derrick struggled to keep his expression passive as he walked as swiftly as was humanly possible to his room, but instead of taking the elevator, he took the stairs, knowing few humans bothered. He paused only a second to listen for any sounds and then shot up to his floor.
As soon as he unlocked the door, he made a beeline for his phone. Four o’clock. Michael first, so he could track down the others. He hit “call” and then buzzed about the room, packing everything up. As much as he wanted just to run, leaving everything behind, he had to be sensible. He couldn’t give the authorities any more than they already had. Of course, who would possibly think that someone as small as Kristina could push the guide off the platform? No. They’d have to assume that the guide was in a hurry to rappel down and the harness broke. And, they couldn’t blame Derrick because he was with the other guide, who as he’d assumed, hit the deck so fast, he had no recollection of what had happened.
So, as always, he’d leave no trace. And his story would be that his wife was livid with him for making her go, and he couldn’t find her afterward, so he’d hiked back to find her.
The call to Michael went directly to voicemail, so Derrick systematically dialed all his top suspects. When none of them answered, he made his way to the Navigator. As soon as he was inside, he called the only other person on earth who would understand his pain—his mother.
Tears stung his eyes the moment she answered.
“Derrick?” she screeched his name in panic after he hadn’t answered the first three times because he couldn’t find his voice.
“He got her, Mom,” he choked out. “And I don’t know where to start looking.”
Sabrina screamed his father’s name, and Derrick had to extend the phone away from his ear. After all these years, she still forgot. He switched the call to the hands-free SYNC and peeled out of the parking lot. His only hope would be that the rogue wanted Kristina alive, wanted Derrick to somehow witness her death. And wouldn’t he know if she were already dead? If the rogue had wanted her dead, wouldn’t he have left her on the ground for Derrick to find her?
Yes, he knew she was alive. She had to be alive. He would find Kristina; and, man or woman, friend or foe, he would tear the culprit apart with his bare hands if he so much as put a scratch on her. He was finished with being nice.
“Derrick?” his father’s deep voice filled the line. “Dear God, you mother is ready to have a heart attack. What’s going on?”
Derrick relayed the story as he sped across the highway about ninety, not concerned with getting a ticket. Not that he would stop, even though he did have a get-out-of-jail-free card as a doctor. A state trooper would more than likely just chase him at ninety. Any more though, and he’d have a roadblock waiting for him, and that definitely would waste time. He’d do better to run, but then how would he explain his vehicle left at the hotel.
His father listened intently without interrupting and then Derrick relayed his greatest concern. “Dad, I’ve been trying to reach Michael, Vic, Jonas, and Ry, and I can’t find any of them. Will you get on the horn and track them down. I’m going straight to my apartment, as the house would be backtracking, and I have a suspicion that this
Chapter Thirty-seven
Every time Kris stirred, a quick whiff of the rag and she was out again. But that would only work for so long. Too much would cause cardiac arrest, especially with her history of drug abuse and just detoxing. And Kristina couldn’t die. Not yet.
Derrick needed to watch her die, needed to know that nothing he did would save her. And Derrick needed to
