girls he'd victimized and imagined all the times he'd made promises to them, promising not to hurt them, promising never to do it again. He hadn't kept his promises. Why should I?
I walked away and left Victor Olson to bleed to death in the forest.
Confrontation
I stopped at a gas station and called Stohehaven. The first two times, the machine picked up. On the third round, Nick answered. He was half asleep and I had to repeat myself twice before he clued in that I wasn't somewhere in the house. No one had noticed my disappearing act yet. I gave him instructions and had him write them down then read them back to me. By then, he had finally realized what I was saying and what I planned to do. I hung up when he started yelling.
Ten minutes later, I was knocking on the front door of the mutts' hideaway. It was a rundown cottage set so far back in the woods that no light penetrated the canopy of trees. As I stood on the front step, I listened for the rustle of the wind or the chirping of crickets, but heard nothing. The silence and the dark were complete.
Several minutes passed without a response. I knocked again. More minutes ticked by, but I didn't doubt Olson's directions. This was the right place. I could feel Clay here.
I pounded on the door. Finally the barest shimmer of light shone from between heavy front drapes. Footsteps sounded on a wooden plank floor. I looked down at the door handle and saw it was broken. Above it was a hole and fresh splinters where a dead bolt had been. Did I really expect the mutts to buy or rent a cottage when they could break into one? How stupid I'd been. How much time I'd wasted.
The door opened. I glanced up. It took a second to recognize the man standing there was Karl Marsten, partly because of the dim lighting and partly because of his attire. He wore only pajama bottoms, his bare chest showing muscles and battle scars normally hidden by expensive shirts. He squinted and blinked at me, then swore under his breath and quickstepped out the door, closing it behind him.
'What the hell are you doing here?' he said in a whispery growl.
I looked around him at the closed door. 'Afraid I'll wake up your wife?'
'My-?' He glanced over his shoulder at the door, then turned back to me, his scowl smoothed over, studied nonchalance firmly back in place. 'I'm sure this is a wonderful plan, Elena, but I really must advise against it. If you go in there, you'll leave in chains or a body bag. Neither would suit you.'
'So you came out here to warn me? Wow, chivalry isn't dead after all.'
'You know me better than that. I see an opportunity, I take advantage of it.'
'So you'll let me leave in return for…?'
'What I came for.' His eyes glittered, something hard piercing the sangfroid. 'Territory. Promise me that and I'll let you go. I'll leave, too. One less 'mutt' for the Pack to worry about.'
'To hell with the others?'
'Daniel would do the same to me. I didn't hear my name being bandied about in that deal he offered you at the coffee shop.'
I shook my head. 'It doesn't matter. I'm not leaving.'
I reached around him for the door handle. Marsten grabbed my wrist, squeezing hard enough to bruise.
'Don't be stupid, Elena. You're not getting him out that way.'
'What way?' Daniel's voice was smooth and cool as he swung open the door. He met Marsten's eyes. 'What way, Karl?'
'Sleeping soundly enough, Danny-boy? Christ, the whole Pack could be howling on your doorstep before you woke up.' Marsten threw Daniel a contemptuous look and pushed me into the cabin. 'It's an ambush, you moron. Elena wouldn't show up alone. Get your flunky out there searching the woods. Make himself useful for once.'
I don't know if Daniel argued. I was too busy picking myself up off the floor after a shove from Marsten that sent me flying across the room. Before I could recover, Marsten had a knee on my back and had pinned me to the floor. I expected to be tied up. I wasn't. Maybe Marsten didn't think I posed enough of a threat. Moments later, footsteps sounded behind me. I smelled LeBlanc join Daniel and Marsten.
'Olson's gone,' Daniel said.
'Gone for good, I would assume,' Marsten said. 'How else did you think she found us? It's a great loss for the cause, though. One never knows when a kiddie raper would come in handy.'
'He had other-' Daniel began, then snapped his mouth shut. 'Thomas, outside. Look for the others.'
The front door slammed behind LeBlanc.
'That's one loyal pup you've got there,' I said, lifting my mouth from the floor. 'You know he tried to kill me at the airport. Before I left for Toronto.'
A moment of silence. Then Daniel laughed. 'Nice try, Elle. Sowing dissension?'
'Doesn't seem like I need to.'
'Now, now, Elena,' Marsten said, knee pressing me further into the floor. 'As much as we all admire that tongue of yours, this is not the time to use it.'
'Don't forget who's downstairs,' Daniel said. 'You're in no position to defend him now.'
I shut my mouth and calculated how long it would take Jeremy, Antonio, and Nick to arrive. At least fifteen minutes to wake up, dress, and get into the car, another thirty to drive here. When LeBlanc came in after ten minutes, I knew he hadn't found anyone. The others wouldn't have arrived yet.
'No one out there,' he said, knocking dirt off his boots.
'Take the car,' Daniel said. 'Drive around and make sure. Look for a vehicle by the side of the road. They would have driven.'
For a moment, LeBlanc didn't move. I thought he was going to tell Daniel where to stuff it. Instead, he grabbed a ring of keys and tramped out the door. This time he was gone at least twenty minutes, during which neither Daniel nor Marsten said a word. When LeBlanc finally returned, I managed to turn my head to the side and saw him grinning.
'What?' Daniel said.
'Oh, you're gonna love this. The cavalry has been detained.' He turned his shark's grin on me. 'They're on Pinecrest, just off the highway, enjoying the hospitality of the local P.D. Cops nailed them. Don't know what for, but they're taking the car apart bolt by bolt. What do you think of that?'
'I think it's bullshit,' I said.
His grin broadened. 'Green Ford Explorer? Three guys? All dark-haired. Two over six foot, thin? Oldest shorter than me, quarterback shoulders? When I drove by, the young guy was trying to slip into the woods. Cops grabbed him and had him spread-eagled when I circled back.'
'Bullshit,' I said.
LeBlanc laughed. 'Not quite the same air of certainty that time.'
'Enough,' Marsten said, yanking me to my feet. 'They won't be detained forever.' He jerked my wrists behind my back and clamped one hand around them. 'Tommy, bring our other guest upstairs. Time to move.'
LeBlanc turned to stare at him. 'Move? This is what you guys wanted, isn't it? To take down this 'pack'? We've got two here. The last three on the way. Three against three and we've already been forewarned. We have the upper hand.'
'Bring Clayton upstairs,' Daniel said.
'What the fuck?' LeBlanc looked from Marsten to Daniel. 'This is it. Showdown at the OK Corral. Killing time. Don't tell me you guys don't have the balls-'
'We have more brains than balls,' Marsten said. 'That's why we're still alive. Now get Clayton. We have him and we have Elena. That guarantees you'll get your fight soon, with odds of our making, not theirs.'
LeBlanc shot a glare of pure contempt at Marsten, marched into a side hall, and vanished.
I gritted my teeth and focused on my plan. Were the others really detained by the cops? I didn't believe it. I couldn't. But I'd seen the police presence out here. If they'd come roaring down the highway, driving the very
