Search Me (8 page)

“No! Leave now."

Maddox made a strangled noise in his throat. When I glanced up, tears shone in his eyes. “We won’t leave you to die,” he argued in a strained voice.

Her breaths started coming in raspy pants. “Get the map. It’s in the safe. The one behind the bedroom painting.” I nodded, and she drew in a ragged breath.
“The combination…the commission date on the back… of the painting. Inside are the map and my will." She glanced up at Maddox and grabbed his arm, her eyes filled with desperation. "Don’t let anything happen to Lane. Protect her with your life. Promise me."

He bent down beside me, taking Maudie’s hand in his. His jaw clenched and unclenched, and I could tell he was fighting to keep from truly losing it. As for me, the tears streamed freely down my cheeks. “I promise I will,” he said.

“Keep yourself safe, too. And your sister.” She tenderly stroked Maddox’s cheek. “I love you with all my heart, sweet boy. You are my son.” She then gave us a weak smile. “I love both of you so much. Remember that…always.”

Maddox squeezed Maudie’s hand. “I love you, too.”

Sobs rolled through my chest so hard that I could barely murmur the words.

“Now go before they come back. Hurry!”

“No, I won’t leave you,” I protested.

Maddox’s Army training took charge, and he pulled me up off the floor. “Maudie told us to go, Lane, so come on.” Desperate not to leave, Maddox had to drag me out the door. “Stop it! We can’t do anything else for her. She wants us to get the hell out of here and get the map, so that’s what we’re going to do.” His fingers jerked my chin up to meet his intense gaze. “Got it?”

I nodded weakly while wiping my eyes and trying to clear my head. It obviously wasn’t fast enough. Maddox grabbed my purse strap wound around my shoulder and gave me a harsh tug. “Move!” he barked.

We then started running through the darkened store. Before we got to door that led outside, Jensen and his men huffed inside, and we had to duck behind some shelving.

“I’m telling you that I heard voices in here when I stopped to take a leak,” one of the guys said.

Jensen growled in frustration. “We should’ve split up. This place is big enough that someone could easily hide out.”

As they broke apart and started spreading throughout the store, Maddox motioned his head to the backdoor. We ran, hunched over, so that we could remain hidden. My heart was beating so loudly in my chest that I was sure Jensen and his thugs would be able to hear it. As I hurried ahead of Maddox, I plowed through the backdoor with such an adrenaline rush that I thought I would knock it off its hinges.

The door flew back, sending the metal bar careening into Maddox’s crotch. He gave an agonized groan before he could stop himself.

“What was that noise?” Jensen demanded.

“It came from the warehouse.”

“Dammit,” Maddox hissed. He closed the door behind us and pushed a crate in front of it.

In a whisper, I replied, “I’m so, so sorry about your…” When I realized that I would have to acknowledge his balls, I pinched my lips together.

“Whatever. Come on.” He grabbed my arm and dragged me to the far side of the warehouse. When we heard the door open again, we dropped down behind a tall stack of crates.

Maddox peeked around the side, trying to catch a glimpse of Jensen.

It seemed like only a second before a voice rang out, echoing off the metal walls and closing in around us. “All right, whoever’s there better come out right fucking now because the longer me and my men have to look for you, the angrier we’ll get. And trust me when I say, you do NOT want to make me angry.”

I held my breath, trying not to move a muscle. Fear like I had never known before reverberated through every fiber of my being. Next to me, Maddox crouched just as still. Even in that moment, I thanked my lucky stars he had shown back up. I couldn’t imagine having to face all of this alone.

“Now listen. I know somebody is out here. If you’re that hot, sweet thing from this afternoon, I definitely want to get my hands on you.”

Maddox tensed and edged himself closer to me—as if he were enacting a barrier between Jensen and me. His reaction made my already pounding heart beat a little faster as a wave of tenderness for him washed over me. I was brought out of my thoughts by the sound of crashing boxes. The only thing that separated us from Jensen, his thugs, and the same fate as Maudie were wall to wall crates of jams, jellies, and drinks.

It wasn’t a comforting thought.

Jensen’s voice rang out again. “All right, be as stubborn as that old bitch. There’s three of us and one of you, so we’ll turn over every crate and box until we find you.”

When I noticed Maddox eyeing the double doors leading to the parking lot, I asked, “Think we should try to outrun them?”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t have a silent alarm. The minute we go through it, everyone in a mile radius is going to know exactly where we are. So there’d be no way we could get up the hill to Maudie’s without them seeing us. We need a distraction until the cops get here, but give me a second to come up with a plan that’ll keep those assholes and their guns away.”

I wracked my brain with what could cut us off from Jensen and his men. Something that would buy us enough time to get the map from Maudie’s safe. My eyes honed in on the box in front of me. Two words stood out to me among all the ingredients.
Contents Flammable.

“Got a lighter?”

Maddox gave me a look like I’d completely and totally lost what was left of my mind. I rolled my eyes and jerked my head toward the box. When I could tell my plan had registered in his mind, I asked, “Too much of a distraction?”

He gave me an incredulous look before grinning. “No, actually I think it’s batshit crazy enough to work. I’m impressed with the wheels turning in that head of yours, Squirt,” I shot him a death glare before he peeked his head over the top of the crate. “Okay look. T
here’s a box of matches and some lighter fluid in the tool drawer. You start pouring some Mountain Brew while I go get them.”

I nodded.

“If Jensen or any other of those assclowns get close to you, don’t wait for me. You just start running like hell. Got it?”

“Okay,” I whispered.

Keeping as low to the ground as possible, Maddox maneuvered himself towards the middle of the warehouse where a rolling tool chest sat beside a forklift. Jensen and his men were pushing and shoving crates across from where Maddox was. As I reached into the box for some bottles of potent Mountain Brew, I silently thanked the packagers for not making it with a cork. I unscrewed the lids, and then started pouring a steady stream all around the box. I grabbed two more bottles from the boxes and positioned them towards the back door.

I started back for more bottles when I heard, “Stop!”

Freezing, I peeked around the side of the box. The shorter henchman pointed in Maddox’s direction. “Hey, there’s someone over there.”

The world slowed to a crawl as Jensen lifted his gun. In a flash, I hurled one of the empty bottles in my hand toward the far side of the warehouse. It crashed into the wall causing Jensen and his men to whirl around.

“Over there!” the henchman shouted. Jensen fired a round, and I threw another bottle. When they turned in the direction of the sound, I stepped out to throw again. But then Jensen jerked his head back and saw me.

“Well, well, look what we have boys. A pretty, armed assassin.”

I froze in fear as Jensen trained his gun on me. I couldn’t run, and I couldn’t scream for help because that would have given Maddox’s location away. Not to mention the fact we were out of town in the boonies meant it would take longer for the police to arrive.

Basically, I was utterly and completely screwed.

As Jensen and his men started towards me, Maddox shoved the tool chest with all his strength. It went careening straight for Jensen. It knocked him to the ground while his men scrambled.

Maddox raced up to me. He started squirting the lighter fluid over the crates of Mountain Brew. Then he tore out a wad of matches and struck them against the base of the book. A flame sputtered blue to red and then orange.

“When this goes up, start for the door,” he commanded before flinging separate matches onto the alcohol streams.

They sparked blue as they careened along the floor, gaining momentum. When the flame reached the box, it and the surrounding crates exploded into a fiery orange ball with curling black smoke. It took only a few seconds for the back of the warehouse to be engulfed. “Now!” Maddox shouted.

I shoved the backdoor open, causing the alarm to blare loudly. I didn’t have to glance behind me to see where Maddox was because he appeared at my side in an instant. Frantically, I scanned the parking lot. “Your Jeep?”

“I left it at Maudie’s and walked.” He gestured to the ridge in front of Maudie’s house rather than the gravel driveway. “This way.” Our feet slipped and slid through the mud from last night’s downpour. More than once, I lost my footing and fell face first into the grass. Each time, Maddox jerked me back up and kept us going.

Maudie’s house loomed in front of us. We pounded up the front porch steps. Digging into his pocket, Maddox fumbled for his keys. Once he unlocked the door, the house alarm started beeping until he entered the code. He turned back to me. “You get the map. I’m going to grab a little ammunition, and then I’ll have the Jeep waiting.”

I nodded and headed down the hall to Maudie’s bedroom. The moment I opened her door the scent of her perfume bombarded me. It hung so heavy around me that I felt like at any moment she would appear. Rising sobs burned in my throat, but I pushed myself forward to the antique dressing table across from me. Above it hung a painting of an Indian maiden wrapped in the arms of the warrior she loved.

I gave it a momentary glance before snatching it off the wall. I flipped it over to read the commission date. “10…17…49,” I murmured as I twirled the knob that reminded me of the dial on my locker, back and forth and past zero. I heard the catch and then the safe door swung open. I grabbed the map and then a thick blue envelope with the words
Fletcher & Smith Attorney’s at Law
. I was about to close it when a flicker of green caught my eye. It was stacks of hundred dollar bills. Not knowing what lay ahead for Maddox and me, I grabbed them as well.

With one last glance at Maudie’s room, I hurried out into the hallway. I stuffed everything into my purse that had miraculously stayed wrapped around my neck and shoulder. As I rounded the corner into the living room, I could hear Maddox revving up the Jeep’s engine in the garage. Rushing through the kitchen, the wail of police car and ambulance sirens filled my ears.

For the first time all evening, I felt a little hope.

I jogged out of the kitchen and into the garage. When I hopped in the jeep, Maddox asked, “You get the map?”

“Yeah, it’s in my purse.”

He then threw the gear into reverse, sending us flying backward into the driveway. Just as he spun the steering wheel around to straighten up the Jeep, we faced what could only be Jensen’s coal black Mercedes sedan.

“Oh, shit!” I cried. We didn’t face off for long before an arm came out of the passenger side window and pointed a gun at us.

“Duck!” Maddox ordered, and then we both doubled over as far as we could. My stomach muscles constricted in agony.

When the bullet pierced the windshield, it sounded like a canon going off all around us. I screamed, startled from the noise and shards of glass falling down on me. After a few breathless seconds, Maddox questioned, “You okay?”

I jerked my head up and gave myself a quick examination. No cuts or blood. “Yeah,” I squeaked.

“Hold on tight.” Maddox gunned the engine, sending us lunging forward past the Mercedes. My heartbeat accelerated along with the Jeep’s engine as one of Jensen’s men fired another two shots. Each crack of the gun caused my body to shudder. Thankfully, the bullets didn't make it through the Jeeps' metal frame. The tires squealed out of the driveway as we headed to the main road of the Lauren Valley Hideaway Subdivision. My chest clenched at the site of my house. I wanted nothing more than the safety of its familiar walls. But Maddox roared right on past it and decided to ditch the interstate for the heavily tree-lined, traffic-free backwoods roads.