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Chapter Thirty-One
Hunter
The barn was lined with stalls. Hunter started searching, hoping for some clue, some answers. In the first stall, he found nothing. Just the leftover bits of hay from whatever animal had once stayed there. In the second stall, the same thing. The third stall also had a metal bucket and a shallow layer of water that looked brown.
In the last stall, though, he found something much more valuable. A Kevlar vest. On the chest, in the spot he had shot Jeremy, was a tear in the fabric and an indentation with a bullet lodged in it.
This could only mean one thing, and he didn’t want to consider it. But he couldn’t face what was in front of him. Jeremy was alive. He had no idea where he might be or what he was doing at this moment. Did he have Vanessa and Opal?
He turned, ready to leave and continue on his search. Then he heard footsteps.
“Hey!” a voice called out.
Hunter turned to the side and saw another man in black walk out of a back room. He didn’t pause to think or ask questions. He raised his gun and aimed. At the last minute, he changed his mind. Instead of killing the guy, he moved his aim and shot his shoulder instead.
The bullet hit, sending a splatter of blood on the wood wall behind him. He slumped to the ground, moaning in pain. Hunter went over and kicked the man in the stomach.
“Where’s Vanessa?”
The man moaned and didn’t answer.
Hunter kicked him harder, and in the ribs this time. “This is how this is going to work. I ask the questions and you give me answers. If you cooperate, I might not shoot you in the head. Got it?”
The man tried to nod.
“I’ll ask again, where is Vanessa?”
“Don’t—know.”
Hunter slowly lowered his boot down on the man’s hand, allowing his full weight on it. He could feel the little bones moving and crunching as the man groaned. “Lying isn’t going to work for me, either. Shall we start with an easier question? Is Jeremy Beale alive?”
The man moved his head up and down.
Hunter looked at the man for a moment in horror. He hadn’t killed Jeremy. The thing he’d been dreading since he found the Kevlar vest was true. Whatever blood he had seen wasn’t from his bullet wound. Jeremy was still alive and walking around, and he most likely already had Vanessa and Opal.
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Hunter said. “Was Vanessa here in this barn?”
He nodded again.
“What about Opal? Was she in here as well?”
He nodded yes.
“Are they together now?”
Another nod.
That was better than them being apart. If they were together, it meant only finding one location and breaking into one place to rescue them. But it also meant that most likely, Jeremy had them both. There was no hope that Opal had run off into the woods alone and gotten away.
“Time for some real answers now,” Hunter said. “You up for that?”
The man didn’t answer. Hunter grabbed the collar of his shirt and hauled him up to a sitting position.
“There. Now you’re up for giving me some answers, aren’t you?”
He didn’t respond, but slumped to the side, blood trickling from his mouth.
“Does Jeremy have Vanessa and Opal?”
