Unfair Advantage

CHAPTER THIRTY





Dan swiped at the water on her face. Tears and rain filled her eyes, dripped from her jaw. She didn’t bother with stealth. He expected her. She halted in the doorway of her bedroom. Her eyes darted to Buddy, tied to her nightstand, one front leg badly broken. His cries quieted some as their eyes met. She turned to the man sitting on her bed.



Photos didn’t do him justice. He possessed a masculine beauty that seemed

inhumanly perfect.



“I admit,” he began in a midnight dark voice, “I wasn’t entirely convinced

you’d take the bait.” He held a hand gun casually, resting it upon his thigh. “I mean, I’ve watched you with the animal, knew you loved him. But, I also knew there was a strong chance you’d revert to you’re old habits and look out for number one.”



“You’ve watched me?” The part of her brain still able to move and process

information realized he’d also done some research on her.



“You and that detective put on quite a show.” His beautiful jade

green eyes regarded her, keen, intelligent, soulless. “I’m qualified to tell you, people would pay a great deal to see it.” His gaze dipped, made her feel naked and violated. “He’s an impressive specimen. Big. All over. Powerful. You’ve got an intriguing elegant quality and you are very uninhibited.”



Dani thought she might throw up. A deep breath helped. “Obviously you

want something from me.”



He stood. Fear crashed through her in powerful surges. He moved with a

peculiar grace. Predatory. Controlled. “I liked the idea of testing myself. Most people are stupid. Clueless. Right now the authorities are acting upon the incorrect information I wished them to salvage from my hard drive.”



Buddy ceased his pathetic cries, growled. Dani knew she had to get this

psychotic bastard away from her dog so she could take action. Her mind churned.



“I’ve traveled, dined out, ordered in,” he continued. “No one has

recognized me from the aired photo.” He tilted his head a fraction. “Yet you plucked me from thin air.”



Dani held her ground as he came closer. She could smell him. A mix of

clean male skin and subtle expensive cologne. It struck a cord. She remembered smelling it before. At the dump scene where she’d channeled a victim’s spirit.



A truly cruel trick of nature placed so beautiful an exterior over so

hideous a monster.She decided her best bet was initiative. “So you decided to make certain I couldn’t do it again.”



He gestured toward her slightly with the gun. “Precisely what I meant.

You’re different.”



Terrified, unprepared, she opened herself to him. The vibrations

of detached, unspeakable violence struck in a physical blow. Dani forced herself not to flinch, give any indication. Thankfully the wetness of her face should conceal stray tears. She schooled her features. “You want me to see. You want some one to share what’s inside you.”



His princely features tensed, though his tone gave nothing away. “I was

right about you.”



“I can’t risk your hurting my dog again.” She hoped honesty worked. “We

have to strike a bargain.”



“You won’t live to see him, Danielle.”



The emotionless tone sent a tremor of fear through her chest. “If you want me to accommodate you, we have to deal.”



“You’re laboring a point that would prove mute if you didn’t have some

plan to make it otherwise.”



Hot fortifying anger swept her. “If you believed I was different, then you

allowed for my not going quietly.”



“True.” Pleasure laced his voice. “Although I suspect you might have an

advantage I wouldn’t care to elevate by making the dog safe.”



“You have a gun. I’d say that was more than an advantage.” The surrealism of the situation caused an eerie disconnection from her body’s adrenaline-fueled response. “Let me bind his leg. We walk out of this cabin into the woods, then you get what you want.”



“I’ll get the battery-powered lantern from under the kitchen sink.”



Dani directed her attention to Buddy. She used an elastic bandage to wrap

his leg. He winced, made not a sound as she bound his injury. An idea had begun to form. Grabbing the pen from the phone side caddy, she swiftly wrote 12 on the bandage. She looked at him. His mismatched eyes locked with hers. She kissed his head, stood and went to risk everything.







Roarke saw the blue lights of a trooper in his rear view. He pulled over,

rolled down the window and held out his shield. As the other officer approached,

Roarke dropped his badge, quoted precinct and city, “Call it in. Follow me.”



He fishtailed onto the pavement, shoved in the clutch and kicked the truck

into second.









Brand found himself savoring the moments waiting for her to emerge from

the bedroom. He enjoyed it as one might the anticipation of viewing a one-of-a-kind piece of art. In all the world, there was no one who could step into his private realm. The kingdom he’d created from the weakness of his inferiors.



When she walked down the hall he found his thoughts taking a more carnal turn. Watching her with that detective had planted some ideas in the back of his mind.



She lowered her gaze to the lantern he held. “You’ve come in here before. Enough to know your way around. Find the lantern.”



He nodded. “And, I’m reconsidering the idea of leaving here to go out in

the rain.”



She stopped, just out of reach. “You must have driven here.”



“Yes.”



“There’s one more cabin beyond me and it’s empty this time of year. Twelve

Lake Road.”



He studied her. “If it isn’t, I’ll kill them and then have my time with you.”







Dani sat in the passenger seat of the rented sedan. He’d locked the doors

and windows with a child safety switch on the driver’s side control panel. The

two mile ride passed with painful slowness.



Rain beat against the windshield, created a subtle roar like hearing a

waterfall from a distance. The temperature outside had dropped to about forty.



Already wet and chilled, she shivered. Almost in disbelief she watched him turn on the heat and adjust the vents. Only the most evil brute could do the things he did, operate like an attentive escort while planning murder and God knew what. It germinated a terrible fury in her belly.



“I saw Michael Allen’s body,” she said.



“Who’s?” Almost polite interest, as if it had nothing to do with him.



“Michael,” she repeated with emphasis, “Allen. Number six.”



“Actually,” he amended conversationally, “if you want to be numerically

accurate, that would make him number fourteen. So many street and latchkey kids have uninvolved or absent parents, you’d be amazed how easy it is to make a kid just disappear.”



Before she could stop herself, Dani asked, “What could you possibly find

exciting about torturing and raping children?”



“Nothing.” He turned the windshield wipers up a notch, slowed the car.

“Is that the driveway?”



Feeling almost ill, she whispered, “Yes.”



He parked beside the dark cabin, shut off the ignition. Taking the lantern, he got out, used the keys to open her door. She considered bolting right then. Instinct warned her to wait for a better, less expected moment.



He didn’t touch her as they walked from the gravel parking area to the

cabin. The rain whipped in sheets. Drenched them both. He picked the lock on the front door with one hand, stepped in holding the camping lantern high with the other.



She flicked her gaze over him, saw the gun tucked into the waist of his

black jeans. Something else, too. Maybe a knife in a black sheath at the base of his back.



Entering the cold damp cabin, she paused to look around. Laid out

almost identically to hers, the cabin was familiar ground.



Unfortunately, for them both.



Dani knew at some point she would have to touch him. Her biggest concern

hinged upon her reaction, her ability to deal with to it. His size and strength. If he grabbed her, she probably wouldn’t get free. First of all because of his superior physical capabilities. Second because she might faint from the shock of having all that horror pumped into her like venom.



For a split second, she raged at the turns of fate that placed her in this moment. Then she decided to turn her fury towards her abductor and this situation into a weapon. Maybe she could deflect the input.



Sounded nuts.



So did speaking to dead people.



Gathering her fury like a protective cloak, she resolved to make offense her defense.



Dani made her move.