Weekly Freebie: Under the Magnolia (Chapter Six)

Adelaide has a secret: she can see the future. The visions are always unpleasant, until she catches a glimpse of herself engaged in the hottest sex imaginable with hunky police chief Wesley Saxon, a man she’s had a crush on for the past year.

Wes has been watching out for Addie for years, even if she did break his heart in high school. But when his attempt to rescue her from an oncoming hurricane leaves them stranded in the basement of an island resort, Wes will face a danger more terrifying than any criminal: falling in love with her again.

Previous Chapters: One, Two, Three, Four, Five

UNDER THE MAGNOLIA
Chapter Six

Wes blew into the station and immediately started firing off orders. “Howie, see if you can get me a GPS trace on Addie’s cell. Chris, call all of the teachers at the high school and see if anyone’s seen her.”

Chris stared at him, puzzled. “What’s the matter, Wes?”

“Addie hasn’t been home yet.” He yanked his cell phone out of his pocket and shoved it at Chris. “A lot of the numbers are in there.”

Jack came out of the back storeroom, a box of batteries in his arms. “I saw Addie this morning. Stu Carlin was giving her a ride, I guess.”

Cold fear warred with hot fury inside Wes. “My mother called and asked me to keep an eye out for him. Said he didn’t show up for work today.”

Howie rose and walked around the desk. “Okay. What would Stuart Carlin want with Addie?”

Chris gulped. “Well, there’s the obvious. She’s a good-looking woman, and Stu isn’t exactly a treasure to behold.”

That earned him a derisive snort from Jack. “Stuey Carlin may be a little creepy, but he’s not the type to go around raping women.”

Wes tamped down the urge to yell at all of them and held up a hand. “Then we have to think of other reasons.” He was loathe to reveal Addie’s secret, but he wasn’t about to let her die just to keep her confidence.

Jack snorted again. “He’s probably going to sell her to a trafficker. They run shipments of psychics in and out of private ports all up and down the coast.”

Wes froze and looked at each of the three men in turn. “And that possibility doesn’t surprise any of you?”

Howie shook his head and grabbed a notepad. “Hell, it’s the worst-kept secret in Carter’s Bay, Wes. Addie’s whole damn family is psychic. Everyone knows that.”

He’d have time later to mull over the implications of that, for himself and for Addie. For now… “Okay. Jack, get down to the Blue Lantern and find out if Stuart Carlin has been talking about taking a trip. Chris, I want you to go over to his place and look for notes, phone numbers, ticket stubs, anything like that.” The two men were already heading for the door when he turned to Howie. “And I need that GPS trace. But I also need you to call Bea and see if she can get me Carlin’s phone records.”

Howie was already shaking his head by the time Wes finished speaking. “No, no way. You need a court order, and you know it, Wes.”

“This is an emergency,” he insisted, shoving his hands in his pockets to keep from clenching them into fists. “And Carlin is a person of interest in an ongoing criminal investigation where time is of the essence—”

“And you’ll get fired, Wes.” Howie’s voice was stern, unyielding. “Look, Jack’s right. Stuey Carlin ain’t ever been the sharpest tool in the shed, but he isn’t going to hurt her. There are other ways to find—”

“He’s going to sell her, Howie.” Wes could barely hear his own voice for the blood rushing in his ears. “He’s going to take her down the coast and fucking sell her if we don’t head him off at the pass. Carlin may not be the type to hurt her, but can you say the same about whoever buys her?”

Howie paled at the urgent certainty of Wes’ words, and he stared up at him for a moment before shaking his head and reaching for the phone. “You’re the boss.”

The door to the station house opened a moment later. Wes’ mother walked in, holding up a hand. “Don’t give me that look. I tried to take her home, but she got right back in her truck and drove over here. I could barely keep up.”

He rushed out the door. “I know, Granny. Addie’s missing. I’m sorry as he–as heck.”

“Hush, boy.” Granny Gardner was nearly a foot shorter than her granddaughter, standing a few inches above five feet at best. There was no mistaking those eyes, though. Granny stared up at him with the exact look Addie always got when she was frustrated. “No time for that now. I know where we need to go.”

He stifled a groan. He didn’t doubt that the old woman’s words were true; he’d read more than one paper stating that psychic ability had a hereditary component, and there were Howie’s words to consider. But the last thing he needed right now was to be responsible for the safety of not one, but two Gardner women. “Granny, just tell me, and I’ll handle it, all right?”

The look she gave him could have flayed skin from flesh. “Are you going to waste time arguing with me, or are you going to get in the truck so we can go save your girl?”

Wes ducked his head back into the station house. “Forget the phone records, just get me that GPS trace on Addie’s cell. And keep me posted. Bye, Mama.”

Howie nodded, the phone still to his ear. “You got it, Chief.”

His mother, however, shot him a look. “Now, wait just a minute—”

He stepped in and laid his hands on her shoulders. “Mama, if you ever want to have grandbabies, Granny and I have got to go. I’ll explain it all, just not now.”

“I—” Her mouth snapped shut and, from the look in her eyes, he knew he was going to catch hell later. “Fine. Go.”

He’d take a landslide of maternal fury if it meant getting to Addie in time, so he strode out without a backward glance. Granny was waiting with her purse in one hand and her oversized key ring in the other. “We’ll take my truck,” she said, and threw the keys to him.

He blinked at her, then swore as he snatched up the keys. “Pardon my French, Granny, but what the hell are we walking into?”

“Stuart Carlin is not a career criminal,” she replied tartly. “He’s going to be all sorts of jumpy and scared to death of what you’re likely to do to him for kidnapping Addie.”

“I’m going to beat the living crap out of him, that’s what I’m going to do.” He opened his Silverado and grabbed a bag from the front floorboard then headed back to Granny’s truck.

Granny nodded as she waited for him to come to the passenger door and help her up into the seat. “We’re heading to Florida. Take the highway out to 95.”

“Has he already crossed the state line?” I need to call the damned FBI already.

“Hours ago,” Granny said softly. “But you can’t call the FBI, Wesley. Addie will die if you do.”

The engine roared, and his fingers tightened on the steering wheel. After the last day, nothing shocked him, not even Granny Gardner possibly reading his mind. “If you can promise me that she’s okay and we’ll get her back, I’ll hold off on it.”

Granny said nothing as he pulled her truck onto the highway that led out of town. They’d gone several miles before she finally broke the silence. “I remember the first time you came to my home with Addie. Day after her mama’s funeral, and she’d scared me half to death by running off. You knew exactly where to find her, and you coaxed her home somehow.”

It hadn’t been hard to find her. He’d just gone to the cemetery and heard her sniffling then found her high in the branches of a live oak by the front gates. “She was watching them add her mama’s name to the tombstone.”

Granny didn’t seem to hear him. “The minute you walked through that door with her, I had the strongest vision of my life. You were down at the county hospital, grinning ear to ear as you introduced me to my great grandson. She was twelve years old that day, and you two could barely stand each other half the time, but I knew then, Wesley. I knew.”

The idea of him and Addie together and having babies nearly choked him with emotion. He’d spent so many years thinking of a life with her as nothing more than a pipe dream, but Granny was telling him it was a foregone conclusion. “So…what? Nothing we do matters? Whatever will be, will be, or whatever?”

“It always matters,” she countered, looking at him suddenly. “Sometimes the visions are a warning, and sometimes they’re a promise. We’ve just got to help the Fates out a little bit. They’re too busy to take care of it all.”

He ground his teeth together. “Then what do we do?”

Granny just smiled. “You concentrate on driving, son. I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”

* * * * *

Addie had no idea how much time had passed when the truck finally stopped again. They’d rolled over so many twisting dirt roads that she imagined they’d covered every back road between Carter’s Bay and wherever it was they’d ended up. Her stomach complained bitterly, and she peered up into the darkness when Stu pulled the tarp from over her head again.

But it wasn’t Stu; it was the man from her vision. His eyes wandered over her in a blatantly assessing manner. “Good evening, Miss Gardner. I trust you had a pleasant trip?”

She blinked her eyes, trying to focus. “I trust you wouldn’t care either way,” she said before she could stop herself. Her mind was occupied with a different problem—changing her vision enough to keep Wes alive.

“That’s where you’d be wrong, Adelaide. My buyers prefer unmolested merchandise.” His accent was odd, stilted. Foreign.

“Oh?” She shifted enough that she could stare up at him. “I’ve been tied up in the back of this truck since morning in wet clothing with no food and no water. How pleasant do you think my trip was?”

“We can remedy that,” he told her, his dark eyes inscrutable in the dark of evening. “There’s a motel nearby.” He snapped his fingers. “We will go there at once.”

“No!” The word slipped out of her before she could stop it, but the obvious fear in her voice was something she could use. She let it fill her eyes as she stared up at him. “No, I…I saw—” Careful, Addie…don’t oversell it.

His eyes narrowed. “You saw what?”

She had to be careful, had to make him believe that she was scared out of her mind and not desperately trying to play him. “You need me alive,” she whispered. “I won’t be if we go to the motel.”

The man just leaned down, his voice soft and vaguely menacing. “And just what happens to you, Adelaide?”

Addie didn’t have to pretend to flinch back from him. “Drug bust,” she said, her mind scrambling for an explanation that didn’t have anything to do with imminent rescue. “Stray bullet. Two in your leg, one in my chest.”

He stared at her for a moment before smiling. “Then I apologize, but you will just have to remain cold, wet, and hungry.” He straightened and snapped his fingers again. A tall blond man appeared beside him. “We will wait for Hardegree here. Watch her, and keep her bound. I have some calls to make.”

Addie stayed motionless as the blond man looked down at her, nothing but vague curiosity in his gaze. She’d seen her students stare at science experiments with the same look, judging the possible entertainment value against how much work they’d have to do.

The only thing that kept her from panicking was the fact that she was apparently meant to remain unmolested. Being stared at as if she were a particularly interesting lab rat wasn’t comfortable, but it was better than having him touch her.

They stared at each other, her bound and helpless and fighting against fear, him seeming more and more bemused by something. She was almost at the point where she was ready to ask him what was so damn funny when a familiar voice cut through the still night air.

“Let her go.”

Relief welled up in her, followed by a surge of overwhelming terror. Please let this be enough, she thought as she shifted slowly, trying to figure out where his voice had come from. She’d changed the future that she’d seen in her vision, but she had no idea if she’d changed it enough to keep Wes safe.

The blond man started to reach for his gun, but froze as Wes spoke again, his voice pure steel. “Don’t. You won’t have time before I put one in your head. Back away from the truck.”

He raised his hands, but obeyed slowly. “There’s just you?”

“And twenty troopers in the woods around the dock,” Wes answered steadily, finally coming into Addie’s view. He held his gun on the blond man and glanced over at Addie. “You okay?”

She nodded and then spoke in a soft voice. “There’s another one. He’s on the phone somewhere.”

“Okay.” He didn’t move, just kept his eyes and his gun on the man before him. “Drop your gun.”

Something moved, brushing Addie’s ankle. She stifled a cry, biting into her lip hard enough to draw blood, and realized something was tugging on the knotted rope. Wes. She tried to stay still as he manipulated the knots, not even daring to breathe.

The blond man spoke. “And what will happen if I don’t drop my gun?”

“Then I’ll shoot you.” There was no hesitation in his voice, no uncertainty.

The dark-haired man with the accent stepped out of a copse of trees, gun in hand. “If there are really twenty troopers out there, why did they let you come in here alone?”

“Let’s just say this is personal.” His hand tightened on the gun.

The man smiled. “Or you’re bluffing.”

Wes’ throat worked as he swallowed. “Either way, you shoot me and your man here is dead.”

“Oddly enough, I find myself willing to take that chance.” Not even a breath passed before he fired three shots, hitting Wes square in the chest.

For one endless moment Addie couldn’t believe what had happened. The world moved in slow motion as Wes fell out of her line of sight. She forgot about the fact that she was tied and bound, forgot about the men with guns, forgot about everything. “Wes!”

She lunged without thinking, not realizing until she rolled out of the truck bed that her ankles were free. Wes had undone the rope, expending valuable concentration that could have kept him alive.

It was her fault. She hit the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of her, and the fact that her legs were untied didn’t matter. Rolling over was torture, rising to her knees worse. Her limbs were numb enough that even crawling was a challenge, but none of it mattered as she dragged her aching body to Wes’ side.

He was gasping for breath, barely moving, and she collapsed to the ground next to him with a low sob and struggled to lift her bound hands. “Wes…God, I’m so sorry, I’m sorry—”

She was peripherally aware of light flooding the darkened woods and of shouts and activity, but all of her attention was focused on Wes as he dragged in a breath and exhaled on a ragged groan. “God damn, that hurts.”

Addie made a choked noise as she fumbled at his chest, the lack of blood only now piercing her haze of panic. She tugged at his shirt, heaving in a desperate breath. “You’re not… You’re–”

“Vest,” he wheezed, even as her frantic hands uncovered the black bulk of Kevlar. “I thought I might need it.”

A man with brown hair and a brown uniform approached and knelt next to them. “You’re a crazy son of a bitch, Saxon,” he observed with a whistle. “What if Guerrero had aimed for your thick head?”

Wes choked out a laugh and sat up. “I had it on good authority he wouldn’t. Stan, this is Adelaide Gardner. Addie, this is Stanford Shikoba, Florida Highway Patrol.”

He tipped his hat. “Ma’am. I guess you belong to that lovely lady currently giving one of my best troopers absolute heck.”

Addie vaguely noticed Wes’ gentle hands on her wrists, loosening the ropes that had cut into her skin. She stared at Officer Shikoba blankly then looked to Wes. “You brought my grandmother?”

“You come by that stubborn streak honestly, baby,” he murmured, rubbing at her wrists. “That woman will not take no for an answer.”

She stared at him for so long that he probably thought she’d lost her mind. And maybe she had, because she slumped against his chest and dissolved into laughter edged with hysteria. “Oh, God,” she gasped out, then hiccupped. “Please tell me she didn’t—didn’t bring the shotgun.”

Shikoba reached under his hat to scratch his head. “She gonna be okay, Saxon?”

Wes just pulled her into his arms. “It’s been a hell of a couple of days, Stan. I guess you need statements?”

The older man snorted. “To say the very least. Let’s get you two into a squad and make sure that granny of hers hasn’t snatched Leroy Miller bald.”

* * *

Come back Wednesday, October 7th, for Chapter Seven!