Only Her (A K2 Team Novel) (24 page)

Rage proved stronger than the pills in her body, skyrocketing her blood pressure, and she lunged at Mrs. Decker, managing to take her by surprise. They both landed on the floor, and Riley struggled to get her hands on the gun, desperately fighting against the sluggishness making her limbs feel like they were sloughing through mud.

She had her fingers around the barrel, could see them there, but couldn’t feel them, and Mrs. Decker was able to jerk the gun away. Using the handle, she hit Riley on her head where the stitches had recently been taken out. Pain exploded in her face and skull, and she gasped as she tried to catch her breath.

“Stupid girl. Get on the bed.”

Somehow she managed to crawl onto the mattress, but it felt like her brains were going to leak out of her pounding head. As soon as Mrs. Decker left, Riley reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, squinting at the screen. She wasn’t connected to anyone, which meant she’d failed in her attempt to call for help. With trembling fingers, she found Cody’s number and pressed Call.

“Riley?”

His voice washed over her as tears filled her eyes. “Cody, I-I love you.”

“Talk to me, darlin’. Where are you?”

“Dunno. Drugged. She . . . she gave me Oxy . . . Oxy . . .”

“OxyContin?”

“Yeth.” What was wrong with her tongue? She lost the battle to stay awake, giving in to the lure of nothingness that the drugs in her body were offering. The next time she woke up, she tried to move her arms and legs, but they refused to obey. Squinting her eyes against the bright light coming in from the window, she lifted her head and stared down at her feet, then at her hands. She was on her back, spread eagle, tied to the bed somehow. Funny, she thought that should concern her, but she couldn’t quite seem to get her mind in order.

The door opened and Mrs. Decker walked in, pulled the chair next to the bed, and sat. “I found your phone, Riley. Bad girls get punished.” She held up a needle.

“Wha-what’s t-that?”

“Oh, you’ll like this. It will make you feel wonderful, and then when you learn to crave it, I won’t give you any more. Or maybe I’ll give you enough to kill you. Haven’t decided yet. To answer your question, it’s heroin.” She eyed the needle. “It’s surprisingly easy to get, but I suppose you already know that.”

“Please, don’t do this.” The tears leaking from the corners of her eyes burned. She wanted Cody. Wanted to curl up against him with his strong arms wrapped around her, where she’d be safe. Sad. That’s what she was. So damn sad. She didn’t have Reed or Cody, and if that wasn’t worth crying over, nothing was.

“Oh, it’s too soon to give you a shot of this. You’d probably OD if I did, what with the other drugs already in you. I just wanted you to know what you could look forward to. You’re going to suffer just like my son did.”

“But I love him,” she whispered.

“You killed him,” Mrs. Decker screamed. “You deserve everything I’m going to do to you.”

She’d meant Cody, but even in her drugged state, she knew to keep that to herself.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

C
ody pulled over to the side of the road, got out of his truck, and slammed his fist down onto the hood, not caring that he’d put a dent in it. He’d had her on the phone, but after telling him she loved him, and that she’d been drugged, all he’d heard was her breathing. For fifteen minutes he’d listened to Riley’s labored breaths while begging her to talk to him.

But she hadn’t responded, and the call had been disconnected. He grabbed his phone and pulled up a map of Pace. Milton was about nine miles farther, and both were small towns he’d driven through on occasion but wasn’t familiar with. Since he could see the Pace city limit sign from where he stood, all he could do was wait for more intel.

Riley had said she’d been drugged with OxyContin, and something he’d seen on TV a while back occurred to him. He called Ryan O’Connor.

“Hey, man, where are you?” Ryan said in greeting.

That seemed to be everyone’s favorite question today. “Trying to find Riley. Where the hell else would I be?”

“Easy, dude. I’m not the enemy. We’re loading up, about to head out as soon as we know where to go.”

“Sorry, Doc. I’m a little wound up right now. Listen, I seem to remember hearing about a drug that can reverse the effect of narcotics. Know anything about that?”

“You’re talking about Naloxone. Why?”

“Riley managed to call me, but she was really out of it. Said she’d been drugged.”

“With what?”

“OxyContin. Can you get a hold of some Naloxone and bring it with you?”

“I’m on it. See you soon.”

Cody clicked off. Unable to stand around twiddling his thumbs, he decided to drive around some of the streets, keeping an eye out for the woman’s car. Before he could start the engine, his phone buzzed and Maria’s name came up on the screen.

“Got something?” he said.

“An address do it for you?”

“Christ, yes.” He programed the address into his GPS as she gave it to him. “Kent’s a genius.”

“Actually, he’s still working on getting the license plate numbers. He got the first four so far. I took those and went back to the list I’d made of suspect vehicles, using the search words Napier, Sebring, Chrysler, and the four numbers. Bingo. It came right up. The car is registered to a Connie Napier Decker. That name mean anything to you?”

He pulled onto the street. “Not a thing.”

“This is personal, Cody. She’s connected to Riley somehow. I’ll keep on digging. As soon as I give the address to Logan, the team will be headed that way. You should wait for them to get there, you know.”

“Can’t promise that. Depends on what I find.” It would take them about forty-five minutes to catch up with him, and he wasn’t leaving Riley in that bitch’s hands a minute longer than he had to.

“Well, I pretty much knew you’d say that. Stay safe, okay?”

“You bet.”

According to the GPS, he was only eight minutes from the target address. As he left the populated area of the town, he followed a two-lane road into a rural area of older ranch-style houses sitting on what he guessed were one-acre plots of land. The homes were mostly run down, many of the yards overgrown. At one place, an old truck was up on blocks, and at another, chickens busily pecked at the dirt. Several abandoned houses had rental signs posted. It was the kind of neighborhood where people minded their own business.

He made a slow drive by the address Maria had given him. The Chrysler Sebring was parked under a carport that looked like it might collapse at any moment. It was all the confirmation he needed that he had the right place. At the end of the block, he pulled over, considering how to approach. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to pull his truck up to the house, announcing his arrival. As he debated where to leave it, a man mowing the yard across the street eyed him with suspicion.

Cody studied the house and the man. It was one of the few places on the street that was better maintained than the others, and the man had a military haircut and wore a long-sleeved T-shirt with “Navy” imprinted across the front. Could he be that lucky? Only one way to find out.

“If you’re selling something, not interested,” the man said over the noise of the mower as Cody approached.

“I’m not. Could you turn that off a minute? Need to talk to you.”

“About?” Although his expression was one of annoyance, he cut the engine.

“Cody Roberts, former SEAL.” He held out his hand.

Annoyance turned to puzzlement. “Tadd Singleton. Great to meet you, but I’m not sure I want to know why you’re here.”

“Smart man. Listen, I need to park my truck in your driveway for a while.”

“Because?”

How much to tell him?

“Look, you SEAL dudes are cool and all that, but I don’t want trouble and you got trouble written all over you. I have a wife and daughter in the house. Is parking your truck in my driveway gonna put them in danger?”

“No, that I can promise. Here’s the thing.” His phone buzzed, and he pulled it out of his pocket. “Stand by a sec,” he told the man. “Hey, Maria. What’s up?”

“I have some history on our Mrs. Napier . . . or Decker. Whatever. Anyway, several years ago, her son died of a drug overdose. Sometime after that, her husband lost his job, then they lost the house. I guess he couldn’t deal with all of that because on the day the house was foreclosed on them, he sat in his car in the garage and carbon monoxided himself.”

“What was the son’s name?”

“Reed Decker. Why?”

Ding. Ding.
“Reed was Riley’s high school boyfriend. Now we know what this is all about. Great job, but gotta go.”

“Cody—”

He hung up. “Here’s the thing, Tadd. A woman’s life depends on me getting to her ASAP. The woman I love to be exact.” He removed his truck key from the ring and tossed it to Singleton. “Either move my truck or don’t. If you don’t, I’d appreciate it if you kept an eye on it.” Without waiting for an answer, he went back to his truck and took his gun out of the glove compartment, along with his spare key.

“I’ll park it in my driveway,” Singleton said, coming up next to him. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but my gut says you’re righteous, so anything I can do to help a brother warrior?”

“Just take care of my truck. Appreciate it, man.” He gave a wave as he walked away. There was an overgrown hedge between Decker’s house and the one next door, and he used it for cover to get close to the carport where the Chrysler was parked. He wished it were dark when it would be easier to make a stealthy approach, but that was almost three hours away, and every bone in his body was telling him that Riley didn’t have that much time.

When he was even with the carport, he slipped through the hedge, and ran to the side of the house, plastering his body against the wall. Easing up to the door he thought led into the kitchen, he wrapped his fingers around the handle and tried to turn it. Locked. He wasn’t surprised, but a flimsy lock wasn’t going to keep him out.

He removed his shirt and wrapped it around his fist. Using only enough force to break the small windowpane, he reached in and turned the lock. When the door wouldn’t open, he ran his hand along the inside door edge, finding a deadbolt. Once he slid it back, he slipped into the house.

The kitchen was dark, and with his gun in hand, he crept to the entrance of the living room. A lamp burned on a table next to a well-worn sofa, and he cocked his head, listening. A voice that wasn’t Riley’s sounded from the direction of the bedrooms, but he couldn’t make out the words. Sticking close to the wall, he made his way to the hallway, paused, and listened again.

“You’ll have to tell me how it feels to have heroin in your body, Riley. I hear it’s wonderful until you try to stop. Then it’s hell.” The woman laughed. “I guess you could say I’m sending you to hell with a little bit of heaven.”

“Please don’t. I-I tried to save him.”

“But you didn’t, did you?”

Heroin? With his blood pounding in his ears, Cody growled as he moved toward the sound of the voices. The sight before him chilled him to the bone. Riley was on her back, spread eagle, and tied to the bed. Decker leaned over her as she inserted a needle into Riley’s arm.

“You push that plunger, you die,” he said, his gun aimed at her head.

The woman froze, looked up at him, and then a sly smile appeared on her face. “Too late.”

He pulled the trigger at the same time Decker pushed the plunger with her thumb, then she crumpled into a heap on the floor.

“Riley!” He rushed to her side and gently pulled the needle from her arm. “Darlin’, talk to me,” he said as he yanked a knife from his boot and cut her ties.

“My hero.” She giggled.

She was so high that she could touch the moon. “Can you sit up?” He didn’t know what was best, to keep her prone or to get her up and walking?

The scrape of fabric over wood caught his attention, and he looked down to see Decker reaching for the gun that had fallen out of her lap. As tempted as he’d been to kill her, he’d taken a shoulder shot instead. He stepped hard on her wrist, ignoring her cry of pain.

There was something he had to do first, before he secured Decker. With his foot still pinning the woman to the floor, he leaned down and kissed Riley. Kissed her hard because he had to.

She giggled again and grabbed his neck with her hands. “Make love to me, Cody.”

“Oh, that’s definitely on my list of things to do, but not yet.” He smiled as he untangled himself from her hold. “Be right back.”

He picked up Decker’s gun and slipped it into the waistband of his jeans, then looked around for something to tie her up with.

“Need some of these?”

Cody glanced toward the doorway where Kincaid dangled plastic ties in his hand. “She’s all yours.” He removed his foot from Decker’s wrist as the boss knelt next to the woman, Jake and Jamie following him in. “Where’s Doc?”

“Right behind us. He’s got that stuff you asked for.”

“Wowdy! So many hot guys in one room,” a giggly Riley said.

Cody rolled his eyes as the team shared amused glances. “She’s stoned.”

Jake chuckled. “No shit.”

“Am not.” Riley protested. Or was she? Didn’t know, didn’t care. Just wanted Cody to kiss her again. She loved his kisses. Adored them. “Are you going to kiss me again?”

“Cody would kill me if I did.”

She tried to focus on the man leaning over her. Oh, right. Ryan O’Connor. “You have really beautiful eyes, but I want Cody.”

“And you shall have him in a minute. I’m just going to give you a little something to combat the drugs in your system, okay?”

“No, no more. Weird stuff.” She pressed her lips together, turning her head away.

“You won’t have to swallow anything.”

She felt a prick in her arm, but euphoria still streamed through her body, and she didn’t really care.

“Riley. Look at me.”

“What? Told you I want Cody.”

“I’m here.” Cody slipped his fingers around hers. “Listen to Doc, okay?”

“Kay.”

The man with the beautiful green eyes smiled. “I just gave you a shot of Naloxone. It’s some amazing stuff. In a few minutes you should start to feel normal.”

“Kay.” She shifted her gaze back to Cody. “Now will you kiss me again?”

“Soon, darlin’. Soon.”

“He wasn’t real happy, was he?” Riley said as Detective Margolis made his exit. It was absolutely wonderful to be home—well, at Cody’s home as she no longer had one. Even that wasn’t going to get her down, at least not today. She’d been examined at the emergency room, and pronounced in good-enough condition to come home.

The first thing she’d done on arriving at Cody’s was to take a long, hot shower. When she’d walked into the living room—wearing a pullover sweater and a comfortable pair of lounge pants, her hair wet—three men had stood at her appearance, Cody, Logan Kincaid, and the detective. That had startled her as only Cody had been with her when they’d returned.

She hugged sweet Pelli against her neck. The kitten had been glued to her from the moment she’d walked in the door, had even sat outside the shower door crying for her to come out. Merlin perched on the sofa behind her head with his nose pressed into her hair, and Arthur was curled over her leg, staring up at her with worried eyes. Cody’s dogs sat near his feet, their alert gazes seeming to follow the conversation.