Grave Concerns (20 page)

Kyle’s evil smile was so wide it split his face. “Do I look like someone who would hurt his own father?”

“Yes,” Maddie answered, refusing to back down. “I think you’ve done something to your father and that’s allowed you free rein to do every other horrible thing you’ve ever dreamed about. You have control of Kevin because he’s terrified that you’ll do something to him, too. That’s how you operate, right?”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Kyle said. “Your problem is that you think you’re smart when you’re really a moron.”

“And yet your father is nowhere to be found,” Maddie interjected. “I think I’m right.”

Another presence moved in behind Maddie before she even had time to register it, a large hand closing around her neck as her body was snapped back against the tall frame of tall man. Maddie instinctively knew it wasn’t help, and when she shifted her frightened eyes, she found Howard Martin staring back at her.

“I think my son is right,” he said. “You’re not nearly as smart as you think you are.”

Oh, crap!
Maddie realized she misread the situation when it was far too late to do anything about it. Now she and Hayley were in desperate trouble, and their only hope was that Olivia could get help in time to stop whatever depraved game the Martins were about to play.

“What’s going on?” Hayley waffled fearfully between confusion and outright terror, her mind threatening to shut down. “Will someone please tell me what’s going on here?”

Howard gripped the back of Maddie’s neck and forced her forward, marching her in the direction of Hayley and his sons. Kyle kept his grip on Hayley’s arm as he tugged her out of the way. Hayley’s fight or flight response was in overdrive, and yet her legs refused to move.

“I have to give you credit, Maddie. I didn’t think you were the one who would figure out what was going on,” Howard growled, tossing Maddie to the ground at Kyle’s feet and shifting his attention to his son. “You’ve totally screwed this up. You know that, right?”

“It’s not my fault,” Kyle protested. “I told Kevin to make sure that Hayley understood that he wanted to be alone with her. I have no idea how that one knew to follow her out here.” Kyle nudged Maddie with the toe of his sneaker. “I’m kind of glad she’s here, though. You may like them young, Dad, but I want to try this one on for size.”

Howard scowled and cuffed his son, turning his attention to a shaking Kevin as he decided how to handle things. “You told her to come alone, right?”

Kevin bit his lip and wordlessly nodded.

Howard turned to Hayley. “Who did you tell you were coming out here?”

“I … .” Hayley was too afraid to answer.

“Answer me!” Howard’s explosion was enough to jolt Hayley, who burst into tears instead of doing his bidding.

Howard raised his hand, the intention to strike the wailing teenage girl clear, but Maddie stopped him by grabbing his arm.

“Don’t you dare think about hitting her,” Maddie warned, her blue eyes flashing. “If you touch that girl I can guarantee that Nick and John will make you wish you’d never been born.”

“Oh, Maddie, you’re so pathetic,” Howard intoned, lowering his hand. “Do you realize how pathetic you sound? You’re banking the last few minutes of your life on the fact that your boyfriend is going to come looking for you. He’s not. He’s … otherwise engaged.”

What was that supposed to mean?
Maddie furrowed her brow but remained silent.

“I checked in at your guys’ campsite before I came over here,” Howard supplied. “Oh, yeah, you might not have seen me the past few days, but I’ve definitely seen you. It’s nice that you were worried about me, though.

“Anyway, I saw Nick when I was leaving,” he continued. “He was sitting on a blanket getting cozy with a woman. Imagine my surprise when I realized it wasn’t you, Maddie. It was that other woman – the one with the reddish hair – and they looked mighty cozy.”

“Sydney,” Kyle supplied. “She’s been trying to get in Nick’s pants every chance she gets. That dude must be magic in the sack or something, because the ladies sure do love him.”

“Is that it, Maddie?” Howard asked, planting his hands on his knees as he crouched lower. “Is Nick magic in the sack? Is that why you’re always clinging to him the way you do?”

Maddie frowned. She didn’t believe Howard for a moment. Even though she wouldn’t put it past Sydney to throw herself at Nick, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Nick would never cheat on her. She might have insecurity problems on many things, but that wasn’t one of them.

“I sent Sydney to Nick to tell him where I was heading,” Maddie replied, keeping her tone even. “They’re probably already on their way.”

“I think that sounds like wishful thinking on your part,” Howard countered. “Nick looked perfectly happy with that other woman, even though she’s definitely a step down from you.”

“Don’t worry,” Kyle said slyly. “We’ll keep you company.” He forced Hayley down to the ground and Maddie instinctively reached for the girl, pulling her close as she studied Howard and Kyle’s dynamic.

“So, what, you guys do this as a team?” Maddie asked finally. “You hunt women and children down and then … do terrible things to them? How long has this been going on?”

“Kyle was a quick study,” Howard replied, unruffled. “He fell in line with the program when he was thirteen.”

The implications of the statement weren’t lost on Maddie and she felt sick to her stomach. “You’ve been using Kyle to lure teens and young girls for years, haven’t you?”

“What can I say? I like them young,” Howard sneered. “I’ll admit that Kyle has never enjoyed the process as much as me. He takes a more clinical approach to things. I think he’s going to be some sort of mad scientist when it’s all said and done. He has an IQ of a hundred and sixty. That makes him officially a genius.

“I wish he’d take a more … practical … approach to the hunting, but he’s a work in progress on that right now,” he continued. “Still, he’s been great at baiting the hook – kind of like you were doing for Nick that day down at the river.”

“You were the one watching me the night we arrived at the campsite, weren’t you?” Maddie asked, focusing on Kyle. “Your father doesn’t like grown women. He likes children. That means it had to be you.”

“Actually, it was neither of us,” Howard supplied. “Kevin was the one who saw you first. He loves that bright hair of yours … and those cutoffs? Whoa, baby. Your legs are so long they give him ideas … he doesn’t know how to handle them.

“You see, Kevin has been the one fighting the process for the past year,” he continued. “He’s been a complete and total wuss. He didn’t want to hunt with us. I knew Kyle was getting too old to keep the young ones coming, so we’ve been working on Kevin’s self-esteem so he’s more comfortable with the family … business.”

Maddie’s heart rolled. “Kevin watched me and you decided that the best way to move him to your side was by letting him go after me,” she surmised. “Kevin was the one who watched me that first night, but he wasn’t the one on the path last night. He’s too short.”

“Yes, well, that was me,” Howard admitted. “I’d been watching you for days, waiting for a chance to get you alone. Unfortunately, you and Nick are joined at the hip and it’s … distracting. I thought I could take you and let Kevin play with you for a little bit. I’ve learned that reward is better than anything when it comes to motivating my children.”

“You followed me because you were hoping to grab me, but Hayley showed up and threw things in a tizzy,” Maddie suggested. “You had a problem because while you were initially there to grab me, the idea of grabbing Hayley for yourself was too much to ignore. That’s why you changed directions and went after her.”

“Well, you might be a little smarter than we’re giving you credit for,” Howard hedged.

“Just a little,” Kyle added, holding two fingers about an inch apart for emphasis. “Dad thought that he could grab Hayley instead of you. Our initial plan was to grab you and leave in the middle of the night. Even if your stupid boyfriend figured out we were the ones who took you, the Martins don’t technically exist.”

“You’re using fake names,” Maddie muttered.

“Oh, our first names are real,” Kyle clarified. “The key to a good lie is keeping it as close to the truth as possible. We didn’t want anyone messing up – especially Kevin, because he’s prone to making mistakes – when it comes to names. There’s no easier way to make people suspicious of you than to mess up on names.”

“Where is your mother?” Maddie asked, rolling her neck. Hayley was pressed so tightly to her side she was starting to get uncomfortable, but there was no way she would make a move to detach the girl. She wanted to be able to put herself between Hayley and Howard if it came down to it.

“My ex-wife had a tragic bathroom accident five years ago,” Howard replied. “She fell asleep in the tub and drowned.”

That didn’t sound likely to Maddie. “You mean you drowned her in the bathtub and made it look like an accident,” she filled in. “She probably knew what you were and didn’t want you around your sons. You decided to fix it so you would have constant access to your children. You wanted to mold them in a very specific way, and you couldn’t risk that if your ex-wife was still alive.”

“That’s not true,” Kevin protested, the distraught look on his face enough to tug on Maddie’s sympathy. He was being manipulated. She knew that. He probably didn’t understand everything that was happening to him. Even though he was in a rough spot, Maddie knew she couldn’t trust him. “Mom’s death was an accident. That’s what the police said.”

“Yeah, it was an
accident
,” Kyle chimed in, rolling his eyes.

“It was,” Kevin said, turning to his father. “It was an accident, right?”

“Of course it was an accident, Kevin,” Howard said, patting the boy’s shoulder. “Your brother is just messing with you … and Maddie here will say practically anything to save her life right now.”

Kevin glanced at Maddie, conflicted. “My mother’s death was an accident.”

Even though Maddie didn’t want to purposely hurt the teenager, she knew she needed to do something if she wanted to keep the focus of the conversation away from Hayley long enough for Nick to get to them. If that meant hurting Kevin, well, she wasn’t going to lose any sleep over it.

“Your father killed your mother because she knew he was a monster and she was probably trying to keep you guys away from him,” Maddie countered. “Don’t kid yourself, Kevin. Your brother is a sociopath and your father is a garden-variety psychopath.”

Kevin lashed out with his fist, smacking Maddie across the face and taking her by surprise. She cried out, her hand flying to her cheek as she listed to the side, causing a gap between Hayley and herself.

Kyle took advantage of the situation and grabbed Hayley by the hair, jerking her away from Maddie and tossing her like a rag doll, the teenager landing a few feet away. “You sit there and be quiet, Hayley,” he ordered. “All that crying you’re doing is giving me a headache. We’re going to spend some time with Maddie first, but don’t worry, you’re going to get your turn.”

“Yes, you’re definitely going to get your turn,” Howard said. “I think Kevin and Maddie have some issues to get out of their system first, though. Isn’t that right, Kevin?”

Kevin clenched and unclenched his fists, his chest heaving as he regarded Maddie.

“She’s not so hot now, is she, bro?” Kyle asked. “Go ahead. Do what you know you want to do to her. She’s right there. You can take her.”

“Yeah,” Kevin said, his voice ragged. “Yeah. I can take her.”

“Make her yours, son,” Howard prodded. “Make her hurt like she made you hurt.”

“YOU
can’t just run out there,” John hissed, grabbing Nick’s arm and hauling him back into the bushes. “We need to approach this the right way.”

“I’m going to kill that kid,” Nick seethed, his eyes dark as he watched Kevin stare Maddie down after striking her. He could hear Howard and Kyle urging the boy on. They were trying to get him to attack Maddie, and Nick didn’t doubt they had more on their mind than physical violence.

After starting their search for Maddie and Hayley, Nick was alarmed when Olivia’s whispering voice infiltrated his thoughts. She told him Maddie and Hayley were in trouble, that Kyle and Kevin were with them and real danger was afoot, and when John caught up Nick was poised for action. Despite the fact that they were weaponless, Nick and John had no doubt they could take two teenagers. Howard’s appearance was another story.

“We can’t just sit here,” Nick whispered. “We have to make a move on them. You know what’s going to happen if we don’t do something. I am not just going to sit here and let those … animals … go after Maddie and Hayley.”

“I’m not suggesting that,” John replied, his voice calm. “Do you honestly think I want us to just sit here and let something bad happen to the two of them?”

Nick ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. “Of course not. What do you have in mind?”

“We need to separate,” John said. “I’m going to go the long way around the building and get behind them. I need you to keep their attention. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“I do,” Nick replied, nodding. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea, though. If they see me, they’re likely to grab Maddie and Hayley and use them as hostages.”

“Do you see a way around that?” John asked. “We’re still outnumbered. They don’t have weapons that we can see. Maddie will fight and that will even the odds. I’m guessing she has some anger to take out on Kevin. They’re still dangerous. You know that.”

“I’ll get as close as I can before I let them see me,” Nick said. “I’ll give you as much time to get into position as possible, but if they make a move for Hayley or Maddie … I’ll have no choice.”

“I know,” John said, his brown eyes serious. “You can only do what you can do. We have to move now, though.”

“Let’s do it.”

“KEVIN,
you don’t have to listen to them,” Maddie said, struggling to a sitting position as she rubbed her sore cheekbone. “They’re trying to manipulate you. Deep down, I think you have to know that.”

“They’re my family,” Kevin shot back, his voice dark and dangerous. Something about the boy shifted when Maddie suggested Howard killed his mother. It was as if the last part of Kevin that was innocent closed off and all that remained was the monster his brother and father worked so hard to create. “I think you’re the one who is trying to manipulate me.”

“I’m not,” Maddie countered, her heart pounding. She was almost out of time. She could feel it. “You’re letting them twist your mind. Try to fight it.”