Page 96 of Sentinel's Kiss
Chapter 22
Ashley cried angry tears on the way back to her apartment. He fucking lied to her. This wasn’t supposed to be a game. She was serious enough about Josh to risk her father’s disapproval and possibly his health. The least he could do was let her in. Scrubbing at her face, she slammed her car door and was about to climb the stairs to her apartment when she was grabbed from behind.
A rag was pressed against her face and she breathed in before realizing that wasn’t a good idea. She screamed and kicked back, struggling violently as she was being pulled back to her car. Her vision was going dark and panic threatened to choke her. The fumes from the rag were making her dizzy and weak.
“Knock it off or I’ll break your neck.”
Her struggles were fading anyway, but there was a final flash of adrenaline when she recognized the voice.
Stan.
—
There wasn’t any sign of Stan. They had searched the parking lots at JFK Airport, looking for Stan’s car. Ryder said he had plane tickets and was headed to Russia to pick up his girlfriend. Ryder had already booked herself on the same flight, so if worse came to worst, they would catch him then.
After he manhandled Tasha, Stan took off somewhere. He could be at a diner or at one of the long-term parking lots. Josh considered leaving his pistols on the bike and going into the terminal to see if he was there. But what was the point? He couldn’t do anything with all the airport security. If Sentinel had to fly to Russia on the next plane out and kill Stan with his bare hands on foreign soil, that’s what he would do. Maybe after Stan was dead, he could try to explain everything to Ashley.
Sentinel glanced at an incoming text as he was walking back to his bike. He hoped it was from Ashley wanting to give him a chance to explain. It was from Ryder and all it said was 911.
He called Ryder back, refusing to give credence to the sick feeling in his stomach. Ryder never texted an emergency. She fucking handled things herself.
“Yeah?” he said hoarsely when she picked up.
“Stan grabbed Ashley and stuffed her in the trunk of her car.”
“Is she alive?”
Because he would never forgive himself if she wasn’t.
“She’s fine. He knocked her out. I saw it all on the camera I installed on her apartment building.”
“Did he hurt her?”
“No.”
“How the fuck did we miss him?” Sentinel seethed. “Where is he?”
“We’re tracking them. Warden is in pursuit. It looks like Stan’s heading for Lake Ronkonkoma.”
“Holy shit, can we head him off?” Fear straightened his spine as all other emotion drained out of him. He was going to drown Ashley, like he did Sarah.
“No, but we’ll only be minutes behind.”
“Not good enough. Send me the GPS from the tracking device on her car. Tell Warden I’m on my way.”
“Shall we get Evil in on this?”
Evil had made a promise to Lucy not to kill anyone anymore. Sentinel had this one covered. “No. Send him home. He needs an alibi, and we might need Lucy to defend us in court if Ashley flakes out on us.” Because she had to be alive.
“She won’t flake.” Ryder sounded sure. Usually he trusted her with shit like this, but he couldn’t even think straight.
Climbing on his bike, he put his cell phone into the holder and called up the tracking device. Ashley’s car was on the move. Gunning the engine, he roared off in pursuit.
—
Ashley flinched when the trunk opened. She was stuffed inside like a pretzel. Her wrists and ankles were zip-tied. She was going to die and it would probably kill her father.
“Don’t do this, Stan,” she said hoarsely. “I know you didn’t kill those women.”