Hunting Human - Amanda E. Alvarez [107]
“No!” Beth cried out across the line.
“Beth?”
“Braden? Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, I’ll be fine. Whatever it is he wants, don’t do it, Beth, promise me…”
Markko replaced the duct tape. “Enough of that.” Disengaging the speakerphone, he put the handset to his ear. “See. He’s fine.”
“Let him go.” Her voice was harsh and clipped, her desperation an audible balm to him.
“No.”
“He’s not who you want, just let him go.”
“I’ll admit he wasn’t my first choice, but I couldn’t get near your little friend. Then this one turned up this afternoon, dumping the doe I took such care to deliver to your doorstep. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. I would have liked the opportunity to get to know your little friend, your new little sister. Lucy, was it? It certainly would have made for nice symmetry. But I was getting bored.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“So agreeable, so eager. Perhaps I grabbed the right person, after all. We’re going to play a little game. A few years ago, I hunted you down. It’s only fair I return the opportunity. Tomorrow, at dawn, I’ll send you a text message telling you where I ditched my car. You’ll have the daylight hours to track me down. You have managed to shift without the pull of the moon, haven’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Because if you aren’t here by the time the sun sets, Edwards dies.”
“If you hurt him…”
“I won’t have to. He’s not been a very grateful guest and I’ve had to restrain him. As the moon rises, his body will tear itself apart, much like being drawn and quartered, as I understand it—though I’ve never actually seen it.”
“And if I get there prior to sunset?”
“Then we settle the score between us. I do hope you’ll present a challenge.” Markko laughed. “Though if you don’t, I suppose I’ll have a consolation, it’ll be interesting to watch Edwards pull himself apart. I’m looking forward to it. And to you too, of course, Lizzy.”
“Tell me where he is.”
“Wait for my text. And Lizzy? Come alone. If I sense anyone with you, I’ll have Alek tear Edwards’s throat out.”
Beth set the phone on the counter with shaky fingers.
“I’ll fill my parents in when they get up. Then we can figure out how we’ll get Braden out.”
Beth’s head shot up. “No. You heard Markko—he’ll kill him if I don’t show up alone. I have to be the one to do this.”
“You aren’t ready to filter through the scents of the forest, pick out a single trail and follow it. Especially not one laid down by Markko. He won’t make it easy.”
“You heard him. If I don’t show up alone, he’ll kill Braden.”
“You can’t get close enough on your own. But I agree that taking too many people is dangerous. I’ll go with you as far as I can, then circle around and deal with Alek. You’ll have to deal with Markko on your own.” Chase paused and leveled a fierce look in her direction. “He’s an experienced killer in both forms. If you hesitate for even a moment, he’ll kill you. Are you prepared for that?”
Beth pushed away from the counter. “I have to be.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
“You remember what we discussed, right? How we’re going to handle this?”
“Yes.” How could she forget? It was one of only two things she’d thought about in the last twenty-four hours. When she wasn’t thinking about how to get to Braden back, she was thinking about what was happening to him. Markko hadn’t called again, but continued to send photos, each more graphic and terrifying than the last. Her only distraction had been the time she and Chase spent agonizing over how to handle Alek and Markko when the time came.
“Tell me again,” Chase demanded as he punched the coordinates Markko had sent into his portable GPS. “From the beginning.”
“We drive to the coordinates. Once we get there, we shift. I let you take the lead, pick up the scent. We’ll follow that to Braden.”
“You know it won’t be that simple, right?” Chase angled the car onto the smooth blacktop of the highway and hit the accelerator. “They’ve had more than twenty-four hours to lay false trails. This won’t be easy.”
“I know.” She knew Markko would make this as challenging as possible. He wanted