Part 21 (1/2)

”Nearby, Paige. In this very ground. All but Mary. You saw her. I always keep my latest to admire until another takes her place. Soon you'll be taking Mary's place.”

Thames turned away from Paige. He went behind her. Paige's insides quivered. Perspiration coated her skin. Then he appeared at her side once again, tugging a tray on wheels with him.

Again, with reverence, he took an item from the tray. He held it up for Paige to see. It looked a bit like a pair of pliers, though the forks were curved and sharpened to razor tips.

”Another noteworthy instrument,” Thames said. ”This is a breast ripper used in medieval times on adulterous women.”

”If you are truly a purist,” Paige said, fighting for breath to get her words out, ”then the nature of that instrument prevents you from using it on anyone who hasn't committed adultery.”

Thames pouted but set the instrument back in the tray. He picked up another. This one resembled large scissors. ”This is a tongue tearer.”

He set it back. Paige knew he wouldn't use that one. He needed her screams to feed his sadism.

He went through all of the items on the tray. Thumb screws. A knee splitter. Something he called a tickler that resembled a rake and would tear skin, bone, and muscle with its talonlike claws.

Paige could well understand how the women he'd used these instruments on had lost their sanity. She was fighting for her own.

He picked up a thick dagger with a wide hilt and turned it over and over in his hand. He gave Paige a playful smile. ”This one is for later.” He set the dagger down, then carefully lifted a series of small vises. ”Don't let the size fool you. These instruments are capable of creating immense pressure. See how well honed the grip is?” Thames fondled one of the vises as if it were a lover. ”The female body is made up of so many sensitive parts. One of my favorites is the mammilla papilla, commonly known as the nipple. The nipple is regarded as an erogenous zone, but it can also be a point of agony.”

He set the vise back on the tray gently but nearer to the edge than it had been, nearer to his hand. Paige's heart jackhammered.

He put on latex gloves, then picked up a tube of . . . glue.

”Like all the others, you're going to experience my instruments, Paige, during our time together,” Thames said. ”There will be no more drugs to dull the effects. I want you fully aware.”

Thames opened the glue, then reached out and dabbed a line gently on Paige's eyes. Paige moved her head from side to side, thras.h.i.+ng as much as she could. Undeterred, Thames held her head and pressed her eyes closed.

The adhesive stuck at once. Paige pushed against it, but she could not open her eyes. Her breathing came in choked gasps.

Something cold and hard brushed her nipple. The vise . . .

”Ah, yes, so sensitive,” Thames said.

Despite the pain movement caused, Paige pulled against the nails and pressed back against the table. But there was nowhere to go. No escape.

She felt Thames clamp the vise. He tightened it. Paige screamed.

From his vantage point on a ridge overlooking Thames's cabin in the Adirondack Mountains, Sam peered down at the man through binoculars. The urge to go to Thames and break his bones one by one until he told Sam where Paige was, was like blood pulsing through Sam's veins. Only the belief that Thames would keep his secrets, take them to the grave, kept Sam where he was.

And that was why, rather than charging in with a tactical squad and a troop of agents, Sam had opted to come after Thames with just his own small squad and to maintain more low-key surveillance. Taking Thames in and sweating him would not break the man. Thames had already proven that.

But Thames had made a mistake. Thames had made a mistake when he'd stepped on Paige's earpiece and left a bit of rock behind.

At the moment, Thames was cutting logs with an ax. Thames was smiling, clearly enjoying the bright day and the exertion that made his pale flesh glisten with sweat. Sam's eyes drilled into Thames, his focus absolute.

For two days, they'd been on this mountain. Sam, Mike, and Riley, watching Thames in s.h.i.+fts. They'd kept their distance. Sam knew if Thames got wind that he was being observed, it would be over for Paige.

So far, all Thames had done in the last forty-eight hours was cut logs. Sam had the floor plan of the cabin from the agents who'd been here with Paige. There was no sub floor, no bas.e.m.e.nt where he could conceal a woman. The brash Thames didn't even have any shades or curtains on his windows. He had nothing to hide inside, as the Bureau had discovered when agents had searched the place.

But Thames was hiding something. A gravesite where he'd buried the three women and maybe more, and the place where he was keeping Paige.

Beside Sam, Mike said, ”Sam, let me take over. You've been at it all night.”

Sam watched Thames split another log. He couldn't hear it, but he imagined the thwack of the ax as the wood splintered and chips sailed into the air. Like he had all the time in the world.

Sam lowered his binoculars as Mike raised his own. To keep their presence undetected, they were eating out of cans, foregoing cooking any food that would create aromas, and doing without campfires and flashlights at night.

”Wake me if anything changes. No matter how slight,” Sam said to Mike, though unnecessarily. Sam knew Mike would do so.

Mike nodded.

Sam grabbed a quick bite, then bedded down. Riley had taken an earlier s.h.i.+ft and was still asleep. But when Sam closed his eyes, all he could see were images of Paige being hurt by that s.a.d.i.s.tic son of a b.i.t.c.h. Sam got to his feet.

”He's gone back inside,” Mike said when Sam joined him again.

”He hasn't left that cabin in two days. He's got to be itching to get back to wherever he stashed Paige. We have to wait him out. He'll lead us to her,” Sam murmured.

Twenty minutes later, Mike said, ”Thames is on the move.”

Sam dropped onto his belly beside Mike and peered through his own binoculars. ”He's wearing a backpack. Headed north. Wake up, Riley.”

When Riley joined them, Sam looked to the two men. ”We can't lose him. We can't let him make the tail.” Sam heard desperation and fear in his voice.

They grabbed their packs and set off after Thames, who took a meandering path as if he was on a hike. Sam worked to curb his impatience, his desperation.

They hung back. Thames continued to climb. Sam watched Thames make his way over the rocky terrain. Eventually, he stopped in front of a patch of bushes that grew out of the rock on this side of the mountain. Sam blinked, then Thames was gone.

Sam spoke into the mic on his shoulder. Impatience and fear riding him, he demanded, ”Anyone have him?”

Mike said, ”Nada.”

”Negative,” Riley said.

Sam stared at the spot he'd last seen Thames. He'd disappeared.

Paige heard the slip-slide of the rocks that carpeted the ground inside the cave. That sound marked Thames's return. She knew that sound now. At any moment, Thames would be back with her. Paige trembled.

She wouldn't see him approach. Her eyes were still glued shut. She'd worked to keep track of the pa.s.sage of time. She needed to mark the days to know what Thames planned for her next. Wherever she was, the temperature dropped at regular points throughout the day. At night? She wasn't sure, and really, it didn't matter if it was day or night, only that another twenty-four hours had pa.s.sed.

She knew what was to come in Thames's torture chamber. He was following the same pattern he'd established with the three women found by the Bureau. As he had with the other women, Thames had left her face untouched, but before he'd left her, he'd struck her over and over again, everywhere else on her body. Each breath brought with it pain that had her fighting to remain conscious. Her abused foot had taken another excruciating pounding.

Paige had worked to distance herself from the pain and the fear. She thought of Ivy. Ivy was safe. Sam would make sure Ivy stayed that way. Sam. Thinking of Sam brought a new level of pain. Tears leaked from beneath her lids.