end of the phone call. Her gaze sought Matt's. He'd already surged to his feet and taken a step toward her.
Carrie clutched the phone, amazed when a kind of numbness descended on her. "What have you done with my sister, you prick?"
Chapter 20
"Brian, you don't understand. I have to go."
"I do understand, but you're not going anywhere, darlin'."
Carrie looked from Brian to Matt. Matt had told her to stay put, but she'd made a run for it - and had ended up colliding with Brian just as he was entering the kitchen.
He'd come to give her a ride home from work.
Matt had called Adam, and then he'd called Chase, who had headed over to the pharmacy when he and his brother had hit town. Both were on their way - as were most of the men in Lusty, she imagined.
Carrie's eyes shot to the clock on the wall over the sink. Six minutes since Lockwood had called.
He had given her forty-five minutes to get home, thinking she worked in Waco. He had no idea that she was right here in town, and she hadn't enlightened him to that fact.
She'd been smart enough to keep her mouth shut, buying time, but not smart enough to get free and go to her sister.
Ginny and Kelsey flanked her, and Brian stood in front of her, his hands on her shoulders.
"There's time, darlin'. We can't go off half cocked. Adam will be here any moment. Then we can figure this thing out."
The door to the kitchen swung open, and Adam Kendall all but burst into the room.
"We have the building surrounded - don't worry, Carrie, even if he sees the folks we're using he'll never make them as a threat to him."
"I've only got thirty-five minutes, now. He has Chloe, Adam, and he's going to kill her if I don't go to him."
"You're not going there," Brian said.
"Damn straight she's not." Chase came into the room looking like he wanted to beat someone, and Carrie knew she wasn't going to be allowed to do anything at all to save her sister.
"How do you know he has her?" Adam asked. "Did you talk to her?"
Carrie shook her head. She hadn't talked to Chloe, and that was what had her so tied up in knots. "No. He called me on her cell phone. Here, you can see the call log." She handed him her phone and felt her bottom lip quiver. "I thought it was her calling me. I'd been thinking about her all day, you know, thinking about what you said. So I answered the phone and I said - " She had to stop because she was on the verge of tears and needed to get them under control. She couldn't fall apart. Maybe that would be the only thing she'd be allowed to do for her sister - keep it together until they had her back. "I said, 'Hey, big sister. I love you.' And that b - bastard s - said he'd b - be sure to t - tell her if she...if she ever opened her eyes." She swallowed and forced the tears and the shakes away. "He said it was looking doubtful."
"Jesus Christ." Brian had stepped to the side when Chase and Adam had arrived, but he'd taken hold of her hand. He used her hand to pull her into his arms.
"Son of a bitch." Chase closed in on her other side. She felt totally surrounded by their love and their caring, but it really didn't take away the fear or the panic.
"You listen to me, Carrie Rhodes." Adam got right in her face, so that she had no choice but to meet his gaze. She saw anger, and determination, and just then she completely understood why it was the people of Lusty had made this man their sheriff.
"I'm listening."
"He may have incapacitated your sister, but he won't have killed her. He's playing with your head, maybe figuring he's punishing you - but definitely trying to manipulate you. He needs Chloe to ensure your cooperation, because it's you he wants above all else."
"He can do other things to her besides kill her. He can be brutal. You don't know. You just don't know what he's like." Carrie couldn't help the images from the past that attacked her. Suddenly it felt as if she was thirteen all over again. A part of her was at that place, and the other part of her was getting really pissed off that she was