Special Forces Father - By Mallory Kane Page 0,59

There was almost no light in the dank little room the kidnapper had put Max and her in. He’d pulled a blanket off the bedraggled couch and tossed it into the room on top of piles of clothes, linens and what looked like trash, then pushed Max and her inside, said, “Keep that kid quiet” and locked the door.

The first thing Kate had done was try to turn on the light, but nothing happened. She’d squinted up and saw that the fixture was empty. The room had one small window that was more than five-and-a-half feet off the floor. The bottom sill of the window was about at Kate’s eye level.

She’d tried to see out the window, but all she’d been able to distinguish were tree limbs and leaves. When Bent had dragged her out of his car and into the trailer, she’d been almost too drowsy to notice anything, but she did recall that the trailer’s far end seemed to be nosed into a thick overgrowth of trees and brush.

So she’d lain down with Max, squirmed around to make a comfortable sort of nest, then told him fairy tales until he’d fallen to sleep. She’d kept drifting off during the tales, and Max would touch her face and say, “Mommy? Wake up, Mommy. Finish the story.”

Finally, he’d fallen asleep and she’d collapsed into a drug-induced oblivion.

But now she was awake. She bent her head and buried her face in Max’s downy hair. He smelled warm and sweet and new, just like a little boy should. Her heart filled so full of love that she wasn’t sure her chest could contain it. Her eyes stung with tears and she carefully tightened her hold around his little shoulders. She’d been so afraid she’d never see him again. She had no idea how she was going to rescue him, but she knew one thing. If it meant her life, she would make sure he was safe. Maybe she’d been stupid to deal with the kidnapper on her own. Maybe she’d made the single biggest mistake of her life when she’d sent Travis away, though she could easily analyze why she’d acted the way she had. She’d pushed at him, hoping he’d push back, hoping this time he’d fight to stay with her.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, drawing in Max’s scent. She’d like to sleep some more. But something intruded into her quest for sleep. A noise, outside the tiny window. Kate held her breath. It was probably a nocturnal animal—a possum or an owl, rustling the underbrush as it hunted for food.

But then she heard it again, a subtle, muffled sound. Kate lifted her head and held her breath. It could be a footstep—a human footstep. Someone from a nearby trailer, taking a midnight walk?

She didn’t move for a full minute, expecting to hear the sound again. But when everything remained quiet, she laid her head down on the makeshift pillow she’d fashioned by doubling the corner of the blanket. She’d barely closed her eyes when she heard the noise again.

She shifted, searching for a more comfortable position. A quiet brushing sound, like leaves rubbing across glass, came from the window. Then a knock.

Her head shot up. A knock? Not a brush of a limb. Not a rustle of underbrush. A knock—like knuckles against the pane.

But no. She shook her head. It must have been a small falling branch that hit the window at just the right angle. It couldn’t have been a knock. That wasn’t possible.

She relaxed and closed her eyes. The knock sounded again, doubled this time. Knock-knock.

Her heart leaped into her throat, lodging there and making it hard for her to breathe. She eased into a sitting position, moving slowly and quietly so as not to wake Max. Whatever was brushing or rapping or pecking against the windowpane, she had to check it out, if only for her own peace of mind. She tiptoed over to the window and, shading her eyes with her hands, peered out through the glass. She saw a large tree limb waving up and down, as if there were something heavy on it. A big possum maybe?

Then she saw a pair of wide, glittering eyes.

Gasping aloud, she threw herself backward so hard she almost lost her balance. She knotted her shirt in her fisted hand and gulped in air, trying to fill her shock-frozen lungs.

What was that? She got her feet under her and stood there for a couple seconds,