The Renegade Hunter
Chapter Three

Jo managed to make it out of the house without being spotted. She paused just outside the sliding glass doors to the dining room to peer over the dark yard. She was pretty sure everyone was in the house right now, but considering the events of the evening, it certainly couldn't hurt to be cautious.
Aware that the longer she took, the better the chances were of getting caught, Jo gave up her position by the door and broke into a run, sprinting straight for the back building. She was actually pretty impressed with her speed as she flew across the grass. She'd never been much for athletic pursuits, prefer ring things like rock climbing and diving for physical activity, but her feet were pedaling so fast they seemed to barely touch the ground.
A little sigh of relief slipped from Jo's lips when she reached the door to the building and found it unlocked. She eased it silently open and then slid inside with one nervous glance back at the empty yard. Once she had the door safely closed behind her, Jo paused to get her bearings. She was standing in a small lit hall with glass windows running along either side of her. The windows on her right revealed a large, well-lit garage with several vehicles inside. Every single one of them was an SUV.
It didn't look like much of a car collection to her. The SUVs all appeared to be brand-spanking-new. She was getting the distinct impression that Sam hadn't been completely honest with her about things.
Deciding that was something she was definitely going to have to take up with her sister later, Jo slid her gaze to the windows on her left and found herself looking into a dark office. There was a desk, filing cabinets, chairs... Her eyes paused on a large, boxy-looking shape and she squinted a little, trying to make out what it was. When that didn't help, Jo moved slowly to the open office door. She reached inside and felt along the wall on the left and then the one on the right, relieved when she found the light switch. The moment she flipped it, light exploded overhead. It left her blinking briefly, but then she was able to see that the large boxy shape was a medical refrigerator with a glass front revealing row after row of bagged blood.
Jo gawked at the sight, bewilderment rolling through her as she tried to sort out what that could be about. Was Mortimer a closet hemophiliac or something? The question slid through her mind as she took a quick glance over the rest of the office and then flipped the light off again. There was a small window in the room, and she didn't want to alert anyone at the house to her presence by having lights shining in windows where there shouldn't be lights.
At least not until she knew what was going on, Jo thought as she eased away from the office door and peered around. A hallway ran off the left side of the small hall she now stood in. It was well-lit and had three doors leading off it-two along the opposite wall, and one on the same side as the office. Not really doors so much as cell doors, Jo realized as she passed the first one and saw it was made of bars one would expect to find in a prison. This first cell held a small cot, a sink, a toilet, and nothing else. It was empty, and Jo continued on her way, quite sure she would find the man named Nicholas in one of the other two.
She was right. While the lone cell on the left also had no one in it, the second one on the right held a man. He lay flat on his back on the narrow cot in the room, hands under his head, and legs crossed at the ankles in a completely relaxed posed. He also had his eyes closed when she first saw him, but either she made a sound without realizing it, or he simple sensed her presence, because his eyes suddenly opened and his head lifted, turning in her direction.
"Jo." He spoke her name softly, but it was enough. The sight of his face and the sound of his voice triggered a whole landslide of memories in her mind. Images and sensations flickered through Jo's brain one after another. They were all out of order and disjointed, a kaleidoscope of confused scenes flashing one after the other, and they were accompanied by a searing pain as what felt like a hatchet slammed into the top of her skull.
Screaming, Jo grabbed for the top of her head as her legs buckled. For what could have been seconds, minutes, or hours, she was aware of nothing but the pain. Then it began to ease and she slowly became aware of her surroundings again.
The first thing Jo realized was that she was lying on the cold concrete floor. She lay curled on her side in a fetal position with her hands over her head. Fortunately, her head wasn't bleeding. The pain had been inside, not from a hatchet that had split her skull open, she realized, and then slowly became aware that someone was speaking to her, voice urgent as he said her name over and over again.
"Jo. Are you all right? Jo, talk to me. Jo?"
Nicholas, she recalled. The man who had risked himself to save her and got locked up because of it. Jo closed her eyes briefly, taking another moment to let the pain ease further, but he continued to call her name with what sounded like growing agitation. She wanted to say something to reassure him she was all right, but the pain had left her panting and breathless, and all she could do was remove one hand from her head and wave it weakly to let him know she was okay. The moment she did, she felt something brush the tips of her fingers. It startled her eyes open, and she tilted her head enough to see that Nicholas was now lying on the floor of his cell, his arm extended as far through the bars as he could reach, which was just far enough to touch the tips of her fingers with his own.
Releasing a little sigh, Jo stretched her arm out a bit until he could actually hold her hand with his own. Nicholas fell silent then, but his expression was still concerned. Jo was still too spent to reassure him, however, so simply lay still and allowed her eyes to close briefly as she tried to sort out the collection of memories that had just bombarded her. They were all there now; the party, the walk, the attack... Nicholas. He'd kissed her and she'd kissed him back and it had been...
Jo closed her eyes again. Those two kisses had been pretty wonderful, like nothing she'd ever experienced, and the man had saved her from that other fellow. If what she'd overheard Sam say was true, he'd also apparently helped save two other women earlier in the summer... So why was he locked up in this cell?
"Jo?"
She tilted her head again and peered at Nicholas.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
Jo nodded slowly, and when the action didn't bring on any more pain, let her other hand slip away from her head.
"I'm guessing they wiped your memories and you just got them back?" he asked quietly.
That made her eyes widen in question. "How-?"
"I've seen it before," he said dryly.
Jo simply stared at him for a moment and then pulled her hand free of his to sit up.
Nicholas did the same, shifting to his hands and knees, and then maneuvering himself to sit cross-legged on the other side of the bars.
They stared at each other for a moment and then Jo asked, "What the hell is going on?"
Nicholas smiled wryly. "Feeling better, I guess?"
A small, weary laugh slipped from her lips, and she brushed a strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail back behind her ear. "My head hurts."
"It will for a while," he said solemnly. "Aside from the blow you took earlier, your brain cells are all a bit scrambled at the moment."
Jo nodded. She could believe that. "I overheard Mortimer tell Sam that Decker wiped my memory."
"Yes. I suspected he would when he took control of you to lead you to the house," Nicholas admitted, and then tilted his head curiously. "Is overhearing Mortimer what started the memories coming back?"
Jo considered the question, but then shook her head carefully. "No. It was when I saw you crossing the lawn with Bricker and Mortimer from my bedroom window. You seemed familiar but I couldn't remember where from and my head started to hurt."
Nicholas nodded as if that made sense and then explained, "Seeing the subject of the memories that were wiped can bring them back."
She frowned. "What do you mean wiped?"
"It's kind of a misnomer. The memories aren't really wiped so much as veiled or..." He frowned, obviously unsure how to explain what had been done to her. "The memories are still there, obviously, or you wouldn't have just got them back, but they're buried deep in the subconscious, and if nothing triggers them they stay there."
"How did he do it?" Jo asked at once, horrified at the thought that anyone had the ability to bury her memories. "Is there some machine or something?"
She waited as a struggle took place on Nicholas's face. She recalled his saying he'd suspected that Decker had wiped her memories when he'd taken control of her to lead her to the house. Now that she thought about it, Jo didn't recall walking back to the house and up to her room earlier. The memories that had returned to her carried her right up until the men had surrounded them in the yard while they were kissing and then started again with her in the guest bedroom afterward. She wasn't even sure how long afterward that had been, the memories between were all missing.
Frowning at that realization, she asked, "And how could Decker take control of me? What is going on here?"
"I can't explain it to you, Jo," Nicholas said finally. "If I could claim you, that would be one thing, but I can't... and they'd just wipe your memories again afterward."
The bit about claiming her made no sense, so she concentrated on the last part of what he'd said, and pointed out dryly, "Well, if they'll just erase the memory anyway, then there shouldn't be any problem telling me."
"I can't explain," he repeated firmly, shaking his head. "And you shouldn't be here. Mortimer will probably come back out to question me after he calls Lucian, and if he finds you here he will take control of you again and he will wipe your memories."
Jo stared at him silently for a minute, and then stood up. When Nicholas did as well, she moved to the bars and peered up at him. "Sam said you were only caught because you risked yourself to save me. She said you risked yourself earlier in the summer to save Decker's girlfriend Dani and her little sister too. Is that true?"
Nicholas nodded solemnly.
She considered that briefly and then asked, "Do I need to worry about Sam? She loves Mortimer. Is he-"
"He's a good man," Nicholas said firmly. "Your sister is perfectly safe with Mortimer. He will never stray, never harm her, give his life for her, and always keep her safe. You needn't worry about her future. Please trust me on that."
Jo considered him silently, debating whether she should trust him and finding that in her heart of hearts she did. If he said Mortimer was not a threat to Sam, she believed him.
"And what about me?" she asked. "Is he a threat to me?"
"He would never hurt you either," Nicholas said solemnly.
"Fine." Jo turned away and started up the hall, saying, "I'm not sure what's going on here and I can't make you tell me, but these guys aren't cops and you only got caught because you saved me from that blond guy. I'm not leaving you locked up here. I'm going to go check the office and see if there are keys in there to your cell."
"Wait, Jo. I-"
"I'll be quick," Jo promised, turning the corner into the entry hall before he could protest again. Not that she would have listened anyway. She was determined to set him loose. It made perfect sense to Jo. Nicholas never would have been in this mess, what ever it was, had he not troubled himself to save her from blondie with the bad breath. Besides, what she'd said was true, Nicholas might be locked up in a cell, but this wasn't a police station, and Mortimer and Bricker were not cops. While she distinctly recalled Mortimer telling Sam that Nicholas was a rogue, as far as Jo knew, that was just a devilish, womanizing male. Considering how good a kisser he was, she wasn't shocked at the revelation. Her lips had been tingling ever since she'd regained her memories of the two toe-curling kisses he'd planted on her. The man showed some serious skill there, but it wasn't a good enough reason to be locking him up like a criminal. She was cutting him loose.
Jo peered out the window of the office before she did anything else, checking to make sure no one was heading toward the building. Finding the yard empty, she then turned to the shadowed room and began to move cautiously around, feeling the desk surface and then opening and groping the contents of drawers in the hope of finding a key to the cell Nicholas was locked in.
When that didn't turn up anything, Jo checked the window again, intending to risk the lights for a few moments if no one was around. However, the sight of two men crossing the lawn toward the building made her heart lurch up into her throat.
Panic suddenly pumping through her, Jo glanced wildly around the shadowed room, and then her eyes landed on the dark hole that was the knee cubby under the desk. Without pausing to consider the merits of the hiding spot, she quickly dropped and crawled into it. Jo had just gotten into the spot and squeezed her eyes closed-as if that might help make her invisible-when she heard the outer door open and the murmur of male voices.
"I don't know, Mortimer," Bricker was saying. "Nicholas just keeps risking himself to save women. Maybe he isn't the rogue we thought he was."
"Sam said the same thing," Mortimer admitted, and Jo's eyes opened with alarm as his voice suddenly became clear and loud and the office light came on overhead. Oh Christ, they were coming in here. She was so dead, she thought with horror as Mortimer continued, "But you know what he did as well as I do, and-"
"Where are you going?" Bricker interrupted.
"To get the keys to the cells," Mortimer answered, and Jo's heart stopped as his legs came into view between the desk chair and the kneehole where she crouched.
Please don't sit, please don't sit, she began to pray, sure he would bump her with his legs if he sat at the desk, and then she'd be discovered. Jo could have howled with frustration when his knees began to bend as he started to sit.
"I have the keys still," Bricker said, and Mortimer paused and straightened again. As the legs moved out of sight again, Bricker asked, "Why do you think he keeps risking getting caught then?"
"I don't know," Mortimer muttered as the lights in the office went out again. "Maybe he has a death wish."
"You think so?" Bricker asked with surprise, his voice growing fainter as the men moved out of the office. "I never would have figured him for the suicidal sort."
"I didn't say suicidal, I said death wish. There's a difference. "
Jo remained where she was as the voices moved farther away, not daring to breathe, let alone move until the deep rumble of Nicholas's voice joined them. She couldn't hear what they were saying now, but it told her that Mortimer and Bricker had reached the end cell and it was relatively safe to move. Certainly it was safer to move and get the hell out of the office than it was to wait there for them to return. Jo didn't think she'd be fortunate enough to avoid getting caught a second time if she stayed where she was. She had to get out of the office before they finished talking to Nicholas and returned.
Crawling out from the knee cubby, Jo crouched behind the desk and peered nervously over it toward the door just to be sure, but when she didn't see anyone at the door or through the windows, she quickly stood and tiptoed out of the room, only to stop when she heard the voices up the hall.
"Nothing to say?" Mortimer was asking.
"He was talking earlier," Bricker commented, and she could hear the frown in his voice.
"Well then, I guess we just wait for Lucian. He'll find out anything we need to know," Mortimer decided and Jo realized she'd best get her butt moving. She glanced around briefly, her gaze moving back toward the exit, and then shifting to the garage where the SUVs all sat lined up silent and waiting. She headed for the garage. It seemed the smartest option to her. Jo didn't trust that Mortimer and Bricker wouldn't lock the door of the building when they left this time, and she might not be able to get back in. Besides, there was obviously no sense looking for the keys in the office since Bricker had them. But perhaps she could find something in the garage to hack through the bars or jimmy the lock or something.
"Lucian might come tonight and put you out of your misery, but it could be morning before he gets here," Mortimer was saying as Jo reached the garage door. "You might as well make yourself comfortable. Do you want anything?"
Nicholas's response was just a rumble of sound as Jo carefully opened the door to the garage and slid through it. As she eased the door carefully closed, she heard Mortimer say, "Then we'll leave you to your thoughts."
Jo hurried to the first SUV in the garage to duck on the other side of it. She waited there for one heartbeat, but then couldn't resist easing up to peer through the windows of the SUV. She was just in time to see Bricker and Mortimer enter the small entry hall and move into the office.
As she'd feared, Mortimer did drop to sit in the desk chair and scoot his knees under the desk as he leaned back in the seat. Had she remained, she definitely would have been caught, Jo thought as she watched Bricker settle himself on the corner of the desk. The two men looked like they were settling in for a long chat, and she sighed to herself, wishing they'd get their butts out of there even as she wished she could hear what they were saying. Jo even briefly considered trying to sneak to the door and cracking it open to listen, but the risk of being caught was enough to put that idea in the "not very smart" category so she remained where she was.
They talked for only a moment before Bricker stood and moved to the medical refrigerator she'd earlier noted held a stock of blood. As she watched, he opened the glass-fronted door to retrieve a couple of bags.
Jo frowned, wondering what on earth he was going to do with them. Her confusion only increased when he tossed one of the bags to Mortimer, and she eased up a little higher to see better, only to drop quickly out of view again when Bricker suddenly glanced in her direction.
Biting her lip, Jo waited, sure she'd been spotted and that Bricker would come bursting into the garage any moment. But a moment passed and then several more without the sudden sound of the garage door opening. Still, she gave it another moment and then eased up just high enough to see through the windows again. What she saw was Bricker throwing out what appeared to be a now-empty blood bag as he followed Mortimer out of the office.
Jo ducked back down and waited until she heard the slam of the outer door. She then eased back up to peer through the windows of the SUV again. The office was empty, Mortimer and Bricker were gone. Jo hesitated and then got to her feet and moved to the large garage door in front of the SUV she'd been hiding behind. Rising up on her tiptoes, she managed to peer out the high window and saw Mortimer and Bricker moving off across the lawn toward the house. She watched, waiting until they entered through the sliding glass door, and then turned to peer around the garage.
Unlike the office, the garage lights had been on when she'd entered the building and still were. Jo had no idea why, unless some of the partygoers had arrived in some of the SUVs in here. Which meant they'd be coming in to collect their vehicles when they wanted to leave. She had to get moving.
Jo moved quickly to the long worktable along the back wall of the garage, her eyes quickly scanning the tools hanging from hooks in the pegboard above it. There was everything from screwdrivers to chain saws on that board. Jo briefly considered the easy route, taking the chain saw and just cutting through the bars, or failing that-because she wasn't entirely sure even a chain saw could cut through metal bars-simply cutting through the plasterboard walls. How ever, chain saws were bloody noisy, and the sound might reach the house or the front gate and bring someone running, which meant she had to do it the hard way. She'd have to pick the lock. It wasn't an impossible task, but she was rusty and it might take a bit of time. She hoped the men didn't return for a while as she grabbed up several likely-looking tools.
Moving quickly, Jo hurried out of the garage, but instead of heading right back to Nicholas's cell, she made a quick detour into the office for a brief look out the window. Reassured to find the lawn empty and still, she hurried out of the office with determined strides.