The Missing

spot in front of the cabin where it looked like somebody parked regularly. But the cabin itself looked damned empty. As secluded as this place was, if somebody had been in that cabin, they would be at the door.

    Or maybe not, Cullen thought. If the sick fuck who had taken his baby was inside that house, the last thing he would want to do was announce his presence to anybody. “Don’t suppose I can convince you to wait in the car, huh?” Taige asked as she came up to stand beside him. She’d put a holster on, and Cullen could see the butt of a gun peering out from under her right arm. With her weight resting lightly on the balls of her feet and a grim, intent look on her face, she looked as much a warrior now as she had that first summer when he’d watched her break through the waves like a mermaid, a drowning child in her arms.

    “No. You can’t convince me to wait in the car.”

    As one, they turned their attention back to the house. “Can you use that gun left-handed?”

    “Almost as good as I can with my right hand,” Taige replied. She closed her eyes, and her shoulders lifted and fell as she took a deep, slow breath, followed by another. “But I don’t think I’m going to need it. She’s in there alone.”

    “How can you be sure?”

    Her misty gray eyes slid toward him, and Cullen blew out a breath. “Okay, dumb question.”

    She rolled her shoulders, looking like she was getting ready to step into the ring with a professional boxer, but she didn’t look scared or even worried. She pulled the gun from the leather shoulder holster, palming it in her left hand.

    “I thought you said he wasn’t here.” Instinctively, Cullen shifted and placed his body in front of hers. Pointless, considering she was the one with the weapon. A very mean-looking weapon at that, matte black, and she held it like it was part of her.

    “I did. And I’m certain he isn’t.” Then she slid around him and planted herself squarely in front of him and gave him a hard look over her shoulder. “But I’ve been wrong before. Now, please, stay behind me. We’re both worried about your girl. Don’t make me worry about you, too.”

    So I’m supposed to worry about you? he wondered. But he kept the question behind his lips, and when she started to walk toward the house, he stayed exactly two steps behind her, close enough that he could grab her and throw her behind him if he had to.

    The door was locked. He watched as Taige tried to open it by shoving against it. It didn’t even budge. The door boasted three shiny, rather new-looking locks. She glanced at him and asked, “Don’t suppose you can pick locks, can you?”

    Cullen scowled. “Hell, no. Can you?”

    She lifted her casted hand and said, “One-handed? Hell, no.” She stepped back and studied the house. Cullen took her place and shoved against the door. It was like pushing against a brick wall. He took a step back and threw his weight into it, striking it with his shoulder, and it still didn’t give.

    “Don’t bother. If he’s been using this as a place to keep his victims, he’s going to do his damnedest to keep people out. That door is probably reinforced, and those locks are heavy-duty.”

    Cullen ignored her. If his little girl was on the other side of that door, the door could be made of titanium, and he’d find a way through it.

    “Cullen.”

    He heard the thud of footsteps on the porch, heard gravel crunch and the truck door open and shut. He glanced back as Taige came striding back toward the porch. His shoulder throbbed, and the door still felt as solid as a redwood.

    The sound of glass shattering finally had him looking around. Taige stood in front of a small, narrow window. She had her left hand wrapped in what looked like a T-shirt, and she was using it to knock shards of glass from the window. She glanced toward him and shrugged. “I’m already bruised and battered enough,” she said.

    As she unwound the T-shirt wrapped around her forearm and hand, he saw that she held her gun and had used it to break the window. Little shards of glass rained down as she dropped it onto the porch.

    Still holding her Glock, Taige peered through the window. It was exactly as she’d seen in those few brief moments from earlier, one room that served as kitchen and bedroom, and a wall that bisected the house nearly in half. The door was in the middle of it, and Taige’s heartbeat kicked up a few notches when she saw