Once Taken. Blake Pierce

of morning. It was going to take a while to get home. April hoped that the man wasn’t going to make a whole lot of conversation. That could get really awkward.

      But after a couple of blocks of silence, April felt even more uncomfortable. The man had stopped smiling, and his expression seemed rather grim to her. She noticed that all the doors were locked. She surreptitiously fingered the button of the passenger-side window. It didn’t budge.

      The car came to a stop behind a line of cars waiting for a light to change. The man clicked on the left turn signal. April was seized by a sudden burst of anxiety.

      “Um … we have to go straight here,” she said.

      The man said nothing. Had he simply not heard her? Somehow, she couldn’t get up the nerve to say it again. Besides, maybe he planned to go by a different route. But no, she couldn’t think of how he could drive her home from that direction.

      April wondered what to do. Should she scream for help? Would anybody hear her? And what if the man hadn’t heard what she said? Didn’t mean any harm after all? The whole thing would be horribly embarrassing.

      Then she saw someone familiar slouching along the sidewalk, his backpack slung over his shoulder. It was Brian, her sort-of-boyfriend these days. She rapped sharply on the window.

      She gasped with relief when Brian looked around and saw her.

      “Do you want a ride?” she mouthed to Brian.

      Brian grinned and nodded.

      “Oh, that’s my boyfriend,” April said. “Could we stop and pick him up, please? He’s on his way to my house anyway.”

      It was a lie. April really had no idea where Brian was headed. The man scowled and grunted. He wasn’t at all happy with this. Was he going to stop? April’s heart beat wildly.

      Brian was talking on his cell phone as he stood on the sidewalk and waited. But he was looking straight at the car and April was sure that he could see the driver pretty clearly. She was glad to have a potential witness just in case the man had something ugly in mind.

      The man studied Brian, and he clearly saw him talking on his cell, and saw him looking back right at him.

      Without saying a word, the man unlocked the doors. April signaled for Brian to get in the back seat, so he opened the door and jumped in. He shut the door just as the light changed and the line of cars started to move again.

      “Thanks for the ride, mister,” Brian said brightly.

      The man didn’t say anything at all. He kept on scowling.

      “He’s taking us to my house, Brian,” April said.

      “Awesome,” Brian replied.

      April felt safe now. If the man really had bad intentions, he surely wasn’t going to snatch both her and Brian. He’d surely drive them straight to Mom’s house.

      Thinking ahead, April wondered whether she should tell her mother about the man and her suspicions about him. But no, that would mean admitting to skipping her class and hitchhiking. Mom would ground her for good.

      Besides, she thought, the driver couldn’t be Peterson.

      Peterson was a psychotic killer, not a regular man driving a car.

      And Peterson, after all, was dead.

      Chapter 5

      Brent Meredith’s tight, grim expression told Riley that he didn’t like her request at all.

      “It’s an obvious case for me to take,” she said. “I have more experience than anybody else with this kind of kinky serial killer.”

      She had just described the call from Reedsport, Meredith’s jaw set the entire time.

      After a long silence, Meredith finally sighed.

      “I’ll allow it,” he said reluctantly.

      Riley breathed a sigh of relief.

      “Thank you, sir,” she said.

      “Don’t thank me,” he growled. “I’m doing this against my better judgment. I’m only going along with it because you’ve got the special skills to deal with this case. Your experience with this kind of killer is unique. I’ll assign you a partner.”

      Riley felt a jolt of discouragement. She knew that working with Bill wasn’t an option right now, but she wondered if Meredith knew why there was tension between the long-time partners. She thought it more likely that Bill had simply told Meredith that he wanted to stay close to home for now.

      “But sir – ” she began.

      “No buts,” Meredith said. “And no more of your lone wolf shenanigans. It’s not smart, and it’s against policy. You’ve nearly gotten yourself killed more than once. Rules are rules. And I’m breaking enough of them right now as it is, not putting you on leave after your recent incidents.”

      “Yes, sir,” Riley said quietly.

      Meredith rubbed his chin, obviously considering all the options. He said, “Agent Vargas will go with you.”

      “Lucy Vargas?” Riley asked.

      Meredith just nodded. Riley didn’t much like the idea.

      “She was on the team that showed up at my house last night,” Riley said. “She seems very impressive, and I liked her – but she’s a rookie. I’m used to working with someone more experienced.”

      Meredith smiled broadly. “Her marks at the academy were off the charts. And she’s young, all right. It’s rare that students right out of the academy get accepted to BAU. But she really is that good. She’s ready for experience in the field.”

      Riley knew she had no choice.

      Meredith continued, “How soon can you be ready to go?”

      Riley ran the necessary preparations through her mind. Talking to her daughter was at the top of her list. And what else? Her travel kit wasn’t here in her office. She’d have to drive to Fredericksburg, stop at home, then make sure that April would stay at her father’s and drive back to Quantico.

      “Give me three hours,” she said.

      “I’ll call for a plane,” Meredith said. “I’ll notify the police chief in Reedsport that we have a team on the way. Be at the airstrip in exactly three hours. If you’re late, there’ll be hell to pay.”

      Riley rose nervously from her chair.

      “I understand, sir,” she said. She almost thanked him again, but hastily remembered his command not to. She left his office without another word.

*

      Riley made it to her house in half an hour, parked outside, and made a beeline for the front door. She had to grab her travel kit, a small suitcase she always kept packed with toiletries, a robe, and a change of clothes. She had to get them super fast and then go into town, where she’d explain things to April and Ryan. She wasn’t looking forward to that part at all, but she needed to be sure that April was safe.

      When she turned the key in the front door, she found that it was already unlocked. She knew she had locked it when she left. She always did, without fail. All of Riley’s senses snapped into alertness. She pulled out her gun and stepped inside.

      As she moved stealthily into the house, peering around at every nook and corner, she became aware of a long, continuous noise. It seemed to be coming from outside the house, in back. It was music – very loud music.

      What the hell?

      Still on the lookout for any intruder, she went through the kitchen. The back door was partly open and a pop song was blaring outside. She smelled a familiar aroma.

      “Oh, Jesus, not this again,” she said to herself.

      She put her gun back into its holster and walked outside. Sure enough, there was April, sitting at the picnic table with a skinny boy about her age. The music was coming from a pair of little speakers sitting on the picnic table.

      Upon