A Reagan Keeter Box Set: Three page-turning thrillers that will leave you wondering who you can trus Reagan Keeter (most difficult books to read TXT) 📖

“We can’t keep going in this thing. We can’t take the chance Austin will hear us.” He turned off the engine. “We need to get up there on foot, deal with him first. Then we’ll figure out where our parents are.”

Olin and Dylan agreed that made sense.

As they piled out of the truck, Connor was tempted to tell Dylan to wait there. But Dylan didn’t take directions well, and she would likely be safer with them than she would be wandering around on her own.

Olin reached over into the bed of the truck and grabbed the bat. “Let’s go.”

Connor nodded, and they hurried up the road. He wished he had the Taser as well, but somehow in all the excitement back at the house he had lost it.

The trees thinned out as they neared the cabin. With the moon reflecting off the water and the lights in the cabin casting a warm glow onto the porch, the sight would have been picturesque in another context.

Connor noticed the van had stopped at the edge of the water and was just sitting there.

“Should we go check it out?” Dylan said.

Connor took a deep breath, answered only by stepping off the road. The new course he was on would take him directly to the vehicle. He didn’t think Austin had an accomplice, so it was almost certainly Austin driving the van. The three of them had taken him down before. They could do it again.

The driver’s door opened. A figure got out.

Connor stopped where he was, held a hand out for Olin and Dylan to do the same. It was inevitable that the van would eventually move or someone would step out, but Connor suddenly felt more exposed than he had before and he needed a moment to reassess their situation.

First question: Was it Austin?

He watched the way the man moved around the van and decided it probably was.

Second question: What was he up to?

They had come this far with their only plan being to “deal with him.” But Connor still didn’t know exactly how they were going to do that. If they could figure out what Austin was doing, they could anticipate his movements, form a plan to close in without being seen.

“Do you think he’s dumping the van in the lake?” Olin said.

Connor shrugged. It did indeed look that way. What else would he be doing there? “If he is, he’s going to have to go back to the front of the van eventually to put it in gear and weigh down the gas pedal.”

“And that’s when we’ll get him,” Dylan said, punching her right fist into her left palm.

“Calm down, Captain Marvel.” Connor watched Austin open the van’s rear doors. “But, yes, that’s when we’ll get him.”

Austin dragged something big and bulky out of the van and let it fall to the ground. Then he gestured as if he might be talking to someone.

“He’s not alone,” Olin said.

A figured emerged. Connor strained to see through the darkness. As the person awkwardly climbed out of the van, Connor could see enough of the person’s silhouette to know it was a woman. He also noticed she moved both hands as one. It was as if . . . “Her hands are tied. That’s got to be my mom.” He turned to Olin. “Or yours.”

Then Connor realized the big and bulky thing Austin had dragged out of the van was a body. Dead or unconscious, there was no way to know.

“What is he doing out there?” Dylan said.

Connor suspected Dylan’s question was rhetorical. There was only one answer, and he was sure all three of them knew what it was. “We need a plan right now.”

Olin, however, wasn’t waiting around to make a plan. He broke into a run before Connor even finished his sentence. Connor and Dylan immediately went after him. As he closed in on Austin, he raised the bat, swung.

Austin turned around right before Olin made contact. He doubled over, fell to the ground. Connor and Dylan caught up with Olin as he was lifting the bat over his head, about to swing again.

“Don’t do it,” Austin said. He was lying on the ground, half propped up by the body Connor still couldn’t identify and struggling to speak. He had one hand wrapped around his torso. And in the other, a gun aimed in Olin’s general direction.

Olin froze.

The woman, Connor noticed, was his mom. He felt himself go dizzy like he had on the stairwell as so many emotions fought for dominance. He wanted to run to her, to hug her, to let her know that everything would be okay. But he couldn’t do any of that. Not with Austin holding that gun. For now, he just had to take solace in the fact that, while she looked bad, at least she was alive.

And that, he realized, probably meant the man Austin was propped up against was Frank.

“Put it down,” Austin said.

Olin did, moving slowly so as not to spook him. The man’s hand might be shaking, but Olin clearly understood Austin was close enough to hit one of them if he pulled the trigger.

“Get over there with the rest of them,” Austin said to Kim. Then he grunted and groaned and pushed himself back up to his feet. Still holding one hand around his stomach, he stepped back. When you have a gun and your enemy has a bat, distance is your friend.

He looked down at Frank, who was still lying in a heap on the ground but seemed to be regaining consciousness, and swung the gun toward him only long enough to fire a single round.

Kim screamed.

“The rest of you get into the house!” Austin shouted, jabbing the gun at them as he spoke.

CHAPTER 57

Austin told Connor to hand over his and his father’s cellphones. Then he directed everyone down to the cellar. He said he needed to think. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. None of it was.

When Connor saw the cages, he