Dead By Nightfall Read Online Free PDF

approached, Derek was still staring into the ransacked room, watching as Yvette walked up behind Griff, whose back was to her, lifted her arm, and placed her hand on his shoulder.
    “She will help him,” Sanders said.
    Derek nodded.
    “We have a lot to do,” Sanders told him. “It may well be tomorrow before Griffin is able to take charge again. In the meantime, I will need your assistance to address certain urgent matters.”
    Snapping out of his trancelike state, completely absorbed by the way Yvette doubled over and groaned in pain as she struggled to hold on to Griff. When she dropped to her knees, her hand clinging to Griff’s leg, Derek forced himself to face Sanders.
    “Yvette can do more for him now than you or I.” Sanders reached behind him and closed the door. “But there is much you and I can and must do as soon as possible.”
    “Maleah should be here anytime now,” Derek said. “You work up the game plan and we’ll expedite it immediately.”
    “The first order of business is to assign agents to go to the cabin and search for any clues that might tell us what happened to Nicole.” Sanders motioned for Derek to follow him as he moved down the hall, away from Griff’s study and toward the foyer. “I need to tell Barbara Jean what has happened. She is waiting in our quarters. While I fill her in on the situation, will you please get in touch with Saxon Chap-pell and send him to Gatlinburg? And see if you can get in touch with Shaughnessy. Ask him to return to Griffin’s Rest as soon as possible. If ...” Sanders cleared his throat. “If it were to become necessary for us to subdue Griffin, Shaughnessy is the only agent we have who has the physical strength to help us do that.”
    “Anything else?” Derek asked.
    “Get in touch with headquarters and have all available personnel called in and put to work tracking every airplane, boat, bus, and train that left the region in the past eight hours.”
    “Airplane departures should be the top priority,” Derek suggested. “In all likelihood, if Anthony Linden abducted Nicole, he would have a private plane waiting to take her out of the country.”
    “Agreed.” With a curt nod of his shaved head, Sanders walked briskly away, through the foyer, and down the hallway that led to his and Barbara Jean’s quarters at the back of the mansion.
    Derek headed toward the state-of-the-art-equipped office suite there at Griffin’s Rest. He had taken only a few hurried steps when the front door opened and a voice called out to him.
    “Derek!”
    He turned, sighed with relief at the sight of the woman he loved, and rushed toward her as she raced straight into his arms. He hugged her to him before capturing her face between his open palms and kissing her long and hard. When she broke away and sucked in a deep breath, he grasped her hands and held them between their bodies.
    “I am so damn glad to see you, Blondie.”
    “Yeah, you just made that perfectly clear.” Maleah tried to smile, but the effort failed. “Has there been any word on Nic?”
    “Nothing.”
    “How’s Griff?”
    Derek grimaced. “Not good. Sanders told him that Nic is missing and Cully is dead. Now Yvette is in the study with him.”
    “If it wasn’t for that woman—”
    “Don’t.” Derek squeezed Maleah’s hands. “Now is not the time to assign blame. We have to work together to keep Griff halfway sane and to do everything possible to locate Nic and bring her home.”
    With her lips pursed in reluctant, silent agreement, Maleah bobbed her head affirmatively.
    “And for now, I think it’s best if Griff doesn’t know that Nic is pregnant,” Derek said.
    “Oh, God ...” Maleah softly butted her head against Derek’s shoulder. And then she stopped and looked up at him. “I know Nic. If she weren’t pregnant, she would fight tooth and nail, but she’s at a disadvantage because she is not going to do anything to jeopardize her baby’s life.” Tears gathered in