Taking You (A Hailey Rock FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 8)

T A K I N G

Y O U

(A Hailey Rock Mystery—Book 8)

R y l i e   D a r k

Rylie Dark

Bestselling author Rylie Dark is author of the SADIE PRICE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising six books; of the CARLY SEE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising six books; of the MIA NORTH FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising six books; of the MORGAN STARK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising five books; of the HAILEY ROCK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising eight books; of the TARA STRONG MYSTERY series, comprising six books; of the ALEX QUINN FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising five books; of the MAEVE SHARP FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER, comprising five books; of the KELLY CRUZ FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER, comprising five books; of the JESSIE REACH FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER, comprising seven books (and counting); of the BECCA THORN FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER, comprising five books (and counting); of the CASEY FAITH SUSPENSE THRILLER, comprising five books (and counting); of the ARIA BRANDT SUSPENSE THRILLER, comprising five books (and counting); and of the new HAYDEN SMART SUSPENSE THRILLER, comprising five books (and counting).

An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Rylie loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.ryliedark.com to learn more and stay in touch.

Copyright © 2024 by Rylie Dark. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Jacket image Copyright Brilliant Eye, used under license from Shutterstock.com.

BOOKS BY RYLIE DARK

HAYDEN SMART MYSTERY

ALL FOR ME (Book #1)

ALL FOR NOTHING (Book #2)

ALL FOR VENGEANCE (Book #3)

ALL FOR YOU (Book #4)

ALL FOREVER (Book #5)

ARIA BRANDT MYSTERY

THE UNKNOWN WOMAN (Book #1)

THE UNKNOWN WIFE (Book #2)

THE UNKNOWN NEIGHBOR (Book #3)

THE UNKNOWN GUEST (Book #4)

THE UNKNOWN PAST (Book #5)

CASEY FAITH MYSTERY

BEHIND HIS EYES (Book #1)

BEHIND HIS SMILE (Book #2)

BEHIND HIS MASK (Book #3)

BEHIND HIS LIES (Book #4)

BEHIND HIS THOUGHTS (Book #5)

BECCA THORN MYSTERY

GONE COLD (Book #1)

GONE DARK (Book #2)

GONE SILENT (Book #3)

GONE HOLLOW (Book #4)

GONE FOREVER (Book #5)

JESSIE REACH MYSTERY

HIS OTHER SIDE (Book #1)

HIS OTHER SELF (Book #2)

HIS OTHER SECRET (Book #3)

HIS OTHER WISH (Book #4)

HIS OTHER PLAN (Book #5)

KELLY CRUZ MYSTERY

WHERE YOU GO (Book #1)

WHERE YOU HIDE (Book #2)

WHERE YOU SLEEP (Book #3)

WHERE YOU RUN (Book #4)

WHERE YOU FEAR (Book #5)

MAEVE SHARP FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

WITH MALICE (Book #1)

WITH ENVY (Book #2)

WITH VENGEANCE (Book #3)

WITH RAGE (Book #4)

WITH YOU (Book #5)

ALEX QUINN SUSPENSE THRILLER

FIRST, MURDER (Book #1)

SECOND, DEATH (Book #2)

THIRD, ENVY (Book #3)

FOURTH, LUST (Book #4)

FIFTH, WRATH (Book #5)

TARA STRONG MYSTERY

GIRL WITHOUT A CHANCE (Book #1)

GIRL WITHOUT A HOME (Book #2)

GIRL WITHOUT A TRACE (Book #3)

GIRL WITHOUT A NAME (Book #4)

GIRL WITHOUT A PRAYER (Book #5)

GIRL WITHOUT A PAST (Book #6)

HAILEY ROCK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

BEHIND YOU (Book #1)

BESIDE YOU (Book #2)

AFTER YOU (Book #3)

WATCHING YOU (Book #4)

JUDGING YOU (Book #5)

FOLLOWING YOU (Book #6)

SADIE PRICE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

ONLY MURDER (Book #1)

ONLY RAGE (Book #2)

ONLY HIS (Book #3)

ONLY ONCE (Book #4)

ONLY SPITE (Book #5)

ONLY MADNESS (Book #6)

MIA NORTH FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

SEE HER RUN (Book #1)

SEE HER HIDE (Book #2)

SEE HER SCREAM (Book #3)

SEE HER VANISH (Book #4)

SEE HER GONE (Book #5)

SEE HER DEAD (Book #6)

CARLY SEE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

NO WAY OUT (Book #1)

NO WAY BACK (Book #2)

NO WAY HOME (Book #3)

NO WAY LEFT (Book #4)

NO WAY UP (Book #5)

NO WAY TO DIE (Book #6)

MORGAN STARK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

TOO LATE (Book #1)

TOO CLOSE (Book #2)

TOO FAR GONE (Book #3)

TOO LOST (Book #4)

TOO BROKEN (Book #5)

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

PROLOGUE

An isolated pond in Taney County, southern Missouri

July 1

11 PM

Melissa Chang knew she was taking a horrible risk, but she couldn’t resist. Hidden Pond was just too beautiful at this time of year under a full moon.

Still, her nerves were on edge as she crept down the narrow, moonlit path she had cut through the woods the previous year, a path she had deliberately not connected to the dirt road a mile away. She didn’t want anyone else to find Hidden Pond. It was hers and hers alone.

She hoped.

The summer air was heavy with humidity, buzzing with cicadas, and filled with the heavy aroma of Ozark woodland. The moon peeked through the thick canopy to splash silver on the leaves and underbrush and turn the thin path into a faint Milky Way trail leading her to her private swimming hole.

Melissa kept a tight grip on her twelve-gauge pump action shotgun. A Missouri girl born and bred, she knew how to shoot and had no doubt she’d pull the trigger if it came to that.

And it might come to that.

For more than a year now, the Ozarks had been rocked by a relentless series of brutal serial killings. One after another, these monsters had reared their heads, killing men and women in Taney County and surrounding counties. Some killings had even occurred over the state line in Arkansas.

And now the papers were full of reports of Satanic activity in the woods. Shrines found next to isolated creeks. Pentagrams made of colored rocks. Goat’s heads painted on rock overhangs. There had even been some sacrifices of roosters and goats.

But what were the chances of the Satanists being out here right now? The wilderness in the Ozarks was vast, a series of narrow valleys and tree-covered hills cut only occasionally by roads and settlements. Hardly anyone used the back road she had taken to get here, and no one knew of her hidden trail and secret pond. She’d never seen any evidence of hunters or anyone else coming through.

Melissa Chang figured there wasn't anyone within five miles, and with the underbrush so thick here, she'd hear a person trying to move through it. Besides, she had her shotgun.

And if she was honest with herself, the idea of Satanists prowling these woods gave her nighttime swim an added thrill. Melissa smiled as she peered into the darkness, ears perked for any suspicious sound.

She had found the pond on one of her solitary walks she had enjoyed before terror had gripped the Ozarks. Melissa loved the woods, and loved solitude even more. During Covid, she had snuck out to go on lone hikes even though it wasn’t allowed. What was the harm? She wasn’t going to catch Covid from the squirrels! Melissa didn’t like rules, especially if they made no sense.

When she had stumbled on the pond, she immediately knew it would become her favorite spot. It was a little patch of Ozark heaven.

Nestled in a gentle bowl of a valley and fed by a mountain stream, the water was clear and with enough of a current that mosquitos didn't lay eggs on the surface or gather there. The pond was shallow too, so by summer it had heated up to the temperature of bath water. Moss-covered rocks surrounded much of it to provide a comfortable place to spread out a towel. The pond was only about the size of the average backyard swimming pool, and you could stand up even at its deepest point. Even swimming on a dark night it was perfectly safe.

That first day she had looked around, seen no one, and stripped down for some skinny dipping. It had been pure bliss. She’d gone back countless times.

Tonight, though, she wore a bathing suit under her t-shirt and jeans. Much as she liked skinny dipping, she wasn’t going to do that in the middle of the night with psychos in the woods. Even she wasn’t that much of a risk junkie.

Almost there. She recognized the big rock she had to blaze a trail around that marked the edge of the valley. The rock was the size of a truck, gleaming in the moonlight like some old bald giant. From there she just had to skirt around it, descend a gentle slope for maybe thirty yards, then across a flat bit for another minute or so, and Hidden Pond would be right there.

She smiled and glanced up at the patches of sky she could see above. A perfect night for a swim.

A rustle behind her made her stop and spin around, leveling her shotgun.

Silence except for the whir of the cicadas.

Melissa noticed a small open area next to the path. She ducked in there and, protected by the shadow, knelt down and put her thumb on the safety, ready to flick it off and prepare to fire.

She didn’t do that yet, though. She didn’t want to make a sound.

Melissa watched and waited. Although her heart threatened to rip out of her chest, her mind remained calm, rational. The forest was full of sounds. It had probably just been a squirrel or a racoon or something.

Still no sound. Through the foliage she had a clear view of the trail for at least fifteen feet and she saw nothing.

Melissa counted to sixty, and when she heard and saw nothing more, she slowly rose and stepped back on the path.

She grinned. The feel of adrenaline coursing through her veins was a thrill, almost sensuous, and so would swimming in the middle of the night under a full moon. Maybe she’d skip the bathing suit after all.

No. Something told her to be on guard. She'd keep the shotgun right by the edge of the pool, and she wouldn't put her head under the water.

Melissa started walking down the path again, peering all around her, enjoying the delicious feeling of tension at being alone in the woods at night. Every few steps she stopped again to listen, but except for once when she heard something very faint, something that could have been anything, there was no indication that she wasn’t the only living creature moving around here.

Down the slope and along the straightaway. Melissa felt a rising sense of ease and anticipation. Hidden Pond appeared before her, a glowing oval mirror of moonlight. Now that she was in a more open area, she took a good look around. The forest was full of dark shapes and shadows. Any of them could be a predator—animal or human. Melissa laughed. She was alone, doing something most people would never dare to do.

Sure, the Ozarks had become a dangerous place. Sure, she carried pepper spray when she was in town and had installed a burglar alarm in her house, but what were the chances that she personally would be targeted?

Low. Very low. And when she was out in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night, those chances became vanishingly small.

Melissa Chang stepped over to the edge of the pond, pulled off a small backpack, and took out a towel, which she spread on one of the flat rocks next to the water. Next she took off her shoes and socks, jeans and t-shirt until she wore only her bathing suit. Her shotgun lay right at the water’s edge, just in case.

Melissa stretched, enjoying the feel of the warm night air on her body, and then stepped into the water.

It felt like stepping into a bathtub. She moved further into the pond, her feet steady and sure on the flat stone bottom, the water rippling softly.

She eased into the water and smiled. What a feeling of freedom! It was like when she got out of university ten years ago and she spent six months traveling solo all over India, Sir Lanka, and Nepal. Her parents had been terrified she’d be assaulted or kidnapped. Sure, there had been some harassment, especially in northern India where in the city crowds she felt a lot of straying hands, but she’d held her ground and had the time of her life. The only real dangers were a bad case of Delhi Belly and some altitude sickness when she trekked to the Everest base camp.

Melissa Chang liked danger. Not too much, just edging close to danger and getting away with it.

Like now.

God, this water felt wonderful! She did a lazy backstroke from one end of the pond to the other, then turned to go back.

A movement in the shadows caught her eye. She froze, stared, and let out a breath of relief. Only a low branch waving in the breeze. She could see it clearly now. Laughing at the adrenaline rush, she went back to swimming.

After a minute, she forgot her promise to herself and ducked her head under the water, relishing the water’s warm embrace. A few powerful strokes, then a turn before she hit the far end, and a few more strokes in the other direction.

Odd. She could have sworn she felt another current, water pushing at her from her left.

Melissa poked her head above water, took a breath, and wiped her eyes.

Before she could see anything, a strong hand gripped the top of her hair and pushed her head beneath the water.

Melissa thrashed around, feeling herself getting pressed against the cold stone bottom of the shallows. She tried pushing up, pulling away, but the arm holding her down was like a bar of iron. Her lungs began to burn.

She groped around, trying to see through the darkened water. Her hand found his leg, then his other leg, then worked its way up to the spot between them and squeezed.

The hand slammed her down against the bottom of the pond, but Melissa kept on squeezing, a vicelike grip of pure panic.

He let go. Melissa shot up out of the water gulping air. With one hand, she wiped her eyes. With the other, she reached for her shotgun as she launched herself forward.

Her fingers wrapped around its reassuring weight. The next moment, her assailant reached around from behind her to pin her weapon hand. His free arm wrapped around her waist and flipped her back into the water.

The impact made her lose her grip on her weapon. Again she got pressed down to the bottom of the pond,