Authors: Trish Milburn
Eddie clamped one hand around the back of her neck and shoved the unyielding barrel of the gun between her shoulder blades with the other. "Head toward that trail."
She balked, afraid of what lay down that familiar path to the log where she and Reed had shared their first kiss. Her eyes stung with hot tears. Would she ever kiss him again? Regret swamped her, nearly suffocating her. She’d waffled, hesitated, rationalized and doubted so long that now she might never get to tell him she loved him. Loved him despite all the fears that came along with loving a cop.
No. She wouldn’t go. She’d worked too hard to rebuild her life to have Eddie destroy it again. She struggled against his grasp, trying to free herself.
He hit her temple with the butt of the gun, sending her to her knees. Her vision blurred, threatened to fade. Sharp, hot pain sank deep into her head. Eddie tightened his grip on her neck and jerked her to her feet. "I said walk."
She complied so he might lessen the crushing pressure.She stumbled toward the forest’s edge. Her mind started, faltered and stopped like a sputtering car, but as the forest loomed she came no closer to an escape plan. The part of her that was tired of conflict urged her to accept her fate. But a much stronger part of her soul rebelled—because she’d found love a second time. It was a love worth fighting for even though the consequences of fighting and losing were great.
"Where are we going?" she demanded, determined not to be a victim.
"Somewhere we won’t be interrupted." He pressed the gun against her spine, compelling her to pick up her pace a bit, difficult since her eyes refused to focus clearly.
With each step deeper into the forest, her chances for survival slipped away. The pines loomed above them like whispering giants.
They followed the path until it vanished, but Eddie urged her on into the thick understory. Bushes swatted her bare legs, leaving stinging scratches. She caught a glimpse of the river. Chris had dropped off their guests at the Y an hour earlier. They’d floated well past this point by now, and even if they hadn’t, they wouldn’t be able to determine anything amiss with the two figures on the ridge above.
Eddie tramped along behind her, cursing the weeds and woody plants. No matter how far they walked, he kept the gun pressed to her back. The steel dug into her skin, no doubt leaving an indentation like a brand.
At one point, she thought she heard distant shouting, but she couldn’t be sure. It might have been merely a vain hope conjured by her rapidly fatiguing mind. She wondered if she should just accept fate, simply put one foot in front of the other, but self-preservation prevented her from doing so.
Her love for Reed prevented it.
****
Reed was in the middle of relaying his latest perimeter search report to Sean and Chris when something diverted his attention. Whether it had been a sound, a movement or just cop instinct, he sensed something wrong. He turned in mid conversation and listened. The office phone was ringing, but Shelly wasn’t answering. He bolted toward the office. His heart sank into the pit of his gut when he spied the back door standing open.
"Shelly!" No answer. God, no. The memory of the blinding red of Troy’s blood clouded his vision so much he had to reach out and steady himself against the wall. No. He wouldn’t let that happen to Shelly.
He ached to launch himself through that door and into the woods where instinct told him Eddie had taken her. But enough of his training asserted itself that he removed his gun from its holster and made a quick inspection of the small building. Finding no one, he returned to the front part of the office to find Chris and Sean rushing in.
"He’s got her," he choked out past the impossibly large lump clogging his throat.
Sean’s face went white. Chris’s mouth opened in disbelief. He knew how they both felt, like blind failures. One man had somehow slipped past all three of them and abducted the woman they’d sworn to protect.
"How?" Chris asked finally.
"I don’t know. But we’re going to get her back from that bastard."
Reed tried not to focus on the fact that he had no backup other than two well-meaning but untrained civilians. Every available cop in the county was at the gas company explosion.
"Damn it!"
"What?" Sean asked.
"The explosion. It was a diversion, a way to keep all the cops occupied so he could make his move. Damn it, I should have suspected something."
Leaving Chris in charge of the office and calling 911 for any help that might be available, Reed directed Sean with hand signals toward the forest. Reed took the worn path, motioning for Sean to wait a minute, then follow. Sean’s face tightened, signaling how much he resented having to postpone his hunt for his sister, but there was no sense in both of them walking into an ambush, leaving Shelly with no protection whatsoever.
Reed moved as quickly and quietly as possible, hoping stealth would lead him to Shelly before Eddie realized it. With each carefully placed step directed by his mind, his heart begged him to race after Shelly no matter how much noise he made. He’d fight Eddie hand to hand, take a bullet for her if necessary, but he’d be damned if he’d allow Eddie Victor to take away someone else he loved.
Reed’s nerves bunched as he crept from one cover to the next, using trees, clumps of bushes, rocky outcroppings. Each time he stopped, he strained to hear any sound that might tell him Shelly was still alive. He tried not to think that with a knife, Eddie could kill her with one swift swipe across her throat, preventing her from screaming. The red pushed into the sides of his vision again, but he cursed it so vehemently that it retreated like a kicked dog.
From behind a thick stand of pines, he checked out the trail ahead, then looked back to make sure Sean was keeping distance between them. He welcomed the help if it meant bringing back Shelly alive, but he also wouldn’t put her only sibling in harm’s way if it wasn’t necessary. If he had to go a few rounds with Sean afterward, so be it.
When he moved past the log where he and Shelly had sat the night she’d introduced him to the mountain’s fireflies, his heart squeezed. He tasted her lips as surely as he had that night. If he didn’t stop Eddie, he might never kiss her again. He shoved that thought away, refusing to even consider the possibility.
Dear God, he loved her.
If he found her he’d do things so much differently. The thought of telling her he loved her scared the marrow from his bones, but he’d do it. Life was short even if they lived to old age, and Shelly was right. You had to grab what happiness life presented when it passed by. With her in his arms again, he’d be so far beyond happy no one had invented the word to describe it.
If he held her again.
****
Shelly picked her way through a criss-cross of trees obviously downed by the recent storm. Eddie shoved the gun against her spine, pushing her so hard she tripped. Tired, thirsty and nerves stretched to the breaking point, she whirled and faced him.
The hatred pinching his face made her heart freeze again, but she would go no farther.
"Move," he said.
"No." She didn’t know where she got the strength to say it, but empowerment surged within her at the uttering of that solitary word.
He raised the gun until it pointed at her forehead. "If you know what’s good for you, you’ll do as I say. Now!"
"Why? So you can enjoy watching my little death march before you kill me? No, thanks, you filthy bastard."
The pain of a blow shot out from her already aching temple like a dozen hot blades, scorching her skin, her bones, her brain. She stumbled and fell to one knee. At first, she thought he’d shot her, that her life’s blood must be pooling on the ground beneath her, but she somehow managed to deduce that he’d struck her with the gun instead of shooting her. Why hadn’t he killed her already, quick and efficient like he had Troy? She blinked several times to clear her vision and fogged brain.
He grabbed a fist full of her hair and yanked her to her feet again. Another sharp pain screamed through her head. She couldn’t stifle a cry even though she knew her pain pleased him.
"Don’t worry, you cop-loving bitch, you’ll die, but not before I decide. You don’t deserve to die quickly. It’ll be slow and very, very painful. And your buddy Tanner will watch every moment of it knowing he’s next."
That was it. He was using her to lure Reed farther into a dense forest with which he wasn’t familiar. There was no doubt Reed would follow. She only hoped he was able to stay out of sight and forced Sean and Chris to remain behind.
A slight movement behind Eddie drew her attention. Instinctively, she glanced toward the movement, then jerked her gaze back to Eddie—but not fast enough.
He yanked her close to him and swung behind her. He raised the barrel of the gun to her sore temple and pressed it in so hard she whimpered.
"Show yourself, pig," Eddie shouted.
For several moments, nothing moved, nothing made a sound except the pines above and the rushing river far below.
"Either you show yourself, or I kill her right here."
Reed’s voice came out from the trees. "If you kill her, you have nothing to shield you from me."
"I have a gun."
"So do I."
The chilling calm in Reed’s voice made him sound like an entirely different person, not the raging bodyguard telling her what to do and not do, definitely not the tender man who’d murmured to her while making love.
The blast of the gun beside her ear made Shelly scream. Eddie’s fingers curled in her hair to keep her upright. Her ear rang so deeply she feared she might be deaf if it stopped.
Reed stepped out into the open. His face was pale, visible even from the distance separating them. His gaze locked with hers, and through her tears she tried to tell him how sorry she was for not being more careful, for letting down her guard. Something shone bright in his eyes, too, but she dared not name it for fear she was wrong.
"Drop the gun," Eddie said.
"Not a chance."
"Do you want me to kill her?"
"I’m not stupid." Reed focused his cold, intense gaze on the man who’d killed his best friend. "If I drop the gun, you shoot me and then her."
"I see you remember what I promised you."
"Yes, and do you remember what I promised in return?"
What was Reed talking about? He hadn’t told her about responding to Eddie’s threat.
As if he’d suddenly remembered and didn’t like the memory, Eddie leveled the gun, aimed and fired. Shelly screamed again as Reed went down. Dear God, no!
She struggled against Eddie’s grip. She had to reach Reed, had to save him. This couldn’t happen again.
Her vision blurred with a combination of tears and searing pain as Eddie yanked her backward, using her as a shield and taking hurried steps that took them farther into the forest.
"Let me go!" She didn’t care how many times he hit her she was going to fight, for herself and Reed.
He twisted his fingers in her hair and half dragged her through the increasingly thick brush and weeds. Tears streamed down her face, and her heart nearly burst from the aching.
Oh, Reed, please live.
A sound from behind them made Eddie whirl again. For several seconds, she couldn’t focus. When her vision cleared, she saw him and she cried even harder. Reed stood several yards away, a look of barely suppressed pain on his face and blood running down his right arm, his shooting arm. He leveled the gun at Eddie with his left arm.
"Let...her...go."
Eddie cursed him in response and began moving backward again. Each step took them not only farther into the forest but also brought them closer and closer to the edge of the cliff. Her heart leapt into her throat. Did he mean to pitch her into the gorge below? She’d never survive the fall. Her body would break into pieces on the boulders lining the river.
But that didn’t make any sense. If he ditched her, he’d leave himself vulnerable to Reed’s bullets. Maybe Eddie hoped holding her on the brink would crack Reed’s resolve and he’d relinquish his gun. She stared at Reed, willing him to look at her so she could urge him not to give up his only protection, no matter what happened to her. But his eyes locked on Eddie’s. He matched him step for careful step.
Shelly’s stomach whirled, threatening to make her sick. Her heart beat so fast she thought it must tire and quit soon. She swore she felt her nerves break and spring apart like rubber bands stretched too far. In the one ear not ringing, the river roared, fed by the recent rain. She tried not to picture her body hurtling downward, grasping frantically for something to break her fall toward death and finding only air.
She thought she’d hated Eddie before, in those horrible days after Troy’s death and during the excruciating reliving of it throughout the trial, in the endless months after she’d returned to Tennessee and closed in on herself. But nothing matched the black, seething hatred bubbling within her now. When he stumbled unexpectedly, that hatred spurred her into action. She elbowed him in the gut with all the strength she had. He didn’t release her, not until the report of a gun pierced the air and echoed off the surrounding mountains.
Eddie’s grip relaxed. With no one holding her up, Shelly dropped to her hands and knees. She looked up to see a stunned expression on Eddie’s face. Blood darkened his shirt, but still he stood. He lifted his own gun, and she saw the evil intent in his dark eyes. And she wasn’t going to allow it.
She lifted herself halfway up and rammed him as hard as she could. He stumbled, and she tripped over his legs. Rocks and twigs tore at her bare shins, but she didn’t stop fighting. Eddie started to rise, but she ran into him again. This time she barely hit him before she stumbled and fell hard on her chest, knocking the breath from her lungs. Between gasps, she heard something hit the surface of the river with a dull splash.
She jerked as if she’d been the one to take the dive. The river? She lifted her head to find herself barely more than two feet from the edge of the cliff. A need to know for certain compelled her to crawl to the edge and peer into the gorge. Eddie’s lifeless form floated spreadeagled down the river. She collapsed into the dirt, totally spent.