Authors: Valerie Douglas
“Lights, Mr. Morrison?”
He pressed.
Ariel bit back a cry of pain, locking her teeth closed but a keening sound still escaped her. Her muscles twitched and jumped, utterly strengthless as the pain shot through her.
Matt steeled himself, hearing that small cry, holding to his training. Doing what needed to be done to get her and all of them out of this, moving swiftly and silently toward his first target.
“Ariel will tell us, instead. Lights?”
Lovell’s voice in her ear, as his hands shifted to dig a knuckle into her breastbone again. Pain shrieked through her. She gave him what he asked for, not what he wanted. Ariel went limp, pretending to collapse. It wasn’t all pretense. Her legs were wobbly but she gathered herself and waited for the right moment. She wasn’t going to let them use her to get Matt.
“Torches, behind you,” Ariel whispered.
Lovell let her go, shoved her toward the chair.
“Genardi,” he said.
The other man moved away in search of the torches.
She heard the metallic sound of the slide of an automatic chambering a bullet. Her heart twisted with fear. Be careful, Matt.
A torch flared and she could see the pool. They’d viewed it as a barrier. To her it was the only escape route available. Stumbling only a little, she ran and launched herself at it like an arrow. It wasn’t a huge pool but the bullets would only go so deep into the water, she hoped. Arching, she dove deep instead of shallow, remembering as she hit the water making love to Matt in this pool.
Her hands scraped the bottom as she kicked hard toward the deep end, building speed and momentum. She heard noises. Bullets? Somebody splashed noisily into the low end but she was already kicking up, stroking hard…
Matt was taking out one of stooges with a sleeper hold when he saw Ariel race for the pool and dive. His heart nearly froze and then she erupted from the water. Her hands grasped the apron, pushing up as she scrambled forward. Then she was out and running, racing for the safety of the darkness. Not a hostage. Not anymore.
Several guns fired. Matt saw her twitch, stumble, clutching her side but she kept running. His heart shuddered. She sprinted for the shadows.
Above them on the hill, Darrin fired, making them all duck and dive for cover.
Now they knew he was there, so they’d keep their heads down.
Dragging the unconscious man behind the shed, Matt ran to intercept Ariel.
Ariel knew Matt was out here somewhere, he would come for her. They would, too but more cautiously. Ariel was betting on Matt. Wearing only her white t-shirt, with her fair skin she was the whitest thing out here against the darkness of the sand. She thought she knew where he’d been last and turned that way, toward the moon. There was a sharp stinging along her side and she pressed a hand to it. It was warm, wet and sticky.
Matt saw her, a blur of lightness.
“Ariel,” he said, softly.
She turned, dark hair swirling, to come into his arms. He snatched her up, wrapped his arms around her and held her. His mouth came down on hers, upturned to meet his. He tasted tears.
“Matt,” Ariel whispered.
There was the crack of a rifle and a return volley of fire. Darrin giving them cover and a little time.
He remembered seeing Ariel flinch and dropped his hands to her waist. She winced. There was dampness beneath his hand. One side was cold, the other was warm. A chill went through him.
“Are you hit?”
“No, no, I’m all right, it’s only a scratch,” she said, a hand to his face.
Matt couldn’t chance a light here to look for himself. For now, he needed to get her to Darrin where she’d be safe, while he took care of the rest.
“Stay close,” he said, taking her hand. “Darrin’s up on the hill.”
He knew the best place to find him.
They ran, Ariel keeping up with him surprisingly well, despite running nearly two steps to every one of his. He signaled her to slow and stay behind him as they crept up the hill. He gave a low whistle and got an answer back.
Darrin was there, lying flat behind an outcropping of rock. Matt put Ariel between them as they dropped behind cover.
“Hey, sprite,” Darrin said, softly.
They could hear the smile in her voice as she answered. “Hey, yourself.”
“It’s good to see you,” Darrin said, then added to Matt. “They’ve scattered.”
“They’ll be more dangerous now. They can’t leave witnesses. It also gives us a problem,” Matt said, “I can’t watch your back if I’m cleaning up down below.”
Ariel said, “Give me a gun and I can do that. If they get close enough, I’m sure to hit something.”
A soft chuckle. That lovely, low voice of Darrin’s. “She can handle it. It’s better than nothing, sport.”
“Point. Have I told you I love you, Ariel?” Matt asked, pulling one of the guns he was carrying from the holster. “Safety is off.”
Ariel smiled, “So don’t point it at anyone I don’t want to kill. I love you, too, Matt. Be careful and please come back.”
He touched his lips to hers briefly and then he was gone, silently, disappearing into the pale moon and torch-lit darkness.
Just don’t break my heart, please, don’t, she pleaded, as much to the heavens as anywhere else.
Wishing she could see, Ariel crouched at Darrin’s side. If she couldn’t help Matt down there, she would help him up here. Pressing her fingers against her mouth, she fought back the fear.
“He’ll be all right, Ariel, he knows what he’s doing,” Darrin said, hiding his own worry, remembering what he’d read in Lovell’s file.
A bullet ricocheted off a rock near his head. “I guess I’d better keep my head down. I think it’s time to call in the cavalry.”
“Good idea.”
He stretched out a little, shot the bolt on the rifle and fired. “Now, he’ll keep his head down while I do that.”
Flipping his cell phone open, Darrin dialed 911.
Ariel left her eyes a little unfocused, the better to sense movement in the shadows cast by the thin moonlight.
In the darkness against the stooges, Larry, Moe and Curly, the odds were much better. They were easy to find. Whatever training they’d had, they’d forgotten a good bit of it. They also hadn’t grown up around here so they didn’t know how to move in the desert. They were noisy. Using a gun would have told Lovell where he was, so it was strictly hand to hand, but easier in the dark. Now they were all out and it was down to Genardi, Lovell and Lovell’s people. Who might be watching each other’s back. It was Lovell he wanted, though. It had been his hands on Ariel.
Lovell’s men were better trained. Groucho, Chico and Harpo had faded into the darkness.
Matt went hunting, quartering through the darkness. He found Genardi, checked his instincts and circled around to make sure that Lovell wasn’t laying a trap, knowing it wasn’t beyond the man. Lovell was by far the more dangerous target. It was taking time and Lovell was out there somewhere.
To Genardi, he must have been like a ghost out of the darkness, as Matt appeared as if from nowhere. The man flinched. Once, Genardi might have been some kind of fighter but not in a long while. His reflexes were slow. Matt caught his hand, the one with the gun in it and twisted it in a way it wasn’t naturally meant to go.
“Remember when you tried to hurt Ariel?” Matt said, softly. “I had to watch you hurt her. Now I didn’t like that one bit.”
He hit him. Then he used the man’s belt to secure him, as he had the others.
Only Lovell, the snake, the ex-Marine was left now.
A cold chill trickled down Matt’s spine.
That moment of hesitation nearly cost him, but he saw the movement from the corner of his eye. With no time, he snapped off a quick shot, and saw the other man go down. Moving quickly, he circled, kicking the other’s gun away. In the dim light, all he could be sure of was that it wasn’t Lovell.
However, the gunfire had undoubtedly told Lovell where he was. Matt moved away as quickly and silently as possible.
Now that Lovell knew where he was he had a pretty good idea where he might find Lovell.
Ariel was alert to every sound and even the suggestion of movement. Listening to the sounds of the night, her nerves were stretched nearly to the breaking point. The earlier crack of a gun had startled her, put all her senses on alert.
Something shifted in the corner of her vision.
“Darrin!”
Hearing the alarm in her voice Darrin rolled, getting behind cover as a bullet spanged off of a rock where he’d just been and Lovell came in a quick rush.
Ariel scrambled to get away as Darrin swung around to try to get a shot off.
Ariel saw Lovell, faintly lit by the silvery moonlight and the distant torches. There was no smile now, his face was more like a mask. Moonlight glinted off the gun in his hands as he turned it toward her. She fired.
He dove and rolled, his eyes widening in surprise and then narrowing in fury.
From out of nowhere it seemed, Matt hit him in a flying tackle. The gun went flying as the two men rolled down the small slope.
Matt? Her heart wrenched, trusting that Matt could, indeed take care of himself. She went for Darrin, first. If anything happened to Darrin, it would almost kill Matt.
“Darrin?” she whispered.
His low voice came back. “I’m fine, he missed. I’m watching to make sure there are no surprises.”
All she could do now was watch.
In the distance, she heard sirens approaching.
Rolling away, Matt sprang to his feet at about the same time Lovell did. Lovell launched a kick at him that would have taken his head off if it had connected. Lovell had not forgotten his training.
He’d have to watch that but Lovell would have to watch for him. He’d hurt Ariel.
Snapping a kick at Lovell’s head Matt dodged a punch but followed it with two of his own, a feint to the head and a solid shot to the body. Matt took the kick Lovell aimed at him on his arm and then shot a kick of his own that glanced off Lovell’s cheekbone.
He heard the familiar sharp crack of Darrin’s rifle and guessed that he’d found one of Lovell’s clowns.
Every blow Matt took wrenched her heart but he gave back two for every one of Lovell’s. He was younger and quicker. She couldn’t bear watching but couldn’t bear not to watch. Then Matt threw a punch that penetrated Lovell’s guard and a flying kick that took him in the head and Lovell went down.
Please let it be over, she thought.
Matt was on guard, backing away carefully from the man sprawled on the ground, knowing the man’s history. There was no sign of movement from Lovell but Matt wasn’t taking any chances until he put some space between them. Then he turned and looked for Ariel.
A thing of light and shadow, she was, with the moonlight on her skin. She was running toward him, her ebony hair flying and he caught her up in his arms.
Wrapped in his arms, Ariel clung to him, her arms around his shoulders as he swept her off her feet. She buried her face against his throat. His hand curled around her head. Looking over his shoulder, Ariel saw movement.
“Matt!”
He turned, shielding her with his body. Lovell came fast with something shiny in his hand.
A single crack and Lovell stopped in his tracks as it smashed him backwards. Ariel clung to Matt as he held her, tightly.
From above, there was a scattering of stones as Darrin came down the hill.
“A shoulder shot,” he said, evenly, “he should live.”
Even so he kept the rifle at his shoulder, both he and Matt watching Lovell carefully.
“Matt,” Ariel said, softly, looking up at them, “Darrin, I know who killed Bill or at least I know who ordered it.”
Both of looked at her.
“Lovell told me that Genardi did it. He didn’t say why, just that it was mishandled,” Ariel finished.