Target in Jeopardy

by Carla Cassidy

  “Yeah, it was me. You just tossed Danny away. Just like my wife, that whore, threw me away. You’re just alike, the two of you. You use men and then trade them in for somebody you think might be better.”

  “That’s not true. I’m not like that at all.” She took another step back from him. “Chad, you know me. We’re good friends. You and me and Danny...we’re all good friends.”

  “We were good friends. We aren’t anymore. You screwed it all up, Avery.”

  “What did you do to Dallas?” Her heart cried out Dallas’s name as her fear grew to terror. She tasted her fear—an acidic, awful taste. It chilled her and goose bumps rose on her arms as the hair on the nape of her neck lifted.

  “Don’t worry about that Colton creep. He’s just taking a nice, long nap.”

  “A nap? What do you mean?” Oh, God, what had Chad done to Dallas?

  “I hit him over the head hard enough to put him into a nice long nap or maybe a coma. In either case he’ll be out long enough for me to do what I need to do.”

  “And what is it you need to do?” she asked, nearly breathless with the terror that now exploded through her. The back of her throat had closed up with fear not only for herself and the babies, but for Dallas, as well.

  Chad grinned, a half-mad grin Avery had never seen before. “You know Danny is like the little brother I never had. All I want is for him to be happy. He is in love with you, Avery. He is in love with you and you broke his heart. If Danny can’t have you and the babies, then nobody is going to.” He pulled a knife from his pocket—what appeared to be a gleaming, wickedly sharp one.

  As she realized his intentions, a scream escaped her and she turned and ran down the hallway. Chad followed right behind her, his footsteps hard and determined. She flew into her bedroom and slammed and locked the door.

  Panic seared through her. Damn, damn. Her cell phone was in her purse in the living room. She couldn’t call for help, and from what Chad had told her, she couldn’t depend on Dallas coming to her rescue.

  Oh please, God, don’t let him be dead. How hard had he been hit? Hard enough to kill him? A sob choked her throat. The sob turned into a scream when Chad hit the door.

  He laughed. “Do you really think a flimsy bedroom door lock is going to keep me out?” He hit the door again and it shuddered beneath the blow.

  Oh God, it wasn’t going to hold. She placed Lulu on the floor and ran to the side of her dresser. She had to somehow barricade the door.

  She ignored the sudden tightness of her stomach and the pain that shot through her back. All she could focus on was her need to do something, anything, to stop Chad from getting into her bedroom.

  She had to move the dresser in front of the door. At least that would create another barrier Chad would have to get through. Hopefully, it would be enough. It had to be enough to keep him from getting inside the room.

  Sobbing, she pushed the side of the dresser with all her strength and managed to move it only about an inch. “Chad, please stop this now. I promise I won’t tell anyone. Just go and we’ll never mention this again.”

  “I’m not going anywhere except through this door.”

  “You’re going to get caught if you don’t leave now.” She pushed on the dresser once again.

  “How am I going to get caught? Chief Thompson and everyone else will believe your death was the result of a vendetta for putting Dwayne Conway behind bars. I’m a respected prosecuting attorney. Nobody will ever suspect me.”

  “What about Joel Asman? What does he have to do with this?”

  “Nothing. I just paid that punk to stand outside on your sidewalk to freak you out.”

  “Chad, Dallas will be able to identify you. Somebody will know it was you,” she replied desperately.

  “Dallas didn’t see who or what hit him, and my car is parked down the street. Nobody knows I’m here, Avery.”

  She screamed as his body slammed the door once again. He was right. Nobody would suspect him. She certainly hadn’t. Her stomach tightened once again, but she couldn’t focus on that pain right now. She had to get the dresser in front of the door before he broke it down.

  Lulu had disappeared under the bed. There was no such escape for Avery. She pushed with all her force on the dresser, sobbing and gasping for breath. Slowly it inched toward the door.

  “I’m going to kill you, Avery, and I’m going to cut those babies out of your belly and kill them, too. That’s what whores deserve.”

  “Is this what Danny wants?” she asked, trying to keep him talking. At least when he was talking he wasn’t slamming into the door.

  “Danny doesn’t know anything about this and he’ll never know. But if you continue to live it will torture him every day that he sees you happy with another man. If you’re dead he can mourn you hard one time and then get on with his life. You have to die, Avery,” Chad roared, and then slammed into the door with enough force that the sound of splintering wood filled the air.

  With another scream and all the strength she had, she gave a final push on the dresser and it slid into place in front of the door.

  Avery collapsed to the floor in front of the large piece of furniture, sobbing and struggling to catch her breath. She couldn’t believe this was happening. Chad had to be crazy. Apparently he’d been driven mad by his wife divorcing him.

  He slammed into the door several more times, but couldn’t get it to open with the weight of the dresser in front of it. Then everything went silent except for the sound of her own sobbing.

  She managed to struggle to her feet, again ignoring the sharp pain that shot through her belly and back. Where was Chad? Was he just outside the bedroom door, waiting for her to venture out?

  She didn’t trust that the silence meant he was gone. She could identify him. She could tell everyone what he had done. There was no way he was just going to walk away from this situation now. Things had gone too far.

  Within the silence of the house, one name screamed in her head over and over again. Dallas. Dallas. Even if she survived this night, would she have to live the rest of her life without Dallas in it? Would her babies not have their father?

  Oh God, the thought of that filled her with an agony she’d never felt before. Her twins needed Dallas in their lives. She needed him. One way or another she had to have him in her life.

  “Chad?” she called out. She needed to identify where he might be in the house. “Chad, talk to me. Please, Chad, can’t we talk this out?”

  The silence continued. It wasn’t a peaceful silence, rather it was taut with the anticipation of an imminent explosion. She just didn’t know exactly when it might take place or what might be destroyed.

  Frantically, she gazed around the room, seeking something...anything that might be used as a weapon. In the bathroom all she found was a pair of manicure scissors, hardly any use against the big knife Chad had.

  Still, she had a can of hair spray that could be aimed into his eyes and a bottle of rubbing alcohol that she could throw at him. They were meager weapons to use should he try to get into the room, but at least they were something.

  She grabbed the hair spray from the bathroom vanity and then hurried back to the bedroom door. If he managed to get his face inside, she hoped she would blind him with the spray.

  Her entire body was hurting, especially a pain that shot through her back. She must have pulled something while shoving the heavy dresser in front of the door. She ignored the pain. She had to stay alert and ready.

  “Chad?” she yelled again. Her nerves were so taut she felt as if her body might fly into a million pieces at any moment. If he really wanted to, he probably could push his way through the door despite the dresser being there. He was a big man and enjoyed working out at the gym.

  So where was he? What was he doing? Did he intend to keep her a prisoner in the bedroom until she broke? Until she sta
rved to death?

  Surely when morning came he’d be missing from work, or somebody would call to check on her. Maybe Breanna would phone, and when she couldn’t reach Avery she’d come over to check on her. Somebody would recognize Chad’s car parked down the street. No, he wouldn’t want to be here in the morning.

  Whatever was going to happen was going to do so fairly soon. Again her stomach tightened and pain rolled through her, pain intense enough that it nearly dropped her to her knees.

  Then she realized what was happening. She was in labor. Heaven help her, it was too early. Her babies weren’t supposed to come yet! She sat on the edge of the bed and tried to take deep, even breaths.

  She needed to stop this from happening. She couldn’t deliver the babies now, in a room where a man was waiting just outside to kill both her and them.

  Fighting back hysterical sobs of hopelessness, she prayed for the labor pains to go away, for them to somehow be false pains brought on by the tremendous stress she was under.

  “Chad, please talk to me,” she yelled through the door. “It was never my intention to hurt Danny. I’ll talk to him and make things right with him. We can just forget about all this and get back to our regular lives.”

  A shattering crash sounded behind her and she whirled around to see Chad coming in the bedroom window. She hadn’t even thought about the window. With the pain racking her body she obviously hadn’t been thinking clearly.

  Before she could react, he was in the room. With the dresser in front of the door there was nowhere she could run. Even her bathroom was now too far away for her to reach.

  “Chad...please,” she said.

  The man she’d believed a coworker, a teammate and a friend smiled at her, but it was like no smile she’d ever seen from him before. This one was filled with malice, with such hatred it stole her breath away.

  “Danny’s life would have been a happy one with you as his wife and him helping you raise your kids. But he wasn’t good enough for you. The first chance you got you dumped him for one of the golden Coltons.”

  “Chad, you know it wasn’t like that between me and Danny,” she protested.

  “But it could have been...it should have been,” he screamed. He raised the knife and advanced toward her.

  She raised the can of hair spray and pushed the button. The spray hit him in the eyes and he screamed once again as he raised his hands to his face.

  She took the opportunity to run for the bathroom, but before she could get there he managed to grab her by the ankle and she tumbled to the floor.

  Frantically, she kicked at him. Over and over again she kicked and thrashed in an effort to avoid the knife and escape his grasp.

  She kicked him in the face and once again he yelled with his rage. “This is it, Avery. You’re going to die.”

  A masculine roar sounded and Dallas came sailing through the window. He grabbed Chad by his shirt and yanked him up and off Avery. With a breathless gasp she scooted away and watched in horror as Dallas tried to kick the knife out of Chad’s hand.

  Dallas looked half-dead. Blood stained his forehead and shone through his hair. His face looked bloodless, but his eyes burned like piercing orbs as he faced off against Chad.

  “Put the knife down, Chad,” he said.

  “She needs to die,” the man replied. “Don’t you see? Dallas, she’s just going to use you. You’ll be stuck raising those brats for years and then she’ll dump you and move on. She’s nothing but a whore.”

  Dallas leaped forward and slammed his fist into Chad’s jaw, the blow throwing Chad backward. He recovered quickly and raised the knife over his head. With what sounded like a battle cry he attacked.

  Avery screamed. Dallas managed to grab Chad’s wrist and keep the knife away from him, but it was a battle of strength and Dallas appeared to be losing.

  The knife got closer and closer to him. Strain showed on his face. “Dallas!” She screamed his name as another pain racked her body.

  Her voice seemed to send a new burst of energy through him. With an enraged roar he managed to grab the knife from Chad. He tossed it over to Avery and then pulled his gun from the back of his jeans.

  “It’s over, Chad,” he said wearily. “You should have frisked me when you knocked me out. I don’t want to shoot you, but make no mistake that if necessary I will. Avery, go call Chief Thompson.”

  She got up from the floor. Dallas held Chad at gunpoint even as he shoved the dresser aside enough that she could leave the room. She managed to make it into the living room, where she pulled her phone from her purse. She made the call and then curled up in a ball on the floor as another agonizing pain felt like it was attempting to rip her in two.

  She panted. It was over. Thank God, it was over. Chad would be arrested and she wouldn’t have to worry about him for a long time to come.

  What she worried about now was getting to the hospital. Her babies were coming whether she liked it or not. And they were early. And she was scared.

  She was still on the floor in the living room when Chief Thompson and his men arrived. They came through the front door, which she hadn’t locked after Chad’s arrival.

  Within minutes Dallas came into the living room, just as another pain swept over her. She released a deep moan.

  “Avery. Honey, are you hurt?” Dallas crouched down next to her. “Did he hurt you?”

  For a moment she couldn’t reply. She did manage to grab Dallas’s hand as she panted to catch her breath. “No...no, he didn’t hurt me,” she gasped when she could. “The babies are coming.” She squeezed his hand more tightly. “Dallas, the babies are coming and I’m so scared.”

  Chapter 14

  Thankfully, an ambulance had responded to the scene at Avery’s house. Dallas scooped her up in his arms and carried her outside to the vehicle, where she was placed on the gurney.

  “Go, go, go!” he yelled at the driver, as he crawled into the back with Avery and the paramedic.

  The ambulance took off and a cry from Avery rivaled the siren overhead. “Do something,” he said frantically to the paramedic. “She’s in pain.”

  The young man gave Dallas a patient smile. “She’s in labor, sir. I’ve already contacted the hospital and they know we’re on our way.”

  At least the man took Avery’s vitals, but before he was finished she was writhing and moaning once again. “Avery, honey.” Dallas pushed a strand of hair away from her face. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  Her eyes focused on him for a moment and she released a burst of laughter. “What are you sorry for? You aren’t the one being rendered apart by children fighting over who gets to be the oldest.”

  “But if I could take this pain away from you, I would. Honest to God, Avery, I’d take the pain from you.”

  She slapped him lightly on the arm. “Oh, shut up, man, and leave the hard stuff to us women of the world. This is why only women give birth...because men can’t handle it.”

  “Are we almost there?” Dallas called to the driver as Avery moaned deep in the back of her throat. It was a moan of such pain that tears sprang to his eyes.

  Was this the way it was supposed to be or was she in some kind of danger because the twins were coming two and a half weeks early? Was something wrong?

  His head throbbed and he felt slightly nauseous, but he couldn’t think about that right now. Finally, they reached the hospital, where emergency staff were waiting to whisk her away.

  “If you’re planning on seeing the births of your babies, then you better have a doctor look at that head wound and let me clean it up for you,” Sandra Bowen said. She was a nurse and a friendly acquaintance of his.

  He looked at her frantically. “I don’t have time for that. I need to get in there to be with her right now. The babies are coming.”

  “We were told her pains were about three to four minutes apa
rt. We have time to clean up your head before they arrive. Besides, you want to be looking your best when they get their first look at you. Right now you’d probably scare them with all that blood on your face.”

  He relented and went with her to an examining room, where she cleaned up the blood and an X-ray was taken. One of the doctors came in to tell him he had a mild concussion, but even if his skull was cracked in a hundred pieces, all he wanted was to be with Avery.

  Finally, he was escorted into the room where she was in bed with her feet in stirrups and a soft blanket covering her. A nurse was standing by her head, where a monitor beeped and an IV bag was hooked up.

  “Avery!” He rushed to her side. “How are you doing?”

  She smiled at him, and she’d never looked so beautiful to him. “I’m doing fine...!” She rolled her head back and forth on the pillow as another pain struck her.

  “How long does this last?” Dallas asked the nurse.

  She laughed. “Who knows? Babies come in their own time. It could just be an hour or two or it could be morning before they arrive.”

  “Morning?” he gasped. “Can you give her something for the pain?”

  “Dallas, I’m fine,” Avery said. “This is normal and I can’t have anything for the pain. This is what birth is all about, and I can’t wait to hold these babies in my arms.”

  For the next three hours Avery suffered with the labor pains. Dallas sat next to her and held her hand and helped her breathe through the contractions.

  During that time Dr. Sanders came into the room several times to check on her patient. Dallas looked up as she came into the room once more. “How are we doing?” she asked brightly.

  “I’m never having sex again,” Avery said with a gasp.

  Dr. Sanders laughed. “I’ve heard that sentiment a time or two before, but usually within a year or two the women are back in here to give birth to their second or third child. Now, let’s do a check and see where we’re at.”

  Avery panted, as if she couldn’t draw enough oxygen. Her eyes suddenly held a look of wild panic that scared the hell out of Dallas.