“No. But there weren’t any bars. No connection. I tried three times. All I got was static.”
“Static?”
She nodded.
He pulled out his phone and checked the screen. Then he punched a button and held it to his ear. He swore and tossed his phone on top of the island. “Run back to the office and lock yourself inside.” He hobbled to his wheelchair and plopped down.
“Why? What’s going on?”
He wheeled around the island. “Someone’s jamming the cell signal. And there’s only one person I can think of who would have a reason to do that.”
The blood rushed from her face, leaving her cold and shaking as she hurried after him into the family room. “Avarice Lowe. You think he’s on his way here?”
“No.” He glanced up at her as he wheeled past the L formed by the two couches. “I think he’s already here. Probably lurking outside, gathering his courage.” He glanced at his wrist and swore. “I should have replaced my computer-watch the moment I got back. It would have warned me if someone was on the property. Go to the office, Teagan. Hurry. There aren’t any windows in there. Lock the main door, then lock the doors that lead into the bathroom and bedroom. Wedge a chair beneath the door to the hallway. Go.”
Ignoring his dictate, she ran after him into the master bedroom. “I’m not leaving you. Come with me.”
He wheeled to the nightstand. “I’ve got this. I’ll take care of Lowe. But I have to know you’re safe, out of harm’s way. Go on.”
He yanked open the top drawer.
“Okay, okay.” She headed toward the door. “But I wish you’d let me help you instead of—”
He was suddenly beside her in his wheelchair, shoving her back into the room. She stumbled but caught herself in time to see him shut the door and lock it. His face was drawn and pale as he met her questioning gaze. “My pistol’s not in the nightstand. He’s inside the house.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
He’s inside the house.
Those horrifying words ran through Teagan’s mind over and over as she watched Bryson leaning against the master bathroom counter after ditching the wheelchair because it was in his way. He was using duct tape to secure the thick towels that he’d wrapped around her arms. She didn’t ask why. She knew why. The disorganized killer, the one who’d murdered eight of the Kentucky Ripper’s victims, was quite the fan of knives. Bryson was using the towels to protect her in case Lowe got past him and came after her next. As to why he had duct tape in his bathroom, that was a discussion for another day. If they lived another day.
The psychopath in the main room had already tried to get into the bedroom once. He’d scraped knives underneath the closed door, swiping at Bryson’s feet. Then Lowe had used his body like a battering ram, screaming obscenities as he tried to crash through the door. It was only because Bryson had used his own strength against the door that Lowe had given up. But not for long. He was still out there. Planning his next assault. Even now she could hear his shoes thumping and squeaking across the floor as he paced back and forth mumbling incoherent words to himself.
Dear God. Please help us.
Bryson tossed the roll of duct tape onto the counter and reached under the sink. “This is a last resort.” He handed her an aerosol can of deodorant. “I don’t want you near enough to him to use this. God willing, when you climb out the bedroom window, he’ll be so busy with me that he won’t get a chance to go after you.”
She sucked in a breath, fear for both of them making her flush hot and cold.
“But if he gets past me,” he continued, “and he catches up to you, spray his eyes. He won’t expect that. It will hurt like hell and he’ll be temporarily blinded. Run past him and go for the truck.” He dug the keys out of his pocket and shoved them into her jeans pocket. “Drive down the mountain like a bat out of hell. Don’t stop. Go straight to the police station. You hear me? Do not stop at some neighbor’s house or a little country store. If he ends up following you, he could go after you again. Go straight to the police. It’s almost a straight shot once you reach the bottom of the mountain. You remember the directions I told you?”
He lightly shook her when she didn’t answer.
“I do. I remember,” she said. “But none of this makes sense. Why don’t you put towels on your arms too? And climb out the window with me?”
He gave her an exasperated look. “I was up all night. My hip never had a chance to recuperate. I’m not running anywhere. And the towels would make it too hard for me to maneuver in a fight. This is the way it has to be. He’s already cracked the doorjamb. The next time he tries to get through the door, he’ll be inside the bedroom. While I keep him occupied, you’re going to climb out that window and run for the truck.”
“I don’t want to run away like a coward and leave you. Don’t ask me to do that again.”
He grabbed a small pair of scissors from one of the drawers and set them on top of the counter. Next he grabbed a folded sheet from beneath the cabinet and tucked it under his arm. “You have to leave me. It’s the only way.”
She frantically shook her head and set the can back on the counter. “No. It’s not. Two against one, remember? You and me against the world. He can’t kill both of us. If we attack him together, we’ll defeat him.”
“No, Teagan. You heard his roar of rage earlier. You saw the knives he was shoving under the door. Probably the only reason he didn’t shoot his way through is that he doesn’t want to end his fun that quickly. He’s a cutter. He wants to enjoy himself first. But if he sees you running for the truck through the front windows, he’ll use the gun. You can’t outrun a bullet. I have to distract him, try to get the gun to give you a chance.”
He shoved the can in her hand, grabbed the pair of scissors and pulled her out of the bathroom.
A shoe squeaked against the polished floor outside the bedroom door.
Bryson scowled and dropped the folded sheet on top of the bed. He limped to the window and quietly eased it up. Rather than risk the noise of loosening the screen’s frame and dropping it outside, he used the scissors to cut an opening. He motioned for her to stand in front of the window.
“The truck will detect the key fob in your pocket,” he whispered. “All you have to do is press the button under the door handle and it will open. The engine’s a push-button start. You remember, right? You’ve got this.” He framed her face with his hands. “All you have to do is run, sweetheart. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks as she looked into his beautiful blue eyes. “Bryson, I—”
Another squeak sounded outside the room. Lowe was getting restless, working up his courage for another assault. Then there was another sound, something scraping across the floor. Something heavy. What was that?
Bryson pressed a quick, hard kiss against her lips. “You can do this,” he whispered next to her ear. “Don’t let me down.”
Her pulse was rushing in her ears so loudly that she almost couldn’t hear him. She grasped the windowsill. It was awkward with the ridiculous towels wrapped around her arms. But she managed.
Grabbing the sheet off the bed, he shook it out, quickly rolling and twisting it, holding it in both hands like a length of rope. It shook her to her core when she realized what he was doing: planning to use the sheet to defend himself against the knives. Her heart slammed in her chest so hard she marveled that it didn’t crack one of her ribs.
She hated this, hated the thought of abandoning him. And yet, if she stayed, she’d be a distraction that could get him killed. All she could do now was follow his instructions and pray he was able to defeat Lowe.
With a concussion.
A bum hip.
Stitches both inside him and outside. Bruises all over.
With nothing but a sheet to defend himself against a madman with butcher knives and a pistol likely in h
is pocket.
This was insane.
A thump sounded against the door.
Get ready, he mouthed.
She clutched the stupid can of deodorant and prayed that a better plan would come to her than leaving him here to his likely death. But what could she do? How could she help?
Something heavy crashed against the door. The already cracked frame exploded in a hail of wooden shards as a side table from the family room flew through the ruined opening. Bryson ducked, then lunged forward, arms outstretched with the sheet between them as he grappled with Lowe. Both men moved backward into the family room, a flurry of flashing knives and billowing cloth as Bryson ducked and weaved and wielded his sheet in an effort to avoid being diced into pieces.
“Now, Teagan,” he yelled, furiously fighting Lowe’s flailing arms. “Go!”
She let out a sob and jumped.
* * *
WITH TEAGAN SAFELY away, Bryson focused his undivided attention on the psychopath trying to hack him to death with a knife in each hand. Bryson wrenched his left arm up, using the sheet to deflect yet another blow. This time he twisted the sheet, then wrenched it back. The butcher knife in Lowe’s right hand flew across the family room, skittering onto the floor with a metallic twang.
Lowe dropped to the floor. Without his weight as a counterbalance, Bryson’s hip gave out. He crashed down on top of Lowe. A sickening scrape sounded and white-hot pain lanced through his side. Lowe’s mouth curved in a delighted smile as he grabbed the knife now embedded beneath Bryson’s ribs and yanked it out.
Bryson gasped, fighting for air now as he twisted and rolled with Lowe, desperately trying to gain control of the knife. He grabbed Lowe’s wrist, muscles burning and shaking as he slowly won the tug of war, turning the man’s hand. Bryson swiped the blade across the man’s neck. A thin red line immediately formed. But it was only superficial. Lowe didn’t even blink. He kept straining against Bryson, trying to turn the knife the other way. Muscles bunched and cramped as Bryson fought back.
The floor turned slippery with sweat and blood. They rolled like two alligators in a death roll, each struggling to get the upper hand. Lowe was strong, and big, but he still wouldn’t have been that difficult for a man Bryson’s size to defeat. Except that Bryson had begun this match in a much-weakened state. And Lowe’s knife had done considerable damage. His lifeblood was seeping from his side. A cold numbness spread across his middle, making him shiver. If he didn’t end this, soon, it would be lights out. For him.
He threw everything he had left into fighting back. But his muscles ached. Weakness crept relentlessly through his body. It was a struggle just to hold up his arms.
Lowe gave one of his guttural yells, this one of satisfaction and triumph. He was winning. It was almost over. And he knew it.
Taking advantage of Lowe’s distraction, Bryson managed to twist and jerk the man’s knife hand again. This time he sliced deep into Lowe’s biceps on his right arm. But before Bryson could follow up with a killing blow, Lowe twisted and rolled on top of him. Bryson couldn’t get traction on the slippery floor. Blood saturated the knife handle. Bryson lost his grip. Lowe plunged the knife deep into Bryson’s side again, and twisted.
Bryson arched off the floor, an inferno of lava-like pain scorching him from the inside out. He dropped back down, gasping, struggling to catch his breath. The rest of his strength seemed to drain away, leaving him limp, muscles twitching in agony as he squinted and blinked, trying to focus.
Lowe was a dark blur, climbing to his feet, staggering and clutching himself as he lumbered out of Bryson’s sight-line. He rolled his head to the side, trying to follow the other man’s progress. Cold. He was so cold. His teeth chattered as he frantically pushed against the floor, like a fiddler crab, trying to slide away. But all he could manage was a few inches.
His nemesis stopped by one of the couches and leaned down. When he turned around, Bryson blinked, trying to see what was in the man’s hand. A gun. Probably Bryson’s own pistol.
He held it up, no doubt gloating with triumph. Bryson could no longer see well enough to make out the man’s expression. Maybe that was a blessing.
“Chris said you’d put up a good fight and you did.” He spoke for the first time since their fight had begun, his words choppy as he too struggled to catch his breath. “I was his one call from jail. Imagine that. He called me instead of a lawyer.” He shook his head. “What a gift. And I’m here paying him back. This is for what you did to Chris.” He held his gun arm out toward Bryson. “After you’re dead, I’ll enjoy that girlfriend of yours. I’ll gut her like a fish.”
Bryson swore and tried to push himself up. But it was as if his body was glued to the floor.
The sound of a roaring engine had both of them jerking their heads toward the front windows. Bryson’s pickup crashed through the house, tossing one of the couches across the room like kindling, and slamming into Lowe so hard he flew across the room.
Someone hopped out, but all he saw was a blur.
“Bryson! Bryson, I’m coming. Hold on.”
Teagan.
She crawled over the destruction she’d wrought on his house. He wanted to yell at her for risking her life yet again for him. But he was so glad to see her, alive, and safe, because she’d killed Lowe. He didn’t yell. He was too proud of his little warrior to risk hurting the tender feelings that she tried to hide with her sassy quips. He despised himself that it took dying for him to realize just what she meant to him.
And that he loved her.
Her shoes squeaked and slid across the wet floor as she scrambled toward him. He tried to tell her that he loved her, that he was proud of her. But he wasn’t sure if the words came out or not. He was so tired. And cold. At least the awful pain had faded. He barely felt anything anymore. He closed his eyes, at peace, knowing that she was safe. That she would be okay.
* * *
TEAGAN GRABBED THE discarded gun she’d spotted on the floor next to a smashed piece of electronics that she could only guess was whatever Lowe had used to jam the cell signals. But Lowe was no longer a threat. He was lying in a lifeless heap about ten feet away.
After a treacherous slippery slide across the blood-streaked floor, she dropped to her knees beside Bryson, gun still clutched in her left hand as she knelt over him. “Can you hear me? Speak to me,” she ordered through a cascade of tears.
He blinked, then slowly opened his eyes. “Teagan?” Her name was slurred. He seemed confused as he struggled to focus on her face.
“I’m here, baby. I’m here.” She set the pistol down and leaned over him, pressing her hands against the floor on each side of him to keep her balance. Something bumped against her arm. She pulled back in horror to see the handle of a knife sticking out from his left side, embedded all the way to the hilt. Blood pooled beneath him, forming macabre rivulets across the formerly polished white floor. “Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no.”
“You…okay?” he whispered, his lips an odd, bluish tinge. “Where’s… Lowe? The…gun?”
She motioned toward the body on the other side of the room as she tore at the duct tape holding the towels around her left arm. “I hit the piece of scum with your truck. I drove it right up the front steps. Your gun’s right here.” She patted the floor beside him. “Don’t worry. He can’t hurt you again.”
He blinked. “Truck?” He rolled his head to the side, obviously trying to make sense of what she was saying.
She finally freed the towel and leaned across him, pressing it around the wound while trying to not move the knife and make it worse.
“Down!” he rasped.
She automatically ducked as the sound of a guttural yell sounded off to the side. Bryson swept the pistol up and fired over and over and over. Then his hand dropped to his side and the pistol skittered across the floor. It was as if he’d gathered all the strength he had left to protect he
r, once again, and was completely spent.
She looked over her shoulder. Lowe was impossibly close to them, just a few feet away. She’d thought she’d killed him. She must have only knocked him out. Or he’d pretended to be unconscious. Neither of which mattered now. Bryson’s aim had been true. He’d shot him in the head.
A sob escaped her. “I can’t believe it. After seeing him through the window, holding that pistol, I drove through a wall to save you. But once again, you saved me.” She turned back toward him, smiling through her tears.
His eyes were closed.
His jaw was slack.
“Bryson?” She frantically bent over him. “Open your eyes. Bryson?”
“Move. Get out of the way.”
She whirled around, shocked to see Gage Bishop kneeling beside her. Behind him, Brielle, Dalton and Han had just stepped in through the ruined wall and were sweeping their pistols back and forth, looking for threats.
“Move.” Bishop none too gently shoved her out of the way. He pressed his fingers against the side of Bryson’s neck.
“Come on.” Brielle was beside her now. “Let’s give him room. The police and an ambulance are on their way. Mason told us he’d tried to call Bryson back and couldn’t get through. He called us, then 911.”
Teagan pressed her fist to her mouth to keep from screaming.
Bishop was performing CPR.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Three months later
Long before the shadow fell across the end of the dock and hovered over Bryson Anton’s wheelchair, he knew someone was there. Motion sensors and security cameras had made Bryson’s new watch buzz against his wrist when they parked their car in the driveway. More messages warned when they crossed the back patio. And again, when they’d descended the gently sloping lawn that ended at the creek. But he didn’t turn around.
Not yet.
“It’s been nearly three months since you sent me away yet again, Bryson. One minute I’m at the hospital, thanking God that Bishop was able to keep you alive long enough to even get you there. Then I’m on my knees thanking God that you survived yet another arduous surgery. Only to visit you in recovery to discover you’re acting like a grizzly bear, just like last time, proving you’re the worst patient ever in the history of the universe. And then, when you’re finally in your hospital room and we’re alone, I’m ready to pour my heart out to you, and what do you do? You tell me to get out! You order me back to Jacksonville to work on my master’s degree. What the heck, Bryson?”
Harlequin Intrigue January 2021 - Box Set 1 of 2 Page 36
