Wild on You

by Tina Wainscott

  “Is that my prize?” Risk asked.

  Bill shook his head as he led Risk to another guy. “Take care of Mr. Cole here, get him set up.”

  “Got it, boss.” The man held out his hand, more than Bill had done. “Welcome to Live Shot.”

  Something sharp pierced Risk’s neck. He spun and grabbed at the knife. Not a knife—a tranq gun. Shit. He could already feel the sedative stealing through his senses. They’d drugged him just like that steer.

  Risk dropped the case and pulled his Glock. The guy who’d played the distracter shoved him just as Risk fired. The shot went wild. Risk staggered but held his footing. He swung the gun toward Bill, his fingers like rubber, and pulled the trigger again.

  The bullet hit the truck, and the other guy hit him, sending him face-first to the ground. Then the son of a bitch jumped on him. Risk fought, rolling to the side and smashing his fist into the helper’s jaw. Except his face was bouncing up and down. Blurring in and out.

  Hold on, dammit. Do not fold.

  Risk hit him, and the man fell back. Risk tried to get to his feet and stumbled. Held on. He swung at Bill, who easily dodged the blow. Too slow. The guy behind him knocked him back down. A pounding sound preceded the arrival of several more men. Risk blinked, trying to bring their faces into focus. The two thugs. Arms grabbed hold and wrestled him to the ground. He felt another jab, this time in his arm. He kicked at Bill, who was wobbling in and out of focus, holding a syringe. An empty syringe.

  “That ought to do him,” Bill said in a muffled voice.

  “He should have gone down in seconds.”

  “And with the first shot. Are you sure that’s the same guy? Don’t look like him.”

  “Since Wunder’s the only one who got the link to the hunt, it’s someone who’s working with her,” Bill said.

  A setup.

  Risk felt his arms get jerked behind him as his face met the dirt. Something skinny clamped around his wrists. Someone patted him down and lifted his shirt. “Lookit here, he’s got one of those military knives.”

  Risk felt his KA-BAR and holster slide free from his waistband. Hands slapped over his hips and down his legs, where they found his ankle holster.

  Alan picked up the Glock from the ground. “It’s definitely the same guy. This is the gun he shot me with. And that means it’s mine.”

  Their voices started blurring together. Risk’s thoughts started scrambling. His body was jelly. Then everything went away.

  Chapter 18

  Addie leaned to the side to get a better look at the truck that was taking Risk away. It turned right and disappeared beyond the forest. “I wasn’t able to see the license plate.”

  “Hell,” Sax said, glancing in the rearview mirror. “A sheriff’s car just pulled around and came up behind me. And is now putting on its lights. Hell times two. ’Cause I know I’m not speeding, and he can’t give me a ticket for thinking about passing this slowpoke.”

  “We can’t stop and lose Risk!”

  “Darlin’, our whole cover will be blown if we take off after that truck with a wailing cop car on our ass. I don’t like it either, but we’re going to have to stop.”

  Her heart was stampeding in her chest. “I put Risk in danger because of my animal crusades. None of this would be happening if I hadn’t put myself in precarious situations.” She wouldn’t have met Risk, either, but at least he wouldn’t be going off with dangerous men on account of her. “This is what happens when I love someone. I kill them!”

  “Whoa,” Sax said at the very moment her mind said the same thing. Had Risk been right when he’d accused her of trying to make up for killing her mom by saving animals?

  Sax put his hand on her arm as he pulled over. “He’d be in some other situation. That’s Risk, all of us. Even you. We’re the kind of people who put ourselves on the line for a cause.”

  Saving animals had been her life. Now she wanted something more. Something Risk. She held on to the words he’d said in the conference room. She was a steady thrum. Steady meant long-term. Permanent.

  Your heart already knows what to do about him. You just have to get out of your head.

  Fine time to be realizing that, she thought as she watched the cruiser park behind them. The deputy made a call, maybe running the tag.

  Her fingers curled over the door handle, and she quelled the urge to bolt. Because she’d promised she wouldn’t. “Tell me this is just bad luck. On top of bad timing.”

  “Instead of this being some kind of setup. I hope so.”

  The deputy took his ever-loving time getting out of his vehicle and ambling up to their car. Was he playing at the small-town-cop stereotype or what?

  “What seems to be the problem, Deputy?” Sax asked, somewhere between pleasant and annoyed.

  “I need you both to step out of the vehicle.”

  “Seriously? What were we supposedly doing wrong?”

  The deputy touched the handle of his gun. “Don’t make me ask again.”

  Addie thought about the guns they had in the car. At least Sax had a concealed-weapons permit. If anyone asked, she was supposed to clarify that the guns belonged to him. She stepped out and followed the deputy’s order to stand next to Sax.

  “I’ll need to see both your IDs.”

  Sax had Risk’s ID and credit cards. Would he look enough like his SEAL brother to pass muster? But the deputy was more interested in hers. “Ms. Wunder, turn around and put your hands on the car.”

  She felt her eyes about pop out of her head. “I’m sure there’s been a misunderstanding.”

  “There will be one if you don’t comply with my request.” The deputy looked at Sax. “You, too, sir.”

  Two other patrol cars pulled up, parking in front of and behind their SUV. They were way outnumbered. And outgunned.

  Sax slapped his hands on the roof of the car. “I’m armed. I have a CWP in my wallet. I work for a private security firm.”

  The deputy patted him down and removed the gun at his waist. And the one at his ankle. And the knife at his back. Three deputies emerged and took up stances around them. A fourth patted Addie down and clicked handcuffs around her wrists.

  “You’re under arrest for criminal trespassing.” He pulled off her wig and tossed it to the ground. “And for wearing this ridiculous getup.”

  When Saxby started to protest, the deputy placed his hand on Sax’s back. “Don’t go getting all heroic. She’s a criminal, plain and simple.”

  “Those are trumped-up charges, and you know it,” Saxby said, his voice in a growl.

  Addie glimpsed the deputy tucking something into his pocket right before he said, “I don’t see your permit anywhere.”

  “Georgia law allows me to have a gun in my car even without one.”

  “You’re not in your car anymore, now are you? Unless you have a hunting license, you cannot carry beyond your personal property.”

  Ironically, Sax did have a hunting license, but it was in Risk’s possession. Addie figured it would really muddy the waters if she pointed that out.

  “Search the car, boys. See what else we can find. Maybe that permit will be in there, huh?”

  “You just stuck it in your pocket,” she said.

  He gave her a cold smile that chilled her to her bone. “I don’t believe you saw that, miss.” He glanced to the deputies. “Did you see that?”

  They all dutifully shook their heads.

  He tugged her closer and turned her toward one of the cars. “I’m the sheriff of this fine town, Miss Wunder. I do not like trespassers. I do not like troublemakers. And I especially do not like women who lie.” He started pushing her in front of him and gestured with his chin toward Sax. “Can you handle that one, boys?”

  “Sure can, sir.” The cop was extracting another gun from the glove box. “Want to tell me why you have so many guns? Just what the hell are you securing?”

  That was the last thing she heard before she was shoved into the back of the patrol car. Sh
e had to regain her balance, considering her hands were cuffed behind her. She’d been arrested before for protesting and one other instance of trespassing, but the charges had been dropped quickly. This was a nightmare. She had a terrible feeling it was connected to Elrod. And to Risk.

  When they pulled up to the sheriff’s department building, the sheriff parked and opened her door. “Come on out, Miss Wunder.”

  The front door of the building flew open, and a deputy leaned out. “Sheriff, we got a problem. We need you in here right away.”

  “Stay here,” the sheriff told her, and ran inside.

  And left the door open.

  She remembered Risk’s words: You do not want to be arrested in this town. And while the thought of Risk made her heart ache with worry, his warning made her scoot out of the car. And run.

  She raced past the EMS building and around the back, where the woods had no fence or forbidding signs. The cuffs were a big problem, but maybe she could slip out of them somehow. What she needed was to get hold of Chase. Her phone was still in her pocket. She tripped and stumbled but managed to keep her balance as she entered the woods.

  What she thought was her pounding heartbeat, along with her feet hitting the earth, turned out to be two men running after her. They weren’t deputies, or at least they weren’t in uniform. And uncuffed, they could run a lot faster than she could.

  “Where are you going, Miss Wunder?” one of them asked in a teasing voice.

  Her chest hurt from exertion and fear. She couldn’t have answered if she’d wanted to.

  He grabbed her and flung her to the ground. Dirt and pine needles were mashed into her face, her mouth. The other man dragged her back to her wobbly feet. Suddenly something dark and musty came down over her head.

  “We’re here to save you from being arrested,” one of them said, catching his breath, too.

  The second guy laughed. “Yeah, and you should be very grateful. Because that jail cell is a nasty place to be. We’re going to take you someplace much nicer. Where you’ve already got some friends. You remember Doug and Alan, don’t you? You had a little wrestling match with them recently. Your other friend is there, too. But he’s not in much shape to talk.”

  Risk! What did they mean by that? Was he hurt? Or … No, she wouldn’t think of the next possibility. Because all she could think about were those words he’d spoken to her in the conference room. And the words she needed to say to him.

  She was shoved into the back of a vehicle and driven away.

  * * *

  A sound stirred Risk from a deep, troubled sleep. He felt the same kind of grogginess he experienced when he took a sleeping pill. Sometimes the team had only six to eight hours before a mission to sleep, and that was on a crowded transport plane. So they’d pop a pill to help them sleep.

  He was on a mission, right? He had to slog through his thoughts and try to piece together recent events. It was dark and damp, and his eyes were all gritty. Then a sound, the sound he’d heard before, jerked him fully from the mind grog—a woman’s cry.

  And it sounded like Addie.

  Her breathing, panicked and shallow, filled the darkness around him. God, he hoped he was dreaming. Except the hard ground beneath him felt real enough. The air was cool, raising a slew of goose bumps along his arms. His hands were secured behind him, and he thought he recognized the narrow binding of cable ties.

  Hell, not a dream.

  “Addie?” His first try came out as a hoarse grunt, and it took him two more tries before what came out of his mouth sounded like her name.

  “Risk?” There was as much fear and panic in that one word as there was in his chest at hearing it.

  “Yeah, it’s me. Are you all right? Dumb question. You’re here.”

  As he talked, he worked his bound wrists past his hips and then pulled his legs through his arms. She sounded close. But not close enough. He stood slowly but stopped as his head hit something. He felt along a series of bars. A cage. They were in a cage, like animals.

  “Risk, where are you?”

  He pushed away that disconcerting thought and continued toward Addie. “I’m not sure. But stay there. I’m trying to find you.”

  His hands slapped gently across the ground as he maneuvered in the direction of her voice. He felt an ankle, a leg, and then her body crashed into him. She started crying and buried her face against his chest. The metal cuffs that bound her wrists scraped down his chest. He looped his arms around her and held her so close, he was afraid he was hurting her. But he couldn’t make himself loosen his grip.

  He kissed the top of her head, down the side of her face, and covered her mouth with his. She tasted and smelled like pinesap. “Did they hurt you?” He didn’t want to even think about the ways they could hurt her, but he had to know.

  “Just roughed me up during transport. I’m fine. Well, as fine as I can be in a cage in some dark cave.”

  A cave. That made sense. “They tranqued me like an animal. I was out until I heard you.”

  “They put a burlap bag over my head, but I could see the ground and the opening of the cave. Elrod said something about it being where the moonshiners used to store their goods.”

  “What the hell happened? Where’s Sax?” All at once he was furious that she was here at all. She was supposed to be safe. Protected. “Tell me you didn’t run off.”

  “The deputies pulled us over and arrested me. Sax, too, for some bogus reason. The sheriff was called in to the station just as we arrived. He left the car door open and me alone. Now I know it was a setup, giving me the opportunity to run, which I did. Elrod’s guys were waiting.”

  “So you’re considered a fugitive, rather than a prisoner, whose disappearance would be trickier to explain. Son of a bitch.”

  He could hear her rustling about, then she said, “They took my phone.” She pushed closer against him. “Risk, I’m scared. We’re going to die in here, aren’t we?”

  He felt for her chin, tilting her face up, though neither could see a thing. “We don’t give up until we’re dead, got that?”

  He felt her nod, but he could also feel her body trembling. He patted his pants. “They took my phone, too.”

  “I’m sorry I got you into this,” she said. “I realize that I’ve been putting the animals’ welfare over my own. Their safety over my own. All because I had to accomplish something. I think you were right about me trying to make up for causing my mom’s death. I didn’t realize it, and I didn’t want to see it when you put it in my face.”

  He ran his fingers across her cheeks, feeling the tracks of her tears. “We all have things we want to ignore. But facing them is like jumping off a cliff—suddenly you’re free.” A sound caught his attention. “Shh, someone’s coming.”

  Her body tightened as she turned toward the sound of footsteps on ground. The glow of a light flowed across the hard orange surface. Above that glow was Bill’s face, followed by Alan’s and Doug’s. And the shits looked smug. At least they seemed to. Everything was blurred. Damned contacts. Risk dug his fingers into his eyes and pulled them out. After a few more blinks, his vision cleared. Yeah, they definitely looked smug.

  Bill turned on several bare bulbs hanging from wires pounded into the dirt ceiling. They illuminated this cage, as well as several others. Risk checked Addie to make sure she was all right; her face was dirty but didn’t look bruised. Then he scanned the cage, assessing the structure and any weaknesses that might allow their escape. It wasn’t tall enough for him to stand, but it would accommodate large animals. And it was sitting on the ground, which was encouraging. The cave wasn’t large, and he couldn’t see the entrance.

  “Elrod,” Addie said in a surprisingly forceful voice as he came to a stop outside the bars. That confirmed Risk’s suspicions about Bill’s real identity. “You’ve had your fun. And you’ve made your point.” Her gaze skipped to the cage across from theirs and the tiger cub inside. “Let us all go, and I won’t bother you again. We won’t press charge
s or tell anyone. Besides, your sheriff will cover for you.”

  Elrod seemed to consider what she was saying. Not that Risk bought that for a second. “It might work if I believed you. The problem is that you’re way too fanatical to let any of this go. Besides, I’ve been looking forward to this ever since you turned me in. And every day I sat in jail, I thought about how I was going to make you pay.” He tipped his chin toward Risk. “Wasn’t figuring on him, but I’ll consider him a bonus. You two relax in there. You’ve got a couple of hours before nightfall. Then the fun begins.”

  Elrod pulled out his phone and dialed. When someone on the other end answered, he said, “Hey, Roger. It’s Walt. I’ve got a hunting opportunity for you. It’s class C, so no surprise, you gotta do it tonight.” Elrod punched a button and cued the guy up on speaker. “You hear me, Rog.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “This one’s going to be a challenge. He’s a former SEAL.”

  Risk could hear the guy guffaw on the other end. “Elitist sons of bitches. I’d be happy to show him what Army can do. But how in the hell’d you get a SEAL? And I presume you mean the human kind and not the sea mammal.”

  Elrod laughed, his gaze on Risk. “Look, it don’t matter how I ended up with him. I need him gone. But I figured I’d make it an opportunity for someone like you who’s itching for a real challenge.”

  “Not to mention an opportunity for you to make some bucks. How much?”

  “Twenty grand. Body disposal included. You hunt to your heart’s content and walk away with clean hands.”

  “Twenty grand? You’re a fucking robber. It’s not like I’m going to get a trophy or bragging rights.”

  “But you get to go hunting like you haven’t since you were court-martialed for shooting those civvies. Hey, I’m not twisting your arm. I have a couple of other guys who’d be happy to jump on it. I don’t offer this kind of shooting very often.”

  Which meant he’d offered it before. Risk thought about the missing man. And the ex-wife, who probably had not sent Addie the link.