Wild on You

by Tina Wainscott

  “Son of a bitch,” Roger grumbled. “All right, I’m in.”

  “No crossbow. Too much blood loss at the kill site. But you can chop him up over at the pig yard if you want some bloodletting.”

  That was how Elrod got rid of the bodies—fed them to the pigs. How many had he murdered here?

  “Sounds good to me.”

  “You want him wounded? Blinded? Drugged? He’ll be chipped, but we can’t let him get away. He’s not going to be some mechanic with minimal survival skills, like your wife’s lover.”

  “I can take him full-bodied. Hell, I’ll have a gun and night vision goggles.”

  Cold dread climbed up Risk’s spine. He’d be virtually blind while that son of a bitch was going to have a clear green view.

  “Don’t get too cocky,” Elrod said. “Just to be on the safe side, I’m going to put you over in Quadrant Two, smack-dab in the middle of the property. He’ll have a long way to go before he gets to the road, and we’ll have him by then.”

  “I like Three. There’s too many rocks and drop-offs in Two.”

  “Makes it challenging. Besides, I’ll be hunting in Two. And I don’t want my prey dropping into some crevice and breaking her leg. I want her running till she can’t run no more.”

  Addie. He was talking about Addie. That dread clamped around Risk’s throat and threatened to choke off his air supply. He met her fearful gaze.

  Roger laughed like it was some damned joke. “ ‘She,’ huh? Is this another bitch threatening to take the kids and the house?”

  “Nope. And that’s all I’m saying about it. Get here by nightfall. The hunt is on.” He disconnected and looked at his two thugs. “Sheriff said he has their friend in custody. He’s putting up a big fuss, demanding his phone call. Sheriff’s stringing him along, but eventually he’ll have to process him. Sheriff’s already told the guy how little Miss Wunder here escaped and is on the lam.” He chuckled. “A damned shame, that. Don’t she realize there are all kinds of predators in the woods?”

  Doug pointed at Risk. “What about him? Someone’s gotta know he was coming here.”

  “He got his license, as the boys can attest, but didn’t show at the pickup point. The only ones who saw our truck are Wunder here and the guy at the sheriff’s office. People die in jail, you know. They tussle with the deputy and get shot.”

  Risk went even colder. Did Chase have any idea what was going on? If he didn’t hear from Sax soon, Chase would probably come up. By then it would be too late.

  Elrod stood next to the switches on the cave wall. “Miss Wunder, you’ve been trying to educate me on how I shouldn’t be hunting animals the way I do. Well, I’m going to educate you. You’ll get to experience exactly what they do.” He doused the lights. “See you two in a bit,” he called, as though he would be fetching them for dinner.

  She clutched Risk’s shirt. “They’re going to hunt us!”

  He moved his mouth next to her ear. “Shh. I want to make sure they’ve left.”

  Footsteps and voices drifted farther away. They were talking about grilling up some deer sausage and steaks just before they faded to a murmur. Risk had been in dark places before, having to determine the enemy’s whereabouts with his other senses. He heard nothing else. “I think it’s clear.”

  “What are we going to do?” Even through her panic, he heard hope. Good. She couldn’t afford to give up.

  “Our best bet is to get out of here long before they come back. It looks as though the cage is sitting on the ground. Help me try to push it over.” He guided her hands to one side and placed them on the bars. “On the count of three. One. Two. Three.”

  He put everything into it. From the sounds of exertion beside him, so did Addie. The thing wasn’t budging. After three more tries, he said, “Rest for a minute.” He felt his way to the corner of the cage and dug in to the hard dirt about an inch. “The bars go into the ground. Help me feel around and see if there are any loose bars. It looked pretty solid, but it’s worth checking. Watch your head. It’s not tall enough for me to stand.”

  When he helped her to her feet, she stopped abruptly. “Me, either.”

  “Go to your left; I’ll check the right side.”

  He could hear her soft gasps as she put effort into the task. “They’re solid,” she said at last.

  Not one sharp edge to cut his plastic ties with, either.

  “Same here.” He sat down and trailed his finger along the solid edge of metal at the bottom of the cage wall. “Maybe not all the bars go into the ground.” He dug his finger in again and found a few minutes later that he was right. “We can dig under the flat bar in the middle.”

  “Except the ground is as hard as concrete.” She made grunting sounds as she tried to dig. “I can use the edge of my cuffs as sort of a shovel, but it would take all night. And we don’t have all night.” He heard hopelessness.

  He was having as hard a time as her, maybe more so because his fingernails were short. He pulled her close by looping his arms around her. She let out a soft breath and sank against him, her cheek on his chest. He kissed the top of her head. She lifted her mouth to his. He found solace in the feel of her tongue against his, her body next to his. And renewed determination.

  “We’re going to dig. It’s the only way out.” He pulled her to a sitting position beside him. “Using our heels. Put your hip next to mine so we’re digging one hole together.”

  Her body moved against his as she kicked at the dirt. At first it was like digging in concrete, but the earth loosened and started breaking free. Periodically he’d call a halt and feel their progress. Their fingers would collide in the dirt—and the hole.

  “We’re doing it!” she said on a whisper.

  Then they went back to work.

  Chapter 19

  Addie kicked and shoved piles of dirt between the bars, Risk doing the same beside her. Every so often he leaned over and kissed her temple. That simple gesture said, Hang in there. We’re going to make it. I love you.

  He hadn’t said that he was in love with her, not those exact words. But as she ran through what he’d told her about how being with her was a thrill more exciting than soaring off a cliff, a steady thrum, she realized that was his way of saying it without spooking her. Because yeah, this thing between them did spook her. Or had spooked her. Now all those reasons for not letting it happen seemed silly.

  Because she was in love with him, too. Not just a little, a lot. Like as big as those mountains he jumped from. She had to live through this and explore what being with this amazing man would mean. Like living her life, taking something for herself.

  “Yes! Finally,” Risk said.

  Had she spoken her thoughts aloud?

  “I bit through the cuffs,” he said. “Mine are plastic ties.”

  “Your hands are free?”

  “Yep. I’ve been chewing them the whole time I was digging. Let’s check the hole.”

  She leaned forward next to him, and their hands explored the width of it.

  “I could slip through there,” she said, excitement soaring through her. “Could you?”

  “I could manage it. We had to squeeze through gaps that looked no wider than my thumb. I exaggerate, but this I can manage. Let me go first, so I can pull you out.”

  She could hear him grunting as he pushed his way through. Even with her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could see not a damned thing. Her chest was so tight with tension. She had no idea how much time had passed while they’d dug.

  “I’m through,” he said.

  She felt for the hole, then dove in hands-first. He clasped her wrists and pulled her out and to her feet.

  She could hear the tiger cub moving in his cage. “Tigs …”

  “We’ll come back for him, I promise. We have to look out for ourselves first.”

  She nodded, then, realizing he couldn’t see her, said, “Okay.”

  “Besides, he’ll be safer here than out there with a bunch of guys shooting a
ll over the place.”

  He kept his grip on her as they followed the dim light spilling from the cave entrance. She should have felt relief, but it was almost dark. Time for the hunt. The hunters would be coming this way anytime, with their guns.

  She squeezed his hand as she remembered something. “Risk. He said we were chipped.”

  “Hell. Transponders. I heard him say that, but with everything else, it didn’t even register.”

  “They use a pistol-like device to inject a tiny tube through a needle.”

  They stepped out into the woods, and Risk stripped off his shirt and ran his fingers across a cut in the center of his shoulders. “Can you see where they injected it? I felt a stinging pain, like a cut. I figured it was another injury from fighting them.”

  Yes, a small, deliberate incision, barely discernible in the early-evening light that slanted through the trees. She pressed her finger below the cut. “I can feel it. Let me try to push it out.”

  She used the edge of her nail to push the tiny glass tube out through the cut. It popped out, and she grabbed it from the dirt where it fell. “They may know we’ve escaped already.”

  “We’re not far from the cave, and I doubt the device is that accurate. Still, we have to assume that they’ve seen more movement than the cage will allow. Turn around and let me extract yours.”

  She stripped off her shirt and pointed to where she thought it was. “It felt like they were injecting me with something, and I expected to feel a drug. Then I didn’t, and they dragged me into a freakin’ cave. I forgot all about it. Especially when I heard your voice.”

  She felt him running his nail across her skin, and then he said, “Got it. Drop them right here.” He surveyed their surroundings, woods and more woods as far as they could see. Not helping was the scant bit of light left. “I don’t hear any highway traffic. We must already be in the middle of the property.” He pointed to where the dirt had been disturbed, broken twigs and crushed rocks. Not a road but definitely a sign that vehicles had been here a time or two.

  “Should we follow it?” she asked.

  “Probably not, because that’s the way they’ll be coming. But we can parallel it while staying out of sight.”

  The hum of a vehicle in the distance shot her heart straight up in her throat. She struggled into her shirt, her fingers rubber. “Either they know we got out, or they’re back as planned.”

  “We’ve got to scram.” He grabbed her hand, and they tore off into the woods just before the vehicles were about to come into view. Angry shouts meant they knew about the escape. Fear on top of exertion made it almost impossible to breathe.

  Risk had a death grip on her hand. She was holding him back. He could run a lot faster without her. She didn’t have the breath to tell him to go on and try to escape. Besides, she knew he wouldn’t leave her behind. So she ran even harder.

  The crack of a rifle rang through the air. She dared a look behind. She could see nothing, which meant they were shooting wild. But when it got fully dark, they would have all the advantage. As if they didn’t already have enough, what with knowing the layout of the land and having weapons.

  It felt like someone had stabbed her in the side. She pinched the cramp as she ran. Risk threw her an Are you all right? look. She managed a nod.

  ATV engines rumbled through the distance. They would never hear the distant sound of the highway over that racket. There was no escape!

  Don’t give up. You have a lot to live for.

  Including that precious cub sitting in a dark cave whose fate would be this.

  The woods seemed to grow darker by the second. She saw a flash of color through the trees. The fluorescent orange that signaled the hunters so they wouldn’t shoot each other. How many of them were out here? She’d guess at least half a dozen.

  The ATVs grew louder. Risk jerked her behind a large oak tree and flattened himself against the trunk, covering her from view. His breath sawed in and out. Hers gushed in lung-crushing gasps. She sank down, unable to stand anymore, but stayed directly behind the tree trunk as an ATV whizzed past. She jabbed her fingers into her cramped muscle, forcing it to relax. That was the idea, anyway.

  Risk had a plan. She could see it in his eyes, the intelligence and cunning he must have tapped so many times in Iraq and Afghanistan. And he had survived, she told herself. Because he was good. Hope surged again, wishy-washy bitch that it was.

  He surveyed their surroundings, then indicated that she follow him and crept out. Running over all hunched up like he was came naturally to her, owing to the damned stitch.

  They approached a fence that went as far as the eye could see. It wasn’t as high as the exterior fence, nor did it have electrical wiring. Bright orange ribbons made it visible even in the twilight. Risk untied one of the ribbons and tied the ribbon around her arm. Maybe in the dark, they’d look like one of the hunter thugs. She nodded her approval of the idea.

  He pointed up, indicating, she guessed, that he wanted them to climb the fence. Great idea. No one would be hunting them in a different quadrant. As they started climbing, she heard footsteps crunching over the ground. A shout. Then a shot. The bullet hit the fence post inches away from her with a clang.

  Oh God, more running. Thankfully, danger had an energizing effect on the exhausted human body. Two guys were racing across the ground toward them, separated by several yards. Risk pulled her behind another tree and gestured for her to remain low. He crouched, a tiger in wait.

  “Saw them run this way!” the farther guy yelled, breathless.

  “They’re over here,” the second man shouted as he neared the tree they hid behind.

  She saw his legs first, then the side of his face as he started to turn to them. Risk nailed him with an elbow to the temple, sending him to the ground. Using the man’s own rifle, Risk smashed him in the head as he started to get up. Another shot splintered the gun stock, flinging it out of Risk’s grip. When he went for it, several more shots battered the ground. She could see Risk’s raw desire for that gun. The enemy was moving closer, his boots crunching on the leaves.

  So fast that it seemed a blur, Risk snatched the rifle, rounded the trunk, and let off a shot. He pushed a lever, which sent a case flying, and fired again and again without even looking through the scope mounted on top. The shots pounded her eardrums, but she’d never been so happy to be close to a firearm. The other guy fired back, hitting the trunk and the ground only inches from her.

  Risk glanced at the guy on the ground. Damn, she should have been keeping an eye on him to make sure he didn’t wake up. It didn’t look like he was going to come around anytime soon. After going through the downed man’s gear, Risk loaded and fired once more. She heard a thump and leaned around the trunk to see a man sprawled on the ground.

  “Addie, do you trust me?” Risk asked, drawing her attention from the harrowing sight.

  “Yes.”

  “Put your hands up and spread them as wide as you can.”

  “You’re not—” Oh, but he was. Risk held his gun out at an angle, waiting for her to comply. And she did want these damned things off her. She did as he asked and put every ounce of trust in his abilities.

  She shook at the sound of the shot and felt heat near her wrists. Her untethered wrists.

  Risk tugged her from behind the tree and led her away. Though she couldn’t hear anything but a humming, because of all the gunfire, she saw an ATV closing in. The rider no doubt had heard the shooting.

  The last vestiges of light were almost gone. Shadows grew longer, darker. Addie followed Risk’s footsteps, her gaze locked on his back.

  He slowed to a stop and pushed out words between breaths. “We can’t outrun them. Have to play smart.”

  She nodded in agreement, her chest aching from exertion—and fear.

  He pointed up to a wooden structure built in a tree. “That there’s a fort, darlin’.” He gave her a smile, his teeth white in the gloom.

  It took her a second to realize
why the fool was smiling. “A fort, how cute,” she whispered back.

  He indicated that they climb it; she would go first. If that meant they could stop running for a few minutes, she was all for it. She scrambled up the ladder on legs as sturdy as cooked pasta, gripping the wood slats as she went. He was right behind her, keeping an eye on their surroundings. Which wasn’t easy to do, since it was almost dark with no moon in sight, only a little light from a sky dotted with twinkling stars.

  “Stay close to the ladder,” he whispered.

  Up high like this, they were visible from a distance, especially with the goggles. On the flip side, they could get a sense of where their enemy was on the ATVs. She heard two engines in disparate places on the property but saw no headlights.

  Once she got into the little building, she dropped down on one of the stools near the slat openings. Risk was a big, scary silhouette who approached like a bear. He grasped her chin, kissed her quick, and ducked back out the opening. She could hear him climbing onto the roof.

  For a few moments she felt safe and invincible. Until she saw the first shadow slither through the trees. The man walked into the clearing, and she could tell two things about him: He was built like a block, just like the guy who’d sat on her at the zoo. And he was wearing something funky on his head, which must be the goggles. So he could see everything as clear as day. She kept only her eyes above the ledge and didn’t move.

  Keep walking, keep walking.

  He paused, searching the area and maybe even the blind. Then he started moving on.

  Thank you.

  Except something small dropped on the ground from the roof and made a soft sound. The block shadow spun around, aiming a rifle at the base of the blind. The man advanced slowly, sweeping the muzzle back and forth.

  Then something big fell from the roof.

  Risk!

  He dropped like a stone right onto the man, sending them both crashing to the ground in a heap. She heard a struggle but couldn’t see what was going on. Panic tripped her heartbeat and made her grip the bottom edge of the opening.

  He knows what he’s doing.