Living on the Edge

by Shannon K. Butcher

  Bullets pinged against the plating. Lucas pushed the weapon through the window, keeping his head inside, and fired.

  The rocket missed, slamming into the jungle. The vehicle chasing them slowed and the gunfire stopped for a moment. Sloane wasn’t sure if this would scare them off or make them more frantic to finish killing their enemy.

  Lucas didn’t wait to find out. He reloaded, pushed his upper body through the window, aimed and fired again. This time the RPG slammed into the vehicle and exploded. Shrapnel hit the back of the Rover. Lucas jerked his head inside, but she could see a nasty cut along one cheek where he’d been hit.

  He wiped away the blood. Behind them was a lot of smoke, but no one seemed to be driving through it to follow them.

  “I think we’re clear,” he said.

  “Riley?” said Bella. “Are you out yet?”

  There was no answer over the headset.

  Sloane tried, hoping Bella’s unit had gone bad. “Riley? Gage? Are you guys out?”

  Still no answer.

  “Are we out of range?” Bella asked Victor, who’d given them all the comm units.

  “No. We’re not.”

  A sick feeling bloomed in the pit of Sloane’s stomach as the list of things that could have gone wrong filled her head. Those were her friends out there—men she’d spent more time with than her own family. She loved them like brothers and now it appeared they might have been snatched away from her, too. Just like Mom.

  With Gina’s blood cooling on her hands, Sloane couldn’t help but think the worst.

  “Riley!” she shouted into the lip mic, letting her desperation come through. “Gage! Answer us!”

  All that greeted them was silence.

  Lorenzo picked up the phone line that went from his safe room to the outside world and called Block. The wall of cameras showed him nearly every part of his estate.

  Block answered, “I’m here. No one has come for you yet.”

  “They’re not here for me. They took Gina. And Sophie.”

  “Sophie?” said Block, the sound of loss seeping into his voice.

  Lorenzo had suspected that Block had a thing for the little redhead, but until now he hadn’t been sure. Of course now that he knew the weakness, he had no trouble using it to his advantage.

  “She’s with a man on the second floor near the western stairwell. I want you to stop them.”

  “I can’t leave you unguarded,” said Block.

  “I’ll be safe here. Go. Bring her back.”

  “You’re more important.”

  Lorenzo was beginning to think that Block wanted his little redhead to escape. But that couldn’t happen. Lorenzo’s control was already slipping. He needed proof that he could hold what was his—proof for himself as well as Adam Brink. “Bring her back and I’ll let you have her. She’ll be all yours to do with as you choose.”

  “You won’t make me kill her?”

  “No.”

  A strangled, victorious howl was cut short as Block hung up the phone. Lorenzo watched him sprint from the room. The man was armed with only a pistol, but he’d seen Block at the practice range and that was all he needed.

  Sophie was his. Lorenzo had given her to Jeremy, which meant he didn’t have to kill her now. He didn’t have to let her escape so she’d be safe. They could be together. Forever. He’d keep her safe.

  Finally, Jeremy would have something good in his life—something that was his and his alone. With Sophie, he’d find happiness. He knew he would.

  Jeremy’s excitement was short-lived.

  Another man had her. Jeremy couldn’t let that stand.

  Sophie was his, and he was going to kill any man who dared to take her from him.

  Chapter 21

  Riley didn’t dare respond to his friends’ radio call. There were three armed men not ten feet away, guarding the stairs. They hadn’t spotted him, and he really wanted to keep it that way.

  Sophie was with him again, ready to run. He could feel her pressed tight against his back, right where he wanted her—right where he knew she was safe. In a second, he was going to have to leave her here while he cleared the stairwell. She didn’t have any protective gear, and he sure as hell didn’t want her winding up like Gina—shot, unconscious and bleeding.

  Riley reached back and pressed his hand against her ribs, silently telling her to stay. The thin fabric did little to disguise her body’s heat or her delicate bones. He eased away slowly, making sure she understood what he needed her to do—that she shouldn’t follow him yet.

  Sophie stayed put, her eyes wide, her body trembling, but she was still hanging tough.

  He gripped his rifle, slid around the corner far enough to aim, and fired at one of the men below. Riley’s target fell, but two more men fired back.

  Riley jerked back to save his head. The solid wood moldings held steady under the small-caliber rounds, but eventually one of them would get a lucky shot. He needed to have Sophie out of here before it happened.

  She let out a little warning squeak. “Behind us.”

  Riley took a quick look, saw one stocky man running toward them. He had a pistol in his beefy hand and moved like he knew his way around a fight.

  Between the two men armed with machine guns in the stairwell and the one man armed with a pistol running toward them, Riley knew which was a safer bet.

  He fired into the stairwell blindly, then followed his weapon, looking for a target that hadn’t kept his head down well enough. He got one good shot in, knocking one of the men down several steps. The man bounced hard and Riley didn’t stop to see if he quit moving. He was too busy searching out the other man he knew was there.

  “Riley.” Sophie’s voice quivered with fear, her frantic pitch telling him that the man running down the long hall was nearly on them.

  He grabbed her hand and pulled her through the doorway, keeping her at his back so any stray bullets would have to go through him first. “Ready to run?”

  “Yes.”

  The man in the stairwell opened fire. Riley fired back, advancing down the stairs with Sophie holding on to his vest. They’d just cleared the landing when the man with the pistol appeared at the top of the steps. Riley saw him out of the corner of his eye, but there wasn’t much he could do about him. The only way out was down, so that was where they were going.

  He got another burst of gunfire off toward the man who was now rapidly retreating before his magazine emptied. So much for firepower.

  “Sophie!” shouted the man upstairs. “Stop. I don’t want to hurt you.”

  Like hell Riley would let that happen.

  He pushed forward, stepping over a body near the bottom step. Sophie’s grip pulled at his vest like she lost her balance, but she stayed on her feet.

  The man at the bottom of the steps peered around the corner. If he hadn’t yet realized Riley was out of ammo, he would any second.

  Riley was not going to let him get the chance.

  He slammed the butt of his rifle into the man’s hand, knocking the weapon aside. Bullets spewed out, but none of them was on target. Another slam to the side of the man’s head stunned him enough that he fell.

  Riley tossed a grenade into the stairwell, grabbed Sophie’s hand, and ran down the hall toward the nearest exit.

  “Gage, we’re coming out.”

  “Copy,” was all Gage said, but that one word gave Riley hope that they might actually make it out of this alive.

  Riley barreled through the door, shoving it open so hard the glass broke. Sophie’s hand was sweaty in his grip, or maybe he was the one sweating. Either way, he held on tight so he didn’t lose his hold on her, urging her in front of him to protect her from any gunfire.

  From behind, the heavy boom of a .45 splashed out over the lawn. Half a second later, it was followed by an answering boom from the jungle to their west. Gage.

  Riley glanced over his shoulder, saw the stocky guy stagger backward. He retreated back into the house.

  �
�Did you get him?” asked Riley.

  “Body shot. He’s armored.”

  “Do you have another shot?”

  “Negative.”

  “Anyone else on our tail?”

  “Negative.”

  Riley didn’t dare slow the pace even though Sophie was having trouble keeping up. That white nightgown of hers was like a glowing beacon. She’d be way too easy to target. They weren’t out of danger until they were hidden inside the jungle, or better yet, inside that bunker.

  He kept a tight hold on her arm so she wouldn’t fall down. “Almost there,” he told her.

  Suddenly, the sirens stopped, plunging them into relative quiet. He could hear the sound of Sophie’s labored breathing as well as his own. His heart was pounding hard, and only partially from the run. His fear for the woman was an all-consuming thing that had grown from nothing to the driving force in his world in less than fifteen minutes.

  She was way too vulnerable for him not to feel that bone-deep need to protect her. He didn’t like it, but there was no more he could do about it than he could make the sun set in the east.

  “I’m fifty yards to your west,” said Gage.

  Riley didn’t have any plans to veer that direction until they were under cover. Just a few more yards and they’d be out of sight.

  “Faster,” said Gage. “Men on ATVs are headed for you.”

  Sophie wasn’t going to make it. Her lungs burned and her legs felt so heavy she didn’t know how she managed to keep them moving. Riley’s long stride made it hard to keep up, and weeks of being locked in that room had killed her stamina.

  Unless it was the pregnancy that did it.

  She held one hand over her stomach, praying that all this jostling wasn’t hurting her baby. She wasn’t used to this kind of fear or activity level, and she vaguely remembered hearing that a pregnant woman wasn’t supposed to do any strenuous physical activity she wasn’t used to.

  Sophie sure as heck wasn’t used to running for her life from armed men.

  Riley picked up speed, practically dragging her along for the ride. They charged into the trees so fast, she felt branches snap at her bare legs. He slowed only enough to keep from running into a tree.

  That was it. She was at the end of her strength. She pulled her arm away. “I need a sec,” she panted out brokenly.

  “We don’t have a sec. Soma’s men are headed this way on ATVs. We need to get deeper into the jungle.” While he was talking, he snapped a cartridge of ammunition into his gun.

  Sophie understood his words, but her legs weren’t responding.

  Riley slung the rifle strap over his head, put one thick arm around her waist, and lifted most of her weight off her legs. “Move,” he ordered in a no-nonsense tone.

  Sophie moved. They weren’t going very fast, and they were making a ton of noise, but at least she did as he asked. It seemed the least she could do after his daring rescue.

  Another man appeared a few feet away. Fear snaked through her as she let out a terrified squeak.

  “He’s a friend,” said Riley.

  The other man looked grim, covered in paint and weapons. A huge, long gun rested in his hands. “I’ll fall back. Cover your six.”

  “Thanks. We’ll head straight for the bunker.”

  “Bunker?” asked Sophie.

  “Not now. Save your breath. We have to keep moving. Those men won’t stop at the trees.”

  And not just any man. Jeremy had seen her escape. Sophie hadn’t spent a lot of time with him, but she was good at reading people. She’d seen the way he looked at her. She knew he wanted her. And he wasn’t a kind man. She was convinced that running away from him was going to piss him off like nothing else could.

  Sloane had heard snippets of voices coming from Riley and Gage, but they were filled with static and weren’t clear enough to make out. At least they were alive.

  And no one seemed to be following them after Lucas’s judicious use of Constance. The road behind them was clear, without any sign of headlights on the foliage.

  “Did anyone understand what they said?” asked Victor.

  “I heard plenty of gunfire clear enough,” said Lucas.

  Victor adjusted his earpiece. “Unfortunately, I think we’ve reached the extent of the comm units’ range.”

  Lucas kept watch behind them. “They’ll meet us at the bunker, just like they said.”

  “It’ll take them hours to get there on foot,” said Sloane. Gina was pale and limp against the seat and every second she stayed that way scared Sloane more.

  Lucas glanced at Gina, then met Sloane’s gaze. Sympathy and concern creased the skin between his brows, and she’d never wanted to have a hug from someone as much as she did from him right now. Instead, she held herself in check and kept pressure on Gina’s wounds.

  “We have two vehicles,” said Lucas. “We can take Gina to get medical attention while the others wait at the bunker.”

  “The general has arranged for transport out of the country for all of us. There’s an airstrip a few miles to the northeast. A small plane will meet us there and fly us into Brazil.”

  Two days ago, Sloane would have told him to take her father’s arrangements and shove them up his ass. But today was not two days ago. Everything had changed. Gina needed her to put aside her daddy issues and deal with the problem at hand—namely getting Gina real medical attention as soon as possible.

  She didn’t trust the medical facilities here. Not to mention the fact that there was still some man out there looking for Gina. Sloane had no way of knowing how far Soma’s reach extended. All it would take was one person on his payroll to let him know an American woman was being treated for a gunshot wound. Soma and the mystery man would have no trouble getting to Gina in a hospital. She’d be a sitting duck.

  No, it was better to get her into the hands of her father’s loyal men and have one of the medics treat her until she could get to a real doctor.

  Sloane looked at Lucas. “We’ll take her to the airstrip. Victor can contact my father and tell him to have a medic available. The others can catch up with us once Riley and Gage show up.”

  Lucas nodded. “All right, then. That’s what we’ll do.” He looked at Victor in the rearview mirror. “Can you make that happen?”

  “Yes.”

  “How far are we from the bunker?” asked Sloane.

  “Less than a mile.”

  “Are you sure about this, Sloane?” asked Bella. “You could run into trouble.”

  “I know, but I can’t sit around for hours while Gina bleeds or gets worse. I need to do this.”

  “I could go with you,” offered Bella.

  Sloane looked at her friend, hating what she had to say. “I’d rather Lucas come with me. We’ve been together for a few days now. We’re a good team.”

  Rather than bristling with insult, Bella smiled a slow, knowing smile. “I just bet you are.”

  “It’s not like that.”

  Bella held up her hand, cutting Sloane off. “It’s exactly like that, but that’s fine by me. Good for you.”

  Sloane didn’t bother to waste time explaining. The fact that Lucas wasn’t jumping in to clear the air was a sure sign that he thought things were a little foggy, too.

  Whatever. Now was not the time to worry over that. They still had a long way to go before they were all safe and sound.

  Sloane bent over Gina’s head, talking close to her ear. “You’re going to pull through this. You’re too stubborn to let a little thing like a bump on the head slow you down. You need to open your eyes and let me know you’re okay.”

  Gina was breathing, but that was all the life she displayed.

  Sloane hugged her friend and started praying.

  Chapter 22

  Sophie’s cramps were back, only this time, they were worse. Much worse. She tried to keep moving, but her legs were giving out on her. The need to pull them up against her body was almost uncontrollable.

  She slipped on the w
et leaves at her feet and would have fallen if not for Riley’s tight grip.

  Another wave of pain gripped her abdomen and squeezed the air from her lungs. A slick wetness coated her inner thighs and she knew it wasn’t sweat. The dark spots dotting her nightgown proved her right. It was blood.

  She couldn’t control the low moan of agony that ripped from her, though the pain in her heart was much worse than that burning in her body.

  Riley pulled her to a stop, bending his knees so he could see into her face. “What it is? Are you hurt?”

  If it hadn’t been for the concern she saw reflected by the flashlight’s glow, she would have kept her mouth shut. There was nothing he could do. But he was concerned. The man had just risked his life to save hers, not knowing how little she deserved his kindness. She felt she owed him honesty, even though she hadn’t been able to give herself the same thing until this very moment.

  Denial was a powerful thing, and she’d clung to it all day despite what her body was telling her.

  “I think I’m having a miscarriage.” The words fell from her mouth, leaving her feeling hollow and numb. The words made it real, terrifying, and devastating.

  She didn’t like Lorenzo. He’d tricked her at first, wearing the mask of a kind, attentive lover, but now that she knew the man he really was, she hated him. She hated herself for not having seen through his disguise. But she loved her baby. She had from the moment she realized she was carrying it. Despite her fear, despite the fact that she was being held prisoner, she’d forced herself to be calm for the sake of the baby. She accepted her confinement, knowing that once she delivered, she’d do whatever it took to get their child to safety.

  And now it was too late.

  Maybe she should have tried harder. Maybe if she’d found a way to escape in the beginning she could have found medical care and kept this from happening.

  She’d never know for sure, but she did know that she’d wonder for the rest of her life what she could have done differently to save her child.

  Riley’s dark eyes widened with shock. His grip on her arm tightened fractionally. “You’re pregnant?”