Identical Threat

by Tyler Anne Snell

  Not that she was concerned about that minor annoyance at the moment.

  “Try your phone,” Riley said as soon as Jenna was inside. The room they’d come into was large, vaulted and furnished to the nines. Jenna pulled her phone out and dialed while Riley stepped back onto the glass to grab the curtains. She pulled them over the window hoping that it wouldn’t make the broken window as noticeable from the outside.

  “I have no bars here,” Jenna said after a moment.

  “Keep trying and look for a landline!”

  Riley clutched at her side as the pain reminded her she’d been hurt and hurried to the back door. It was off a small hall at the rear of the kitchen, attached to the living area. She peeked out the window through the top half of the door. The rain had died way down and the sun was already starting to show again.

  Riley hoped it stayed that way.

  She was glad to see no one coming through the trees after them.

  “I’m going upstairs to see if that helps,” Jenna called. “There’s no landline down here.”

  “Hurry!”

  Riley didn’t know where the stairs were but she heard Jenna pound up them.

  Then she was alone.

  Riley leaned against the door and fought the urge to squeeze her eyes closed and cry.

  This was all a nightmare. Every second since Desmond had warned her someone was in his house. Sure, there had been hope within that nightmare. Hope that they’d catch Ryan so he wouldn’t be able to weasel his way out of everything. Hope that he’d finally pay for what he’d done and spend the rest of his life behind bars.

  That hope had only grown when Davies had taken them to the barn out on someone’s—she still had no idea who that person was, though—property and there had been Desmond.

  Even with Desmond on his knees, face bloodied and bruised and a gun pointed at him, Riley had felt that hope well in her chest at being near him.

  Then that hope had turned hot. She’d been scared that Davies had lied.

  That’s when she’d realized who it was pointing the gun at him.

  Julian Mercer had been dressed in a suit meant to impress and had looked absolutely terrifying.

  Maria hadn’t flinched in the slightest at the sight of him.

  I have to admit, I’m more impressed with the men in suits for their sense of style rather than their cunning, she’d noted before they’d gotten out.

  That’s when Riley had really believed their plan might work. Maria had taken one look at the intimidating appearance of Desmond’s brother-in-law and had assumed he was on her side, just as the man in the suit had been at Desmond’s house earlier.

  Just as she had trusted Davies wasn’t lying to her.

  But then...

  Then Ryan had shown up.

  And then everything had gone wrong.

  Riley’s vision started to blur. Jenna’s footfalls coming down the stairs made her straighten again but there was no fooling her sister. Jenna’s eyes softened, even as she gave the bad news.

  “Caleb’s right. I can’t get any call out but I hit Send on texts to Dorothy’s and Madi’s phones. If we hit a pocket of service hopefully they’ll go through. I never found a landline.”

  “Dorothy and Madi know you’re here?”

  Jenna looked guilty as all get-out.

  “No. No one knew,” she admitted. “I nearly gave Desmond a heart attack when I popped up in his back seat once we left the ranch.”

  Riley opened her mouth to scold her sister when Jenna moved directly in front of her.

  It was the first time they’d had any chance to have a conversation since Maria and the man in the suit had come for her.

  “I understand why you switched places with me. And now I need you to understand why I had to go out to that barn.” She put her hand flat over her heart. They hadn’t had a moment to talk about the plan or the barn they’d all found themselves at before everything wrong had happened. “Twin or not, you and Hartley are my heart. There’s no me without you two. So there was no force on this earth that would keep me from trying to help take down the man who is trying to take you both. I love you, Riley Lee, but you’re just plain stupid if you think I was going to sit this one out.”

  “What about Hartley?”

  Jenna didn’t waver in her resolve.

  “He’s with Madi. I may have let myself down when it came to my relationship with Ryan but I wasn’t about to do the same for Hartley. When Desmond and Davies told me what he was most likely after, I convinced Madi to let me record a video on her phone just in case. I detailed everything Ryan ever did to me, how he’d never shown real love to Hartley and how in the event of my death and your death that his home would be with Mom and Dad. Madi swore if anything happened to us that the entire Nash family would make sure that wish was held up.” She smiled. It was small. “And, I’ll be honest, I believe that they would fight for us even though we’re not technically family.”

  “Did you call Mom and Dad?” Riley asked, even though she knew the answer already.

  Jenna shook her head.

  “They’d be on the first flight out. If everything went sideways I didn’t want them getting caught in the cross fire.”

  “Smart,” Riley had to agree. “Especially since everything did go sideways.”

  Riley’s vision started to blur again as tears rimmed her eyes. This time Jenna put her arms around her.

  “He could still be okay,” she tried to assure. “They all could still be alright.”

  But Riley heard the uncertainty in her statement.

  Just as she heard the footsteps on the porch outside.

  Riley turned to the window, hoping that just thinking about Desmond had conjured him.

  Her heart broke all over again.

  It wasn’t Desmond. It wasn’t Julian. It wasn’t Caleb.

  It wasn’t even Davies or Maria.

  It was Ryan Alcaster.

  And he still had his gun.

  * * *

  “MADI IS GOING to be so pissed.”

  Caleb had lost too much blood. He was pale and it had nothing to do with how soaked they were from the rain or their jaunt in the river. Julian must have thought the same. He shared a worried look with Desmond after they had helped him from the water and into the trees.

  The barn was in the distance, mocking them.

  No one had followed them.

  Then again, there had been little left to interpret after Ryan and the men with him had unloaded a barrage of bullets in their direction.

  They all should have been dead.

  They all would have been had they not been faster into the water.

  Then again, not all of them had been fast enough.

  Julian was bleeding heavily from the split in his head thanks to the fight he’d gotten into with one of the men who had come with Ryan. The crimson was a shock against Julian’s tan skin and one of the reasons Desmond hadn’t noticed that his own graze from earlier had opened and had bled through his shirt.

  Neither wound could compare to Caleb’s.

  “Why is Madi going to be pissed?” Desmond asked, crouching next to his brother. Julian followed suit. He didn’t ask for permission as he ripped open Caleb’s pant leg.

  “Because now she’s the only Nash sibling who hasn’t been shot.”

  Desmond hated seeing the bullet wound in Caleb’s leg just as much as he’d hated hearing him yell out before they had jumped off the raised bank overhang and made it into the water. Julian, a former marine, was all analytical as he inspected it. His voice was nothing but calm when he spoke.

  “And we’re going to let her stay mad because that’s never going to happen.” He motioned to Desmond. “Give me your belt. I need to make a tourniquet or he’s going to bleed out.”

  Desmond ripped his belt off and hand
ed it over feeling the terrible weight of helplessness press against him. Caleb watched the move. Then he looked to the river.

  “Remember when I fished Declan and Nina out of that river?” His voice was strained.

  “It’s about the only two things you can say you caught in there,” Desmond replied, trying to smile. “Because you sure never caught any fish.”

  Caleb chuckled. Then he winced.

  Julian adjusted the belt around his thigh.

  “Hold him down.”

  Desmond didn’t have to be told twice.

  His brother let out a terrible cry of pain as Julian twisted the belt tight.

  “He might pass out but that’s okay,” Julian warned.

  “I’m still here, big guy,” Caleb said.

  Julian kept quiet as he kept turning. Desmond had his arm wrapped around Caleb’s chest. Before he finished Desmond felt his body go limp.

  “It’s the pain,” Julian answered his unspoken fear. “He’s lost a lot of blood but this should help him remain stable for a bit. He needs medical attention now.”

  Julian pulled his phone out. It was wet.

  “Let’s see if this is actually waterproof like they claim.”

  Desmond patted his brother on the chest and slipped out from under him. He pointed to the trees behind them as Julian dialed.

  “County 11 is a half mile that way. If you can walk him there it’ll save the ambulance a lot of time getting back here.”

  Julian nodded, nonplussed at the idea of carrying a full-grown, unconscious man a half mile through the woods while soaking wet, hurt and in the rain. Then again, he was their very own gentle giant.

  “You’re going to the rental Caleb told the women about?” he asked, already putting the phone between his ear and shoulder and positioning himself to pick up Caleb.

  “Yeah, and I’m not waiting for backup to get here.”

  Julian snorted.

  “If it was Madi, I wouldn’t let some jerk like me tell me not to go.” He gave Desmond a deep nod. “If you get the chance, take them out one by one. Stealth is strength’s enemy when used right.”

  Whoever he called answered the phone and that was that. Julian threw Caleb over his shoulder like a rag doll and took off at a jog.

  Desmond didn’t waste any of his time either. He ran back to the river and followed it. The overhang of raised grass and dirt gave him cover until he was near the barn. He climbed up, slipping on the dirt turned to mud in the rain, and was met with the sight of bullet holes, abandoned vehicles and bodies.

  If Desmond hadn’t been part of the distraction that had allowed Riley and Jenna to disappear into the woods, he would have had ice in his stomach.

  Instead, he walked past a man in slacks and a blazer who he didn’t recognize lying motionless on the ground, Maria with her eyes open and staring up at the sky and Davies across from her.

  Desmond only paused by the first man long enough to grab the gun at his feet.

  The SUV Ryan and the three men had driven up in was still parked next to the road while they were nowhere to be found.

  Which meant they must have followed Riley and Jenna into the woods.

  Desmond took off running, limp be damned.

  Chapter Twenty

  Riley was so terrified and mad and frustrated, she didn’t know which emotion to jump in and soak up. Instead she took a little of each.

  “We should have grabbed one of the guns,” she said at Jenna’s ear as they hurried up the stairs that were tucked away at the opposite side of the living room. There was a loft lounge area that opened up to the front of the house and a hallway that branched off in both directions from it.

  “I did have one but after Ryan shot Maria I just—” Jenna didn’t finish the thought. While neither had been a fan of the woman, it had been absolutely horrible to watch the bullet hit her in the chest. And, perhaps even worse, the betrayal and pain that had crossed her face as she realized the man she loved had been the one to do it.

  Not only had he pulled the trigger, he’d smiled.

  It was an awful end for anyone.

  Riley knew it would haunt her and Jenna for a long time to come.

  That is, if the same madman didn’t find them first.

  “We need to hide,” Riley said, choosing the hallway to the left.

  “Hard to do when we’re trailing water and mud,” Jenna whispered.

  Riley looked back the way they’d come.

  She was right.

  The rain had been light when Ryan had pulled up. After he’d shot Maria and his friends had surprised them the bottom had dropped out.

  It had created more chaos that only made seeing what happened to the rest of their friends harder.

  The gunshots, the yelling, the splintering of wood.

  Then nothing but the rain.

  Just as fast as it had come over them, it had started to ebb.

  Now it was still managing to make everything worse. The runner along the hardwood floors on the second-floor landing had collected the water still coming off their hair, clothes and shoes. Hiding was going to be impossible.

  “They’re going to know exactly where we go.”

  “If they come inside.”

  “This is the only place for miles,” Riley hissed back. “Of course they’re going to come in.”

  A small puddle of water was already pooling around them as they spoke. Riley decided on a bad idea.

  “Strip down,” she hurried, already ripping open Maria’s blouse and stepping out of her shoes. “They might find us but we’re not going to make it easy.”

  Riley didn’t know if Jenna would have agreed with the plan had a terrifying sound not floated up to them from the first floor.

  Shattering glass.

  Jenna’s eyes widened.

  Then her shirt was off in a flash.

  * * *

  STEALTH.

  Not something any of the people Desmond was following had used.

  From the bank of the stream all the way to the wraparound porch of the vacation rental, there were muddy footprints. It was a blessing and a concern all at the same time.

  Following the men to stop them was made easier, sure, but based on two sets of smaller prints he saw every few feet, the women’s footprints had been easy to follow too.

  Desmond checked that the safety was off on the gun in his hand. He made sure it was loaded too. He’d never wanted to shoot anyone in his life and yet he’d already shot Geordi Green and, he believed, the man at the clearing. Caleb had shot one of the men who was with Ryan too.

  At least, he hoped it was one of the bad guys because, mixed in with the mud, was a decent amount of blood.

  He wasn’t built like a house like Julian but if it was Riley or Jenna who was hurt, he was going to throw them over his shoulder and walk them to safety too.

  No one was going to stop him.

  Desmond slowed as he made it to the corner of the back side of the house. No footsteps were visible across the stones that led to the front.

  Stealth was strength’s enemy.

  Solid advice from Julian.

  Advice Desmond was going to take.

  He kept low and hurried along the side of the raised porch. The rain had stopped. He strained to hear any movement inside.

  Someone was talking. A man.

  Desmond stopped, crouching next to the stairs that led to the front door, and firmly ignored the pain radiating up his leg. If he had to, he’d crawl his way to end this.

  He slowed his breathing, felt the weight of the gun in his hand and peered around the wooden railing. The front door was open, the window at its side broken. Desmond could see movement through it.

  At least one of the gunmen from earlier was inside the house.

  Desmond readied himself, muscles
and pain thrumming in anticipation, when a figure walked around the other side of the house.

  It was the man in the suit who had taken Riley that morning from his house. Even soaked, his clothes were immaculate. It made the gun he had aimed at Desmond even more intimidating.

  He pressed his finger to his lips.

  Desmond was about to get to shooting bad guys earlier than intended when the man moved his hand to a stop motion. Then lowered his gun.

  “We need to talk,” he said, loud enough for Desmond to hear but not enough that the men inside came out.

  Desmond pulled his gun up and aimed. He didn’t shoot.

  Part of him was ready to pull the trigger. The same part that had been hit hard enough to lose consciousness. The same part that had failed so that Riley could be taken from his house.

  The other part wasn’t as quick to jump the literal gun.

  That part was reading the body language of the man and remembering how he’d kept Maria from shooting him or Riley.

  That part was also quite aware that the man wasn’t calm and collected as he had been in the house.

  He was angry.

  And it wasn’t at Desmond.

  “Slowly,” he warned as the man kept low and made his way over. He stopped on the other side of the stairs. He made no move for his gun once there.

  “Ryan Alcaster is in there with two of my guys,” the man stated. Desmond hadn’t read the man wrong. There was anger in his words.

  “Anyone else?” Desmond ventured, fishing to see if he knew about the women.

  “A set of twins who have a lot more spunk than I gave either credit for.”

  Desmond felt his jaw harden. His trigger finger was itching.

  “Sounds like getting you out of the picture makes things a little easier for me then.”

  The man eyed the gun and then got down to business.

  “I’m here to help even the playing field, not add to it.”

  Desmond snorted, glanced at the door and shook his head.

  “I don’t believe you.”

  That annoyed the man.

  “Ryan Alcaster broke the terms of our agreement,” he said with a growl. “The person I work for doesn’t take that lightly.”