Gideon howled in rage as Shuggy’s teeth bit down on the exposed flesh of his arm. He jerked Allie’s body toward his, pulling her enough away from the wall where he could expose the puppy. Shuggy growled up at him bravely, baring her little teeth. Gideon swiped his arm across Allie’s chest knocking Shuggs out of her grasp and to the ground below.
Allie heard her little puppy yip in pain from the fall, and it brought her back out of her foggy haze. She looked around just in time to see Gideon pull his gun from his jacket and point it at her dog.
“NO!” Allie screamed. She threw her body at her father, jumping onto his back, kicking and clawing at his face as she fought to save her little puppy. It distracted him enough to take his attention off of the dog scampering around their feet, as he instead tried to pry Allie loose and keep his face from being scratched off.
Unable to throw Allie from his back, Gideon changed tactics and instead slammed her back forcibly against the brick wall. Allie, dazed from the impact, lost her grip across her father’s shoulders and slipped from his back to the grass below.
Without even pausing, her father reached down and jerked Allie upward by snagging onto her shirt collar. He dragged her, still momentarily stunned, back inside the shelter and slammed the door shut behind them, leaving Shuggy outside barking anxiously for her mistress.
Allie tried to get her feet under her, but her father dragging her across the cold, concrete floors made it difficult. Finally, they got to the front of the room where Paul was waiting, and Gideon threw her to the floor. The dogs and cats surrounding them were going crazy at the two strangers who invaded their space.
“Did you get it?” She heard Paul ask her father.
“Not yet.” Her father snapped, “That mangy mutt of hers got in the way.”
Gideon straddled across Allie’s legs and crouched down. He grabbed hold of the front of her shirt and jerked her forward until their faces were inches away. “Where is it?” He ground out, his tone full of loathing.
“I—I don’t know,” Allie faltered.
Her father reared back his right arm and then slammed his hand across her face in a vicious slap that made her head snap to her shoulder.
“Don’t mess with me, you whore!” He screamed, spittle flying from his mouth. “I want what you stole from me!”
“But you already have it,” Allie whimpered, “you already got all the money back that was left. Some of it was spent, but—”
“The money? I don’t care about that piddly sum that you took.” He taunted her, “I want the files! Give them to me, or so help me, I’ll slaughter every last animal in here and force you to watch as they squeal in agony.”
“But I don’t have any files!” Allie pleaded, “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“Your mother’s locket,” he spat, “give it back to me now!”
Allie was too stunned to speak for a moment. Wait, this was all about her mother’s locket? She only took it because her mother promised she would pass it on to her when Allie became old enough. And what did that have to do with any files? Whatever it was he wanted with it, he could have it.
Allie reached into her shirt and snagged hold of the chain she’d worn around her neck since she had left Free Indeed. She pulled it free from her shirt and let it drop to the outside. Her father’s eyes lit up instantly as his hand darted forward grabbing hold, and jerked it from her neck. Allie gasped at the sting of pain as the chain broke around her neck.
Gideon held the locket in front of him like a trophy with a smug look on his face.
“You have what you want,” Allie whispered to him, “please, just let me go. I don’t want to make any trouble.”
Her father’s gaze broke away from the necklace to meet her eyes. A dark, evil look spread out from the depths of his soul through his eyes. “Trouble?” He sneered, “You’ve been nothing but trouble since the day you were born. You always had to be so stubborn, just like her. I should have known you would have grown up to be just like her.”
“Who?” Allie tried to keep him talking. Talking was a good thing, maybe she could get him to make a positive connection to her. There had to some memory that he was fond of. Just one.
His eyes narrowed to slits, “Your mother. I should have just killed you when I killed her.”
Allie couldn’t stop the gasp from escaping her lips. That couldn’t be right. He wouldn’t have killed her mother. He couldn’t. Oh please God, don’t let that be true! “No. No, you loved her. You—”
“She was a means to an end.” Gideon shrugged away her shock, “I needed a way to get close to the Patriarch, and marrying his daughter was the perfect in. From there, it was a very simple matter to convince him I was God’s next choice to succeed him. After that, neither one of them were needed anymore.”
“You killed them both?” Her voice broke as she gasped out the words. Her father laughed at the shocked look on her face. “But Caleb, Evie, all of your children...why have so many children if you just really didn’t care.” Allie wanted to hang onto just a shred of hope that they had meant something to him. He had to care just a little.
He waved his hand through the air, dismissing her concern with no more than a glance, “You were a status symbol for me in the community. Those fools at Free Indeed consider the more children a person has, well obviously, the more godly he must be. Since children are a gift from God after all. They were so malleable...so easy to take control over. I was god to them and milked them for every cent they were worth.”
“And now I’ll go home and continue to rule my kingdom. Too bad you won’t be around to see it.” He looked over to where Paul was silently waiting, before looking back at Allie with a sadistic smirk on his face, “Poor Paul...he’s going to have to miss out on having you for a wife now. I guess I’ll just have to compensate him with Evie when we get back.” He dropped his voice to an evil whisper, “He always did like the younger ones better anyway.”
A pent up scream of anger burst from Allie’s chest as she slapped her hand across her father’s face, “No! No, she’s just a child!”
Gideon slammed her arm away as she tried to hit him a second time, while using his other hand to tightly grab her hair and twist her painfully toward him. Unable to move because of the position he held her in, all Allie could do was stare up into his face as he used his other hand to grab hold of her throat and start to squeeze.
Allie gasped as her air was suddenly cut off. She tried to struggle against him, but he was so much bigger than her, and he was using his body to hold her in place. Gideon released his grip on her hair and moved his second hand to her neck to apply even more pressure.
“Allie?” A shout carried from the front of the building. Allie’s eyes widened. No, Jason couldn’t walk in now! She thought. They’ll kill him! Allie fought as desperately as she could against her father’s grip, trying to dislodge him just enough so she could get enough air to scream a warning to Jason. But all she could manage was a gurgled whimper.
Gideon turned his head in Paul’s direction, “Take care of him,” he muttered. Paul nodded back while pulling a gun from the back of his waistband as he silently left the room. Allie could feel tears forming in her eyes. They couldn’t hurt Jason. They just couldn’t! He was innocent in all of this, and now he was going to be hurt because of her.
Both of their bodies jerked as the sharp sound of a gunshot exploded from the other room. A new wave of fear seized Allie’s chest causing her to go completely still. Her father looked down at her and smiled sinisterly, “No one’s going to save you from me,” as he applied the last bit of pressure needed.
Allie’s vision was starting to blacken as her eyes dropped to the side. She could see the animals going crazy in their crates at the happenings around them. And she could see...a face crouched down behind a table peeking around the corner at her. Confused she tried to focus with the remaining energy that she had left. It was a woman, one she didn’t recognize as ever seeing before. She was abo
ut the same age as Allie, but had dark brown hair falling around her concerned face as she stared out in fear. And then, as quickly as the face appeared, it was gone. Due to the oxygen being cut off from her brain, she was probably hallucinating. Allie could feel her muscles going limp, as the last ounce of energy drained from her body. And then her legs gave out as she slumped to the cold, concrete floor below.
The impact from the fall shocked her back to consciousness, and she blinked her eyes rapidly trying to clear the cloudy haze. Gideon had released her and let her drop to the floor, but that didn’t make sense because he wanted her dead. She blinked one last time and her gaze finally cleared and brought into focus the scene in front of her. Her father was screaming in pain face down on the floor, trying to break loose from the massive german shepherd that was on top of him. Reavers was loose, and he’d saved her! The dog was using its body to keep the larger man pinned while biting and tearing at Gideon’s arms in defense of his favorite mistress.
The dark haired woman that Allie had seen earlier darted from behind the table and raced up to where Allie lay sprawled on the floor. She pushed her arms under Allie’s shoulders and jerked her up to her feet, then threw one of her arms around her shoulders to help brace Allie’s limp body against her own, “Come on! We have to get out of here!” Her desperate voice broke through the remaining fuzziness of Allie’s brain, bringing her back to the direness of her current situation. Allie nodded, grabbing onto the other woman for support as they made their way to the back door.
The shelter was pure insanity. Reavers’ growling and snapping filled the entire room as he took out prior years of abuse on the evil man beneath him. Gideon’s screams echoed across the space, but were muffled by the cacophony of barks, growls, and hisses from the still caged animals as they showed their support and encouragement of the german shepherd’s rescue attempt.
The two woman stumbled toward the back door as quickly as they could manage. They could hear little Shuggs from the other side of the door desperately barking her little heart out, as if sensing her mistress was close and coming toward her.
A heavy thud came from behind them, followed by the sound of Gideon trying to scramble into a sitting position. He had managed to get Reavers off of him just enough where he could reach into his waistband and pull out his gun. Allie glanced back just as the weapon fired, exploding the space with a deafening sound. A whimper escaped Allie’s lips as she watched Reavers’ body jerk from the impact of the bullet and collapse to the floor.
Gideon’s gaze swung around the room widely, trying to find where she had gone. His eyes locked on them trying to make their way to the door. He struggled quickly to his feet as he raised the gun pointing it in their direction, “Stop!” He commanded.
The brunette holding her up froze at the sharp demand. The stranger turned her gaze to meet Allie’s, staring intently into her eyes as if she were trying to silently communicate with her. Ever so slightly, she moved her left hand toward where Allie’s was grasping onto her for balance. Allie felt a flat, cold object press against the skin of her palm as the woman forced a narrow item into her hand. Allie looked down slightly to see that it was a folding knife. Her fist clenched the blade tightly as they both turned around to face her father.
Allie watched as her father’s gaze darted back and forth between the newcomer and herself. A look of recognition passed across his eyes, and Allie got the impression he knew the other woman. The gun faltered back and forth between them as if Gideon couldn’t decide which of them he hated more, and which he wanted to shoot first. Finally, he turned his gaze to the stranger next to her, “Cara,” his voice sounded strangled with disbelief, “you’re supposed to be dead.”
“Next time you send Paul to do your dirty work, you had better follow up on him. Your little apprentice can’t even kill someone without doing it half-assed.”
A loud crash sounded from the front office, momentarily distracting Gideon from the task at hand. They could hear a struggle ensuing from the waiting room, and Allie’s heart leapt in her chest. If Paul was out there fighting, then that meant Jason was still alive!
“And it looks like he failed at killing someone again,” the woman smirked at Gideon. “Good help is so hard to find these days.”
Rage completely consumed Gideon’s face to the point where he looked like he was about to explode, “Then I’ll just have to take care of it myself, won’t I?”
“Go to hell!” Cara spat. She gave Allie a quick squeeze as if in warning and then released her grip causing Allie to stumble against the cabinet next to her. The stranger grabbed one of the metal dog bowls sitting on the countertop, and flung it directly at Gideon’s face before launching herself in his direction. He used his free arm to swat the bowl away in the air, but it was enough of a distraction to keep him from firing his gun at her before she was able to throw her body against him, knocking him off balance. They both fell to floor, Gideon using his superior strength to remain on top. He straddled her, as his anger erupted and he slammed the gun repeatedly across her face.
Blow and brutal blow rained down across the woman’s face. There wasn’t a doubt in Allie’s mind that her father was going to beat her rescuer to death. She gripped the knife tightly in her palm, using one hand to swing the blade out as she ran toward her father’s back. She thrust the five inch blade into what she hoped was his kidney. If she didn’t stop him now, Allie knew she wouldn’t get another chance. He would turn the gun on them both and kill them.
It must have hit what she was aiming for because he froze in shock and pain. Without thought or pause, Allie jerked the knife from his back, and slammed it into him again. The woman beneath him used Gideon’s surprise to grab hold of the gun and wrench it from his grip. Cara managed to bring her knees up to her chest and used them to forcibly push Gideon off of her. Both women watched as he fell to the side and lay there, his body twitching uncontrollably.
Allie swung her gaze back to her rescuer to make sure she was ok. The poor woman’s face was already horribly red and bleeding from the repeatedly brutal blows to her face. Allie reached her hand down to the other woman who grabbed hold of it gratefully, and pulled her to her feet.
Footsteps pounded down the hallway, and a dark figure burst through the door. Cara quickly snapped the gun around, pointing it at the intruder.
Jason jerked to a stop at the sight of a gun pointed at his chest. He slowly raised his hands to show he wasn’t a threat, and Cara let the gun fall back down to her side.
“Jason!” Allie shouted in relief as she ran towards him. He met her halfway, and swept her up in the biggest hug of her life. It was as if he wanted to meld their two bodies into one. Allie latched onto him, hugging him back as tightly as she could.
“Is Paul taken care of?” Cara’s voice came from behind her.
“Yes,” Jason replied without taking his eyes off of the woman he loved, “he won’t be a problem. And the police are arriving now. I could hear their sirens approaching as I was running back.”
Cara let out a huge sigh of relief at the thought that the danger may just be over. Suddenly Allie jerked her head away from Jason’s chest as her eyes widened, “Reavers!” Allie pushed away from Jason’s arms and turned back to where the dog lay off to the side of the room. “Oh no, Reavers!” She dropped to her knees by the bleeding animal and used her hands to apply pressure to the wound. His head moved slightly at the contact, and he opened his eyes to look at Allie. “I’m so sorry, boy,” she whispered brokenly. “I’m so sorry this happened to you! You saved my life, and now we’re going to save yours, ok? You just hang in there.”
Jason came up behind her and dropped to a crouch next to them. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, quickly skimming through his contacts to find the one he wanted to call. He pressed the phone to his ear just as it connected, “Dory,” he paused, “yeah, we need you at the shelter. There’s been an emergency...we need you here as fast as you can.” Jason disconnected the call and dropped the phone
to the side as he helped Allie stop the flow of blood. They heard a cabinet door slam shut, and then Cara slumped to the floor next to them with towels she had grabbed. Allie took them from her with a thankful smile as they used them to try and stop the bleeding.
They could hear the sound of tires screeching to a halt, followed by the slam of car doors as the police cars finally arrived. Jason pressed a kiss to Allie’s temple and whispered, “It’s going to be ok, baby.”
Epilogue
Allie sank back into the vinyl booth at BB-Dub’s. The last few days since the attack at the shelter had been a whirlwind, and it felt good just to sit next to the man she loved and do nothing.
After the police had arrived, they searched for Paul, but he was nowhere to be found. They assumed he was on the run and most likely wouldn’t come back to bother anyone else. And now the surrounding areas were all on the lookout for him, as well as the cities around Free Indeed in case he showed his face there again. So hopefully he’d be apprehended soon.
Dory had broken every speed limit to make it to the shelter within minutes of Jason’s phone call. But make it she did, and it was in time to save Reavers’ life. It was touch and go for the first forty-eight hours, but thankfully, the bullet had passed right through, and Allie and Jason were able to stop enough of the bleeding until Dory arrived to operate. Now Reavers was in recovery at the shelter under Dory and Rayne’s watchful eyes.
Since waking up, it was like Reavers was an entirely new dog. No longer barking and snapping at anyone walking by, now it seemed like he just settled into and accepted his new life and the people in it. Dory said it was because he finally recognized and acknowledged them as his pack, and when he attacked Gideon to save Allie, Reavers made the decision to protect and defend what he considered to be his family. And now, once Dory gave the ok for him to be released, he would officially be joining a new family complete with two fur-siblings, Malcolm and Shuggs. All the long hours spent watching over Reavers and making sure he was going to be ok bonded him and Allie in a way they decided to make permanent.
Entangled (Free Indeed Book 1) Page 13
