by CP Smith
Jack took a curve hard, barely keeping the SUV on the road, and then gunned the engine, picking up speed at a dangerous rate.
“Shane?” Sage’s voice was a whisper in the radio and he took his first breath since hearing the gunshot.
“Baby, we’re coming. Tell me who’s been shot.”
He released the talk button and heard more screaming, then the gunning of their engine as Jenn raced down the road. Jack let out a stuttered breath when he heard the screeching tires. Jenn was healthy enough to drive.
Shane turned to Max and saw the pain etched on his face; he’d come to the same conclusion. If Sage was on the radio, Jenn was driving, and Mia was shouting, that only left one woman.
Maxine.
“I will kill this sonofabitch with my bare hands!” Max roared, punching the roof repeatedly.
“Sage?” Shane called out. “Give me a description of her wound.”
“Back. In her back. She isn’t opening her eyes.”
Hearing that, Max reached forward and grabbed the radio from Shane.
“Put the radio to her ear,” he demanded. Shane expected him to bark out orders, insist his mother quit being a pain in his ass, but pain filled his eyes and he choked on his words instead. “I love you, old woman. More than you fuckin’ know. You hold on, do you hear me? You hold the fuck on. I need you in my life; I need you in my kid’s life. This is not your time. Do you understand me? I will not lose you, too.”
Max released the talk button and waited for a reply, some sort of sign she heard him. The radio crackled again and Sage mumbled, “I think she heard you.”
The sound of locked up tires filled the cab again, then Jenn screamed, “We’re gonna tip!”
The radio went silent.
They rounded a bend at top speed, and in the distance, they could see the headlights of two vehicles. Both were stationary, one was on its hood blocking one lane.
“Gun,” Shane growled.
“Glove box,” Jack answered.
Shane pulled out a 9mm Smith & Wesson semi-automatic. He flipped the safety off and then racked the slide. He could see Heller standing in the headlights of his truck with a gun raised. Rolling down his window, Shane leaned halfway out, balancing his body on the frame, and took aim. When they were close enough, Jack laid on his horn and Heller turned, giving Shane a wider target. He rapid fired, following Heller with his sights as he ran for cover. He took a hit to his midsection but dove into the woods avoiding the rest.
Locking up his brakes, Jack skidded to a stop and barreled out of the vehicle, his own gun pointed at the woods as Max raced to the overturned Jeep.
Shane pulled his body through the window and hit the ground running. Cold fear gripped him at the thought of what they might find.
If anything has happened to Sage, I will castrate the man before I end his life.
He and Jack reached Jenn’s Jeep at the same time, their guns still pointed at the woods as they leaned down and looked inside.
All four women were belted in and hanging in various degrees of pissed-off terror.
Except for Maxine.
She dangled lifelessly in the back seat.
“Call for an ambulance,” Mia shrieked when Max pried her door open.
Lying on his back, Shane kicked out the passenger window next to Sage and crawled inside. Her eyes were open and blood was dripping from her forehead.
“Talk to me, baby. Where does it hurt?”
“Maxine first,” she cried out, grabbing his hand as he pushed the hair out of her eyes. “You have to save her, Shane. Please.”
He kissed her hand, said a quick thanks to God she’d survived, then moved a few inches further in and assessed Maxine. Her pulse was weak and thready, her breathing shallow and labored.
“We gotta risk her back,” Shane shouted. “There’s no time for an ambulance. I think the bullet nicked her lung. You gotta get her straight to the hospital.”
Max lowered Mia to the ground and then kicked out the back window. Together, he and Shane released Maxine from the seatbelt and got her out of the Jeep as quickly and safely as they could.
Jack rescued Jenn and Sage while he and Max carried Maxine as slowly as possible to minimize further damage. Once she was loaded, they ordered Sage and the others inside with Maxine to keep her calm while Max drove.
“Aren’t you coming with us?” Sage cried out before he shut the door.
“This ends tonight,” Shane bit out. “He won’t get a chance to get near you again.”
Sage’s face paled and she opened her mouth to argue, but he stopped her protest with a quick, hard kiss before he slammed the door. When he turned, Jack tossed him a sniper rifle and a bulletproof vest he’d pulled out of the back of his SUV, then handed Max the keys.
“Get Maxine to the hospital. Once she’s in surgery, call Barry at home and let him know the situation; tell him Heller’s been shot. By the time he gets here, we should have taken care of Heller. Shane and I will head to the hospital as soon as we’re done here.”
Max jerked his head and climbed in, rolling down his window as he started the vehicle. “I want him dead,” was all he said, then he threw the SUV into drive and punched the gas, leaving Jack and Shane watching until they were out of sight.
“You left your radio in the SUV. I take it you’re not goin’ to call this in?” Shane asked.
“Nope. Plausible deniability as to why I didn’t call it in. He tried to kill my wife and shot my aunt. This is personal. You got a problem with that?”
“Not in the fuckin’ least.”
Shane turned to Jack and dropped his equipment. “Put the vest on under your shirt. Heller’s trained to go for the body shot, not the head, but he’ll take the head shot if he sees the vest.”
They pulled the shirts from their bodies, neither saying a word. Both were distracted with worry for Maxine. When they’d pulled their shirts back on and picked up their guns, Jack ordered, “Check his vehicle for keys,” as he handed Shane a flashlight.
Shane moved to Heller’s truck and looked inside. “He took the keys,” he shouted.
Both men pointed their flashlights in the direction of the ground, looking for the blood trail left behind by Heller. Once they found it, they followed the trail into the woods and picked up their pace, both sweeping the forest floor with light as they went. The amount of blood they tracked meant he was bleeding steadily, and with any luck, he’d bleed out and save them the trouble of killing him.
They kept pushing forward, ducking limbs and crawling over downed trees. Ten minutes later, they stepped into a clearing near a river. Scanning the ground, they found the blood trail leading downstream. It disappeared into the water.
The river was running fast, so Shane scanned the width and knew Heller couldn’t have made it across in his condition.
“Think he tried for the other side and got swept away?” Jack asked.
“Possible,” Shane answered, but he kept moving down the river.
Fifty feet from where the blood trail ended, it picked back up. Heading back in the direction of the road.
“He doubled back?” Jack rumbled.
“Yeah, and he’s got the keys,” Shane bit out. “Tell me we’ve got cell service out here. We don’t have time to wait for Barry.”
Jack shook his head and they both double-timed it back through the woods.
“He couldn’t just bleed to death,” Shane grunted.
“These bastards never make it easy.”
By the time they made it back to the road, the truck was gone.
“That’s a ballsy move. He knows protocol; knows I should have called this in. He should have expected a squad guarding his truck.”
“He probably knows there’s no service out here or he risked it on the off chance you hadn’t. Either way, he left us a trail to follow so he could double-back while our dicks blew in the wind. He’s a smart fuck, determined.”
“We need to get to the hospital. He’s got to know that’
s where we’d send the girls to get checked out after the crash.”
Both men looked at Jenn’s Jeep.
“Think it will run if we tip it back?” Shane asked.
“Only one way to find out.”
***
Pacing. That’s all we could do at this point. Shane and Jack were still out in the woods with Heller and Maxine was in surgery. So Jenn and I paced while my head pounded with a headache to end all headaches from the laceration on my face. But considering the speed we had been traveling, the fact Jenn was able to slow down enough so we only rolled once, limiting our injuries, was a miracle. Jack had trained her after what she went through five years ago; had put her through the ringer teaching her how to protect herself.
Now Jenn and I paced, worried about Maxine and our men while Max and Mia prayed in the sanctuary.
“I don’t understand how he found us,” I mumbled. “We used fake names. They were watching for him at the airlines. How could he find us so quickly without anyone seeing him?”
“The one thing I learned when I had two killers after me was they will do whatever it takes to win.”
I paused and looked at her.
“Explain to me how we ended up with killers after us? It’s like a movie. Maxine’s been shot. Shane and Jack are hunting him while we pace in a waiting room. How did this become my life, our life?”
“Don’t try and figure it out. I did for years and came up empty.”
She was right, of course, but the counselor in me knew I’d have to work through it on my own until I could wrap my head around it all.
“At least I know my mother’s safe if he’s here in Colorado.”
“And the twins are safe with their grandmother. Now I just need my husband to walk through that door.”
We both turned and looked at the waiting room doors, willing them to open and for Shane and Jack to walk in.
Our prayers weren’t answered.
Sighing, I began to pace again.
At least we had the waiting room to ourselves. Being a small county hospital, it didn’t have a ton of emergency surgeries at night.
“I need coffee. Do you want some coffee?” Jenn asked, heading to the complimentary coffee station.
“I need something stronger,” I mumbled.
“That goes without saying,” she agreed.
“How long do you think a surgery like this will take?”
Shane was right. Maxine had a collapsed lung, but they wouldn’t know the extent of her injuries until they opened her up.
Reaching for a Styrofoam cup, Jenn poured her coffee then looked over her shoulder at me.
“When my friend Ben had a heart attack, his surgery took five hours.”
I scanned my memory for the people we’d met since arriving and couldn’t place the name.
“I don’t think I’ve met Ben.”
She shook her head. “You haven’t. He and his girlfriend Lorraine moved to Florida a few years ago. They bought a place just down the street from my parents.”
“So it could be a while before we hear anything,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck, trying to work out the kinks as I continued to pace back and forth.
“They’ll keep us up-to-date as the surgery progresses.”
“We’re lucky you had a surgeon on staff with this being a smaller county hospital.”
“This hospital may be small, but they have everything a larger city hospital has.”
“Good thing, too. I don’t think Maxine would have made it if she’d been life-flighted to Denver.”
“Agreed,” Jenn said. “It’s been a while since they took her back. I think I’ll go check with the receptionist and see if there is an update.”
She moved to the waiting room doors as my cell began to vibrate in my pocket, so I pulled it out. It said Shane calling.
“It’s Shane,” I cried out and swept answer. “Shane? Are you all right?”
Jenn gasped and I turned with a smile on my face. Then it faded. Heller was standing behind her with a gun to her head. He looked the worse for wear. His dark hair had turned gray since I’d last seen him and his complexion was pale as crimson blood oozed from a wound in his side. I’d been free of his brand of evil for four years, growing stronger with each passing year, but seeing his face again brought back the years of fear and punishment. I began to shake in my shoes.
“Baby, listen to me,” Shane shouted in my ear as I shook in place.
“Is that the man you’re fucking?” my stepfather asked. “Put him on speaker phone.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Jenn ordered.
There was a pause on the other end of the phone and then Shane asked, “He’s there, isn’t he?”
“He wants me to put you on speaker,” I finally choked out, my attention riveted to the gun at Jenn’s temple.
“Where is Max?” Shane barked out.
“Chapel—”
Heller pulled the hammer back on his revolver and raised a brow. “Put him on speaker phone.”
“Baby, listen to me, whatever you do, don’t leave with him. He won’t shoot you in a public place.”
“Where are you?” I whispered, ignoring Heller. If I put Shane on speaker, he couldn’t answer me.
“Sage, if you don’t listen to daddy and put him on speaker phone, I’m gonna put a bullet in your friend’s pretty little head,” Heller hissed.
Fear and resentment bubbled up from a place so dark, so deep, I couldn’t stop it. I shrieked, “You were never my father, you bastard! You were a warden who used fear and your fists to keep us in line!”
Color returned to his face at my outburst. This was the man I knew from my nightmares. One look told me he wanted to put his fist in my face for disrespecting him.
“Enough!” Heller roared. “You destroyed my life. I have nothing left because of you. It’s time to accept your punishment.”
“Don’t fuckin’ move!” Shane shouted.
“He has a gun to Jenn’s head. I have no choice,” I whispered.
Heller yanked back Jenn’s head and shoved the gun under her chin. “You will come with me willingly or I’ll shoot her first . . . then you. Your choice.”
Jenn closed her eyes and muttered, “What is it with crackpots pointing guns at me?”
Shane must have put me on speakerphone because Jack bellowed in my ear, “Because you never stay put!”
I could hear sirens in the background, so I knew they were coming. But I couldn’t risk Jenn’s life. This was my problem, and she had two young boys to raise.
“I’m hanging up now. I have to go with him or Jenn is—”
“What did I say?” Shane barked out.
“I can’t. The risk is too high.”
“I swear to God, we will be there in time. Just stall him and don’t leave.”
I ignored him. I had to. He didn’t know Heller like I did. He would lash out within moments if I didn’t comply. “If I don’t get a chance to tell you this, Shane, I want you to know I fell in love with you the moment you stepped off that plane. Your soul is so beautiful—”
“Sage, don’t—”
His voice held fear and anger equally, but I interrupted him.
“Please don’t blame yourself, Shane,” I cried out. “None of this is your fault. Please don’t shut down again. Live your life for Emma Jane, for me.”
He roared, “Listen to me!” but I hung up and stepped forward.
“Let’s go, daddy dearest,” I sneered.
“Sage, don’t do this,” Jenn begged.
Triumph morphed Heller’s face from a wild animal’s to that of the smug bastard I remembered from childhood. He raised the gun from Jenn’s throat and slammed it down on her temple before I could stop him. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she slumped to the floor in a puddle of limbs. When I moved to help her, crying out in distress, Heller reached out, grabbed me by the neck with his forearm, and pinned me to his chest.
“You’re gonna come with me quietly or I
’ll shoot the first person I see,” he ordered.
Taking a deep breath to control my emotions, I wiped my face clean of tears. I couldn’t risk anyone asking if I was all right. I believed he would do whatever it took to exact his punishment.
“We’re gonna walk out the front door,” he sneered. “Just a father comforting his daughter as he walks her to the car.”
I nodded I understood.
When he opened the waiting room door, I gasped. On the floor behind the reception desk were a security guard and an elderly woman. I was stunned no one had seen them and sounded the alarm, then I realized one of the downsides to a county hospital at night was they didn’t have a large staff.
The surgical waiting room was on the ground floor near the front. All that lay between us and the front of the hospital was a short walk down a long hall. I was out of options. No one could save me now.
“Almost there,” Heller whispered as we rounded a corner. He had his arm draped around my shoulders, snuggling me up close to him to hide the blood on his shirt and his gun shoved into my side.
We walked across the sensor that made the double doors open. They slid wide and we crossed the threshold into the night. We made it two steps outside when Heller stopped abruptly. Shane came out of nowhere with his gun raised.
My heart leaped at the sight.
Heller yanked me in front of him and pulled his gun out, pointing it at Shane.
“Let her go,” Shane demanded.
“That’s not how this works,” Heller answered. “You step back or I pull the trigger.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jack creeping low, headed in our direction. I looked to the right and saw Barry mimicking Jack.
“Sage!” Shane shouted, his voice hard and commanding, “Just like the man at the carnival, baby.”
“What?”
He mouthed one and I shook my head.
Heller must have caught Jack moving because he swung to the left and shouted, “Stop where you are!” redirecting his gun toward Jack.
I looked back at Shane and he mouthed two.
“Shane—” I didn’t have time to think. I knew Shane wanted me to create a distraction, to attack Heller in the same way I had the man at the carnival, so I tensed my muscles in preparation.
