After a long, agonizing pause, Elena opened her puffy eyes barely a slit. “I don’t…know.” She shook her head slowly, then collapsed again.
“That’s all right. Don’t you worry.” Carmen exhaled. “That man’s too stubborn not to find us. Hold on, Elena,” she soothed. “We can’t give up yet.”
Please, Greg, be all right.
Tonight they are yours.
Carmen shuddered.
And please hurry.
Quinn’s cell rang as soon as they made it past Kruger’s gate. He glanced at the display, then answered. “Something’s going on.” He listened briefly. “What? Oh, hell.”
“What is it?” Josh asked.
“Hold on,” Quinn said to the caller. “I’m putting you on speaker.”
“You think that’s wise?” Blackwell’s voice emerged. “Your brother’s a little impulsive.”
“He’s not stupid,” Quinn answered. “And he has a right to know.”
“Know what?” But Josh feared he already did. Somehow this was about Elena.
“She’s in a car that just pulled up at Kruger’s house.”
His heart seized. “Turn around, Quinn.”
Quinn glared. “I told him you weren’t stupid. Don’t make a liar out of me.”
“But we have to—” Josh subsided. Yes, he wanted to go in, guns blazing, but he knew better. Thank goodness, though, Quinn had brought along weapons. He’d worn one in his guise as bodyguard, but there was a firearm in the console for Josh.
“How does she look?” he asked. Blackwell was hiding on Kruger’s land, trespassing because he couldn’t get a warrant yet. Josh was pretty sure that meant that nothing he learned could be used to convict Kruger.
But it was past time now for legal niceties.
“She’s restrained, but otherwise okay, best I can tell from here.”
Restrained. Meaning the bastard’s men had her helpless. Ready for slaughter—or whatever else Kruger got in his head to do to her.
She’d barely come past flinching at every movement. And though she’d never elaborated, he had the strong impression that Kruger had raped her more than once.
“I can’t—” Josh grabbed the door handle as though he’d simply break free and follow her.
Quinn shot him a quelling glance before he spoke again. “What can we do to help you?”
Blackwell exhaled. “The question of the hour. I’d like to say go back to the motel they’ve put you in and wait for me, but—”
“Like hell I will,” Josh growled.
Quinn started to speak but didn’t.
Josh wondered if he was remembering how he’d been too late to stop Lorie’s stalker from brutalizing her. How even though he’d saved her life, he’d beaten himself up for a long time over how much she’d been hurt anyway.
“You know, Quinn,” Josh said quietly. “You know how it will feel if I’m not there and—”
Quinn’s shoulders sank. “Tell us where you are, Blackwell. You don’t have any choice. You’re outnumbered.”
“It’s still manageable. First sight of any mortal danger to her, and I don’t need a warrant to go in.”
“You can’t see what’s going on in there, damn it!” Josh was ready to explode. “She’s his prisoner. That’s sure as hell not legal. What more do you need?”
“I need—wait. Oh, shit.” His tone sounded ominous. “All right. Come on. I’m a half-mile down the road. Walk in two hundred yards. I’ll be looking for you.”
Quinn hit the gas while Josh grabbed the phone. “What’s happening?”
“It won’t help you to know.”
“What’s happening, goddammit?” Josh was as close to losing control as he’d ever been in his entire life.
“She’s alive, okay? Beat up but still on her feet. They’re shoving her back in the vehicle, and Kruger is with them. I have to call this in.”
“You’re not planning to wait for reinforcements, surely. Because I’m damn sure not going to.”
“No. But we may need some before we’re done. I have to follow on foot, but I don’t think they’re going far. I have an idea of their destination from something Carmen told me once.”
“An old barn?” Quinn asked. “On Elena’s property?”
“Yeah. How’d you know?”
Quinn cast Josh a glance that spoke volumes. He had seen that barn in his vision. Had seen Josh hurt.
Josh didn’t want to believe it, but…
Suspend your cynicism, Quinn had said. Her life and your own may depend upon it.
“We’re on the road near your entry point. We’ll go silent, and we’ll find you.”
“I don’t have a weapon for your brother.”
“We’re both armed,” Josh volunteered.
“I shouldn’t be glad to hear it, but I am.” Blackwell’s voice hardened. “Don’t be a hero, Marshall. You stay back.”
Hell if I will. “Can you still see them?”
“Roger that. And don’t think I didn’t notice the dodge.”
“We’re going to silence now,” Josh said. “Be there in a minute.”
Quinn smashed the dome light bulb to maintain darkness, then they emerged and took off running in Blackwell’s direction.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Elena’s eyes opened slowly. She took a deep breath and yelped. Her ribs were on fire.
“How ya feelin’, girlfriend?” a kind voice asked. Soft hands stroked her hair, and Elena struggled to sit up.
“Whoa, girl. I think you’d better take it easy. You’re hurt pretty bad.”
The events of the night burst into Elena’s memory, and she closed her eyes against the slow leak of tears. “Where are we, Carmen?”
Her friend laughed softly. “Well, let’s just say that when we were kids, I don’t think that either one of us envisioned hiding out here quite this way.”
The old barn. Just like in Quinn’s vision. Elena peered into the dim space, lit only faintly by moonlight coming through the spaces between the weathered boards. This room had been long unused, but the smell of leather lingered. “The old tack room?”
“You got it.” Carmen hesitated. “Elena, don’t answer this if you don’t feel like it, but what was that you signed? Was it a deed?”
Elena dropped her head in anguish.
“He used me to lure you back, didn’t he?” Carmen’s tone was flat. She placed an arm around Elena’s shoulders in comfort. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. He’s evil. And I am a fool.”
They were silent for a time.
“Who is Josh?”
Elena gasped. “Did I say his name? In front of Richard?”
“No, only after they were gone.”
“Thank heaven.” Relief made her lightheaded again.
Then she remembered seeing him at Richard’s. “Oh, no. Where is he?”
“He who? This Josh person?”
In this middle of this nightmare, she found a small smile. Carmen would go crazy when she heard the story. “Do you know who Josh Marshall is?”
“Josh…Marshall…” Carmen’s eyes flew wide. “The Josh Marshall? Get out of town. You—how in the world did you meet Josh Marshall?” She clapped her hand to her chest. “Are you telling me he’s here? In Mesa Roja?”
In another setting, Carmen’s reaction would have been fun to watch, but right now, Elena was too sick with fear for him.
“It’s a really long story I’ll gladly tell you, but first I’ve got to get out of here and warn him.” She tried to rise, but her head spun. She dropped back down.
“Honey, I’ve tried everything. There’s nothing we can do until someone comes to that door.” Her expression turned grim. “But we need to be ready. Richard plans to give us to his men before locking me in a container and doing God knows what to you in the morning.”
Elena blinked. “It’s today, then.”
“What is?”
“Oh, no. And Josh is here and he’ll try to come after m
e—” This time she made it to her feet and began pacing the small space. “Carmen, we can’t let that happen. We have to get out of here.”
“Feel free to look for an escape hatch, but I haven’t found one.”
Carmen was a smart woman. If she hadn’t found a way out, it probably didn’t exist. Carmen knew this place as well as she did.
“I managed to make this by ripping up my t-shirt.” From beneath a bench against the wall by the door, Carmen pulled a short rope she’d made out of strips of the fabric. “It’s not much to work with, but maybe if we hide against either side of the door when they come back, one of us can, I don’t know…trip one of them or get this around one of their necks or…” Her shoulders sagged. “What am I thinking? There are three of them, including Richard.”
Seeing despair in the eyes of her indefatigable friend shook Elena.
But the thought of Josh dying at Richard’s hands shook her worse. “It’s better than nothing.” She stripped off her wrecked blouse and started tearing at it. “We can’t give up.” She began to explain what she knew of Richard’s plans.
Carmen recovered and grimly began helping her. “I already hated him for what he was doing to you, but now…”
“I was such a fool. I let Richard turn me into this pathetic shadow of myself. If it weren’t for Josh…”
“Speaking of one Josh Marshall, stop holding out on me, girlfriend. It’s not like we have anything else to do. Spill.”
Simply thinking of Josh heartened her, so Elena launched into a tale of a man and a woman whose meeting could not have been more unlikely.
Carmen listened, interrupting seldom but clearly about to burst. Elena found herself smiling as she told of the hat with the red flowers, of their dance, of Josh barefoot in the parking lot chasing her down. When she described Quinn and Lorie and their love for each other, longing overwhelmed her. What they had was her dream.
“You go, girl,” Carmen said, eyes sparkling. “That is unbelievably romantic.” She grinned. “You bitch,” she said affectionately.
Elena had to smile. “It was magic…but magic doesn’t last.”
“Are you kidding me? This is total Cinderella stuff. The man says he loves you!”
“He’s far too kind not to say that, Carmen. But he knows as well as I do that it’s impossible.”
“I don’t even have to ask if you love him—it’s in every word you say. He says he loves you. So tell me why it’s impossible.”
She stared at the floor. “Because things like that don’t happen to people like me.”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake. He’s a man before he’s an actor. He puts his pants on like any other man. From what you’ve told me, he’s never made you feel like less than a princess, so obviously the doubts run only one way.”
“But Richard—” Elena’s fears, kept so close to her heart, sought the light. She could barely remember the things that Josh had told her; the past was much more real right now.
“Never in my life, my friend, did I expect you to turn out to be a quitter.” Carmen’s voice was very quiet. “You’re not even willing to fight for a life with Josh, is that what you’re saying? You’re just going to give up before you even give it a chance?”
“But he deserves—”
Abruptly Carmen laid a hand on her arm. “Sh-h—”
And Elena heard the sound of voices.
Carmen leaned over and whispered in Elena’s ear. “Here we go. We are getting out of here. We both have too much reason not to.”
Elena got up unsteadily, nodding.
“You get on that bench. I’ll be ready on the other side of the door. You sure you’re up to this?”
Elena gritted her teeth. “You’d better believe it. I want my chance.”
Carmen smiled. “Good girl.” She turned back toward her. “For what it’s worth, I don’t really think you’re a quitter, Elena. I understand your fears, but I think you’re wrong. As for me, if I get my hands on Greg Blackwell again, I’m going to marry him so fast he’ll see double.”
Elena found a smile.
They waited in anxious silence.
The voices drew nearer. Two of them.
One getting very close.
Then the door swung open, and time ran out.
Elena leaped toward the man’s back. He grunted in surprise, but her weight was enough to make him fall. Carmen slammed the door shut and threw her weight on him, too. Elena scrambled up and managed to get her makeshift rope around his neck. He bucked and rolled over, crashing on top of her. Excruciating pain exploded in her ribs.
The other man shoved the door open. “What the hell?” As he stepped into the darkness, Carmen launched herself at his knees, but he kicked her.
The man lying over Elena scrambled to his feet and dragged her up. “You little—” He yanked her arms behind her. She cried out in agony, but he didn’t stop, dragging her out into the barn and cuffing her head.
Lights burst behind her eyes.
Then there was Richard, sneering. Smirking. Looming over her with hate in his eyes.
Elena had a sudden flash, a double image. Another man in another time, standing over her, jeering in triumph as he calmly lifted a whip.
Then the man who stood before her in this life grabbed her injured wrist and yanked her to him. She bit back a scream of pain and fought the blackness.
“I don’t know what happened to turn you into such a hellcat, but if you’d shown such passion in my bed, everything would have been different.”
“If you’d been a real man, maybe I would have.” She spat in his face.
With a roar of outrage, he cocked his arm to strike. She fought him, but every move of her injured ribs cost her dearly.
Don’t black out, she prayed. She managed to land a kick to his knee that staggered him.
He dropped her to the ground, and Elena’s breath whooshed out.
“Don’t move!” a new voice called.
“Elena, scoot away from him,” said another voice she’d thought never to hear again. She blinked hard and tried to roll, desperate to see if it really was Josh. How could he have found her?
Get out of here! She wanted to say—nearly as much as she longed to fall into his arms.
But she couldn’t get her breath to say anything at all.
“Elena—” Josh called out again. “Are you all right?”
“Elena?” Richard roared. “You know the little whore?”
“Shut your mouth. I will never let you hurt her again, you bastard,” Josh growled.
“Kruger—” Greg Blackwell shouted. “Stop right there. Don’t you move. Everybody freeze.”
The others complied, but she saw Manny charge from the tack room and lunge toward Josh’s blind side.
“Josh,” she cried weakly.
His head whipped around. The leap of joy in his eyes brought tears to her own.
“Watch out!” she called.
The look in her direction cost him. Manny sliced at him with a wicked-looking knife.
Josh reacted quickly. He was all grace and deadly skill, two swift moves forcing Manny to drop the knife. It went skittering across the floor. Manny threw a punch, but Josh was ready with a counter. Manny bellowed and kept battling.
“Greg!” Carmen called out.
“Carmen—”
Elena glanced over to see Ernesto holding her friend hostage, a gun at her temple.
“Be still, Carmen,” Greg answered. “Don’t move.”
Elena darted her gaze back to Josh, her throat tight as he and Manny wrestled.
She rose to her knees, trying to reach the knife, but before she could, Richard swooped down to grasp it.
Elena struggled to her feet like an old woman, watching her worst nightmare spring to life yet again, as time collapsed in upon itself. With Josh’s broad back presenting the perfect target, Richard raised the switchblade over Josh as he struggled with Manny—
“No!” she screamed, and launched herself in the path of the bl
ade.
And with one searing pain, the world faded to black.
Josh grunted as something hit his back. He whirled and saw Elena fall away from him, blood welling from her chest, just as his opponent levered himself up.
Kruger grinned in triumph, bloody knife in his hand.
A shot rang out, and Kruger fell back, roaring in pain.
Josh’s opponent launched himself at Josh but a second shot sounded, Quinn picking them off from where he’d climbed into the rafters. The man crumpled to the floor, surprise on his face as the light died in his eyes.
Off to his side, blows and shouts sounded.
But all Josh could see was the woman he loved, lying still and lifeless. “Elena! No, God, no—” He lunged for her. Crouched over her as another shot rang out.
Did you hear her say that Iain had green eyes? That he would die protecting her, die from a dagger in the back?
You have to go back to L.A., so you’ll be safe. If you come with me, Richard will kill you, I know he will. Please, Josh, please promise me you’ll stay away from there.
But he hadn’t listened to either of them. Hadn’t wanted to believe.
And she’d taken the dagger meant for him.
“Elena,” he begged, fumbling for a pulse in her neck. His hands shook so badly he couldn’t tell if there was one or not. He drew her to him, his heart breaking, horror taking over his mind. “You have to live. I can’t lose you.”
“Josh…” He barely felt Quinn’s hands easing him back. “Let me check her, Josh.”
Then he realized all around them was quiet.
Except for Carmen’s sobs.
“Quinn…” He lifted his eyes to his brother, knowing that nothing had meaning if she was gone. He couldn’t bear thinking that he had been the reason she’d sacrificed her life. “You have to help her.”
She was the finest, sweetest, purest being he’d ever known. If she was dead, he didn’t know why he was still alive.
“Back up just a little,” Quinn said gently. “Press on the wound.”
He complied, moving to her other side, bending to her, speaking intently. “Live. You have to live. I just found you. Don’t make me be alone again.”
And you—suspend your cynicism for now. Her life and your own may depend upon it.
The Marshalls Boxed Set (Texas Heroes: The Marshalls Books 1-3) Page 51
