by Tonya Brooks
She eased herself further into the water, careful to check for those deep holes before she put her weight down. The spike heels on her shoes kept sinking into the mucky bottom and she had to tug and pull to get them loose. Deciding that swimming would be faster and make less noise, she sank down in the hip high water and began to swim as quietly as possible toward the other side of the pond.
"Cyn!" Chip bellowed from the top of the hill as his eyes raked the darkness.
A shiver of fear raced up her spine and Cyn got her feet under her in a half crouch. Turning very slowly, she looked back at the hills as the moon broke through the clouds. Chip was just standing there looking for her. If she made the slightest movement he would see her in the moonlight. Her teeth began to chatter from fear. Remaining motionless while watching him look for her was terror inducing, but she had no better option than to wait him out and hope the clouds covered the moon again.
When Chip moved down the side of the hill and began to skirt the edge of the pond, her heart sank. If he rounded the pond she would wind up running into him on that side. He kept yelling her name in a panicked tone as if he were worried. That quickly changed to anger and she began to tremble violently. When the moon disappeared again, Cyn breathed a sigh of relief.
Being careful to move slowly, she began to make her way back toward the Jeep since Chip had been headed away from it. If she could get to the road without being seen, she might be able to flag down a car and get away from him. It was the closest thing she had to a plan so she went with it.
Then the moon suddenly appeared when she was no more than twenty feet from the shore. Directly in front of her, arms folded over his chest, stood a furious Chip and he was looking right at her. A scream tore from her lungs as she lunged backward in the water. He shouted her name as he dove in and began swimming toward her.
Cyn flipped over and began to swim as well, but she was no match for his longer more powerful strokes and he quickly overtook her. Pure panic set in and she began to kick and flail wildly until he dunked her under the water and held her there. Oh, God, he was going to drown her. She was going to die!
She'd never see John again. Never get to tell him that she loved him. Never get to stare into his beautiful blue eyes or hear him sing her to sleep. The pain of losing him was too much to bear. When Chip pulled her out of the water, Cyn took a deep, shuddering breath and screamed at the top of her lungs, "John!"
~~~~~
John was pacing back and forth, his heart about to beat out of his chest. He'd listened as the men had taken up positions around the course and knew where everyone was. He knew the course so well that if he closed his eyes he could actually see what was happening. They found the Jeep, wrecked and empty. Which meant they were on foot.
That was good and bad. Good because the mofo couldn't get away easily and bad because there was a lot of mud and water to traverse. Cyn would have a hard time hiding from him unless she had made it to the woods. If she had, Matt would find her. He didn't doubt that for a minute.
"I've got a visual," Tommy relayed and John tensed in anticipation of what would come next.
"Cyn is in the pond," Tommy said quietly and he could see both of them thanks to the night vision goggles he'd brought along. "She's hiding in the water while he searches from the bank."
"No visual yet," Brett reported as did several other voices.
John actually put his hand over his mouth to stop himself from cussing out loud. He began to rock back and forth anxiously, his body so tense it felt like every bone was about to break.
"They're on the pond side of the biggest hill," Tommy directed from his vantage point on the opposite bank as the clouds began to shift overhead.
"Coming up behind them," Matt whispered as he and Brett reached the mud covered hill as stealthily as possible. The moon was hidden and they were going in blind.
"Shit," Tommy breathed harshly. "Cyn is moving back toward him."
John's heart nearly stopped and he bent over double in agony. This knowing what was going on and not being able to do a damn thing about it was killing him. He heard her scream through the headset and he dropped to his knees in pure anguish the likes of which he had never known. The absolute terror in her scream stopped his heart.
"He dove in after her... they're swimming... he caught her," Tommy relayed, panic evident in his voice. "Sweet Jesus, he's drowning her! Go now, go, go, go!" He whisper shouted for the others to move in as he raced toward the water.
"John!"
The sound of Cyn screaming his name crackled through the radio and nothing on earth could have stopped him then. John surged to his feet, jumped into the truck and the Hemi V8 roared to life with the turn of a key. He barely even noticed Alex dive in beside him as he dropped it into low and hauled ass to his woman.
He flipped on the floodlights, headed straight for the biggest hill and never let off the gas. The mud tires gripped like champs and 395 horsepower combined with 410 pounds of torque sent the truck charging up the side of the hill like it was a speed bump. They hit the top wide open and went airborne over the lake as Alex gripped the oh shit bar with both hands and shouted, "Kowabunga!"
~~~~~
Chip snarled jealously when she screamed for the other man and he shook her like a rag doll. "You lied to me, Cyn. Don't ever lie to me. You're mine now," he shouted angrily and locked her against his chest so tightly that she could barely breathe. "My girlfriend. I'll protect you, keep you safe. No one will ever come between us again."
A thunderous roar filled her head and nothing had ever sounded sweeter. Cyn would know the sound of those loud pipes anywhere and they were music to her ears. John had found her! Every ounce of fear drained away, a strange calmness filled her and she went completely limp with relief.
When that big, black, jacked up truck roared over the top of the hill and those KC lights lit up the whole area, she knew that she was saved. When she realized that it was going to land right on top of them, she took advantage of Chip being distracted by the sight and punched him in the throat.
Matt and Brett were in the water, converging on the perp from the right and left side of the hill. They both heard it coming and knew that John was going to fly over the top of that hill and right into Cyn and her attacker. Both men began shouting a warning into the radio but it was too late. The spotlights lit up the area as the truck flew over the hill at breakneck speed.
John saw the pair standing in the water directly in front of him, but it was too late to correct his course. He was about to send over five thousand pounds of weight crashing down on the woman he loved. "Cyn!" he screamed in warning.
The sickening thud of a solid object impacting against the grill with bone crunching force nearly killed him. John was as white as a sheet as he wrenched the driver's door open and jumped into the pond, frantic to get to her. Arms like steel bands wrapped around him from behind and held on as he fought mindlessly to free himself.
Matt had heard the impact as well and there was no way in hell he could let John see her like that. If Cyn were alive, and he seriously doubted that anyone could have survived that, she wouldn't be for long. He locked his arms around his brother from behind and had the fight of his life trying to subdue John without hurting him.
Brett saw Cyn deliver a throat punch to the stalker and fling herself away from him just before the truck slammed into the pond and sent a wall of muddy water crashing down over everything. He trudged through the muck to get to her and make sure that she was alright. He didn't think there was much hope for her stalkers chances of survival after that, but he wasn't taking any chances.
The inhuman, gut wrenching cries coming from John as he screamed her name were something that no one present would ever forget. They were the stuff of nightmares. Every doubt she'd ever had about his loving her vanished in the face of his suffering.
"John!" Cyn cried through a voice raw with too many emotions as she plowed through the mud and muck, desperate to get to him. "John! I'm Here!"
John was never really sure how it happened, but suddenly there she was. One second she'd been gone, and the next she was right there in front of him. One minute he'd been in a living hell, and the next was heaven on earth. "Cyn," he rasped rawly as his eyes devoured her mud streaked, wet, bedraggled state. He'd never seen anything more beautiful in his life.
Matt released him and John's arms closed around her as he sank to his knees in relief, submerging them both neck deep. He eased his hold just enough not to crack her ribs and kept her body crushed against his as the world righted itself again. That damn verbal diarrhea took over and he couldn't seem to shut up.
"Holy shit, I thought I'd lost you. Are you alright? Did he hurt you? Did I hurt you?" He demanded shakily and then drew back slightly to accuse, "Fuck! Woman you scared the hell out of me."
"John, I'm okay. You saved me," Cyn said soothingly as she reached up and framed his tear streaked face with hands that trembled. "I knew you'd come for me."
"Never gonna let you go, darlin'. Never lettin' you out of my sight again," he swore and then choked out, "Goddamn, I almost lost you!"
"John," Cyn said tremulously and placed dripping wet fingers over his lips. "I love you."
The softly spoken words were music to his soul. "I love you. Love you so damn much," he vowed before his mouth claimed hers. He kissed her until they were both weak from lack of oxygen. He ran his hands all over her body to assure himself that she was okay and rose shakily to press her against his chest again. He wasn't letting her go for any reason. Ever. Then he kissed her again just because he could.
"You alright, Cyn?" Brett asked as he joined the couple.
"I will be," she admitted and laid her head against John's chest, not at all caring that his shirt was soaked. "Chip?"
He shook his head. "Didn't make it," he said evenly. "Gonna need you to come down to the station in the morning and fill out a report. You, too," he said to John.
That was when it dawned on Cyn that John had killed her stalker. She twisted out of his arms to confront the police chief like a mama bear protecting her cub. "John stopped that lunatic from killing me and you will not charge him for it. Do you hear me, Brett Walker?"
"Not planning on it," he denied with a grin at her ferocious behavior. "All I need is his statement."
"You can have that," she conceded and turned back around to wrap her arms around John again. The last of her energy drained with the outburst, she sagged wearily against his big, strong body.
John swung her up into his arms and said, "Let's go home, darlin'."
"Uh, can't let you take the truck yet," Brett admitted and knew this would not go over well since John was ridiculously overprotective of the damn thing. "The boys need to go over it and bag evidence first."
Surprisingly, John merely nodded his head and said, "Okay."
More surprisingly, Cyn lifted her head to glare at him. "If there's one scratch on that baby I'm holding you personally responsible."
Brett managed to hold back a laugh as he said, "Yes, ma'am. Gonna need to keep your Jeep, too, and before you say it, she's already pretty banged up."
"Uh huh," she replied without an ounce of concern and snuggled deeper into John's embrace. "Just send her over to Matt when you're done. Blue needs a lift kit, some mud tires and sweet soundin' pipes anyway."
The two men looked at each other in astonishment and then burst into laughter. "I'll make a country girl outta you yet, darlin'." John assured her with a huge smile.
"Tommy's gonna give us a ride home, bro" Alex said as he joined them and leaned over to drop a kiss on Cyn's forehead. "Glad you're okay, girl." And he was. He'd realized tonight that John was completely gone over the chick and losing her really would kill him. If Cyn was what it took to make his boy happy, then he'd back him all the way.
The adrenaline rush was fading and exhaustion was taking hold. Cyn's eyelids drooped as she mumbled, "Thanks, Alex."
"Gonna need you at the station in the morning, too," Brett informed the drummer and then just had to say, "Kowabunga? Seriously? That's what was going through your head?"
"Yeah. That was a badass ride, dude." Alex grinned and followed his best friend out of the pond.
John had never been more certain that his woman was a hell of a lot tougher than she looked. She'd saved Cathy from being killed, faced down her stalker, wrecked her Jeep and managed to stay alive against all the odds. She was the toughest chick he'd ever met. Then she went and ruined the image by wailing, "Nooo! I ruined my Sexy Slings!"
God he loved that prissy ass city girl.
Chapter Nineteen
Thursday, June 12
"Sure you feel up to this, darlin'?" John asked for the third time as he parked his father's truck in front of the police station.
If his concern hadn't been so touching it would have been completely exasperating. John had been so sweet and gentle with her that her heart was overflowing with love. Last night she had fallen asleep on the ride home and woken up as he had lowered them both into the big claw foot tub filled with steaming hot water.
John had arranged her carefully in front of him and proceeded to wash her hair and then her body with an attention to detail that she had never known. Then he had dried her just as tenderly, carried her to bed and sung her to sleep. The man was absolutely perfect and she adored everything about him.
She reached over and laid her hand on his atop the steering wheel. "I'm okay, John. Really," she said honestly.
He lifted her hand to his lips and placed a kiss in her palm. "Don't want you upset over this shit anymore," he admitted, worry showing in those beautiful blue eyes.
"I just want it to be over," she sighed.
A few minutes later the two of them sat in Brett's office and Cyn explained that Chip had been her neighbor and someone that she had considered a friend. Then she ran them through their conversation and his attack on Cathy. "I knew I had to get him away from her, so I asked him to take me home."
John muttered a string of curses under his breath at that. "Well, I had to do something," she protested. "I knew he didn't want to hurt me so it seemed like the safest bet."
It had been completely foolish, but Brett could understand her rationale even if he didn't like it. "I get why you did it," he nodded and fixed her with a stern look. "Just don't ever do it again."
Cyn had no problem agreeing with that. "I knew you guys had left the tracker on the Jeep, so I was trying to figure out how to buy some time. When Chip didn't fasten his seat belt, I thought of the mud bog," she explained. "I figured worst case scenario I'd bog down until you found us, and if I got lucky maybe the ride would knock him out so I could get away."
"Shit. Damn. Sonuvabitch," John muttered and put his arm around her shoulders to pull her body closer to his. Just the thought of her being in danger was enough to make him nuts.
"When I crashed the Jeep, Chip hit his head and I knew he wasn't unconscious since he was groaning, so I jumped out and ran like hell," she confessed. "But it was so dark I couldn't see anything and I fell in the pond. When he started looking for me, the moon came out and I was afraid to move. He caught me just before you guys got there. I've never been so scared in my life. I thought he was going to kill me."
John shuddered and choked out, "Darlin', when I heard you scream my name..." He shook his head and couldn't even finish the sentence.
At her perplexed look, Brett filled in a few gaps and finished with, "So we were about to take him down when John came flying over the hill and took him out. Watching you dive out of the way just before the truck hit shaved a couple years off my life."
"The throat punch stunned him enough to let go so I could get out of the way," she admitted and smiled at John's ashen face. "As soon as I heard those pipes, I knew I was saved. I love that damn truck."
"I love you," he said fiercely and hauled her to him for a kiss filled with the desperation that he'd felt since she went missing.
"Cut that shit out," Brett said in a
nnoyance and knew they'd be tearing at each other's clothes in a minute. These two had absolutely no inhibitions about PDA.
"We done?" John asked between kisses and had no intention of taking his lips off of hers anytime soon.
"Jesus," the chief muttered and then grinned at the lovebirds. "No. I still need your statement." John gave it to him even if he did keep stealing kisses while Brett asked questions.
When they were finally finished, Cyn turned slightly dazed eyes on the chief to ask, "Did you do a background check on Chip?" Stalkers were often repeat offenders and she wondered if he'd ever done anything like this before.
"We're still working on it," he admitted. "I did find out that he had been questioned in the disappearance of a young woman in Minnesota before he moved to Florida."
Charles Emerson Murdock kept showing up under a variety of names which made it difficult as hell to trace him. He'd gone by Charles, Chuck, Chip and Charlie while using both Emerson and Murdock as last names. Anyone with that many aliases had to be up to no good and trying to hide something.
"Did they find the missing woman?" Cyn asked curiously.
"Yeah. In a shallow grave," Brett replied and saw her pale.
John swung her up into his lap when she swayed in her seat. "Goddammit, Brett," he thundered at the police chief. "She didn't need to know that."
The men were still talking, the words without meaning as their raised voices blurred into white noise. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, kept playing through her head. Chip had killed the woman. If it hadn't been for John he would have killed her too. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," she said aloud without conscious thought.
Images flashed through her mind of all the times that she and Chip had laughed and talked together. The late nights when they had shared a pizza after work. The night that they had watched movies because she was afraid to be alone. She had been friends with a murderer, had trusted a murder, and hadn't had a clue.
