Rocky Ground

by Kaylea Cross

  He wasn’t sure where he was going; he just wanted to get far, far away from here. Get the ankle monitor off. Escape.

  A loud wail started up from somewhere nearby, startling him. His heart jumped into his throat but after a few seconds he realized it was the tsunami warning system and not the cops chasing him. He swore and turned around, speeding back toward the other end of town where the high ground was. Where Tiana and Ella lived, safe from any approaching waves.

  They’d never even know I was coming.

  The thought came out of nowhere, a tiny whisper that grew in strength with each passing moment.

  It was their fault his life was ruined. Yet theirs went on as though nothing had happened. They were both free to do whatever they wanted while he was judged everywhere he went and treated like an animal, his every move tracked. It wasn’t fair. They should have to suffer too.

  I could make them suffer.

  The thought was way too appealing to ignore. The pandemonium happening right now would give him the perfect cover. No one would expect him to show up at her place, let alone do anything.

  He could get his revenge and then take off, disappear from the area forever while everything was in a state of chaos. Change his appearance, use cash only until he could establish a new identity so they couldn’t trace him. As long as he could get the damn tracking device off.

  A solid, unshakable calm stole through him, making him smile. Oh yes, this was happening.

  Emergency vehicles sped past him as he drove to the high side of Crimson Point, away from any danger of flooding. The house Tiana rented at the end of Salt Spray Lane was at a lower elevation from her psycho neighbor who’d punched him, but still high enough to be far out of the tsunami inundation zone.

  Instead of using the lane where someone might spot him he drove around to the other side of the woods that bordered it. Leaving his backpack in the trunk, he picked his way through the forest, his pulse picking up speed with every step.

  He paused just inside the trees when the lane came into view, staying behind some underbrush to camouflage himself. Tiana’s car was gone.

  Dammit, where was she? Picking up her brat?

  Using the trees for cover until the last moment, he darted out to run behind the garage. The power was out here too because when he peeked in the kitchen window he saw the same kind of mess from his own house, and the digital clock on the microwave wasn’t working.

  There was also no sound coming from inside. No urgent voices or rushing feet. And there was no way in hell Tiana would keep Ella inside such an old house after a powerful earthquake like that.

  He glanced toward the lane. Had she raced off to get Ella? Or had they maybe gone up to the neighbor’s place?

  He broke into the back door of the garage and went straight to where the toolbox used to be. It had fallen on the concrete floor along with Ella’s bike and other sporting equipment.

  He pulled a screwdriver and a pair of industrial shears out of it, then set to cutting the fucking ankle monitor off him. There were other things he could use in here for a weapon, and bottles of hard liquor he planned to use to keep this buzz going. By the time the people checking the monitor received a tampering signal or figured out he was missing, he would be long gone.

  His ankle bled sluggishly from the shallow nicks he’d made while cutting the thing off him. He limped from the garage and hugged the band of forest all the way to the cliff’s edge. For a moment he stood there staring out at the rolling waves, wondering if one of them marked the tsunami coming toward the town.

  Then he reared his arm back and launched the monitor into the air, watching it hurtle toward the violent ocean below.

  He was free. All he had to do now was figure out where to hide.

  When Tiana returned, he would dish out the payback she deserved. Then he’d be on his way to a brand new life, vindicated and free once more.

  Chapter Eleven

  Tiana held Aidan’s phone to her ear, praying. Please go through, please go through.

  The call wouldn’t connect.

  “Anything?” Aidan asked her from the driver’s seat of his SUV. They hadn’t gone anywhere because the roads were all choked with debris and traffic but she felt safer in here than outside and she was warmer, too.

  “No.” She’d been trying for the past two hours and service was still down. It might be for days, and every minute she couldn’t contact Ella filled her with despair and helplessness.

  Radio reports said that two tsunami waves had hit the area. The first had come up the river and taken out a few bridges. The second had been smaller and had impacted the coastal region to the north and south. No damage or casualty reports were being broadcast.

  Tiana was desperate to hear from Ella. She trusted the mother who was looking after her, but what if the house had been badly damaged in the quake or tsunami? What if Ella had been hurt? It made her sick to her stomach.

  She tried sending another text, hoping service would be restored and her message would get through, then set the phone in her lap with a frustrated sigh.

  Even hours after the initial quake, everything was in chaos. Fires from broken gas lines dotted the downtown core. All the routes out of the city were blocked. Landslides had closed off roads and bridges.

  All around them, snarled traffic stretched out in every direction as far as the eye could see. People had abandoned their vehicles in the middle of the road, worsening the congestion and making it virtually impossible for emergency crews to reach victims and fight the fires.

  “We’re not moving out of here for a long time yet,” Aidan said, still parked along the curb behind a large mound of debris. Several more, smaller aftershocks had hit the city. Fire and medical crews were overwhelmed, spread thin and unable to get in or out.

  Tiana felt awful for the people suffering with no way to get help. “How much gas do we have left?” There was a gas station two blocks south, but with the power out it wasn’t operational and they couldn’t get to it even if it had been.

  “Half a tank.”

  Enough to get them back to the coast once the roads opened up, but not if they sat idling in traffic for hours waiting.

  It started to rain, fat drops splatting against the windshield and roof. The precipitation would make the landslide situation worse. She swallowed the lump in her throat and didn’t complain. There was no point, and Aidan didn’t like being stuck here any more than she did.

  “You getting hungry?” he asked her.

  “A little.” She was starving, having only had a cup of coffee before leaving the house at six and a protein bar an hour ago, but her worry over Ella eclipsed everything else. Twice she’d considered walking out of the city to see if she could hitchhike back to the coast. But staying with Aidan was smarter, and safer.

  “I’ve got some water in my emergency kit, but the protein bars were it for food.” He glanced over at her. “It’ll be dark soon. I’ve got some cash on me. I could see if anything’s open in the vicinity, maybe find us something to eat. We’re in for a long night. Possibly a few of them.”

  The prospect of not getting to Ella for days yet almost pushed her to tears. She didn’t want to move from the SUV, but sitting here alone might be dangerous as night fell. When people got desperate they did terrible things.

  “I’ll come with you. Here.” She handed him back his phone. They’d charged it fully using the SUV’s battery but they had to be smart and conserve whatever power was left in it. The last thing they needed was to have a dead battery when the roads finally opened again.

  They got out and Aidan locked up. “Hopefully it’ll still be here when we get back,” he joked, but Tiana couldn’t summon the effort to smile as she pulled her hood up and zipped her jacket all the way to the top. He took her hand, lacing his fingers through hers, and she was glad for the contact and the calm, assertive energy he gave off. “Stay close.”

  She planned to be his shadow.

  It felt like they were rats in
a maze as they tried to navigate a path through the tangled mess around them. The first four streets they came to were blocked off in either direction. Every time they found a clear route, they’d hit another obstruction soon after and have to double back, looking for another way out. People huddled together in groups around bus stops and in doorways to keep dry, their faces pinched with worry.

  They must have wandered for close to an hour before they spotted a lineup of people two blocks away down an alley.

  “Come on,” Aidan said, leading her down half a block before turning into another alley. Debris had fallen from the buildings on either side, forcing them to climb over some piles of brick and shattered glass. Her wedges weren’t meant for climbing but when she slipped Aidan was there to steady her.

  When they finally reached the next main street they came to the lineup. At the far end stood a small supermarket with its lights on. Police officers guarded the entrance and stood along the lineup to preserve order. “Cash only,” they said at intervals to the newcomers. “Debit and credit card system is down.”

  Tiana was just glad they would be able to get food. It took the better part of another hour for her and Aidan to enter the store, and by then a lot of the shelves were empty. People were getting impatient, snarling at one another and pushing as tempers frayed.

  “Peanut butter and crackers sound good to you?” Aidan asked her.

  “Yes. I’ll see if I can get us some fruit, too, and meet you at the checkout.”

  They split up to forage through the store. She could feel the tension building inside it as frustrated people got tired of waiting in line at the checkout. Arguments broke out as some learned too late that the store was accepting cash only and were forced to leave empty-handed.

  More officers were stationed throughout the store. Tiana hurried to the ravaged produce section and grabbed a few, mostly green bananas, a couple of apples and two bags of nuts before going to find Aidan.

  Partway down the aisle, she came to an immediate halt when she saw two men in a heated argument with a policeman. Shouting about not being able to pay because they didn’t have cash.

  “I’ve got two toddlers and my wife back at the car, and we live over an hour from here. There’s no way we’re getting out of the city for a day or two at least. We don’t have any supplies and my kids are hungry. What am I supposed to do, huh? I can’t get cash because none of the bank machines are working.”

  More people began to gather around the spectacle, calling out in support of the frustrated father. The cop shook his head and held up his hands, trying to maintain some personal space as a crowd formed around him.

  Dread coiled in the pit of her stomach like a snake, ready to strike. Tiana took a step back and started to turn around. Grunts and cries broke out behind her. The father and another man were fighting the cop.

  It was as though a shockwave of panic electrified the crowd.

  People started pushing and shoving to get to the shelves. Tiana could all but taste the desperation in the air as she whirled. It fueled the underlying fear and anger, added to the chaos as more and more people began rushing through the store to grab whatever they could from the shelves.

  She dropped her groceries and shoved her way through a mass of people trapping her, heading for the exit while she scanned anxiously for Aidan. People were already running for the doors, trying to steal whatever food they’d grabbed. Police barred the way, shouting warnings.

  Ahead of her a knot of men raced at one officer. He drew his weapon.

  She skidded to a halt, her lungs constricting.

  “Tiana!”

  She whirled in time to see Aidan barreling toward her, gasped as he grabbed her wrist and yanked her in the opposite direction just as the first shot rang out. She swallowed a cry as screams erupted around her. People ducked and hit the floor, sheltering children. More fights broke out as the fear level skyrocketed.

  As Aidan pulled her along in his wake, a man to her right reached into his waistband and drew a pistol.

  A cry locked in her throat but before it could escape Aidan grabbed her around the waist and took her down to the floor.

  She barely had time to get her hands out to catch herself before she smashed into the floor. Pain shot out from her hipbones, knees and elbows. She started to scramble to her hands and knees but Aidan was already rolling them, tumbling her over and over as he wedged them behind cover into a small space behind a display table.

  He pinned her there with his body, his arms wrapped tight around her, one hand on the back of her head to press her face into his shoulder. Tiana put her palms to his chest and lay there, afraid to move, her heart hammering as more gunshots shattered the air. People were running all around them, trampling boxes and cans in their haste to find safety.

  She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her lips together to keep from making a sound as the volume of fire increased around them. Painful, terrified screams erupted all over. “Aidan,” she whispered shakily, terrified.

  The hand on her head tangled in her hair. He turned them, placing her mostly beneath him, only inches separating their faces. She stared up at him, barely able to make out the shape of his face, her entire body pulled taut with fear.

  A heartbeat later, warm, firm lips covered hers.

  She jolted, her hands automatically flying to his shoulders to push him away. But he didn’t move.

  His hand cradled the back of her head, his lips moving across hers with slow, firm intent, snapping her out of the panic and unlocking her lungs. His clean masculine scent surrounded her, and with his warm weight on top of her, her body unconsciously recognized that she was safe—that he had placed himself between her and any harm to shield her.

  Her heart gave a hard, painful throb, then settled into a less frantic rhythm and she stopped resisting. He had her. Wouldn’t let anything happen to her. And she wanted to escape from this madness.

  By degrees, the fear, the chaos in the background began to fade a little beneath the weight of the warm, powerful body atop her, the scrape of his stubble on her face and the pressure of his lips on hers.

  He gentled the kiss, drawing it out for another few heartbeats. His fingers rubbed along her scalp, sending a hot thrill deep into her abdomen in spite of the danger just beyond their hideaway. She curled her fingers around his shoulders, flexing them into the muscle there, and momentarily returned the kiss.

  When he raised his head a few seconds later she felt dazed, her brain stuttering as it struggled to come back to the here and now. He felt so solid poised on top of her, the unmistakable ridge of his erection trapped between them.

  Beyond their refuge, the shooting had stopped. There was no more screaming or yelling.

  Aidan stayed where he was for endless minutes, unmoving, his breathing calm and even while her pulse tripped at what had just happened. She might have thought he’d kissed her just to distract her or snap her out of her fear, except he’d kept kissing her even after he’d accomplished that. And that hard ridge pressed against her abdomen was all too real.

  Finally he lowered his head again, the subtle prickle of his stubble against her cheek shooting a stab of need deep into her belly. “You okay, lass?” His low, accented voice was like an erotic caress to her heightened senses.

  She managed a nod and he nuzzled her temple. Ugly reality intruded. One they had to face.

  “Good,” he whispered. “Then let’s get moving.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Aidan remained on high alert as he eased Tiana off him and inched out of their shelter to survey the scene. It was quiet, the cops rushing to secure the scene.

  Immediately he spotted two wounded people nearby, between the end of the aisle and the exit. One was a cop. Another cop was already kneeling beside him. In the background three men in handcuffs were being hauled toward the front of the building. All the other shoppers were being held inside the store.

  He turned back for Tiana and held out a hand. “Have you got any first a
id training?” As an occupational therapist she would have years of medical-based training, but he wasn’t sure about the first aid part.

  “Yes.” She climbed out beside him and glanced around, a gasp leaving her when she saw the wounded men on the floor. “Oh, God.” Without waiting for him she rushed toward them, earning another measure of his respect.

  Even from fifty feet away Aidan could tell that the man closest to them—the cop—was critical. The wounded civilian was moving a little, lying curled up on his side.

  As Tiana knelt beside the wounded cop Aidan did the same on the man’s other side. “I’m a Royal Marine, and she’s an occupational therapist,” he told the assisting cop. “We’ll stay with him while you secure the building if you want.”

  The cop scrutinized him a moment, then glanced back down at his buddy, clearly torn. But the situation in here could flare up again at any moment and it needed to be brought under control. He nodded once, jaw tight. “Thanks. I’ll be back as soon as I can. His name’s Mark. He’s got two kids.”

  “Got it.”

  “Mark, I gotta secure the scene, but I’ll be right back. Okay, brother? I’ll be right back.” He squeezed Mark’s shoulder then got up and hurried off to help his fellow officers secure the place, leaving Aidan and Tiana to care for his wounded brother in blue.

  With ambulance and fire crews already overwhelmed, these victims wouldn’t be transported to the hospital for a long damn time. He and Tiana would have to do what they could to stop the bleeding and try to stabilize Mark.

  Mark had been shot high up on the right side of his back. He was lying on his stomach, conscious but barely. “He’s breathing okay.” Tiana reached for Mark’s hand. “We’re going to help you,” she told him, her voice calm even though her expression was pinched with worry.