Man of Honor (Passion in Paradise Book 4)

by Sarah O'Rourke

  Outside the Hell Hounds MC Clubhouse (2.5 miles from Skyview Bluff) – 3:45 pm

  Zeke

  Dry leaves crunched underneath Zeke’s feet as he stomped toward Wrath McKay. “Tell me you’ve got a topo of this fuckin’ mountain range,” he called out to the men gathered around the hood of Slade Cansler’s jeep. Watching the ex-SEAL’s head jerk upright, Zeke nodded at him.

  “I got one,” Slade returned as Zeke drew closer, “But gettin’ up to where you think they are undetected is gonna be a bitch,” he continued, looking back down at the map.

  Nodding to Wrath as he moved aside to let Zeke get a better look at the topographical map, he felt his gut clench. Watson’s cabin was way up the mountain and the only way in was either on foot or on four wheelers. The four wheelers would be heard well before they rode into their camp and going on foot would take entirely too long.

  “Fuck,” Zeke snarled as his hands fisted against the map.

  “You see the problem,” Slade stated quietly as he, too, stared at the map.

  Offering Honor’s closest cousin a sidelong look, Zeke nodded. “Yeah, I see it,” he grunted.

  Studying the map, Zeke scratched his chin and considered their options. “What if we took four wheelers half way up and took the rest of the way on foot. We reach the halfway point and then we split off into teams. We surround them and come in real quiet-like from the south, the east, and the west,” Zeke suggested, tapping three separate points on the map for emphasis.

  “Could work,” Slade said after a long moment of silence.

  “Then let’s quit talkin’ it to death and do it,” Ice bit out impatiently. Looking toward the cloudy sky, he frowned. “We’ve only got a couple more hours of daylight and the news is predictin’ some weather to roll in by nightfall and drop us to freezing. We don’t want the women out in that shit, Zeke. They’re both tiny as fuck. If there’s a sudden temperature drop or one of the mountain varmints finds them…”

  “It could be fatal,” Zeke snapped, his jaw clenching as he glared at his brother. “I’m aware! There’s also about a hundred other things that could prove to be lethal to our girls. Chief among them, Henry and David Watson! We gotta plan this carefully or we endanger their lives even more. If we spook either one of these bastards, they won’t hesitate to put a bullet in somebody.”

  Ice held up his hands and took a step back. “Point made, man,” he conceded. “I’m just anxious to get up there and find them.”

  “You think I’m not?” Zeke growled. “One of the fuckers that raped and tortured my woman is breathing in her air space right now. I’m fucking desperate to get to her. But I won’t risk her safety by moving too goddamn quick and not thinking this shit through. You got me?”

  “I got you,” Ice agreed softly.

  “Zeke, we’ve got three four wheelers stashed here at the clubhouse. You’re welcome to use them, man, but we’re gonna need more,” Wrath interjected.

  “I’ve got one,” Jake called out.

  “Me, too,” Abel offered. “And Dad’s got one, too, that he’ll let us use.”

  “I think Doc Aarons over at the vet clinic has a couple that he uses to treat farm animals. He’ll help,” Cain interjected. “And I’m pretty sure Mack Daniels has one, too. I’ll call ‘em now.”

  Zeke nodded. “The Sheriff’s station has three, too. That’ll give us three four man teams to approach from three different directions. TBI has called in a chopper to give us an overview of the area. With any luck, they can give us a heads-up on what direction they’re in. They’ll call in help from the surrounding states if we need them here in the mountains.” Taking a deep breath, he continued, “Alright, if you need to go get a four wheeler, move out now. In half an hour I want us all headed up that mountain and we’re not coming down until we have Honor and Maggie with us.”

  Standing tall as the men scattered, Zeke felt Wrath move to stand beside him.

  “How you holdin’ up, Sheriff?” the motorcycle club president asked quietly.

  “I feel like somebody reached in and ripped out my beating heart,” Zeke confided huskily. “If I lose her…”

  “You won’t,” the other man stated in a low, but firm voice.

  “She’s my oxygen, man. Without her, I’m suffocating in an airless world,” Zeke confessed raggedly. “I know I gotta hang on for her, though. I gotta hang on because you can bet your ass that she’s hanging on for me.”

  “Damn straight, Lawman,” Wrath replied, thumping Zeke on his good arm with a closed fist before turning to start issuing orders to his motorcycle brothers.

  Twenty-nine minutes later, Zeke climbed astride one of the sheriff Department four wheelers. “You know these mountains better than anybody, Slade,” he told the former Navy Seal. It was true too. Slade had tracked animals of both the four legged and two legged variety through this mountain range. He was trained for it, and Zeke wasn’t too proud to step aside when there was a better man for a job this important. “We follow you,” he informed the muscled, sandy haired giant of a man.

  Nodding once, Slade twisted the key in the ignition and aimed his four wheeler for the woods running alongside the biker compound.

  Following behind him, Zeke began to pray.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Skyview Bluff somewhere in the Smoky Mountains– 3:45 pm

  Honor

  In life, there are days that shape a person into who she will become while trying her spirit, strength, and determination. These are the moments where a person is tested and forced to prove their mettle.

  When Honor McKinnon woke that morning, she never suspected that this was one of those pivotal days, but standing there, staring into the cold, calculating gaze of a killer, she knew that just was what kind of day it had turned out to be.

  “Henry,” she breathed, watching him carefully as he strolled toward her and Maggie as if he hadn’t a care in the world… as if he hadn’t just put a bullet into his younger brother’s skull. Pausing when he reached his only brother’s body, she felt a wave of panic when he bent to pick up the gun still clutched in David’s lifeless hand.

  “I suppose I should say hello, shouldn’t I, Honor?” Henry greeted her with a nasty smile that showed entirely too much tooth. “Fancy seeing you here. And Margaret,” he said, pausing in his walk to them to bow slightly toward her. “What a surprise.” Frowning, he pointed at her shirt. “I do apologize for the mess I made. It appears you have some of my departed younger brother’s brain on your very lovely silk blouse.”

  Honor watched as Maggie’s eyes dropped to her chest. “Oh, God!” she heard the older woman scream before bending at the waist to retch.

  Chuckling wickedly, Henry turned to smile at Honor. “Well, that should keep her occupied for a few moments,” he murmured as he wandered toward a trembling Honor. “How are you doing, my pretty kitty? Have you missed me?”

  Honor’s guarded eyes watched the man who was responsible for so much of her misery approach her while her heartbeat pounded in her ears. His dark brown hair was slightly mussed and windblown and his face was pink, reddened by the sharp breeze blowing over the mountain. His eyes looked almost black, and it could have been a trick of the light but there seemed to be a weird light emanating from them, some malevolent glow burning in his gaze. Holding out a hand, she took a stumbling step backward. “Stay away from me,” she bit out.

  “Now, Honor, relax. I know that my brother has been filling both your pretty heads with some sordid little tales about me and my past,” Henry continued as he glared at his brother’s corpse. “Sadly, the boy never did know when to keep his mouth shut. I really should have gotten rid of him when I killed Angela, but you know how it is with family. It would have saved me so much trouble though if I’d just ended him sooner,” he mused aloud, shaking his head as he stared at his sibling’s body. “Ah, well. Hindsight is twenty/twenty, isn’t it?” he asked with a careless shrug.

  “Henry, I don’t know what you’re planning, but you’ve
got to know that half of Paradise County is huntin’ us right now. Just let us go and run while you can,” Honor advised as the sound of Maggie’s heaving continued as she watched the woman fall to her knees.

  “Oh, we’re all done running, my sweet Honor,” Henry breathed as he lifted a hand to curl around her neck, jerking her stiff body against his. Sniffing her hair, he groaned. “God, how I’ve missed your sweet smell. Even when you were young, you smelled like paradise,” he whispered, his hot breath fanning her face as his cold lips rubbed against her cheek.

  Honor could taste the bile rising in her throat. “Stop,” she whimpered, squirming against him as the arm around her became like a steel band, trapping her against him. “I mean it, STOP! Let me go!” she screamed, closing her eyes as she fought his hold on her. She wouldn’t let this happen again, damn it! She was older. Faster. Stronger. She just had to keep her head on straight and figure a way out of this nightmare.

  “Fuck, I still love it when you fight. Fight me some more, my little slut” he growled nipping her ear lobe as she twisted against him. “But then again, you aren’t just mine anymore. I bet you let that fucking sheriff have some of my cream, didn’t you, Pretty Kitty. Did he lap it up, you bitch? Did he taste what should have been only mine?”

  “You’re delusional! I’ve never been yours, Henry. What you took from me, you had to steal! I never gave myself willingly,” Honor screamed, grunting as he jabbed the gun he was holding into her stomach. “You’re a sick, twisted monster that preys on little girls and innocent women,” she shrieked, opening her eyes to see Maggie desperately searching for a weapon. God, if she could just keep him distracted long enough for Mags to find something… anything to use against this rabid creature.

  “No, you were meant to be mine,” Henry growled as he tried to capture Honor’s mouth. Lifting the gun, he pressed it to her temple. “Be still!”

  She heard him roar out the command as he painfully pressed the barrel against her skin. Panting and out of breath, she stared up at the monster holding her.

  “I. Am. Not. Yours! I’m never gonna be YOURS!” She shouted, clipping out each word starkly. “I’m Zeke’s. My heart. My soul. My body! It’s all Zeke’s. Don’t you see? I WANT Zeke. I love ZEKE!” she bellowed in his face, uncaring that he held a gun to her head. She was past rational thought or action. She’d sacrificed enough of her life to the jackals that had hurt her. If this was the end for her, she’d damn well go out fighting.

  Shoving her away from him, Henry’s nostrils flared as he lifted a hand and backhanded her. “I don’t care if you love him. I’ll make you forget him. In fact, I’ll make you forget him right now,” Henry snarled as he lunged toward her and gripped the hem of her khaki skirt and began pulling it up her thighs.

  “No, you bastard! Not again!” Honor heard Maggie scream as the woman barreled toward them, tackling Henry from behind. “Honor, run!” she screamed as she used her nails to claw at Henry’s face.

  “Get off me, you fuckin’ cunt,” Henry voice thundered, disturbing the birds in the trees.

  Frozen in place for a moment as she watched Maggie kick, scratch and bite at the demon tormenting them, she looked around for a weapon. Spotting the long stick that David had been using as a cane, Honor sprinted toward it, stumbling as she heard the harsh blast of a gunshot. Looking over her shoulder, she screamed as she saw Maggie fall, blood pouring from a hole in her thigh.

  “Get back here, you stupid bitch,” Henry raged as Honor’s fingers closed around the long, thick stick.

  “Honor, run! Find help!” Maggie yelled weakly before she collapsed completely on the ground.

  She didn’t want to leave Maggie, but staying meant they both could die. Her best hope was running. With any luck, Henry would give chase and that would give a search party time to find Maggie. She could see the bullet had hit her leg, but hopefully it had missed the artery. Seeing Henry rushing toward her, Honor whimpered as she turned and dashed toward a break in the woods.

  Ignoring the sting of the brush tearing at her bare legs, Honor ran, clutching the stick in her hand like a lifeline. She could hear the sound of Henry behind her, his breathing labored as his feet slammed against the ground. Spotting a tree ahead, Honor bit her lip as she raced toward it. She hadn’t climbed a tree in over a decade, but right now, she was determined to make like a monkey and climb.

  She just prayed she could get to the top of that tree before Henry burst through the brush and found her.

  ~~~***~~~

  One quarter mile from Skyview Bluff - 4:40 pm

  Zeke

  “Team 1 to Base. We’ve reached the midway point. Team 1, out,” Zeke reported to the deputy he’d left in charge at their base camp to track their movements. Taking a deep breath, he hoped like hell they were barking up the right tree by heading into the wilderness. He currently had the assistance of both the Tennessee State Troopers and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and both agencies had focused their search within the town limits. They were scouring every inch of Paradise for any sign of Honor, Maggie or the Watson brothers. Here it was just his team of men, however, that had headed into the mountains. Park rangers had put two helicopters in the air to aid in the search, but so far they’d come up empty as well. It wasn’t surprising since this area was thick with trees and foliage.

  Ten minutes earlier, Zeke had thought he heard the echo of a gunshot. They’d been aiming toward the direction they thought it had been coming from, but hadn’t found any results yet.

  “Jesus,” Wrath muttered under his breath, “Never thought our clubhouse would be the base for a police operation… well, unless we were the ones they were after,” he amended with a half-grin.

  Clipping his radio to his belt, Zeke snorted as he dismounted his four wheeler. “Yeah, I’m still a little shocked myself, but you know what they say about desperate times and all that shit.” Looking around at Ice, Wrath, and Diego Fuentes, Zeke squared his shoulders. “I appreciate everything you all are doing to help find Honor and Maggie. It means a lot to me. But you should all be aware, I’m not coming off this mountain without both of them, nightfall or not, but you can turn back at any time.”

  “Fuck that. I’m with you, Brother,” Ice acknowledged softly. “Let’s go find our girls.”

  “I’m ready to roll, too,” Wrath added, his craggy face serious as he met Zeke’s gaze.

  “Both of these women… they overlooked my past and embraced me as one of their own. We do not leave without them,” Diego stated quietly.

  “Alright then,” Zeke said with a last look around at their determined faces. “Move out,” he ordered, turning to begin trudging up the first of several steep hills.

  For several minutes, the group of four men climbed in silence. Each of them was silent and watchful, their keen eyes constantly sweeping their surroundings as they searched for any sign of Honor or Maggie as they dry grass and leaves crunched underneath their boots.

  After fifteen or so minutes, Zeke heard Ice whistle sharply as every man there froze in place. Turning his head to look toward his brother, he saw him pointing at a bush. Moving closer, Zeke’s blood pumped furiously as he saw what Ice was pointing out. Reaching his hand out to tug the scrap of pink cotton material that had been snagged on the bush free, Zeke’s mouth went dry. It was the same shade of pink as the button down shirt Honor had been wearing this morning.

  “We’re headed in the right direction,” Zeke growled, “Look alive, men.”

  The men resumed the search with renewed vigor, energized from their find, and Zeke’s steps faltered a few minutes later when he heard a low moan from ahead. Squinting as he looked up the hill ahead of them, he spotted a small wooden shack against the tree line. Holding up a closed fist, he motioned for the men to stop. Pressing a finger to his lips with one hand, he pointed at his ear with the other. Then, he waited.

  A few seconds later, he knew he wasn’t imagining things. Somewhere close there was a woman moaning. And it seemed every man there
realized it at the same time as they all surged forward, rushing up the steep incline. “Honor!” Zeke shouted. “Maggie! Call out if you can hear us!”

  “C’mon on! Somebody sing out,” Ice yelled as he hurried up the steep slope behind Zeke.

  “Here! I’m here!” they heard a weak feminine voice call back to them as they all crested the hill within seconds of each other.

  “Fuck!” Ice snarled as he spotted Maggie’s prone body lying beside an obviously dead man. “Maggie!” he exclaimed as he sprang toward her, closing the distance between them quickly as Zeke rushed behind him.

  “Shit, baby, what the hell did you do to yourself?” Ice growled as his eyes scanned her. “Don’t you ever stay out of trouble?”

  “Seriously?” Maggie yelped faintly. “I’m shot here, you redneck asshole,” she growled at her would-be rescuer.

  “Shot? Where?” Ice replied sharply, his eyes already scanning her body and narrowing as he noted that her skirt was soaked with blood. “That motherfucker is a dead man,” he bit out through clenched teeth as he carefully reached for the hem of her skirt.

  “Tell us what happened, Mags? Where’s Honor?” Zeke asked as Ice carefully pushed Maggie’s clothes out of the way to get a look at the wound.

  “Henry found us. He killed David,” she returned, grimacing with pain as Ice shifted her leg to wrap his belt around her thigh in a tourniquet. Maggie’s eyelids fluttered as Ice tightened the belt.

  “Maggie! Stay with us, babe!” Ice ordered sternly. “Open those pretty green eyes for me.”

  Turning, Zeke handed his radio to Wrath. “Call it into base camp. Tell ‘em to get a chopper to the clearing at the midway point. They’ll have to airlift her out. There’s no way she could get on a four wheeler.” Spinning back to Maggie, Zeke reached for her hand, holding it tightly. “C’mon, Mags, open your eyes,” Zeke urged as Maggie cracked opened pain glazed eyes and tried to focus on him.

  “He was gonna hurt her ‘gain, Zeke, but you’d be so proud of ‘er. She didna take his shit. Yelled in his face that you were all she wanted,” Maggie slurred. “He got mad. Hit ‘er. Was gonna do more ta her, so I jumped on ‘is back. Kickin’, Clawin’. Screamin’. Got shot while I’s strugglin’ with ‘im. Screamed at Honor to run. ” She smiled up at Zeke. “She ran.”