Under Threat

by B. J Daniels

  He chuckled a little at that. “Well, that’s very mutual.”

  It was her turn to laugh, but she sobered quickly. “When we get back...” she began, emphasizing the when meaningfully. But her seriousness morphed into a grin. “You’re going to have to let me hypnotize you.”

  He narrowed his eyes at her, but he couldn’t help from smiling in return. “Like hell, Natalie.”

  “Why not? Are you afraid?”

  “No. You told me that the person has to be willing. I’m never going to be willingly relaxed. Unless it’s by things other than hypnotism.”

  She snorted at his joke. “Do you have secrets to hide that you’re not willing to share, Ranger Cooper?”

  “I don’t have any secrets.” Which had become true the minute they’d discussed his marriage. There was nothing about himself kept under wraps, because there wasn’t much there. Work.

  She might not know he was related to a few celebrities, but that wasn’t his secret in the least.

  Natalie looked down at the last bite of granola bar, something in her gaze going serious. “I guess I don’t really have any more secrets from you, either.” Her eyebrows had drawn together, and she didn’t look at him. “Everything in my life has been Gabby for so long...”

  She swallowed, and Vaughn could tell she was dealing with some big emotion, so instead of pressing or changing the subject, he gave her time to work through it.

  “I want her back so much, and I just have to believe she’s alive... But...” She shoved the granola wrapper into her backpack forcefully, irritated. “I feel terrible saying this, it feels like a betrayal, but when we make it out of here, I want a life that isn’t solely focused on her.” Her brown gaze met his, and he had a bad feeling he knew where this was going.

  And where it couldn’t possibly go. Because his feelings for Natalie ran very deep, but he’d been here before—loving someone and knowing that her views on the world would never allow them to make something permanent, to make something real.

  “One step at a time. Remember?”

  She frowned at him as though she could read his thoughts, as though she could read everything. He didn’t like that sensation at all. But in the end, he didn’t have to bother figuring it out because a shot rang out in the quiet, sunny afternoon.

  Immediately Vaughn had Natalie under him, protecting her body with his, scanning the horizon for where the shot might have come from.

  “Wh-where?” Natalie asked in a shaky voice.

  “I don’t know.” Based on the sound, he didn’t think it had come from behind them. It seemed more likely it came from higher ground. From someone who’d presumably assumed his plan all too easily. He swore viciously and tried to reach for his pack without leaving Natalie vulnerable.

  Another shot sounded, a loud crack against the quiet desert, this one getting closer. It had to be coming from the other side of the mountain they were climbing. They couldn’t stay put, they were too vulnerable, too exposed. And he had no idea where to shoot toward.

  “We’re going to have to run from it,” he said flatly, his eyes never stopping their survey of their surroundings.

  “Run for it? Run where?”

  He pointed to a craggy outcropping a little ways behind them. “You run there. No matter what happens to me, you run there and get behind those rocks.”

  She tried to twist under him, but he wouldn’t let her. “What do you mean no matter what happens? You can’t honestly expect me to—”

  “The most important thing is that you stay safe. Out of the way of a bullet. If I—”

  “What about you? What about your safety?” she demanded, a slight note of hysteria in her voice.

  “Natalie, listen to me,” he said, his voice calm, his demeanor sure. Because not only was it his job to take a bullet for her if the circumstances necessitated that, but he wanted to. He’d never be able to live with himself if she ended up hurt because of an error in his judgement.

  “My job is to keep you safe.”

  “Well, Vaughn, I want you to be safe too, regardless of what your job is.”

  He’d analyze the way those words sliced a little later. “I’ll be safe. If you listen to me, we’ll both be safe. We’re going to make a run for it. You first. I’ll follow.”

  “I don’t like this.”

  “Unfortunately, Nat, it doesn’t matter what you like, this is what we have to do.”

  She exhaled shakily, and it wasn’t until she spoke that he realized it was anger not fear. “If you get shot,” she said, her voice trembling with rage, “I will finish off the job myself. Do you understand me? You will not get hurt saving me.”

  Everything inside him vibrated with a kind of gratitude and hurt and all number of things he couldn’t work out at the moment. He kissed her temple, which was the only place on her head he could reach.

  “You just listen to me, and everything will be fine. I’ve gotten you this far, haven’t I?”

  “Yes, and I know you’ll get me the rest of the way. We’ll get each other the rest of the way.”

  He hated that she was worried about his safety. Her safety was of the most importance, not his. He was a man who could be replaced easily enough, but there was no one like Natalie.

  But if she cared about him, and her safety depended on his, then he would keep himself safe. He would keep them both safe.

  “On the count of three, we run. That’s our destination. If I happen to get hit, you keep going. You can’t save me if you’re dead.”

  “And you can’t save me if you’re dead,” she argued.

  Another shot rang out, and Vaughn knew that one was way too close for comfort. The next one would hit, and if they weren’t trying to kill them, all the more danger.

  “One, two, three, go.” He launched to his feet, pulling her with him, and then they ran.

  * * *

  Natalie ran, just as Vaughn instructed. There was a certain hysteria bubbling through her, but with a specific destination—behind that rock—she managed to focus enough to get her feet to move, as fast as they possibly could.

  Another shot rang out, and Natalie jerked in fear and surprise and almost tripped at the sound, but Vaughn’s steady grip on her arm propelled her forward. She tumbled behind the rock, and Vaughn was right behind her, covering her with his body again.

  As glad as she was to have someone protecting her, someone like Vaughn, so sure, so capable, worried about her safety, she had fallen in love with the man, and she hated the thought that he was ready to give his life for hers.

  She knew this was his job, but that didn’t make it easier. Certainly not easier to know he was risking his neck for her. She didn’t feel worthy of it. She didn’t feel worthy of any of this.

  Why were these men after her? All she’d done was pathetically fail at trying to find her sister for eight years. Failure after failure. Why on earth did they think her worthy of this kind of manhunt?

  Now was not the time to worry about those questions, about her failures, but every insecurity, every pain, every hurt seemed to center inside her along with this bone-deep panic.

  Vaughn made an odd grunting sound as he rolled off her. She glanced over at him, and he was trying to pull off his jacket. She didn’t quite know why he was bothering with that when—

  “I’m going to need your help,” he said, his voice strangely strained.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, despite the way her throat tightened. Something was off, something—

  Then she saw it, the angry streak of red in the middle of a rip on the T-shirt fabric across his shoulder. She felt like she’d been shot, seeing that horrible gash and the way the blood trickled down his beautiful, strong arm. For her.

  He spared her a glance. “Not going to pass out, are you?”

  “No,” she said firmly, though she did feel a little woozy an
d light-headed at the sight of him bleeding so profusely, but she wasn’t going to be so weak she couldn’t help him. She would find a way to push through her physical reaction and give him everything he needed.

  “Tell me what you need me to do.”

  “Grab something out of the backpack that you can wrap tight around the wound.” He had his gun pulled and was holding it with his good arm. Ready to take a shot. Ready to protect her in the middle of this barren mountainous desert. “I can do it myself if you want me to—”

  “I can do it.” Natalie would do whatever he asked, whatever he needed. Over and over again.

  He kept his gaze trained on the area around the rock that protected them. Natalie did her best to hurry to find something she could wrap his arm with. She hoped this was at least a little bit like in the movies, because then she would at least know a little bit of what to do.

  There was a T-shirt at the very bottom of his pack, and she pulled it out. Without thinking too much about it, she pulled and pulled until she ripped a good strip. She repeated the process over and over until she had several strips. While Vaughn remained the lookout, she folded the strips over the worst part of the wound and then tied the longest one around his upper arm as tight as she could manage.

  He hissed out a breath, but that was the only outward sign that he hurt.

  “That should hold for little bit,” she said, scared and worried that she’d screwed it all up. But what could she do? All she could really do was everything he asked, hoping for the best. She had no other options here, so there wasn’t even a point in worrying about what else there was. Like Vaughn kept saying, there was only now. No time to worry about later.

  “On the slim chance that we have a signal, check your phone and mine.”

  Natalie scrambled for both, powering them on and checking their screens. But there was no service. She wanted to cry, but she blinked back the tears. Tears would get them nowhere.

  A shot hadn’t rung out in a while, and the longer the silence lasted, the more both their nerves seemed to stretch thin and taut.

  “Pull up the texting on both phones. I want you to put in a message to this number, and hopefully if we try to send it now, it’ll send the first second we have service without us having to keep checking.”

  Natalie furiously typed the information Vaughn gave her. She kept glancing at the T-shirt bandage, and because it was a white T-shirt, she could see the blood already seeping through. She tried not to panic at that.

  “Get out the map.” Though he still sounded like cool and collected Vaughn, that strain never left his voice.

  He’d been shot. Shot. It took everything she had to pull out the map and spread it out for him. Her hands shook, but he still handed her the gun she’d dropped while trying to bandage him up, trusting her. Believing in her. She held on to that fiercely.

  “Shoot at anything that moves.”

  She swallowed and nodded, watching the harsh surroundings and fervently hoping nothing moved.

  “We don’t want to retrace our steps,” he muttered. “We need to keep moving forward. We’ve got to keep searching for cell service. We don’t get out of this without help.”

  She wanted to make another joke about him not sugarcoating anything, but her voice didn’t work anymore. Whether it was panic or fear or some combination of all of the emotions rioting through her, she couldn’t push out joking words. Only desperate ones.

  “Are they going to come after us?”

  “They might. I didn’t get a glimpse of where they were coming from. I still have no idea what the hell they’re trying to prove. If they want us dead, they could have had us dead on the road before the gas station. I don’t get this at all, unless they want us. Alive. Or...”

  He didn’t have to finish that sentence, and she knew, sugarcoating or no, he wouldn’t. Because he meant or they want you. She could tell that bothered him more than anything. That he didn’t know what they were trying to do, that she might be the target.

  Natalie didn’t really care what they were trying to do. As long as they were shooting at them, she wasn’t a fan.

  “To keep cover we’re going to have to backtrack a little bit, but then we’ll circle around, really try to get higher ground on the off chance there’s a tower around here somewhere. If you hear the message sent notification from either phone, tell me. Otherwise we need to stay completely silent, just in case. They don’t want us dead. Or at least they don’t want you dead, and that’s pretty damn frightening.”

  “But...”

  For the first time his glare turned to her, rather than their surroundings or the map. “What the hell do you mean, but...”

  “If they have Gabby...” She swallowed at the lump in her throat. Maybe they wanted her too. If they did...

  “No. No way in hell. You’re not sacrificing yourself for her right now. First of all, not on my watch. Second of all, because you just told me you want a life beyond all that.”

  “I didn’t know how close I was.”

  “I’m sorry. I know she’s your sister, and I know you’d do anything to find her, but it’s been eight years. If she survived that, a few more days won’t hurt her. You don’t know what they’re trying to do to you, so we’re not taking that chance. Not even for your sister, Nat.”

  “You’d do it for your sister,” she returned, quiet and sure. He’d sacrifice himself for less, she was certain.

  “It would depend on the situation, and not in this one. If they had my sister, I’d do exactly what I’m doing now. Which is trying to get them. Because if we don’t have them, everyone under their control is in danger.”

  She saw a point to that, but the idea that if they took her she might be reunited with Gabby. If they took her... Vaughn might be safe.

  “Natalie, you have to trust me on this. I need you to promise me.”

  Natalie swallowed. She hated lying to him, but she also knew they wouldn’t get anywhere if she didn’t make that promise. She forced herself to look him in the eye—those gorgeous blue eyes she thought she’d never be able to read—and now she knew she’d never not be able to see what was in those depths.

  He was strong and he was brave, and he knew that he could get them out of here. But he was also afraid, because whether he was going to admit it, whether he would admit it, he cared about her too. He wouldn’t have slept with her in the middle of all this if care wasn’t part of that. That she knew.

  “All right. I promise,” she said, holding on to the thought of care, of love.

  Vaughn swore harshly. “Don’t lie to me.” He grabbed her arm and winced a little, since he’d used his bad arm. But he didn’t back down. “I don’t have time to argue with you on this, but if you put yourself in danger you will answer to me. Now, let’s go.”

  He didn’t give her a chance to argue; he pushed and pulled her in the direction he wanted to go. And Natalie let him lead, let him order her around.

  But she had no doubt if the situation presented itself, she’d sacrifice herself for both the people she loved.

  Chapter 15

  Vaughn didn’t know what to do with the searing rage inside him. She was lying. How dare she lie about something so important? How could she be willing to sacrifice herself with so many unknowns and so much at stake? She didn’t even know for sure if her sister was alive or with The Stallion. All they had were hunches and possibilities, and Vaughn was beyond livid that she would take such a chance with her life.

  It didn’t matter that he would do everything in his power to make that impossible for her, because it wasn’t about him. It wasn’t about what he could do. It wasn’t about how well he could keep her safe. It was about the fact that she was willing. It was about the fact that...

  She should’ve cared more about herself. She should’ve cared more about her future.

  Which does not include you, so maybe calm d
own.

  Frustrated with himself, more than frustrated with the situation, he pushed them forward at a punishing pace, doing his best to keep them behind things that would keep them out of sight and safe from bullets.

  But even as they hurried and zigzagged and did their best to stay low, Vaughn could hear the sound of an engine getting closer and closer. He swore, because no matter how good he was, no matter how strong he was, no matter how smart he was, he could not outrun a vehicle. He couldn’t outrun whatever was coming after them.

  They’d made it around one of the craggy desert mountains, and whatever was coming for them would have to come around one of the sides. Vaughn kept his weapon drawn and his eyes alert. “We’re going to find somewhere to hide you.”

  “But—”

  “No but. You will listen to me. You will follow my directions. If I tell you to hide, you will damn well hide.” He didn’t have time to see how she was taking that harsh order. He didn’t have time to look at her and make sure she was okay. He was a little afraid if he did take that time, he’d fall apart.

  He’d been in some dangerous, uncomfortable, scary situations, and he’d never been scared that he might fall apart. It poked and ate at him. Hell, it just about killed him that she’d become that important. Which meant the only choice was to keep going.

  He found a very small opening, more crevice than cave, in the base of the mountain. With less finesse than he might have had otherwise, he gave her a little push into the crevice. She fit, though barely. But it would keep her out of sight.

  He looked around to make sure he couldn’t see a car anywhere. He could hear that engine, so they were close, but not close enough to see him just yet.

  “Stay here. No matter what. You do not come out of here until I come to get you. Someone tries to get you out, you shoot him wherever will do the most damage.” He didn’t even have time to ask if she understood. He gave her one meaningful look and tried not to let those big, soulful brown eyes undo him.