Sheltered

by HelenKay Dimon

  Chapter Sixteen

  She willed him awake.

  Lindsey sat on the floor of the cell Todd had thrown her in. With her legs stretched out in front of her, she waited with Holt’s head in her lap, stroking his hair as she counted the minutes. He could have a concussion or worse. Could be dying.

  The wound bled a lot, but she remembered reading somewhere that head wounds did that and not to panic. Most of the time the skull protected the brain from damage. Still, she used the towel Todd threw in with her to fix Holt up. She worried touching him might make whatever was keeping him unconscious even worse.

  This was just one more test in a horrible few days of them. The past hour had been a roller-coaster ride of confusion. The rush of happiness she’d experienced in seeing Holt step up in front of her died when Todd stepped up behind him.

  The hit. The way Holt’s eyes rolled back into his head and his body crumpled. The horror show would play in her head forever.

  She needed to get out of there and to safety. To check on her people and make sure the rest of her rescues were safe. But first she had to wake Holt up and be satisfied he was okay. In the five minutes since Todd left she’d tried saying Holt’s name and singing to him. Kissing his hair and touching his back. Nothing brought him out of his stupor.

  She was about to try shaking him when he stirred. He stiffened and then in a snap pushed up to a sitting position beside her. The move came too fast and his head lolled. She thought he might collapse or worse.

  “Easy.” She put a hand on his thigh and another on the back of his neck. “Are you injured?”

  “I’m fine.” He started to get up but fell back down hard.

  She pulled him closer and leaned his body against hers. “Todd hit you three times in the head.”

  At least that was what she’d witnessed. There could have been more before Holt ever found her. She had no idea what was happening in the outside world. The small cell worked like an echo chamber, blocking out everything but the fear. That rattled around her until she had to fight off the urge to talk to herself.

  “I hate that guy.” Holt rubbed his head and hissed. A wince of pain came next.

  For a smart guy he kept missing this pretty elementary issue. “My point was, you could have a serious concussion or something else equally awful.”

  “I’m good.” He leaned his head against the wall and exhaled. “I made it seem worse than it was.”

  “Right. That’s why you look ready to drop into a deep sleep.”

  He turned to look at her without lifting his head from the wall. “Once the first blow came, I knew I was in trouble.”

  “You’re saying you tried to end up in here?” Because that didn’t sound smart to her. He should run and get help...shouldn’t he?

  Yet part of her loved that he didn’t leave. He didn’t send in helpers. He was the hands-on guy who got things done. Since the wild attraction she felt for him continued to grow and expand, she added being able to count on him to the list of things she liked about him.

  He reached over and took her hand in his. “I need to get you out of here.”

  She was fully on board with that plan, but... “No kidding, but I need you not to pass out.”

  “I’m not a fainter.” He sounded appalled by the idea.

  “Can you crawl through glass or whatever that is?” She pointed at the barrier separating them from the outside world. If tough guy wanted to take something apart, he could start with that.

  “Cam and Shane are here.”

  The entire team. For some reason that gave her comfort. His ability to track her so easily should calm her but it didn’t feel right. “How did you find me?”

  He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. “I’ve been tracking you.”

  “Excuse me?” She willed her body not to react. Her usual response would have been to start barking questions. She let him come to her.

  “It’s a tiny dot.” He made the symbol with his hand. “Not intrusive.”

  “I plan to get indignant about that tracking device later. Mostly about you hiding it from me.” For some reason the fact that something like that existed made her twitchy.

  He shrugged. “It worked.”

  “And that is why I will thank you. For now.” She looked at his face and saw the strain there, tugging at the corners of his eyes and mouth. Every time he moved he let out a small gasp as if his body constantly fought off the pain. Not that he let her see that. No, he tried to bury it. “So, what’s the plan? Are we going to sit around and wait to get rescued?”

  Holt straightened his back even more. Pressed away from the wall and tried to turn his head side to side.

  His eyes slammed shut. “Does that sound like me?”

  His stubbornness was going to be the death of both of them. “No, but last I checked you couldn’t walk through walls.”

  “So little faith.”

  Since they had nothing but time left to wait and see what this Simon Falls creature wanted with them, she kept babbling. “Come on, this has to be the worst situation for you so far.”

  She expected an agreement. She got a scoff.

  He started to shake his head, then stopped. “Not even close.”

  She looked around at the walls. Air seemed to be pumped in from somewhere, making the spot extra cold, but there were no windows and there was very little hope here. “How is that possible? We’re trapped in here, just waiting for our turn to die.”

  The last part of the sentence ripped out of her. The words scratched against her tongue. She refused to believe this was her day to die, but the evidence kept pointing her to that conclusion.

  That was why she wrote and sent that text. She hoped it said what she wanted it to. She didn’t throw the word love around easily or decorate her mail with little hearts, but there was no question each day she fell a little further in love with him.

  “I’ve been left for dead. That was much worse than this.” Using the wall for balance, he slid up until his back was plastered to the wall, and his face went pale. His body seemed to close in, as if the memories proved too much to handle more than in small pieces.

  She knew pain when she saw it. The squinting of his eyes and the weight of it pushing on his shoulders. She wanted to rush in and comfort, but she didn’t understand his comment. “What are you talking about?”

  At first he didn’t say anything. His eyes half closed as he stood there. His palms flattened against the wall behind him. She couldn’t tell if he was holding his body up or stopping to rest.

  Just as she was about to ask, he started talking. His rich, deep voice rang out in the small cell. “In Afghanistan. I figured out a friend, not Shane, was dealing drugs over there. Getting some of our men high at dangerous times. Selling to the locals. Basically, making a lot of money.”

  He stated the facts in an almost remote voice. As if he’d separated what happened from his real life. She guessed this was a defense mechanism or a way of releasing the poison, but she wanted the thinking and feeling parts of him. Dealing with awful things by using both was the only way to move on.

  “I have a feeling I know where this is going.” And she feared the story was not going to end with this random guy, whatever his name, remaining one of Holt’s lifetime friends. At least she hoped not or she might have to go find him and punch him.

  “We were friends, so I gave him a chance to come clean.” Holt lifted a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose and then rubbed his eyes. Did the whole uncomfortable guy routine. “I’d missed the drugs and felt responsible. I couldn’t help thinking if I’d seen it coming I could have stopped the train.”

  “I don’t think it works that way.”

  “When confronted with two options—turn yourself in or go home—he picked a third option.” Something in Holt’s eyes said he was reliving the entire thing as he described it. “He decided to shoot me instead. Left me to bleed out in the desert.”

  The words shocked her. Everyone read and heard a
bout the horror of war in a distant way. This was personal. A painful memory that appeared to plague him. “How did you survive?”

  “I crawled to a hiding place. Kept pressure on the wound.” Holt made a noise akin to a short hum. “It’s under my hairline, by the way.”

  He acted as if everyone possessed his survival skills. As if people got shot at and moved around without help for hours all the time. The idea of him making it out alive made her shake her head in awe.

  But none of that compared to the betrayal that lingered in every one of his words. “Your friend actually shot you in the head in order to save himself?”

  “Yes, it quickly became clear he was looking for a more permanent solution to my refusal to mind my own business.”

  “Where is he now?” She hoped locked up somewhere and feeling the weight of his guilt.

  “Prison.”

  Finally some good news after swimming through a sea of bad. “Military, or did he come back and get in trouble?”

  “Sort of both but it’s military.”

  “No wonder you don’t trust anyone.” All the pieces clicked together in her head. The anti-commitment thing. He connected with certain people, likely people he knew before the incident in Afghanistan, but not others.

  But now he’d closed his feelings off and buried them down deep. Locked emotions away. Or he claimed to have done so until he’d made love with her. She hadn’t seen any signs of him wanting to be somewhere other than her bed that night.

  “Do you talk to him?” She couldn’t imagine that. Facing down the person who tried to take your life. She didn’t even get what the conversation could be unless it included an apology.

  “Never. He blames me.”

  Of course he did. That type would.

  “That’s ridiculous.” Kind of made her want to punch the guy on Holt’s behalf.

  He gave her eye contact. The type that made it feel as if there was no one else in the state. “And for the record, I trust you.”

  The words echoed in her brain and she rushed to say the one thing she might not be able to say once Todd got through with them. “Did you get my text?”

  “Yes. Very smart.”

  Yeah, she was not talking strategy here. “I meant—”

  “You’re awake.”

  At the sound of Todd’s voice, she jumped to her feet. Tried to put her body in front of Holt’s, but he held her against his side.

  Some of the haze had cleared from his eyes. He still moved half a beat slower than usual and seemed to be holding his head so it did not move much, but the big fierce protector was not far under the surface. She felt him hovering right there, ready to fight.

  Todd gestured with his gun for them both to move toward the door. “That’s good, since we have a surprise for you.”

  “What?” Holt asked.

  “Apparently it’s time to prove yourself.” Todd’s gaze traveled over both of them. “The boss is ready to see you guys now.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  With each step, some of the fuzz muddling Holt’s brain cleared. It still hurt to move too fast or even keep his eyes open for long periods of time, but he was snapping out of it. A few more minutes of rebooting and he would be ready to go.

  The point was, he needed to protect Lindsey. Yes, she could handle most situations. But this one was too horrible for her to face, and he didn’t want it rolling out in front of her the way he feared it would.

  Simon Falls was a psychopath. He’d destroyed people and killed to get to his position. He hid his identity under false names and documents. Lindsey used a cover for safety and to help others. Not this guy. And now he wanted Lindsey. Holt didn’t know exactly why, but he guessed it centered on some sick mix of revenge and reunion.

  As they walked out of their cell and into the larger building that contained it, they stayed next to each other into the main room of the old rec center, her fingers brushing his. Knowing it was unwise to hold her hand but desperate to show her how much she meant to him, he touched the back of his against hers. He knew she noticed when she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

  He spent the rest of the time getting to know his surroundings. He’d been all over the campground. Even got close to the weapons storage. The inside of this place was new. Made him wonder what else he’d missed.

  They stopped in the middle of the long rectangular room. Junk and old supplies littered the floor. There was an odd musty smell that suggested the place hadn’t been opened in years. The high-tech cell suggested Simon had lots of contacts with the outside world. He clearly did not limit himself to the camp and refuse all worldly possessions, hypocrite that he was.

  Todd stood behind them with his gun trained on Lindsey. Smart move. With her in the firing line Holt would not lunge. If it was a matter of him catching a bullet during a fight, fine. But he wouldn’t risk her life that way.

  So they stood. They waited in silence for what Holt guessed was the big entrance scene from Simon. Holt wanted to lean over and whisper the man’s secret to take some sting out of his entry. Holt hadn’t gotten the chance to warn her earlier and was about to do so now, but the megalomaniac in question walked in.

  He wore casual clothes and had his hair styled so one side swooped over to cover a spot before reaching the other side of his head. He had an assault weapon strapped to his chest and carried a handgun. For a second Holt thought he’d walked into the middle of some stupid coup.

  He knew the second Lindsey recognized the man she secretly viewed as her enemy. “It can’t be.” Her voice trailed off but the surprise lingered.

  “Lindsey Pike, or should I call you Beth?”

  “Walt?”

  He shrugged. “It’s Simon now.”

  Her mouth dropped open and it took a few tries to get it closed again. “You died.”

  With each shocked sentence Holt felt worse for her. The need to block her from all this struck him hard. He wanted to tuck her away and never let this nutcase or his campground touch her life again.

  But he couldn’t protect her from this truth. This one walked and talked and threatened. Simon Falls didn’t think twice of pulling his niece into his schemes and scaring her for no reason. That made him one dangerous man. And one that Holt would likely need to kill.

  “What’s the plan here, Walt?” Everything Holt did now was just a stall for time. Shane and Cam had to either fight their way into the camp or wind around and come through the lush greenery and over the huge fence. Since Holt didn’t hear gunfire, he assumed they were trying the non-bloodshed method. That meant Holt had more time to waste before reinforcements arrived.

  “It sounds as if we all know each other’s real names.” Simon’s smile turned feral. “Isn’t that right, Holt? Or should I call you Agent Holt?”

  The man was guessing, assuming Holt has a government agent of some sort. This guy did not have the skills to break through Joel’s encryptions and multilevel securities and built-in redundancies and fake covers. Holt had faith in all of that...and he wasn’t actually an agent. Not in the sense Simon meant.

  Simon put a hand behind his ear. “What? No smart reply for that?”

  Lindsey took a small step forward. The move put her slightly ahead of Holt. “You want me. Let him go.”

  Simon shook his head. “That is not going to happen.”

  “Holt didn’t do anything.”

  That was enough poking. Holt pulled even with her and tugged on the bottom of her shirt again to let her know to keep the other man calm. Fighting and threatening would only ratchet up whatever was wrong with him. He would react and everything would blow up.

  “Don’t waste your breath. He wants us both, don’t you, Walt?” Holt asked.

  “Call me Simon. I ceased being Walt years ago after I realized that the weakness gene in our family could be exorcised out.”

  That sounded crazy to Holt. From the severe frown on Lindsey’s face, he assumed she didn’t get it either.

  “Our family is not
weak.” And she sounded every bit strong and proud as she said it.

  “My brother could not quiet the voices. You run away and then scurry back.” Simon shook his head. “I’d like to think this means you missed the discipline and structure of the camp. Have you kept up with your lessons in weaponry? Because that’s what we do. Move around and sell them. Provide backup, when needed. It’s a very lucrative business. Much more so than yoga, or whatever the hell was happening here before.”

  Bingo. Exactly what Holt suspected. Not that he cared about being right or the mission with Todd waving a gun around somewhere behind them.

  “This is insane.” Lindsey hesitated over each word as if she couldn’t believe she had to say them. “How did you even know who I was?”

  “Your friend Roger.” Simon tilted his head to the side and threw her a sympathetic look. “In the end he was not very loyal, I’m afraid. Pain will do that to a person.”

  An angry flush covered her cheeks. “What did you do to him?”

  “Lindsey.” Holt tugged on her shirt again. Her losing her control would hand Simon the victory he craved. No way could she do that.

  “He worked for me,” Simon said in a voice filled with pride.

  Lindsey started to shake her head and didn’t stop. “He left.”

  “And came back. That’s the point.”

  Breath hiccupped out of her. “You’re lying.”

  But Holt feared Simon was telling the truth on that one. Part of Holt always thought the crime scene seemed staged. Then there was the issue with no body. Every other body got dumped right near Lindsey. Why not Roger’s?

  Holt hated for the betrayal to be true. He knew how deep that sort of pain cut. You wrestled with it for years, turning over every conversation and decision until it slowly drove you insane. It certainly robbed you of normalcy.

  “This man betrayed you,” Simon said, as if he genuinely needed her to understand. “He came to me with the information about your identity and your secret campaign to steal away my members.”

  “I thought they were always free to leave,” she said.