She had an incredible capacity to love. And he would go back to his solitary life.
It was all settled, all decided. He was absolutely certain that he’d done the right thing, made the right decision. What he couldn’t understand was why in making the right decision, he suspected he was closer to being his father’s son than he’d ever been in his life.
CHAPTER 14
“Shh.”
Libby came awake immediately, feeling Tony’s hand pressed tightly against her mouth, his body lying directly on top of hers. She lay still, listening to the snapping, crunching sounds of somebody walking outside their little hiding place. The noise of heavy footsteps was close, too close for comfort. Somebody was walking just on the other side of all the vines and brush. The beam of a high-powered flashlight swept across the overgrowth behind which they hid.
She closed her eyes tightly, fear making her heart thud loudly in her ears. She wondered if Tony could hear the frantic beating of her heart. It sounded to her like it was beating loud enough to alert whoever was on the other side of the bushes.
Tony’s body was hard and taut against hers, his muscles tightened with tension, as if anticipating the need to jump up and fight, or run. He stiffened as first one voice, then another called out. There were at least three men out there, and Libby had a feeling they weren’t out looking for mushrooms.
Horrible visions played in Libby’s mind, as if on a large movie screen. The only difference was that in a theater she’d be able to close her eyes and make the picture disappear—but now, eyes open or closed, the images remained. The visions were all the same…the albino, with his cold, deadly eyes, and his sharp knife glittering wickedly. She remembered the sound of his rage when she had managed to evade him and lock herself in the bathroom. His anger had been an awesome force, and Libby shivered uncontrollably at the thought of finding herself at the mercy of his rage.
As she shivered, Tony pressed down more firmly on top of her, as if to still her shivering with his own body. His weight only managed to force the air out of her lungs, making it difficult for her to breathe. Yet she was grateful for the weight of his body, for with his strength and warmth pressed against her, she almost felt safe.
She wrapped her arms around him tightly, wanting to hold on to him forever. She wanted to pull herself up inside of him and hide there until the danger had passed. She had never known that fear could taste so bad—she could taste it now, and it was something she hoped never to taste again.
Seconds passed, minutes…minutes that felt like years, but finally the footsteps moved away, and the voices receded deeper into the woods. Tony eased his weight off her by raising up on his elbows, then gazed down at her, and she was suddenly aware of his heart beating as rapidly as her own.
She was also aware of the fact that night had passed while she slept, and the world was illuminated with the first stirrings of dawn. She looked up into Tony’s face, wanting to memorize each line, every feature. She wanted to remember him the way he looked at this very moment. His chin was darkened with the stubble of whiskers, and dried pine needles clung to his dark hair, but it was the look in his eyes that she wanted to remember for the rest of her life. For in his eyes, she saw the love she felt for him reflected back to her. His onyx eyes reflected his vulnerability, and his love for her. Her memory of his denials from the night before faded. He loved her. She knew he did.
Neither of them spoke a word as his lips slowly descended to hers. He kissed her deeply, passionately, with all the emotion he had not spoken of the night before.
When the kiss finally ended, she looked at him with sad longing, recognizing the kiss for what it had been—a goodbye.
“You’re a damn fool,” Libby whispered softly, and Tony nodded.
“It’s time to go,” he said, releasing his hold on her and sitting up. “We’ve got to get to Walker’s Grocery, and we’re going to have to be very careful. They’re looking for us.”
Libby nodded and followed him as he crawled through the doorway of the brush. “Stay right behind me and don’t make any noise,” he warned in a whisper, reminding her that they were not out of danger yet.
She did as he instructed, staying behind him as they moved through the woods in the direction of Walker’s Grocery and Dock. She had no sense of direction and was grateful that Tony moved through the semidarkness with the assurance of a born trailblazer, pausing only once momentarily to get his bearings.
As Libby followed him, she thought of the past week of her life. She had been robbed and assaulted, had faced danger and death, yet she knew these memories would eventually fade. It was the love she had discovered that she would find difficult to forget. Her bruised neck, her scraped hipbones—those injuries would eventually heal, but her heart would forever carry the scars of her adventure.
Tony stopped suddenly as they neared the edge of the woods. Ahead of them was the grocery store. It was closed. Not a light shone from within, and the small parking area in front was empty.
“Where are your friends?” Libby whispered, dismayed to find nobody waiting for them, no friendly faces waiting to take the necklace from them and relieve them of their deadly burden.
“It’s still early,” Tony whispered back, his eyes searching the eastern skies where the sun was reaching out with tentative fingers of light.
He scanned the area, searching out the best place for them to hide and await Cliff and his people. He didn’t like being this close to the store, where anyone could sneak up on them from any direction. His gaze landed on the large gas pumps at the end of the long boat dock. If they could make their way down there, they could hide behind the pumps. They wouldn’t have to watch their backs because their backs would be to the open lake.
He eyed the sky once again. In minutes the sun would peek fully over the top of the horizon and they would no longer have the advantage of semidarkness. They needed to move right now. “Come on, follow me.” He touched her arm lightly, then took off running across the clearing.
They ran quickly, their feet barely making a sound as they crossed the small graveled parking area and hit the boarded ramp of the dock. They didn’t stop running until they crouched down behind the pumps.
“Whew.” Libby expelled a gasp as she tried to catch her breath. She sat down on the wooden dock. “Do you think anyone saw us?”
Tony shrugged. “We’ll see,” he said tersely, praying the store hadn’t been under surveillance, praying their luck held until Cliff and his men arrived.
Libby leaned her head back against the gas pump. She was tired, tired of the whole mess. She was suddenly anxious to give the necklace to the proper people. She should be feeling euphoric—they had almost made it. But instead she felt a weary resignation she’d never known before. She looked at Tony, loving him…wishing things were different between them. She hadn’t allowed her heart to listen to his denial of love the night before. But this morning his words, combined with the bittersweetness of the kiss they had shared, caused a dreaded heaviness in her heart.
She sighed, raising her face to the healing warmth of the sun as it suddenly shot over the horizon and fell brightly to earth.
She turned and peered in the direction of the grocery store as he heard the crunching of gravel beneath car tires. A black Mustang pulled up and came to a stop in front of the grocery store. “It’s them, isn’t it?” she whispered anxiously to Tony.
“Probably.” His eyes narrowed as he stared at the car. So far, nobody had gotten out. “Just be patient.” Another minute passed, then Tony hissed a curse.
Fear clutched Libby’s heart as she peered around the side of the pump. Her heart plummeted to her stomach as she saw the albino and the husky, dark-haired man get out of the car. For a moment they looked around, then focused on the pumps at the end of the dock. She moaned softly as they approached the edge of the dock, both with guns in their hands. “How did they know we were here?” she whispered, unsurprised when Tony merely shrugged, his eyes black and intense.
“Mrs. Weatherby, the sun catches your blond hair like a beacon,” the husky man called as he and the albino stepped onto the end of the dock. It rocked and swayed gently with their weight.
Libby gasped and placed her hands over her hair. Tony pulled his gun from his boot with one hand, and with the other hand he drew her closer to his side.
“Mr. Maxwell was most helpful in providing us with the information that you were meeting people here this morning,” the dark-haired man continued. “Of course, it took considerable persuasion to get him to part with this information.” Libby moaned, thinking of Jonathon Maxwell’s intelligent, soft brown eyes, wondering if the lab assistant was now dead. Tears misted her vision at the thought. “You have provided us with some pleasant diversions, but this is where the game ends.” The light amusement in the man’s voice changed to harsh demand. “You will please come out and give us the necklace now.”
“Go to hell,” Tony answered, his voice filled with a deceptive laziness.
“Ah, Mr. Pandolinni, let’s all be reasonable. You have no place to run, no place to hide. You have one gun, we have many. We will eventually get the necklace. You may as well cooperate with us now.” He took a step forward on the dock, jerking back as Tony fired a shot, the bullet whizzing harmlessly over the man’s head.
“It looks like a stalemate to me,” Tony yelled. “If anyone steps another foot on the dock, I’ll shoot them.” Tony stalled for time. Where the hell was Cliff?
Hawk signaled and a man appeared from the woods. The new man advanced cautiously, passing where Hawk and the albino stood. Tony’s muscles tightened as the man stepped up on the dock. He heard Libby’s swift intake of breath as she realized they were challenging his threat.
The man advanced another two steps down the dock. Libby knew Tony was going to have to shoot him. Her sensibilities fought against her sense of survival. She didn’t want him to shoot anyone, yet she knew it would make the difference between life and death for them. She closed her eyes as Tony’s gun exploded. She heard the agonized cry of the man and opened her eyes to see him grabbing his leg, blood spilling over his fingertips.
With the groans of a wild, hurt animal, he pulled himself off the dock and back up the bank. Once there, two more men ran out of the woods and helped the wounded man back to the safety of the brush. Hawk signaled and another man took his place at the end of the dock.
“Son of a bitch,” Tony hissed as the second man took two steps toward where he and Libby were hidden behind the gas pumps. “He’s going to sacrifice his men until I’m out of bullets,” Tony said, a sense of despair washing over him. How could they win against someone who would consciously allow his men to be shot like sitting ducks, killed for the sake of forcing Tony to use all his bullets? The man had no soul.
“What…what are we going to do?” Libby tried to keep the fear out of her trembling voice.
“The first thing I’m going to do is this—” He raised his gun and shot the second man, hitting him in the shoulder. As the man fell to the dock in an agony of wails and cries, Tony grabbed the bottom of his T-shirt and with a vicious yank, he tore half the bottom off.
“What…what are you doing?” she gasped, staring at him incredulously.
“Wait a minute,” he muttered, pulling his cigarette lighter from his pocket. She watched silently as he took the material and stuffed it into the nozzle of the gas pump.
He turned and looked at her, his eyes so black it was impossible to discern the pupil from the iris. “When I tell you to jump, I want you to run and jump off the dock and swim like hell for the opposite shore.”
“No.” She stared at him with widened eyes. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to blow this dock to kingdom come,” he said tersely. “If you can get to the other shore, you should be safe there until Cliff gets here.”
“But…but what about you?” She stared at him painfully. “Tony, isn’t there some other way?”
He reached out and touched her face softly. “Libby, I’ve got three bullets left, and those guys are just going to send out three more men for me to shoot, then they’ll be down here for us. This is our only chance. The necklace is what’s important. You’ve got to swim for your life.”
“But, Tony, I don’t want to leave you….” She heard a slight edge of hysteria in her own voice.
“Libby, when I say jump, damn it, you jump and you swim,” he exploded angrily, turning his attention to the men on the shore. They had managed to remove the second injured man from the edge of the dock.
“Mr. Pandolinni, must we continue to waste more of my men before you come to your senses and surrender?” Hawk yelled. “I must admit, I am losing patience.”
“Get ready,” Tony said to Libby, lighting the edge of the material that hung out of the gas nozzle. As the material began to flame, Tony stood up and fired the last of his bullets. “Now,” he yelled.
In one quick movement, Libby ran and dove off the end of the dock, the shock of the icy-cold lake water stealing her breath away. She swam for some distance beneath the water, then broke the surface with a gasp for breath. Immediately, there was a loud explosion behind her. A wave of heat hit her as scattering debris plopped in the water around her. In horror she turned around to look at the dock. The place where she and Tony had been hiding was in flames. There was no sign of the two gas pumps, and no sign of Tony.
“Tony?” The name was a mere whisper on her lips as she tread water and stared at the place where he had been when she had last seen him. Had he jumped in time? Had he managed to get away before the explosion?
She stared at the dark water between her and the dock, waiting breathlessly for his dark head to pop up out of the water, watching anxiously for some sign that he had made it and was alive. Seconds passed…minutes…too long for anyone to hold their breath beneath the surface of the water.
“Tony.” This time his name tore from her throat as a wave of agony washed over her. He couldn’t be gone. He couldn’t be. A sob caught in her throat. Still, there was no sign of him anywhere. She sobbed again and turned around. The opposite shore looked distant, too far for her to reach. “But you have to,” she gasped aloud, knowing that if she didn’t make it to the other shore and wait for Cliff and the proper authorities, then all of this had been for nothing.
She squeezed her eyes tightly closed for a moment, fighting against the desire just to give up and sink to the bottom of the lake. She touched the necklace that hung heavily around her neck, then began to swim for the opposite shoreline.
She’d gone only a few yards when one of her legs was grasped in a viselike grip. As she screamed, her head plunged beneath the surface of the water. She kicked out and surfaced, coughing and choking on the mouthful of water she’d swallowed. She shoved her hair off her face and opened her eyes to find herself staring into the cold, colorless eyes of the albino.
“You’re mine, bitch,” he snarled, reaching out to grab her once again.
She screamed again, hysterically kicking away from him, her arms and legs flailing frantically in her effort to escape his grasp. She managed two strokes, hissing in pain as her hair was grabbed from behind and she was once again plunged beneath the water.
She struggled, using her fingernails to gouge and scratch, her feet to kick. She needed air. Her lungs burned painfully and the need to gasp was overwhelming. She kicked again, grunting as her foot found his groin and caused him to loosen his grasp on her hair. It was all she needed. She twisted out of his grasp and broke the surface of the water, gasping deeply, taking in painful gulps of air.
She was aware of the sound of a boat. She also heard a sound like an enraged bull behind her, and before she had a chance to react, she was dragged downward yet again. This time, her struggles were slower, less frantic as exhaustion overtook her. Tony was dead, and she was tired…so tired. She could see tiny bubbles escaping her lips and floating upward to the surface, but she felt no panic. Instead, she quit struggling alt
ogether. A curious sense of well-being swept over her. It’s not so bad, she thought with a sense of surprise. It’s not so bad to drown.
Suddenly the arms that had been holding her down in the water were gone, and she rose easily to the top of the water. She rolled over on her back and it was then that the pain struck her. She choked and gagged, her lungs burning as fresh air flowed into her lungs.
She was vaguely aware of a pair of strong arms reaching beneath her and lifting her up into a boat. So, they had won after all, she thought tiredly. They had managed to kill Tony and now they would take the necklace from her and then they would kill her.
As a warm blanket was placed around her shivering body, she frowned in confusion. Why were they being so nice to her? Why give a blanket to a woman they were going to kill? She opened her eyes and found herself looking into the face of a clean-cut, blond-haired man. “Cliff?” she croaked hopefully.
He nodded and gave her a reassuring grin. “Don’t worry, you’re safe now.”
“Tony…” Tears spurted to her eyes as she tried to find the words to tell Cliff that his friend was dead, that Tony had made the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of his country.
Cliff’s grin widened. “Yeah, he was really something else, wasn’t he? I didn’t even know Pandolinni could swim. But he cut through the water like a torpedo when he saw that fellow going after you.”
“But…I thought…” Libby stared at Cliff in shock, his words causing a pleasurable tingle to begin flowing through her body. Tony was alive…he was alive! “Where is he?”
Cliff pointed to the shore near the grocery store. The area was crawling with uniformed officers, and it was easy to see that Cliff had the situation completely under control. Among the men handcuffed and in custody, Libby recognized the burly, dark-haired man and the albino. She sobbed with pleasure as she saw Tony standing at the edge of the lake, his gaze directed on her as the small motorboat carried her to the shore.
One of the Good Guys Page 17