by Billi Jean
She used his own strength to swing her feet back then right into his body. She heard him grunt, then the powerful clench of his hand on her upper arm tugged her right into his body. He rolled, pinning her down but she wasn’t about to go that easily. She head butted him right in his disgusting face and brought her rappelling hook down on his temple when he shifted back. With a burst of power she rose up and shoved her palm into his jugular and followed with a savage elbow in his junk. He howled like a baby and she didn’t lose the chance to punch him hard enough with her fist to lay him back. He went, but not for long.
Before she could get out of the way, he scissor kicked and she felt a rib break under the punishing blow. He grappled with something and she heard it fall, hitting the side of the cliff as it went.
“Sonya!” she heard through the com link.
Cody. She heard Jansen and Bryson check in that they couldn’t spot her or Walters but that didn’t surprise her. He’d picked the perfect spot, out of the sight of the mountains and the house.
“Bitch, I’m going to fuck you until you take your last breath,” Walters snarled. “Did you know that shit was possible? Fucking you to death,” he laughed, sounding insane. “You might even like it,” he added with a sickness she knew hadn’t been there before.
She blinked to clear the sweat from her eyes and gained her feet even as he did. He clutched his crotch still and bent over, but he was gaining his breath. His eyes were crazy, bloodshot and wild. His face was a mess of scar tissue and gruesome stitch marks. He’d lost weight, and could have impersonated an insane prisoner on the loose. He massaged his privates and stood straighter, giving her a grin that was more a grimace.
“Like the new face you gave me, sweetheart?” he asked.
She didn’t bother to respond. She crouched, knowing there were only a few choices left to her. She could hear Cody ordering Bryson off his position to the house, and he and Troy doing some fast talking. Somehow, Cody knew Walters was up here. No shit, you just dropped something on the roof of the house.
“Nothing to say? Well, no problem, I’ll kill your boyfriend first. Which one is he? Or maybe all of them? You got them all here? But none of them are me, babe,” Walters said and his wild eyes widened. “I’m a fucking god. You gave up too quick on the drug, but I didn’t. It takes a set to do that, but I’ve got them,” he bragged, cupping himself.
“Not for much longer,” she said quietly and dove for him with her knife out.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Cody rushed through the house, and down the porch steps, Troy on his tail. He pulled his gun as he ran, his heart in his throat. Sonya. She was all that mattered now.
“Fucker tricked us,” he said as he ran.
“Just keep it cool, keep it close, man,” Troy replied. “We’ll get him. She’s not a lightweight, man.”
No, he knew she wasn’t. She was strong, but hell, his nose burned and his eyes were stinging from the thought of one inch of her being hurt. They reached the cliff but there was nothing to see. Not a damn thing because the rocks arched up and over the house. The red stone was silent, too. She might’ve been near the top for all he knew. He listened closely anyway and hushed Troy when he went to speak. Seconds later he heard something like voices.
“Do you see her?” Jansen demanded in his ear.
“No. Sonya, check in, baby,” he said all thought of keeping this professional gone. “Do something so we know where you are if you can’t say something!”
A rock tumbled down almost on his head almost immediately after he spoke. He grinned and glanced at Troy. His buddy backed up with a smile.
“That’s an answer,” he offered.
“She’s about halfway up that, I’m guessing,” he muttered, trying to calculate the rock with the height of the cliff.
“Damn, man, she needs to come down. Tell her—”
“Sonya, get your ass down here.” A second later he heard Bryson call him one brave man, and Jansen spouted off about the lack of brains cowboys seemed to own.
“You can’t see shit because you’re too close,” he heard Sonya hiss. He knew she wasn’t talking to him—for one, she’d never sounded like that with him. But what the hell she meant was aimed at him.
“Dumb ass!” he grumbled and turned to race out from the cool shade. “We need to see up the damn thing,” he said when Troy tried to stop him. “She wants us to move back.”
“Fuck, how could we miss this?” Troy asked, racing with him to the front of the cabin. “Of course she needs us out here. Damn, man,” he added. “This sun is going to make it hard.”
The sun hit them in the face, blinding them just like before. Cody raced farther out and turned to examine the cliff. It took him longer than he liked, but then he saw it, a flash of something catching his eyes. “Give me your glass,” he snarled.
Troy got down on his knee and set up his tripod and attached the scope. Seconds later he was watching Sonya. “Aw, fuck!” he groaned as Walters slammed her into the rock wall. She did something and he saw the flash again, realizing when he did that it was her knife. He got his hopes up but Walters caught her arm and seconds later the knife fell from her grip.
“She’s bad off,” he said. “Bryson, where the fuck are you?” he demanded in the com link.
“Five minutes out, five minutes,” he said breathlessly.
He met Troy’s eyes at that. She didn’t have five minutes. “Get your ass down here, now, Sonya.”
He watched her twist and turn her body like a damn gymnast then with a sudden move she ducked down and shoved Walters against the rock wall and jumped.
His heart stopped for seconds until he exhaled in relief spotting her rope. But she kept falling, not appearing to be rappelling but free falling. “Sonya!”
Sonya tried to correct her fall, but Walters had cut her rope. She could feel it in the lack of tension on the line. Quickly she gathered what she had and much like Cody roped that cow a few days before, she tried for a jagged outcropping. She caught it, surprising herself then slammed into the cliff not once, but several times when the rope jerked her to a stop. Her cracked rib protested by shooting a sharp slice of pain up her body, but she put that on hold and concentrated on getting her eyes focusing properly.
She could hear Walters but couldn’t see him. She also couldn’t hear Cody. She’d lost her com, mostly likely from the full body impact with the rock wall.
“God,” she whispered, aching from head to toe. She was jammed in a crevice, the jagged edges of stone doing a number on her arms and sides. Blood dripped from her forehead from either Walters or the rock fall. She anchored her legs on the side and tried to catch her breath.
Her location was partially hidden in a fold in the terrain. She heard the sound of a rope sliding through a line and seconds later it became louder then disappeared along with Walters cursing. She waited then glanced out of her hiding place to see him land at the bottom, near the house.
A shiver of fear raced up her spine. Cody. He was down there, waiting on her, probably focused on the rocks and not on the ground. If she lost him… Panic threatened to rip her heart out but she refused to let it. She slowed her breathing and forced herself to calm.
“Go down, get to him and make sure this sick bastard is dead, Sonya. Then start your life.” She exhaled and nodded, wiping the blood from her head before it got in her eyes. Her body throbbed from the fall, but she took one step at a time, not trusting her rope on the sharp rocks, but taking the long way down.
By the time she reached solid ground, she’d decided never to climb again. She wanted her feet firmly on the ground and right next to Cody.
As if the thought of him brought him alive, she heard him shout something from around the front of the cabin.
Heart in her throat, she shook off her trembles and headed for him. No one was taking him from her. No one.
* * * *
“Man, it’s okay, I swear, I saw her catch herself,” Troy said, dragging him back from rushing
to the back of the cabin.
“Troy, you do not—” Troy’s eyes widened and he shoved him aside, only to go flying when a man tackled him down.
Walters.
Cody felt as if someone had removed a fence, holding him back from attacking. He grabbed Walters by the neck and ripped him off Troy with a snarl. He jerked him back and tried to shove him down. Only Walters didn’t go, he turned and shot right at him. Cody managed to knock his arms up but got a knee in his balls for the effort. He gritted his teeth and didn’t let up on his grip on Walters’ arm. They fought for the gun, faces inches apart.
“Your little bitch is dead. You want to join her?” Walters rasped.
Cody didn’t reply. He wasn’t about to give the man the satisfaction. No way was Sonya gone from this world. No fucking way.
The gun went off again and from his left he heard Troy gasp out a painful breath, but couldn’t spare the glance to see if his buddy was okay. He’d been right in the line of that shot. If he died because of this bastard
“You son of a bitch, you think you can take me?” Walters said, sounding crazy. “I’m a fucking god compared to you! I’ll find her and if she’s still alive, I’ll make her wish she was dead long before I kill her.”
Cody knocked Walters’ legs out by dropping down, and quickly tangled the man’s throat up in his legs. He gripped Walters’ hair with one hand and bashed his hand holding the gun on the rocks while he kept his head locked in between his thighs. He heard a shout, and Walters suddenly drove a knife in his leg.
“Fuck,” Cody gritted and gained the gun but got Walters’ fist in his face. The gun went flying. He fell back but twisted Walters in his grip, keeping him immobile so that Troy could shoot him.
“Shoot his ass, Troy!”
Walters elbowed him in the kidney repeatedly but Cody didn’t let him go and Troy didn’t shoot him either. The moment was lost when he had to tackle Walters face down. They rolled and Cody kept his hold, but only barely.
“Can’t make a clear shot,” Jansen growled through the com. “Back off him, Ranger!” The pissed of order didn’t help matters since he was trying his best to do just that. Even pinned in his arms Walters had a maniac strength.
“Turn him to the right, half inch and I can take the shot,” Bryson muttered through the com link.
All at once, Sonya was within sight, raggedly racing toward him with her gun up, moving so quietly he didn’t think Walters saw her. The man stiffened in his arms and his muscles bunched, but by then Sonya stopped, raised her gun and before he could tell the crazy woman not to shoot, she nailed Walters twice in the chest.
Walters went limp at the double impact. Cody rolled him off and shot to his feet, dragging his gun out to hold on him. He stole a glance at Sonya to see her running toward him, her gun pointed a bit lower. She was hunched over, holding her stomach as if she were in pain. Blood dripped from her forehead, mouth and chin. More stained her arms and there was red on her shoulder.
“Shit,” he murmured, feeling weak with relief.
“Oh, God, Cody,” she cried, and fell to her knees next to him.
“Sonya,” he said and tried to get her to her feet. “I’m okay—”
“You’re not okay!” she said harshly. “He stabbed you—”
He pulled her up and made her face him. “In the leg, Sonya. Think, firecracker—”
“I have to get you to the hospital—”
“Sonya,” he shouted, and dragged her into his arms. She froze then hugged him tightly. “It’s over. He’s dead, baby.”
“Yes, he is. But you—”
“It’s my prosthesis, sweetheart,” he reminded her and unlatched her arms enough to meet her green eyes. They filled with tears, but he was expecting that. It had all happened too fast and too soon. “You’re in worse shape. Come here, let me see the damage.” He coaxed her back a little and held his breath at the way she stiffened painfully.
“It’s okay. I got you,” he murmured and hugged her gently to his chest, unsure if he’d hurt her. “I love you, woman, but don’t ever shoot at me again.”
“I didn’t shoot at you. Why were you in the house so long when—?”
“I was following the plan, which is more than you did. You shot at me!”
“Oh, Cody!” she smacked his chest then kissed him there and wrapped her arms around his neck, but her tears had settled down. “If I’d shot at you, you’d be dead,” she said quietly.
“Damn,” he muttered, knowing that was the truth. “I had him.”
“I know you did,” she whispered, sounding like she was placating him.
He tipped her head up so that he could see her face. She was pale, more upset by this than he’d thought. He brushed her hair aside to reveal a deep long gash on her forehead that was already bruising. She had another scrape on her chin and more, he was guessing, on her back. He stroked her cheek gently and leaned down to brush his lips over hers. “He’s dead, Sonya. He was just a man, now he’s dead. Two bullets do that, baby.”
“Especially two of yours,” Troy called, giving her a wince. “Remind me not to get on her bad side, man.”
Sonya glanced over and her eyes widened. “You’re shot?”
“I think Cody shot me, if that matters,” he said.
“I didn’t shoot you, man,” Cody grumbled.
Sonya met his eyes again, as if checking to see he was there, then of all things, bent and pulled the knife from his leg and threw it toward a tree, not near Troy, he noticed. She soothed her hand over the spot as if Walters really had stabbed him.
“I owe this thing my life,” she whispered. She stood, and winced, holding her ribs carefully but tiptoed to kiss him on the lips. “You sure you want this,” she whispered. “Me? I really do have issues—”
“Woman, you’re not getting out of this now,” he warned and picked her up off her feet with his grip on her lovely ass, careful with her as he did. “I’m staying,” he growled into her neck. “And so are you.”
“Around and around and around we go,” she sang, but her eyes were so full of happiness he could tell she was never getting off this wild ride.
“I love you, firecracker,” he whispered against that spot behind her ear. “But your butt is going to the hospital, so don’t even think of—”
“No way, cowboy, I need a shower, and you can baby me, but no hospital,” she said, meeting his eyes with a firm expression. There was something else there as well, and he nodded immediately, seeing her relief when he did.
“Anything you want, firecracker, I’ll give it, gladly.”
She shivered as he knew she would and gave him that sassy smile he loved.
“Good because I’m not letting you go,” she said, taking hold of his jacket to pull him closer and lean fully into him. “You get to stay. Forever.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“All right,” Cody said, pulling out a chair for her then sitting close by, facing Bryson and Jansen. “We don’t need you two to apologize any longer, we had it. Walters is gone and we’re just glad you were there in case you were needed.”
Sonya nodded, taking Cody’s hand in hers. She loved his hands and couldn’t seem to stop herself from taking them if he didn’t already have hers. Since the first day she’d seen him push aside a tree branch and freeze at the sight of her, she’d been unable to keep her hands off him. Now that he was hers and she was his, neither of them went long without checking in, even it was just a touch of a hand.
It’d been a week since Walters’ attack and she was still tender, but at least today she’d managed to lasso her cowboy into something a bit more fun than she had when he’d first seen her bruises.
She’d actually thought he’d pass out—something she got a giggle out of even now. All she’d done was sniff that if he didn’t love her any longer because she wasn’t perfect, he could pack up and ship out.
That had stopped his dismay so completely she’d had to hold her sides so she didn’t laugh too hard and hurt h
er ribs. Cody really did love her. Completely, but not as much as she loved him, she thought. She examined the way he hadn’t taken his eyes off her for too long and thought maybe he might just match her for love. He fit her. That was all there was to it. But until she could get rid of one seriously unhappy man, she was not getting to curl up in Cody’s arms and let him hold her while she took a nap.
“Maybe they’re sorry Walters didn’t get to use me as a blow-up BDSM doll,” she suggested to Cody with a laugh at both men’s grimaces.
Jansen’s face deepened in color. Maybe it was his light blond hair and blue eyes that made his blush—if that was a word she could use on such a hardcore man—seem to grow, but she was betting on bondage doing it for him. He was a tough, kinda smartass guy. Maybe that’s what got him off.
Bryson, brown-haired and slightly darker, took the comment a little better, but obviously she wasn’t allowed to reference sex because he also wouldn’t meet her eyes. He bent his head and scrubbed both hands over his longish buzz cut.
Well, too bad. I break all the rules, don’t I?
“Oh, I doubt that. I think they want something else, but I’m guessing you want me to leave.” Cody directed his comment to Jansen as he stretched his legs under their table and didn’t budge. He even anchored a long arm behind her chair. Jansen winced then shrugged.
“I don’t want you to leave,” Jansen grumbled. “I just didn’t want to rush in here and seem like an asshole and not worried over your recovery, Petrok.”
She switched her focus off her romantic thoughts of Cody proposing properly to her, and back on the men interrupting them.
“What Jansen is trying to say, is he needs to ride up to Canada ASAP, but first wants to know what you found out about Paris,” Bryson said. “He’s just in a bad mood over missing that shot, then falling on his ass.”
“Bad mood?” Jansen grumbled, shooting Bryson a dark scowl that his buddy ignored. Jansen was lean, like most military men. He was also stacked with muscles he’d used to survive this long. But she’d seen the tapes from Duke’s and how he’d treated Paris. She also knew that the two men had shared her to save Bryson from having to take Duke’s drug. Jansen was head over heels for Paris—that was obvious. It was obvious in the tapes, too. He’d used the utmost care with her, as if the girl might break—or he couldn’t believe the gift Paris was giving him with her trust. She’d let them tie her up, and as clearly new as this experience had been to Paris, she’d not backed down—or taken her eyes off Jansen. Sonya only felt bad it’d taken her this long to put the pieces together. She had been busy, but Jansen was a good man. He didn’t deserve the pain of missing Paris for six months. She only hoped Paris would forgive him because, man, Jansen wasn’t going to let her go. She kinda worried he’d kidnap her or something.