by Anne, Melody
“Can you run?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she replied. She hadn’t had much food the last couple of days and her body was still frozen.
“I need you to run just to the fence, OK? I have to keep my gun out in case anyone tries to stop us. It’s dark out, but floodlights are illuminating the yard and I don’t know when Gianni’s men are going to come check on you. I saw them put you in here two hours ago. I’m sorry it took so long for me to get to you, but the yard finally cleared so I could safely reach the shed. I’ve counted about fifteen guys in total. I couldn’t take the chance of having them hit you while trying to get me.”
“That’s OK,” she said, not really knowing what she was saying.
“No, it’s not. None of this is OK. I got here as fast as I could, but it wasn’t fast enough. Rafe and Adriane will meet us. Their plane just landed an hour ago and they are moving as fast as they can to reach us. They wanted to be here for the rescue, but I wasn’t going to wait. We just have to get past the fence line, and I have a snowmobile ready.”
“Sure,” she mumbled.
“All right, I’m going to open the door. Hold on to my belt,” he said. She took a couple of unsteady steps, testing her legs. They were holding her upright. That was a good sign. “Don’t let go,” he commanded her.
She acknowledged his order with a nod.
“Trust me, Rachel. I’m going to get you out of here.” He leaned down and hugged her again before placing her hand on his belt and cracking open the door. “It’s all clear. Don’t make a sound. We’re going to move swiftly and get the hell out of here.”
She didn’t say a word as her muscles tensed in preparation. She’d do what he said and hope she didn’t fail him. She wanted to survive. She needed to.
Without further delay, they were off. After only a few paces, she heard shouting to her right and then Shane lifted his gun and began shooting. Gripping his belt for all she was worth, she focused on putting one foot in front of the other as she ran behind him. She knew he could move faster, that he was slowing his pace for her. As much as she wanted to leave, she was going as quickly as she could. She was grateful he seemed aware of her limits.
They made it to a wire fence as more shots were fired. She didn’t look behind her, but just focused on Shane’s back as he opened the fence and thrust her through. She stumbled to the ground and looked behind her as Shane kneeled, holstering his handgun and quickly raising his rifle and firing several shots.
The gunfire had alerted Gianni’s other men that there was trouble, and soon doors were opening and more men ran around the house, intent on taking both her and Shane out. Now, they didn’t care about information they could obtain from her; they cared only about stopping her escape.
“Run straight ahead!” Shane yelled without turning, still firing as two more men came into view.
She knew she was moving slower than he was, knew she couldn’t help him, so she stumbled to her feet and began running as hard as she could. She tried to inhale through her nose so the breath wouldn’t freeze in her lungs, but she couldn’t help but gasp in her desperation for oxygen.
She didn’t know how long she ran, but it seemed each time one foot hit the snow-covered ground, another shot fired off. If something happened to Shane, she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself. Maybe she should turn back around and help in some way.
No. That would end up getting him killed because he’d be focused on her, not on the enemy. She staggered forward, face-planting into the snow, but she refused to stay down. She rose again quickly as she told herself to just keep moving, keep heading in the direction he’d told her to run.
“You’re almost there,” Shane said as he suddenly came up behind her and lifted her up, cradling her to his chest as he kept running.
“Are they dead?” she gasped.
“Not all of them,” he replied. The two of them were in the shadows, safe from a direct hit, but a stray bullet could still find them. They weren’t safe yet.
Just as they reached his snowmobile, there was a loud explosion, the night lighting up and making her jump as Shane put her down on the seat before climbing on in front of her.
“It’s not over, Rachel. We have to move. Hang on to me.” Shane started the engine and threw the machine into gear, snow flying out behind them as he jolted them forward.
Rachel held tightly to Shane, though she couldn’t help but turn around and look at the mess behind them. The house she’d been held in for two days was nothing but a great ball of fire, and it lit up the night sky, making it easy to see the remaining men scrambling from the windows and flailing about on the ground.
She was safe.
“I’m getting you out of here,” Shane yelled over the scream of the whipping wind.
“Thank you, Shane,” she whispered, more to herself than to him. She leaned into him as they sped away.
It was almost over.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Adriane approached the compound with Rafe right behind him. Looking in all directions, they spied Shane rushing through the yard with Rachel clinging to his belt.
Adriane immediately jumped up, ready to run to her, catch her up in his arms and take her away from here — far away. Rafe snatched his coat and pulled him back.
“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?” Adriane snarled, prepared to throw a punch.
“Look!” Rafe growled, trying to keep his voice down.
That’s when Adriane saw two men come around the corner of the house and spot Shane and Rachel. His breath caught in his throat as the men lifted their weapons, aiming them directly at the woman he loved.
Before the men were able to get off any shots, Shane fired, nailing both men, while he continued moving rapidly toward the safety of the fence.
“We need to help them,” Rafe hollered, no longer trying to be quiet as shots rang out in the cold winter night.
Adriane and Rafe raised their weapons and charged forward as Shane and Rachel reached the fence. They were too far away to help in the actual escape, but they could take out the men trying to shoot the pair. Adriane breathed a sigh of relief as Rachel slid through the opening and began running. Then he lost her to the night as he faced the house again and shot a man in a second-story window who was aiming straight in the direction Rachel had just run. The man went down, screaming as he fell into the snow, his blood turning the ground red.
Just as Rafe and Adriane moved through the fence, there was an explosion, the blast so powerful that the waves hit them both, sending them flying backward in the snow as the sound echoed through the mountains.
“What in the hell was that?” Rafe shouted as he staggered to his feet.
“I don’t know,” Adriane replied, also struggling up.
They looked toward the house, which was now up in a ball of flames, and looked for the source of the blast. They hadn’t launched any explosives. Had Gianni destroyed his own place?
Creeping forward, they noticed the propane lines.
“A bullet must have hit the propane tank,” Rafe said as he cautiously looked around, searching for any more threats. It seemed the explosion had taken care of the rest of the men.
The next several minutes seemed endless as the house burned bright and the screaming of the enemy men who were still barely alive filled the air.
As Rafe and Adriane, who could count about fifteen men, dead and dying, scoped out what was left of the building, Adriane was torn. He wanted nothing more than to follow after Shane right now, to get ahold of Rachel and never let her go, but he had to make sure the threat was gone.
He couldn’t stop until he saw Gianni’s cold, dead face.
“Move cautiously,” Adriane said; the two of them stood up and crept forward.
They moved through the yard, the house now fully engulfed in flames and casting an eerie glow on the night. Adriane searched the faces of each of the men, frustration mounting when he didn’t see his brother among them.
“Gi
anni! Where in the hell are you! Come out and face me like a man!” Adriane called, his voice echoing through the mountains.
“Careful, Adriane,” Rafe warned.
“Time for being careful is long over,” Adriane replied, his eyes almost wild.
“I understand, but it doesn’t look like he’s here. Maybe he never was.”
“No. He’s here. I can feel it. He’d never have sent Rachel here alone. He trusts no one, not even those he hires. Rachel means less than nothing to him; she is merely a means of getting his way. But still, he wouldn’t leave her in the hands of these guys — not until he’d gained his objective.”
It had been a long time since Adriane had been with his brother, but he knew the man hadn’t changed that much in their years apart. Gianni used those he could and condemned the world as a pack of fools. But this time he was the fool, for he never should have pushed Adriane to this point.
“Come out now, Gianni!”
Only silence greeted him.
“We need to get back to the meeting place,” Rafe said, a new urgency in his voice.
“He couldn’t have gotten away,” Adriane said, frantically searching the yard, not ready to give up. Gianni had to be there.
“What if he did? What if he ambushes them?”
Adriane halted at Rafe’s words and turned to face him. “Let’s go,” he said.
The two men ran from the yard and made their way to the snowmobiles they’d come in on. Time seemed to freeze as they forced their way through the snow to their transportation. It seemed that every step took minutes instead of fractions of seconds.
Adriane needed to get to Rachel right now.
Chapter Fifty
Just as the sun began rising in the sky, casting eerie shadows across the ground, Shane and Rachel rode over a hill on the snow-covered mountain and saw a vehicle waiting ahead on a paved highway road — no more bumpy remnants of mountain trails.
And did that vehicle beckon! Rachel, still freezing, had been fighting against the wind, and now, before her, sat a car that she knew would be blasting heat from its vents.
“Your rescue vehicle, madam,” Shane said as he slowed and clicked the doors open.
A shot rang out.
Shane suddenly jerked against her and then slumped forward, leaving Rachel baffled. What had just happened?
“Go!” Shane said, gurgling on his own blood, as he threw himself sideways off the snowmobile.
“Go!” he said again, but Rachel could do nothing but sit there as she watched his blood start to seep out against the fabric of his coat.
“You didn’t think you would get away so easily, did you?”
Rachel looked up as Gianni approached. She struggled to get her brain to function, to make her arms move, but fear paralyzed her.
She couldn’t leave Shane there, even if that’s what he wanted her to do. It was too late, anyway. Gianni was almost beside her, with a gun aimed directly at her head.
“Why?” she said, her voice trembling. She was trying to be brave, but Shane was lying there dying before her eyes and there was no way out.
“Because my brother needs to be taught a lesson. He may think he won something today, but all he did was kill off the men I would have had to destroy anyway. There can’t be any witnesses left when this is over. If I’m to take my rightful place on the throne, I have to look like the grieving brother, the savior coming home after the tragic deaths of my brother, his fiancée and his bastard children.”
Keep him talking. Rachel knew that’s what they did in every crime show she’d ever watched. She didn’t know why, didn’t know how it worked, but that’s what they did, and so would she.
“Adriane said that the crown was supposed to be yours but you didn’t want it.” Rachel spoke through chattering teeth.
“I didn’t know what I wanted when I left Corythia. I wasn’t much more than a child. My father is the one who sealed my fate. By the time I decided I wanted the throne that was due to me, he told me it was too late, that my ideas were wrong for Corythia. He’s the one who didn’t want to modernize. I will make a fine king, a king who will go down in history. This world may look at royal titles as nothing more than a show these days, but a little fear from my people is just what Corythia needs. I have a vision for my country — a vision both my father and brother were too weak to adopt. The people should respect their king — bow down to him — and pay, always pay, for the privilege of his rule,” he told her.
“If we promise to leave you alone, will you let us go?”
“You naïve, stupid woman. We both know that’s not how this works. You could make all the promises you liked while I had a gun pointed at your head, but the minute you were safe, you would be running to anyone who would listen to your story. I’m not a senseless man. So don’t insult my intelligence with your lies.”
“Then why not just kill me?” she shouted, growing fed up with this game. She’d rather he fired, took her life, gave Adriane some kind of warning, than force her to keep dancing around him, giving him this time to gloat.
“Good idea.” He raised the gun and aimed it right between her eyes.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, a goodbye to her family — to Adriane. Closing her eyes, she waited. She wished she were brave enough to look Gianni in the face.
The gun fired and an unnerving silence filled the air.
Rachel waited for the pain to start, waited for her knees to give out and for her body to slump to the ground next to Shane.
“Shane!”
Lia’s scream startled Rachel into opening her eyes. Where Gianni had been standing in front of her, there was now only empty space. Her body racked with trembling, she looked down and saw the man who’d been torturing her, now lying on the ground, blood trickling down his chin from his mouth as he tried to catch his breath.
Then she saw the blood spurting from his neck. He was clasping the spot with one hand, but the light was already leaving his eyes. His hatred undying, he attempted to lift the hand still clutching the gun, but his fingers failed him and the weapon fell beside him as he stilled.
Kicking the gun away and then turning, Rachel saw Lia rush up from behind, drop to her knees and grab hold of Shane.
“Shane, don’t you dare die! Do you hear me! I won’t let that happen,” Lia yelled as she pulled open his coat and looked at the blood coating his shirt. So much blood — too much. It had seeped through his shirt and coat. How could he survive?
“Rachel!”
Turning again, she watched as Rafe and Adriane pulled through the trees and skidded to a stop in front of her.
Suddenly there was movement all around her, everything happening so quickly. Lia was shouting as Rafe and Adriane picked up Shane and rushed him to the rescue vehicle that Shane had brought to that place.
Rachel couldn’t move — she was frozen to the spot.
Adriane rushed back over to her. “Were you hit?” he asked, opening her coat and running his hands all over her body to look for any wounds. Rachel shook her head, but she couldn’t get her voice to work.
Shock had taken over.
Adriane lifted her carefully into his arms and carried her to the car. He got in with her on the passenger side and cradled her in his lap, close to his chest, as he whispered soothing words into her ear and rubbed her back.
Shane was lying on the backseat with his head in Lia’s lap as she held a wad of material over the bullet wound.
“Where was he hit?” Rafe asked as he threw the SUV into drive and began moving.
“Between his chest and stomach. I couldn’t tell if it hit any vital organs. There’s just so much blood,” she cried.
“Keep pressure on the wound,” he called back.
“I am,” said Lia, her voice choked but strong. Then she yelled again. “Stop!”
Rafe lifted his foot from the gas, carefully tapped the brakes and came to a stop. “Why? What’s happened?” he shouted as he twisted in the seat, thinking it was too late for
Shane.
“This is where our car went off the road. We have to get Ari,” she said.
“What?” Rafe asked as his head whipped around as he noticed the skid marks going off the road. Without waiting for Lia’s explanation, he jumped from the vehicle and rushed down the short drop, wrenching open the door.
“Are you all right?” he asked, nearly sobbing when he found Ari in the driver’s seat.
“I’m fine, Rafe, just a swollen knee. I couldn’t climb the hill. Lia heard a gunshot and then shouting, and she knew she needed to go help,” Ari replied.
“What in the hell were the two of you doing up here? You were supposed to wait at the hotel,” he said, but he was careful as he lifted her in his arms and then quickly began climbing back up the ditch wall.
“We couldn’t not help,” she said as they reached the vehicle and Rafe set her inside on the third-row seat.
“We will discuss this at the hospital,” he warned her.
Jumping back in the SUV, he went flying down the mountain, taking the slick roads far too fast, but somehow Rafe managed to keep them from sliding over the steep edge.
Rachel had no idea how long it took them, but she realized everything was measured in sound. The sound of Shane’s harsh breathing, the sound of Lia’s words of encouragement to Shane, of Rafe calling out orders, of Ari telling Lia that Shane would be fine, and of Adriane telling her that everything would be all right.
They skidded into the emergency room bay at the closest hospital and doors flew open as Rafe rushed from the vehicle.
“He was shot. He needs medical attention right now!”
“Do you have the weapon?”
“No!”
“Sir, please calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down. Get him help now!” He looked like a madman.
“Officers!”
“Damn it, I’m not the one who shot him. The guy who shot him is dead!” Those words made the officers approaching look a little uneasy.