“What are you talking about?”
“In case you didn’t notice, the creature in that cabin wants you dead or, at the very least, plans to take you to someone who does.”
“Do you know who?”
“No. I made up the boss thing to get entrance and buy some time.”
So he wasn’t one of them. She relaxed a bit, until she felt a tug on her skirt. When Zach bent over and tunneled a hand up her hemline, she froze. “If you’re not one of the bad guys, what are you doing?”
“Just a sec.” He kept working, his fingers pulling and twisting. “I have to take care of it now.”
“What is the ‘it’ exactly?” The staccato sound of her breathing filled her ears. She hovered right on the edge of panic. If she could keep her wits, she might be able to land a kick on the side of his head. But she had to stop shaking first.
“This.”
She thought he pointed to her thigh. “You’ve seen a woman’s legs before.”
“Once or twice.” His hand kept moving then he looked up. “Why are you humming?”
The buzzing sound in her ears stopped. “Am I?”
“You did that in the garage, too. Must be a nervous habit.”
Rage swelled in her brain. “You were there and didn’t stop that creature from taking me?”
“There was no time.”
Fury flooded through her, wiping out the shakes and every other feeling except anger. “You could have shot him.”
“I like the way you think.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Stay still.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. With a click, a blade appeared.
So he was a bad guy, after all.
No way would she be a victim. Not anymore.
She smacked her fists against his shoulders. “I won’t let you hurt me.”
“Not one for the obvious, are you?” Zach kept one arm banded around her waist and his opposite hand held the knife as he ducked his head to fend off her blows.
She punched him harder. “The obvious is you want me dead.”
He grabbed one of her hands. “For the record, I want you very much alive.”
At his words she stopped fighting. “I don’t understand.”
“A branch is caught in your skirt. I’m trying to figure out if it penetrated skin.” He sliced through the hem and held up a sharp stick. “See? Looks like you have a cut but nothing needing stitches.”
“Oh.” She hadn’t even felt it.
All the confusion and pain and terror of the last few hours slammed into her, leaving her bones weary and her mind blank. Men were after her and she didn’t know why. A guy she didn’t trust held her and for some reason his closeness made her feel safe. None of it made sense.
“I was thinking of something more along the lines of ‘Why, thank you, Zach,’ because you know exactly who I am and who I work for, right?” He stood and stared down at her.
“Yes.”
“I’m assuming that’s why you aren’t kicking up an even bigger fuss.”
She let her shoulders slump. “Sort of.”
“Yeah, well, you’re welcome.” He glanced toward the cabin. “Any chance you know Johnnie or who sent him?”
“Of course not.”
“Then I still have to figure out how to get you out of this mess and what’s really happening here.”
She breathed in nice and deep, trying to feed oxygen to her brain. “Call my boss or the police—anyone—and get us help.”
“I’m actually trying to be quiet and not say anything that would accidentally give our location away to Johnnie there. You could take a hint and keep your voice down.” Zach barely made a sound as he spoke.
He put a few inches between them but kept a firm grip on her elbow. The only part of her that didn’t throb in pain.
“Time to go,” he said.
“Where?”
“We’ll figure that out later.” He glanced back at the cabin. “We need to move.”
They took two steps before the sound of gunfire rang through the woods. Air whooshed around her as Zach shoved her behind the nearest tree and covered her body with his.
“Johnnie?” she asked.
Zach’s heated breath grazed her cheek, but his gaze stayed focused on the cabin. “I’d hate to think someone else showed up to the party.”
She pushed against his broad shoulders to get his attention. “What is he shooting at us with?”
Zach frowned at her. “A gun. What do you think?”
She thought about punching him. “Why didn’t you take his weapon?”
Johnnie kept screaming out her name. Every now and then he’d add a threat or switch the words around to be as profane as possible, but the message didn’t change. Johnnie wanted them back.
“I did. But I didn’t think he’d have the brains to hide another weapon in the cabin.” Zach wiped his forehead on his sleeve. “Score one for Johnnie.”
“I thought you were some superspy type.”
“That’s a terrible description and no.” Zach glanced at his watch and clicked a few buttons. “Okay. Change of plans.”
He’d totally lost her. “Which means?”
“We’re going back inside the cabin.”
“Are you kidding?” He put a hand over her mouth as she started to shriek. She mumbled the rest of her question into his palm.
“I almost never kid.”
She shrugged off his hand and tried unsuccessfully to step back but ran right her foot into the tree behind her. “Absolutely not.”
Zach exhaled. “The only way out of here is through Johnnie.”
“You came in a car. We’ll leave in it.” She grabbed Zach’s shirt in an effort to reason with him. Looking into those greenish-blue eyes, she tried to will him to help her.
“We have to know who Johnnie is working for. At the very least, we need to make sure he doesn’t call in reinforcements.”
“You know people.”
“True, and I’ve sent an emergency signal to them. They’re on the way, but I don’t know who Johnnie’s boss is. I only know his name because he was dumb enough to use his own car when he kidnapped you.” Zach hauled her to his side with a gentle tug.
“What does any of that have to do with getting out of here?”
“Right now my biggest worry is the people who will come for you next if we don’t stop Johnnie and get some answers.”
The words sent a new bolt of fear spinning through her. “I’ll go to Trevor.”
“I’m not sure that’s safer.”
“He’s my boss.”
“Maybe, but for now you’re stuck with me.” Zach marched her back to the cabin, balancing her weight against him as her shoes slipped.
She tried to postpone the inevitable but nothing worked. Her so-called rescuer was leading her right back to the beast, dragging her along in big steps and not giving her a choice. A few more feet and he’d hand her off and she’d know for sure just which side Zach was on. And she feared it wasn’t hers.
“Zach, please.”
“Follow my lead.” He gave his order right as he dumped her at the base of the front steps. Right in front of Johnnie.
“You’re a dead man.” The harsh yellow porch light made Johnnie’s pale face look jaundiced.
Sela couldn’t remember ever seeing a person look that color. Not a live one, anyway.
Zach treated Johnnie like a speck of dirt. “Get out of my way.”
“No way, man,” Johnnie snarled, his eyes glazed over and his ripped and bloody clothing hung from his body. “I don’t know who you are, but she stays with me.”
“Who paid you to start thinking, Johnnie?”
Sela closed her eyes as her head began to spin. This couldn’t be happening. The scene reminded her of two rabid dogs fighting over a piece of meat. First time in her life she saw herself as nothing more than food.
“The boss needs some information from her. That means I gotta hurt her bad.”
/>
“If you touch me, I’ll kill you,” she said.
“I got the gun, so I make the rules.” Johnnie thumped the barrel against his chest as he sneered at Zach. “What do you say to that?”
Zach nodded, the movement slow and deliberate. “Okay, Johnnie.”
“Stop talking like we know each other. We don’t.”
“Right. You make the rules.”
A new wave of panic washed over her. “Zach, what are you—”
“It will be fine.” His grip on her arm loosened.
“Don’t you dare give me over to this guy. I will hunt you down and…” Something. She’d do something nasty and violent if Zach abandoned her now.
Her hands clutched at his shirt. She’d pull out every one of his chest hairs and then rip through him if she had to in order to make her point. When Zach stared at her with cold eyes, a bolt of fear crashed through her. Then she heard it. A whisper so low she thought she slipped into a dream. “Trust me.”
Trust me? At Zach’s toneless murmur she wanted to run, to scream for help. To do all the things that would seal her death.
Before she could argue, he set her to the side, steadying her with one hand. He made one last command, this one in a much stronger and louder voice for Johnnie to hear. “Stay. I’m not chasing you around the woods again, woman.”
“That’s right,” Johnnie said.
Zach turned back to Johnnie. “Okay, my arms are free. No weapons. No bullets. You want to see who’s in charge of the lady now?”
Johnnie nodded in Zach’s general direction. “Where’s your gun and the one you took from me? I want that back.”
“Lost mine and yours is still in the cabin.”
She hoped that wasn’t true. In fact, she counted on it being a lie from Zach meant to throw the attacker off. Johnnie was just dumb enough and out of it enough to believe him.
Johnnie’s gaze clouded. “No way, man.”
Or not. She inhaled, hoping Zach had another plan since this one seemed doomed to fail.
“If I had a weapon it would be aimed at you right now,” Zach said.
“I’ve seen you fight with fists. That was bad enough.” Johnnie looked from Zach to her and back again. Sweat formed in the dirty creases on his forehead as desperation sparked behind his cold eyes.
“Thought you wanted to battle man-to-man,” Zach said.
“I have a better idea.” Johnnie pointed the gun at her. “Come here.”
“Never going to happen.” The hours of being bait ended now. She was done being a pawn in this screwed-up game.
Johnnie spit a wad of blood onto the porch. “Now, lady.”
Zach held out an arm and blocked her path. “Stay right where you are.”
“You don’t want to fight me,” Johnnie said.
Zach held up his hands in surrender. “You’re right. So, why don’t you put the gun down?”
If she hadn’t been watching Zach so closely she might not have seen the sharp blade peek out from the edge of his shirtsleeve.
“No deal,” Johnnie said.
“I’m going to put my hands down.”
“Fine, man, but I ain’t dropping the gun.”
“Well, hell, just don’t shoot me by accident.” The hard edge left Zach’s voice, as if he were joking with a friend instead of staring down the barrel of a gun with an idiot attached to the other end. “I don’t know any woman worth being shot for, do you?”
Johnnie hesitated, then let out a cackling laugh. Within seconds the obscene sound turned to a wheezing cough. “Only good for one thing.”
Zach frowned at the other man. “You okay?”
“Let’s hope not,” she mumbled under her breath.
Johnnie tried to suck in air. “I think you broke my rib.”
Zach whistled through clenched teeth. “Man, I start fighting and something takes over.”
“You’re insane when you throw punches.”
“You have no idea.” Zach lowered his hands at the same time Johnnie eased his grip on the gun.
As soon as Johnnie pointed the barrel toward the cracked wooden porch, Zach brought his arm down in an arc and sent the knife slicing through the air. The blade shot in a direct line and lodged with a sickening thud in Johnnie’s shoulder.
He squealed as his gun fell to the hard floor and his body slammed into the porch post. In a flurry of profanity, he slipped to the ground. A crimson stain seeped from around the new wound.
Sela wanted to run, but her legs wouldn’t move. Too much of her energy went to keep from screaming. She didn’t have anything left in that second for an escape.
Zach kicked Johnnie’s gun, sending it sliding off the edge of the porch. In the next breath, Zach snatched his supposedly lost gun from behind his back and aimed it at Johnnie. “Don’t you ever threaten her again.”
Johnnie heaved and coughed. “Whatcha want with her?”
“That’s my business.”
Wrong, it was her business. And not knowing provided the perfect reason to get the hell out of there. She inched back toward the wall and started to do just that. If she could keep Zach focused on Johnnie, she had a chance to escape. To where, she had no idea. Preferably somewhere without a gun.
“Don’t even think about it, Sela.”
She froze at the sound of Zach’s husky voice. “What?”
“Whatever it is you’re planning in that head of yours.”
“I didn’t… I…”
“You’re coming inside with me.”
Wrong, wrong, wrong. She’d tried playing along. Maybe begging would work. “Let me go, Zach, please.”
“This isn’t a bargain.” He grabbed her elbow. “We have some things to talk about.”
She tried to break his hold but wasn’t any more successful this time than the last. “You’re going to regret this.”
“I have no doubt.”
Chapter Four
Trevor Walters paced the length of his office from the door to the windows towering behind his desk. With every step, the memory of the call played in his mind. The toneless whisper of the male voice and the threat.
It is over. All ends will be tied.
That was three weeks ago. Three weeks after the WitSec mess screamed to a halt and he reached a tenuous new peace agreement with the Recovery Project. Even now he waited for the windows to implode and the agents to storm in with guns at the ready.
Except for the soft hum of the computers set up on the credenza, the executive suite remained quiet. The main offices one floor down buzzed with the usual decreased level of weekend-morning activity. His was an around-the-clock business. He set strategies in place for businesses that sent employees into dangerous locations. He could handle the worst, often did.
Ever since Recovery agent Adam Wright breached the office’s security and infiltrated Trevor’s office with weapons aimed at his head, no one got up on the private elevator and his floor without his express approval. He hadn’t granted it to anyone except the two guards stationed by the elevator. Visitors or Orion employees trying to get in would need the security codes and the guts to get through men with guns.
Except for Sela. She worked on the floor. She belonged there.
Being at work on a Sunday wasn’t unusual for him, but he was there on this Sunday, at this predawn hour, because she called with an emergency. Since starting as his assistant almost a year before, she’d been consistent. His most loyal supporter. As his life fell apart and his ex-wife raged in the newspapers about the need to limit his access to their son, Sela stood strong.
She ignored the whispered comments about sleeping with the boss and concentrated on her work. In return, he piled even more responsibility on her. She was the only one who knew about the extent of his surveillance on the Recovery agents. She coordinated the information he gathered and kept her mouth shut.
She was a valued assistant. And she was running late today. That never happened. From the wobble in her voice, the rushed words over the phone a f
ew hours earlier, he knew something had happened.
Now she didn’t answer her home phone or cell. Her desk chair was empty and she didn’t leave a message after the one begging him to come to the office immediately.
She was missing.
Sela, with her integral knowledge of his dealings, could very well be a loose end to be tied. Her death would guarantee her silence and his.
Trevor didn’t waste another minute. He slipped between his desk and his chair. Typing in the code to his bottom right drawer, he opened the small safe and pulled out the gun. He brushed his fingers over the cool metal. The weapon felt good in his hands, solid.
He ran a multi-million-dollar business, but he wasn’t the type to just sit behind a desk. He’d taken the time to learn how to shoot. And he would use those skills to protect Sela. He just hoped he wasn’t too late.
SELA SAT ON THE COUCH and rubbed her knee. The chair barricading the door ensured she couldn’t get out before Zach could get to her.
But that didn’t stop her from talking. “Zach, you’re not listening to me.”
He stopped counting the number of times she said that sentence. Pretty soon he’d need a calculator to do the addition. “That’s right.”
“You have a chance here.”
“Uh-huh. A chance.” He rattled around the kitchen drawers until he found rope sturdy enough to hold Johnnie once he regained consciousness.
Zach checked for weapons. Also looked for a phone and evidence of a partner or a real boss. This time.
Seeing Sela run into the dark woods had rocked his concentration enough to make him screw up that big. In his rush to get to her before anyone else could grab her, he’d failed to watch his flank. He’d let Johnnie launch an offensive strike that could have taken Sela out, anyway.
Zach wanted to kick his own butt for missing the obvious.
And Sela wanted to talk him to death.
Somewhere in the past few minutes she’d decided he was one of the bad guys and was set on redeeming him. She kept up her motivational speech from her seat on the couch. “You’re on a road to nowhere.”
“Actually, I’m not sure what town we’re in.”
“What?”
“Nowhere is probably ten miles to our east.” He wrapped the rope around Johnnie’s legs and arms and pulled tight, making a perfect military knot.
The Big Guns Page 3