by Tiffany Toto
“You’re going to need some rope to get her out of the ditch.” The more he spoke of Samantha the more James wanted to put a bullet in his head. James and Roger trailed behind David, who tried very hard to make conversation. Mostly about Samantha and how it used to be. The more he talked, the more James realized how truly psycho he was. He would never stop stalking her. “What the hell is wrong with him?” Roger whispered. “My first guess would be…a lot.” David stopped approximately a mile south of the cabin at a gulley. He stood at the edge looking down with a self-possessed grin. “Hello baby.”
Samantha’s tears flowed down her face. “L…Leave ME ALONE! You…bastard…I hate you…I HATE YOU!!” She was hyperventilating and trying to climb up the other side of the gully. Roger pulled him back from the edge and looked down at her. James ran up beside him. She looked up and let herself slide back down to the ravine. Relief reflected through her body language, her tired eyes closed, her face flushed. The men could tell she was weary. A halfhearted smile came through, her tears continued to stream. Her breathing slowed as she spoke softly to herself, her words inaudible. James lowered a rope down and instructed her to tie it around her waist. Roger and James pulled her out quickly standing against the edge. Suddenly with brute force, James was knocked into the ravine. Roger swerved around quickly. David had grabbed Samantha’s arm. Roger stood quickly trying to throw together a plan of action.
“One move G.I. Joe and I will snap her neck! Tell your friend below to toss up his gun holster.” David had his hands placed on Samantha in all the right spots to make his promise feasible. Without Roger saying a word James’s gun holster landed in front of him. Roger had to think quickly to save James, himself and Samantha “Now, toss me your gun, I have no problems killing her, just like I did her old man.” David began squeezing Samantha’s neck slowly. Samantha’s body went limp from exhaustion right in David’s arms. Roger tossed him his gun and quickly jumped down into the ravine, knowing David would shoot him if he didn’t do something.
“I would hate to have to shoot you, might need the bullets. I don’t need you military boys coming after us!” David dropped Samantha to the ground and picked up Roger’s gun and James’s holster. He walked cautiously over to the edge of the ravine to make good on his promise. James and Roger were gone. He quickly put the gun in the back of his pants stepping backwards away from the ravine watching his surroundings closely. David slipped on the gun holster and flipped Samantha over his shoulder and headed straight back to the cabin.
“Is he gone?” Roger asked. “Yeah he’s gone,” was James’ reply as he came out from hiding underneath the ravine ledge. “Of course he has no bullets for the guns.” James opened his hand exposing the weapon ammo, which he dropped into his pocket. “OK…how in the HELL did that just happen.” Roger wondered. “Throw a woman you care about in the mix and the rules change. ALL of the rules.” James’s expression turned savagely vicious as he climbed up the ravine. He helped pull Roger out and they were not only angry, they were out for blood.
Chapter 26
The men saw David in the distance. They let him have his lead for Samantha’s sake. David had all of the guns, which were only as good as the men who use them. James thought this would be the perfect opportunity to take David down with his bare hands. Coming into sight of the cabin, the van was still parked where they left it. “He didn’t take off.” Roger looked over at James. “He thinks he has the upper-hand because of the guns. He isn’t afraid of us; the only gun that’s loaded is yours. How many rounds did you load?” “It’s fully loaded one for each limb and one for his yanker.” “You’re a sick bastard Roger.” “I know,” Roger responded, watching their immediate surroundings very closely. They waited for darkness to fall, then slowly approached the cabin, and snuck up to the windows.
The shadows loomed over the inside of the cabin. A dim light came from the fireplace. Sudden movement caught Roger’s eye. The bathroom door opened. David emerged looking as though he’d cleaned the dirt and blood off. He then disappeared into the shadows, most likely waiting for them to make a move. He came from the kitchen with a glass of wine and made himself comfortable in her father’s chair, unconsciously checking the windows and door with his eyes. James noticed his gun holster hanging from the back of the chair. They leaned back waiting for the right moment to barge in.
The moment soon came. David nonchalantly lifted himself from the chair, setting his wine glass on the fireplace mantle. He walked suspiciously over to the bed where Samantha lay, again glancing over to the windows. He smiled as he leisurely took off his shirt. He still had Roger’s loaded gun in the back of his jeans. Rage was tearing up James’s insides. The blood in his veins ran cold, hardening against his flesh. He knew David was trying to flush them out, and the quickest way to James was through Samantha, conscious or not. James whispered to Roger. Roger then disappeared around the corner.
Full of unadulterated adrenaline, James came around to the front door and kicked it in, tearing it nearly off the hinges. “Hi…” James huffed out a short breath. The dim light of the cabin darkened his already callous stare. The crash of the door woke Samantha from her sedated trance. David drew the gun leveling it right at him, James stepped forth undaunted by the dire consequences. “I knew we had company just wasn’t sure how close you really were.” Roger storming through the large kitchen window caught David’s attention long enough for James to make a move.
James rushed David knocking him square in the face and seized the weapon, breaking his hand and nose in the process. “You should have shot when you had the chance, asshole!” James exclaimed as he took another relentless swing knocking David to the floor. James took back his holster and slid it on, re-loading his weapons with the ammo from his pocket. David sat by the fireplace holding his broken nose, trying to keep the blood from dripping down his face.
Samantha rose to James clinging to him with all the strength she had left. She begged his forgiveness for the way she had pushed him away. He felt so wonderful against her cold skin. He kissed her assuring her he would never leave her again. Her tears continued to flow, touching his face wondering if she was dreaming. He held her tight not letting go. He looked at Roger who stood over David, grabbing him by the neck and lifting him to his feet. Holding him steady by his strong death grip, Roger pushed him forward, out the cabin door towards the van.
James carried Samantha to the van with extreme caution. Roger was already sitting in the back with David across from him. He lay Samantha next to Roger and closed the van doors. David looked over at Samantha and just stared at her. “Remove your eyes from her before I replace them with bullets,” Roger suggested as he raised his gun level to David’s face. As James looked in the rearview mirror at David, a small smirk pulled at one corner of his mouth. James drove for about fifteen minutes before he pulled off to the side of the road. “Time’s up.” Roger told him. James opened the back of the van. “Out!” David pushed his way out of the van and stood right in James’s face unafraid of what would happen.
“Run.”
David stood there solid, unwilling to move. Roger moved his gun down to David’s feet squeezing the trigger rapidly several times. “I said RUN, you bastard.” James shut the back doors to the van and locked them. “You have two minutes to get away from us. That’s more then you gave her. This is your deal. You are getting to walk away. I never said we wouldn’t follow.” David backed away from them slowly and then turned and ran. “This is the area?” Roger asked. “There’s nothing but cliffs and ledges around here?”
Roger kept close tabs on him; even through the brush he knew which direction he headed. James glanced at his watch. “I’m getting impatient, let’s go.” “Let’s give him another minute, makes the hunt more interesting. And I plan on enjoying this hunt immensely.” James glanced again at his watch. “Now. I want to finish this. He is going down for what he did to Samantha. The fact he had intentions of killing us, could only be construed as self defense. They trailed him
close, letting him have his lead, making the hunt more intense. David plunged through the extremely wooded area, stopping suddenly at the end of the path. He was at a ledge with a long drop below. He turned to them as they walked up. Roger glanced over the edge then back over at David. “That’s a nasty drop, nothing but a bunch of rocks.” “This is murder, your both smart enough to know that…” David sneered.
“No… This is keeping society safe from a psychopath. This is keeping Samantha safe from you…Murder is what you did to Wesley Anderson,” James explained to him stepping closer to him. “Shooting me, makes this all better? It won’t bring back her father.” David was trying to negotiate the terms of his life. ”I have no intention of shooting you.” “You already did SHOOT ME!” David growled lifting his arm to remind James of his intentional wound. “What? That? That…scratches on your arm? I thought you were a tough guy, that bullet only grazed you, probably went right through. For such a brawny man who likes to hurt women. You’re being a big baby now. You can dish out the pain, but you sure can’t take it!” James was losing his patience. “This makes you no better than me. Murder is murder.”
Murder is murder no matter how you look at it.
“It’s not murder if you lose your footing and fall.” They closed in on him as if he were a hunted animal. He backed closer to the edge of the cliff. Both men pulled their weaponry from their shoulder holsters aiming at his feet firing relentlessly. “STOP!” A familiar voice called to them. Both men held their fire in confusion as she approached them. Samantha faced James placing her gentle hands on his strong broad chest lovingly. She ran her arm along his, bringing it to his side, and taking his gun from him. Her loving look made him tingle inside. Her eyes met his.
“James, he’s right, this will make you no better than him. If you kill him its murder…” He cupped her face with his hands; he knew she loved him. “That’s right, listen to her. I knew she had some smarts.” David declared. She swung her head around to face David. “If I kill him…it’s self defense.” She advised, raising James’s gun point blank range at David. For the first time, David saw the demon within her pushed beyond the limits of reasoning. Without flinching she repeatedly squeezed the trigger emptying the chamber into David’s body, edging him farther and farther back until he lost his balance and fell over to the rugged boulders below. Roger and James stood shocked that she would go through with killing a man, even though he was not just any man. He was one who haunted her since the day they met.
Exhaustion overwhelmed her she went limp, the gun dropping to the ground. James caught her in his arms. He lifted her tenderly; not knowing what kind of trauma her body may have suffered from falling into the ravine. Drooping like a ragdoll in his large muscular arms, her face rested frivolously in his cranny of his neckline. She had several deep gashes that needed stitching and a bump on her head that looked like trouble. Roger picked up the gun and tucked it away, stepping closer to the edge spotting David’s lifeless body on the rocks below. His head jerked back to James. “We can’t leave him there.” “Sure we can, the police can take care of him, his violence is on record, and the fact that he killed her father is on record. This is self-defense however you look at it.” James huffed. “You’re the boss.” Roger turned back looking over the edge. “Sayonara, you worthless bastard,” he smiled as he muttered underneath his breath.
Rapidly, they made their way back to the van. “We need to get her cleaned and bandaged. I can do the stitching myself; I believe there was a first aid kit back at the cabin. She can re-cooperate for a day or so until she can make the trip back home.” Roger climbed into the passenger side of the van. “Whatever you say, you’re the medic.” Back at the cabin James gave her a bath and cleaned the dirt from her face. Roger cleaned her gashes with iodine, stitching them with butterfly stitches. Roger then took the van down to where the SUV rolled to get the rest of the equipment. She rested on the bed until dawn’s early light. She sat up quickly, unaware if David was close or not. Not remembering anything that happened.
James sat in her father’s chair waiting for her to wake up. “Samantha” Her head jolted around. “James!” She could not believe he was actually there with her. “I…I knew you would come for me. I told him you would…I…I…told him.” Her breathing was uneven. He rose from the chair and came to her. “Samantha, listen to me…I am the biggest jackass in the world for walking out on you. My problem is I will never love you for the rest of your life…Samantha Anne Lockley- Anderson, whatever the hell your name is.” He spoke his words stern and true. She carefully stood and tried to walk away from him. He caught her by the arm and swung her around to face him. Her bottom lip quivered as she tried to hold back her tears.
“As I was saying I will never love you for the rest of your life…I want to love you for the rest of mine… I thought we could start with this.” He laid her chain with her parents’ wedding rings gently in her hand. Her tears gushed down her face as she looked down at it. She could not speak, she wanted to, but her words came out silently. He brought her close to him, kissing her tenderly. She responded to his kiss by allowing him into her soft sweet mouth. He picked her up, laid her back on the bed and lay behind her. He held her tight and didn’t want to ever let go...
The End.
About The Author
Tiffany Toto was born February 11th, 1974 in Tucson, Arizona. She was the youngest of five children born to Westley and Patricia Botts. Her siblings are Tom, Tim, Trisha and Terese. Tiffany’s two children are eldest Miranda, and son Jacob. Tiffany has always loved creative writing and has written short stories in the past. She has an incredible love for animals and is a true advocate against animal abuse. You can learn more about the author on her Facebook pages.
www.facebook.com/tiffanytotoaz
www.facebook.com/ThePandoraAffair
www.facebook.com/PandoraSoldiers
www.pandoraromance.com
Pandora’s Soldier’s
Prologue
Samantha and Sophia were terrified. The only comfort they felt was the sound of each other’s movements and the warmth of each other’s bodies. The ropes that bound them together imprinted onto their flesh. The blindfolds pressed hard against their eyelids and the gags in their mouths had the faint taste of bleach. The floor was cold and damp and the scent in the air was nothing short of a traumatic memory Samantha wanted so badly to forget.
They trembled in fear as they heard an echoed slam that sounded like a heavy door, followed by distant footsteps. Sophia found Samantha’s hand and held it tight as she listened to the disturbing sounds in the distance. Samantha turned her head toward the sound of Sophia’s anxiety induced breathing and continued to listen helplessly as Sophia began to cry.
Their heads jerked to attention as a second door slammed and footsteps moved about, then stopped…..an eerie presence made itself known and the silence was deafening….
“Ladies…..” a deep, menacing voice hissed.