by Lora Andrews
“You will accomplish naught but cripple your hand. It will not break, not with a fist.” He released her wrist. “Conserve your strength. In any conflict, the best outcome is one we can control.”
“You’re right.” Her earlier efforts hadn’t netted a single scratch against the molding. This was fear overriding her common sense.
Ewen settled against the backrest, his body relaxed and free of tension.
What she wouldn’t give to have his confidence. “How do you do it? How can you close your eyes when…?” The vision of her dead body dumped on the side of the road flashed through her mind. “The waiting is killing me.”
He laughed. “It is a warrior’s curse. I’d not be sitting with you were I to die each time I thought myself dead.” An easy smile touched his lips, but his eyes fired with intensity.
Caitlin shifted in her seat and stuffed her hands between her knees. “I just can’t help feeling…”
Breathe.
“Afraid? You would not be human if you didn’t fear what is to come. Tell me of your life, lass.”
“Trying to distract me, huh?”
He feigned innocence. Thick, black lashes framed his incredibly blue eyes. “It willna work?”
“Maybe. Panicking makes things worse. I should have that phrase tattooed to my forehead.” But old habits died hard. “Besides being a professional worrywart, I’m a teacher. I teach second grade. It’s what I’ve wanted to do my whole life. I’m...”
The words died on her tongue.
The SUV slowed. A large, tan building loomed ahead.
A warehouse?
Every muscle in her body froze. All this time her anxiety had been misdirected. They weren’t taking her to an airport, or selling her off to human traffickers. Nope, they had something more sinister in mind.
Three huge garage doors marred the expanse of the building’s front wall. A black door rose slowly. Her heartbeat rapped against her chest when the vehicle drove straight into its darkened belly and rolled to a stop. Even the warmth of Ewen’s hand did nothing to calm the fear that rocked her. In the span of a heartbeat, the door on her side flung open. Caitlin jerked back as the guard with the black eye reached for her with a malicious smirk that would put the Joker to shame.
Ewen’s door was next. A burly man dressed in the same black suit edged in. His outline blocked the light filtering in through the door’s opening. He fixed his gaze to Ewen and pointed a gun.
The Joker wannabe let out a raspy laugh in Ewen’s direction and tipped his head to the man with the gun. “Just make one wrong move, asshole. Just one.”
Caitlin used that instance to tug her wrist away. He grabbed her face. “Aww, darlin’, how’d you know I like my girls feisty. Hmm?” Digging his fingers into her cheekbones, he shoved her head against the hard edge of the car wall. His nasty breath skimmed the side of her face.
“Gary,” the burly guy warned. “Enough. Get her out of the car.”
“You. Don’t. Give. Orders.” Gary growled at the guard, then released Caitlin with a shove. “You fucking shut your mouth.”
“Harm the woman, and I will rip your entrails from your body with my bare hands.” Ewen spoke with a quiet intensity that jolted her from her fear-induced numbness.
Gary let out a harsh laugh. “I’d like to see you try, asswipe. By the time we’re done here, there won’t be enough of you left to carry out that threat. Come on, sweetheart.” He reached in, wrenched her by the wrist, and pulled her out of the car. “Time to tango, baby.”
EIGHT
Rafters lined the warehouse ceiling, forming endless rows and columns that disappeared into the darkened cavern. The guard shoved Caitlin face-first against the car, then prodded and searched her body. Her arm throbbed from his grip as he lugged her along the concrete floor and released her in front of the SUV. She hopped to her feet and caught her breath.
Another Escalade was parked ahead to the left at an angle, door ajar. The man from the woods, the one who had ordered her kidnapped and Ewen killed, waited near the opened door.
The burly guard dragged Ewen out of the vehicle. The leader approached, his arms spread out in a here-I-am gesture.
“Surprised to see me alive? Did you think me dead?” His men stood behind him in a protective stance.
An arrogant smile hid the shock that briefly flashed in Ewen’s eyes. “A transgression I look forward to rectifying.”
“Ah, there it is. That infallible spirit. An admirable trait, my boy.” His accented voice was deep and dignified, a contrast to the lethal stare. “Who might you be, I wonder?”
Ewen ignored the man’s question. There was something about the way he held his body that made her think he could tear through the rope at his wrists and strangle their captor in the blink of an eye.
Four, powerfully-built armed guards were behind the leader. Burly guy and another stood to Ewen’s left, and the sinister Gary was at her right. Shiny blue metal shelves ate up the rest of the space behind the guards, extending to the outside walls. A broad yellow strip painted onto the concrete floor ran parallel to the huge roll-up doors behind Caitlin. She focused on the yellow paint, centering her mind as her lungs constricted in her chest.
They were outnumbered. Even if they managed to find another exit, they couldn’t outrun a bullet, and these guys didn’t look the type to miss their targets. It would take a miracle to get them out of there alive.
The leader stepped toward Ewen, unperturbed by his defiance. “You’ve a familiar look about you. Do you know me?”
Ewen said something foreign then spat at the man’s feet. His towering height loomed above the others in the room like a menacing shadow.
“Tsk, tsk. Sticks, stones, and all that. I abhor name-calling, boy. Where’s the fun in it?” He adjusted his suit sleeve with a grin and flicked his head at Ewen’s burly guard.
The strikes came fast and hard. Ewen sunk to his knees with a grunt.
“Now, I’ll ask you again. Who are you?”
Ewen shot the man a murderous glare.
The leader cocked his head and smiled. “You are trying my patience, boy.”
Her earlier assessment of “military” fit the man’s presence. He was older, perhaps in his late fifties, with eyes the same shade as his silver hair. He walked over to Ewen’s kneeling form and fisted his tunic. “Still no answer?”
In one fluid move, Ewen rose from the ground and shook off the other man’s grasp.
Unfazed, the silver-haired Mafioso smirked. “Perhaps the woman will be more inclined to answer.” Without breaking eye contact with Ewen, he said, “Gary, bring her here.”
Gary dug his talons into Caitlin’s arms and dragged her to where Ewen stood with a gun pointed to his head. He wore an indifferent expression, as if having a gun pointed to his temple was an everyday occurrence. For a brief second, their eyes met. The mask fell and a promise lit his eyes.
That brief pulse of assurance from Ewen gave her strength until the emptiness in the leader’s cold, malicious eyes drained what little courage she’d produced.
“We can be civil, can we not, Ms. Reed? Cooperation, my dear, is a constructive tool that will benefit us both. Don’t you agree?”
His deathly stare sucked the appropriate response from her lips. She uttered a cowardly, “Please don’t hurt us.”
“What is his name?”
Ewen had refused to answer. There had to be a reason why he hadn’t offered his name. Maybe some military tactic she didn’t know about. Before she could raise her eyes to his for some sign, the leader shifted his weight, purposely blocking her view, and aimed his I’m-going-to-kill-you eyes on her.
“Ewen.” She sounded like a traitor.
The man let out a boisterous laugh. “Ewen? Just Ewen, is it? Am I to believe him to be some famous popstar promenading about town as just Ewen?” He stepped forward, his face inches away from hers. “I asked you a question, girl. What is his name?”
“I don’t—don’t know,” she stutt
ered, unable to recall Ewen’s last name. Tears stung her eyes. “I can’t remember. We just met.”
“You have just now made his acquaintance? Back in Tiverton? Is that what you’ll have me believe?”
“Yes, right before you arrived.” She wiped her face with the back of her hand, ashamed at how quickly she’d crumbled in the face of her fear. “I swear it’s the truth.”
“How very interesting.” The man clasped thick fingers behind his back and took measured steps toward Ewen. “Again, and for the last time, I will ask you. What. Is. Your. Name?”
Ewen’s jaw clenched.
The man let out a long, exaggerated sigh. He threw an arm around Ewen’s neck in a strong hold that brought Ewen’s ear to his mouth. “Ah, lad, you will make this entertaining, now won’t you?”
The burly guard had the gun pressed against Ewen’s back as the leader manipulated Ewen’s body directly across from where Caitlin stood trembling from head to toe. They shoved Ewen to his knees.
They were going to kill him. Right here. Right now. They were going to kill him.
The guard’s grip tightened painfully around her upper arm, securing her in place, forcing her to witness the travesty that was about to unfold.
“Gary, perhaps you might persuade our friend, Ewen, to be more…forthcoming.”
Ewen tensed.
“With pleasure.” Gary let go of her arm and pivoted. His fist sliced into her stomach.
Shock rushed through her body like splintering glass and expulsed the air from her chest. She choked on a cough and sunk to the floor, lungs locked as she fought to breathe. Pain absorbed what little oxygen remained.
Ewen lurched forward with an animalistic growl. The four guards tackled him to the ground before he could attack their leader.
“Interesting. Very interesting indeed. Quite the connection you two have formed in such a short period of time.”
With her forehead pressed to the cold floor, Caitlin eased onto her knees, but her legs felt like they’d been filled with lead. The movement of Gary’s shoes toward her halted the effort. She lifted her head, her palms braced on either side of her body.
The ringleader yanked a fistful of Ewen’s hair and leaned in, his eyes trained on Caitlin. “Perhaps you’ll reconsider your stance, boy. Save your lady friend further pain, eh?” He released his grip, straightened himself with a quick tug at his sleeve, and strode away to stand beside the two bodyguards positioned by the opened SUV door.
The remaining guards released Ewen and slowly backed away, watching their prey with the same vigilance a runner would a mountain lion on the trail.
Gary’s departure filled her with temporary relief. Ewen raised himself off the concrete floor and gently cupped her elbow with his bound hands. She leaned into his strength, using his body for support, but her legs threatened to collapse under her weight.
“Och, Caitlin.” He brushed the back of a knuckle across her cheek. “Forgive me, lass. I dinna think the man would hurt you.”
An unexpected wave of tenderness unnerved her. She quickly turned her face, afraid he’d see the vulnerability she hid from the world. She locked her lips to keep from muttering something stupid, like asking him to tell her the ugliness they faced was all a nightmare. Something about this man made her crave his protection, a dangerous something for a woman like her. The one thing she knew for certain was that she couldn’t depend on pretty words or lifetime promises.
She rubbed the tender area just beneath her diaphragm. “What’s going on,” she whispered. “Why are they backing off?”
“Be at the ready,” he said.
What? Did he mean escape?
“I would remind you that running, or attempting to escape, would be quite foolish,” the leader warned.
Oh great, a criminal and a mind reader.
The man leaned against the SUV with his arms crossed, monitoring their every move. “I would prefer we negotiate like civilized human beings. However, if you are of a mind to provoke me, please do. I’m sure my men would enjoy the distraction.”
“You dare to accuse us of provocation when it is you who threatens our very lives.” Ewen’s angry words filled the warehouse, thick and nearly indecipherable. “It is you who acts the part of the barbarian with no mind to the treatment of a lady. Civilized? Gah, only a coward would hide behind the coattails of his guard.”
“Ah, chivalry. You are indeed the last of a dying breed of men, my boy. I’ll give you that.” He pushed off the SUV and waved a hand in the air. “Yet, despite my provocation and the danger it poses to our most lovely Ms. Reed, you still deny me your identity. Why is that, I wonder? What is it you are hiding?”
Several guard’s stepped forward, bodies poised to act, as their leader closed the gap between himself and Ewen.
“It’s a pity really that we stand in opposition, boy. I could use a man of your caliber in my employ.”
“I will no’ bend to the likes of you.”
“I can offer you riches beyond your wildest imagination.”
Ewen scoffed. “At the expense of the innocent. Nay. I’d prefer to sink my sword through your black heart.”
“Innocent? Are you sure she’s innocent, my friend?” He circled Ewen in slow, measured steps that had her lungs protesting. “Have you not wondered why she’s here?”
“For every bit of harm you do to the lass, you’ll suffer thrice by my own hand.”
“Ah, Ewen, Ewen. It will indeed pain me to kill you.”
Weapons clicked. Caitlin jumped.
“Wait. Wait.” The words ran out of her mouth before she could stop them. Who knew two simple words would draw the attention of every man in the warehouse? She froze under their glares.
Ewen shoved her behind his powerful body. “What are you doing?”
“If he’s going to kill me, I deserve to know why.” She stepped around Ewen and faced their captor.
“Ah, the mouse speaks. I would think the why is quite apparent. I want the stone returned to its rightful owner.” The man touched his chest with a flourish. “Do so and our quarrel is settled. It’s simple, really.” But the smile he flashed told another story.
“A simple matter, eh? A fool’s bargain is what you offer,” Ewen ground out.
Since the moment Caitlin had rolled out of bed that morning, nothing had made sense. Why would a powerful man—a wealthy man with the means to employ seven armed guards, not including those already killed in action—jeopardize his life and livelihood for a stone?
“I think there’s been a terrible mistake. You’ve confused me with someone else.” She was sure of it.
Ewen shook his head. “Caitlin—”
“I don’t have your stone.” She ignored Ewen’s disapproving look. “I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about.” And god help the poor sap who did.
“Enough with the lies.” His voice bellowed like an air horn, the veins at his temples popping with each word.
She stilled and waited for the next explosion to come—the moment she had dreaded since being dragged out of the car and into this hell.
Death.
Instead, he walked to the Escalade, reached inside the opened door, and threw a dark duffle bag at her. It landed by her feet with a thud.
“Open it and tell me you do not have the stone.”
She crouched to the ground and grasped the pull with shaky fingers, half expecting the bag to explode. Peeking out through the unzipped metal teeth was her favorite picture of her grandmother.
The photographer had shot the image the night before Caitlin’s wedding. The pride on her grandmother’s face always brought a smile to Caitlin’s lips. After her grandmother’s death, she had kept the photograph on her nightstand, feeling the need to have her close. In many ways, her seanmhair had been a second mother, the calming force to her daughter’s rigid discipline.
Now, Mary Walker’s image was buried in a leather bag with the glass removed from the frame.
“The stone was last seen
in her hands,” the leader accused.
“That’s not true.” She rummaged deeper into the bag to find her clothing and personal items. “You’ve been inside my house?”
The man laughed in response. “I’ve been inside your house. I’ve been at your school.”
Her head snapped up.
“Now, now, don’t look so shocked. We found you in the god-dammed woods, for Christ’s sake. Did you think that a coincidence? Don’t be so naïve, girl.”
“I don’t understand.” She held the picture of her grandmother to her heart. “You’ve been watching me? You went through my things. Why?”
“You are either incredibly stupid or quite the talented actress. Now which is it?”
She wanted to curl into a ball. “I don’t have your stone.”
Gary edged closer to where she stood.
“I don’t know anything about a stone!”
Ewen nudged the side of her arm and whispered, “Look back, to the right.” He stepped forward and shielded her from the man’s sight.
Caitlin quickly glanced over her shoulder. A faint light—maybe an exit sign—was visible against the far wall. A way out?
“Enough coward,” Ewen yelled. “You’ve no right to take the woman from her kin.” He shoved her toward the light with a grunted “go” and launched himself at the leader.
All hell broke loose around her.
Turning, she ran two steps and slammed into a hard wall. Gary’s chest. The creep fisted her ponytail and dug his other hand into the flesh of her arm, dragging her several feet away from where Ewen and the leader rolled on the ground, jockeying for the upper hand in the fight.
A loud crack sounded in the air.
Someone yelled, “Enough.”
Gary let go of her hair. His rank breath beat against the side of her ear. She struggled against his hold.
“Sugar, I’m going to wrap my hands around that pretty neck of yours and squeeze tight until you’re squirming beneath me.” He licked the side of her face and jabbed his erection against her stomach. “Then I’m going to fuck the living shit out of you.”
No! Adrenaline shot through her veins. She swung her body forward at the waist. The sudden movement threw Gary off balance, enough where his grip on her arm loosened. Taking advantage of that momentary lapse, she propelled her body back with all the force she could muster and heard the crack of her head striking his face.