Page 99 of Captured

The sound came from somewhere close. Another crack. It was from downed limbs being stepped on. I was certain of what I was hearing. Someone was close. Too close. Without so much as thinking about any consequences, I took off running, knowing my life depended on getting away. I tried not to become hysterical, but it was impossible to keep from shrieking when limbs slapped me in the face.

Or when I fell, the pain as jarring as it had been before. Please, God. Let me get out of this alive.

I wasn’t certain if prayer was going to help but it was the only control I had. Other than continuing my path.

Crack. Crack.

Goddamn it. Someone was chasing me. And my instinct told me I didn’t want to find out who it was.

So I kept running until my legs hurt, my lungs burning. I had to stop. I just had to. I clung to another tree, feeling my way until a flash of powerful light allowed me to catch a glimpse of a clearing. Maybe I was coming out of the forest. Sickening excitement tore through me as I rushed forward once again.

Only this time, I tripped on a fallen obstruction of some kind, flying through the air. As I tumbled down, I rolled and pitched.

And fell.

Down into a dark abyss.

When I tried to stand, my legs threatening to give out on me, I was grateful for another flash of Mother Nature’s powerful light. Until I realized where I’d fallen.

Directly into one of the horrible, deep pits created for intruders.

CHAPTER 26

Styx

A full minute before the plane touched down on the runway, I could tell the island was under attack. Or maybe I just sensed it as I always did. As soon as it landed, I had two different weapons in my hands, another strapped to my shoulder as well as my usual hunting knife ready.

It was time to go hunting.

My way.

“Jesus. I can’t get in touch with anyone at the house or at the communication station,” Axe growled.

“Fuck. Fuck!” This was the most rage I’d felt my entire life. There’d only been one other time I’d felt this… savage. And I refused to think about the night Mary and Josh died. Not again. Yet my anger was also being internalized. How could I not know that after all this time, Chase has chosen to betray our… relationship.

He’d obviously been friends with Gideon for years. If the man wasn’t stopped, Gideon wouldn’t be charged after all. If I had to venture a wretched guess, I’d say the entire situation would be turned out so that I was to blame.

However, my life didn’t matter. All I could think about was getting to Emily. My angel. My little sparrow.

My salvation.

She was everything good in the world, softness and kindness. She certainly didn’t deserve to be born into this life. The pilot cut the engine, wind already howling against the windows.

The storm was horrific, adding to the danger, but that didn’t matter in the least.

“We will find them.” Maybe I was trying to convince myself we would get through this shitstorm. When I hunted down the bastard, and I would, he would face the kind of horror that he’d never experienced in a single nightmare.

“I’m right behind you, boss.” Axe had an arsenal of weapons attached to his body, the man capable of handling four or more enemies with ease.

As soon as the door was opened, I bolted outside, seeing headlights from an approaching vehicle. I rushed down the stairs, jumping onto the ground, leveling my weapon at whoever was headed in my direction. “Find out what we’re dealing with,” I yelled over the rocky thunder. The damn island could have the most horrific storms I’d ever experienced, ten times worse than in Boston.

I was already drenched but it didn’t matter. I felt nothing but fury. Thankfully, the power was still on, although I knew the satellite had been knocked out, communications nonexistent. That was par for the course. And something Chase would know how to do given some of the buddies he’d served with in the Marines.

Axe rushed away just as the Jeep approached, Rico tumbling out the second after he shoved it into park, jogging forward.

“Thank God, you’re here,” he said. I could tell by the pained look on his face he’d been shot.

“Where is fucking Chase?”

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