Page 16 of Come Fill Me

The sting registered seconds after the harsh smacking sounds, the pain proving more than Liz could bear. She stopped hitting him in favor of protecting her ass. “You prick,” she shouted.

“You started it.” He turned the corner into another hall, his breath pumping out, his strides lumbering from her weight.

She yelled, “Let. Me. Go.”

“Goddammit, keep quiet.”

“Or what? You’ll beat me up?”

“Don’t tempt me.”

“My father!” she cried.

Zeke hauled in a noisy breath, choking it out with his words. “He’s safe.”

What? How? “You have him?” Her words and body bounced as Zeke moved down the mansion’s seldom-used back stairs. “How could you have him? Until a few minutes ago, you could barely breathe, much less have had enough strength to rescue anyone. Who fired? Who’s firing now?”

In a far corner of the structure, there were muted blasts, silence, then more shots from automatic weapons.

At the bottom of the stairs, Zeke bent down and released Liz. She stumbled back, her shoulder hitting the wall. Damn. Her face scrunched at the pain. She lifted her hand to massage it then froze at what she saw. Inches from her feet were two more ofCarreon’s men, their bloodied bodies on top of each other, arms and legs tangled.

Shivering uncontrollably, Liz pushed away from the wall and rounded the corpses only to bump into Zeke.

Her mouth opened on a new protest. He cut it off, snaking his arm around her shoulders.

She had no choice except to follow, lurching against him as he brought her outside to the drive that led to the garage.

A van waited, the kind small business owners use to deliver flowers or antiques. There were no side windows in the business end of the vehicle, its color as black as Zeke’s eyes. With its headlights off, the transport would be nearly invisible on the heavily shadowed landscape, just another indistinct form beneath the frail threads of moonlight.

Zeke pulled Liz to its back doors. She wanted to fight him but wasn’t certain if she should.

He’d said her father was safe.

Was it possible he was inside the vehicle? She looked at the small windows at the top of its doors.

A new wave of gunfire sounded from within, so faint it must have come from the other side of the mansion. Not trusting the battle to remain there, Liz glanced over, expecting the worst.

Two men dashed outside, each gripping an assault rifle. Spare weapons and two-way radios bounced from belts slung across their chests. They were dressed in black, their sharp, Native American features resembling Zeke’s.

Still holding on to her, he asked, “Losses?”

“None that we know of,” the stockier of his men said then glanced at Zeke’s chest illuminated by a slash of light from inside. His brows lifted at the healed bullet wounds and fresh scratches from Liz’s nails. After sneaking a peek at her, he continued, “Aaron, Ike, and Samuel are still in there. We disabled the security system and cameras first as planned.”Concern flashed across his face. “Some of Carreon’s men escaped through passages in the walls. We tried to follow but couldn’t.”

“Our guys are continuing to search,” the other man promised, his face a mask, not revealing his thoughts. “They won’t leave until the job’s finished.”

Swearing beneath his breath, Zeke opened the van’s back door. “We can’t wait for them. We need to go now.”

As his men strode to the front of the vehicle, Liz peered into its darkened interior, looking for her father. A large shadow to the left caught her attention, until she realized it was a cache of weapons. Her heart fell, even as hope hung on.

“He’s safe,”Zeke had said.

She wanted to believe him but couldn’t imagine how he could be telling her the truth.

Why would his men help her father? Why would any of them rescue her when Carreon had said Zeke wanted her dead so that his life and his people’s would be easier without her healing their enemies?

“Get in,” he ordered.

She didn’t—wouldn’t, not until she saw her father again. Turning to Zeke, she leveled with him. “I know you’re planning to kill me. I also know that I won’t be able to stop it no matter what I say or do. So I’m asking you to execute me here. Let me be with my father again. Please.”

---