Page 74 of Haunted

Henley

“Henley.” His voice sounded like it was a million miles away, even though I swore he’d been right in front of me. At least I thought he had been until a blade of fire penetrated my side and a loud boom made my ears ring. Everything happened so quickly, I hadn’t even had a chance to close my eyes like Keaton asked. One minute, Camden was behind me, the next he was lying on his side with blood seeping out of a hole in his head. I tried to scream, but I couldn’t get the breath to leave my lungs.

God, I wish I’d closed my eyes.

My knees buckled, sending me crashing into the unforgiving surface below. Feeling the remote in my hands start to slip free, I panicked, squeezing the trigger with both hands, not caring about the fact my body was on a collision course with the porch. Warm arms circled my shoulders, stopping my descent mere seconds before my head bounced off the wood.

“I've got you, baby.” He positioned my head on his thigh and pressed his hand firmly into my side. The pain was so intense, it made me see stars. “I’m so sorry, but I have to stop the bleeding.”

“It’s okay, Henley. Let me have this,” Duncan pried my fingers off the little black box, handing it to someone wearing all black next to him. Then he snipped at the restraints on my wrists, releasing another wave of agony through my body.

“Jade,” I rasped, fighting for breath through the agony.

“I’m right here.” She grabbed my hand. “You’re gonna be fine.”

“Agent Parker,” the soldier called out. “We need to roll her so I can disconnect the power source on the vest.”

“Fuck that. Take it off of her,” Keaton sneered.

“It’s okay, honey.” I reached up to stroke his jaw, but stopped when I saw the blood dripping down my arm. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“Fuck,” he said again. “Get the chopper here, now.”

“Move, Keaton.” Lanie shoved her way in. “I’ve got the first aid kit.”

When she replaced his hand with wads of gauze, I groaned. “Shit, I was wrong. That hurts like a motherfucker.”

Lanie worked fast, wrapping each of my mangled wrists before moving back to apply pressure to the other wound. I stared into Keaton’s loving eyes through it all. He was my compass, my North Star. There was never any doubt in my mind that he’d save me.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“Shh, baby.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Henley.” He swiped his thumb across my cheek.

“I’m afraid this next part isn’t going to feel much better, Henley.” Duncan squatted down next to my head. “This is Captain Hanson Pierce, Echo One to his close friends. We need to sit you up a bit so we can take the vest off of you carefully without disturbing the wires too much. Do you think you can handle it?”

I nodded, though I was pretty certain I’d just lied to him. Keaton repositioned himself, getting up on his kneeswhile keeping one arm behind my shoulders, holding me steady. Slowly, he began to sit me forward with Lanie matching our pace, never lessening the force of pressure she was holding at my side. I hissed through my teeth as black spots dotted my vision.

“Breathe through the pain, baby. In and out.”

Once fully upright, Duncan and Captain Pierce carefully unzipped my jacket, revealing the vest loaded with explosives underneath. My heart pounded away in my chest at the memory of when Camden had forced me to put it on. How he said if I didn’t, he’d shoot Jade and let her bleed out right in front of me. He’d known the instant they were close, even made us watch their trek through the woods on a monitor in the living room. He was almost gleeful when he told us how he’d purposefully only set one trap, with the intention of letting them get to us quickly, so he could go down in “a blaze of glory.” The guy was whacked in the head.

“Here comes the hard part.” Duncan slipped one wrist out of the sleeve, then had to pull the material in order to get my entire arm free. The motion twisted my torso at the exact spot the knife had entered and my world faded to black.

“Open those beautiful emerald eyes, baby.” His deep voice was music to my ears, if only someone would make the incessant beeping in the background stop.

“Maybe you should give her some space, Keaton,” a male voice I didn’t recognize spoke. “You’re gonna scare the poor girl if she wakes up to your ugly mug hovering over her.”

“Stop it, Jasper.”

Jasper? Where did I know that name from?

“He knows I’m only messing with him, Heather.”

Oh no. Jasper and Heather?

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