Page 75 of Fast Kill

“Yes, I do.” Wainright.

A sharp female scream rent the air.

Every hair on his body stood on end at the sound of his woman screaming in terror.

Logan exploded into motion.

His feet were a blur on the dirt path as he ran, each stride sending shards of agony through his kneecap. Then Taylor and Wainright burst into view, on the far side of the trees. The fucker had one arm locked around her neck and a gun jammed to her temple.

“Freeze!” Logan shouted, M4 up, finger itching to slide off the trigger guard.

Wainright froze and whipped around, sinking his head and upper body down to hide behind Taylor. Using her as a human fucking shield because he was a fucking pussy.

“Back off or I’ll kill her right here,” Wainright snarled. His eyes were wild, the whites showing all around the irises. Dude was on something, and it wasn’t caffeine.

Logan held his ground and didn’t move, ready to take a shot here and now. Except he didn’t have the angle with Wainright hiding behind Taylor. “Drop your weapon and surrender now. You’re surrounded.”

Wainright kept backing away and dragging Taylor with him. Logan made the mistake of looking at her and his lungs seized. She had blood on her face, both hands locked around Dillon’s restraining arm. Her face was slowly turning color from the pressure, the frozen look of fear on her face sent a wave of cold through him.

“I’ll do it,” Wainright yelled, everything about him agitated. Desperate and unhinged. “Back the fuckoff.”

“Drop your weapon!” he shouted, his entire body coiled like a snake ready to strike. He held his aim just over Taylor’s left shoulder, waiting for Wainright to move a fraction of an inch too far.

But as of right now, Logan had no shot.

****

Logan.

Logan was right there. He would save her. But he either had orders to capture Dillon alive, or he didn’t have a shot.

Taylor’s feet scrambled to keep up with Dillon’s jerky steps as he dragged her away from the trees. Clawing at his arm had done no good.

She fought to shove one of hers between his and her throat, managed to wedge part of her hand in and sucked in a greedy gulp of air. “Let me go,” she choked out to Dillon, bucking once more in his hold.

His arm contracted around her throat like a steel cable, cutting off what little air she’d had. Her eyes bulged at the pressure, all the blood vessels in her neck and face expanding in a desperate attempt to bring oxygen to her brain.

A few more seconds and she’d be unconscious. A few more after that, she’d either be brain damaged or dead.

“Let her go,” Logan commanded again, his voice sending an avalanche of emotions crashing through her. Hope. Grief. Regret.

She kept her gaze pinned on him, her heart ready to explode. He looked so strong standing there with his rifle pointed at them. Regret sliced through her, more painful than anything she’d withstood today.

She hadn’t told him what he truly meant to her. This thing between them was so new, she hadn’t been sure she could trust it. But she knew she could trust him. And that told her everything she needed to know.

“Not fucking happening,” Dillon snapped.

Rage built, eclipsing the paralyzing fear. She was not dying here, right in front of Logan when her freedom was so close. Not without having the chance to experience the rest of what was between them.

As the black spots began to flicker before her eyes, something inside her broke. She twisted in Dillon’s grip and went limp, knowing there was no way he could hold her steady under the force of her dead weight. He cursed and dropped with her, the coward, still using her as a shield.

The moment her knees hit the ground she whirled and attacked. She was more animal than human as she rolled and launched herself at Dillon.

He grunted in surprise and pain as she knocked him to the ground, her fingers like claws as she raked them down his face, his right arm. He yelled and threw a punch at her. His fist glanced off her cheekbone as they rolled. The gun slipped from his grasp and tumbled to the grass.

Somewhere nearby she could hear Logan yelling at her but she didn’t stop. Couldn’t.

Dillon had been like a brother to her. He’d betrayed her in the worst way possible, and tried to kill her. Would have killed her today as soon as he reached the boat he’d told her about.

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