Page 74 of Fast Vengeance

She shrank away, a cry locked in her throat but David shoved her to one side. Out of the way.

She stumbled and hit the corrugated metal wall with a thud, fell to her knees. When she scrambled up, pushing the hair from her face, her heart stuttered at the sight before her.

David and Nieto were facing off, fifty feet apart, each of them holding a pistol on the other.

Nieto’s hand never wavered. “David, put it down.”

“Let her go. We leave her right here in the tunnel and run for the boat. We’ll make it out. But we leave her here.”

“Fuck you.” Nieto raised the weapon.

They fired simultaneously.

Gunshots exploded, the sound amplified by the tunnel. Oceane screamed, her hands flying to her ears as she stared in horror. They were both down. She took an automatic step toward David. He had saved her. She had to try to help him.

But when she got up close, she saw it was too late. The bullet had pierced his heart. His chest wasn’t moving. His eyes were already vacant, staring up at nothing.

Nieto groaned from up the beach, cursing as he rolled to his side on the sand. “Oceane,” he gasped. “Come. Now.” He struggled to his feet, began lurching down the beach.

David was dead. She had to run.

She stood and whirled away, ready to race back up the tunnel. Escape Nieto and this whole nightmarish situation. But she hesitated, looking back the way she had come. What if there were more armed men at the other end of the tunnel?

“Oceane,” Nieto called back, his voice desperate. Rough. “Please. Don’t go.”

The plea turned the sand into glue beneath her feet, immobilizing her.

“Don’t leave me…” This time it was weaker, the words edged with a pain that sliced through her like a blade.

She made the mistake of turning around.

The sight of him sliced through her heart like a razor blade, blindsiding her. Blood covered his shirt. Spilled out from beneath his hand. The pain on his face was horrifying.

Something inside her refused to turn and run. Something too deep for her to understand that kept her there, staring at him.

He made it another four strides before falling to the sand. His head turned, his gaze seeking and locking onto her. “Oceane…”

Her heart broke at the despair on his face. She couldn’t leave him to die. Not like this.

Cursing, she broke from the tunnel, running toward him without conscious thought, dimly aware of distant shouts coming from behind her down the length of the tunnel. Her feet flew over the sand as she raced to the figure lying on the beach.

Sand sprayed up around them as she slid to her knees beside him, reached for his shoulder. “Father.” She didn’t know where the word came from, or the tears thickening her throat, making it hard to breathe. She just knew she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she left him like this.

He groaned, reached up a shaking hand to grip hers. “Oceane, listen…”

She helped him roll to his back, gasped. In the pale moonlight his whole chest glistened black, the scent of blood cloying and metallic on the warm breeze.

“I’m sorry,” he wheezed, one trembling hand reaching for hers. Clutching tight.

“Shh,” she said, shock washing over her at the amount of blood pouring from his chest, her emotions conflicted. Confusing. Even after everything he’d done, he was still the man who had once read her bedtime stories and treated her like his cherished princess. And right now, he was slowly bleeding to death in front of her.

Not knowing what else to do, she dragged his head and shoulders into her lap, put her hands on his chest and pressed down. She couldn’t leave him to bleed to death all alone. The part of her that remembered him as a warm, loving father when she was young kept her there trying to help him, while the other part that knew he was a monster told her to run.

If he lived, he would go to prison. She wanted both of those things.

“I never meant to…” He choked, convulsed in her arms.

“Don’t talk. Just be still. Help is coming.” She swiveled around, searching desperately along the beach for someone to help them. Had someone been running down the tunnel toward her or not?

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