Page 75 of The Pretender

Throwing her weight to the side, she lost her balance. She grabbed for the attacker’s hair and touched material... a mask?

Through it all, hands held her in a steel grip. An arm snaked around her throat and her breath choked off. Her mind raced back to the guesthouse and Harris’s chokehold on Stephen. She searched her memory for a way out, tried to remember if Harris told her how to break the clench.

Her neck ached as she gave into a sputtering cough. Then her body went airborne. Strong arms picked her up and threw her. She tried to grab on to anything, to find some leverage, but she only grabbed air. Nothing else stirred around her.

“Harris!” She screamed as loudly as she could, hoping the house and the wind didn’t block the sound.

As she turned, hoping to catch a glimpse of her attacker, he rammed into her from the side. His shoulder connected with her rib cage. The body slam knocked her into the side of the house and she went tumbling. Her fingernails scraped against the stucco as she tried to break her fall.

She landed hard on the soggy ground. It squished around her. Not waiting to be rescued, she crawled around, moving as fast as possible as she tried to remember what might be sitting on the patio that could help her. The world spun around in her head and she tried to think of which way to move.

Concentrate.

Her gaze fell on the stone wall. She lunged for it.

Heavy footsteps followed her. The dark figure dove for her just as she reached the end of the wall. She picked up handfuls of dirt and threw those. Some hit him. Some pelted the ground. He didn’t make any noise but he fell back, grabbing at the ski mask he wore.

She screamed. Put her whole body into it. Yelled for Harris and Damon.

But she had to stall. On her knees, she scrambled toward the shrubs, feeling around the dirt for anything she could use as a weapon. A rock dug into her palm and she picked it up. Whipped it at him just as he ducked to the side. She had no idea if she hit him, but he shifted away from her, to the far edge of the patio.

Not ready to give in she picked up more rocks and threw them, letting out another scream as she hurled the handful directly at the attacker. One handful then another. When her fingers wrapped around a garden shovel she picked it up and chucked it into the darkness. Then he was gone.

The attack had taken less than a minute. She’d raced through every second even though the individual beats moved in slow motion in her head.

The adrenaline deserted her. It drained from her body, leaving her weak and unable to stand. Her chest heaved from the force of her harsh breaths. She slumped back onto the ground, trying to remember every detail for later.

She needed her legs to move and energy to swamp her so she could run after the figure but he’d disappeared. She listened for a splash but didn’t hear one.

A noise broke through her conscience. Harris yelling. He shouted her name over and over through a thunder of footsteps.

“Gabby! Where are you?”

She glanced up as he and Damon ran around the corner. She tried to say something, to force words out, but all she could do was shake her head. Through the haze she focused on one fact—an attacker could only go so far on an island. But she could narrow it down. She pointed in the direction of where the attacker ran.

“You take care of her.” Damon stopped long enough to touch her shoulder then took off.

“Are you okay?” Harris sounded out of breath and shaky as he kneeled on the ground next to her.

“I think so.” That was all she could get out.

Strong arms wrapped around her. Immediately heat enveloped her and his scent seeped into her. He rocked her back and forth as his hand brushed up and down her back. She tried to swallow, be brave... all that. She promised to get right on that as soon as her teeth stopped chattering.

She heard a noise and then Damon was there, too. He squatted down and stared at her. She saw the gun in his hand. “Did you find him?”

Damon shook his head. “Who was it?”

“I don’t know. He was wearing a mask.”

“Tall. Young or old?”

“I really don’t know. It all happened so fast and blended together.” Pieces of what happened bombarded her brain. The guy’s grip. How he never made a sound. “But it was ahim. Strong. Determined. He surprised me when he attacked.”

“Shit.” Harris ran a hand down her arm then over her leg. “Did he hurt you?”

“He threw me into the building.” That thought came back to her as he looked at her dirt-caked fingernails and her butt slipped deeper into the muddy area near the bushes.

The color drained from Harris’s face. “What?”

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