Page 30 of The Captive
“Now, I took out two of them, but—”
Her heart lodged in her throat.Hekilledtwo men?Terror jolted through her.What if Deacon was one of them?She told herself she was simply concerned about her baby’s father, but deep down she knew there was much, much more to the turbulent wave of fear crashing inside her.
She wanted to ask him to describe the men, but Rick was still talking.“There are still two more walking the perimeter.We need to move, and fast.Are you ready?”
She drew in a breath, releasing it in a visible cloud that drifted in the air.“I’m ready.”
“Good.Let’s go.”
Garrison’s eyes moved across the empty clearing in a sharp sweep.They had the cover of darkness on their side, but Lana didn’t feel invisible.When Rick gripped her arm and pulled her forward, she followed him blindly.Her pulse raced.The gun in her hand felt out of place.She hoped she didn’t have to use it.As their boots crunched against the grass, she cringed, frightened the noise would alert one of her captors, but nobody came after them.
Ten yards.Twenty.She ran alongside Rick Garrison, as the harsh wind slapped her face and whipped her hair around.She spat the long tresses from her eyes and mouth, wishing she’d tied them back in a ponytail, but there’d been no time.As she and Garrison moved in swift, long strides, she couldn’t help but glance back at the cabin.
Remorse gathered inside her.Should she have tried to warn Deacon?If Rick Garrison had found the cabin, the authorities were probably on their way, too.He must have contacted them, right?
She pictured metal handcuffs being snapped aroundDeacon’s strong wrists and fought a wave of panic.How would she ever explain to her family that the father of her child was a kidnapper?How would she tell her child that his father was in jail?Or dead.Lord, Deacon could already be dead, if he’d been one of the men Rick “took out.”
Worry about that later.Right now, run!
She kept moving, determined to make it to those darn rocks, but she and Rick were five yards short of their destination when the entire clearing was illuminated by bright light.
Lana blinked from the sudden flash, horror spiraling up her chest as she heard angry male voices boom from behind them.Enormous security lights had been installed in the trees.She and Rick were completely visible now, like two prisoners caught in a spotlight while attempting a prison break.
“Don’t move!”someone roared.
She froze.Rick’s hand was still on her arm, pulling her forward, but then the crack of a rifle exploded in the night air, and he finally came to a reluctant halt, mumbling a stream of curses under his breath.
“Turn around!”
Le Clair’s voice this time, and Lana felt like a disobedient child as she slowly turned to face her captors.Next to her, Rick had raised his rifle.She followed his lead, lifting the handgun and aiming it at Le Clair, but her hand shook wildly.
There were about twenty yards separating them from her kidnappers.Rick stood protectively by her side.Across the clearing, Le Clair, Echo and Tango had their weapons trained on the duo.Kilo was off to the left, a rifle perched on his enormous shoulder.Oscar, the silent one who’d bought her all those things from town, was a few feet from Kilo, also holding a rifle.But where was Deacon?
Her breathing quickened, then relaxed when she spotted Deacon at Le Clair’s right side, the sleek metal of his gun glimmering in the lights bathing the yard.He was alive.Relief coursed through her, then faded abruptly when she realized just how volatile this situation had become.
It was like a Wild West standoff.Next to her, Rick didn’t even blink.Across from them, the five men were equally still.
“Hand the girl over,” Le Clair ordered, his weapon trained on Garrison.“Hand her over, and we won’t kill you.”
“What do we do?”Lana whispered in desperation.
“Shhh.”Rick didn’t even look at her.Holding his rifle with steady hands, he tossed out his own suggestion.“Let us walk away, and I won’t killyou.”
Le Clair’s laugh reverberated in the clearing, bouncing off the massive trunks of the redwood trees.“My, my, aren’t we confident.Five against one, and still so sure of yourself.”
“I’m a trained sharpshooter,” Rick called back carelessly.“I can take all five of you out in less than ten seconds.”
“Yeah, but then you’d have a dead princess on your hands,” Le Clair replied.“Because the second one of us goes down, the others have orders to shoot the hostage.Standard operating procedure, my friend.”
“Is that actually standard procedure?”Lana hissed.
Rick shook his head.“In this psycho’s world, maybe.”He went quiet, his brows knitting together in thought.“I can take them out.If you hit the deck before I take the first shot, I can get ’em all.”
His confidence did nothing to soothe her.He’d said so himself—these men were pros.What if she didn’t go down fast enough?What if she got hit?
What if shelost the baby?
“No,” she choked out.
