Page 117 of Deadly Target (Rocky Mountain Courage 2)

FORTY-EIGHT

Erin bit back the pain. Finn’s fingers dug into her arm as he hauled her forward.

“You’re hurting me.”

“Keep up if you want to live.” He jabbed the muzzle of his gun under her rib cage for emphasis.

“I can’t move as fast as you.” Nor could she see all that well, despite the bouncing beam of his dim flashlight.

Fear strangled her. She’d often tried to imagine how terrified Missy must have felt as the stranger carried her away. This time, Erin was the person being abducted, only she wasn’t a child. If only she could find a way to escape. Run and hide.

“That night years ago, what did you do with my friend? What happened to Missy?” She’d wanted answers, and now was her chance to get them. But the rawness of the spoken words cut her heart open.

“I delivered the wrong child, and I paid for it. I’ve got you this time.”

“Is she ... is she dead?” Of course she was gone. Erin knew that, but she had always held on to an ounce of hope that somehow Missy had survived.

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answers to.”

At his words, she stumbled. He kept her upright and squeezed tighter, igniting pain.

A fallen tree blocked their path, but rather than going around, the man shoved her forward, up, and over. He was especially skilled at keeping his tight grip despite her every movement. Erin took that to mean he knew if she got free, then she had a chance of hiding in the woods, especially with the arrival of law enforcement. They must have reached the copper mine by now.

Mom would get the medical attention she needed.

While the huge excavator was rolling toward the helicopter, the henchmen argued between themselves, finally realizing their only escape was in the vehicles. Just a couple of them had planned to ride in the helicopter along with the women—getting them out of the county and state and to the more familiar bustle of Boston, where it would be easier to hide in plain sight.

But Nathan thwarted their plan.

Thank you, Lord.Tears had emerged when she realized Nathan was the one driving the excavator, preventing the helicopter from taking them away. If they had been taken, they might never have been found.

But Finn McPherson had opted not to join his partners in crime and instructed the others to leave as planned. She suspected he hoped law enforcement would give chase, while Finn escaped with Erin.

He jabbed the gun under her rib cage again as he continued rushing her through the woods. Earlier Finn had been on his cell and called someone to help him get Erin out of here.

“Why are you doing this? You don’t need me anymore. It’s over. I don’t know anything about money either.”

“You’re a loose end that I meant to take care of twenty years ago. I can always come back for your mother, but my father wants you. Nothing will hurt the old man Byrne more than to watch you die, and us getting the money he buried in that mine will make it hurt all the more.”

“I don’t even know my grandfather. I never met him. I didn’t know anything about ties to you. Whatever you call yourselves. My death will be meaningless.”

He yanked her around. “See, that’s what you don’t understand. Your death is the end of his legacy.”

“You’re wrong. My life is the end of his legacy. I work for good instead of evil. Mom too, even though she was born into a crime family. She chose a different life.” Erin stopped walking, resisting as he tried to yank her forward. “And you can choose a different life.”

He flashed his teeth in a twisted snarl, then shoved her to the ground, pressing his booted foot into her back. Her face pressed against needles, and she breathed in the earthy scents of pine and decay. She risked a glance up and caught the end of the gun, still pointed at her, while he peered through a small set of binoculars. Looking for his ride?

Her head pressed against the ground, Erin heard thumping as if someone was running through the woods. Someone was coming for her.

She had to distract Finn. “Why not choose a new life, Finn?”

“Stop talking.” He dug the heel of his boot deeper into her back.

She grunted, gritting her teeth against the pressure.

He was right when he said she didn’t understand. She could never understand.

A shadow moved in the darkness, then a form slammed into Finn, knocking him to the ground. Erin rolled away as soon as his boot released her. A gunshot blasted too close, but she continued to move and shuffled behind a tree. Heart pounding, she peered around it.

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