Page 41 of Silverstorm

“I mean what I say,” the man intoned again, pressing the knife harder against Aria’s throat, eliciting a squeak of fear.

Jude considered him for a few seconds, saw the zealous light in his eyes, and decided that the man was telling the truth.

Moving slowly, he placed the gun with great care on the ground at his feet, then stood up again. “Now what?” he asked, thinking about the second gun he still had stashed in his pocket.

“Now you tell me what happened to my son?”

The person he’d shot was this man’s son? Uh oh, Jude didn’t like where this was going. Would the news of his son’s death make him do something unpredictable? The body was probably visible down the hill behind him, if the man cared to look properly. He needed a diversion, something—anything—to direct the man’s attention away from the truth. For the first time, Jude looked deep into Aria’s eyes. One wrong move and he might lose her. He couldn’t let that happen.

“Ah ha, I see. He’s dead, is he not?”

Jude remained frozen to the spot, unwilling to answer. The man didn’t seem to be that perturbed by the prospect.

“That is a shame.” He sighed deeply and looked heavenward. “But I always knew Rocky wasn’t long for this world. He will carry the young in his arms into the absolute, and shelter them in His heart.” It sounded like he was reciting a verse from the Bible. Although it didn’t quite match anything Jude knew. The man continued to spout more modified verses of some kind of religious text, but Jude stopped listening. Instead, he focussed on Aria. On her face. Jude didn’t know who this guy was, or what he wanted, all he knew was that he needed to be stopped.

The man was still staring skyward, and Jude took the opportunity to try and communicate silently with Aria. She was shaking almost uncontrollably now. She must be freezing. But if she could do just this one thing, he might be able to save her. Reaching a hand slowly for his pocket, he raised an eyebrow. Would Aria understand what he was trying to convey? Jude opened his mouth slightly and mimed biting down on an object. Aria’s dark eyes went wide as she stared at him, uncomprehending. He mimed the action again while continuing to move his hand until it closed over the gun in his pocket. Please, try and understand. If she could only do this, they might have a chance. It was a small chance, and Aria had to be prepared to take it for this to work. She’d be putting herself at risk, but no more risk than she was currently in, if they didn’t do something soon.

Suddenly, the man stopped his chanting and Jude froze, scared that his slight movements had been observed. At the same time, comprehension finally dawned on Aria’s face.

She opened her mouth wide and bit down hard on the man’s exposed hand.

He roared with pain.

It was enough to make the man loosen his hold on her, and she twisted away and then dropped to the ground. And Jude fired.

The bullet went wide, pinging off the side of the car, near the man’s shoulder, and Jude cursed loudly. Trying to shoot a gun through the pocket of his jacket had skewed his aim. But now Aria was no longer a shield, and the man knew he had a second weapon. The two of them stared at each other for unmeasured seconds, until suddenly, the other man took off like a startled rabbit, darting around the front of the car. Jude fired off another shot, but it, too, pinged off the metal of the vehicle.

Tugging the gun out of his pocket as he ran, Jude fired two more shots after the retreating figure, but the man kept running and soon disappeared into the trees.

A voice drifted through the forest. “I’ll be back to get you one day, Aria. You are mine. He will show me the way. And He will protect me so that I may fight again another day.”

Jude was about to keep pursuing the felon, when Aria’s call brought him up short.

“Jude.” There was a slight hitch to her voice that made a trickle of fear run down his spine.

When he looked down to where she lay on the icy ground, he saw her hand draw back from her neck. It was covered in blood.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

ARIA WAS SO cold she could barely feel her fingers. And barely register the fact she had blood on her hand. But Jude’s look of pure terror made her own stomach quake with fear as she pressed her hand back to her neck to stem the blood. Oh, God, was she about to bleed to death? The thought was enough to kick-start her almost numb brain.

She hadn’t been quick enough to twist out of his grasp, and Parker’s knife had sliced her throat as she’d slipped from his under his arm. She’d felt it cut her skin like a burning brand, but there was nothing she could do. Everything had happened so quickly after she dropped underneath his arm. But at the same time, it felt like it was all going in slow motion. There’d been a gunshot, which must’ve gone wide, because she heard it ricochet off the car, then Parker had looked at her, knife still held high in the air, and for a spilt second she thought he might reach down and finish what he’d started. Instead, he’d turned and run, Jude firing more shots as Parker rounded the car and disappeared into the forest.

Jude went to follow Parker, clearly intent on hunting him down, but Aria’s cry stopped him in his tracks. He couldn’t go off and leave her. Not when she was bleeding to death.

“Fuck!” Jude was by her side in an instant. “Put as much pressure on it as you can,” he commanded, pushing down hard on her hand. Then he surprised her by picking her up and bundling her into the car, shoving the blankets in after her, then climbing in himself and shutting the door, swearing constantly under his breath as he did so. It was such a blessed relief to get off the freezing ground that she sucked in a deep draft of air.

“Sorry,” he apologized. “But I needed to get you off the ice.” His voice was both contrite and soothing, as if he were talking to a skittish horse, and he grabbed her by the arms to steady her, like she may well bolt at any second.

“He got me, Jude. I wasn’t quick enough,” she sobbed, the tears starting to come now. “You have to help me. Am I going to die?” She knew what happened to people who had their throats cut. They bled out in minutes, their life force draining from their body, and there was nothing anybody could do to stop it. “The baby. What about the baby?”

“You’re not going to die. Not if I can help it. And neither is your baby,” Jude growled, and the fierceness with which he said the words calmed her a little. “Let me look,” he said, tugging his gloves off with his teeth and gently prizing her hand away from the wound. His fingers were cold, but not as cold as hers. She stared up his face, couldn’t tear her gaze from his beautiful hazel eyes, watching for her death warrant to be signed by his reaction. But astonishingly, mystifyingly, his mouth shaped into a huge grin, white teeth flashing, almost as blinding as the snow outside. What was he smiling about? She was going to die right here in this car and he was happy about it?

“The knife missed your carotid,” he said, the stupid grin not leaving his lips. “It’s a nasty cut, and it’ll need stitches, but you’re not going to die,” he proclaimed.

“Really?” She could barely believe it.

“Really,” he replied, sobering now. He laid his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. “Jesus, Aria. You scared the shit out of me.” Then his arms came around her and he hugged her with such ferocity she thought he might crush her. “If you had died…” He didn’t finish his sentence, and Aria’s breath hitched in her chest. He cared about her. He really cared. He wouldn’t have come looking for her if he didn’t, but this sentiment went much, much deeper.

---