Alex (In the Company of Snipers) (29 page)

Logic intervened.
This is Alex.

She took a deep breath and looked skyward, her heart lodged in her throat. A million stars shimmered high beyond the giant pines. Drawing in a deep breath and closing her eyes, all her confidence plummeted. The future frightened her, but ….
This is Alex. He’s always taken care of me. And loved me.
She reached her hands to his face to caress his cheek. Blue eyes claimed her with their intensity. She smoothed the wrinkles at the corners of that piercing blue.
Oh yes. This is Alex.

“You’re killing me here,” he said hoarsely.

She gulped. “Yes. I’ll marry you. There isn’t anything I want more.”

With a relieved smile and a very big sigh, he pulled her into his lap and kissed her extra long and hard. He slid the ring over her knuckle, his eyes as misty as hers.

“I do love you.” He kissed her again.

She snuggled under his chin as he stroked her hair. Yes, this was where she belonged, snug against him where she could hear his heart and listen to him breathe. This was all she needed. She huffed a big sigh of relief, shrugging the specter of her ex-husband off her shoulders and out of her life forever. Soon she wouldn’t even share his name.

“Next question. Where do you want to live?”

“Ahh, with you?” Glancing up at him, she chuckled at what sounded like a very silly question. He looked so serious, like a man with a plan.

“I know that.” He chuckled along with her, and she was happy. “Guess I didn’t ask the right question. What I meant is that I’d like to build a house for you. Where would you like me to build it?”

She traced her fingers along the edge of his jaw. The one thing she knew for sure about Alex was that he always had to be busy. Even sitting around the campfire, he was planning something as huge as building a new home. Silly man. “Why do you want to move?”

“Because I know a woman wants her own things in her own house.”

“But your home is a very nice little house and I like it.”

“Come on. You’d like something new, wouldn’t you?” He twirled a handful of her hair in his fingers as he looked down at her. She could not help the smile that covered her face. He was determined. She had to give him that much.

“But, it’s
your
home.” She straightened in his lap.

“And that’s why I want to build. Then we’d live in
our home
.”

“Yes, but I’m getting a new door and I’m really happy there.”
And it’s the first place I’ve felt safe in years, she thought. I don’t want to move. I just got here.

He sighed. “I guess we stay put then.”

She saw the unwilling resignation in his eyes, and it made her smile. This man was too used to getting his own way.

“But think about it, okay?” His brow arched. “There is no need for you to live in another woman’s house.”

“I’ve always thought I was living in
your
house.”

He pulled her close for another quick kiss. “You’re something else, Kelsey Stewart.”

“Mmm. Kelsey Stewart. I like the way that sounds.” She smiled up at him, but Alex didn’t respond as she had expected. His eyes were fixed at something behind her.

She turned around to peer into the dark. “What’s going on?

This time he pulled her up off the ground and into his side, the magic of the moment gone.

“Let’s go inside. Now.”

Alex

Something or someone was out there watching. He was sure of it.

Once in the cabin, Alex went straight to his satellite phone. There hadn’t been a signal since they had arrived. Kelsey stood at the bedroom door waiting. He had felt her eyes on him earlier. As much as he had tried to conceal his worry, his gut was screaming. Something was not right in the forest tonight. He pulled his backpack off the floor, and removed his pistol, the same make as Kelsey now used.

“What’s going on?” she whispered.

“Did you bring my SIG like I asked?”

She nodded.

“Get it.”

She pulled her gun case out of her backpack, unzipped it, and took hold of the gun. Automatically, she jammed one of the three magazines into place, flipped the safety off, and racked the slide. Pride flashed through him. She had changed so much.
Good girl
.

“Remember what I taught you? If you’re ever forced to pull your weapon, always shoot to kill, right?” Alex looked deeply into her eyes. “I don’t want to scare you, honey, but someone’s been watching us tonight. I’m going back out front to talk with them. They might just be hunters or hikers.”

“Or they might be lost,” she whispered breathlessly. “Like I was.”

He peered out the glass window on his front door. Shadows moved just beyond the light of the camp, the two-legged animal kind of shadows. Someone was definitely lurking too close for comfort. They were not lost. He spotted another. And another. They didn’t move like hunters either. More like trouble.

“Listen. There’s a trap door in the back room. It’s at the bottom of the bed. You shouldn’t have to use it, but you need to know it’s there.” He blew out a small breath through pursed lips. They had guns. Rifles. Bags slung over their shoulders.

“Listen.” He turned to Kelsey. “There are several people out there. I don’t know what they think they’re doing, but I’m going to put a stop to it. If anything goes wrong, you hightail it back to the gas station. It’s dark so you won’t get far, but you get far enough away from this cabin. You lay down, and stay out of sight until this is over. Got it?”

“But I don’t want to leave you.”

A jolt of déjà vu gripped him. Those were the exact words she had uttered a year ago, just before he had gotten shot. He pulled her close, his words hurried and edgy. “Promise me. I need to know you’ll be safe.”

“Yes,” she answered so quietly he still didn’t believe her.

“Listen. You must follow orders. Please? For me?”

She never got a chance to reply. A tear gas canister crashed through the side window, filling the small room with fumes in seconds. Alex pushed her into the back room and slammed the door behind them. Gunshots peppered the front of the cabin, sending shards of glass and splintered wood across the small room. Within seconds, they were both out the trap door, crouched beneath the cabin. Concealed by the dense underbrush, they listened.

He cocked his head to listen. The howling and shrieks from the front of the cabin sounded like a pack of deranged animals set loose in the forest. Damn. What the hell is going on?

Alex pushed her out from under the cabin and into the dark. He pointed into the dark as he shouldered his rifle and rounded the cover of the huge blackberry brush.

“Go now. Do it, Kelsey. Go!”

Nineteen

Kelsey

Kelsey didn’t run.

Instead she crouched in the dark, listening, her heart pounding so hard she could barely breathe. Within seconds of Alex leaving, the cabin’s roof burst into flames. She heard one gunshot and then another. Men’s voices shrieked over the roar of the fire. Hugging the weapon to her breast, her knees shook so much she could barely stand.

A man’s voice screamed, “Shooter. We got a shooter. Ain’t no one even in that cabin.”

Her heart dropped.
That voice. No. It couldn’t be.

Two more shots followed in quick succession, and then another familiar voice cackled, “I got him boys. I got that Stewart fella.”

It couldn’t be—them. Both of them?

She couldn’t leave. She crept through the brush to the front of the burning cabin where she saw four men sprawled on the ground while another four stood over Alex’s prone figure by the fire pit. Her heart sank. Nick Durrant stood in the clearing with two men she didn’t recognize. One was a big man, bald with his arms covered in tattoos. The other was average size with a Mohawk, but the fourth wasn’t a man at all. It was an older woman with a short, squatty body and gray stringy hair. Ethel Durrant, Nick’s hateful mother. Kelsey cringed. Her two worst enemies were here, and they had Alex.

“I’ll teach you,” the bald man yelled down at Alex’s unconscious form. “You go shooting my guys like that. Who do you think you are?” He tied Alex’s hands and feet, then tossed a rope over the nearest tree branch. Within minutes, Alex was hanging by his arms. Kelsey stifled a cry. He looked unconscious, or dead.

The man turned to the trees. “Okay, sweetheart. I know you’re out there watching. Why don’t you come on in so we can get acquainted? We got your boyfriend. If you want him to live, you’ll get your butt down here and you’ll do it now.” He stabbed a pointed finger to the ground at his feet. “You hearing me?”

She shivered. He had called to her like he knew right where she stood. She was a kindergarten teacher, not a marksman. The only things she had ever killed were paper targets at the range. That’s all. She couldn’t take her eyes off Alex. He hadn’t moved.

Nick joined the taunting chorus. “Yeah, sweetheart. Look what I’m gonna do.” With a quick slash of his hunting knife, he peeled the buttons off Alex’s shirt and cut a single thin line across his chest. Droplets of blood ran from the wound.

No. Stop.

The bald man flashed a massive hunting knife over his head. “You see this little blade? I ain’t never skinned a boyfriend before, but I’m gonna like doing this guy, ‘specially since he just killed four of my boys.”

She froze. Common sense screamed
RUN!
She didn’t. She couldn’t. They had Alex.

“Git your dumb ass down here,” Nick bellowed. “It’s time you get what’s coming to you.”

The bald man glared at Nick. “Thought you said she’s mine.”

“You stupid or what, Buck? I git her first. She’s my ex.” Nick jabbed his thumb into his chest.

Kelsey gulped in disbelief. Nick had bartered her away like chattel.

“Listen fool. I got four dead men. You get nothing.” Buck drew his knife on Nick. “How about I kill this guy here and now, then start on you?”

Kelsey blew out a fast breath. Her heart pounded in her ears. There was no choice. She emerged from the dark, her pistol pointed at Nick. Both men shut up. Buck grunted as his eyes raked Kelsey up and down. She tried to hold the SIG steady. Now was not the time to miss. Alex needed her.

Nick squinted. “That you, Kelsey?”

“Let him down,” she commanded, her voice wavering nearly as much as her hands.

Buck slapped his thigh. “This is your ex? You didn’t say she was a looker.”

“Yeah. She’s my ex.” The excitement was gone from Nick’s voice as he eyed Kelsey’s gun.

“Man, you and me gonna have us a good time, little girl. Maybe you’re worth losing four men. What ya think?” Buck all but jumped up and down. He licked his lips, his eyes bright with anticipation.

“Whatever,” Nick answered, more subdued than he had been all night. “She’s got a gun.”

“I said let him down,” Kelsey repeated, licking her lips at the nightmare in front of her. Alex had not moved an inch.

“What you gonna do?” Buck taunted as he walked over to the rope that held Alex upright. With a jerk of his wrist, he unwound it, dropping Alex to the ground with a thud. Buck turned to Kelsey, his eyes bright and cruel. He closed his eyes and sniffed the air, his head tilted back as he took a deep breath. “I can smell you from here, little girl,” he growled. “Oh, man. I can hardly wait.”

Her knees turned weak. This man was an animal. She took one look at Alex and righted the shaky pistol in her hands. Everything was up to her now. She could do it.

Buck winked at her slyly, his nose still twitching. “Why don’t you just put that thing down and come to daddy? Let’s get this party started.”

“I said put him down.” Kelsey racked the slide. She knew how to handle a gun now. A nine-millimeter cartridge slid into the chamber as her blood pressure spiked. There were four of them. Alex had killed four of their friends. It was up to her to kill the other four—or die trying. That’s what Alex would do.

“You’re as dumb as your old man,” Buck muttered. “Say I let this guy down, little girl. Now what? Or maybe I don’t want to let him down.” He turned to the guy with the Mohawk. “Stand him up, Jess. One. More. Time.”

Jess grabbed the rope, jerking Alex back to his feet. His head rolled back. Blood trickled down his chin and neck.

“Stop it. You’re hurting him,” she yelped.

Ethel moved into the shadows to her left. Nick moved to her right. Four against one.

“That’s the idea,” Buck took a step toward her. Then another.

Kelsey bit her lip, gulping past the knot in her dry throat.

Jess jerked Alex off his feet and tied the rope, leaving him suspended, his boots barely touching the ground. Jess twirled the opposite end of the rope as if it were a lasso, grinning.

Buck took another step toward her. Closer. “Come to daddy.”

Her gun wavered. She looked from Buck to Jess and back again.
Where are Ethel and Nick?

Jess gave Alex a roundhouse kick that sent him spinning.

Buck crouched like he was ready to run.