Dancing with Deception (24 page)

What Gideon couldn’t rationalize was the fact that they didn’t have the painting. They hadn’t bothered them before and he assumed it was because they didn’t have what they wanted. He looked over at Rebecca. Maybe they had it now.

Somewhere along the way, things had to have changed. They’d wanted the painting, maybe they still did. But in all likeliness, they now wanted Rebecca most. Grim determination set his lips in a firm line.

There was a small shed sitting lop sided on the shore, maybe an old bait shack. It looked about ready to collapse but it was more shelter than they had standing out in the open.

“We’ll wait in there.”

She followed him without question. Gideon put a hand to her shoulder to make her stop then poked his head in the shed. When he was satisfied that it was free of any vermin or goons, he led Rebecca inside.

Pale moonlight filtered in through the missing boards on the roof. He slid his arm around Rebecca’s shoulders and listened to the sounds. He couldn’t hear a boat in the distance, but he knew it hadn’t been enough time.

Rebecca began to shiver and he knew reaction had probably set in. He hugged her tighter to him, giving her some of his body heat. Lord knew his blood was running hot from the anger he was determined to keep banked. He was sick of having to hide her away, to have to look over his shoulder if they wanted to go anywhere. If any of them showed up when Colin arrived with the boat, it would be dealt with.

“Do you hear that?” Rebecca whispered in the darkness.

Gideon strained his ears, listening for any sound. Vaguely, he remembered a time on his boat, where he’d taught her to listen to the sounds around them. He wanted there to be many more of those times with her. There was a rustle in the leaves, so ordinary he dismissed it. But behind the normal sounds, he heard what Rebecca had heard; the low hum of a boat motor.

“It’s Colin.” He pushed open the pathetic excuse of a door and stepped out before her. He saw the light on the boat but it was still a good distance away. Almost as soon as he stepped out of the shed, the fine hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and he knew they weren’t alone. He gave Rebecca a light shove and she stumbled back into the shed.

Her head whipped up and he made sure she understood to keep quiet. By the way her eyes widened, he knew she understood. He closed the door to the shed and walked closer to the water. Colin was close, but still a few minutes away. The light on the boat drew closer as he listened again to the sounds around him.

The rustling leaves caught his attention again only because this time he was outside and there was no wind. His heart took a couple hard knocks in his chest and he reminded himself to bury the anger for a while. So, they hadn’t lost them after all, he thought grimly.

He was only a dozen feet away from the shed but he didn’t feel comfortable leaving Rebecca alone. He took several steps back toward the shed and the rustling sound commenced again. He looked quickly towards the wooded area where the noise had come from, then back to the shed. Slowly, he slipped the gym bag over his head and sat it down on the ground.

His eyes met Rebecca’s through a missing board. There wasn’t any fear in her eyes and for that he was grateful. He hoped she trusted him enough to protect her. And with that last thought, he shot another look at the trees and raised his hands slowly.

“All right.” He pitched his voice where they’d be sure to hear him. He also put a little fear into it. “I’m in over my head, here. You want the girl, you got her. I’m done.”

He heard Rebecca’s breath catch behind him and would have cursed if the inevitable hadn’t been happening. Two men wearing the same dark jackets he’d seen earlier walked smugly out of the trees. One of them carried a pistol.

Great.

He kept his hands up and heard her breathing speed up from inside the shed. Well, trust definitely wasn’t the word of the day.

The man holding the gun was the smaller of the two. He had a comb over from hell that failed miserably to hide his elephant ears. Gideon recognized them from their first encounter on Avery. He wondered if he could dupe them again but judging by the sneers on their faces, he didn’t think that was likely to happen. The best he could hope for was more time.

They stopped a few feet away from Gideon and the tall one spoke. “So you
was
lyin.’”

“Yes.” No use in denying it now, he thought.

“And now you—what—decided to hand her over?”

The sound of the motor was edging closer. Gideon shuffled his feet, crunching leaves to drown out the sound. He thought briefly about taking them out himself. It was too risky, however. He didn’t know if he could get the gun away from them. And then there was still the chance that the other one had a weapon hidden. He liked the odds, though.

“Sure,” he answered. “I didn’t realize what a pain in the ass this all would be. But I do have to warn you, she got rid of the painting a long time ago.”

“If you’ll just hand her over, we’ll be off.” The sneer was back in place. “And we’ll even forgive you for throwin’ us off her trail.”

“Sounds reasonable,” he said. “One question. Did somebody call for backup?”

As he had hoped, the goons turned to gawk at the speedboat slicing through the water toward them. Lightening fast, he lunged at the smaller man, causing him to drop the pistol. With little trouble, he had the small one knocked out flat. By the time the other man had time to react; his accomplice was out of the picture, leaving it one on one.

Gideon made a grab for the gun at the same time the thug did. They grappled for it and the other man’s hand enclose around the neck of the gun. Gideon felt the butt of the pistol crack against his forehead and his head spun. He fought off a wave of nausea and made another grab for the gun.

A steel-toed boot connected to his ribs, knocking the wind out of him. He fell back against the shed and tried to get his breath back. The goon gave a triumphant laugh and raised the pistol. Instead of the bullet in the head he expected, the goon jerked once, grunted then fell forward onto him.

“Sorry it took me so long.” Colin waved the baseball bat he’d used to knock the bastard out and pulled the man off his brother, letting him fall unceremoniously to the ground. “You handled that well.”

“Yeah, thanks. Get her out of the shed.”

Colin raised his eyebrows at the tone, but moved away to open the shed door. “It’s stuck. It’s like it’s blocked with something.”

Hot fury ignited in his veins. She had blocked the door to keep him out because she believed he’d screwed her over.

“Move.” He strode past Colin and kicked the door in ruthlessly. He felt the hard snapping of wood vibrate through his body. He heard his brother saying his name but it was muffled due to the raging blood that was pounding in his ears. Rebecca wasn’t in the shed.

“Where’d she go?”

Gideon looked behind him where Colin had followed him into the shed. He was waving the flash light into each corner. Before Gideon could open his mouth to speak, a piercing scream sliced through the night and turned his blood that had been burning to ice.

They bounded out of the shed and darted around it. Gideon gripped the pistol in his hand. At first, the dark concealed everything except the water rippling in the moon’s pale reflection. Panic beat a frantic tempo in Gideon’s heart, tightening his chest so much it hurt.

Then he saw her. A brute of a man was dragging her toward the water. Gideon didn’t think, didn’t reason. He simply ran. He and Colin reached the shore about the same time. He saw in utter horror, that Rebecca’s body was limp and the man dragging her was mere feet away from a boat. He aimed the pistol at the man and met his brother’s gaze. Colin nodded at his unspoken request and then dove into the water.

When Gideon estimated Colin nearby, he fired a shot and saw pieces of wood from the boat fly. The man dropped Rebecca to cover his face and she slid into the water. Another shot from Gideon had the man sinking as well. Seconds later, Colin surfaced with Rebecca in his arms.

Gideon kept the pistol aimed at the boat but there was no more activity. All was quiet.

Colin emerged onto the sand and Gideon traded him the pistol for Rebecca’s unconscious form. His brother assured him that she was still breathing, but until he felt her heart beating against his chest did he release the breath he’d been holding.

“All right, let’s get going before anymore of those bastards show up.”

Gideon nodded and followed Colin down the beach.
Aphrodite
was waiting with Critter manning the wheel and Zoey bouncing back and forth.

“The shots scared her,” Critter told them once they boarded the boat. “What the hell is going on?”

“We’ll explain on the way.” Gideon laid Rebecca down on the bench and removed his shirt to cover her. “Let’s go, hurry.”

“Is she okay?”

“Yeah.”  Because he needed to, Gideon gathered Rebecca in his arms and sat back down on the bench with her in his lap.

Chapter Fourteen

The sounds around her were muffled but she had no problem making them out. A quiet voice repeated her name. She knew it was Rose and it comforted her. An angrier voice further away belonged to Gideon.

Feeling came next. The wind was chilly on her skin. Her hair moved in the breeze. She wanted to brush it out of her face but her arm remained stubbornly still at her side.

She was on the ground. The little rocks dug into her back, but there was no pain. Rose spoke quickly then something rough and wet grazed her cheek. She turned her head away from it and heard Rose’s crooning voice.

Zoey barked, causing her head to hurt. But at least she was alive. The last thing she remembered was being stuck in that tiny, dark shack. She’d been listening to Gideon try to fool the goons into thinking he was on their side when she felt something on her arm.

She’d bit her lip until it bled to keep from screaming but it was the biggest spider she had ever seen. In her panic, she’d knocked over some boards and was unable to get the door open. Instead, she’d slipped out the back of the shed where the wood was rotted.

It was dark, however and as soon as she’d freed herself from the tiny shed, she was disoriented. She’d walked right into the meaty arms of whoever had knocked her down.

Remembering, she raised a hand to the back of her head. There was a lump there but thankfully no blood. She moaned because now that everything was working, it was painful.

“Are you okay, honey?”

Her eyes opened slowly. She blinked to focus and saw in astonishment four faces looking down at her. The dog licked her cheek again. She sat up gingerly with Gideon’s help.

“I’m fine.” Her voice was hoarse and scratchy. She cleared it and tried again. “What happened?”

“Let’s go inside and get you into something dry.” Gideon’s tone alerted her. His eyes were murderous. “Then we’ll talk.”

Those three words spoken so quietly worried her. She could walk after all, she thought as they treaded slowly to the house. Once inside, Rose and Jess helped her change into warm pajamas, fussed over the bump on her head, and made tea. Colin picked at her, as usual and it lifted her spirits. Gideon brooded.

“Where’s Charles and Critter? Critter was here, wasn’t he?” Rebecca sipped at her tea and let it warm her.

“They’re putting the boat up,” Rose told her.

“Are you sure she’s okay?” Jess couldn’t sit still. “I mean, she hit her head. She should see a doctor.”

“Its fine, Jess. The aspirin is helping.”

“What did you hit it on?”

“A rock, I think.”

“I’m surprised your head didn’t just bounce off it, hard as it is.” Gideon rose from his chair and dumped his tea in the sink. “Let’s go upstairs.”

“Um.” She didn’t want to go anywhere alone with him yet. His jaw was taunt, his big fists clenched at his sides. He was definitely in a temper but she didn’t know why. It wasn’t as if she asked to be knocked out.

“Now.” He solved any further problems she might have had with forming coherent sentences by taking her arm. She could either follow or be dragged. Rose gave her an apologetic smile as they passed her. Surely if Rose was confident she was safe, it would be all right.

Gideon led her to his room and didn’t release her arm until he’d shut and locked the door. Her anxiety continued to grow even after he led her to an over-stuffed chair in the corner. He walked away and stopped abruptly at the window.

It was a while before he spoke. The muscles beneath his red t-shirt were bunched and strained. He was angry, but he was doing an amazing job controlling it. He looked as though he wanted to remove his bedroom walls with his bare hands.

“You want to tell me what the hell happened in that shed?”