Give Me Strength (36 page)

“This, Quinn…” Luka
lifted the gun again and my heart hammered so hard in my chest I
thought it would split wide open. He aimed it at my leg. “…is how
we’re going to get Agent McKinnon to talk.”

Seth swept his leg out, connecting with the man
standing to the right of his chair. The sudden movement had Luka
swivelling the aim of his gun from my leg to Seth, but Seth was a
blur. He ripped the gun from the man he took down and fired
twice.

I sat dumbstruck, my heart thumping as the man’s
body jerked from the force of bullets tearing into him.

“Quinn!” Seth yelled before another man was on
him. They fought and another shot was fired, splattering blood up
the wall and over my face and chest. I glanced downwards,
disconnected from the horror playing out before me. No amount of
bleach would save my shirt. A tear trickled down my cheek.

Huh.

Why was I crying over a ten dollar tank top?

“What are you doing? Get out of here!”

I blinked.

“Quinn, goddammit!”

Standing on shaky legs, I wiped at the blood,
feeling it smear across my face. Seeing my hands covered in red,
cold adrenaline rushed through me. Wiping them on the back of my
jeans, I reached out and grabbed the back of the chair I’d been
sitting on, and for the second time in my life, I yelled and swung
hard with everything I had. It connected and Luka staggered
backwards before he could take a clear shot at Seth. The chair
splintered from the force, and I stood frozen, holding the empty
remains as I met Seth’s eyes for a single moment that stretched for
an eternity.

“Run, damn you,” he panted as he struggled
against the last two armed men standing. The other two were down,
bodies still, blood pooling on the floor.

I dropped the chair as Luka made a recovery too
swift for my liking and lunged for me. I turned to run, but his
arms locked around my waist and in my ear, he breathed, “Little
bitch.”

“Fuck you,” I grunted and kicking my legs, tried
to push off against the wall with my feet to unsteady him, but he
jerked me backwards towards one of the dead men on the ground. I
closed my eyes as I panted and struggled. Reaching into the man’s
pocket, Luka dug out a length of rope and started binding my wrists
together before dragging me outside and into the back of the BMW. I
drew in a breath to let out a scream, but he backhanded me until I
saw nothing but stars before it all faded to black.

When I came to, the car was moving along a windy
road. It was getting dark so I could see my reflection in the
window. It wasn’t pretty. In fact, I looked like utter rubbish, but
my whole day had been utter rubbish from the moment I woke up so
that was only to be expected. In the passenger seat in front of me
sat Luka, the driver was one of his armed thugs, and to my right
sat Seth. He was unmoving and watching me.

“I’m sorry,” he mouthed.

My eyes searched his face.

This man was my father. Was I supposed to feel
an immediate connection to him?

All I could feel was defeat, the taste of it
bitter and harsh.

“
Hold tight. I’m coming for you. I
promise.”

I’m holding tight, Travis, and I know you’re
coming for me,
I stared bleakly out the window at my bloodied
reflection,
but I think my time is finally running out.

Tears spilled over my cheeks and our bodies
jerked, the driver cursing as the car bounced over a pothole. The
action pulled at my bound arms and I felt the knot loosen.

My breath quickening, I jerked them again and
realised my slender hands were slowly working free of the knot. I
caught Seth’s eyes and nodded behind me.

He frowned so I nodded again.

He shook his head.

Did he not understand? I pursed my lips. Wasn’t
the head nod the universal language of all men?

The car was speeding along and despite seeing it
in the movies, actually considering the leap from a moving vehicle
seemed impossibly daunting. My hands free, I wriggled them. Seth
saw and widened his eyes. He looked at me and then nodded at the
car door.

I rolled my eyes at him, frantically trying to
think of an alternative. There was no way I could untie Seth
without being seen but damned if I was going to sit back and await
my doom
or
watch the man who was my father die.

My eyes fell on the driver and breathless, I
realised there was only one other option, and it was a really
stupid one. I was sure Travis wouldn’t condone it, nor Casey, or
Seth for that matter. But I knew Lucy would, and so would Mac and
Evie.

“
I can only fight for you for so long before
you have to start fighting for yourself.”

Well, Travis, you said to fight, and I’m
pretty sure you didn’t mean it like this, but here goes
nothing.

Leaping forward between the two front seats, I
grabbed at the steering wheel and swung it hard. Surprised, the
driver grappled as the car spun. Luka grabbed my arms and pulled
but I hung on like a goddamn barnacle, screaming as he yelled and
tore at my fingers. Even when the tyres caught loose gravel and
started spinning out of control, I held tight.

Seth shouted something at me as the car hurtled
down the embankment, but I couldn’t hear through the blood roaring
in my ears. I was thrown back in my seat. Breathless, I grabbed for
my seatbelt, fighting with trembling fingers to click it into place
as trees hurtled towards us at amazing speed. The scream of metal
crunching in my ears deafened me, and I lost consciousness.

“Quinn!”

Hands were running over me.

I blinked.

“Quinn!”

With effort, I turned my head towards the sound
and blinked again.

“We’ve got to get you out of here.”

“Travis,” I mumbled.

“No. It’s Seth,” he panted as strong hands
gripped me and pulled me from the crumpled car.

“Where’s Travis?” I moaned.

My body was flung up and over a shoulder, and my
stomach rolled as the jostling flared up all kinds of pain.

“Who’s Travis?”

Did he just ask me who Travis was?

My eyes closed and a chuckle came from deep
within me.

Travis was light and safety, beauty and passion,
laughter and love…and hope.

Travis was
everything
.

“Why are you carrying me?” I mumbled. “You got
shot. I should be carrying you.”

“I’m fine,” Seth panted as we staggered through
the dark forest.

“Where are we going?”

“The driver was killed in the crash, Quinn, but
Luka is behind us. We’ve got to keep moving.”

“Oh God,” I moaned. “Why can’t this day
end?”

It was his turn to chuckle, but it came out more
like a hiss. “Quinn?”

“Hmm?”

“If I knew—”

“Don’t.” Tears threatened again. “I have a
family now, and I’m trying to stop living in the past and move
on…but…dammit Seth, I can’t have this conversation while I’m
hanging over your shoulder.”

“You can’t walk,” he breathed out, pain etched
in his voice as his feet crunched over dried leaves, twigs and
rocky ground.

“I can’t?”

“You’ve got a deep gash in your leg, Quinn. You
can’t feel it?”

My brow furrowed. “No. It feels kinda numb.” I
licked my dry lips and swallowed. “Is it… bad?”

“Not at all. You’ll be fine.”

He didn’t sound like it was fine. His voice
shook, but he
had
been shot. And in a car accident.

“Don’t move!” I heard Luka yell.

“Fuck,” Seth cursed softly and halted.

“Turn around.”

Seth turned, softly lowering me to the ground
and that leg that felt so numb, didn’t feel so numb anymore. I
screamed as pain ricocheted upwards through my body and I crumpled
to the ground.

Seth shifted in front of me.

“All this time, Agent McKinnon, you stood with
me, worked by my side. Now you have blood on your hands.” He looked
up as a chopper came over, circling slowly above us, blinding
lights spearing the ground over and over. “But you know I can’t
allow you to live. That would send the wrong message. It’s just a
shame you’ll die with all those black marks on your soul, and
knowing the daughter that was never yours will die along with
you.”

A shot rang out.

My breath stuttered in fear, but Seth didn’t
jerk back, or fall down. That honour belonged to Luka, and he
looked surprised before he didn’t look like anything at all.

“Quinn!” Seth crouched and picked me up,
cradling me in his arms and a fresh round of sweat broke his brow
from the effort. “What a fuck of a day.”

“Put her down or I shoot.”

My mouth fell open. Behind where Luka lay stood
Travis, gun in hand, pointed directly at Seth. Slightly dazed, I
took a moment to admire him. His green eyes were hard and locked on
Seth, his fitted white shirt dirty and torn, his legs braced as
though he was prepared to take down King Kong and win, and in that
moment I would’ve believed he could.

“Travis,” I whispered.

“This is the man who’s your everything?” Seth
whispered softly to me.

My heart swelled because not only was he my
everything, I was his too and never had I felt more whole. “Did I
say that out loud?”

Ignoring my question, Seth looked down at me.
“Travis Valentine? Really?”

I raised a brow. “You know him?”

“Every single Government agency and police force
in Sydney, hell, in Australia, has heard of the Valentines. Fucking
cowboys,” he mumbled.

“Put her down,” Travis yelled, inching forward,
gun steady, every movement and word corroborating Seth’s opinion
without him even realising it.

“I can’t,” Seth returned. “She’s hurt. She can’t
walk.”

Travis flicked his eyes from Seth to me.
“Quinn?” he called softly.

“I’m okay. Just a scratch on my leg.” I
reassured him. I waved a hand towards Seth. “You can put the gun
away. This is Seth. Agent McKinnon,” I added.

“You’re the nark?” Travis said to Seth.

“That would be me,” he replied.

Travis wasn’t convinced. “Put her down gently
and back way.”

Without hesitation, Seth knelt, gently sat me
down and backed away, hissing as each movement caused him pain.

Travis moved forward, lowering himself to his
knees before me, his eyes running the length of me. They fell on
the makeshift bandage around my thigh, and he checked it carefully.
Satisfied the pressure was tight enough on the wound, his eyes
found mine and they were wet with tears of relief. “Oh, Quinn,
baby.”

He wrapped the upper half of my body in his arms
and tucking his head in my neck, breathed deeply.

“Travis,” I murmured, waves of emotion rolling
through me.

His body started shaking and I wound my arms
around his neck and held on.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get to you sooner.”

My fingers gently caressed the back of his neck.
“That’s okay. I took matters into my own hands.”

He jerked back and looked at me. “More chair
throwing?”

I bit down on my lip. “As a matter of fact…”

Travis groaned.

“She saved us. Quinn got herself loose in the
car and jerked it off the road. If she hadn’t done that, we
would’ve been dead by now. Luka was heading to his private
airstrip. We were just bargaining chips until he got there and got
rid of us.” Seth knelt on the other side of me. “Her leg’s pretty
bad—”

“You said it wasn’t,” I accused just as Travis
cocked back a fist and slammed it in Seth’s face. Seth crashed
backwards into the ground from the force, and it didn’t look like
he’d be getting up again anytime soon. “I told you to stay back.
Until I can verify who you are, I don’t trust you,” he raged.

“Oh my God,” I moaned, staring in disbelief at
the prone Seth. “Travis, I...uh...know who he is.”

He frowned at me as he tucked his gun into the
waistband of his jeans and pulled out his phone.

“Don’t believe anything he says, Quinn.”

“Oh I think I believe what he’s told me.”

Travis put the phone to his ear. “And what did
he tell you?”

“He didn’t even need to tell me. Look at him.
He’s my father.” I stared at Travis. His eyes held mine as I heard
his phone dialling. “You just punched my father. In the face.”

Travis looked from the prone Seth to me and back
again. His mouth fell open.

The call connected. “Hello? Travis?” came the
tinny voice of Casey.

“And then I said, ‘No one messes with the
Valentines.
Ever
’ before I reached forward and grabbed the
steering wheel,” I told Lucy, Mac, and Evie from my hospital bed
where I lay propped against mounds of pillows, munching on a pile
of hot chips, and slurping noisily on my large strawberry
shake.

Well I didn’t really say that, but I would have
if I’d thought of it. I was just a little bit preoccupied at the
time trying to save lives. I recounted the entire story for them,
starting from the moment I woke, not missing out a single thing,
from my decision at the beach not to run to David getting shot to
Seth pulling me from the wrecked car to me telling him Travis was
my everything—which evoked sighs—to the way Travis looked as he
stood there, gun pointed at Seth. Lucy’s gleam of happiness was
bright enough to take out an eye.