Love Inspired Suspense June 2015 #1 (19 page)

Nicholas exited the house with Max, and in minutes he was in the air, heading for the national forest. He pictured the last time he'd seen Selena before she'd gone to the dining room. Their gazes had linked across the expanse of the living room. At that moment it had been tough to keep his professional facade in place. All he'd wanted to do was be alone with her.

* * *

In the dark forest, the only illumination Selena had was the flashlight Carly wore on her head. In one of Carly's hands she held her gun and in the other a shovel. Selena stumbled over something in the middle of a trail and went down on her knees. Without the use of her arms, which were tied behind her back, she barely caught herself from falling forward.”

“Keep moving. We're almost there. Remember, if you try anything, I'll shoot you in the leg to keep you from escaping and then drag you to the spot I made for you.”

Selena contemplated “trying anything.” Maybe someone would hear the shot and investigate. That might be her only chance. The darkness could be used to her advantage. As she ran through one scenario after another, Carly grasped Selena's arm, causing her to stop, then shoved her into the underbrush on the side of the trail.

“This way. A couple of hundred yards and you'll meet your fate.”

“The police will come after you. Why not run now? Leave me here. No one is around. I'm lost. I won't find help before you get away.”

Carly laughed, a chilling sound in the cold air. “Sure. Do you want me to untie your hands first?” She used the handle of the shovel to poke her in the back. “Move!”

When Carly's light shone on a spot a few feet away, a small clearing, Selena knew they had arrived. In the middle there was a pile of dirt.

Another nudge with the shovel and Selena came out of the thick forest. Carly illuminated the area. The sight of a hole in the ground about the size of a body sent a wave of panic through Selena.

* * *

As Nicholas climbed from the helicopter near where a highway-patrol officer waited at Exit 152 off I-95, his cell phone rang. Seeing who was calling, he quickly answered it. “Did you find anything, Fiona? I'm almost at the forest.”

“Yes. The neighbor called me back and gave me the information to track his SUV. They had a tracking device put on it when they bought it.”

“And?”

“I know where the car is parked right now. Off Highway 234 on an unpaved road, not for public use. I've got a forest ranger heading there to open the gates in case they aren't. You'll probably be there before him. I imagine Carly somehow opened them because the SUV isn't far past the second gate.”

“Thanks. Let the captain know, so whoever is already here can head toward the area. Max and I will track them from the SUV.”
Unless they're in the vehicle
. That thought made him rethink what he should do. “How far from the second gate?”

“It's hard to tell exactly, but not far.”

He shook hands with the highway-patrol officer and climbed into the front seat with Max in the back.

“Nicholas, you'll pass an RV campground,” Fiona continued. “The turnoff is about a half a mile farther on your left.”

“I'll let you know what I find.” Nicholas ended his call with Fiona and relayed the information to the highway-patrol officer.

“I know that road. It's Spriggs Fire Lane,” the Virginia state trooper said and pulled onto Highway 234. “It's not too far.”

Fifteen minutes later, wearing night-vision goggles, Nicholas exited the patrol car, put Max on his leash and walked through the second open gate, leaving the officer to coordinate the others who would arrive shortly. He spied the SUV off the road. Gun in hand, he approached the dark vehicle and searched it to make sure Carly or Selena weren't around. Empty. He wasn't sure if he was relieved or not.

“Your turn, Max.” Nicholas gave his dog the blouse to smell. “Find Selena.”

* * *

Selena stared into the hole at a coffin.

“Get in it. I'm giving you a chance to be saved if they get to you before the air runs out. You're my bargaining chip.” Carly waved the gun at Selena. She stared at the woman, realizing that she wouldn't see Nicholas again. She cared for him more than she ever had another. These emotions stirring in her were so different than anything she'd ever experienced. She wanted to explore them more in depth.

“I said, get in the coffin. Now.”

“No.”

“That isn't a choice.” Carly charged Selena so fast it took her by surprise.

Carly contacted with Selena and sent her flying down into the pit. Her head hit against the side of the coffin and her sight blurred. Before she could scramble from it, the top slammed down while the darkness spun. A loud thump struck the wooden casket as if Carly had jumped down on top of it. Quickly, Carly hammered against the lid to keep it shut, causing shock waves of sound to thunder through Selena's mind.

I can't lose consciousness. Please, Lord, help me
.
Somehow
.

FOURTEEN

A
crashing sound echoed through the trees up ahead. Max kept going forward through the thick vegetation. Nicholas tried to speculate what the noise was, but he finally pushed it away and focused instead on getting to Selena before she was killed.

Through the eerie green of his view, he saw Carly jump into a hole. He increased his pace as much as he could without making noise. He needed to surprise the woman and prayed Selena was alive in the hole, the length of a grave. A pounding sound reverberated through the air. A few yards ahead of him, Max flew out of the underbrush toward Carly, her head visible above the ground.

“Get her,” Nicholas shouted, lifting his gun.

Carly screamed.

When Nicholas planted himself at the edge of the grave, his weapon aimed downward, he found Max's mouth clamped around Carly's arm with the revolver. She lay on a coffin, a hammer by her feet.

“Get him off me.”

“As soon as you let go of the gun.”

Carly complied, and the weapon fell between the coffin and the dirt wall. Max was between Carly and the gun.

“Max, loose it. I've got her, boy.” His K-9 partner dropped Carly's arm. “Where is Selena?” he demanded of Carly. “In the coffin?”

Flat on her back, Carly glared at him.

“Find Selena, Max.”

His rottweiler scratched at the coffin at the same time Nicholas heard banging from beneath Carly. “I'm in here. Help.”

“I'm here, Selena. I'll get you out.” Then to Carly he said, “Climb out and lie facedown on the ground. One wrong move and I'll sic Max on you with no regrets.”

Carly followed his order. As soon as the woman was lying on the ground, he pulled out his handcuffs and secured her.

“Guard her,” Nicholas said then lowered himself into the hole, took the hammer and pulled the nails out of the wood.

When he lifted the lid, Selena launched herself into his arms, shaking against him.

He had so many things to say to her, but that would have to wait until Carly was taken care of. He gave her a quick kiss then climbed from the hole and turned to help Selena out of her grave.

He stared into her beautiful features. “How are you?”

“I have one killer headache. Carly pushed me in and I hit my head, but that's nothing now. You saved me.”

“I was only doing my job.” He took out his cell and couldn't get reception. “We need to walk back to the Tahoe. There's a highway-patrol officer with a radio. You need medical attention.”

“I'm fine. Really. And the best part is, I know why Carly killed Saul Rather. Greg will be freed soon.”

* * *

The prison door opened, and Greg Littleton appeared in the exit. He looked around, saw Selena and Nicholas and waved. Bag in hand, the freed man hurried toward her and Nicholas. The sight of Greg's smile made her heart sing.

Selena watched as Greg cut the distance between them. “I can't believe this day is finally here. This is the best feeling.”

“I agree,” Nicholas said.

Greg stopped in front of Selena with a huge grin on his face. “I'll never be able to thank you two enough for what you did for me. I tried to convince everyone I was innocent, but no one would listen.” He took Selena's hand. “Until Mr. Jeffries, then you.”

Selena gave Greg a hug. “I'm so glad the truth finally came out.”

“How did you two solve the case? I've heard some of it on the news.” Greg swung his attention from Selena to Nicholas.

“It was mostly Selena. She got Carly Jones to tell her why she killed Saul Rather.”

Greg's forehead furrowed. “Why would the woman confess to you?”

“Because she was going to kill me and she wanted me to know why.” Selena glanced at Nicholas. “But he saved me.” In the coffin, as Carly had hammered it shut, all Selena could do was pray and give in to the Lord. She wasn't going to get out of her situation without help, and Nicholas was the help the Lord had sent her.
Thank You, God
.

“As Senator Eagleton's chief of staff, Carly had been accepting bribes for several years and Saul found out,” Nicholas explained to Greg. “He was blackmailing her, so she killed him. When she heard about the argument the evening before between you and Saul, she used that to frame you. Saul was meeting her for his first payoff, instead she shot him and fled as you came into the parking garage.” Nicholas smiled at Selena. “She wouldn't stop digging deeper even when Carly came after her at the Easter Egg Roll and in the White House underground parking.”

“She was desperate toward the end and tried to shoot me at my uncle's. Instead, he was wounded. That's when Carly decided to leave the country with the money she'd accrued from the bribes she had taken.”

“But she went after you first?”

“Yes, she wanted me to pay for ruining her scheme.”

Nicholas clasped Selena's hand. “Can we give you a ride, Greg?”

Greg panned the area. “Thanks, but my mom should be here. We're going out to celebrate.” His face lit up. “Ah, I see her coming.”

“Greg, my uncle would like you to come visit him. He wants to offer you a job at his estate as groundskeeper.”

“You're not joking?” Greg asked in a stunned voice.

“No.” Selena gave him a piece of paper. “Call that number when you're ready.”

“Thank you. Tell him I will.” Greg shook Selena's hand then Nicholas's, then headed for the nearby Chevy and hugged an older woman waiting by the car.

Selena's throat clogged, and she swallowed several times before saying, “I'm glad I could finish what Michael started with the case.”

“Come on. I've got one more place to go.” He tugged her toward his Tahoe.

“Where?”

“A surprise.”

As Nicholas headed toward Maryland, Selena relaxed, thinking about the whirlwind past few days since Carly had been arrested for Saul Rather's murder. “At least we found one murderer. I'd hoped Carly had killed Michael, too, then Erin could come home.”

“Carly had an airtight alibi with a dozen senators able to verify her presence at a small party your uncle had given.”

“And she was there the whole time?”

“Yes. Believe me, I went through her alibi, wanting to tear it apart. I couldn't. Neither could Isaac or Gavin.”

Selena sighed. “Which leaves Erin where she was—a suspect.”

“I'm not going to rest until the truth comes out. But I need you to promise to stop doing your own investigation. I can't go through the past few weeks again.” Nicholas pulled up to a gate and pushed a remote control.

The black iron gates slowly opened. “I thought we were going to my uncle's.”

“No, I told you I would bring you to my childhood home and that's what I'm doing.”

Selena sat forward, looking out the windshield at the white-brick mansion with a long veranda across the front of the house and tall, massive columns. At least four chimneys thrust up toward the sky.

“This isn't that far from my uncle's.”

Nicholas parked on a circular driveway near the massive double doors that led inside. “Actually, this place is closer than I realized. Probably no more than twenty minutes away.” He opened his door and climbed from the Tahoe. “I want to show you the place.”

She slid from the car as Nicholas rounded the hood. Was this his way of saying goodbye because neither she nor her uncle needed to be guarded anymore? The physical threat was over, and now she faced a different kind of threat. When she was praying to the Lord to be saved from Carly, she'd realized how she really felt concerning Nicholas.

“Why do you want me to see this?” she finally asked Nicholas, who paused and stared up at the front of the house.

A neutral expression descended, as if he was struggling to hide any emotion. “Because I needed to let my past go in order to move forward.”

Move forward? Where? Doubts assailed Selena. “Have you forgiven your parents?”

“Yes. I can't change what happened, but I can put it behind me once and for all. I'm going to sell the place. This isn't me, but it will be perfect for someone else. I want some family to enjoy it the way it was meant to be enjoyed.”

Her heartbeat thumped against her chest. “So you don't see you having a family one day?”

He shifted toward her and clasped her arms. “On the contrary, for the first time I do see me having a family—with you. That is, if you'll have me.”

For a moment no words came, as if his declaration had robbed her of coherent thoughts.

“I know we haven't been together long, but I hope you'll give me a chance.” Concern lined his face.

She flung her arms around him, pressing her body against his. “Yes. It's not the quantity of time we've been together that is important, but the quality of time. I know I should be scared of my love for you, but I've realized I'm not. You understand me.”

He framed her face with his hands and peered down at her. “And you understand me.”

“For years I was determined never to be like my mother. She had to have a man around. If she didn't, she couldn't function. I know I'm not ever going to be like her because I have for years lived a happy, content life.” She looked into his beautiful eyes, full of love. “But you've changed that. If I went back to the way things were before I got to know you, I wouldn't be happy and content as before without you. There was a time I would have been scared about that. I'm not now. When I needed someone, God sent you.”

He leaned down and touched his lips to hers. “I love you, Selena.” Then he deepened the connection, his arms entwining her.

The feeling of forgiveness toward her mother and of finally being free of her past spread through Selena as she poured all her love into the kiss.

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from EXIT STRATEGY by Shirlee McCoy