Fallen Hero (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 3)

Elspeth had no idea what she should say, think, do. Fear threatened to overwhelm her to the point that she struggled to retain coherency. She wanted to scream but knew it would be futile because the only men who could help her were watching helplessly as she was dragged off.

Aaron knew that if anybody intervened, Thomas would shoot Elspeth. They had all witnessed killers like Thomas before. There was something about the off-hand attitude he had toward the misery he had caused, and the total disregard for the woman in his arms, that warned everyone Thomas would have no compunction against destroying her life if he chose.

Right now, it wasn’t a case of if Thomas was going to kill her, it was a case of when.

The men inside the house, once Thomas had gone, secured Frederick to the desk in the study.

“Sorry,” Jasper murmured to the restrained convict seconds before he levelled a punch on the man that rendered him unconscious.

When Frederick was on the floor, blindfolded, and certainly going nowhere, the men raced out of the house, but through the front door. Completely avoiding the back of the house where the abductor had vanished with Elspeth, the men ran down the road, and took up positions in the woods at the end of the garden. For now, all they could do was watch and wait, but if someone could get into a good enough position to render Thomas incapable of hurting Elspeth then they would take that perfect shot.

Elspeth, oblivious to the rest of the Star Elite’s actions, continued to stare at Aaron, who followed them every step of the way. Once again, he was the stabilising force in her world of turmoil. She would have given anything to be able to cross the distance between them and tell him how much he meant to her again, but she couldn’t. She had to hope he could read the love in her eyes and he would understand everything she couldn’t tell him.

“Look at it like this, Thomas,” Aaron began. “You have no house because it still belongs to Elspeth. It will get sold only when she decides to sell it and she, and she alone, will be the one who benefits from the money it brings her. You have lost your comrades in arms. Both are now under arrest and will face time behind bars for the crimes you have all committed. We now know of your crimes and will not allow you to escape. Men are watching you as we speak. If you take Elspeth’s life, they will hurt you and you will have to suffer the pain of whatever injuries they put upon you to render you helpless. You will still go to gaol for murdering her. Death is not an option for you.”

“There is no escape,” Sir Hugo confirmed.

Aaron nodded to something or someone over her shoulder. Aside from the rustling of leaves, there was no indication that anybody was there, but Elspeth suspected that someone from the Star Elite had just departed for the graveyard. She hoped so in any case because, right now, the chances of her escaping this situation alive were extremely remote.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Elspeth remained mute as she was dragged toward the graveyard. She refused to speak to the man behind her. He huffed and puffed because he had to drag her weight as well as try to watch for an ambush and keep a gun to her head.

“You really do make life difficult for yourself, don’t you?” she murmured eventually with amused spite when he began to curse virulently.

“Shut up,” Thomas grunted.

“You really are nothing more than a two-faced hypocrite. All that rubbish you spouted in the house about me being a leech, and it was you all along,” Elspeth murmured. “God, what would father say to you? You are an utter disgrace.”

“I said, shut up,” Thomas snapped.

As far as Elspeth was concerned they arrived at the graveyard far too quickly. She began to worry when Thomas hauled her through the gate only to slam to a stop when he saw the freshly disturbed soil that was supposed to mark his final resting place.

“See? It has been disturbed recently because it was dug up. The money you carefully put into the coffin was removed and has been taken by the Star Elite,” Elspeth informed him. “They were your proceeds from crime, after all.”

“You are lying,” Thomas hissed.

“Really? Why else would the soil on your grave be disturbed then?” she retorted coldly.

Thomas, his eyes glued on the grave, yanked Elspeth with him across the empty churchyard. Elspeth stumbled and slipped along beside him. It was worrying to note that somewhere along the way, Aaron and the others had vanished. She suspected it was so they could all get into a position where they could stop Thomas in his tracks. She hoped so because she could see no way she could get herself out of Thomas’s tight hold.

“Will you lighten your grip?” She demanded, tugging on the material of his jacket. “I can hardly breathe.”

“Shut up,” Thomas snapped but with an air of distraction. She suspected it was because he was trying to work out how to dig up the coffin while using her as protection.

“Where is the money?” he demanded. “Who took it?”

“Sir Hugo took it, on behalf of the War Office. It is safely tucked away in a bank account. It’s just not your bank account.” Elspeth fell quiet because she knew just how foolish it would be to tell him that she owned the account.

“It is my money,” Thomas hissed. “It isn’t yours.”

“Well, you aren’t going to need it where you are going, are you?” Elspeth replied. “Gaol feeds you. I don’t think it supplies much in the way of heating, but you will have plenty of bodies to cuddle up to.”

“Shut up.”

“They provide your meals as well, so I hear,” Elspeth continued.

“I said, shut up.”