She nodded and clutched me tight. At that moment, Rufus arrived. He raced around and around our legs and then leaped up and wouldn’t take his wet paws off Bethany’s shoulders until she ruffled his fur.
The guard I’d hauled out of the car tried to get up. Rufus immediately growled and bared his teeth and the guy changed his mind. But the others were starting to come to their senses, too: the big guy who’d shot me, especially. There were four of them, and they had guns. “Come on,” I told Bethany. “We’ve gotta go.” And I took her hand and ran with her into the trees.
I got my bearings and headed straight for the smallholding. But as the adrenaline wore off, the exhaustion started to kick in. The wound in my shoulder didn’t help. After a mile, I was panting and wincing and I had to slow to a walk.
“Cal!” Bethany dragged me to a stop. “You’ve been shot! Let me—”
I shook my head. “Later. We need to keep moving.”
At that second, there was a rustle of foliage behind us. I spun around. Was someone there?
Seconds passed and no one emerged. But I kept waiting, just in case. I waited long enough for any pursuer to get restless and make a noise….
Nothing. It must have been a bird or the wind in the trees. I let out a long breath and turned to Bethany. As soon as I looked at her, I felt that pull, the one I’d been trying to crush down inside me all along, the one I’d finally realized I couldn’t.
I reached out and took her hand, then pulled her close. She looked up at me, surprised, but squeezed my hand, and my heart just goddamn melted.
As soon as we were safe home, I was going to tell her what I’d done, why I was out here in the woods. Maybe she’d hate me, maybe that would be the end of us, but at least there’d be a chance.
“C’mon,” I said. “We got a long way to go.” And we started walking, hand in hand.
45
Ralavich
“You let her go?” I roared. “Three of you, with guns, against one man, and you just handed her over?”
The guard shrank back. Cairns, the head of the club, looked like he was about to say something, but I glared at him and he lowered his eyes. The bruises on his neck were still visible. He knew who was in charge, now.
“And where’s my man?” I demanded. “Where’s Alik? He was with you in the car!”
At that second, the satellite phone rang. I mashed the answer button. “Alik?!”
Alik spoke in a hushed voice. “I have them,” he said with great satisfaction. “Tracked them all the way back to their house. The bastard’s good, he nearly spotted me a few times. But I got them.”
“You’re there now?” I asked, incredulous. “You know where they live?”
“I’m looking right at it,” said Alik. “A cabin in the woods.”
“Send your coordinates,” I said breathlessly. “I’m coming.” I suddenly knew exactly what to do. How to make Bethany suffer, how to break her forever, and get my revenge on the man who’d kept her from me. I turned to Cairns. “You said you have a helicopter?”
He swallowed. “Y—Yes….”
“Get it ready. And get the other members. Tell them I’ve got something special for them.”
46
Cal
WE WERE BACK at the cabin and I was sitting on a chair with my shirt off. My eyes were locked on Bethany as she laid out first aid supplies on the table. I hadn’t let go of her hand the entire way home.
She cleaned the wound, then picked up a needle and thread, ready to suture. “Sorry,” she said with a grimace.
I nodded for her to go ahead and she began. It hurt...but she had the gentlest damn hands I’d ever known and watching her was the perfect way to take my mind off the pain. Those soft lips were pursed in concentration and I was transfixed by them, and soothed by the brush of her cool fingertips as she worked. She’d tied her hair back to keep it out of the way and she was wearing a plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up. She’d changed so much since I first met her. And she’d never looked more beautiful.
“Cal?” she asked quietly as she worked. “What now?”
I’d already made up my mind. Had decided as soon as I climbed out of that river. “Still got that passport Jacques gave you?”
She nodded.
“That offer still open?”
She drew in her breath. “You’ll come with me?!”
I nodded somberly. “If you’ll have me.”
She threw her arms around my neck and hugged me close. There was something inside me that felt like it had been locked up and buried, right down in the depths, for six long years, and I felt it tentatively lift and pull against its chains. I was just beginning to let myself hope.