Chapter Eight
Swede shook his head. “When she asked to borrow a car, she was upset, so when she left, she probably wasn’t thinking clearly.”
“It was a damn foolish thing to do,” Jack said. “She should’ve told one of us, not Masters.”
“There’s a gemstone store she asked the old man about and she’d told him she was going there to get supplies and she’d be home right after. The store closed two hours ago and it wouldn’t have taken her more than an hour to get back here. We can’t reach her on her cell phone and it’s not here on the charger, so she must have it with her.”
Jack was up and hurrying to dress as he listened. He sat to put his boots on and said, “Give me the location of the store. I’ll go.”
“You haven’t had much sleep.”
The look Jack gave Swede silenced anything else he might’ve said. The team knew Jack and Lucy were now dating, and that made Lucy Jack’s girl. This news had shaken him awake more than any cup of coffee might have done. His girl was missing. He had to find her.
Jack stood up and added his gear. Once both guns and knives were in place, he was out the door, Swede right behind him.
Two hours missing was already too long in Jack’s mind. He wasn’t wasting another minute.
****
Jack stood in the parking lot of the gemstone store, scowling.
Lucy was gone. Disappeared from the parking lot, leaving only the small Jeep Wrangler she’d borrowed from the ranch house to drive to town and her black shoulder bag with the pink cowboy hats on it. Everything inside was still there. Her wallet, her license, and her phone. Travel sized bottle of rum, peanut butter chocolate cups, and a tube of that lipstick Angelica wore. Those stupid three important things she thought she had to carry to appease her demanding employer. Jack dropped the bag onto the seat and straightened to stand.
Damn it. Jack slammed his hand onto the roof of the car.
Why didn’t she wait for one of us to go with her? I should’ve been there. Then she wouldn’t have been taken.
She’d been worried about Grant, that persistent guy at the lounge. The same guy who’d been pursuing her for months.
Now she was missing and in danger. We’ve been focused on Angelica as the stalker’s target, but what if it hadn’t been her? What if Lucy was the real target all along and the stalker was just waiting for his chance? Then she’d walked right into it.
He had a gut feeling that was exactly what it was. And his gut had never been wrong.
Lucy was his girl now, and this had happened on his watch.
Damn it.
He wanted to break something. Like the guy’s neck.
Focus now. Do not get emotional. Do the job. Get her back.
He picked up her phone.
No password on it. Anyone could get in. No wonder the guy got her number. She was too open with everything. Too easy. I told her I wanted to take her phone back to factory settings and then set it up more securely. Why had she procrastinated for so long?
He searched her texts.
Pick the larger stone. It will look prettier on you. Unknown number.
Jack frowned. Had she sent someone a picture of the stones?
He checked her photos, but only saw pictures of Angelica and Lucy, and one of him when he’d been watching someone and looking quite serious. Another where she’d zoomed in from the one of him. Not one picture of a gemstone.
Someone had been watching her in the store. She hadn’t replied to the text. So what had happened next? She was shopping; she got this text, then what? She didn’t respond to it and she didn’t erase it. Had she even seen it? Whether she had or hadn’t, someone had been watching her.
The parking lot was empty, the store was closed and everyone had gone home.
She’d been taken. Lucy would never have left her things and gone off with someone voluntarily. She would’ve called the house and checked in so no one would worry. Typically, she put everyone else first.
She’d been taken and he had to get her back.
Why the hell hadn’t she waited for one of us to go with her? She’d failed to see the danger even after I told them both not to go out alone. Why didn’t she listen? Every one of us has been focused on Angelica. Of course it would be the star the stalker had been after, and everyone had assumed that. Damn it. I should’ve been here with her, then this never would’ve happened.
He could kick himself a thousand times an hour, but that wasn’t going to bring Lucy back. He had no room in his mind for that kind of thinking. And right now, nothing was going to get in the way of him finding Lucy and saving her.
Focus, dammit, focus.
Calling Montana, he began giving them the details. “The Jeep she drove is here. Door wasn’t closed all the way. Her purse, wallet, and phone were in the Jeep. She purchased items and the bag is in the car. Time stamp is on the receipt. 2045. The store is closed and no one is here. There’s no surveillance cameras in the parking lot.” Jack blew out a breath. “Tell me you got something on your end. Anything.”
“I spoke to the manager,” Montana said. “No one saw her being taken. No one noticed who was parked next to her car, and the store has no surveillance tapes.”
“She’s been getting calls and texts from a guy named Grant Kilgore. He’s been making her nervous. I’ve got her phone and there’s a text from an unknown number. It says, ‘Pick the larger stone. It will look prettier on you.’ She was being watched.”
“That was meant to terrorize her. You think this guy, Grant, sent it?”
Swede interrupted. “We can find that out. Bring me the phone. I’m cracking her laptop now. Will have every email in and out once I’m in.”
“Grant is the guy from the club that tried to get her to dance the other night, so we know he’s in the area,” Jack said. “I didn’t see him, but if they have video, he might be on it.”
“Monroe doesn’t want us calling the police. He’s afraid of the publicity.”
“Fuck Monroe.”
“I know how you feel, Jack, but he’s the one who hired us.”
Jack’s temper was rising and he was too angry to speak.
“What I can do is talk to the sheriff unofficially right now, without the paperwork,” Montana added. “Monroe is from the city. He doesn’t know small towns. We’ll keep this quiet for now.”
“Do what you got to do,” Jack growled out. “And I’ll do what I got to do.”
“Sheriff will be there shortly, then you come on back and we’ll regroup.”
“Patience, Jack,” Swede said. “I’m in already. She’s got no password lock and no password manager. No anti tracking plug ins, no privacy protecting anti-theft app, nothing to keep someone out. An easy hack. She’s an open book. No tape over her webcam either, and … hello.”
Montana and Jack were silent, waiting for Swede to finish.
“Bingo. We got ourselves a hacker. Everything she can do and see on here, he can see.”
“You’re sure it’s a he?” Montana asked.
“Got a reverse camera thing going on here, I’d say it’s a good guess. Hacker likes to watch her. Maybe even videotape her.”
Jack closed his eyes.
“Had they dated? How did she know this guy?” Montana asked.
“He bartends at a club in L.A. and she left her purse at the bar. Guy gave it back to her and then started calling her the next day, asking her out. She always says no, but he’s persistent,” Jack explained.
“We might be dealing with a love obsessional stalker here, instead of a single obsession stalker who’s angry she left. If he thinks he’s in love with her, he might not hurt her.”
“Clock is ticking. I don’t have time to analyze who he might be or what he might do.” Jack growled the last words out.
“We’ll find her, Jack.”
The sheriff pulled into the parking lot and Jack said, “Sheriff is here. Got to go.”
***
They’d been focusing on Angelica because Lucy had assumed all the gifts were for the star.
Now Lucy was gone.
Lucy was soft-spoken, quiet, and sometimes shy. The type a predator would go for. And until recently, she hadn’t stood up for herself. But that had started to change.
Jack hoped to God she’d stand up now and fight when the time came, because her life might depend on it.
One tip had come in from the public. A woman had called the Bozeman police department and reported seeing something strange not far from the store the night Lucy was abducted.
The transcript read, “I seen this woman in the back of an old white van and her face hit the window. I think she might be one of them abused women or it’s white slavers got her. She looked scared. I got the license plate before the van raced off. GGK32P. Them vans, they all look alike to me, so I don’t know what kind it was. You know how they take the letters off where it said Phone Company but you can still see em? Well, I hope that woman is okay. She looked scared.”
If that woman was Lucy, they had a good chance of finding her now. Otherwise, they’d had no leads for where to start looking, Swede hadn’t connected the hacking evidence to any person’s name yet and Jack had been going stir crazy.
They had a record of the calls and texts from Grant, but other than his persistence in asking her out, there were no other red flags. None of the messages were threatening.
The strongest lead they had was the sighting of the woman in the white van. So that was the lead they were heavily pursuing.
“I’ve got a buddy who’s flying out and bringing his drone,” Montana said. “One of the latest unmanned drones with a good camera. We’re going to find that van.” He stood, marking out a grid map with squares and numbering them. “Once he gets here, we’ll get started.”
***
Lucy moaned. Tied in the back bedroom, spread-eagled on the bed and wearing a red lace teddy identical to the one they’d thought was sent to Angelica, Lucy moaned again.
He’d done that thing to my throat again that made me pass out. My throat hurts.
A little more alert now, she glanced down at her body and saw she was no longer wearing her clothes.
He must’ve undressed me and put this thing on.
The thought of his hands all over her body doing that and God only knew what else, made her feel ill. He might have raped her. She closed her eyes and listened to her body.
He hadn’t done that. Oh, thank God. He hadn’t done that. Yet. Please, God, don’t let him do that.
The AC was down so low, it felt like an icebox in the room as a window unit cranked out air. The air conditioning unit filled the whole window and the noise of it drowned out anything else in the house that she might’ve heard.
“Wakey, wakey,” his voice came through the door as he cracked it open. He stood in the doorway, gazing at her with that strange light in his eyes before reaching down to touch himself. “So pretty,” he said. He took a step nearer to look at her breasts. “Pretty Lucy.”
Goosebumps covered her flesh and she knew he could see her chilled, hard nipples beneath the lace. His gaze focused right on them. “Look how pretty. I knew they’d look just like this.”
Turning, he went to the doorway and called, “Hey Georgie, come here. I want you to see her.”
Oh my God, there are two of them.
Horror at what two men might do to her filled her.
He turned and walked back to the bed. Pulling her long, black hair around her body, he arranged her and then bent to sniff her crotch. “Nothing yet, my dear? Well, we will fix that soon.”
He could freeze her in the air conditioning all he wanted and imagine hard nipples meant desire, but she would never desire him, not in a million years.
“Hurry up, Georgie!” He put his hand on her thigh and lifted the lace bottoms that matched. “We’re going to have to shave you down here before our wedding night, but I don’t expect a virgin like you to understand all that.”
He thinks I’m a virgin? What’s he going to do when he finds out I’m not? And there’s not going to be a wedding night. I will never say I do.
“Georgie will shave you.” Grant giggled a weird sounding laugh. “And I’ll watch.”
Who the hell is Georgie? I don’t want him or anyone else shaving me or even touching me.
She shivered.
“Oh, she’s scared. Georgie Porgie pudding and pie, kissed the girls and made them cry. Do you know that one, dearest?”
Lucy stared at him, horrified. She’d never heard him use that voice before. He truly is mad. Insane. He ought to be locked away.
“There she is! Come here, Georgie. Behold my bride to be.”
A woman with short-cropped blonde hair stepped into the doorway, wringing her hands. “I don’t know about this, Grant.”
“This is Lucy. She loves her new nightie, and me. Look at her hard little nipples. She’s very turned on right now. Georgie, meet Lucy, my fiancé. Lucy, meet my sister, Georgie.”
Lucy stared at Georgie with a look of horror.
Georgie was a girl? His sister? His twin. They looked so much alike. Was a she nut too? Had to be to be going along with this craziness.
“You didn’t tell me you had to tie her up, Grant.”
“Now, now. You remember how I like my little rope games, don’t you, Georgie?”
“But we’re all grown up now, Grant. Those were children’s games.”
“Not the way I play them.”
“You killed our kitten and our dog. I know you don’t want to kill your bride. I think you should untie her.”
“Oh, I’m not going to kill her. Silly Georgie. Why would I kill my new wife? We don’t even have insurance on her yet!” He laughed.
Both women looked at him with horrified faces.
“Oh, neither of you are any fun.” He shook his head. “No sense of humor at all. I’m not going to kill her for the insurance. I was joking.”
He tapped Lucy’s foot. “I know how to make you laugh though. We will have a tickle game.”
By the time he’d finished his tickle game, her ribs were sore in places she didn’t know she could be sore and taking a deep breath hurt. He’d tickled her and made her laugh so hard she cried, and she’d cried because he could force her to laugh while his fingers dug in, and he laughed the whole time, thinking it was funny.
Georgie had disappeared, and Lucy wondered if she might have an ally in his twin sister. Maybe Georgie would help her get away.
She closed her eyes, exhausted from the tickling “game”. Thinking of Jack, she prayed he’d rescue her soon. How she longed to be in the safety of his strong arms again where no one could hurt her.
***
“Clock’s ticking, Swede.”
“I know, man. We’re gonna find her.”
Montana put a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “He’s moving that drone as fast as he can, but we need to be thorough. We’ll find her, Jack.”
Jack’s patience was short as they waited for intel from the drone. The good thing was, the drone could get in lower than a helo could and could move between the trees. But they still had to work the grid map methodically as they searched. And none of this was working as fast as Jack wanted it to.
With two-thirds of the grid searched and a third of the mapped area to go, their surveillance drone had found a white van parked behind a small log cabin. Now they could put boots on the ground and go check it out. Jack was out the door before Montana finished his sentence. The full team of Brotherhood Protectors was working this weekend. Some would stay with Angelica and what had become their command center for the search for Lucy. Montana, Swede, Jack, and two other members of the team would go get Lucy out if she was in that cabin.
***
The small log cabin looked like no one lived there. The grass was overgrown up to the top of Jack’s knees, and the mailbox hung crookedly from its post by the dirt road, which led to the house.
The team was in place, surrounding the perimeter of the house, and they hoped this was the right place. They just needed somebody to come out or go into the cabin. They were hoping to see a peek of Lucy or Grant. So far, they hadn’t seen either one, and it was just a waiting game, which could last hours or days.
Jack had never been so impatient. This was the longest mission he’d been on because this was Lucy. He wanted Lucy safe and out of there, not just now, but yesterday.
Their infrared heat sensors allowed them to see if anyone was inside and where exactly they would be. Once it grew dark, it would be easy to put a listening device under the cabin to hear what was going on inside.
Jack waited behind a tree, wearing a ghillie suit and watching.
Come on, Lucy. Please, baby. Let me see you just once.
He repeated the thought not for the first time, but for the millionth time. The hours between now and dusk were moving much too slowly. The only good thing was the house was quiet; no screams or sounds of violence. The only bad thing was he had no idea what was going on in there.
When he got her out of there, he was going to have a long talk about security. On her phone, laptop, and most of all, on her when she went shopping alone. He was going to teach her how to be aware of her surroundings at all times. She needed to know how to spot predators before they got close. A good self-defense class was in order, and how to shoot a gun. This was never going to happen again. When Jack finally did rescue her, he planned on kissing her all night and making love to her until the sun came up the next morning.
Come on, Lucy. Please baby. Let me see you just once. I’m going to get you out of there, I promise.
***
The infrared devices showed three people inside. Yes, Jack counted three warm bodies.
One was in the kitchen, stirring something. The other two were in the bedroom in the back. The third was lying still on a bed and not moving. That had to be Lucy. The arms and legs were in an X shape. She was tied spread-eagled.
Jack’s fist tightened on the scope. He needed to control his breathing. The other warm body was sitting beside her, touching her. No, stroking her hair. Whoever they were, they had no right to touch her.
“We’ve got three in the cabin,” Montana said.
“I see them,” Jack said, his quiet voice full of the anger welling up.
“Two of the three are moving, the third is not,” Swede said.
Unspoken, each man knew that could mean Lucy was badly wounded, dead, or dying. Things they’d seen before using this kind of equipment. None of them would speak of this possibility.
“I wish one of them would come out,” Jack said. “They have to eat and use the outhouse eventually.”
“Yes,” Swede said. “Then we’ve got one of them.”
“I’m going under the house,” Jack said. “I want to hear what they’re saying.”
“Your call, Jack,” Montana said. “Your girl. We’ve got your six.”
“Roger that,” Jack said. “Soon as it’s dark.”
“That’s in thirty minutes,” Montana said. “Good luck.”
The sun took forever to finish setting. As Jack watched, he thought it was the slowest setting sun he’d ever seen.
***
Grant combed Lucy’s long, shiny black hair and hummed to himself. It wasn’t a tune she’d ever heard before, and it was odd enough to make her think he’d made it up. The repetition was driving her mad.
“So pretty,” he said. “I think I’ll keep you.” He tapped her on the forehead with the brush and said, “For ever.” Then he stood and headed out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, where she heard him moving pots and pans around.
***
Lucy just stared at the ceiling, thinking.
Grant had taken the duct tape off of her mouth so she could breathe better. Now she wasn’t afraid of suffocating anymore. She’d tried to scream once after she thought he’d left, but he came right back through the door, laughing. “Go ahead. I dare you to scream,” he taunted. “No one can hear you but me.”
They were out in the middle of nowhere with nothing but trees.
No one will hear me scream.
Her thoughts turned away from that and in another direction.
Georgie couldn’t be so bad, could she? She’s a woman. Surely, she’ll help me. I don’t think she likes her brother’s “games” any more than I do. And she grew up with him, so she must know he’s nuts.
When Georgie brought in the food, Lucy begged, “Please. I don’t want to stay here. He’s going to hurt me like he did your animals. Please. I don’t want to die.”
Georgie sighed. “He gets angry. He never means to do it, but he gets angry.”
“Were the animals your pets?”
“Yes, mine and his. We always had to share. I always have to share with him.”
“Does he always share with you?”
Georgie shook her head no.
“Let me go and come with me.”
“No, I inherited this house. It’s mine. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Georgie, he kidnapped me from a parking lot. I didn’t agree to come here. When the police find him, they’ll send him to jail.”
“He ought not to have done that.”
Lucy nodded. At last she was getting somewhere.
“He ought not to tickle you either. I know how that hurts.” Then she turned and went out the door.
Lucy looked at the plate of food on the table that she couldn’t reach. She laid her head back on the pillow and looked up at the ceiling again. She wasn’t hungry anyway. And her ribs hurt.
After a long time, Georgie came back carrying a chair and placed it beside the bed. Lucy watched her as she closed the bedroom door and then came over and sat down in the chair. She folded her hands in her lap and, with a set in her jaw, said, “I’ll sit with you. He won’t tickle you like that while I’m here.” She frowned and looked away, remembering.
Lucy asked, “What’s wrong, Georgie?”
“Oh, I was just remembering how he played too rough with my orange tabby, Butter. Broke her a week after we got her. She was so pretty. He liked tickling her too. Butter was my kitty. She always slept on my pillow at night. But he wouldn’t leave her alone either, then she died.”
Lucy swallowed hard and then said, “I’m so sorry about Butter.”
Georgie just nodded, pursed her lips, and looked toward the closed bedroom door.
***
Jack moved without sound through the trees in the dark and was to the edge of porch when the lights in the front room suddenly turned on. He dove down and rolled underneath the front porch. He crawled beneath the house, attached the listening device, rolled back out, and returned to his position.
Now they waited. Listening.
Jack’s frustration was growing. Was Lucy alive or not? She hadn’t moved or made a sound. There was nothing he could make out because of the radio playing in the front room. The radio was turned on for the weather report. The only other thing the team could make out was the opening and closing of doors.
***
Georgie stirred in the chair she’d been sitting in quietly, after crossing her legs and uncrossing them. Then she stood. “I got to go to the bathroom.”
“Please don’t leave me alone. You know what he did last time.”
“I got to go. But I’ll hurry.”
Lucy watched her leave with a sinking feeling. Something bad was going to happen.
****
The team heard every word the women spoke and knew now was the time to strike. Each of them ready to fire, they waited for the woman to come out, headed for the outhouse.
“Grant, you’ve got to let her go,” Georgie said.
“I told you, she’s my bride. Now hurry up.”
The front door opened. The woman stepped forward.
A squirrel ran down the tree limb close to Swede and chattered at him angrily, distracting him and drawing attention.
Jack had already zeroed in on the doorway, and not losing his concentration, took the shot.
Grant, at hearing the squirrel, yanked the woman back in front of him just as the shot came. The woman fell back into Grant and he caught her.
“Fuck.” Jack cursed and charged toward the cabin.
“Georgie, what’ve they done to you?” Grant shouted. Bloody bubbles came out of his sister’s mouth. He dropped her to the floor and ran for his life. He ran down the hall.
Lucy gasped as she heard Grant shout and she worried about Georgie, who’d been willing to sit with her and might even have let her go soon.
Who were they and what had they done to her? Something was happening, something that might be bad.
She was stuck, tied to the bed with the door closed.
Footsteps were in the house and coming down the hall.
Who was here?
Grant ran into the bedroom doorway with blood on his shirt.
Was it Georgies’s or Jack’s?
“You ruin everything,” he cried. Then he turned and ran down the hall.
Running into the next room, Grant kicked the rug away from the trapdoor in the floor, and then he yanked it open. He dropped quickly through the rabbit hole underneath the cabin and was gone.
Seconds later, Jack broke the bedroom door down and, at the sight of his face, she burst into relieved tears that it was him and not Grant or some other bad guy. He was covered in some kind of green camouflage covering all but his face and his eyes, yet she’d have recognized them anywhere. She saw them every time she closed her eyes. Thoughts of him rescuing her had sustained her through this whole ordeal and now Jack was there.
She couldn’t quit crying. Her relief was too great, and she sobbed as his gaze keenly searched the room.
“Are you okay?” Jack asked.
She nodded, unable to speak.
Pulling out his big Kbar knife, he cut her loose and then gathered her into his arms. “I’m taking you out of here.”
“Thank God. I prayed you’d come.” She burst into tears again. “I prayed so hard.”
“Shh, baby, I know. I’m here now. You’re safe. Shh.”
“I thought you’d never come.”
“You were scared. But he can’t hurt you now.” He spoke the words with fierceness. “He’ll never hurt you again. I’ve got you.”
“Take me away from here. I never want to see this place again.”
“You’ll never have to.”
He carried her through the cabin. “Close your eyes,” he said.
She closed her eyes and he carried her out the front door, past Georgie’s dead body.
The front yard was empty and the rest of the team was searching the woods for Grant.
Lucy was still crying and holding onto Jack. “I was afraid you wouldn’t come,” she cried into his shoulder. “I wanted you to save me. I can’t believe you’re here.”
“I will always come for you, Lucy,” he said. “Never think that I wouldn’t.” He set her down to stand on the ground in her bare feet and still wearing the lacy red lingerie.
Lucy shivered. “I’m cold. My clothes are gone. He said I’d only wear this from now on.”
Jack watched her shiver, knowing it was shock. The July Montana heat warmed even the night air. It was far from cold. That bedroom had been like an icebox. So the warmer air outside should have warmed her, not made her shiver.
He took a blanket out of the back of the SUV he’d arrived in.
“What about Grant? Don’t you have to go after him?”
“We’ll find him. The team is on it.”
The team had found a path out back of the cabin and after checking to see if they could help Georgie and that the package was secure, SEAL training had kicked in and they tore off down the trail, their spacing designed to keep more than one man from being hit if ambushed.
“You’re my number one priority right now.” He wrapped the blanket around her.
“Oh.” She leaned closer to him, seeking his strength and warmth. “I’m glad. I want you to stay here with me.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’m half naked out here.” She looked around at the trees and then down at the red lace. “I hate this thing. I’m never wearing one of these again.”
“You’ll never have to.”
“I’m so cold.” She shivered.
“I know, baby, but you’ll be warm soon.”
Jack sat next to Lucy outside, trying to warm her up as he rubbed her shoulders vigorously to get the blood flowing.
He pulled her close, just to hold her. He kissed the top of her ear.
He was aware of her nipples, hard and perfect, through the material but he shook it off, embarrassed that he was thinking of sex at a time like this.
His answer was to hold her a little bit tighter. He knew she had bruising and there were abrasions from the ropes, especially on her wrists and ankles. But he wasn’t sure what other damage her body had endured. Her mind would take a while to recover. Jack wanted to suggest some therapy, but that could wait till later. The best thing he could do for her right then was hold her and never let her go.
She shivered again and brought her right hand up beneath the blanket to warm her left breast, distracting him again with what she was doing as he thought of how he’d like to replace her hand with his. She wasn’t making it easy for him as she shivered and rubbed.
Then everything went dark.
***
Lucy was so cold and her whole body had shivers she couldn’t stop. Her nipples ached, they were so chilled from being in that room with that damned air conditioner and Grant, who couldn’t keep his hands off of them, had played with them so often, they were sensitive. She hated him manipulating her body like that. She would never desire him no matter what he did.
Grant was still out there.
Shivering again, she brought her hand up to warm one nipple and rub it. Jack had the blanket around her and was rubbing her arms, so he might not notice, but even if he did, she needed to warm them.
She wanted to close her eyes and curl up in Jack’s arms where she’d stay safe and warm.
Suddenly out of nowhere, Grant struck Jack on the back of his head with the butt of a rifle, and Jack went down.
“No!” she screamed as Jack’s arms fell away from her and he slumped to the ground. Grant had hold of her wrist, twisting hard as he glared at her, pulling her up and away, saying, “You ruined everything.”
Then he’d yanked her harder and was running as she stumbled along, barefooted across the ground, forced to run with every harsh jerk he gave her.
Behind them, Jack lay on the ground and terror rose up in her.
He killed Jack.
“No!” she screamed again, tears welling up, blinding her as she stumbled and ran.
Grant had killed Jack and she’d never be free of him until he killed her too.
A shot rang out and the bullet hit Grant in the thigh, pausing him.
“God dammit! I’ve been shot! See what you did to me, you ungrateful little bitch!” He yanked her arm hard. “It was perfect until you ruined it.”
Then they were running again and her only hope was that the shot had come from Jack.
***
Jack was having a hard time seeing as his vision was fuzzy.
What the hell?
He’d been so distracted by her touching her breast, he didn’t hear Grant sneak up from behind and crack his skull with a rifle butt.
Lucy screamed no, and he zeroed in on the sound of her voice as he pulled his gun and aimed, low. He’d already killed one woman. He aimed, but wouldn’t risk the shot hitting her, so waited as his vision cleared and then he took the shot.
The shot hit Grant in the leg.
Montana was yelling through the fog, “Jack! Jack, what happened? Where’s Lucy now?”
“Gone that way,” he pointed as he got up.
Dammit, they were gone.
“Grant’s got her.”
How could I have gotten so careless? Where’s the van? Wait. Grant didn’t have the van. They were on foot.
Then he was up, much clearer, and he and the team ran though the woods in the direction Grant had taken Lucy.
***
As they were running and had just reached a clearing, Lucy threw her leg out and tripped Grant.
Swede wasn’t far behind.
Grant pulled out a nine millimeter and fired off a lucky shot that grazed Swede’s temple as he ducked behind a tree.
Yanking her around to face him, Grant came at her, his face a snarl, his hands closing around her neck, and suddenly, her back was to Swede as Grant choked her.
Her hands grabbed his arms as she tried frantically to pull his hands away, but he was too strong and too enraged.
“You ruined everything.” He shook her hard, his fingers tightening. “My sister is dead because of you.” She was losing the ability to breathe. “I’m shot. Why did you have to ruin everything? I hate you!”
She couldn’t breathe, he’d cut off her air and she was gasping and pulling at his arms when suddenly, Jack was there.
Quick as lightning from years of training and muscle memory, Jack pulled and threw his Kbar, striking Grant in the throat. He dropped to his knees, blood gushing out of his mouth.
Gasping for air, her hands coming up to cradle her neck, she stared at Grant, hardly able to believe what had just happened.
***
They were back in L.A. at Lucy’s apartment. Jack wanted her to leave L.A. and be with him. She wasn’t sure she wanted to work in Hollywood anymore. A quieter life with Jack sounded so much better. Lucy had a nice bonus check for her trouble. Thanks to that check, she’d have time to recuperate and think about what she wanted to do.
There wasn’t enough money in the world to pay her to take the verbal and mental abuse the self-centered actress had thrown at her. The ordeal Lucy had been through hadn’t changed Angelica a bit, despite her noisy display of how worried she’d been.
It was just another role for Angelica to play and Lucy was tired of being the audience. It was time to leave the theater for good.
Neither Monroe nor Miss Glory wanted a lawsuit or any bad press over this, so the financial offer had been large. Large enough to make her go away. Miss Glory wouldn’t be firing her, but she already had a new assistant, a dark haired women who might put up with her abuse. Lucy was done with that and determined never to let anyone treat her like that again.
Now she was home in her apartment with Jack sitting on her bed.
“It’s so good to be home and in my own bed.” Lucy smiled. “I’m glad you’re staying with me.”
“Nowhere else I’d rather be. You just tell me what you need.”
“I need you. I want to forget.”
“I can make that happen.” Jack smiled at her and cupped her cheeks in his hands before he kissed her softly on the lips.
He removed her clothes slowly, kissing the emerging bare skin as he did. She closed her eyes, letting him make love to her slowly, letting his every touch and kiss wash away the bad, unwanted touches that had come before.
When he reached her ribs, he kissed them and she sucked in a breath. He raised his head up to look into her eyes and asked, “That hurts?”
“Yes, I’m tender there.”
His eyes watched her. “Why tender?”
She took a breath. “I wasn’t going to talk about him, but he, he tickled me so hard it hurt. He wouldn’t stop, and he did it over and over again. He thought it was funny even though I was crying. He told me I couldn’t really be hurt because I was laughing.”
Her mind had gone back to that place, but Jack bent and kissed her lips, and that place was gone again and she was back in Jack’s arms where she was safe and no one would hurt her. He kissed from her lips all the way down to her ribs, and then kissed them again, slow and gentle, the softest of kisses so as not to hurt her.
Soon, she was awash in feelings and her only thoughts were of Jack and the sensations he was creating in her body.
He’d promised to kiss every inch of her and make her forget everything that had gone before, and he did.
***
Jack and Lucy loaded all her things into a You Haul It truck and headed for Montana. Lucy said goodbye to Hollywood without one regret.
Hank Patterson’s wife had told Lucy about a store in Bozeman that sold custom jewelry and shipped it around the world. Lucy had an appointment with them to show them her work and she hoped they’d take some on consignment.
She would use the funds from her bonus check to get her jewelry business off to a good start. Making jewelry made her happy and this felt like the perfect career for her.
Her phone and social media accounts were now on lock down, and that was just the way she liked it. A quiet life in Montana sounded pretty good now, especially when she could be with her Montana Marine.
THE END