Callie came to with a start, her pain immediately forgotten as she saw Brundar on the floor with both his knees looking like they’d been blown to pieces, his pale face paler than she’d ever seen it. Shawn was standing next to her, pointing both of his guns at Brundar. He had silencers on them. No wonder none of the neighbors had called the police yet.

Or maybe they had, and help was on the way.

Not letting on that she was awake, she listened to the exchange between Brundar and Shawn. If the situation weren’t as dire as it was, she would’ve laughed at Brundar’s attempt to convince Shawn he was gay. Given his looks, it was a good try, but Shawn wasn’t buying it.

She needed to come up with something else to stall.

Something that would stroke Shawn’s ego. Maybe she should tell him she’d been only using Brundar, and that he meant nothing to her. She could say that she’d filed for divorce because she’d been mad about the school situation but had regretted it immediately because she missed him. Where could she ever find another man as sexy and as manly as Shawn?

Callie was about to open her mouth and start her pleading when she caught Brundar’s nearly imperceptible head shake. When she closed her mouth, he closed and opened his eyes several times until she understood what he was trying to tell her.

He wanted her to pretend she was still out.

Callie closed her eyes, forcing her body to go limp and letting her head loll down.

“Say your final prayers, asshole. As soon as she wakes up, you’re history.”

“Don’t do it, man. You don’t want to spend the rest of your life in jail because of a woman, do you? She’s not worth it. No woman is.”

Shawn chuckled. “You’re preaching to the choir. But no one betrays me and cuckolds me without paying the price. I’m not going to jail for ending your miserable life either. I’ll drop your carcass in the mountains for the predators to dispose of. The bitch over here will tell no one because I’m going to keep her naked, chained to the bed, and gagged.”

Callie suppressed a shiver. She had no doubt Shawn meant every word.

Brundar closed his eyes again, signaling her to keep playing possum.

“Don’t you dare pass out, asshole,” Shawn spat in Brundar’s direction. “Or are you praying?”

“I’m praying.”

“Good. Make peace with your maker, motherfucker. Pray for the Lord’s forgiveness for you have sinned. God is on my side. As the cuckolded husband, it’s my right and obligation to kill you and my whore of a wife. But I prefer to let her live out the rest of her life in misery.”

Crap, don’t let the tears fall, don’t cry, dead possums don’t cry…please God, if you can hear me, please help us, we don’t deserve to end like this.

Callie was losing the battle against her tears. Any moment one would slide down her cheek and Shawn would kill Brundar. She scrunched her eyes, holding tight, hoping Shawn couldn't see her face because her chin was practically down to her chest.

Boom!

The door burst open, ending Callie’s pretense as she instinctively jerked her head up and opened her eyes.

Her first thought was the Terminator, her second and more logical one was that it was a guy wearing a futuristic soldier’s body armor like the ones she’d seen in Sci-Fi movies.

Shawn fired at the soldier until both guns clicked on empty, but the guy kept on advancing in his slow lumbering strides, probably unable to go any faster because of the heavy suiting.

Shawn backed away, but the soldier reached with a long arm and grabbed him by the neck. A split second later, she heard a snap, and Shawn's body crumbled to the floor.

“What took you so long?” Brundar asked.

Putting both gloved hands on his helmet, the soldier pulled it off, revealing a headful of crinkly red hair.

“Anandur!” Callie called out.

He turned to her with an apologetic expression on his face. “I hope you don’t mind.” He tilted his head toward Shawn’s body. “After seeing what he did to you and to my brother I couldn’t help myself.”

“It was self-defense,” she offered. Callie wasn’t going to shed a single tear for that monster. Anandur had done the world a favor by getting rid of him. She would testify in any court that it was done in self-defense.

“Nope, not really. I was wearing a protective suit. But I can’t say I’m sorry I did it.” Anandur removed his gloves and gently unwrapped the duct tape from Callie's wrists, causing her as little discomfort as he could. A gentle giant.

“Go help Brundar, I can do the rest.”

“Don’t worry about him. He is going to be fine.” Anandur kept unwrapping, removing the tape around her torso and upper arms.

“God, how can you say that? I don’t know if your brother will ever walk again.”

Brundar groaned, but Anandur’s big body was blocking him from her view. “He is right, Calypso. I’ll be fine. I’ve had worse. But it hurts like a son-of-a-bitch.”

Anandur turned his head toward his brother. “Don’t be a pussy. Suck it up like a man.”

“Up yours.”

He turned back to Callie and started working on the tape around her ankles. “I apologize for my brother and myself. That’s no way to talk in front of a lady.”

“I heard much worse tonight. Thank you for coming to our rescue.”

He nodded, tackling the tape around her thighs.

“We need to call the police.”

Anandur shook his head. “No, we don’t.”

“Are we going to just leave him like that? They will eventually find him and come asking questions. If we don’t report it, we will look guilty.”

“I’m going to make it look as if he hung himself, and we are going to clean up Brundar’s blood from the floor. Case closed.”

She threw him an incredulous look. “Do you think anyone would buy it?”

“Scatter the divorce papers on the floor next to where you hang him,” Brundar suggested from behind Anandur’s back. “They are on the coffee table.”

He sounded awfully calm for someone who was in lots and lots of pain.

“All done.” Anandur removed the last piece and helped Callie up.

She swayed on her feet, catching herself by bracing on his bicep. He wrapped his arm around her waist, which elicited a peculiar growl from behind him.

“Cut it out, moron. The woman can barely stand.”

Brundar responded with a grunt.

“I’m fine. Just a little woozy. I want to tend to Brundar.” She took a couple of wobbly steps and plopped down on the floor next to him. He was lying on his back, looking as pale as a ghost. “You look terrible.” She caressed his cheek, finally letting the tears flow. She’d been holding them in for so long, there was a lake of them ready to spill.

Brundar lifted his arm and wiped her tears away with gentle fingers. “You don’t look so hot yourself. But you’re always beautiful to me.”

“Oh, that’s so precious. I’m going to cry.” Anandur affected a Southern belle tone and accent while hefting Shawn’s body over his shoulder.

“How can he joke while carrying a dead body?”

Brundar rolled his eyes. “Don’t get me started on that. In the dictionary, next to the terms inappropriate and crude, you’ll find a picture of Anandur with a goofy smirk on his face.”

She shook her head. “I don’t get how you can joke at a time like this either.”

Clasping her hand, he brought it to his lips and kissed the inside of her palm. “I’m a happy man. You’re alive, I’m alive, and we get to live another day. What else could I ask for?”