Audra felt as though a thunderclap had resounded in her head and she jerked, remembering Trigger. When she saw him lying on the floor, still strapped down, the memories returned. They used him to taunt her, kicking and hitting him, until she’d screamed for them to stop. And right now, he wasn’t moving at all.

A tremendous panic shot through her system and she flailed, trying to scramble from Diggs’s arms. “Trigger!” She couldn’t lose him now, he was all she had left. “Let go, let go. I have to check on him,” she cried in a full-out panic.

Diggs’ massive arms tightened around her, nailing her to his chest. “Calm down. He’s alive.”

But his words couldn’t penetrate the fog of terror consuming her, as she clawed at his arms and bucked. She knew she was acting like an insane person, but she couldn’t stop herself. It was all too much.

She could still feel Rex hitting her in the face, knowing she was going to die. All she could see was the fist coming in, them kicking Trigger, and the helplessness of her being bound to that chair. “Let go!”

“Audra Ann Wade,” Diggs said loud enough to make her pause. She tore her gaze from Trigger and saw the absolute authority on his face. “Panicking isn’t going to do anything but get you and Trigger killed. Is that what you want?”

She shook her head in mute shock, unable to get her numb lips to move. The entire side of her face throbbed painfully and her head felt like she’d beat it against a wall.

“Good. Now I want you to focus on my voice. Feel my breathing. Count slowly.” Diggs drew in a deep and steadying breath, and she could feel the vibrations against her side. “Count, Audra. Out loud.”

He drew in another deep breath and this time she did too. “One. Two. Three. Four.” He let her get all the way to 10 before he stopped her.

“Good. Now we need to move. Can you walk?”

She licked her lips, trying to get her erratic heart rate to slow and match his. How could he be so calm and steady? “Yes, I think I can,” she said breathlessly.

He nodded and eased her to her feet, keeping his arms around her to hold her up.

The entire room tilted and she swayed, falling against his chest as a wave of dizziness crashed over her. Dear Lord, she didn’t think she’d ever hurt this bad. Even though she hated herself for the weakness, she clung to him, using him as a rock until she got her feet under her and the room stopped tilting drunkenly around her. “I think I’ve got it. You can let go.”

His arms unwound from around her waist. She focused on the steady rise and fall of his chest. She didn’t know why, but she trusted him to get her out of here. He would be the only way they’d make it out alive.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

Diggs let out a low chuckle, of all things. “You’re most definitely not fine, but by God you’re brave.”

She smiled then and the movement brought a fresh wave of burning to her lips. She lifted her hand to touch her face, but Diggs caught her wrist mid-air.

He shook his head slowly, lowering her arm back to her side. “Safety first. We’ll clean you up later, okay?”

“Okay.” It was then that she realized she was still holding on to him with her free hand, her nails digging into his thick and muscular forearm. She let go and took a small step back, spreading her hands out when the room tilted, but this time it righted much more quickly.

Diggs watched her for another minute, then nodded as if he was convincing himself she was okay. “Stay close. If I tell you to do something, do it. No questions, no hesitation. Got it?”

She didn’t normally like it when men were all dominating and in charge, but right now his confident, rapid-fire statements calmed her frazzled nerves and she was able to stay present and focused on what she needed to do.

Diggs moved across the room to Trigger and she followed, careful not to fall. There was a dense pall around her head, like she was drunk, and it was hard for her to focus on doing simple tasks like putting one foot in front of the other, but she zeroed her gaze onto Diggs’ shoulders and followed him, dropping harder than she’d intended to on her hands and knees next to Trigger on the floor. She hadn’t been able to see it from her perch across the room but Trigger’s eyes were open, wild shadows dancing in his terrified gaze. They were locked on her and Diggs.

“Oh, Trigger, I’m so sorry I let them do this to you.” Her pain melted away as she focused on the dog. She reached a hand out to gently stroke his head, “Diggs, you have to be really careful. They hurt him.”

“I know, we’re going to have to leave him on the stretcher. I guarantee that they broke at least one of his ribs.”

She took in the empty expression on Diggs’s face. How could he be so cold if he knew what they’d done to them? He was talking so dispassionately, but did she want him to be emotional like she was, on the verge of losing her mind?

She still wasn’t sure how or what had happened, only that it had, and she’d been completely helpless to stop it. Thank God Diggs was here. He would get her out of this horrible situation—and then she’d get her and Trigger as far from any of this as she possibly could.

* * *

Trigger didn’t whine, but his breathing was labored. Diggs placed his hand as lightly as he could against the dog and felt the rattle when he breathed. They needed to get him back to Dr. Averton as soon as possible. After pulling up Trigger’s history, and then Audra’s brother’s, he knew how much this dog meant to her. And he knew without a doubt that if Trigger died, she would never forgive him.

Getting them back to the Jeep now, on foot, would be an incredibly difficult task with Trigger in this condition. Diggs needed the team here, to extract and evac Trigger safely in a vehicle so they didn’t risk puncturing his lungs.

The sound of engines in the distance, growing louder, reached his ears. The bad guys backup was on the way. “Audra, we have to move. Now.”

She hadn’t heard the convoy yet. She was still hunched over Trigger, her shaking hand stroking his head. “Okay.”

Diggs grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him. “I mean now.”

Trigger growled, and Diggs let go of her. The damn dog was as protective of her as she was of him. If he barked or jerked trying to save Audra, he’d definitely puncture a lung.

Careful to keep his hands to himself, Diggs held her gaze, trying to communicate the severity of their situation. “There are more men on the way.”

She swallowed. “How do you know?”

“I can hear them. We only have a couple of minutes.”

Her chest rose and fell in rapid compressions, and he could see the panic in her eyes, but she waited a second and then said in a semi-calm voice, “What do you need me to do?” She was the bravest female he’d ever met. Here she was, on the verge of panic, and she was reining it in, trying to be calm.

“Do you think you can carry one end of Trigger’s stretcher, just a little ways?” There was no way they’d be safe in the field or on the road. They’d need to move out back and use the water to camouflage their movements and keep Trigger steady until help arrived.

“Of course.” Audra’s beautiful stubborn chin tilted up as if she hadn’t just been beaten unconscious. Diggs had to keep himself from taking her in his arms. He couldn’t afford the time or the slip in focus and he damn sure didn’t want Trigger injuring himself trying to bite him for touching her.

Diggs pulled out his phone and typed off a quick message to his team for coordinates on where to pick them up, the number of dead bodies, and the fact more were on the way. Then he tossed the phone on the stretcher next to Trigger and moved to his head and grabbed the handles. “Okay, follow me. We’re going out back.”

Audra followed his lead like a champion, walking with her feet a bit wide to keep her balance, out the back door and across the yard to the edge of the water.

Diggs did a quick survey of the inky black surface, his gaze landing on a patch of tall cattails growing along their left. The long mud slide into the water would show their footprints if they walked straight in. “Set this down for a second.”

Diggs waited for Audra to lower Trigger and then did the same. Then he pulled his rifle from his shoulder and laid it down on the stretcher. He couldn’t afford to get it soaking wet, not when it was their only real weapon to defend them if they got caught.

“See that tall grass?” He pointed to the cattails, an area almost guaranteed to breed snakes.

“Yes.”

“We are going in the water there. Trigger’s stretcher is plastic, so it will float. I’ll pull him through the water. You just stay close to me and try not to splash.”

* * *

Audra froze. He wanted her to go in there? In that alligator and snake-infested swamp?

When she couldn’t swim???

She swallowed and stumbled back, grabbing for support and hitting nothing but air.

Diggs grabbed her arm, steadied her, and didn’t let go. “It’s our only choice, Audra.”

She stared mutely at the far stretch of inky blackness, latching onto any bump or ripple on the water’s surface. “No, there has to be another way. I can’t swim.”

Part of her expected him to scoff, another part that he’d look at her like the inexperienced hindrance that she was, but there was no break in his expression, just that steady calm look that seemed to have been in place the entire night.

Diggs took her hand in his, and she realized, much to her disgust, that she’d been backing away from him, running like a scared baby.

“It’s our only choice,” he repeated. “Right now, there’s at least three cars headed this way, and I can guarantee you there’s more than three men. I can’t take on an entire team and protect you and Trigger. But I can get you across this lake alive.”

Audra tried to swallow, but her throat was squeezing off all her oxygen. “How…how do you know there are people headed this way?”

He didn’t hesitate or change expression when he answered, “Because I can hear them coming. I’m trained for that; you are not. Look, I know this is hard for you, but I really, really need you to trust me right now. I know what I’m doing here.”

Audra tilted her head to the side and strained to hear the sounds of any kind of a vehicle or human life. “I can’t hear them.”

“Do you really think I’d force you to go out there, if it didn’t mean the difference between life and death?” Again, his expression didn’t change.

“No, I don’t.”

“And do you think I’d take Trigger out there strapped down like this, unless it was absolutely necessary?”

Frustration teemed through her veins. More than anything in her life, she wanted not to go into that water, but it wasn’t just her life they were talking about. Not by a long shot. “I don’t understand, how can you be so calm?”

“It’s my job. And I’m very good at what I do.”

“So, you are military,” she blurted out.

“Not anymore. And I’m not going to be alive much longer if we don’t move. C’mon, Audra. You can do this.”

She knew she had to go in the water, even though every cell in her body was telling her to run. She blew out a breath. “Okay, for Trigger.”

Diggs nodded and echoed, “For Trigger.” And then, still gripping her hand in a gentle yet inescapable clasp, Diggs led her back to where they’d set down the dog. “We’re going to walk straight through those reeds. Do your best to stay as quiet as possible.”

Why did they need to be quiet now? Was anyone here yet? And then, as if on cue, headlights arced over the tree line and the sound of engines swarmed her hearing.

“Let’s go. Remember, stay quiet. If you start to panic, focus on me. I will not leave you.” Then Diggs leaned down to pick up the carrier, leaving her no choice but to do the same.

The plastic handles felt measurably heavier this time, and she had to strain her muscles to keep up across the few feet to the tall marsh. She was surprised by the thickness of the grass and the sharpness of the blades, like tiny knives slicing across the exposed skin of her legs. Everything about this place screamed danger, and they were walking right into it.

Diggs entered the water first, striding straight in without any hesitation. Audra had to keep up or risk dropping the dog. Trigger was still awake, his eyes fixating on each and every little thing around them as if he too were assessing threats. When the water hit her ankles, she froze. Her entire body shut down, no matter how loud she screamed in her head to keep moving.

“Audra, eyes on me.” Diggs was looking at her, even though she knew he heard the sound of car doors slamming and men issuing orders in front of the house.

Wishing she was brave like him, knowing how much of a coward she actually was, Audra nodded and focused on getting one foot in front of the other. Diggs didn’t rush her. He moved with her, his breathing the same as before. Steady and measured. She hesitated only once, when the water was up to her neck. Trigger floated on top of the water, just like Diggs said he would, and unlike her, Trigger didn’t whine or flinch. She got the feeling he was in the same mode as Diggs, neither of them afraid of anything.

The thick sucking mud fell out from beneath her feet, and she dropped beneath the surface of the water. She couldn’t see anything, hear anything. She couldn’t breathe. Her heart was pounding in her ears. This was it, she was going to die.

Suddenly, a strong hand gripped her arm and yanked her above the surface. She came up sputtering and coughing. Diggs immediately covered her mouth with his hand and held a finger to his lips. His head was barely visible above the surface of the water, like he was one with the darkness that was slowly choking her.

She couldn’t do this. She’d told him she couldn’t swim.

She wasn’t just going to die out here, she was going to take Trigger and Diggs down with her. The thoughts in her mind were reeling as she tried to kick away, but Diggs held on tight, unwilling to let her go.

* * *

Audra had panicked. He could see it in her wild-eyed expression and the way her pupils dilated and rolled around in her head like she’d completely lost her bearings. He’d seen her slip under the water and yanked her up immediately, holding Trigger with his other hand. But when she’d come up fighting, he’d been forced to let the dog float on his own.

He could hear the men combing through the house, quickly and efficiently. The new team wasn’t messing around. Diggs could smell their deadly determination—they were here to kill. If Diggs didn’t get them the hell away right now, they were all as good as dead.

“Can you hold onto my back?”

When she didn’t hear him, he knew terror had its grips on her mind.

Diggs yanked her to his chest, flattening his palm against her back so that she was pressed fully against him in the water. “Feel me breathing. Slow your breaths. Match mine.” When she didn’t try to jerk away from him again, he continued in that same slow melodic voice. “You can do this, Audra. You can do it for yourself, and you can do it for Trigger.”

The house up the slope had gone completely silent and Trigger was now a good 10 feet away from them. They weren’t even halfway across the lake yet, completely exposed in their current position and more than likely seconds from being spotted.

“I’m going to turn around. I want you to roll onto your back and grab the handle on my pack and don’t let go. Just float. You don’t have to swim to do that.”

“Diggs, I can’t.”

“You can. I told you I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Even if it’s only until we get out of this lake, I need you to trust me.”

He’d saved her life – she should trust him. She did trust him. She did. Now, if she could just get her heart to slow down and listen she might actually be able to put herself in that dreadful water.

Diggs kept one eye on her as he slowly turned in the water, making sure she fitted her hands on his pack, then began swimming steadily to Trigger. He heard the back door creak open, the sound quickly traveling across the water. He spared one glance over her shoulder. A tall man, staying in the shadows, had slipped silently outside and was now slowly assessing his surroundings. They were still out in the open. His only hope would be that the tall reeds would camouflage them long enough for him to get around the bend, and that the blackness of a moonless night would cover the ripples in the water.

He reached Trigger, grabbed onto one of the loose ends of the straps holding the dog on the stretcher and continued. He kept all of his body, except for his head, under the water, kicking his arms and legs in a frog-like swim so as not to make any splashes.

Audra’s breath sought in and out of her chest in short little puffs, and he couldn’t help but glance back at her once more. She was incredibly pale; her eyes huge and unfocused. Her body shook, and he knew she was on the verge of going into shock.

“Audra, stay with me a little bit longer.”

He kept his voice pitched low, so low he himself could barely hear it, but he hoped she could focus on it and stay in the present. It’d be a bitch dragging her and the dog both completely unconscious.

“I’m okay.” Her response sent a surge of pride blasting through him. She was brave and he knew his instincts about her had been right. Audra had the soul of a fierce and loyal fighter. A warrior goddess, who even when she was faced with her greatest fear, wouldn’t back down if it meant protecting those she loved.

“You’re doing great. Just hold on. I’m not leaving you.”

Diggs heard the distinctive sound of footsteps on the grass nearing the lake edge. He had about 20 more feet to swim before they were completely around the curve in the lake. The GPS had shown it was shaped like a half moon, and he knew it would provide temporary camouflage.

Then he heard the rustle of someone wading through the reeds, the same thick reeds from which they’d entered. He felt the shift in the air a quarter second before he heard the whiz. A bullet splashed into the water a foot away from his head. Diggs cursed and gave up the slow steady pace, kicking his legs with all his strength to propel them around the bend.

Audra gasped, shaking so hard her body bucked and sunk beneath the surface. Diggs kicked harder, using his momentum to propel them forward. They had to get around the bend and across the lake, or they were in for trouble.

This time when she came back up out of the water, she didn’t fight him. He felt her weight dragging behind him and knew she was still alive. Trigger hadn’t reacted at all, which meant he was either unconscious or he was used to bullets flying around his head.

“We just have to get around the bend. Stay as low as you can.”

* * *

Audra didn’t bother trying to hold in her shaking now. She heard the sound of the bullets plinking into the water near them. Another one flew and she winced, hugging as tight to Diggs as she could, ducking her body beneath the surface. Her vision blurred and her head started pounding harder, so hard she wanted to vomit but she kept her lips shoved together unwilling to let the bile rise. She knew she just had to stay with Diggs until they got away. Diggs would save them. He would.

Diggs kicked and propelled them faster. She couldn’t imagine what kind of strain it must be dragging her and Trigger through the murky water. Flat on her back, she did her best to stare at the cloudy sky overhead, making herself as small and unobtrusive as possible, even while pain pounded through her temples.

Then the clouds suddenly parted, the bright blast of a full moon painting them in pale light. Audra sucked in a breath and Diggs cursed. A burst of bullets sprayed the water in a wide arc, drawing up droplets on their faces, but still managing to miss them somehow.

“Almost there.”

Audra dropped her chin, like she was watching a horror movie with morbid fascination, searching for the man shooting at them. Three stood at the edge of the lake. Dear Lord, she wished she hadn’t looked now. “There’s three of them, Diggs.”

“Don’t look at them. Focus on me. I’ve almost got us around the corner.” More bullets. She had a death grip on his pack.

“I trust you.” The words slipped past her numb lips without thought, and she instantly knew they were true. For whatever reason, she did trust Diggs.

When they finally made it around the corner, the barrage of bullets didn’t stop, but they were growing farther and farther away. Relief leeched what little strength she had left in her muscles.

“I can’t see them anymore.”

“Audra, on me. Focus on me.”

And she did. She latched her gaze onto the back of his wet dark hair, marveling at the way he swam through the water like a predator. Trigger was as still as ever, even his breathing quiet.

The bank on the opposite shore seemed miles away and chock-full of thick grass and weeds, a few spots bare and slick, like the mud had been carved out in the shape of a slide.

“Alligator slides.” Diggs said as if he were reading her mind.

Audra’s stomach dropped. “Alligators?”

“Better than what’s waiting for us on the other shore. Hang on to me. I’ll get you across.”

Audra wisely kept her mouth shut, even as she wondered if Diggs was strong enough to fight off a full-grown gator.

He’d have to be since they weren’t turning around.

He kept swimming and she tried to hold on with all her might, even as he neared the very slides he’d pointed out earlier. “Diggs, shouldn’t you be swimming away from that spot?”

“Do you see the side where the thick undergrowth thins out and there’s nothing but trees?”

“Yes.” It was absolutely perfect for a landing spot in her mind.

“If we go up there, we’ll be completely exposed. The moonlight will highlight our bodies. We need to go out through the reeds, the same way we came in.”

Visions of black eyes and sharp white teeth flashed in her mind and Audra nearly lost what small grip on her panic she’d managed to attain after they’d rounded the bend. They were running from killers straight into an alligator den.

“How’s Trigger?” Diggs’ question pulled her from her thoughts of death and she tilted her head to study Trigger.

“I think he’s doing better than I am.”

“I think that’s true,” Diggs responded in a nonchalant tone.

“Hey!”

“Sorry, but it’s the truth. As a matter of fact, I think Trigger’s enjoying our little adventure.”

If the dog was anything like her brother, he definitely was enjoying this death-defying stunt. But not her. She liked the sure, the steady, the predictable. She always had. Even as a child she’d had her own routines that she stuck to without her parents’ assistance. Her parents saw it as being responsible. She saw it as being plain and boring.

But as an adult, she realized they were tools she used as comfort and still relied on them to this day. It wasn’t that she never got disorganized at times or out of whack, but she definitely operated better with the known, and since Jeremy’s death, her entire life had slipped into a completely foreign realm.

“Almost there. When we get to the shore, keep your body completely in the water. There will be mud, and there might be some things hiding in that too. Whatever you do, stay low until we’re on the other side of the reeds. I’ll take care of Trigger.”

Before Audra could question exactly what things Diggs was talking about, they were there. Diggs forcibly took her hand from his pack and pushed her up toward the shore. She felt the blades of grass on her head first and had to fight back the urge to panic and roll. Instead, she tried to remember his advice from earlier to keep her breathing under control. Slow and steady.

Her shoulders were inside the grass now. She could feel the mud sliding beneath her shoulders. Still she didn’t roll over. She didn’t want to splash or alert the men across the shore.

Even when something bumped into her arm and her heart stopped beating, she didn’t make a sound. Her survival instinct was to scream, but she kept her lips shut. She wouldn’t let Diggs down now. No way.

She could see her own feet floating out behind her, they were almost completely camouflaged now. When they were, she rolled onto her stomach and crawled up onto the muddy bank through the thick growth of vegetation.

Somehow Diggs was already there, pulling Trigger out behind him. He stayed low, crouching, even though his legs and arms and chest were covered in mud. Audra glanced down and realized she didn’t look much better.

The sound of engines roaring to life traveled across the lake. “They’re coming after us, aren’t they?”

“Yes. And we need to be ready. Come here.” He scooped up some of the black sludge at his feet and held it in his hand. “I need to camouflage your face and arms. If they make it to this side of the lake, your skin will stand out.”

She took a shaky step toward him. “They were going to kill me, weren’t they?”

Diggs dug the fingers from his other hand into the pile of mud he held in his palm and began gently painting her face with soft featherlike strokes. “I think that was their plan, once you told them what they wanted to know,” he said with blunt honesty. Then he stepped back and surveyed her face, gave a nod of approval, rubbed his hands together, and slid them down both her arms, effectively coating her in the wet stinky mud.

He crouched down and grabbed his rifle, slung it across his back, and then proceeded to cover his own face with the mud.

“Why? Why does he want to kill me? I don’t know anything.”

Was it the men responsible for Jeremy’s death trying to take out her whole family?

The idea was just so far-fetched. She hadn’t even begun digging around, looking for the clues she planned on searching for. Somehow in her mind, she had it worked out that she would be like a grown-up Nancy Drew, following the clues until she found the men responsible. She’d take them to the police and stand proud in court as they were sentenced to life in prison.

But these men wouldn’t go with the police. They would kill the police and then her and Trigger.

And Diggs.

The thought impacted her with the same force as when she thought of Jeremy being hurt.