Page 53 of Heart of the Sun

I plastered Nova’s smile on my face, the one that said I didn’t have a care in the world and was completely untouchable. It felt stretched and uncomfortable, but that might be because the two men were not reciprocating with friendly expressions. “I’m…Nova and this is Charlie,” I said when we got to where they were standing, staring at us suspiciously.

The man on the left slowly extended his hand and shook mine. When I looked down, I saw that he had tattoos on his fingers. I felt my brows rise but quickly adjusted my expression. I didn’t know a lot about the Amish, but finger tattoos didn’t seem on-brand. We waited for them to offer their names, but when they didn’t, and instead looked back and forth between each other, that feeling that something was off increased. What was the signal? Was I supposed to give a thumbs-down to let Tuck know things were off? God, why hadn’t I listened to him?

“Hi there,” the man on the right said, his smile growing in a way that looked decidedly predatory.Uh-oh.

Charlie and I started backing up in tandem, and I shoved my hand behind my back, making every gesture I could think of.

“Leaving so soon?” the other asked.

Then before I could take another step, they both swooped in, one pulling a firearm from his jacket pocket and putting it to my head as he spun me around and started marching us both toward the rear of the closed diner.

chaptertwenty-three

Tuck

“Mother fucker!” I hissed as I watched the two Amish men—who were most definitely not Amish—wrangle Charlie and Emily behind the diner. Even while being practically dragged, Emily continued to move her hand furiously behind her back in every gesture possible except the one we’d discussed.

Even so, the fact that the men were holding a gun on Emily and Charlie and manhandling them up the street told me all I needed to know.

I wanted to kick myself. I’d known there was something off about those two, even from several hundred feet away. I hadn’t been able to say exactly what and so I’d talked myself out of the feeling, but I should have listened to my instincts. I couldn’t take credit for a lot, but I knew I had two things going for me: honed muscles and honed instincts. And because I’d dismissed my gut, now Emily and Charlie were being abducted.

As soon as the four of them disappeared behind the building, I came to my feet. I quickly considered what I had in my backpack that I might use as a weapon but there really wasn’t anything. Even the small knife on the wine opener I’d used to sharpen the stick in my belt had dulled and eventually fallen apart and so I’d discarded it. I set my hand on that stick now as I exited the bushes. It wasn’t much, but better than nothing. I made my way swiftly across the street and then plastered myself to the side of the diner, moving my head inch by inch until I had a visual of the area in the back.

There was another road behind a parking lot at the rear of the building that ran parallel to the main road. And there were two horses pointed in the other direction, each hitched to a buggy. The buggies appeared to be more compartments than the typical riding carts, perhaps used to transfer business materials. But because of that, I couldn’t see what—or who—was inside.

I peeked out farther and saw one of the men with his back to me peeing at the side of the lot. I considered whether to take advantage of his position, but I didn’t have a visual on the second man and didn’t want to risk getting shot in the back of the head.

At the thought, the second man exited one of the buggies and jumped down. “Hurry up!” he yelled to his partner, who then turned and jogged over to the other buggy and climbed up into the driver’s seat. Emily and Charlie were nowhere in sight, so I could only assume they were in the compartments and if the men were leaving them back there, they had to be either incapacitated or tied up.

“Shit,” I murmured, heart speeding as my mind flew from one rescue possibility to another. My best bet was to ambush them once they’d begun to move. Surprise was my best weapon at the moment as they didn’t yet know I existed.

I turned and ran back around the front of the diner, past another business next door and moved along the side. I could already hear theclop clopof the hooves moving closer on the road behind where I was and listened intently, knowing timing was going to be everything and hoping that the man with the firearm had put it away to handle the reins of the horse.

I waited, holding my breath, muscles tensed as the sound of the horses drew closer. The horse’s face appeared next to where I hid, then its shoulders, and I let out a gust of breath as I darted from behind the brick. I raced for the buggy, ducking low, and then grabbing onto the side of the seat and hopping up. The man holding the reins let out a short yell of surprise, reaching for what I was sure was his gun. My heart slammed against my ribs as I drew in a quick breath and kicked him hard in his shoulder. He jerked to the side, recovering quickly as he too came to his feet on the seat, the gun he’d managed to retrieve firing in the air right before he dropped it.

The horses let out shrieks of fear, the one in front of me rearing up and sending both me and the man slamming into the wall of the compartment behind us. The horse let out another shriek, and the man and I both grabbed on to what we could as the horse’s hooves hit the pavement, jarring me so that my teeth clacked together and my ears rang.

A scream sounded from inside and though it was muffled, I could tell who it was.Charlie.

As I began to turn, I spotted the gun the man had dropped on a small ledge near the wheel.Holy shit.I attempted to go low and reach for the weapon, but the man grabbed the back of my jacket and yanked me up, spinning me around and flipping me so that now we were on opposite sides of the seat, and I was farther from the gun.Mother fuck!

From the corner of my eye, I saw movement from the other buggy where the horse was exhibiting equal fear, shaking its head and emitting ear-piercing shrieks as the driver tried to get it under control. Then Emily appeared, eyes wide, mouth open, a switchblade clutched in her fist and ropes hanging from her wrists. I gaped, and that momentary pause caused the man I was fighting to get his bearings and lunge at me,his fist connecting to my jaw with a crack.

Emily climbed around the buggy as the man at the helm gained control of the horse, but then she let out an ear-piercing shriek as she lunged forward and lodged the knife in the side of the man’s neck and then just as quickly pulled it out, ducking away from the sudden spurt of blood. I let out another jolt, my stomach dropping and my focus on Emily allowing the man I was struggling with to get in another solid whack on my cheekbone.Fuck!

The man Emily had stabbed let go of the reins and brought his hand to his gushing wound as the horse took off running.

It all happened in less than thirty seconds.

I pitched forward with the man I was fighting as we both grunted with the effort of the struggle while simultaneously attempting to stay on the small seat of the buggy. From my peripheral vision, I saw the man Emily stabbed jerk back and lose his balance. I turned my head in time to see him crash into Emily, each of them tumbling off the buggy on opposite sides.

“Em!” I yelled, grasping the stake at my waist and then using the strength brought on by my sudden panic to gouge the eye of the man I was fighting. He screamed with pain as he reeled away, taking the sharpened stick with him. “Em!” I leaned around the side of the buggy to see that Emily had stood—and so had the man she’d stabbed, still gripping his neck, a look of murderous rage on his face. The horses had both picked up speed, running alongside each other, the buggies bouncing in their wake. “Emily! Run!”

She only paused for half a heartbeat, looking behind her at the man who’d begun to stagger forward, before she began sprinting after the runaway buggy.

I heard the man on my buggy pulling himself up and felt the weight shift as he moved closer. But my heart was in my throat, and I couldn’t turn from Emily, who was quickly gaining on the buggy,even as both horses increased their speed. I could attempt to jump off, but I’d almost certainly break something, and I’d also be leaving Charlie, who was tied up inside.

In that moment, I decided that if Emily wasn’t able to catch up to the other buggy, I’d jump—come what may—so as not to leave her behind. If it was a choice between her and Charlie, I chose her, without a singular doubt.

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