Page 126 of Stripping Bare
“JustTessa.”
“She’s withyou?”
That hesitant feeling about leaving her behind rocked through him again. “No, but Benery’s on my tail, so she’s safe.” He said it with confidence even though he’d heard no footsteps behind him. “Did Reid and Britt get the traps set up and clearout?”
“They didn’t want to leave,but—”
“If their asses aren’t out of these woods, I will stop running right now and let that fucker catchme.”
“We’re with Maggie, you asswipe.” Reid’s gruff voice was loud and clear through theearpiece.
“Then I’m headed in.” He yanked off his second mic because he needed all the focus he couldmuster.
He used a few precious seconds to stop and listen. Leaves rustled off to the east, probably fifty yards out. He needed to let Benery catch sight of him for this towork.
Jonah knew when he’d been spotted by the noise. Benery wasn’t even trying to be stealthy anymore. He was crashing through the underbrush like a drunkenelephant.
But Jonah had miscalculated the direction Benery would come from. He’d expected him to arrow in, but he’d circled around to the north. For the trap to work, he needed to lure Benery along an east-to-westtrajectory.
And if Jonah didn’t get some cover, Benery would be on top of him in seconds. His best option was a tall pine with a trio of branches a good ten feet over Jonah’s head. He jumped, getting a finger hold on the chunky bark. Using his knees and every ounce of his upper body strength, he clumsily shimmied up until he could grab two branches. His brothers would laugh their asses off if they could see his less than gracefulascent.
He swung a leg up and straddled a branch, landing hard and racking himself in the process. Hugging the tree trunk, he huffed though the pain and prayed Benery wouldn’t lookup.
Benery darted out of a cluster of mountain laurel and paused long enough to scan the landscape before him. Jonah’s grip tightened on the pine, and the bark bit into his fingers, sticky with thick sap. It didn’t take long for Benery to move on, but he was still headed south. If he went too far in that direction, he’d hit the house’s backyard and likely spot Maggie and theothers.
Jonah quickly swung himself off the branch, hung for an instant before letting go and dropping to the ground in a knee-jarring crouch. He had to lure Benery to the east. He cut southeast to where a small stream ran through the property. The water was low, but there was enough for Jonah to splash through it. Not too loud, but just enough for Benery tohear.
A couple minutes later, the sound of leaves cracking and sticks breaking made it clear the plan had worked. Jonah lunged out of the water and made no effort to be quiet as he ran, jumping over dead logs and dodging branches. One branch caught his sensor vest and it took precious seconds to break it off and get movingagain.
By that time, Benery had gained on him. His grin was fierce and gloating as he bulldozed his way through the woods. Damn it, Jonah had let him get tooclose.
Expecting to feel the burn of a bullet to the back any second, he stumbled when Benery jumped him. Benery used Tessa’s gauntlets to jab and parry, getting in close, actually driving his fist into Jonah’s stomach. But that wasn’t where the pain came from. It was the feel of serrated hunting knives punching into his body and the ragged rips they cut from his flesh. The intensely real sensation of blood flowing out of his body momentarily distractedhim.
Why hadn’t Benery shot him and ended the wholething?
Jonah struck out at Benery, landing a glancing blow to his face. But a good old fistfight couldn’t compete with the pain of knife wounds, real or not. The slice of a virtual blade caught Jonah low in hisabdomen.
Benery came at him again, hitting the sensor directly over Jonah’s real-life knife scar. Finally, a benefit to dead nerve endings. That reprieve gave Jonah enough clarity to turn in the direction he needed to lure Benery and run like hell, expecting a bullet in the back at anysecond.
He cradled his imaginary wounds to control the pain and tried to measure his strides as he ran. If he screwed up, he’d be the one knocked out cold instead of Benery. When he made it to the pivotal location between two tall pine trees, his legs almost failed him. But he pushed on, barely hurdling the trip wire in his path. Every instinct shouted at him to turn and watch for Benery’s approach. But his and Maggie’s plan echoed through hishead.
Keep running so he’ll keep chasingyou.
His legs feeling as if they weighed two hundred pounds apiece, Jonah stumbled and rolled. Oh, shit. The plan hadn’t worked. Benery was past the point where he should’ve tripped the wire. And Jonah was lying here like a fish just waiting to be scooped up in anet.
He scrambled up and the impact of a bullet train hit him in the chest. Unable to help himself, he looked down to find a hole gushing blood—down his torso, over his grasping fingers. Was itreal?
If so, he was a deadman.
His mind shorted out except for one thought.Tessa.
Benery kept coming at him, arm extended. But with Jonah’s wavering vision, he couldn’t spot a damngun.
Then the crack of real gunfire reverberated through the trees, and Benery’s advance on Jonah stalled. The guy took one step, two steps before his left leg folded. His right didn’t fare any better, somehow bending the wrong direction and sending Benery pitching to theground.
Weapons drawn, Maggie and her deputies swarmed into the trees and cautiously approached the man lying on his side. Maggie hunkered down and touched Benery’s neck. “He’s out, but he’s notdead.”
The deputies quickly cuffed him and called for medicalassistance.
Jonah tried to shove the goggles off his face, but hands weren’t working correctly. “Wha…what the hell just happenedhere?”
Maggie looked over her shoulder and lifted her chin toward someone behind her. “Your girlfriend just saved yourass.”
