Page 80 of Mountain Rescue
She took a step back. “I don’t owe you anything.” She wasn’t sure what he believed she owed him, but she had a suspicion. Just the thought of him touching her sent her stomach into a sickening roll. Robert was a good-looking man, a walking cliché for tall, dark, and handsome. But the evil pouring off him had always given her the creeps.
If she could get close enough to the door, she’d make a run for it. If she could take him by surprise, she might have a chance to escape before he shot her.
“Think again, doll. Because of you, I have cops looking for me.”
“You made that happen when you shot Henri.” She took another step back, bringing Bella with her.
“With you gone, there won’t be a witness, so no proof. Problem solved.” When she inched back some more, he pointed the gun at Bella. “One more step, doll, and I’ll shoot the dog.”
“You won’t get away with this.” Brave words, but she was very much afraid he would.
He laughed again. “Oh, I think I will.” He put his hand on his belt buckle. “On your knees.”
“No.” Was she having a heart attack? It was beating so hard and fast that her chest hurt.
“On your knees, doll. Now.”
If she got out of this...no,whenshe did, the first man who called her doll was going to get punched in the nose.
“Do it, or I’ll shoot the dog.”
“You’re a sick bastard.” She couldn’t do what he was asking. She just couldn’t. “Let me put her in the bedroom. She won’t like you touching me.”
“Go, but you try anything, you’ll both be dead.”
If only she could get to a knife, but they were in a drawer, and she’d never get one before he shot her. He followed her down the hallway to the main bedroom, and after she pushed Bella inside, she pulled the door closed before Bella could get back out. When her hand was on the doorknob, she noticed the paracord bracelet on her wrist. She had a weapon! It wouldn’t be as effective as a knife or gun, but it was better than nothing.
As she headed back to the living room, he walked behind her. She slipped the small blade from its slot. Careful not to cut herself, she gripped the flat end between her fingers.
Robert grabbed her hair, jerking her back against him. “In here.” He pushed her into the bedroom.
If she let him keep her in this room, he would rape her and then kill her. She’d rather die fighting than let him put his hands on her. It was time to act. When he stood next to one of the twin beds, no longer blocking the doorway, she waited even though her mind was screaming at her to run. One thing she’d learned performing stunts in movies, timing was everything.
“On your knees, doll.” One of his hands went to his belt buckle, and he lowered the hand holding the gun to his side.
And action!She was trained to become the person in a role at those words, and hearing them in her head, she became a woman fighting for her life and determined to win. Letting him see her fear and revulsion—emotions he fed off—she stepped forward until she was close enough to touch him. As she dipped her knees to fool him into believing she was falling to the floor, she raised her hand with the blade held tight in her fingers and dug it into his arm, just below his elbow, and dragged it down to his wrist.
“Fucking bitch,” he yelled, the gun dropping to the floor as he brought his bleeding arm up.
She ran. Right out the door he’d kicked in. She made it outside, but she didn’t know where to go. There wasn’t another building or a place to hide that she could see in front of her, so she raced around the side of the cabin. As she passed the main bedroom window, she heard Bella barking up a storm.
Seeing woods behind the cabin, she headed for them. Her sandals were slowing her down, so she kicked them off. A few yards from the edge of the woods, a bullet flew past her head, and she stumbled, falling to the ground. She glanced behind her, and seeing Robert running after her, she scrambled up and zigzagged her way to the trees as another bullet came so close to her neck that she felt the air it displaced.
When she reached the woods, she kept going, even though her lungs were bursting. She wished her heart would stop pounding, as if it needed to beat that hard while it still could.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Testing,” Dallas said. He didn’t know how or where Jack had gotten hold of comms, but he appreciated the hell out of his friend’s resourcefulness.
“Whiskey here.”
“Double D here.”
“Seen any sign of Hargrove or his men?” He walked into the cabin. This place was filled with memories of a wildcat, and he chuckled, still amused that she’d tried to crack his head open.
“Negative,” Jack said. “We have eyes on you. I’m to the west of the cabin. Double D’s to the east.”
Since the front of the cabin was cleared and only had a patch of grass before the drop-off, they’d agreed that the attack would come from the woods.
