CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE #2
Suddenly, her door was ripped open, and she was jerked out of the truck.
“Finally.” The voice that growled in her ear was so familiar that a chill went through her, right down to her bones.
The light was on inside the cab, illuminating Jude where he was slumped over the center console. Unmoving.
Her heart pounded as fear coursed through her. But close on the heels of the fear was anger. This person… this horrible, horrible person who’d taken her from her family was trying to take the man she loved from her too.
She refused to believe that Jude was dead. That just wasn’t possible. She couldn’t accept that.
Angela twisted in Jim's grip, her shoulder screaming as he wrenched her arm behind her back. The smell of cigarettes and unwashed clothing filled her nostrils, a scent that transported her back to years in his presence at the homestead.
"Let me go!" She struggled against his hold, but his fingers dug deeper into her arm.
"You're coming with me," Jim snarled, his breath hot against her ear. "Just like old times."
Angela's gaze darted back to the truck where Jude remained motionless. Her chest constricted with panic. He had to be alive. He had to be.
"Please," she gasped, trying to pull away from Jim. "He needs help. He's hurt."
"Should have minded his own business." Jim dragged her backward, away from the truck, and she lost sight of Jude.
Angela knew that if she didn’t do something, she’d be gone, and maybe Jude would be too.
She took a deep breath, praying that God would give her strength, then tried to recall everything Jude and Dawn had taught them about self-defense when an attacker had them in a grip the way Jim did.
Angela's heart hammered in her chest as she forced herself to focus through the panic. Jude's voice echoed in her memory: "Use your attacker's strength against them."
She went limp suddenly, dropping her weight and throwing Jim off balance. As he stumbled, she drove her elbow back hard into his ribs. The impact sent a jarring pain up her arm, but Jim's grip loosened with a grunt of surprise.
"You little—" he growled, but Angela was already twisting away.
She stomped down on his instep with everything she had. The crunch under her boot and Jim's howl told her she'd hit her mark. The self-defense training had drilled one thing into her above all else: create distance, then run.
But she couldn't run. Not with Jude bleeding in the truck.
Jim lunged for her again, his face contorted with rage.
Angela spun, her fist connecting with his jaw in a move Dawn had made her practice. It wasn’t strong enough to do more than momentarily stun him, but she darted away from him, back toward the truck.
When she spotted Jude, she saw he was struggling to move.
“Jude!” she cried out as she reached the truck.
“Down,” he gasped. “Get… down.”
Without hesitating, she dropped to the ground. She pressed herself flat against the cold ground, snow seeping through her jeans as she tried to make sense of what was happening.
Angela heard two shots ring out, and when she dared to look up, she saw Jim staggering backward, his hand clutched to his chest, dark wetness spreading between his fingers. His eyes, wide with shock, locked with hers for a moment before he crumpled to the snow.
With her ears ringing from the gunshots, she scrambled to her feet and turned back to the truck. Jude was slumped against the steering wheel, his gun still gripped in his trembling hand.
"Jude!" She scrambled into the truck, her hands shaking as she reached for him. Blood soaked his shirt and jacket, making it impossible to tell where he'd been hit. "Oh God, please."
"You okay?" His voice was barely audible, his breathing labored.
"I'm fine," she said, tears blurring her vision. "But you're hurt. You need help."
“I love you, Angela,” he whispered as his eyelids fluttered. “Never forget.”
“No! You’re not allowed to tell me that like this. I love you too, but this isn’t the place.”
“Just wanted… you… to know.”
Angela tried to find where the blood was coming from so she could try to stem it. Finally, she located one place, and she gently pressed her hand against it.
Jude’s pain-filled groan made tears spill down Angela’s cheeks. “I’m sorry, my love. I need to stop the bleeding.”
Cupping his cheek with her other hand, she looked into his glazed, half-closed eyes.
“You are going to live, Jude Kessler. You’re going to kiss me, then you’re going to propose to me.
And I’m going to say yes. We’re going to get married and have at least one baby, but hopefully two or three.
And we’re going to grow old together. That’s how this is going to go. ”
Jude’s lips tipped up briefly. “You’re my world, love.”
Angela couldn’t imagine doing any of the things she’d listed without him. Her heart hurt as she tried to keep Jude’s life from ebbing away.
Where was the security team? Shouldn’t they have been there already?
As if they’d heard her, Angela heard the roar of engines and then headlights flooded the area. There were shouts, but Angela ignored them, keeping her focus on Jude, willing him to live.
“Hang on,” she murmured as she leaned close to him. “Help is here. Hang on, my love.”
She gently pressed her lips to his. It was a fleeting contact, but it held her hopes of the life to come for them. And a promise to be there for him every step of the way.
“Angela.” Dawn’s voice was gentle as she gripped Angela’s shoulders. “Let them help Jude.”
Angela wanted to stay right where she was, but she wouldn’t because Jude needed help that she couldn’t give him.
“We have medics here,” Dawn said. “They’ll help him.”
Angela allowed the woman to move her out of the cab of the truck.
Clutching Dawn's arm, Angela walked on legs that felt like they might give out beneath her at any moment, and her heart pounded so hard it seemed to echo in her ears.
Every few seconds, she twisted to look back at Jude, terrified of losing sight of him.
"They're taking care of him," Dawn said, her voice steady but urgent. "Let them work."
In the back of her mind, she registered that the medics were actually some of the security guards.
They swarmed around the truck, their voices clipped and professional as they called out medical terms Angela didn't understand.
Derek was cutting away Jude's shirt while another prepared what looked like an IV bag.
"Is he going to be okay?" Her voice cracked on the question.
Dawn didn't answer immediately, which made Angela's stomach clench with fear. "They're doing everything they can. He's strong, Angela."
Not a yes. Not the reassurance she desperately needed.
“We’ve called for a medivac helicopter from Coeur d’Alene, and it’s going to pick him up from the estate and take him to the hospital there.”
“What about me?” she asked. “I want to go with him.”
“You’ll be able to go in Mr. Burke’s helicopter once the medivac has picked Jude up.”
Angela tore her gaze from Jude to see a cluster of people around where Jim lay on the ground. “Is he dead?”
“I’m not sure.”
Angela hoped he was so that the constant watch could be over.
The medics had loaded Jude onto a stretcher and were carrying him toward one of the vehicles. She started to follow, but Dawn's hand on her arm stopped her.
"They need to get him to the helipad as quickly as possible," Dawn said. "We'll follow in another vehicle."
Angela watched helplessly as the van carrying Jude disappeared around a bend in the road. The silence that followed felt deafening after all the chaos.
“Do they have the ability to take care of him? They didn’t have an ambulance.”
“The van they put him in has everything an ambulance has, and two of the security guards have experience as EMTs. One was a medic in the army. He’s in good hands.”
Angela wanted to believe that, but with him out of her sight, her confidence wavered.
"Come on," Dawn said gently. "Let's get you back to the estate and cleaned up."
Angela looked down at herself for the first time and saw that her hands and clothes were covered in Jude's blood. The sight made her legs wobble, and Dawn steadied her.
“He has to make it,” Angela said. “I love him, and I can’t lose him. I just can’t.”
“I understand,” Dawn said. “And we’ll be praying that God will heal him. But we need to get you back to the estate so you have time to clean up and get on the Burke helicopter. I have a feeling Mr. Burke will be getting on it with you.”
Angela climbed into one of the waiting SUVs, and soon they were on their way back to the estate.
“The police will probably have questions for you because we had to call them to the scene.”
“But I want to be with Jude,” Angela said.
“I know. We’ll see if they’ll come to the hospital to talk to you.”
When they pulled up to the main house, the back door opened, and Duncan stepped out. He looked more disheveled than she’d ever seen him, and worry was painted on his face.
“Are you okay?” he asked, resting his hand on her back to guide her out of the cold and into the mudroom.
“I’m fine. It’s Jude. He’s badly hurt.”
“We’re going to get him the help he needs.”
“Can I go to Coeur d’Alene too?”
Duncan nodded. “Why don’t you get cleaned up, and as soon as the medivac has come and gone, we’ll leave in my helicopter.”
“Okay.” Nothing could have gotten her moving faster than the promise of being near Jude.
She rushed upstairs and into her bathroom. She’d peeled out of her bloody clothes and was standing under the spray in the shower, staring blankly at the blood that swirled down the drain, when she heard Kiara say her name.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she assured her, jolted out of her trance. “Jude’s hurt, though, so I’m going with Duncan into Coeur d’Alene to see him.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“I don’t think you want to be in the hospital with the way you’ve been feeling.”
“No, but if you need me, I’ll be there.”
“I’ll be okay,” she assured her as she finished washing away the last of the blood. “Duncan will be there too.”
“You’ll keep in contact with me?” Kiara asked. “To let me know how everything is going.”
“I will.”
Angela just hoped that she didn’t have to tell Kiara that the worst had happened and her world had been shattered.