Chapter 16 #2
At one point, she lay on her back and took a nap, or passed out, whichever the case might’ve been.
She didn’t know how much time had passed when she woke up, as it was still dark, but she didn’t feel any better for the break.
Her tears had dried up for now, and she would’ve killed for a drink out of the stream she’d long since left behind.
The only thing keeping her going was Gage. She kept his brown eyes in her mind and every inch she moved forward was for him. She wanted to see him again. Wanted to feel his hands on her body. Wanted to feel him inside her body. She hadn’t gone through everything she had in her life to lose him now.
But more than that, she didn’t want him to beat himself up about her being stupid enough to get into a car with a stranger.
Especially when she knew someone was trying to kill her.
Even if he’d said all the right things and had that ID, she should’ve known better.
She should’ve continued trying to reach Cruz to verify the guy’s identity.
Gage would take the blame for her being taken. Even though he wasn’t there, he’d still feel guilty. She had to live, if only to tell him it wasn’t his fault.
So she kept going. Inch by painful inch. Her hands and knees were bleeding from the rocks beneath her, but she barely felt them over all the other hurts.
When she finally emerged at the top of the ravine, she could scarcely believe it.
She’d made it.
Now all she had to do was crawl to the road.
“All” she had to do…right. But compared to what she’d just done, it was a piece of cake.
She just had to make sure she didn’t crawl right back into Simon’s clutches.
She’d have to be careful, only show herself when she was sure the car wasn’t a dark sedan.
But with how slowly she was moving, it wasn’t going to be easy to try to see what make and color a car was, then hide if it seemed it might be the hitman.
But first things first…she had to make it to the road.
Picking up the ball of tape, she tossed it in front of her once more, then again, very slowly crawling toward it.
Gage, Gage, Gage, she mentally chanted, over and over. He was going to be her reward for all the pain and suffering she was feeling right now.
Time had no meaning. All Kinley could focus on was the ball of tape. She ignored everything else. Her strength was fading and she was beginning to think she wasn’t going to make it to the road. After everything she’d been through, that would be the ultimate slap in the face. She couldn’t stop now.
It took a moment for her to realize the ground under her hands and knees had changed.
It wasn’t soft anymore.
Looking up—she realized she’d done it! She was kneeling on the asphalt on the side of a road!
For a second, she panicked. If she was in sight, Simon could see her. He would finish what he’d thought he’d accomplished…namely, killing her.
Kinley shook her head. She was going to have to take the chance. Hopefully he was long gone, thinking she was dead at the bottom of the ravine in the stream. If she wasn’t found, she’d be dead in a few hours. She knew that down to the bottom of her soul.
The task of getting herself up and out of the ravine had overtaken her mind, blocking everything else out. But now that she’d made it to the road, she was suddenly exhausted. She carefully lowered herself to the ground and turned over onto her back.
It hurt to move. It hurt to breathe. Even her skin hurt. It was still dark outside, but she could tell that the sky was just a little bit lighter. It had taken her all night to get out of the stream and up to the road.
Her breaths were shallow, and each one was more painful than the last. Her fingers tingled, maybe because of lack of oxygen, she had no idea. But the longer she lay there at the side of the road, the more she relaxed.
Her eyes closed, and she felt as if she were floating. Suddenly, she didn’t hurt anymore. She wanted to take a nap. If she could only rest for a second, she’d feel better.
DON’T GO TO SLEEP!
The voice was loud in her head, and she jerked in surprise, then moaned at how the movement jarred her bruised and battered body.
For just a moment, she had no idea where she was and why she hurt so much, then it all came back to her. She turned her head and saw the ball of tape next to her. If someone didn’t drive by soon, this was going to be her death bed.
In the distance, she heard a sound.
As if her inner thoughts had conjured the vehicle, headlights appeared in the distance. It didn’t sound like a sedan, and the lights looked to be higher off the ground than the car Simon drove. At least she hoped so.
Knowing if she dragged herself to the middle of the road, she’d probably get run over, and also realizing there was no way she could even stand up to try to attract the driver’s attention, Kinley did her best to wave her arm in the air.
The lights got closer and closer, but they weren’t slowing down. The car was going to go right by her.
Kinley’s stomach dropped. Her arm was throbbing, but she didn’t stop waving.
One second the car was approaching, and the next it was flying past her.
“No!” Kinley croaked in despair.
But the moment it passed her, she saw its brake lights come on and heard the tires screech a little as the driver tried to stop.
Thank God.
“Please don’t be a serial killer,” she whispered. “That’s all I need right now.”
She couldn’t move from her position on her back because it hurt too badly, so she turned her head to watch as the car reversed ever so slowly. It stopped, and she saw a man climb out of the driver’s seat and jog toward her.
She blinked up at him as he towered over her.
“Holy shit, are you all right?”
It was a stupid question, but Kinley forgave him. After all, he’d probably never seen a bleeding and beaten woman who’d almost been killed lying on the side of the road before.
“No,” she whispered.
As if the man’s appearance was all she’d been waiting for, her body finally gave out. She’d managed to continue moving by sheer will. Her thoughts of Gage had kept her going. But now that rescue was at hand, it was as if her mind and body shut down.
The last thing she remembered was the man pulling out a phone and putting it to his ear.
Brain and Lefty had been driving around for hours. They had no idea what they were looking for, but neither wanted to admit defeat and return to Killeen.
Lefty stared out the window and had a hard time thinking clearly.
He was exhausted and heartsick. He just wanted to hold Kinley in his arms and tell her how much he loved her and promise he’d never let anyone touch her again.
How he was going to accomplish that, he had no idea, but somehow he’d do it.
Brain’s phone ringing startled Lefty so badly, he jerked in the seat, but he recovered quickly and grabbed the cell.
“’Lo?”
“It’s Trigger. They found her.”
For a second, the words didn’t penetrate. Then when they did, his entire body locked.
“Is she…” He couldn’t make himself say the words.
“She’s on her way to The Hospital at Westlake Medical Center. They’re probably going to fly her to Fort Worth from there.”
Lefty closed his eyes in stunned relief. Kinley was alive. Holy shit, she was alive!
“Turn around!” he barked to Brain. “Kinley’s alive and headed to Westlake Medical.”
“No shit?” Brain gasped, already pulling over to the side of the road.
“No shit,” Lefty told him.
“She’s in bad shape,” Trigger warned.
And just like that, Lefty’s relief crashed and burned.
“Bad shape how?” he asked.
“I don’t know. The trooper who called me didn’t have details. But, Lefty…she’s alive. We have to concentrate on that.”
Lefty nodded, but he couldn’t get his brain to work. “Where was she found?”
Trigger gave him the details about the man who’d been driving on a back road, miles from where they were currently looking, and had seen a woman lying on the side of the road, waving her arm to try to get him to stop.
“You headed to the hospital?” Lefty asked.
“Of course. Don’t know how long Kinley will be there, but I’m guessing the docs will want to stabilize her before they put her in a chopper for Fort Worth.”
“We’ll be there as soon as possible,” Lefty told his friend, then hung up. “Go about five more miles, then take a right,” he ordered Brain.
“We aren’t going straight to the hospital?” Brain asked.
“No. There’s something I need to see first.”
Brain didn’t ask any more questions, simply followed Lefty’s directions as he told him where to turn.
Within twenty minutes, they’d arrived at the place where Kinley had been found. It wasn’t hard to find when they got close, as there were three state trooper cars parked alongside the road, as well as a crime scene van. Brain parked a little distance away and Lefty got out without saying a word.
It was light enough outside now to see clearly, and Lefty didn’t bother to approach any of the troopers or detectives working the scene. He simply stood at the end of the bridge over the ravine and stared down.
He didn’t know what happened, but he could imagine it in his mind’s eye.
The hitman had most likely thrown his woman off the side of this bridge.
Looking down, it hardly seemed possible that she could’ve survived.
The stream was fast moving, but still somewhat puny from the lack of rain that summer.
The right side of the stream was mostly mud—and if the cinderblock with rope attached to it, and the deep indentation in the muck was any indication, that was where Kinley had landed.
It made Lefty sick. But he forced himself to stand there for a few more moments.
He saw where she’d crawled out of the mud and up the steep bank.
He saw where her tracks disappeared into some trees.
His eyes traced the most likely trail she probably took before arriving on the asphalt on the side of the road.
There was a ball of duct tape lying there, with orange cones set up around it.
But it was the blood shining in the morning light on the black asphalt that made his entire body go cold.
That was Kinley’s blood. She’d been lying there on the side of the road, bleeding, when the bystander had noticed her and called 9-1-1.
Lefty had been in his share of life-threatening situations. He’d seen enough blood to make him immune to the horrors of war. But this wasn’t war, and this wasn’t a stranger. This was the woman he loved. The woman he’d held in his arms not twenty-four hours ago.
The thought that she’d come so close to dying, could still die, was too much.
He turned and puked his guts out right there on the side of the road. Then he stood there, bent over, his hands on his knees, and tried to get his equilibrium back.
Brain came up next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “She’s alive, man. You have to keep that in mind.”
Lefty nodded, but he was having a hard time moving.
“Come on. She needs you.”
Those three words were what Lefty needed to hear. He stood and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He nodded at Brain, and the two of them headed back to the car.
Without another word, Brain headed for Austin.
Lefty would never know why the hitman had chosen this road.
This bridge. But he was grateful. If not for the mud, Kinley might’ve busted her head open on the rocks.
Or she might’ve drowned. He knew there was a chance she might still die due to complications from her ordeal, but deep down, he had a feeling she’d be all right.
He’d always thought she had a core of steel, and seeing where she’d fought a brutal battle for her life just solidified that.
Hold on just a little longer, Kins. You got this.