Chapter 34
SHAWN
I crouched beside Kara, watching Ethan tighten his arm around her neck like a noose, and it was horrifying. The longest fifteen seconds of my life. How bad was the pain that she would choose this? He had a cold and detached look on his face as he watched her, carefully gauging her reaction.
The hardwired protector in me balled my hands into fists. A split second before I reared back to strike, she went limp and her eyes fell shut.
“What the fuck did you just do to her?” I demanded.
“I temporarily interrupted the flow of oxygen to her brain.” He laid her down, put his ear near her face, and listened. Then he straightened, like he was satisfied he hadn’t just killed her. “She’s breathing. We’ve got to move.”
For once, I’d allow someone else to tell me what to do. I lifted her in my arms, hoping she wouldn’t wake in excruciating pain with my touch as the cause.
We moved quickly through the trees. I focused on being quiet and deliberate with my movements. There’d be time to worry about her once I had her safe. We reached the car quickly and without incident, and he opened the back seat door for me, but his attention abruptly turned back toward the house.
His posture said something was wrong.
“What is it?”
“It’s quiet.”
I hadn’t noticed that, and it made my pulse speed even faster.
With his help, we set her in the Audi, and for a single breath, I allowed myself to feel relief. She was resting on the premium leather of my back seat. We were so close to having her away from this nightmare, I could taste it.
Ethan stepped away from the car and pressed the comm link at his neck. “We’ve got her secure. Where are you?”
In response, the earth beneath our feet shook and the concussion of a massive explosion made us both flinch.
A black-red plume of smoke shot out of the hole blown through the roof of the house.
The force knocked down the smaller trees nearby, spewing debris among the trunks of the trees that remained.
In an instant, the house was leveled.
“No!” I took off toward the dark, thick cloud that billowed out like a moving wall, drawing my gun again. Schei?e. If Jason had been anywhere near the house, he was dead.
But a hand closed around the strap of my bulletproof vest, jerking me to a stop, and Ethan grunted like the action had caused him pain. He sucked in a breath and put a hand to his comm link again. “Jason. Come in.”
I watched him with breath held, waiting for some sort of reaction. To know if he was receiving any sort of response from my brother—
Abruptly, his hand abandoned the comm. His face hardened to stone, and he braced himself as he raised his gun and fired repeatedly. I ducked out of the way as bullets shattered the back window of my Audi.
Why the fuck was he firing on the car when he knew Kara was inside? Tires squealed on the asphalt as my Audi abruptly peeled out. The head of blonde hair on the driver left little doubt about his identity.
In a heartbeat, I’d gone from nearly having it all . . . to nothing. There was no oxygen left to breathe. I stood there, too stunned to do anything but watch my car disappear down the road, carrying her away.
Fucking move! I would not stand here, powerless. The Range Rover might have survived the blast—
“Heads up,” Ethan said in an urgent, alarmed voice as he shoved me from the road. A dark SUV roared straight for us.
He had his sight set down the barrel of his pistol, aiming at the driver. I was with him on this plan, to commandeer the vehicle. But as it neared, I recognized it. He must have as well, because he lowered his weapon.
The Range Rover, with Jason seated behind the wheel, growled to a stop beside us.
Blood trickled down my brother’s neck stemming from his ear. Fletcher sat in the passenger seat with dirt, blood, and an angry expression splattered across his face. The window had been shattered, and he yelled through it. “Get in!”
Ethan yanked open the back door, and I jumped in after him.
“Go!” I ordered before we were seated, before I even had the door closed.
“Where’s Tony?” He asked while reloading his weapon.
It came from both men in the front seat. “Down.”