Chapter 22
Ivy’s body spasmed on every ragged breath. The Kevlar weighed down her chest and shoulders like freshly poured cement. Her legs trembled as she jumped over tree roots and rocks.
The branches and trees were dizzying, whipping her from all angles as she charged through the woods like a wild deer being hunted. The men’s footsteps clomped behind her, their flashlights dancing over the bark and skipping in front of her path.
They were close.
Despite her determination, her body was failing her. Her limbs grew weaker by the second as the oxygen in her cells depleted.
A loud, roaring noise reached her ears. Helicopter?
Oh, God, please let there be help—
No. Her brain quickly changed direction and tuned into the constant sound of flowing water. A river? She reached the top of a hill and, sure enough, at the bottom was a wide creek. Water rushed around rocks—it wasn’t too deep. The flashlight beam hit her body.
“There she is!”
Ivy charged down the slope. Her feet slid out from under her as the damp earth gave away. She landed on her butt and tumbled down the short distance. Pushing to her knees, she scrambled to her feet and ran into the current.
The icy water circled her knees, and she gasped. Her blood nearly froze in place. Forcing steady breaths through her nose, she surged through the waves. Her shoes slipped on moss-covered rocks as she teetered in the middle of the river.
“Get her, dammit!” an angry voice screamed.
A frantic glance over her shoulder revealed the men running down the hill. Gabriel fell, but the other two reached the bottom. Her gaze locked on Luis, who had his gun trained on her.
She screamed and covered her head.
Crack!
A bullet connected with her back, throwing her face-first into the creek. Pain exploded along her spine and shoulders, making her forget the shock of the icy water. A cry caught in her throat and the voices behind her grew closer.
She closed her eyes as pain surged through her, but no sticky warmth touched her skin. The bullet had to have hit the bulletproof vest. Still hurt like a demon.
“You idiot,” Wayne yelled. “You shot her in the back!”
“I tried to get her leg,” Luis said defensively.
Indecision took hold of her. If she got to her feet, they’d know she was uninjured and shoot her again—maybe not to kill but definitely to disable. Her fingers were as cold as icicles, but she forced her hand to graze the bottom of the creek. A large rock brushed her fingers.
She heard splashes behind her.
“You fucking carry her. You shot her, idiot. Fernando’s gonna be pissed you didn’t get the video done before killing her.”
She gripped the rock in her right palm, keeping her body motionless. A rough hand grabbed her left elbow, hauling her out of the water.
Ivy let out a roar and swung the rock at Gabriel. The stone smashed against his face and the crunch of cartilage followed.
“Ahh!” he bellowed. Blood spurted from his nose and mouth and he staggered backward, dropping her arm. “Fucking bitch!”
Ivy leapt to her feet and ran for the woods. Her sopping wet shoes squelched as she reached solid ground, but splashes sounded behind her. A weight slammed into her waist and she went down hard, smacking into the earth. Air barked from her lungs, but she flipped onto her back to kick away her attacker.
Wayne was on top of her, his features twisted with menace. His rough hands grabbed her face. He lifted her head and slammed the back of her skull against the ground.
Pinpricks of pain erupted across the back of her head. Small bursts of light exploded on the insides of her eyelids as her consciousness flickered.
“You stupid cunt!” he yelled in her face. “You’re going to pay for this!” He smashed her head again. One more blow and she’d pass out.
Letting out a hiss, she jammed her fingers into one of Wayne’s eyes. Her fingernails hit wet, squishy tissue, and he let out a blood-curdling cry.
He fell to the ground, screams blaring from his lips. “Ahhh! My fucking eyes!”
Ivy’s head pounded as she rolled onto her knees and used a tree trunk to pull herself the rest of the way up. The back of her scalp ached. She didn’t waste time feeling the area for blood. Instead, she forced her legs to move. Her head swam, making it seem as if she were wading through waist-deep quicksand.
Her vision split into two. The trees became a moving mosaic of branches, pine needles, and bark. The world tilted on its axis and the ground heaved at her feet.
She blinked and tried to shake free of the fog closing off her senses, but her eyesight grew more unfocused until she felt as though she were looking through wax paper. The sounds around her fell away, the angry shouts distant and garbled.
She waited for the bullet that would enter her head. The shot that would end her.
But before it came her knees gave out and she sank to the cool, damp dirt.
***
“Stop!”
Rami stomped on the brake. Stones kicked up around the vehicle. “What?” he asked. Panic ricocheted in his head. If August said she was dead, her colorful heat source snuffed out, he’d lose it.
“Looks like we’re close. If we get out and head east through the woods here, they won’t be far.” August nodded toward the dense trees at the side of the road.
That was all Rami needed to hear. He flung open the door, jumped out, and went to the back of the truck to reload his Glock and grab another magazine and his AR-15.
Toth parked behind them and leapt out. “You got a location?”
Stuffing the Glock in the waistband at the back of his pants, Rami shut the door of the truck and stormed toward the woods with his AR-15 in hand. “Yup. You armed?” he called to August. He’d already spotted the gun Toth held.
His friend nodded, tablet still in hand. August’s hard jaw and grim expression made Rami’s nerves jump.
“What?” he asked.
August’s face grew more tense. “Ivy stopped running.”
Rami glanced at the screen. Her colorful form wasn’t moving. Then another target moved on top of her. Rami’s face turned hot, and violent images flashed through his mind.
The need to kill was so great he almost blacked out. But he couldn’t. Once Ivy was safe and he was close enough to the motherfucker touching his woman, then, and only then, he could unleash the beast inside him.
Forcing his eyes to focus on the screen for one more beat, he spotted other blobs of red and orange close behind Ivy and whoever was on her. There were three—at least—sonsofbitches who would die tonight. The air in Rami’s lungs turned stale. Terror bit into his bones, and the urgency he felt was like fire on his back. “Let’s move.”
August led the way through the brush deftly and quickly even though he was still watching the screen in his hand. Rami swiped branches left then right, ignoring the sting of the sharp edges as he ran deeper into the forest. Toth kept pace with them.
“How far?” Rami asked.
“’Bout fifty feet or so,” August confirmed.
Not close enough. August must have sensed Rami’s impatience because he quickened his stride.
Moments passed. Rami heard a creek trickling. It grew louder.
Voices followed.
“Shhh.” Rami snagged August’s shoulder, pulling him to a crouched position. “There,” he said, pointing twenty feet straight in front of them. The gentle crunch of leaves at Rami’s back told him Toth knelt behind him.
“Ahhh! My fucking eyes!” A man’s gurgling scream, pathetic and enraged, carried over the trees.
Rami inched closer to August’s side, his gun ready and heavy in his palm. August lay the tablet at his feet and trained his weapon on the scene ahead.
A form scrambled from the ground, dark hair disheveled and footsteps unsteady. Ivy. She stumbled forward, her hands grappling with the air as if she couldn’t see. Rami surged to his feet and broke into a run.
“Dude, wait!” August shouted.
But Rami didn’t slow. Her name churned in the back of his throat but he didn’t dare scream and alert the men pursuing her to his presence. Not when one bullet could end her. Rami pumped his legs and kept his gun trained on the targets beyond Ivy’s head. If his hand were steadier and his heart weren’t on the fucking line, he’d shoot.
He couldn’t risk it. Not until he reached Ivy.
She faltered again. Now that he was closer, he could see that her eyes were glazed over. Her knees sunk to the ground.
No!
Had she been shot? Fear scrambled his senses and he let out a roar. “Ivy!”
The men behind her jumped and locked their weapons on him, but Rami was quick.
Crack, crack!
Each bullet hit its target. One in the head, one in the neck. Both men went down. August’s yells sounded behind Rami but none of the words registered.
He approached Ivy’s body, curled on the forest floor. Skidding over tree roots and rocks, he placed his gun on the dirt and then swept his hand under the back of her neck. His other ran over her body, searching for injury. The Kevlar’s bumpy material still covered her chest and torso. No blood.
Her eyes lolled in her head as she seemingly fought to hang on.
“Baby, I’m here.” He didn’t recognize his own voice. All his strength left him as he stared at Ivy’s dazed eyes and slack body.
She blinked, and her hand reached for his face then flopped to his chest.
Emotion clogged his throat. He gripped her fingers, willing her to stay with him. “Ivy, tell me where you’re hurt, honey.”
She brought her shaking hand to the back of her head. He swept his fingers over her scalp and felt sticky blood and a large lump. Her condition suddenly made sense. “You’re bleeding. Probably got a concussion. Can you hear me?”
“Yes,” she said weakly, tears in her voice.
“Get away from her! That fucking bitch is mine.” The man staggering to his feet held a hand over his eye. Blood ran down his cheek.
Rami’s brain worked rapidly. He thought of the photo he’d seen of Ivy’s kidnappers. Wayne. He was supposed to be dead.
At the sound of Wayne’s voice, Ivy recoiled in his arms. Wayne lifted his gun and aimed it at Rami’s head. Rami inched his fingers toward the weapon nestled near his knee.
“Back away from her.”
“Over my dead body,” Rami growled. Yanking his Glock from the waistband at his back, Rami fired. Another shot went off.
Wayne dropped like a stone.
Confusion whipped through Rami—the other shot. Panic assailed him as he brought his focus back to Ivy, searching to ensure Wayne’s bullet hadn’t hit her.
But clarity returned to her eyes, and she slowly turned her gaze to Wayne’s dead form. “You killed him.” Relief filled her voice.
August’s hand dropped to Rami’s shoulder. “Actually, I did. Lucky for you.”
Rami glanced behind him and snorted. But his anxiety abated. Wayne hadn’t gotten off a shot at all. Instead, he’d been hit twice. “What are you talking about? I shot him.”
“Nah, you were too slow. That was my bullet that entered his useless brain. Pretty sure you got him in the leg.” Humor laced August’s voice.
Rami shook off his friend’s hand and the jab at his aim. “You’re such a dick. Call for help, will ya? She’s got a concussion.”
“Already called,” Toth interjected.
Ivy tried to sit but winced.
Rami held her tightly to keep her reclined. “Go slow, babe. Just rest a minute.”
Her hand found his, small and cold. He wrapped her fingers in his hold and brought her knuckles to his lips. “I thought I lost you.” The words shook.
After she’d been taken, he’d been gutted. The only thing that had kept him going was his desperation to find her. Now that she was in his arms, he could barely name all the emotions he felt—relief, gratitude, hate for the bastards who’d taken her.
Her other hand went to his jaw. She stroked his stubble. “I thought I’d never see you again. They were going to—” Her voice broke and tears coursed down her cheeks. “To make a video and send it to you. Then Wayne—”
“Shhh.” He cradled her face and brought his lips to her forehead. “You’re safe now.”
Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. His gut twisted. A sob broke from her lips and her arms wrapped around his neck. He dipped his face into her hair and cradled her. Her body fit his like a glove, and although he’d held her only a handful of times, he couldn’t fathom never holding her again.
He pulled away and then pressed his mouth to hers. As much as he wanted to deepen the kiss, he didn’t. Not when she was hurt. Not when she needed safety. He kissed her gently one more time then swept his thumb across her cheek to catch one of her tears.
“I shouldn’t have left you alone for one second. This whole thing never would have happened—”
“Rami,” she whispered. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“It was.” He kept the bite out of his tone, but dammit, the intensity of his mistake would burn inside him forever. “I promise to always protect you, okay? And my reasons are purely selfish because I can’t imagine a moment without you in my life.”
She wet her lips, and her eyes shined with knowing. “I—”
He touched her lips with his thumb, needing to release the inferno of words inside him. “I love you, Ivy. You don’t have to say it back. You don’t have to even acknowledge it, but—”
A sharp cry came from her parted lips. “I love you, too.”
His heart cracked open. All the pent-up pain and suffering he’d carried for so long would never completely go away, but opening his heart, letting Ivy in and letting his feelings for her break through... it would be healing in its purest form.
Her hand caught his face, and a bright smile made her eyes dance. “You saved me again. My dark angel.”
He chuckled, puckering his brow. “Your what?”
“My dark angel,” she said with pride. “That’s the first thing I thought when I laid eyes on you in the back of the van after you rescued me. I think even then I knew you were special... that you were mine.”
He didn’t stop the grin that spread across his face. “Love at first sight,” he confirmed. “Never would’ve thought that shit existed, but here we are.”
She let out a light laugh then cringed, her eyes crinkling with discomfort. Still, she smiled. “Here we are.”
“Think you can sit?”
She nodded. He helped her shift slowly into a sitting position, leaning her weight against his shoulder.
She sucked in a breath and clasped his forearm. “Oh my god! Fernando. He’s back at the campsite. He’s going to get away.”
Rami looked at Toth. His friend gave a nod, pulled his phone from his pocket, and paced away. If they were lucky, Toth could circle around and get to Fernando before he escaped.
Sirens sounded in the distance. The rest-stop incident was now a saving grace—emergency vehicles were close. If they could stop Fernando and get an ambulance for Ivy, he’d be grateful.
“How’s that head?” He smoothed his thumb over her scalp but kept his hand away from the injury.
She closed her eyes for a beat. “Pounding. I don’t suppose you have any ibuprofen?”
He grunted. “I wish.”
“I have some in my first aid kit back at the truck,” August said.
Ivy’s hand tightened on Rami’s wrist as if the idea of trekking was too great. Swooping one arm beneath her bent knees and cradling her back, he eased her weight into his hold.
“You can’t carry me,” she protested.
He snorted. “No offense, babe, but you weigh nothing. And the sooner we get back to the truck, the sooner we can get home.”
That stopped her refusal. Her body sank against his chest and she rested her head on his shoulder, curling her hand around his neck. “Rami?”
“Mmm?”
“I knew you’d come.”
Love swelled inside him. “Nothing but God himself could keep me away.” He brushed his lips over her forehead as everything he’d said sunk into his heart.
He’d meant every word.