Chapter Thirty-eight – Gunpowder & Lead
Chapter Thirty-eight
Fallon
GUNPOWDER & LEAD
Performed by Miranda Lambert
TEN YEARS AGO
HER: Giles was Buffy’s real dad. But he died and left her to fight alone.
HIM: First, Buffy was never alone. She had the Scoobies.
Second, we both know you’re really talking about Spencer.
So I’ll just say that Spence was a good father, and I’m sorry you’re feeling his loss, but don’t give up on Rafe.
He’s no Hank Summers. Rafe will be there when you need him most. He loves you.
HER: If I’ve learned one thing in this life, it’s that you can love someone and still fail them.
PRESENT DAY
The chill of the caves had already worked its way into my skin and bones, and the adrenaline that had fueled me earlier had slipped away.
It meant I was shaking like a leaf. My mouth was dry, and I craved water as if it was a lost treasure.
I was bleeding from a cut on my arm I must have gotten in the crash and hadn’t noticed until I’d been sitting here for what had felt like an entire day already.
“Why the fuck isn’t he answering?” Ike demanded, pacing in front of me.
When we’d first arrived, he’d had me shackle my ankle to an iron rung pounded into the rock.
It was old, probably used by the bandits who’d holed up here well before the Harringtons had owned the land, maybe even before the Hurlys had claimed it.
If I wanted to escape, I had to get close enough to Ike to get the key from the front pocket of the sweatshirt he’d pulled on.
He didn’t seem to care that I was freezing my ass off. But then, why would he when he only intended to kill me anyway?
After he’d made sure I was locked tight, he’d lit an LED lantern, and it had filled the cave with creepy shadows.
Not far from me, a sleeping bag, a duffel, and a pile of food debris were scattered around.
It angered me to see it, to know he’d been staying here for weeks, using my land as his base to taunt and terrorize me and mine.
Maybe I should have been afraid while I sat here shivering. Maybe I should have dreaded the moment Ike turned his hate and fury at me, but I wasn’t. I was strangely calm because I knew what was coming for him.
The only thing that scared me was the idea of Parker or someone else I cared about getting hurt while trying to rescue me. Because they were all coming. Parker’s teammates. Kurt. My security team.
I was not alone.
I’d never been alone, even though there’d been plenty of times as a kid I’d thought I was.
Instead, I was part of a team.
I’d do my part as one of the members. I’d free myself before Parker got here and distract Ike for long enough that Parker could disable him. I just had to get the key for the shackle tearing into my ankle to do it.
Ike stopped in front of me and hit redial on the satellite phone he was using to receive a signal this deep in the caves. When the call clearly went to voicemail, he shoved it toward me. “Tell Daddy to call back within twenty minutes, or I’ll take a finger for every hour he makes me wait.”
I shook my head, and he backhanded me. My head whipped to the side. Thankfully, I didn’t crash into the cave wall. I wasn’t sure my concussed brain could handle much more.
He dug his fingers into the cut on my arm, and I couldn’t hold back the cry of pain.
He stepped back and spoke into the phone, “You hear that, Marquess? That was the first finger. I’ll take another if I don’t hear back from you in an hour.”
Blood dripped from a new cut on my lip, and I wiped it gently on my shoulder as I watched the key inch out farther from the pocket of his sweatshirt.
I had to get him closer again. I had to antagonize him enough to swipe at me once more. I was good at antagonizing people. It was a Fallon specialty.
“You should have taken your freedom and run,” I said.
He twisted around, glaring at me in the weird half-shadows the lantern cast and looking very much like the devil he was.
“Not until I take a pound of flesh for every year I rotted away in that cell. Not before I take a life for every year Theresa’s been gone. Then I’ll hand you over to Ace, let him take his piece of you too. You’ll be begging for death by the time we’re both through with you.”
I fought the immediate, visceral fear that tried to choke me at his words. Instead, I raised a brow and said, “Revenge has made you stupid.”
This time, when he hit me, I reached out and swiped the key from his sweatshirt, tucking it into my palm.
He grabbed my chin, scowling down at me. “Defiant little shit. Maybe I’ll enjoy breaking you before I hand you over to Ace. Maybe I’ll call your daddy and make him listen while I take you. Maybe hearing you scream will make him show up faster.”
“He’s in Australia, fuckhead. It’s not like he’s in Vegas. He can’t bend time to get here.”
Dad would if he could. Hadn’t we joked about him being a superhero and turning back time?
This time, when he hit me, it was a punch to the stomach, and the pain that soared through me was followed by a brand-new fear I wasn’t quick enough to hide. My baby. The little human Parker had already claimed as his.
Ike laughed. “There’s the fear.” He yanked my hair and pulled my face close to his. “Now shut the fuck up before I do cut that pretty little pinky off.”
He dropped me and stepped back.
“How do you think you’ll get out of here without being caught?” I demanded .
“I’m not as stupid as you think, bitch. I’m not telling you my escape plan.
But I will take every ounce of revenge I can before I disappear.
I already killed that bastard who shot my sister.
He was easy pickings tucked away in jail.
After I’ve had my fun with you and give you to Ace to gut, I’ll finish Daddy off.
Then, I’ll take out that slutty trophy wife of his, followed by your siblings and your mother.
The only thing left of the Marquess, Harrington, and Hurly families will be an ugly memory.
Maybe, just for some added fun, I’ll take out your boyfriend and his little kid too. ”
While he’d run on, he’d missed what I’d noticed. He’d missed the masculine, earthy scent of hope that had wafted to me in the dark.
I raised my chin, looked him in the eye, and said, “Husband.”
“What?”
“He’s my husband. And you forgot one important thing about him.”
“Yeah?” he asked scornfully. “Like what?”
“Like I’m a fucking Navy SEAL trained to hunt and kill.” Parker rose from the shadows behind him.
Before Ike could even lift his gun, Parker had slammed it out of his hands.
Ike recovered quickly, kicking out at him.
Parker grabbed his foot, twisted and tossed Ike to the ground.
Ike snarled, pulling the second gun from his back.
I screamed Parker’s name, but Parker was already aiming his own weapon.
Two shots rang out, echoing across the stone walls.
Ike’s body jerked. Blood bloomed on his chest and forehead.
Relief flooded my veins as Parker sprinted across the cave and slid to his knees in front of me.
The damn tears I’d been holding back threatened again.
God. Was it really over? Just like that?
All I knew was Parker was safe. Theo and my family were safe.
But what about my baby? Please, let the baby be okay.
A click from the dark behind us drew my gaze over Parker’s shoulder just as a female voice full of as much hate and anger as Ike’s said, “Freeze, asshole.”
Parker’s eyes locked on mine .
“Celia. You don’t want to do this,” I said.
Parker started to move, and she fired the weapon. I felt it in the air as it blew past me and landed with a crack in the rock to the right of me.
“That was just a warning. I do know how to use a gun. Turn around and scoot back against the wall,” she said to Parker.
He swiveled on his toes but didn’t sit.
“Put the gun down,” Parker said. “And you might get out of here alive.”
Celia laughed. “Alive? My life ended two years ago. This is how I get it back. I promised Ace I’d make sure the bitch died.
I promised I’d make her suffer and I wouldn’t let Ike fuck it up in his desperate attempt to get to her daddy.
We don’t care about Rafe Marquess. It’s Fallon who destroyed everything for us!
Making her lose everything, her reputation, her fucking inheritance, was only the start.
I had it all in motion. I’d set her up perfectly with the altered video footage, the strand of hair on her sweatshirt, and her fingerprints.
But Ike had to go and get impatient. He’d already waited years, so why the hell couldn’t he wait a few more days? !”
Her voice had gone up with each word until it had become a brittle, sharp scream. She kicked Ike’s dead body. “Fucking moron.”
“You don’t know anything about SEALs, do you?” Parker said quietly.
“What?” Her eyes jerked back to his face. “I don’t fucking care who you are or what you do. It’s just too bad for you that you came for her. Now, you’ll die too.”
As if she hadn’t spoken, Parker continued, “You should care, Celia. Because, you see, SEALs don’t work alone. They’re part of a unit. A team.”
Her eyes flickered for half a second before the muzzle of a gun landed on the back of her head. “Drop the weapon.”
Sweeney shifted into the weird light of the tunnel. Celia screamed in fury, and she raised her gun, finger squeezing the trigger, but Sweeney reacted first. Her head jerked as the bullet blew through her. Her body swayed, and she hit the ground.
Dead eyes found me. The same dead, soulless, evil eyes that poured from Ike. The same ones I’d seen in Tennessee when Theresa Puzo had hit the ground.
My body quivered and shook.