Chapter 19 #2
Lord, please don’t let me be too late.
David gave the signal and rushed in, weapon out and aimed at Adam. “Police.”
Brandon stood next to him. “Let her go, Adam.”
“Why that little brat! Thought she could save her mom, did she?” Spittle flew from his mouth. Adam’s arm tightened around Jennie’s neck. The silver blade pushed into her skin. Red droplets clung to the steel.
“Don’t do it!” David’s eyes never left Adam’s, but he could see Jennie struggling for air. Her fingers clawing at Adam’s forearm. Tears slid down her cheeks.
“Let her go.” Brandon’s voiced boomed from behind him.
“She’s mine. You’ll never have her.” Adam moved toward the hallway dragging Jennie with him. His eyes darted around the room like a caged animal.
“Come on now, Adam. Jennie was never yours.”
Something dark shuttered over Adam’s eyes. An evil smile curved on his lips. Then he kissed Jennie’s temple.
She grimaced as if the devil himself had touched her.
David gritted his teeth. The desire to put his fist in the man’s face was overwhelming. But right now, his priority was Jennie.
“You might as well let her go and put the knife down. There’s no way out.” David held his aim steady. He watched for a shot, but the blade was too close. One minor flinch and the Adam would slice her throat.
Adam’s breathing rate increased. Sweat dripped from his brow.
The man was unstable, and David didn’t know how much longer they had before the creep would do something stupid.
“You want this cheating little witch? Then you can have her!” Adam yelled and threw Jennie’s limp, semi-conscious body at him and ran down the hall.
David caught her with one arm and cradled her against his chest.
Brandon tore off running after Adam. “I’ve got him.”
David scooped Jennie in his arms and laid her on the couch.
Rick rushed in. “I’ll take care of her. Go.”
He placed a kiss on her forehead and stared at Rick for a moment, willing his teammate to protect her with his life.
Rick nodded.
With assurance Jennie would be safe, David sprinted through the front door and around the back of the house in time to see Brandon climb through a small window and take off into the woods.
Faint light filtering through the trees. He caught a glimpse of a figure dodging brush and limbs. David’s long legs ate up the ground. His injuries hidden by adrenaline. Catching up with Brandon, the two pumped through the dense growth.
“He’s headed to the highway.” Brandon pointed toward the end of the woods.
Drumming footfalls and labored breaths filled the night air.
Adam sprinted up the small embankment and onto the road.
Tires squealed. David crested the ditch just in time to see Adam’s body tumble over the hood of a car and slam onto the ground with a thud.
He jumped over the edge of the road and ran to where Adam lay. He kept his gun aimed at the man until Brandon joined him.
His partner knelt next to the man’s body and placed two fingers on his neck. “He’s still alive. Better get the ambulance.”
David held his position until Brandon finished his search for additional weapons. Although, the action was in vain. Adam wasn’t getting up from the accident. In fact, it would be a miracle if he lived.
Holstering his Glock, David grabbed his radio and requested paramedics, adding, “Jennie comes first. Then you can save this sleaze ball.”
“Copy that. Ms. Nielson is already in route to the hospital, and Detective Pratt is following with Zoey.” a voice from the speaker stated.
Adrenaline fading, David rested his hands on his knees and sucked in air. He tilted his head, finding his partner on one knee with his head in his hands inhaling just as heavily.
Everything in David wanted to race to the hospital and be with Jennie. Wanted to make sure she was okay.
He huffed in frustration. “I don’t even know her condition.”
Brandon shifted and met his gaze. “She was alive when we found her. Hang on to that.”
Praying was all he could do. His job required him to stay and handle the situation at hand.
But what if Jennie didn’t make it? How would he ever survive?
***
Jennie’s body screamed in pain. Every inch of her hurt. It even hurt to blink. She had no idea where she was. She could still be on the floor of the cabin for all she knew. But she didn’t care. Her body throbbed in time with her heartbeat.
“Jennie?” a low husky voice faded in and out.
The voice was soothing, and she loved the sound of it.
“Jennie, honey? Are you there?”
The puzzle pieces floated together. David. Zoey. Adam.
She sucked in a deep breath and cried out in pain.
Gentle hands smoothed back the hair from her forehead.
The touch almost more than she could bear.
“Jennie, I’m right here.” David’s low timbre cleared her muddled mind.
“Zoey?” The desert in her mouth made her words come out as a croak.
“She’s safe.”
Something cold pressed against her lips.
“Open your mouth for some ice chips, honey.”
She obliged. The relief was incredible.
“Better?”
“Yes,” she whispered. Her eyelids lifted, and the most wonderful sight came into focus.
David leaned over the rail of a bed.
“Hospital?”
“Yes.” His voice quivered. “You scared me, Jennie.”
“Adam?” She felt stupid for the one-word questions, but she didn’t have the strength to say more.
“In surgery.”
She scrunched her forehead and grimaced. “What happened?”
“You don’t need to worry about that right now.”
He wanted to protect her, she knew that deep down, but she had to know. She didn’t want to be babied. She wanted—needed—to feel in control. At least when it came to Adam.
“Tell me.”
David nodded, seeming to understand. “He was hit by a car when he tried to run from us. The doctors aren’t sure if he’ll make it.”
Jennie didn’t know whether to rejoice the fact or feel sorrow for the man who’d kidnapped Zoey and hurt her. A tear slid down her temple.
“Honey, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. Yet, she did know. Her choices had put Zoey in danger.
“Honey, Adam made his own choices. You didn’t do anything to cause that.”
“Maybe.”
“No maybe about it. He’s a sick and twisted man.”
She closed her eyes and tried to make sense of Adam’s obsession with her.
David’s fingers intertwined with hers. “Go to sleep. You’re safe. I’m not leaving.”
Warmth spread through her. The man she’d fallen in love with was staying right by her side even after the way she’d treated him.
Her limbs felt heavy, and her mind slid toward darkness once again.