Chapter 45
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Bo grabbed Ethan by the collar and hauled him backward.
Ethan resisted, pretending to stumble. He stayed low, raking the ground with one hand until he touched the knife.
His fingers closed around the handle, and he shoved it into the sleeve of his jacket.
Only then did he allow Bo to pull him upright and march him through the forest.
Moments later, Bo forced him to his knees at the edge of a clearing.
Behind him, Lu shouted, his voice loud and carrying. He spoke Mandarin, but Ethan didn’t need to know the language. He knew what Lu was threatening. Come out or your husband dies, or some variation of that.
Somehow, they knew Mei Lin was here, but they didn’t know exactly where. It was a mystery he didn’t bother to solve.
In the trees, darkness had fallen, but the meadow held the last bit of light, displaying dead weeds and little else. The forest on the other side—probably not even fifty yards across—was barely more than a dark wall. There was no movement. No petite woman stepping into the gap.
Ethan was blowing out his relief when a boot caught him under the ribs and folded him sideways. He got an arm up, taking the second blow on the forearm.
Bo kicked again.
Ethan concentrated on breathing. It didn’t matter what happened to him, as long as Mei Lin didn’t show herself. He kept his eyes open, studying the forest beyond the meadow between blows.
Behind him, Lu said something in Mandarin, the tone harsh, and Bo paused to answer.
Ethan used the reprieve from the punishing kicks to breathe.
And then they started again. Didn’t matter. Mei Lin wasn’t there. All that mattered was that she wasn’t there.
But a sound carried over the meadow.
He didn’t know the words—they were for Lu, not him. But he knew the voice.
No. Please, Mei Lin, don’t.
Why would she reveal herself? What was she thinking?
Bo paused and turned toward the meadow.
Ethan turned his head on the rough ground, scanning the distant trees. He didn’t see her.
He saw shooters, though.
One was tucked behind a boulder to his left. One knelt in the brush past the rocks, and one stood at the tree line on the other side. There were others, all holding a rifle or a pistol, every one of them facing the general area where her voice had come from.
But she wasn’t there.
Ethan scanned again, his gaze catching on the man at the boulders.
An arm hooked across the man’s throat from behind, and he went down.
Nobody else noticed. They were all looking for Mei Lin.
Ethan let his head drop, hiding his surprise and relief.
He’d been right. He wasn’t alone.
Of course he wasn’t.
Someone was out there, taking the shooters out.
They hadn’t left Mei Lin, and they hadn’t left Ethan.
He was grateful.
But also, if he somehow managed to survive this, then whoever had let his wife get within shouting distance of armed men was going to get an earful.
Ethan scanned the meadow again. Another shooter was down. There were still plenty left.
He searched the far side, fearing a shooter was moving toward her or angling to get behind. Would Gavin’s people—whoever was out there—leave her unprotected? Surely not.
Ethan shifted and looked behind him.
Lu had tucked himself into the shadow of the pines, deeper in the woods. He held a rifle up against his shoulder, sweeping the tree line. He’d sent his men into the open but kept himself hidden in the darkness. The coward.
Ethan tucked his hand up in the sleeve of his jacket and gripped the knife. Maybe he wouldn’t need it. Maybe the man who’d already taken out two shooters would take them all. Maybe Ethan only had to wait.
He wouldn’t count on it. He didn’t know what he could do with a single knife, but he wasn’t going to lie here and play bait.
Lu moved a few steps along the tree line, rifle up. He shouted again, the demand louder and angrier. Then shifted to English in case maybe Mei Lin had forgotten her native language.
“Show yourself!”
When nobody answered him, he retreated to the shadows behind Ethan and settled the stock against his shoulder.
Ethan focused on the far side again. His gaze was pulled to the base of a tree whose trunk had split a couple feet off the ground.
Right there, where the two trunks separated, he saw her, a pale face in the shadows. He met her eyes. Move, sweetheart. Run!
She didn’t though. Just held his gaze.
No one else had the angle. The twin trunks would hide her from almost everybody.
But Lu was behind Ethan.
Ethan turned to watch the face of his enemy. Maybe Mei Lin would see that she wasn’t safe, that there was someone there.
Ethan knew the moment when Lu spotted her.
The rifle shifted and steadied. Lu’s cheek dropped to the stock.
There was no time to think or plan or strategize.
Ethan launched off the ground, moving on pure adrenaline.
He threw every inch of himself into blocking that shot, arms wide, chest open, making himself the biggest target a man could be.
Lu fired.
Ethan’s body jerked, but he felt no pain, nothing but the desire to take Lu down.
Ethan’s legs were still under him, still driving forward.
Lu’s eyes widened. He stepped back, but Ethan wasn’t stopping.
He aimed for the man who’d stolen six years of Mei Lin’s life—and then tried to kill her. Ethan drove the knife into his neck.
Blood spurted, and the man’s terror froze forever on his cruel face.
Chaos broke out. Gunfire, shouting, a scream—a terrified scream coming from the woman he loved.
Ethan flopped onto his back. The trees wobbled. The gray light went dark at the edges.
And then everything was gone.