“Thought you could outsmart old Tuck.” He jammed the chair under the doorknob, then rattled it as if to make sure it held. “Played me for a fool, didn’t you, sweet thang?”
His cheerful demeanor chilled me to the bone. His kindness had been an act, a ploy to win my confidence, to make me lower my defenses. My betrayal gave him permission to abandon the pretense. I saw it now, how he gloried in his victim status, how he’d claim that my duplicity gave him no choice. What man could tolerate a woman playing him false? None of this was his fault. It was entirely on me.
Keeping my eyes on his steadily advancing figure, I sidled toward the bed where my gun was hidden beneath a pillow. When my legs bumped against the mattress, I lunged for the weapon. Fast as a cobra, Tuck struck. He shoved me down onto the bed, then climbed on top of me, his knee planted heavily on my stomach. I lashed out wildly at him, clipping his jaw. He backhanded me, and I tasted blood. He grabbed my neck and his strong fingers squeezed.
I bucked and writhed, clawing at his hands, unable to dislodge his weight or loosen his grip. A buzzing sound filled my ears. Spots danced before my eyes. The pressure on my throat grew unbearable, and a sour taste flooded my mouth.
Ripper.
My lips shaped his name.
Please God, I don’t want to die. I want my life with Ripper.
Tuck bent over me, his eyes gleaming with triumphant menace. “It’s your day of reckoning, baby girl.”
FORTY-THREE
Kyle
“I thought Ripper said that Bear cleaned out the stalls after he moved the horses,” Levi whispered. “How come they’re not back in the stables?”
We’d taken up position on the hill overlooking the stables, ready to jump into action when Ripper gave the signal. Fifteen minutes had passed since Bear led the last horse to the corral.
“I don’t know.” I scanned the grounds, searching in vain for any sign of the men. “Something changed, and we have to get eyes on them. Come on.” I gestured for Levi to follow me. We skirted the hilltops surrounding the barns and buildings, dropping to the ground when we spied the men inside an open garage that held three tractors.
Bear crawled out from under a small tractor, clutching something long and narrow to his side, something that glinted when he turned away from his guards. Ripper pointed outside. Dwight and Darryl pivoted to look, and Bear rushed them.
“Let’s go.” I jumped to my feet and sprinted toward the melee, Levi hard on my heels. We abandoned the Tavor on the hilltop, but carried Grandpa Kurt’s two Glocks and extra ammo. The pouch around Levi’s waist held a couple of fragmentation grenades.
Bear swung the metal blade, striking Dwight, who crashed to the floor, blood spurting from his shoulder. Darryl staggered, then pointed his gun at Bear.
Bear threw himself sideways, but wasn’t fast enough to dodge the bullet that struck his upper arm. Ripper grabbed him under the arms and dragged him behind another tractor. Darryl hauled his brother to his feet and half-carried him through the bay door. He paused, his head jerking back as Levi and I approached. Darryl changed course and headed toward a windowless, cinder block shed that stood at a distance from the other buildings. He shoved his brother inside and slammed the wooden door shut behind them.
Levi and I ran through the open bay door. He turned to keep an eye on the cinder block shed, and I dropped to my knees next to Bear, frowning at the blood staining his white tee. “How bad is it?”
“Could be a helluva lot worse,” Bear said. His pallor and the lines of pain etching his face gave the lie to the brave words. “Good to see you, man.”
“Good to see you, too.” I stripped off my T-shirt and cinched it around Bear’s arm, staunching the blood flow. “But I got to admit, we didn’t expect to find Nazis at Valhalla.”
“Me, neither,” Bear drawled.
“I need to get to the house.” Ripper interrupted our reunion. “Mac, Nyx, and Sahdev should be running into the hills right about now, but Boyd and Tuck gotta be wondering about the gunfire.”
“I’ll come with you,” Levi offered, glancing over his shoulder at Ripper.
Ripper shook his head. “No. We got a man down. I want you and Kyle to keep an eye on the brothers. Make sure they don’t make a run for it. Dwight is unarmed and injured, but Darryl has a pistol.”
“No worries. We got this.” Levi said.
“Yeah, you do.” Ripper stood and drew the Colt from his shoulder holster. He looked at me and grinned. “See you on the other side.” He nodded at Levi, then took off running toward the house.
Ripper’s confidence in our ability to handle things—to keep a level head if the situation went south—struck me hard. A couple of months ago, he would have laughed at the prospect of relying on me for anything. I sucked in a deep breath, steadying my nerves. No way I’d let him down.
“What’s the cinder block shed used for?” I asked Bear.
He pressed a hand to his wound. Blood spurted between his fingers and soaked the improvised bandage. “Used to be the smokehouse.” He spoke through gritted teeth. “Now we use it to store cans of gasoline.” Using his heels, he pushed his body backwards until he sat upright against the wall. “Hand me the shotgun, will you?”
I picked up Dwight’s shotgun, placed it on the floor next to Bear, then walked over to Levi.
“Dwight and Darryl aren’t going anywhere,” he said.
“No kidding.”
In their place, I would’ve hauled ass, tried to make it around a barn and over the hills that circled the place. Sure, escaping might have been a long shot, but anything was better than being cornered in an eight-by-eight-foot cement outbuilding. A dark, stuffy, windowless building full of cans of gasoline.
The door to the shed cracked open, and the pistol barrel poked through the opening. Darryl fired blind, three shots in quick succession. The gun withdrew, and the door slammed shut again.
“Do you think he has a plan?” Levi wondered aloud.
I snorted. “There’s a first time for everything.”
Darryl was a dumbass. Once he used up all his ammo, they’d have no choice but to surrender. Unfortunately, Levi and I couldn’t afford to wait him out, not if we wanted to provide backup for Ripper while he took on the rest of the brigade.
Thank God Kenzie and Sahdev were out of harm’s way.
“Let’s—”
The shed exploded, the detonation cutting off my words. The ground shook, a deep rumble that rattled my bones. Scorching heat blasted past my body. Muscles tight, jaw clenched, I stumbled backwards, my ears ringing. Chunks of concrete pelted my body.
Levi. Shit. Was Levi okay? Blinking against the acrid smoke, I craned my neck, searching for the teenager. There. I found him sprawled on the ground. The explosion had knocked him on his ass. Eyes wide with shock, he raised up on his elbows. I offered him a hand and pulled him to his feet. We clutched each other’s arms. I turned around, scanning the garage for Bear. Still leaning against the wall, bloody from his wound but otherwise unscathed, he flashed me a thumbs up.
Movement drew my eyes. Twin pillars of flame, human-shaped torches—arms, legs and torsos ablaze—staggered through the smoke. My horrified mind blanked, unwilling to recognize the fiery shapes as living, breathing men. Living? Breathing? Not for long. Lungs seared, and smoldering flesh sloughing from their limbs; they were doomed. No human deserved to die in such agony, not even irredeemable souls like Dwight and Darryl.