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“I can smell your fear, Dr. Knight.” He chuckled, and I held my breath and flattened myself between two steel beams. Maybe if he walked by me, he wouldn’t notice I was there. My heart pounded so loudly I was sure he could hear it. Everything told me to run, but my body was locked in place. I held very still, but the steam from my warm breath could be seen in the moonlight just inches from my nose.
“Imagine my surprise when I saw you were in town,” he sounded closer, “and that my wife kindly advertised your location with her little ‘justice for her parents’ thing. The power of the internet is amazing, isn’t it?”
He was so close now that I could feel the heat from his body. I carefully sucked in a deep breath and held it. I clenched my jaw so he couldn’t hear the chatter. Pound, pound, pound, my heartbeat tried to out my location, and my throat begged for moisture. Stop. I needed to control myself and not let panic take over.
I stared straight ahead and willed myself to be one with the building. Then I saw a single white puff of air. It brushed by my cheek, and I felt my heartbeat slow as the blood drained to my toes.
“Don’t move,” Ty whispered in my ear, and I almost cried out in relief that he found me in this house of horrors.
“You shoulda stayed hidden!” someone called, and Ben’s footsteps suddenly stopped. I allowed myself to turn and look in his direction and saw why. Several red dots peppered his chest, then in a sudden flurry of movement and confusion, several shots were fired. In the seconds that followed, I felt the warmth from Ty’s body as it cloaked mine. He’d pulled me down and shielded me from it all. He held me tightly to his chest for several minutes, our hearts both pounding together. I shrieked as more shots fired, terrified they might miss and hit us.
“It’s okay.” I felt Ty brush back my hair in the dark, then he ran a hand over my body to make sure I was in one piece. “You’re okay,” he said. “We were here the entire time.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and took a deep, relieved breath. We had gone over this plan many times; it was staged from the moment we’d arrived at the mill. We only hoped Ben saw me as I slipped away from Davie, who had let the others know I was on the move. I saw Agent Chamness give us the signal from the tree line that all was in place and to move inside the building. I knew they needed Jennifer and me to separate to see who Ben would follow. What I didn’t expect was for Ben to take my hand. In that instant, I forgot what I was supposed to do.
“I’m sorry I missed my mark,” I apologized as I nearly shook out of my skin. I was supposed to draw him to the far wall so Davie could take me out of the building.
Lights from several flashlights flickered around the inside of the room, and I could see Ty’s relieved face as he helped me up.
“We anticipate changes in scenarios.” He rubbed my back. “You did great.” I saw Davie take Jennifer outside and was relieved she was unharmed. Though we both would have a journey to recovery, I knew hers would be far worse than mine. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose both my parents to that man, especially with the knowledge that she had brought him into their lives.
“I want…” I pulled back and closed my eyes, completely rattled. “I want to go back to Shadows,” I confessed as I was hit with a sudden epiphany. Even before Ben Oliver came into my life, I’d never felt so safe and content, and the warmth and love on that mountain suddenly became all I wanted.
“And that’s exactly where we’re going, just as soon as we can.” He used the backs of his fingers to dry my tears. I grabbed his hand and held on to it like an anchor as he moved us outside the mill and back toward the others.
Frank didn’t miss a beat and whisked us back to Washington Headquarters that night. I decided to skip dinner and crawled into bed after a hot shower, but even that didn’t do much to help my shakes. Frank made sure to set up a meeting with Jennifer’s lawyer the next morning so I could give my statement. In spite of my rush to get back to Montana, I was glad I didn’t have to deal with it right away.
The only thing I was disappointed about was that Eagle Eye hadn’t killed Ben Oliver. Apparently, he’d only been wounded. Frank explained they’d mostly fired over his head in an effort to subdue him rather than kill him. He said Ben didn’t deserve death; he deserved to sit in a six-by-six cell and live with his punishment. I saw his point, but I still hated the fact that he still breathed. I knew as a doctor I should have had some sympathy for him. He was obviously mentally ill, but as a victim, I couldn’t find it in myself to be that kind. Especially after all he’d done.
Ty’s shadow flickered on the wall as he quietly entered the room. He quickly undressed and slipped under the covers and pulled me into his arms. When he felt the fabric of what I had on, he peeled back the blanket.
“Is that my shirt?” I nodded. “You brought it with you?”
“I wanted you with me,” I whispered. He made a sound that let me know he was pleased with my answer.
“I really love that you did,” he dragged it off my body, “but I want to be skin to skin.” I didn’t protest as he removed the shirt and tossed it on a chair and then snuggled back in.
Both of us were silent as we listened to the weather outside. A snow-rain mix had started on our way back to the hotel, and it was nice to be cuddled together as the freezing pellets hit against the window. Ty’s warmth finally began to thaw my tightly wound body. Every few moments, he’d lean down and kiss my hair as if he needed reassurance that I was still there. I imagined he and I both replayed the night’s events over and over in our heads.
“Thank you,” I whispered against his chest as the constant memory of what had happened finally stopped doing replays. “You risked a lot to make sure this ended for me.”
He rolled onto his elbow and looked down at me with such a tender expression it melted the rest of the ice from my bones.
“I would risk everything for you.” He tenderly traced my eyebrow, down my cheek, and to my lips.
“You know what scared me the most tonight?” I caught his hand and pressed it against my lips. “The realization that you’re in that kind of danger every time you go on a mission.” I swallowed as my voice caught. “I never want to experience that again, ever, yet you run toward it.” I sniffed and squeezed his hand.
“Hey,” he must have felt my body tremble because he covered my chest with his warm hand and pressed gently, “everyone’s wired different, but we’re a lot the same, you and me. I might save them physically, but you save them mentally. Both jobs are important, and,” his eyebrows went up and he tapped my forehead, “apparently both are dangerous.” I gave a smile, but I didn’t fool him. He could see how raw I still was. “I can tell you one thing. I’d be terrified to deal with the stuff you do. All that gettin’ in someone’s head and all that personal stuff. No way.”
“Does anything else scare you?” I barely recognized my voice.
“You,” he chuckled, “gettin’ inside my head.” He nodded emphatically. “Yup, I’ll admit I’m a bit scared you won’t like what you might find in there.”
“How so?”
“Let’s unpack that another night.” He yawned, and I didn’t push. I could feel my own exhaustion hit me. He rolled back and pulled me close and tucked the blanket around us. My leg hooked over his waist as his hand stroked my thigh.
“I’m okay,” I whispered after a few moments to reassure myself. The panic still simmered just below the surface. “I’m safe,” I said a little louder. “I guess I needed to hear that so I could really believe it.”
“When you’re with me, you’ll always be safe.” He held me tight, as if he, too, needed confirmation that we were okay. The last thing I remembered was his soft breath on my cheek.
