Chapter 26
Plans and the end
Ineed a plan.
My plans keep changing, and I don’t like that. I’m great at adapting to my surroundings in order for survival, but this is excessive even for me. First, my plan was to get her out of the house and to Amber, but then Amber helped kidnap me, not that I blame her. Ashley put her in a tough spot.
My second plan was to attack Ashley when she came in the room so Rachel could run. I knew Ashley had a gun and would kill me, but it was a sacrifice I was willing to make in order to get Rachel to safety. But then Captain Black came in and tried to help us escape. I thought he was a bad guy, but he wasn’t, which is too bad, because then Ashely shot him before losing her damn mind and locking us all in this little room again.
So now I need another plan. I don’t have much time. Ashley looked to be a woman on the edge. And the fact that she kept ranting about how “they” were going to kill her leads me to believe she is not the mastermind here. Not that I ever thought she was. She’s crazy, to be sure, but she’s also dumb as shit. There’s no way she could have come up with a plot to kidnap my child, let alone blackmail the president into passing some crazy bill that gives our enemies all our money and power and weapons.
“Mom, is he dead?” God, why does she have to ask all the tough questions today? I don’t know how to tell her that a man who she’s only even seen and not met just died in front of her trying to save us.
“Uhh…” I start, but he pushes up to roll over, surprising us both.
“Not quite,” he groans and winces as he leans back against the small daybed. “Shi— ahh, shoot, that hurts.”
“In these circumstances, Captain Black, you may say shit in front of my child,” I tell him, making her giggle, so it was totally worth it.
“You can call me Ryan,” he says in a strained Texas drawl.
“I’m sorry I thought you were a bad guy, Ryan.”
“It’s all right. So does your husband,” he says, and his breath catches. It must hurt him to breathe. Contrary to his talking, I’m not sure he’s doing so well. His face is ashen, and he looks to be out of breath. The fact of the matter is, he was shot and could die any second now.
“He does,” I admit, and it makes me feel really guilty. Ryan just smirks.
“It’s okay,” he says shakily. “I wanted everyone to think I could be bad. It makes it easier to flush out the actual bad guy.”
“Oh yeah, how’s that working out for you?” I ask, folding my arms across my chest.
“Not so good.” He laughs and then gasps. “It got me shot. I hate getting shot. It stings like a bitch.”
“I said you could say ‘shit’ not ‘bitch,’” I admonish him.
“My apologies for the words that come out of this old marine.”
“Apology accepted.”
“Thank you kindly,” he says. “Now what are we going to do to get this little lady out of here?”
“I don’t know,” I admit.
“I think you had the right way of it earlier when you thought I was the crazy b—witch,” he says, changing his word at the last minute. God, he’s such a good guy. He tried to rescue us and got shot, and he’s still trying to watch his language in front of my kid, even though he’s clearly in agony.
“I was thinking that too,” I tell him. I can feel the sad look on my face. “I guess it’s just you and me.”
“Oh don’t look so sad,” he says. “I’m glad to go out with my boots on.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s nothing,” he says, brushing off my heavy words, and tips his head in the direction of Rachel, who is sitting at the table coloring like nothing is wrong. “But I think you should get ready, if you know what I mean. That crazy chick will be back soon.”
Shit. I’m going to have to prepare her again, but this time I won’t have the element of surprise on my hands. She’s a smart kid, and she’s going to understand right away that Mom isn’t coming with.
“Hey, Rachel?” I ask as I walk around to squat in front of her again.
“Yes, Mom,” she answers, but she doesn’t look up at me.
