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“What?”
“This place destroyed my family. This place and that woman, Laurel Anderson.”
“Laurel Anderson?” Jax repeated. “What did she do?”
Seyla heard him moving around behind her.
Was distracting Chase his intention?
“What happened, Chase? What did Laurel do?” Seyla hoped her voice reached a level loud enough to cover Jax’s movements.
“That siren!” Chase spit out. “Dad couldn’t think about anything other than her. She ruined him, and she ruined my parents’ marriage.”
With horror, Seyla thought back to the awkward picture of the founders in the sanctuary hallway. Laurel’s frown made sense now. Bennett Emmerlin had his arm around his wife in the picture, yet his hand rested on Laurel’s shoulder. A married woman, Laurel must have rejected him. Had Bennett become obsessed with the woman after she spurned his advances? Had he killed her? Or did Chase? Had one of them killed Laurel’s husband, too?
“In the end, though, I made her regret what she did. She begged for forgiveness before I shoved her off that cliff. Too little, too late.” He punctuated the words with the end of the gun. “And once I’m better, my ex-wife will regret leaving, too. Like Laurel did.” He laughed. “I can’t wait to see her face.”
“You killed her.” Seyla echoed his confession, unable to process it.
“I got rid of the home-wrecker who destroyed my family.”
Janet’s foot twitched.
Chase walked over to her and stunned her again, muttering profanities at her.
While he ranted, Seyla stretched the duct tape that held her right wrist to the wheelchair arm, then rolled it in on itself a small amount, enabling her to get out of it. Now her right arm and right leg were free, but what good would it do? She loosened the portion attached to the chair, shifted it, and slipped the broad section over her wrist so it looked secured.
Chase turned around. “Let’s not draw this out anymore.”
Seyla’s stomach clenched when Chase raised his gun and took aim. Right at Jax.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
One minute Jax faced the end of Chase’s gun, the next he faced Seyla’s pain-filled eyes. She slid down the outside of the bars of the cage surrounding him and crumpled to the ground. Her left arm and leg were twisted, still attached to the toppled chair. Horror ricocheted through him. She’d taken a bullet designated for him. A mix of awe and grief engulfed him.
If Chase’s shooting skills lived up to his claims, she wouldn’t survive. How long until she bled out? He wanted to move, but the bars of the travel cage made it impossible to escape. Everything in him longed to howl, to gather Seyla in his arms and run to the nearest hospital. He felt as helpless and wild as the animals who had occupied this cage before him.
In that moment, he understood what she’d been trying to tell him about the animals. About herself.
Seyla lay on the ground, eyes closed. Blood pooled under her right side, although Jax couldn’t see the wound in her back. He fought to suppress the instinct to yell and thrash, anything to free himself to get to her. He had to remain where he was and bide his time. If he didn’t, he’d lose the chance to save her.
Chase approached them, tripping a bit on the way. Maybe he wasn’t as together as he wanted them to believe.
The man eyed Seyla and shrugged. “No big deal. I’ve dug out plenty of bullets as an EMT.” Chase pushed the travel cage against the railing. He yanked a bottle from his pocket and splashed more of the same reddish-colored mix on the spot where he’d tasered Jax. “Can’t leave any obvious marks. There, that should encourage them.”
He grabbed the line he’d attached to the catheter in Jax’s arm. “Propofol,” Chase said, waving the large syringe at Jax. “Requires a special test to identify it, so they won’t find it during an autopsy. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt. Like I said, I’m doing you a favor. I’m fairly certain you’ll be unconscious when the animals get to you. Night, night, soldier.”
/////
Pain screamed through Seyla as she turned her head in time to see Chase inject over sixty milliliters of propofol into Jax’s vein. No! Her heart splintered, the pain worse than the bullet in her back. She had no idea how long she had to live or where the bullet had hit her, but she gritted her teeth and attempted to move. The pain made her break out in a cold sweat, nausea sweeping over her in waves. Tears spilled from her eyes as she watched Chase open the cage and cut the duct tape binding Jax’s feet.
She’d lost him. Forever.
Lord, help.
Seyla struggled to move, finally managing to sit up while Chase cut the duct tape around Jax’s wrists. If she’d blinked, she would have missed the sudden flash of movement as Jax’s knee rammed into Chase’s side. The man grunted, wrestling with Jax in an effort to retaliate. Jax flipped over and yanked him forward, slamming his face onto the metal cage floor. Jax jumped up. Chase scrambled to get up as well and stumbled. He quickly recovered and swung at Jax, missing him. Jax landed a solid blow to the side of Chase’s face, knocking the man to the ground. Chase lay there, motionless.
Jax grabbed the gun and the stun gun. He ran to Seyla, dropped to his knees next to her, and set both weapons to the side.
