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The dress ripped as he pulled the blade down to its hem. I was desperate, and my fight wasn’t only for me.
“No, Chad. You can’t because I can’t give you a baby. I’m… I’m pregnant.”
CHAPTER 19
HUNTER
Adrenaline shot through my veins, flowing with purpose and fury, maintaining my alert level at high. We took the house from the front, which made sense since there was no back door. Rachel picked the lock like a pro while I kept guard. My heart raced and my senses focused. An owl hooted in the distance. Grace had less than a minute, if she stalled. Rachel tapped at my leg. She was done, and I turned off the night vision while going over the plan in my head. She’d distract Chad, and I’d sneak up from a blind spot.
I twisted the doorknob, and gently pushed away from the frame. The hinge threatened to squeak, and I slowed the door’s momentum. Low light glowed from a corner lamp. I scanned the room. Cigarette smoke rose from an ashtray on the table. Five feet in, cans and bottles lined the hallway leading to the back bedroom, like soldiers.
Fuck.
I moved further in. Rachel stepped past me and stood at the first row of bottles.
“We can’t remove them all. There’s no time,” she whispered into my earpiece.
“Plan B?”
She nodded, and I launched across the room. Bottles shattered and cans clattered as we kicked our way through the space. I crossed the hall and made it to the wall by the kitchen. Rachel slid to the floor on the left. I pressed my back against the wall and counted.
Five, four, three… I didn’t finish. The ricochet of a gunshot echoed through the house. Bullets flew through the wall above Rachel’s head. I dropped to the floor, but not before a one grazed my arm.
“You hit?” Rachel asked.
“No, all good.” Something clicked on the other side. “He’s changing the load.”
I rolled over the debris with a grunt, positioned myself in a shadowed spot, and aimed my gun. Rachel kicked in the door. The smell of sweat and fear seeped out, but Chad and Grace were gone. He hadn’t been changing the load; he’d been escaping. A dresser stood slanted near the wall. Behind it stood a kid-sized hidden door.
“It’s an escape hatch. They’re in the forest.”
We ran through the front and around the back. A gunshot echoed through the night.
No!
I turned on my night vision. Two bodies were moving toward the river. Grace still had her arms behind her back. He pulled on her arm, and she tripped. “Northwest heading. Keep on this track, and I’ll cut him off.”
I swerved left into the forest and trailed around a house-sized stack of boulders. I lost sight of Grace and Chad for a minute, but when I reached the other side, I was ahead, and Chad was heading my way. Rachel wasn’t far behind them. I set myself on the ground and waited for the perfect shot.
“Okay, Rachel. I’m ready for that distraction.”
My partner removed a flare gun and shot it up into the air. Chad’s and Grace’s heads flew up, and I pulled the trigger. The bullet pierced Chad in the chest, and he fell to the ground. I shot to my feet and darted through the forest like a boar, encasing Grace in my arms.
“It’s okay. It’s over. It’s all over.”
She mumbled through the duct tape.
“It’s all right. We’ll get that off. Hold on.”
I opened my clippers and cut through the zip ties around her wrists. Her injured arms flew around my neck. I held her shaking body against mine and kissed her head. She clung to me like a monkey, her face pressed against my chest. Rachel reached us and checked on Chad.
“Unconscious but alive. Not sure how long he has, though. There’s a lot of blood.”
She took the gun from his hand and emptied the load.
“Call for a medic,” I said. “Death is not enough for that bastard.”
“Already done.”
