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Please help me. Please help me. Please help me.
Steffan, Jensen, Ray, and their men would be following her. That was comforting. If Franz didn’t slice her neck open before they could get to her.
It seemed like forever but somehow much too quick that Franz dragged her into a small clearing, through a door, and into a wood-framed cabin. She couldn’t make out any details in the dark except a wooden floor and no windows. The door banged closed behind them.
Suddenly Franz’s free hand was patting her everywhere. She resisted the urge to scream at the intrusion. How could she get away from that knife at her neck? How soon would Jensen’s men come?
“What is this?” He grabbed at the pin on her shirt.
“N-nothing,” she lied. “A souvenir.”
He moved the knife from her neck and sliced the pin out of her shirt. She tried to elbow him in the neck, hoping his knife wouldn’t spear her.
“Don’t fight me,” he yelled. “I’ll kill you so fast.”
Hattie panted for air. Fear made her throat tight and her hands tremble, but she had to keep fighting. She remembered Steffan’s beautiful words about her being brave and fearless.
Movement from her side confused and terrified her worse. She felt and heard, but couldn’t see, another person.
Please, Heavenly Father. Please help me. I’m so sorry for not turning to You before.
“Here, take this, and take care of her,” Franz yelled. “I’ve done what you asked. I’ve earned every euro!”
Something slammed into Hattie’s forehead.
Before she could process what happened, darkness consumed her.
Chapter Twelve
Steffan, Jensen, and Ray trailed Hattie and he assumed Franz. Jensen’s men were closing ranks around them, but Steffan’s gut was still churning. What was Franz’s play? What if he cut her throat? Steffan had clearly seen the glitter of the knife as her headlamp went spinning, and the threat rang in his mind.
Slice her pretty neck open.
He shuddered with revulsion and anger. As soon as they got Hattie safe, he’d have his hands around that spineless wimp’s neck. As a doctor, he’d always tried to adhere to the Hippocratic Oath and do no harm. Today, he was ready to break that mantra.
Fear for Hattie’s safety made him want to make sure Franz knew to stay far away from his girl. Even when the loser got out of prison, Steffan wanted Franz to feel a healthy amount of fear getting anywhere near Hattie.
Was Hattie afraid? She was so brave, but she had to be scared. He prayed in his mind for her to feel safe and soon to be safe. Safe and in his arms.
“Hold,” Jensen said in a harsh whisper.
Steffan didn’t know if Jensen was talking to him or his men, but they all paused. He peered through his night-vision goggles at a small, run-down cabin. He remembered this cabin. He and his brothers had found it and played around and in it as youths. It wasn’t very big.
The door was closed and there were no windows to see what was happening inside. Suddenly they heard a male voice yelling, but Steffan couldn’t make out the muffled words. There was a quiet thud, a screech, and then silence.
“Stay back,” Jensen cautioned Steffan with a hand on his chest as his men surrounded the cabin and tightened the circle, guns out.
Steffan glared at his friend. “No,” he whispered harshly. He wanted to be the one to rush in there and rescue Hattie.
“You’ll get her hurt,” Ray said from his other side.
That was a gut punch. His brother thought Steffan would hurt the woman he cared too deeply for because he wasn’t trained as a military man or a policeman.
He wanted to shove his brother and friend out of the way. Instead, he prayed for protection for Hattie and humility for himself. Jensen’s men were almost ready to bust the cabin wide open. What if they hurt Hattie? Made that crazy Franz stab her or hit her with a stray bullet?
The only thing he cared about was Hattie’s safety, even if it meant standing down and letting someone else step forward.
“Please,” Steffan whispered, staring at his brother who he trusted and loved. “Please save her for me.”
