Christmas Undercover. Hope White

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      A thumping sound echoed from the front porch.

      “You sit there and be quiet while I go hunting.” Her attacker bound her wrists in front.

      When she winced at the pressure against her sprained wrist he smiled as if taking pleasure in hurting her. He leaned close. So close she was tempted to head-butt him. Instead, she stared straight ahead, acting like the innocent victim she claimed to be. He tied another rope around her midsection, securing her to the chair.

      “Behave,” he threatened.

      He turned and went outside in search of Will. Why had Will gotten himself involved in this? Why had he had to help her when he’d found her unconscious body next to the lake?

      Silence rang in her ears as fear took hold. The assassin would kill Will, leaving two little girls without a father. No, she couldn’t let that happen. Couldn’t let those girls suffer through the kind of mind-numbing grief Sara had experienced, especially since Will’s girls had already lost their mom.

      “Never give up,” she ground out. And she wouldn’t, ever, unlike the cops who’d given up on finding Dad’s killer.

      She dragged the chair into the kitchen, awkwardly opening drawers in search of a weapon.

      She found a multipurpose fork in a drawer. It would have to do.

      The door swung open with a crash.

      She spun around, aiming her weapon...

      At Will.

      “You’re here,” she gasped.

      He rushed across the small cabin. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” Will untied her and searched her face, as if fearing she’d been beaten up.

      Sara shook her head. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

      “It’s not your fault.” He led her back to the fireplace, removed his backpack and dug inside. “Let me find—”

      The assailant charged into the cabin, wrapping his arm around Will’s throat.

      “Let him go!” she cried.

      Will tried to elbow the guy in the ribs but the assassin was too strong. Digging his fingers into the guy’s arm, Will gasped for air. Sara darted behind the guy and wrapped her arm around his neck. The guy slammed her back against the cabin wall, sending a shudder of pain through her body. She collapsed on the floor.

      He dragged Will outside and Sara stumbled after them. “Stop! Let him go!”

      He threw Will to the ground and stomped on his chest, over and over again. “You like that?”

      “Leave him alone!” Sara charged the assassin. He flung her aside, but not before she ripped the gun from the waistband of his jeans.

      He continued beating on Will, unaware she had his weapon.

      Sara scrambled to her feet. Aimed the weapon. “Stop or I’ll shoot!”

      The assassin was drowning in his own adrenaline rush, the rush of beating a man to death. She squeezed the trigger twice and the guy went down. She rushed to Will, who’d rolled onto his side clutching his stomach.

      “Will? Will, open your eyes.”

      He coughed and cracked them open. “That was...the guy who was after you?”

      “He was hired to find me, yes.”

      “So someone else will come—” he coughed a few times “—looking for you?”

      “Not tonight. He was supposed to take me to meet up with them tomorrow.”

      “Is he dead?”

      “I don’t know.”

      Will groaned as he sat up, gripping his ribs. “We need to check. If he’s not dead, we need to administer first aid.”

      She leaned back and stared at him, stunned by his comment. “He tried to kill you.”

      He pressed his fingers to the assassin’s throat. A moment later he nodded at Sara. “He’s gone.”

      Will coughed a few times as he scanned the area. “We can’t leave him out here. Animals.”

      She didn’t have a response for that, either, speechless that Will could show compassion for a man who most certainly would have beaten him to death if she hadn’t shot him first.

      She eyed the body.

      The dead body.

      She’d just killed a man.

      Her fingers tightened around the grip of the gun and her hand trembled uncontrollably, sending a wave of shivers across her body.

      “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Will said, rushing to her. “Let’s get you inside.”

      She thought she nodded, but couldn’t be sure.

      “Relax your fingers,” he said, trying to take the gun away.

      Staring at her hand, she struggled to follow his order but couldn’t seem to let go.

      “Sara, look at me.”

      She took a quick breath, then another. With a gentle hand, he tipped her chin to focus on his green eyes. Green like the forest after a heavy rain.

      “That’s it,” he said. “Everything’s okay. You can let go now.”

      But she didn’t feel okay. Her hands grew ice cold and thoughts raced across her mind in a random flurry: her boss’s disappointed frown, her cousin Pepper’s acceptance into med school, the look on her father’s face when he savored a piece of coconut cream pie.

      A long time ago. Before...before...

      Her legs felt as if they were melting into the soft earth.

      She gasped for air...

      And was floating, her eyes fixed on the moon above before she drifted into the cabin.

      It was warm inside. It smelled like burning wood, not death. She was placed on the bed in front of the fire, but she didn’t lie down because she didn’t want to sleep, to dream, to be held captive by the nightmares.

      “Keep the blanket around your shoulders,” Will said.

      It was then that she realized he’d carried her inside. He pulled the blanket snugly around her, and poked at the fire. It flared back to life.

      He kneeled in front of her. “You’re probably going into shock, but you’ll be fine.”

      Those green eyes, brimming with promise and sincerity, made her believe that things would actually be okay.

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