She could ask him where he’d hidden the card, but she wasn’t going to do it. Right now, it seemed better if she didn’t know. Of course, that left her brother in danger, but since the phone call this morning, she was determined not to do anything that would make Shane think she’d been part of a plan to steal from S&D.
She moved closer to him, watching the woods and listening for the sound of footsteps coming toward them.
“What are we going to do?” she whispered.
“I’m thinking. I’d like to know how many there are.”
The men began to move again. “There are at least two.”
“Yeah.”
“They won’t kill me,” she said.
“We know that,” he clipped out.
“What I mean is, if I draw their attention, you can get around behind them.”
She watched him consider the idea.
“I don’t like it.”
“Do you have a better plan?” she pressed.
She saw him scrambling for an alternative.
Finally he said, “No.”
“Then how should we work it?”
“Give me five minutes to get into position. Then call out and tell them you’re surrendering. Tell them you want to be sure you’re safe before you come out of hiding. Tell them I held you captive overnight. That I got angry when I caught you talking to your brother. They know that part’s true,” he added in a gritty voice.
She didn’t dispute the last comment. Instead she stuck to present reality. “And where do I say you are now?”
“Dead. One of those shots got me, and I bled out while we were trying to escape.”
“Will they believe it?”
“I hope so.” He turned to her and gave her a long look. “You’re sure you want to do it?”
“Do we have an alternative?”
“Not a good one.”
“Then go.”
Shane gritted his teeth and did what he had to do. His side hurt, but he ignored the pain. Staying down and moving through the woods more quietly than their pursuers, he circled around to get in back of the thugs who were stalking them, the thugs who obviously worked for the man who’d taken Elena’s brother captive and beaten the crap out of him.
Of course, the brother wasn’t the main event. They were simply using him to get to Elena, and as Shane got himself into position, he could understand why she’d felt obligated to go along with their plans. He didn’t like it, but he understood. What if someone were torturing Jack or Max? He’d do everything in his power to rescue them.
Now he considered his own problems. He’d taken a job with S&D thinking he understood the situation, but he hadn’t counted on Iverson being in on the scam to steal from the company. There was a kind of twisted logic to it. Iverson had had the run of the place, and he’d probably spent a lot of time looking for what Blake had stolen. And even though he hadn’t found it, he had been a source of inside information for the thug who wanted the program.
Iverson had taken a lot of risks, and he’d obviously expected to be well paid for his trouble. Instead he’d ended up lying in the Maryland woods with a couple of bullets in him. The first one had been to take him down, so he’d know he’d always been expendable. That was a particularly nasty tactic, probably on orders from the boss.
All that went through Shane’s head as he moved from tree to tree. As he circled around behind the attackers, he prayed that he was right in his assessment of the situation. He was counting on them not killing Elena. But what if they seriously injured her?
That possibility made his gut clench. He could admit now that he’d misjudged her, but all he could do was keep moving until he was behind the enemy.
Once he was in position, he wished he could signal her when to act. But that was impossible now. All he could do was wait tensely for her and silently shout at her, Now, now.
Or had something gone terribly wrong back at the duck blind?
When he finally heard her call out, he breathed a small sigh.
“Whoever you are out there, don’t shoot me,” she begged.
He heard the men fix on her location and turn toward her.
“Ms. Reyes?” one of them asked.
“Yes.”
“Where are you?”
“I want to make sure I’m not going to get hurt.”
“Where is that information you took from Blake’s office?”
“I’m not going to tell you unless I know my brother is safe.”
As she spoke, he saw them moving in on her.
“Cut the chitchat. Where’s Gallagher?”
“Dead.”
“Like we should believe that?”
“Iverson shot him. He was bleeding badly. He went down. I kept going.”
The man laughed, but Shane didn’t.
“Too bad for him. And you. That leaves you in a pretty vulnerable position. Come out.”
“If you won’t hurt me.”
“I will if you try to stay hidden.”
He saw her stand up, although she stayed behind the duck blind, which offered only minimal protection.
Before the men could move in on her, Shane got off a shot.
That was a big clue that she had been lying through her teeth and Shane was behind them. In response, the two thugs switched their focus, whirling and discharging a hail of bullets.
He tried to fire again, but this time the gun that had been in the water failed.
With a curse, he ducked low and dodged behind a tree, hearing bullets follow him.
As Elena had told Shane earlier, she’d been a very successful softball pitcher in high school. She had thought of that when he’d left her in the duck blind. Knowing she needed a way to defend herself, she had picked up several baseball-sized rocks from the ground. Of course, she hadn’t thrown a ball in years. And she’d only thrown overhand for fun. But her pitching arm was the only weapon she had. The question was, could she score on the first shot?
When the thugs turned and started shooting at Shane, she wound up and threw one of the missiles at the closest man, holding her breath until she saw she’d hit him square in the back of the head. He cried out in surprise and went down. Seeing he was out of commission, she threw another rock at the second attacker. This time, she was less successful and only hit him in the shoulder. He whirled back toward her, a look of fury suffusing his features.
“Bitch!”
As the man turned his attention to her, Shane leaped out of the bushes and pulled him down. The thug pivoted and tried to get his gun hand up. Shane banged his hand against the ground as the two men struggled, rolling through dry leaves.
Elena sprang forward, trying to get to Shane. But the man she had downed with the rock was functioning again. He shot out an arm and closed his hand around her ankle, yanking her roughly off her feet. As she toppled over, she managed to hold on to one of the rocks she’d collected. When he pushed his hand into her face, going for her eyes, she twisted around and brought her arm up, trying to crash the rock down on his head again.
But he was ready for her and reared away, anger flashing in his eyes. Knowing she had to take him out, she lunged forward and managed to slam him in the forehead with the rock. To her relief, he went still. She wiggled out of his grasp and, for good measure, hit him again, watching him go limp.
Pushing herself up, she ran toward Shane and the other man. They were still struggling. When the man rolled on top of Shane, she darted in, kicking at the attacker.
The distraction was enough for Shane to sock him in the face. And Elena slammed him on the head with the rock.
When the goon went still, Shane heaved him onto his back where he lay sprawled in the leaves.
“Thanks,” Shane said.
“You, too.”
“Have you ever seen these guys before?” he asked.
“No. Have you?”