Midnight Shadows (27 page)

Ian’s heartbeat picked up cadence when he noted that Sabrina was no longer standing on the left side of the room. When Zach had started talking, she’d been directly across from Savannah. Leaving her post before the meeting ended was unprofessional and completely out of character for her.
 

Where the hell had she gone?

Sabrina raced to her car she’d parked in front of the town hall. Her breath was coming so fast she knew she would hyperventilate if she didn’t slow down. Thankfully she hadn’t locked the door and was able to throw herself behind the wheel. In seconds she was backing out of the parking space and speeding down the highway.

Her hands were shaking so hard, she couldn’t hold a phone in her hands much less dial a number. Grateful for her voice-activated phone, she pressed a button on her steering wheel. “Call Sammie.”

Heart-pounding seconds passed before her sister answered. “Hey Bri, is the meeting over?”

“Almost. Zach wanted me to ask that you and Quinn come to the town hall. I’m headed your way to take over.”

“Why? What’s up?”

“I’m not sure. He just asked me to call you.”

“Are you by yourself?”

“Ian’s right behind me. You guys come on ahead. I’m seconds away from you.”

Thankfully her sister trusted her enough to say, “Okay. We’ll head that way.”

Blowing out an explosive breath, Sabrina tried to get her thoughts together. What now? It wasn’t as if she’d had a choice in the matter. She just needed to figure out what she was going to do to get herself out of this without getting dead.

She spotted Quinn’s SUV approaching her from the opposite direction. Forcing a smile to her frozen lips, she smiled and waved to Quinn and to Sammie who sat on the passenger side. They wouldn’t suspect anything until they got to the town hall and learned that Zach hadn’t requested their presence. By then it would be too late. Silva would already have her.

Chapter Twenty-seven

Sabrina wasn’t answering her phone. Ian had looked everywhere for her, including the women’s restroom. After a hasty apology to the two ladies who screamed at him when he barged in, he’d made a mad dash outside. Something was going on.

He was in the middle of calling Savannah’s cellphone to see if she knew Sabrina’s whereabouts when he got to the sidewalk and spotted Quinn’s SUV. Samantha got out and strode rapidly toward the entrance as if on a mission. Quinn proceeded toward an empty parking spot a few yards down the road.
 

Frowning, Ian ran to the area where Quinn was about to park and shouted, “What are you guys doing here?”

Quinn slid the passenger side window down. “Sam got a call from Sabrina. Said Zach wanted us to come here. She took our post. Said you were right behind her.”

Ian wrenched open the passenger door of the SUV and dove inside. “Drive back to the checkpoint.”

Thankfully Quinn required no explanation as he made a quick u-turn and sped back toward the checkpoint.

Ian hit redial for Sabrina, already knowing it would do no good. What in the hell was she thinking?

“You want to tell me what’s going on?” Quinn asked.

“Sabrina disappeared from the meeting. She’s not answering my calls and she tells you that Zach needed you at the meeting. Which, as far as I could see, he didn’t. That leads me to only one conclusion.”

“Shit. She wouldn’t be that reckless, would she?”

Ian cut his eyes over at the man. “You have no idea.”

They were almost to the location Ian and Sabrina had parked last night when he saw her. She’d parked her car on the side of the road and was walking down the middle of the highway, headed away from town. What the hell?

Quinn veered sharply to go around her, and then pulled to a jerking stop, blocking her.
 

Ian was out and running toward her before the vehicle even stopped. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Get out of here, Ian. I don’t have a choice.”

“Like hell, you don’t. Get in the car this second.”

Her face was bloodless, her eyes dark pools of anguish. “I can’t. I just can’t.” She skirted around Quinn’s vehicle and started running.

Ian went after her. “Dammit, Sabrina. Don’t do this!”

A large black Hummer moved toward them at a high rate of speed. Ian had one option and took it. Going airborne, he tackled her, managing to maneuver mid-air so he could take the brunt of the fall.
 

She fought him like a lioness protecting her cubs—kicking, punching, scratching, screaming at him to let her go. Ian blocked every blow, but dammit, she wouldn’t stop. Unable to control her almost manic movements, he clipped her on the chin. The instant her body went limp, he was on his feet with an unconscious Sabrina in his arms and dove into Quinn’s waiting vehicle. They sped away.
 

The Hummer that had been racing toward them skidded to a stop.
 

Ian twisted around to watch what would happen. The Hummer remained motionless, but what got his attention was the driver, a man they had all trusted—Holden Marsh.

Sabrina returned to consciousness slowly. The mumble of voices a distant sound, obscured by the pounding in her head. She moved slightly and moaned at the ache in her jaw.

“Don’t move too fast. I tried not to hit you too hard, but you’ll have a headache.”

Ian.
Of course he would come after her. Why did… The memory of what had occurred jolted her consciousness and she shot up. Agony sent her back down to her pillow as waves of nausea roiled in her stomach. She closed her eyes and spoke between clenched teeth. “Zach and Savvy…he’s going to kill them.”

“We’re fine, Bri.” Savvy’s face appeared before her, tears glistening in her worried eyes. “How could you put yourself in danger like that?”

The relief at seeing Savvy, knowing she and Zach were safe, was almost overwhelming. If there was ever a time she wanted to ignore her ‘no tears’ mantra, it was at this moment.
 

“Why, Bri?” Savvy asked again.

“I had no choice. They texted me and attached a video. It was live feed. They were going to shoot you both if I didn’t come.”

“Yeah. We know. We checked your phone.”
 

Ian’s hard voice told her he still didn’t think what she’d done was correct. Well, tough shit. She’d had to make a split second decision. What else could she have done?

“Then you know I did what I had to do.”

“Bullshit, Sabrina,” Ian snapped. “You should’ve told us what was going on.”

“I—”

“Here.” Quinn appeared before her, handing her a small white pill, along with a glass of water. “This’ll help with the pain.”

“No, I don’t want to sleep. I need to talk…figure out what we’re going to do.”

“It won’t put you out…just ease the ache.”

She thanked him with a half-hearted smile, put the pill on her tongue and then gulped down the water.
 

Easing her head back onto the pillow, Sabrina eyes roamed around the room. It seemed the gang was all here and every one of them had the same exact expression—concern and anger mixed with bafflement.
 

“Look, I know it looked crazy, but I didn’t have a choice. The video of Zach speaking was live feed. The bastard was there in the audience filming. The text said that if I didn’t get to the checkpoint, alone, within five minutes, both Zach and Savannah would die.”

“We know, Bri,” Savvy said. “We’ve all seen it.”

“Well then, why is everyone staring at me as if what I did was crazy?”

“Oh, I don’t know...” Ian’s voice was thick with sarcasm. “Could it be because you almost got yourself killed?”

“Oh for the love of…” Sabrina expelled a giant, exasperated sigh. “What the hell was I supposed to do? Call a Wildefire meeting so we could discuss our options? I went with my gut.”

“What were you going to do once they had you, Bri,” Sammie asked. “Did you think about that?”

Of course she hadn’t. She’d had one thought only. Imagining Zach being shot. Knowing Savvy would see that and then she would be shot, too? Even now, when she had time to think about it, she still couldn’t come up with a better solution. Saving her sister and brother-in-law was the only thing that counted.

“Did you find the guy who sent me the recording? Was it one of Silva’s men?”

“We found him and no, it wasn’t one of his men,” Zach said. “Quinn called and told us what was going down. Based on the location of the recording, we pinpointed where the camera was and found the guy. It was Sid Everhart’s kid, Trenton.”

Sabrina shook her head. “That makes no sense. He’s barely sixteen years old. Why would he—”

“He didn’t know what he was doing. Said he was getting gas at a service station about ten miles out of town yesterday when some guy approached him. He asked him if he lived in Midnight. When the kid said yes, the guy gave him fifty bucks to text him if anything interesting happened in Midnight. Trenton texted the guy about this morning’s radio announcement and meeting. He was told if he recorded it, he’d get another fifty.

“I’ve got him sitting in jail right now. His dad’s with him and he’s none too pleased.”

So it had all been for nothing. They hadn’t had guns on Zach and Savvy as she’d feared. Her eyes roamed around the room again, seeing the confirmation of her thoughts in everyone’s eyes. “Guess I panicked.”

“And almost got yourself killed.” Ian’s grim voice told her she would get no sympathy from him.

Arguing would do no good. She’d done what she thought she had to do. “So what’s the plan? I am so ready to kick Silva’s ass.” She ruined the tough statement by having to cover her mouth from a yawn and then almost cried aloud at the pain in jaw.

She didn’t know who she was the most irritated with—Ian because of his inflexibility, Quinn for giving her a pill that obviously was going put her out, or herself for causing a near disaster.

She concentrated on the easiest of the three and glared at Quinn. “I thought you said those pills wouldn’t make me sleepy.”

His mouth twitched as if he fought a smile. “They shouldn’t unless you’re already exhausted. Based on those shadows beneath your eyes, I’d say the answer is obvious.”

Sabrina shook her head. “I don’t have time for a nap. I’ll sleep when this is over.”

“Will you? Or will you stay awake to keep from having nightmares?”
 

Sabrina turned the full focus of her glare to Ian. How dare he mention her nightmares. The last thing she wanted was for her sisters to start asking questions about what kept her up at night.

“When did your nightmares start back, Bri?” Savvy asked. “Are they the same ones you used to have or new ones?”

All eyes focused on her. Everyone’s but Ian’s held concern, compassion. His held a challenge. Would she tell the truth? That her nightmares had never stopped. And after she’d learned the truth about how her parents had died, they’d become worse and more evil. Of course she couldn’t say that.
 

“Ian’s exaggerating. Besides don’t you think we should be focusing on Silva and what he’s going to do next?”

Sammie sat on the edge of the bed and brushed a gentle hand over Sabrina’s hair. “You need to get some rest, sweetie. You’re exhausted.”

“I’m not sleepy.” She was thankful that everyone politely ignored another yawn. She hurriedly covered her mouth.

“Get some sleep,” Savvy said and dropped a kiss on her forehead. “Thanks for watching my back, sis. I love you.”

Despite her protestations, she simply couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer. Deciding she’d be able to think more clearly when the clouds of exhaustion disappeared from her brain, Sabrina closed her eyes. And when she woke, she and Ian were going to have a serious discussion on boundaries. How dare he reveal—
 

Sleep claimed her before she could finish her thought. But once again, a peaceful rest was not to be hers as she plunged hell pit deep into an all too familiar nightmare.

Ian kissed Sabrina’s forehead. She was already asleep and he hoped like hell she wouldn’t wake for several hours. He’d never known anyone who could exist on so little sleep. He’d done it in the army but that’d been a necessity to stay alive.
 

He followed the crowd out of Sabrina’s room and headed down to the living room where most of their meetings had been. Samantha and Savannah held back to walk with him. He knew what was coming. A part of him felt guilty for exposing her nightmares, another part was glad that they were out in the open. How had her sisters not known?

Savannah grabbed his arm. “Tell us about Bri’s nightmares.”

“That’s up to Sabrina to tell you.”

Samantha stood beside her sister. “You’re the one who opened the door, Ian. You risked Bri’s wrath to let us know.”

Wrath was a good word for it. She was furious with him though she’d done her best to act only slightly irritated. But he’d seen the betrayal in her eyes. Right now, that couldn’t matter. Sabrina might never understand that his love for her went far deeper than his need to keep the peace between them. She needed help. He hoped, with her sisters’ support, she would see that.