Absolute Love: A Hot, Romantic Suspense Series, Book 3 (The Carlisle Sisters) (14 page)

"Or it could have been your lousy ex who's here to terrorize you," London said tightly.

Everyone in the truck could feel the anger in London's voice.
 
Grey saw Beth shrink in her seat and Tracy reaching for her hand.
 
He wished he were sitting beside her to comfort her as well.
 

There was silence for what seemed like an interminable amount of time.
 
Just as Grey was about to address the uncomfortable situation, London spoke.

"I'm glad you noticed the man, Beth.
 
At least now we know that Stephon could be on the island," he said pragmatically.
 

London's words were encouraging and his tone neutral.
 
Both factors served to take the tension out of the air.
 

Jennifer reached forward and rubbed his shoulders from the back seat.
 
She was grateful for his forgiving attitude.
 
She didn't want him to be mad with her sister, especially when she was trying to re-establish a relationship with her.
 
London reached up and caught her hand before bringing it to his lips for a gentle kiss.

"We have to tell the constables to keep an eye out for Stephon," Blaze said.
 
"Jennifer do you have a recent photo of him on your phone?
 
We can send it to them so they will know what he looks like."

"Of course not!"
 
Jennifer replied.
 
"I burned every real photo and, if deleting the ones on my phone wouldn't have been possible, I'd have burned that, too!
 
But if I have cell service it will be easy enough to find a picture of him online."

She pulled her phone from her jacket pocket and began searching.

"It's crazy to think that he would try to kill someone to save a little money," Tracy said anxiously.

"It's not a
little
money in his mind.
 
But, in fact, it's probably not about the money at all," Blaze said.
 
"Many guys in his situation start resenting their ex-wives for living the life of Riley on what they consider to be their dime and it just eats away at them until they snap."

"Well, Stephon definitely felt like he lost in our divorce settlement and it's been eating him up inside ever since," Jennifer said.
 
"He detests not coming out on top, whatever the situation.
 
I could never have imagined something like
this
coming of it but you're all certainly making me reconsider that."

"Men can do crazy things when they think they have been wronged," Grey said.

"Wronged!
 
Wronged?"
 
Jennifer laughed sarcastically.
 
"He cheated on me with dozens, maybe hundreds, of women while I sat at home like an idiot and he thinks
he
was wronged?
 
Bullshit!"

"I will dance a jig when he's arrested," Beth said gleefully.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Grey said calmly.
 
"We're just spitballing here.
 
We don't know for a certainty that Stephon has anything to do with the attack on Jennifer.
 
We have to be alert to whoever may be to blame."

They all went quiet, each absorbed in their own thoughts.

London wondered how the night would play out.
 
Was someone really after him because of his efforts as an activist or was it as simple as bad blood between a woman and her ex-husband?
 
Either way, it was a dangerous situation and he hoped they'd be ready to deal with whatever came their way.

All three men were especially concerned with their decision to bring the girls with them.
 
Of course they felt better able to protect them being together.
 
But the fear of the unknown left them second guessing themselves for the rest of the ride.
 
Especially now that one of the girls may actually be the prime target.
 

They traveled in relative silence during the rest of their drive to the ranch, little more than nervous energy passing between them.
 
And when London eased the vehicle onto the final stretch of dirt road, their apprehension was at fever pitch.
 
He parked the vehicle, took a deep breath and looked around at everyone.
 

"It's time," was all he said.
 

In its current state, the property was an isolated, dismal piece of land with only two buildings on it:
 
the airplane hangar and the field office.
 
And while they had diligently prepared for the evening by considering all of the places where they could potentially be ambushed and how they could use the layout of the land to their benefit, there was one problem.
 
Their plan, as simple and as foolproof as it seemed, wasn't even going to get a chance to be put into action.

*****

A lone figure dressed in all black watched the Land Rover drive up the dirt road before parking.
 
Achieving his goal was within reach.
 
In only a few moments he could get rid of the thorn in his side once and for all.
 
The idea of forfeiting that much money was intolerable.
 

When he'd heard that Fairchild would be heading out to the old airfield he knew it was his best chance.
 
It was the perfect place to commit a murder.
 
There would be no witnesses and he could dispose of the body right there without having to take any chances by transporting it somewhere.
 
It couldn't get much cleaner than that.

Money talks.
 
He knew that.
 
And he had proven it once again by hiring some greedy thugs to lend a hand.
 
They hadn't even blinked an eye when he explained what he wanted from them.
 
His kind of guys.

He turned around and hooted twice like an owl.
 
Moments later, his four henchmen emerged from the dense jungle. Within seconds they stood before him and if looks meant anything, he was glad they were on his side.
 
They were big, ugly and scary.

The man pointed to the Land Rover.

"Now," he whispered.
 
"Quickly!"

They nodded and took off running toward the vehicle, the thick jungle vegetation doing nothing to slow them down.
 
Initially, the man had planned to remain behind while allowing his henchman to complete the job.
 
But as they burst through the tree line and surrounded the vehicle just as its unsuspecting occupants were climbing out, he just couldn't resist the urge to see the look on his victims' faces as they realized that they were about to die.
 
There was one face, in particular, that he was especially excited to see.

*****

He heard them first, their thunderous crashing demanding his attention.
 
The sun had set quite a bit earlier and, while it wasn't quite dark yet, the canopy formed by the tall trees cast an inky shadow over the whole of the jungle, making it difficult to see more than the basic outlines of the distant figures.
 
But as they drew closer, Blaze realized what was happening and quickly shifted into alpha mode.

"Move, quick!"
 
he yelled urgently, startling everyone except for Grey.
 
"We've got four incoming!"

Grey stood at the front passenger side door and, with Blaze having sat right behind him, the two of them were side by side as the four men crashed down the hill towards them.
 
Grey looked up and saw what was happening.
 
He shouted to London, who had been helping the girls out of his side of the truck.

"London, get the girls back in the truck and lock it!"
 
he said.
 
"We're being ambushed!"

Blaze had already moved to the back of the vehicle to prevent any of the men from getting to the girls, who were scrambling to climb back into the Land Rover.
 
Grey hastened to the front end to do the same.
 
They were confident as they readied themselves for the attack, having taken on twice as many men together more than once.
 
While it would have been nice to put their original plan into action and catch the bad guys the easy way, they were well trained to adapt when the situation called for it.
 

"Be careful, London," Jennifer said.

Though he wanted nothing more than to do so, he didn't have time to kiss her.
 
Instead he winked and slammed the door.
 
Then he ran around the vehicle and stood beside Grey, as ready and willing to fight as the others.

Nothing more than large silhouettes in the dim jungle, the thugs split up and they neared the vehicle, the largest one heading directly toward Blaze while the other three thundered full-speed toward Grey and London.
 
Bracing himself for the impact, Blaze dug his feet into the dirt and tensed every muscle in his body.
 

Just before the collision, however, Blaze caught a glimpse of something metallic in the ruffian's hand thanks to a gleam of moonlight that had fought it's way through the jungly ceiling.
 
Assuming it was a knife, he quickly dropped to the ground and, as the man tripped over him, Blaze reached up, grabbed his hand and hyper-flexed his wrist in a single, fluid motion.
 

There was a loud crack as the knife dropped from the man's useless appendage.
 
The brute roared in pain and collapsed to the ground, cradling his wrist against his body.
 
Blaze jumped up, ran to the man and came down on his chin with a blow that knocked him unconscious.

At the same time, the other three assailants were giving Grey and London a run for their money.
 
The smallest, though obviously the best trained fighter of the three, had drifted away from the vehicle with Grey and the two were taking turns gaining the upper hand.
 
The other two, having combined forces, had London bent backwards over the hood of the truck and were taking turns raining punches down onto him as he lay flat.
 
He was clearly the one who needed Blaze's help the most.

Picking up a large rock, Blaze ran up behind the two men who were pummeling London and came down hard on the back of one of their heads.
 
The man instantly crumpled to the ground unconscious.
 
Blaze dropped the rock and rose with an uppercut that caught the other attacker on the left side of the jaw.
 
He joined his friend on the ground.

Blaze grabbed ahold of the front of London's shirt and used it to help him stand up straight.
 
Then London, without stopping for a second, began following Blaze toward Grey and their final tormentor.
 
They had almost reached him when they heard a male voice from behind them.

"That's enough!"

Unfortunately for the man Grey was fighting, when he heard his boss's voice, he instinctively turned to look.
 
Grey, however, trained to fight to the finish, did not.
 
He took the opportunity to connect with a front kick to the criminal's solar plexus that left him senseless.

Grey turned to see who had spoken and found Blaze and London already facing him.
 
But before they could say or do anything, Jennifer jumped out of the Land Rover.

"Stephon?"
 
she questioned, heading right toward him with a pointed finger.
 
"I can't believe it was actually you!
 
You son-of-a-bitch!"

"Get back in the car, Jen," London demanded, grabbing her.
 
"Now!"

"That won't be necessary," Stephon explained.
 
"It will save me from having to go in after her.
 
After all, you may have beaten my men, but you sure as hell won't be beating me."

"Bring it on, you little weasel," London snarled.

After lifting Jennifer into the truck and closing the door he turned back to Stephon, a look of hatred in his eyes.

"Hold it right there, Mr. Hero" Stephon said, holding his hand up as he stepped backward.
 
He smiled.
 
"You've been a pain in my ass for so long now I just want a moment to savor this feeling of relief."

"Oh, come on," Tracy yelled from inside the truck.
 
"You're worth billions!
 
What you have to pay Jen is nothing for you!
 
You're just a greedy little worm!"

"Yeah," Beth added, "you're really going to risk going to jail to save a quarter of a million dollars a year?
 
You probably make that much every day!"

"Just up, you stupid bitches!"
 
Stephon shouted.
 
"You don't even know what the hell you're talking about."

"That's it," Blaze said, looking at Grey.
 
"Why are we even
talking
to this jerk?"