Head Start (Cedar Tree #7) (29 page)

“We’ve got to be smart, Neil. Plan this thing. You run in there and we’ll lose the element of surprise.”

I pull against his hold, but it’s firm. He doesn’t budge. “
Kendra is hurt!”
I hiss at him, beyond reason now.

Headlights coming up the road illuminate the clearing. The cavalry has arrived.

-

W
ith Karly loaded in Drew’s unit and on her way to the diner where hopefully he’ll be able to get some more information from her, Damian outlines our plan of action. I have a hard time concentrating because my entire being wants to run up that trail and yell her name at the top of my lungs. Years of military training is the only thing holding me back. I
know
Kendra’s best chance is us going in prepared, but I can feel every fucking second that ticks away. And she’s been at this guy’s mercy for over two hours now. Two hours for him to... I can’t even allow myself to think it.

Joe and Gus arrived with Caleb, who apparently made a run to the GFI office at some point, because the back of his truck is stuffed with any tactical equipment or firepower we might need. It might be a while yet before other reinforcements arrive, but Damian doesn’t want to wait. Caleb and Mal, both outfitted with radio earpieces and weapons are to go ahead and scout for the location of the truck. Joe and I, along with Damian, will follow them at a distance, while Gus stays behind and takes care of communication. 

We’re only a few minutes up the trail when my earpiece crackles to life and Caleb comes through, keeping his voice low. “Found the truck. Up ahead the trail splits, truck is just over the rise on the left side of the fork. Following boot prints heading through the trees to the path on the other side of the split.”

We move on opposite sides of the track, just inside the tree line. When we get to the split, I can see the other two going left, but on Damian’s instruction, I continue along the path on the right side. My breathing slows down as I find myself slipping into focus. Pushing panic far down, I focus on the assignment.

“On your two,” Mal whispers in my ear and my eyes immediately turn in that direction. It’s damn near pitch black out here under the trees, so the double blink of a penlight to the right, just up ahead, is easy to spot. With Mal’s location marked, I look farther ahead and see an old building up ahead. Not too big, maybe the size of a two-car garage. Made of old wood planks, it looks like it’s on its last legs, the roof starting to drop on one side. When I crouch down beside Mal, I notice faint light coming from between the boards.

“Caleb went around, checking for entrance and exit points.” He keeps his voice so low. All I pick up are the consonants, but it’s enough for me to get the message.

I scan what is visible of the structure from our vantage point. There are no windows, just a door that seems to be hanging off its hinges. I’m working out the right approach when the sound of soft chanting drifts my way. My eyes find Mal’s in the dark, who lifts his index finger to his lips.
Prayer,
he mouths. Seconds later, a soul-shattering scream pierces the night sky and stops my heart dead in my chest.
Kendra
.

Blood roaring in my ears and red filtering my vision, I’m up and running full speed with every next scream cutting into my soul. I don’t register any sound or see anything other than the door, behind which my heart is suffering. Another scream. I don’t stop. I plow down the door and zoom in on the scene before me.

K
endra

I want to die.

I’m already in hell. It can’t be any worse than this.

The one thought I hold on to is the hope that Karly managed to make it to safety. Any thought of Neil hurts and carries sharp regret. Regret that I wasted years pushing away this unbelievable man who has made me soar from the moment he forced his way into my life. Treasured, protected, cared for and loved.
My God
. He makes me feel loved. There isn’t a doubt in my mind about the way he feels for me. Time gone I can never get back. I could’ve had a head start on happiness but was too much of a coward—too scared.

It’s the chanting that first penetrates my awareness. Low, melodic and completely indecipherable. Next is a hand, trailing my body all the way around, from my toes up the side of my leg, along my ribs and down to my stretched out arm, only to return on the other side of me doing the same in reverse. I try to hold my breath, to feign sleep, but I know he’s aware I’m awake. He likes it to hurt when I can feel it. “Not long now,” he whispers. “Soon I’ll bring you to sun dance as well.”

I barely listen to his ramblings. My body is one burning, throbbing mess and I don’t know how much more I can withstand. A vague hope of Neil finding me still lingers until he suddenly rips the tape from my mouth.

“Sing, my angel.”

I feel the almost familiar pain of the knife piercing my back, and I can’t hold back the involuntary screams that burst free. Once again, I’m grateful to feel myself slipping into oblivion against the backdrop of his eerie mumbles. But when I feel his body lean over mine, chest rubbing against the open wounds on my back and his hips pressing between my spread legs, I scream again.

N
eil

Candles everywhere. Sitting on the old wine barrels that haphazardly fill the space. The dark shape of a man leaning down over one of them. And skin. The brief flash of an expanse of bared skin beneath him. Blind with something animalistic, I pull the man off, and give myself over to the darkest rage. My focus narrows like a pinpoint on the sick fuck in my hands. His face is not just one, it is many. A target for impotent fury directed at an invisible enemy responsible for brothers fallen in battle. The center of my anger for the poor innocent women who’ve fallen victim. My fists pummel into his face for the light he has taken from Kendra and for the lifetime I will spend attempting to give it back to her.  I’m no longer aware of anything but my boiling blood and the pounding of my fists.

“Enough,” a voice growls in my ear as two pairs of hands pull me back. My vision is blurred by the tears I find tracking down my face. It takes me a second to recognize that the bloody pulp I’m looking at was once a man. “We’ll take care of him. You take care of her.” I now recognize the voice to be Caleb’s and immediately turn to find Kendra. Her naked body, bloodied and spread facedown over one of the barrels, sears itself in my brain. Pulling my arms free, I’m by her side in three strides, the knife from my boot in hand, sawing at the ropes restraining her.

“Pup.” My voice cracks as I cut the final rope and see her fingers move. My relief at the sign of life is overwhelming. “I’m here. Baby, I’m here.” I mumble incoherent words at her as I finally get a good look at her condition. The skin on her wrists is scraped open and she’s bleeding. Her right foot sticks out at an odd angle, bone showing through the skin. But the most devastating are the deep grooves carved along her spine, from her neck to the curve of her bottom. Shallow cuts, in the shape of feathers, go up the left side of her back, reaching almost to her shoulder blades. Behind me, I hear a sharp intake of breath followed by a furious curse.

I reach for her, wanting to lift her in my arms when Mal holds me back. “Don’t move her, brother. Leave her as she is until the ambulance gets here. Just talk to her, let her hear you.”

I sink down on my knees by her head, vaguely registering Caleb pulling his shirt over his head and covering as much of her as he can without touching her back. Her face is swollen and wet from crying and her eyes stare almost unseeingly in mine. Gently, I stroke the hair away from her face, murmuring nonsensical words of comfort in her ear.

Not sure how long I’ve sat here, while around us more reinforcements arrive, the low curses audible as they see Kendra. I don’t care. I only care about the woman whose eyes are focused on mine.

Focused but still completely unreadable.

-

“B
uddy, wake up.”

I lift my leaden eyelids to find Gus hovering over me. I’m a little disoriented when my eyes scan my surroundings and I find just familiar faces staring back at me. Seb and Arlene, Mal, Joe and Emma. Naomi is standing right behind Gus, her hand on his shoulder.

“She’s out of surgery,” Naomi says. “She’s going to be all right.”

The last hours start coming back to me and I can’t stop the full body shiver at the memory.
Fuck
. The blank look in her eyes will haunt me ’til the day I die.

The sirens, the ambulance-ride. I almost decked one of the EMTs when he tried to stop me from getting into the ambulance with her. Luckily, Gus was there to intervene. They hadn’t been able to pry me from her side, not even when they tended to her upon our arrival in the emergency department. Those eyes stayed open, just staring at mine, and there was no way I was going to let go of that connection, albeit a thin one. Even through the prodding and prying to her ankle and her back, those eyes barely flinched. The memory almost makes me want to go back and beat the guy to shit. Again.

Then they took her in for surgery, saying she had an open fracture that required immediate cleaning and repair. That was hours ago, before I was forced to watch her eyes disappear through the automatic doors leading to the OR. And the adrenaline I’d been doped up on earlier left a hangover of intense fatigue. Bone-tired. So wrung out that I hadn’t even protested when a nurse led me into a waiting room I’d become all too familiar with over the past few years. That’s where I must’ve crashed. Until now.

I can’t believe I slept through all these people arriving, but here they are. Looking back at Naomi, I see her eyes are red rimmed. Kendra is her friend, her colleague. “Where is she?” I ask, finding my voice rough.

“I couldn’t get into the OR, surgery had already started, but I waited right outside the door and walked with her as they brought her to recovery. They had to place a few pins in her ankle—the damage was quite extensive. Her back—” Naomi’s voice hitches. “They did the best they could on her back, but she’ll carry the scars for life.”

I don’t know when the tears started rolling down my face, but Gus surreptitiously slips a tissue in my hands. I stare at it for a moment before lifting it to my face. “I want to see her,” I tell Naomi as I wipe at my eyes. “I
need
to see her.”

Naomi takes a seat beside me. “And you will, just as soon as she wakes up.”

“Jasper is picking up Elsa and driving her down. They’ll be here any minute,” Gus says, taking over. “Kendra’s sister is on the other side of the hall.”

Karly, I’d forgotten about her. “How is she doing?” I ask with no small measure of guilt.

“They stitched her up and are holding her at least overnight for observation. Damian is in there questioning her now.”

My eyes snap up at this bit of news. “Now? Can’t it wait?” I surprise myself with the snap in my voice. Guess my instincts to protect Kendra automatically include her sister.

“Easy, Neil. She wanted to talk to someone. She was en route to the hospital already when the second ambulance was called out. Arlene rode with her, and she and Emma have been looking after her. She’s aware her sister is here and offered to speak to law enforcement. Drew is handling things at the scene and Damian got here as soon as he could get away.” Gus finally gets up and pats me on the back. “She’s in good hands. Damian will be gentle with her.”

For some reason, that makes me think of the poor dog who has been locked up in my apartment the entire night. “Chaos,” I blurt out, drawing some curious looks, but Seb answers right away.

“Mal called. Suggested we bring him to his house. Poor dog was about to explode. I swear I had no idea a dog’s bladder could hold that much,” he says with a chuckle. “He must’ve pissed for a straight five minutes before he’d let us load him into the truck. Boo gave him a good sniff down and apparently approved because when we left Kim, the two were playing tug of war. By the way, I think you’ll have a hard time getting Kim to give him back to you. She looked like she was in love.” Seb chuckles again as Mal rolls his eyes heavenward. Boo is Kim’s Great Dane and although a bit bigger, is as much of a lug as Chaos seems to be.