Love & Redemption (36 page)

Just as he was ready to open the door, the whine of an engine made him hesitate. It sounded like a car driving up the makeshift path. While he didn’t want to give anyone a chance at Shelley, he couldn’t be caught in the open either.

Gavin darted back to the trees, watching as the vehicle pulled to a stop about fifty feet from the cellar door.

Shaking so hard he wasn’t sure he’d be able to hold it steady, Gavin pointed the gun at the driver’s side of the vehicle. Now all he had to do was shoot. That was the hard part.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

The sound of the lock turning woke Shelley from her light doze. Jumping to action, she pulled herself to her feet, adrenaline pumping high enough she hardly registered the knee pain.

Emma glanced at her with wide eyes and a smile, but quickly looked away. The child threw her arm over the bulky blanket next to her and stared at the door.

When it opened, Shelley stayed still behind it, knowing she had to pick the right time to jump whoever was on the other side. She just prayed they didn’t see her first.

Masculine fingertips curled around the edge of the door, grabbing it, but no face followed to look behind it. Relief flooded through her when the door began to swing shut.

“Mommy’s hurt,” Emma exclaimed. “She needs a doctor.” The girl was shielding the blankets with her body, remembering not to squish them. It actually looked like Emma was there with a person. The girl obviously liked tricking the bad guys.

“She won’t need one,” Stephen’s gruff voice replied. As the door clicked shut, he came into view. His back was to Shelley while he faced Emma and the bundle on the bed.

It was now or never. Shelley lunged for him, nearly tumbling when her right knee took some weight. She crashed into him lower than intended, missing his neck and instead pushing the middle of his back.

Stephen stumbled forward a pace, but stayed on his feet. He whipped around, a snarl curling his upper lip. “So, you want to fight? That’s even more fun than how I planned to kill you.”

He seemed quite pleased with his taunting, and opened his mouth to say more. Shelley didn’t give him that chance. Turning quickly, she flung her right leg out in a powerful side kick. As her boot-clad heel rammed into Stephen’s stomach, she felt something tear further in the knee.

None of that mattered. Stephen fell to the ground, thudding in the soft dirt. “You bitch.”

Shelley brought her heel down, stomping on his shin, which was the closest thing to her. Again, pain jolted through her knee. She gritted her teeth and slammed her foot down again. Even if she ruined her knee permanently, it would be worth it to save Emma.

Stephen howled in pain, grabbing his leg. It pulled him out of reach for another attack.

Stepping forward, Shelley nearly went down when her knee didn’t take her weight. She managed to balance herself with arms outstretched, but teetered unsteadily.

Lightning fast, Stephen rolled toward her. He bashed into her legs, forcing her feet from beneath her. She fell backward, the air knocked from her lungs as she thudded flat on her back. Within seconds, he climbed on top of her and pinned her to the ground. Her arms were trapped beneath his knees. She tried to kick him with her good leg, but couldn’t do more than bump his back with her thigh.

“Nice try, Shelley. For all the problems you’ve caused the past few months, you get to die.”

Though Shelley struggled, she couldn’t get away. She let out a loud scream, praying someone would come to her rescue.

A smile crossed his face and his fingers closed around her throat.

***

Damn it!

Gavin raced to the opening, knowing he failed. He just couldn’t pull the trigger when Stephen stepped from the car. He had to stop Stephen from whatever he was about to do.

Creeping quietly down wooden steps, his body blocked out the light from above, making it difficult to see. The musty smell of earth filled his nose, and Gavin worried he’d sneeze and give away his presence.

At the bottom of the stairs, it didn’t open onto the cellar as he expected it to. Instead, there was a tunnel, shored up by rotting wooden pillars barely visible in the dim light. Shuddering, Gavin wondered how Shelley handled walking down here.

After five more steps, he couldn’t see anything. Whatever this place was used for in the past, they were serious about no one finding it. He wished he had a flashlight, especially when he ran into the wall at the end of the path. Feeling around revealed two tunnels turned off it. Which way should he go?

Deciding to head to his left, Gavin had only gone three more steps when a faint scream came from behind him.

He spun around, racing down the other tunnel.

***

Shelley’s vision grayed around the edges as she fought unconsciousness. This must have been how Carlie felt when Stephen beat her. She couldn’t hold on much longer and felt her will to fight fading as her arms and legs became leaden.

“Get away from my mommy!” Emma slammed her small body into Stephen, screaming at the top of her lungs the whole time.

The impact loosened his grip, and air rushed to Shelley’s lungs.

Stephen lost focus, turning to backhand Emma. Rage filled Shelley as Emma’s body hit the ground. With renewed energy, she yanked her right arm from beneath Stephen’s leg and formed her fingers into a stiff spike. She rammed her hand at his face, scoring on his left eye.

“Don’t touch her again!” Shelley twisted desperately beneath him, jerking on her left arm in an attempt to free it as well.

Stephen’s fist slammed into her face. Sparks of white light swum in Shelley’s vision, but she refused to stop. She wasn’t fighting for herself anymore. Stephen dared laid a hand on Emma. He wouldn’t get away with that.

She poked at his eye again, missing when he jerked away. Her fingers jabbed into his mouth instead.

Stephen bit down and she screamed with pain, but formed her fingers into a hook, grabbing at the fleshy skin around the side of his cheek when she yanked back. She was intent on ripping his face off if that’s what it took to stop him.

He ripped away from her, cocking back his fist and punching her in the throat.

Shelley gasped, struggling for air.

Emma’s shrill scream drowned out Shelley’s gasping. Shelley glanced up in time to see her jump onto Stephen’s back. The girl used her fists to beat at his head. She might not be able to do much damage, but Stephen bucked his body wildly, trying to throw her off. He seemed to forget about Shelley.

Taking advantage of his distraction, she raised her hand to his shoulder, finding the pressure point in the left. Shelley dug her thumb in with as much pressure as possible from her position on the ground.

It was Stephen’s turn to yell with pain. He tried to hunch down and get away from her fingers, but Shelley pursued.

Stephen finally shook Emma off and jumped to his feet, ripping Shelley’s hand away from his shoulder. “That’s it.” He swung his foot back and Shelley dodged, knowing he planned to land another kick to her face.

She rolled to her stomach just in time, feeling the air move as his foot swooshed past her. Unfortunately, Stephen could walk faster than she could roll. His leg came down once again, slamming against Shelley’s spine. Biting back bile as nausea and dizziness flooded through her body, she tried to ignore the tingling shooting down the back of her legs.

His heel came down again, striking lower on her spine and intensifying the tingling.

So this is how it ends for me?

Refusing to accept that, Shelley tried to turn back over, but the blows from Stephen’s feet started coming one right after the other.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Gavin burst into the room, the light hurting his eyes after his run in the darkness. The first thing he saw was Stephen standing over Shelley’s unmoving body. “No!”

Without even thinking, he pointed Jenessa’s weapon at Stephen’s back. The gun jerked wildly in Gavin’s hand when he squeezed the trigger. The sound still echoed around the room when Stephen dropped to the ground, on top of Shelley.

“He killed my mommy,” wailed a little girl who must be Emma. She was dirty and bloody, standing near a mattress on the floor.

Gavin didn’t have time to wonder what the girl meant. He ran to Shelley, yanking Stephen off her.

“You son of a bitch.” With a groan of pain, Stephen reached behind his back. “I’ll teach you a lesson.”

“Gun,” Shelley yelled.

Gavin barely had time to process what she said, but survival instinct took over. As Stephen pulled a gun from behind his back, Gavin fired another shot. This one went wide, missing the man. “The next one goes through your head,” he warned, pretending he meant to miss. “Toss away your weapon.”

Glowering, Stephen obeyed, throwing his gun toward the doorway.

Gavin wanted to check on Shelley, but he didn’t dare take his attention off Stephen. At least she was able to talk. “Are you okay, Shell?”

“Not really.” She moaned softly and out of the corner of his eye, Gavin saw her sit up. “I’ll live though, thanks to you and Emma.”

“Mommy?” Emma ran to Shelley’s side. “I thought he sent you to Rose and Mom.”

Shelley’s arms went around the girl and she kissed her head. “No, sweetling. I’m okay. We both are.”

Only if Gavin got them out of here before more S.A.T.O. agents came down to the cellar. He didn’t know how bad Stephen’s injury was from the first bullet, and he didn’t really care. Considering the gun jerked and Stephen was still conscious and glaring, Gavin figured he must have missed anything vital. He couldn’t take his gun off him, or Stephen might attack them again.

“Gavin?” Shelley’s voice was calm, but commanding. “Bring me the gun. Stephen knows I’m a way better shot than he is. He doesn’t stand a chance. You can go get help.”

Walking sideways without ever taking the weapon off Stephen, Gavin slowly made his way back to Shelley. He handed it over when Emma moved out of the way. “I’ll be back soon.”

Shelley nodded. “Take Emma with you.”

Gavin grabbed the child’s hand without argument, but Emma dug her heels into the ground, refusing to move. “I won’t leave Mommy.”

Gavin was still confused who Mommy was, since Emma’s mom died a long time ago, but Shelley didn’t seem to be.

“Emma, go with him. He’s a good guy,” she told the girl.

While Emma still tried to decide, soft thuds of footsteps sounded outside in the hallway.

“Shit.” Gavin stepped in front of Emma, wishing he dared shield Shelley, but she had the weapon. “Shoot them,” he told her. “Don’t give them a chance to draw their weapons.”

***

Shelley watched the doorway, shaking with the pain sitting up caused, but determined to save them all.

Nick Kendall appeared around the doorframe, gun drawn. “Freeze.”

Exhaling in relief, Shelley lowered her gun. “Thank g—” she glanced at Emma behind Gavin’s back, “goodness. We thought you were S.A.T.O.”

Nick walked into the room, followed by Jenessa and Ken Travers.

Ken took handcuffs from a pouch on his belt and walked to Stephen.

Once the cuffs were on him, Shelley carefully placed the gun against the ground and collapsed backward. “I’ve never hurt so bad, even when I was shot. My back keeps spasming.”

Nick glanced down. “Looks like Stephen knows that feeling. Ambulances are on the way.”

Shelley didn’t feel charitable enough to hope Stephen didn’t bleed out before they reached them.

Ken turned away from Stephen, leaving him under Jenessa’s watchful eye. He walked to Emma. “Hey, hon. You okay?”

Shelley watched Emma’s face, trying to tell herself not to be jealous that the girl would now forget about her. After all, her uncle was here. Knowing that Emma’s dad set this whole thing up and planned her murder, Emma would probably have to live with Ken now. Shelley sure hoped he was a better uncle than he was a husband.

When Ken reached out his arms for a hug, Emma took a step back, avoiding him.

“Hey,” he protested. “It’s me, Uncle Ken.”

“I’m not leaving Mommy.” Emma crossed back to Shelley and sat on the floor next to her. “Rose went to be with Mom, but she said I’d get a new mommy. Do I have to go back to Daddy’s house? I don’t want to.”

While Emma’s loyalty touched her, Shelley sighed. What a tangled mess. “I think you’ll live with Uncle Ken. Isn’t that right?” She raised an eyebrow at Ken, wondering if they had yet figured out Brent was in on the plot to kidnap and murder Emma.

Ken nodded once, confirming that he knew. “She won’t go back to her dad’s. He’s otherwise detained.”

Before anything further could be said, people piled into the room. A few broke away to help Stephen, but the rest swarmed Shelley and Emma. They strapped Shelley to a backboard and headed for the door, not leaving time for further conversation.

The musky dampness of the walls closed in on her and Shelley took a deep breath as two men on either side of the board carried her through a long, cramped tunnel. She’d survived the worst life could throw at her. A tight space and her claustrophobia had become unimportant.

After the EMS people loaded her onto the waiting ambulance, Gavin and Emma piled in with them. Ken was nowhere in sight to help his niece, but Shelley didn’t worry about that, holding out her hand to take the girl’s and offering her a smile.

“Everything’s going to be okay now, sweetling.”

Emma smiled back, holding an ice pack to her cheek with her free hand. “I know, Mommy. You saved us. That was a good trick we played on the bad man.”

Gavin’s eyes narrowed and he mouthed ‘mommy?’ clearly confused.

Shelley winked. “I’ll explain everything later. Thanks for coming to the rescue. Looks like this is finally over.”

Though she thought that would be a relief for him, the worry lines on Gavin’s face grew deeper. He turned to stare out the back window of the ambulance without replying.

Chapter Forty

Two weeks later, the crowd in Shelley’s hotel room was overwhelming. She lay on the bed and everyone fussed over her. Her mother and Carlie sat in the room’s two chairs, swapping stories to catch each other up on parts of Shelley’s life they had missed. Luckily, she’d warned Carlie to pretend Gavin was her husband for her mother’s sake.