Torn - Cynthia Eden Page 0,54
tipped back her head, and her hair—hair that had been cropped to barely hit her jaw—slid away from her face. Even in the faint moonlight, he could see the blood that covered her—blood that poured from her neck. Wade realized that she hadn’t been able to call out for help because that bastard had sliced her throat.
A faint rasp came from her, a rough gurgle—probably the only sound she could make right then. But it told him that she was still alive.
Not too late. Not—
He grabbed at the ropes holding her and wrenched the one at her right wrist free. He could feel her blood there, too. Blood that just seemed to surround her whole wrist.
“It’s going to be all right,” he told her. “You’re safe now. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
She made that pitiful, painful rasp again.
“No, don’t try to talk. It’s okay.” Talking was the last thing she needed to try doing at that moment. “Save your strength.” He put his hand on her throat, trying to stem that terrible blood flow. He could feel the blood seeping through his fingers. A fresh wound. The killer had been close—no doubt was still close. They needed backup out there, and they needed it fast.
He couldn’t tell how deep her wound was. He didn’t know if she’d last five more minutes or an hour. He just knew he had to get her help.
He pulled out his phone, ready to call Victoria and get the cavalry on that beach but—
No fucking signal.
Just his luck.
He dropped the phone, letting it fall into the sand. Then he kept one hand at Melissa’s throat, keeping up the pressure. With his right hand, he fumbled with the ropes that still held her other wrist captive. The damn knots there wouldn’t give and he yanked and yanked—
The rope broke. Her arm fell.
“It’s okay,” Wade said again. He grabbed his gun and tucked it into his waistband. Then he picked her up. “We’re getting out of here.”
The killer is close.
Was the SOB watching him even then? Hiding in the dark?
Wade half expected to feel a bullet lodge into his back as he rushed to make his way off the driftwood-covered beach. But maybe all those trees—tossed and broken as if a giant had thrown them aside, scattering them here—maybe those trees were actually helping him as he fled with Melissa. Providing cover.
She was so still in his arms. Not holding onto him at all. Just limp. “Stay with me,” Wade told her. “You hear me? Stay. Fight. You have to fight.”
He tightened his hold on her and rushed into the darkness.
THE LOST AGENT had found Melissa. She hadn’t been given a chance to bleed out. Not yet.
He’d found her too soon.
Now he was rushing away with her, talking to her, telling her that everything would be all right.
The agent was a very good liar.
Nothing would be all right again for Melissa. He’d made sure of it.
He waited until Wade Monroe was well down the beach, then slid from the cover of another broad driftwood tree. He’d been less than ten feet away from Melissa the whole time. He thought she’d known that. He thought she’d actually been trying to warn Wade about him.
Pity she hadn’t been able to talk.
His foot brushed against the sand, and he knelt near the discarded ropes. His gloved fingers reached out but he didn’t touch the rope.
Instead, he touched . . . a phone. One that the agent had just dropped and forgotten. He slipped it into his pocket. It would come in handy. Ever so handy. Very soon.
Then he backed away. After all, he had a promise to keep. A trade had been offered.
But that trade hadn’t been made.
He’d see Melissa again. Just as he would be seeing Wade Monroe again. First, though, he had other prey to seek out.
Waves crashed against the beach as he slipped away.
CHAPTER NINE
THE SEARCH TEAMS headed into the woods that surrounded the cottage. Victoria could hear the rush of the surf just beyond the woods. She could smell the ocean air.
“Melissa!” the cop beside her yelled out. “Melissa Hastings!”
But Melissa wasn’t answering them. And even though she’d tried to call him on her phone, Victoria hadn’t been able to reach Wade, either.
The cops had lights with them. They shone them to the left and right as they tried to see in the darkness. Victoria followed, moving as quickly as she could. There were so many places to hide in those woods.
The ground rose up, cresting,