At his words she stopped fighting. “I don’t understand.”
“A branch is caught in your skirt. I’m trying to figure out if it penetrated skin.” He sliced through the hem and held up a sharp stick. “See? Looks like you have a cut but nothing needing stitches.”
“Oh.” She hadn’t even felt it.
All the confusion and pain and terror of the last few hours slammed into her, leaving her bones weary and her mind blank. Men were after her and she didn’t know why. A guy she didn’t trust held her and for some reason his closeness made her feel safe. None of it made sense.
“I was thinking of something more along the lines of ‘Why, thank you, Zach,’ because you know exactly who I am and who I work for, right?” He stood and stared down at her.
“Yes.”
“I’m assuming that’s why you aren’t kicking up an even bigger fuss.”
She let her shoulders slump. “Sort of.”
“Yeah, well, you’re welcome.” He glanced toward the cabin. “Any chance you know Johnnie or who sent him?”
“Of course not.”
“Then I still have to figure out how to get you out of this mess and what’s really happening here.”
She breathed in nice and deep, trying to feed oxygen to her brain. “Call my boss or the police—anyone—and get us help.”
“I’m actually trying to be quiet and not say anything that would accidentally give our location away to Johnnie there. You could take a hint and keep your voice down.” Zach barely made a sound as he spoke.
He put a few inches between them but kept a firm grip on her elbow. The only part of her that didn’t throb in pain.
“Time to go,” he said.
“Where?”
“We’ll figure that out later.” He glanced back at the cabin. “We need to move.”
They took two steps before the sound of gunfire rang through the woods. Air whooshed around her as Zach shoved her behind the nearest tree and covered her body with his.
“Johnnie?” she asked.
Zach’s heated breath grazed her cheek, but his gaze stayed focused on the cabin. “I’d hate to think someone else showed up to the party.”
She pushed against his broad shoulders to get his attention. “What is he shooting at us with?”
Zach frowned at her. “A gun. What do you think?”
She thought about punching him. “Why didn’t you take his weapon?”
Johnnie kept screaming out her name. Every now and then he’d add a threat or switch the words around to be as profane as possible, but the message didn’t change. Johnnie wanted them back.
“I did. But I didn’t think he’d have the brains to hide another weapon in the cabin.” Zach wiped his forehead on his sleeve. “Score one for Johnnie.”
“I thought you were some superspy type.”
“That’s a terrible description and no.” Zach glanced at his watch and clicked a few buttons. “Okay. Change of plans.”
He’d totally lost her. “Which means?”
“We’re going back inside the cabin.”
“Are you kidding?” He put a hand over her mouth as she started to shriek. She mumbled the rest of her question into his palm.
“I almost never kid.”
She shrugged off his hand and tried unsuccessfully to step back but ran right her foot into the tree behind her. “Absolutely not.”
Zach exhaled. “The only way out of here is through Johnnie.”
“You came in a car. We’ll leave in it.” She grabbed Zach’s shirt in an effort to reason with him. Looking into those greenish-blue eyes, she tried to will him to help her.
“We have to know who Johnnie is working for. At the very least, we need to make sure he doesn’t call in reinforcements.”
“You know people.”
“True, and I’ve sent an emergency signal to them. They’re on the way, but I don’t know who Johnnie’s boss is. I only know his name because he was dumb enough to use his own car when he kidnapped you.” Zach hauled her to his side with a gentle tug.
“What does any of that have to do with getting out of here?”
“Right now my biggest worry is the people who will come for you next if we don’t stop Johnnie and get some answers.”
The words sent a new bolt of fear spinning through her. “I’ll go to Trevor.”
“I’m not sure that’s safer.”
“He’s my boss.”
“Maybe, but for now you’re stuck with me.” Zach marched her back to the cabin, balancing her weight against him as her shoes slipped.
She tried to postpone the inevitable but nothing worked. Her so-called rescuer was leading her right back to the beast, dragging her along in big steps and not giving her a choice. A few more feet and he’d hand her off and she’d know for sure just which side Zach was on. And she feared it wasn’t hers.
“Zach, please.”
“Follow my lead.” He gave his order right as he dumped her at the base of the front steps. Right in front of Johnnie.
“You’re a dead man.” The harsh yellow porch light made Johnnie’s pale face look jaundiced.
Sela couldn’t remember ever seeing a person look that color. Not a live one, anyway.
Zach treated Johnnie like a speck of dirt. “Get out of my way.”
“No way, man,” Johnnie snarled, his eyes glazed over and his ripped and bloody clothing hung from his body. “I don’t know who you are, but she stays with me.”
“Who paid you to start thinking, Johnnie?”
Sela closed her eyes as her head began to spin. This couldn’t be happening. The scene reminded her of two rabid dogs fighting over a piece of meat. First time in her life she saw herself as nothing more than food.
“The boss needs some information from her. That means I gotta hurt her bad.”
“If you touch me, I’ll kill you,” she said.
“I got the gun, so I make the rules.” Johnnie thumped the barrel against his chest as he sneered at Zach. “What do you say to that?”
Zach nodded, the movement slow and deliberate. “Okay, Johnnie.”
“Stop talking like we know each other. We don’t.”
“Right. You make the rules.”
A new wave of panic washed over her. “Zach, what are you—”
“It will be fine.” His grip on her arm loosened.
“Don’t you dare give me over to this guy. I will hunt you down and…” Something. She’d do something nasty and violent if Zach abandoned her now.
Her hands clutched at his shirt. She’d pull out every one of his chest hairs and then rip through him if she had to in order to make her point. When Zach stared at her with cold eyes, a bolt of fear crashed through her. Then she heard it. A whisper so low she thought she slipped into a dream. “Trust me.”
Trust me? At Zach’s toneless murmur she wanted to run, to scream for help. To do all the things that would seal her death.
Before she could argue,