Better him than Lana.
Caleb had him pinned to the wal, but the man was strong and managed to free his weapon enough to bring it up toward Caleb’s head for a fatal shot.
Lana screamed. Grant shouted at her to get back. From his voice, Caleb could tel he was stil too far away to help unless Caleb could separate their bodies enough for him to get a clear shot.
Caleb hammered a fist into the man’s side, rocking him, making him grunt in pain. The blow cost Caleb his precarious balance and opened him up for a solid punch to his face. As he toppled, he caught a hold of the man’s weapon hand and puled him to the ground.
The man tried to rol out of it, but Caleb outweighed him and used brute force to hold him down. He locked a strong hand around Caleb’s throat and squeezed. Caleb ignored everything but the gun. He couldn’t risk a stray shot hitting Lana. The man gripped Caleb’s throat harder. He couldn’t pul in any air.
The pistol went off again, firing past Caleb’s head into the air.
Lana screamed. She was stil too close.
Caleb felt his body giving out due to lack of oxygen. Bright spots were bursting over his field of vision. He wasn’t going to last much longer. He had to get that weapon away before he passed out, or he was a dead man.
Caleb squeezed the hand around the weapon. Hard. Used every bit of his strength to crush the man’s hand against the unyielding metal contours of the pistol.
The man screamed, his voice rising an octave in pain. Caleb felt bones snap.
A vicious kick landed along Caleb’s back. The edges of Caleb’s vision were fading to gray. He could hear Grant shouting at Lana to stay down. Hear his boots pounding nearer.
He figured he had another few seconds of consciousness at most and wiled Grant to hurry.
Weakness started to flow into him at an alarmingly fast pace. He turned the gun toward the man who had wanted to hurt Lana. Used his fury to keep him awake another second. Two.
Another bone cracked. A strangled noise rose up from the man beneath him. Caleb angled the weapon until the silencer was pressed against his enemy’s flesh. He didn’t know what part it was, because he was totaly blind now, but he guessed it was going to hurt, al the same.
The man gave a panicked grunt. Caleb found the trigger beneath the man’s own finger. The gun gave a silenced bark and jerked in their hands.
Hot blood sprayed up over Caleb’s face, and the man beneath him went limp.
Caleb hadn’t realized he’d blacked out until it was over and he was waking up again. It was the sound of Lana’s frightened voice that got his attention. “Is he hurt?”
“He’s okay,” he heard Grant say. “Both rounds hit his vest.”
Caleb opened his eyes, a little shocked he could see again, breathe again. The first thing he saw was Lana’s tearstained face. She was hovering over him, holding his hand.
“God, you’re beautiful,” he told her.
She laughed and new tears leaked out of her eyes. “You’re awake.”
“Just needed a quick nap.” Talking hurt. Breathing wasn’t much fun, either.
Caleb pushed himself up. That hurt, too, but he didn’t think anything was broken. His shirt had been shoved up, and he could see two bruises forming over his ribs. The vest had stopped the bulets, thank God.
“Asleep on the job again,” said Grant. “What a slacker.”
“I’m a slacker? You’re the one who took your sweet time lending a hand.”
“I figured you weren’t interested in learning about friendly fire up close and personal. Besides, I didn’t want to make you look bad in front of the lady.”
Lana took his face between her palms. “How do you feel?”
“I’l survive.” An ambulance puled into the lot, sirens blaring.
“You’d better,” said Grant. “Monroe said they’ve located the other men Lana saw in Armenia. A chopper wil be here to pick us up in ten minutes. If you whine, he won’t let you in on the fun of hunting them down.”
Like hel. Caleb was going to finish this. End Lana’s nightmare. And then he was coming back for her. Whatever it took.
Caleb had been gone six days, and Lana’s life felt bleak without him. Barren.
She’d chosen to go into protective custody in order to keep everyone else safe—at least until the men she’d seen had been found and brought to justice. Once the trials were over, she would go back to her regular life.
At least they’d alowed her brief contact with her family via phone, so she was able to keep tabs on them. Let them know she was okay.
She tried to be happy about al the good things in her life. Kara had been kiled and could never hurt anyone again. The money from the carnival had been more than enough to put the youth center back in the black, and with al the press from the bomb scare, al kinds of donations were coming in. Stacie was up and about. She and her sister were taking a trip to Europe in the fal. Lana’s parents were already working on plans to rebuild their house. Her mom was thriled to be able to pick carpet and wal colors al over again, especialy since their insurance was paying for everything. Her dad had already started designing his new gardens and a greenhouse he could use al year round.