Last words? Pain throbbed through Reagan’s ankle with each heartbeat. She muffled her whimpers as tears slid down her cheeks. She’d fallen into another chamber and crawled into a crevice fighting pain. Now she tried to push to her feet.
She had to help whoever the thug threatened. Colton or Garrett. She cared about both.
The realization of how much she cared for Colton swept over her.
As she tried to stand, her ankle collapsed. She couldn’t reach them. Not now. She slid her cell phone from her pocket and tried to find a signal. Nothing. Any hope she’d held threatened to evaporate.
“Nothing for you.” Colton!
She screamed long and loud. She had to distract the man, turn his attention away from Colton. She screamed again, wincing as the shrill noise ricocheted off the rocks, bouncing back.
The light swiveled away with Reagan’s scream. Colton launched out of position, unpinned and desperate.
“Going somewhere?” The man pointed the gun at him and fired. Colton spun away from the man, feeling the brush of the bullet along his arm. He grunted, but kept moving away from the direction of Reagan’s scream.
He had to keep the man moving. Get him as far away and occupied as possible.
The man laughed. “You can’t escape. I’ve got lots of time. Nothing else to do.”
Colton moved again, ignoring the fire flaring across his arm. Just a few more steps. He could see the entrance to the next cavern. If he could get near there, maybe someone would be there. Would see and understand what was going on. Maybe a tourist had heard the gunshot and was already getting help. Or maybe Garrett would show up. All that mattered was that every step drew the man from Reagan. He had to lead him away from her without taking him and his gun straight toward tourists.
“Colton.” Garrett’s voice sounded from off to Colton’s right.
“Stay back.” Colton flinched as the man laughed, a bone-chilling sound.
“You drew him here.” The light swiveled like a firefly, darting around until it landed on Garrett’s white face. “Welcome back, Mr. Graham. Have the forty thousand with you?”
“Not yet. I’ll get it.”
“Empty promises, kid. My employer is out of patience. Time to pay.”
Garrett’s eyes grew wide. Colton took advantage of the man’s distraction to slide to the side. Then he took slow steps around. A couple more and he could jump the man. Between himself and Garrett, they could surely contain the guy until reinforcements arrived. They had to.
The light bobbed as if the man had remembered him.
One.
Two.
Colton lunged.
The gun fired again, and Reagan screamed again. Where was Colton? What had happened to Garrett? Horrible images flashed through her mind. She had to get help.
No matter the cost to her, she couldn’t let them get hurt without doing something. She reached for her hiking boot and tightened the laces to the point she almost couldn’t bear it. If she escaped, she’d need all the stabilization she could get.
Reagan pulled to her feet, her weight balanced on her good leg. A wave of pain coursed over her, but she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth until it passed. She could do this.
She leaned against the rock. The fall didn’t mean she couldn’t find a way to crawl out.
Fifteen minutes later, as sounds of activity carried toward her, she had to admit defeat. There wasn’t a way out she could manage with two arms and one leg.
Should she yell for help?
What if it wasn’t help that had come but instead reinforcements for the man who’d haunted her nightmares? Could she risk it?
She closed her eyes, the darkness not any different from what pressed against her when her eyes were open. Then she shouted, “Colton. Garrett. I’m here.”
Over and over she yelled. The words bounced off the walls, echoing in her ears.
“I hear her.” A strange voice carried to her. She shrank into the shadows. Had she called the enemy to her?
“Bring the gurney. If she’s calling for help, she’ll probably need it.”
At the word gurney, she relaxed and started shouting again. A few minutes later an officer was lowered over the side. “Are you hurt, ma’am?”
“I think I broke my ankle when I fell.”
“We’ll get you out and checked over.”
“How are the guys?” Her heart squeezed as she waited for an answer.
The light on his miner’s hat blinked, and she wished she could read his face. “The paramedics are working on one. The other’ll be fine.”
She swayed, and he caught her before saying, “A little help.”
In a minute, several rescuers had her out of the sunken cavern and on the gurney. But all she wanted was to see for herself, verify that Garrett and Colton were okay.
What was taking them so long?
The paramedics had descended before Colton could get to Reagan and refused to let him go. He knew he had a scratch—one that hurt like the dickens—but all the same, just a scratch. What they didn’t understand was he wouldn’t relax until he knew Reagan was okay.
She wouldn’t shout for help if she didn’t need it.
A screeching like wheels bouncing across gravel finally reached him.
“Relax.”
“I can’t.”
The paramedic shrugged as he prepped the needle. “Have it your way. But this injection will smart.” The man stabbed the needle in Colton’s arm. “Told ya.”
Colton ignored him as he tried to get a glimpse of Reagan. He needed to see her. How was he going to tell her Garrett had been shot? That he’d manhandled the man, fighting him until the police arrived? That the police had her stalker in custody and Colton had a split lip and sore ribs and an injured arm? But the reason behind the man’s chase? How could he explain that Garrett had pretended to stalk her? God would have to give him the words. Otherwise, Reagan would hate him as the bearer of the news.
The gurney finally pulled into view. Reagan flinched with each jolt.
“Can’t you guys take it easy on her?”
One of the paramedics grunted as the gurney skidded to a halt on a rock. “There aren’t smooth surfaces down here. Want us to carry it?”
Colton focused on Reagan, trying to gauge her status. The paramedics wheeled to a stop next to him.
“Colton.” The word whispered from her like a caress. Then her gaze darted around. “Where’s Garrett?”
“On the way to the hospital.” There was no way to sugar-coat it.
“How bad?” Even in the dim light, he could see her tremble.
“I don’t know.”
“Is the … where’s the …”
Colton didn’t know what to call the man either. Thug? Enforcer? Criminal? “The police have him.”
A uniformed man stepped into view. “I’ll follow you to the hospital. We’ll need your statement as soon as you can give it.”
The next hours were a whirlwind. Answering questions. Piecing together what had happened. Waiting to see if Garrett would pull through surgery. Through it all, Colton stuck close to Reagan.
He held her hand in the ambulance, assuring himself she was all right. He sat next to her as the doctor examined her ankle then sent her to get it x-rayed. He felt relief when the diagnosis came back as a massive sprain, not a break. She’d have to stay off it for a while but would recover.
Finally, the police left, the waiting room quieted, and she curled against him.
“You okay?” The question seemed inane, but he couldn’t read her quiet reserve.
“I’ll be okay.”
He waited a minute, but she didn’t elaborate. “Can you believe Garrett got involved in gambling?”
She shuddered against him, and he eased her closer. “I don’t like it. He knows better. But it does explain some of his disappearances and tension. To think the man from the boat was the one in the cave. All because Garrett acquired gambling debts.”
“I’m sorry.”
She sighed. “Me, too. I don’t know what to say to him.”
“That makes two of us.” Colton would never understand how Garrett had hatched a plan to “stalk” his sister. How could he think that was okay? Maybe he thought he’d protected her, but Colton didn’t buy it. An awful lot of fear and worry had resulted from those selfish actions.
The doors opened, and the surgeon came out. “You folks waiting on Garrett Graham, right?”
Reagan straightened as much as her extended leg allowed.
“Yes.”
“Good news. Garrett’s out of surgery and doing as well as we could hope. The bullet missed his organs, so he’ll be sore, but as long as he avoids an infection, he should heal.”
Reagan relaxed. “Can I see him?”
“You can, but don’t expect much. He’ll be under anesthesia awhile longer. It’ll be tomorrow before he’s aware of much.”
Colton helped Reagan to Garrett’s room. The young man matched the white sheets. Colton was glad the surgeon had told them everything went well because, based on what he could see, Garrett looked terrible.
After holding Garrett’s hand for a minute and praying softly, Reagan turned back to Colton. “Can you take me home?”
She had no idea how much he wanted to do just that. As he helped her to a wheelchair and then wheeled her to a waiting taxi, he knew what mattered now.
It wasn’t winning some contest.
It wasn’t even figuring out everything with Garrett.
No, where he wanted to focus the last couple of weeks of summer was on the beautiful woman seated next to him. If he did nothing else, he vowed to remove the weight from her shoulders and show her how very special she was.