“It took you long enough.” Lisa was standing there with a faint smile on her face. “But then, I didn’t expect you to blow the place up, either.” She was hobbling out of the room and heading toward the stairs. “Seth?”
“Yes.” Jane was on the other side of the girl, supporting her weight as she started down the stairs. “I didn’t expect it, either.”
“Get out of my way,” Lisa said impatiently. “I can do this by myself. You’re being too careful. We have to hurry.”
“And falling down the steps won’t help anything.” They had reached the bottom and Jane pulled her across the foyer. “Okay, we don’t have time to be careful now. We have to go at top speed.” They were out the front door and she pushed Lisa toward Caleb, who was standing at the top of the path. “I kept my promise to her, Caleb. Now get her down that damn path.”
Lisa stopped in her tracks, her gaze on Caleb. “She told me you were coming. I didn’t think you’d be waiting practically on the doorstep. You might just as well have come knocking on my door upstairs.” Her hands clenched at her sides. “You were stupid to come at all. I didn’t want you here. I would have handled it.”
“You weren’t doing too well.”
“That was your fault.”
He smiled. “Yes, it was.” He held out his arms to her and his next words were softly coaxing. “Now come here and help me make it right.”
Lisa didn’t move, her gaze on his face.
Jane inhaled sharply as she saw the expression on the young girl’s face. Total love. Total devotion. Total bonding.
Lisa took one step toward him, then another.
Then she was running toward him and he was enveloping her in his arms. He held her close for just a second and then he was lifting her in his arms. “And you’re the one who’s behaving stupidly,” he said lightly as he started down the path to the beach. “You should have walked, instead of run, to me. And you got yourself entirely too damaged, and I know it was because you couldn’t let Santara have the last word. Now I’ll have to spend some time healing those damn ribs.”
She clung closer, but said gruffly, “Serves you right.”
“I may drop you over the cliff. Jane, go down ahead and start the damn boat.”
“Absolutely.” Jane moved around them and down the trail. “I can handle only one of you at a time. And neither of you seems worried enough that we’re not out of this yet.”
“I’m worried.” His gaze went to the baleful glare lighting the mountains in the distance. “And a little regretful…”
“Regrets? That’s not like you. About the explosion?” She was frowning, puzzled as she ran down the twisting path ahead of them. “I suppose those guards didn’t actually hurt Lisa.”
“But they didn’t help her, either,” he said coldly. “No regrets there. I just wish I’d been able to set it up so that Santara had been caught in the blast. It would have been more efficient than having to go after him later.”
“You don’t do that,” Lisa said sharply. “Do you hear me, Seth. You don’t do it.”
“Hush…” His gaze was lifted toward the top of the cliff. “I thought I heard something.” He increased his pace and was close behind Jane when she untied the boat and started the engine. He set Lisa down on one of the rear seats and pushed the boat off the beach. Then he jumped in the boat beside Lisa. “Gun it, Jane.”
Jane pressed the accelerator and the speedboat leaped forward with magnum force.
And a bullet exploded on the teak console next to her!
She could hear Caleb cursing behind her. She glanced up at the top of the cliff as she started zigzagging over the water. A tall figure was silhouetted in the moonlight and he was aiming an automatic rifle.
Santara? She couldn’t tell for certain in the darkness, though he looked as if he fit the description of the man in the photo Caleb had shown her. She shouted back at Caleb, “Is it Santara?”
“That’s my bet.”
Another bullet seared by her ear and ricocheted off the windshield!
It didn’t matter who he was; that shot had been too close. He was very, very good. Even in the darkness he knew his target and was accounting for all the evading maneuvers she was making.
And, as the one driving the speedboat, Jane was the target.
“Move over.” Caleb had slid over the top of the seat from the rear and was pushing her down on the floor. “Keep down and let me—”
Another bullet hit the console!
“You can’t do anything more than I was doing,” Jane said fiercely. “Keep zigzagging and keep down yourself. Or let me do it and just stop him from shooting. I’m sure you’re better with guns than I am.”
“I don’t like guns.”
“Oh, shit.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t know how to use them.” He had his gun out. “Grab the wheel. Give me a minute.” He turned and carefully aimed at the figure on the cliff. “But this gun won’t have near the range of that automatic rifle he’s using. The shot would have to be just right to take him down. And he knows it. Arrogant bastard. He thinks he’s in control. Let’s show him he needs to reassess.…”
He took the shot.
Santara fell to the ground.
“Yes!”
But Santara was rolling over, aiming, and the next moment another bullet tore through the windshield only inches from Caleb’s head.
“Seth!” Lisa was suddenly on her feet and launching herself at Caleb from behind, trying to cover him with her body. Her face was white, her eyes frantic. “No!”
“Get down, Lisa.” Jane reached back and tried to jerk her away from Caleb. “For God’s sake, get away from—”
Another shot.
Lisa jerked. She gasped, her back arching. Then she collapsed and fell forward against Caleb.
Dear God.
Jane could see the blood seeping from the wound in Lisa’s upper back, staining her white peasant blouse. Her eyes closed.… Limp, so terribly limp.
Another shot. Close, again.
“Take care of her,” Caleb said hoarsely. He pushed Lisa gently toward Jane. “I’ve got to get us out of here.” He aimed once more. “But first I have to make sure the son of a bitch stays down.”
Jane was already crawling into the rear seat and cradling Lisa in her arms. Blood. And still. So still.
Caleb fired several times in succession and then lowered the gun. “I saw him jerk once. I might not have killed him, but he won’t be getting up anytime soon.” He turned back and started zigzagging once more over the water. He was looking straight ahead, his face even paler than Lisa’s. “Was I too late, Jane?” he asked jerkily. “Did he kill her? Is she dead?”
“I don’t know.” But she was terribly afraid.… Her fingers were probing the pulse point in Lisa’s throat.
Nothing.
She frantically pressed harder.
Her own heart skipped a beat. “I think I feel something. I think she’s alive, Caleb.”
“Then keep her that way.” Caleb said, his eyes on the island just ahead. “Just keep her alive until I can stop and get to her.”
And how am I supposed to do that? Jane wondered desperately.
Try to stop the blood.
It looked as if the bullet had entered from the back and gone straight through. Close to the shoulder. She could only pray it hadn’t struck anything vital. She took off her blouse and tore it into strips and tried to bind the wound. Then she applied pressure, but it only lessened the bleeding, not stopped it. What am I doing? she thought in frustration. This was Caleb’s area of expertise. “She’s bleeding. I’m putting pressure, but it’s not doing much good. Do something.”
“I can’t do much right now. Maybe I can lessen it, but I can’t heal it. And I can’t sense what’s happening inside her while I’m driving the damn boat. Give me another few minutes. Keep the pressure steady.”
Give him another few minutes? She wasn’t the being who could dispense either time or mercy. All she could do was pray and keep up the damn pressure. Lisa was young and vital and had everything to live for and she had tried to give her own life for Caleb’s. Surely that would count in her favor?
Keep the pressure steady.
But whatever Caleb was doing must be working, because the bleeding seemed to be lessening.