Sins and Scarlet Lace

chapter TWENTY-ONE

Sophia didn’t remember where she was or what had happened once her eyes opened. She was on the ground, her body a mass of aches and pains, and when she moved her head she felt like she was going to throw up. She realized it was probably because her head had hit the giant rock she was currently lying beside.

Blood flowed freely from the wound in her head, and she tried not to panic when she saw exactly how much blood she was losing. Head wounds always bled badly, even the little ones.

She groaned as she rolled to her hands and knees, and she gagged as the knot on her head made her dizzy and uncoordinated. She had to find Shane. Something bad had happened, but her brain was too fuzzy to put all the pieces together. Smoke burned her eyes and then she remembered the explosion.

“Shane,” she tried to call out, but her voice was weak and the effort made the pounding in her head worse. But she moved anyway because she owed it to him to help him if she could. She realized she was a good distance away from where the Jeep had ended up, and she didn’t know if it was because Shane had thrown her that far or if the explosion had catapulted the Jeep.

Her ears rang and the blood from her wound made her clothes sticky. Tears streaked down her face as she kept searching. And then she saw him, and bile rose in her throat and her stomach cramped with despair.

His body lay completely still, his torso and head flat to the ground, but his legs were at an unnatural angle. At least what was left of them.

A sob tore from her throat and she started to crawl toward him, but a hand gripped her arm and jerked her to her feet with a cry. Dizziness overwhelmed her and her knees gave out, but he pulled her up again.

“Get up, bitch,” a familiar voice said.

And she did out of pure shock. “Kane?”

“Where’s the f*cking necklace?”



***



Declan surveyed the scene before him quickly and tried to assess the best way to handle Kane. He trusted his team to take care of everything else. Even as he had the thought he heard the familiar sound of Jade’s rifle coming from her point location as she protected his men’s backs.

He came out of the trees and into the clearing where Kane was holding Sophia with his hands raised and his gun pointed to the sky. Shane’s body lay unmoving off to the side, bloodied so badly he couldn’t assess the damage from a glance except for the horror of his legs.

“Drop the gun, friend,” Kane Huxley called out.

Dec pushed his emotions away. Emotions would only get him and Sophia both killed. All he could do was keep a level head and pray the good guys won this round. Sophia hadn’t escaped the explosion unscathed. Blood matted her hair and covered her body and her clothes were torn and dirty. Shock and pain had settled in and her reactions were slow as Kane pushed her forward so she landed on her hands and knees. She looked up at Declan with terror-filled eyes but he didn’t return the gaze. If he did it would all be over. For both of them.

Kane held the gun pointed steady at her head, and Declan had no choice but to throw his own weapon to the ground. “I’ve got a dozen men with their scopes trained on you right this moment, Kane. There’s no getting out of this.”

His smile slashed cruel on his handsome face, and seeing him now, Declan wondered how he’d ever been fooled by his act.

“We’ll see how many men you have left. You don’t think I came without my own backup did you? I’ll see you your dozen and raise you by another ten.” Kane’s laugh slithered across Declan’s skin and he tensed as the gun he held at Sophia’s head wavered. “Now I’m going to ask again. Where is the necklace? Or maybe I should just start shooting till one of you gives me the right answer.”

“It was pretty clever of you to hide the safety deposit box key inside.”

Kane froze and Declan prayed he hadn’t miscalculated his reaction to the news they’d discovered it.

“I thought so,” he said. “Found it, did you? Well you can just give it back. You’re going to have to face the facts that I’m just better than you and I’ve won this round.”

“That’s what this is really all about, isn’t it?” Dec asked. He saw Shane shift slightly from where he lay and breathed out a sign of relief. His brother was still alive, but with that kind of blood loss he wouldn’t be for long if he didn’t get help. “That’s all it’s ever been about. About how you never quite measured up? Second best in our military class. Second under my command when we were both recruited for the CIA. Passed over again and again for promotions because your skills weren’t quite at the level they needed to be. Never quite smart enough, were you Kane?”

“I was smart enough to sell your meet location with that group of SEALs for a nice chunk of money,” he said, grinning. “You were supposed to die in that Black Hawk explosion by the way, but I almost think it worked out better. I’d look at that scar on your face every day and have to turn away to keep from laughing at the realization that I did that.”

“And then I was smart enough to steal your bitch and give her my name. That had to sting, didn’t it, Mr. High-And-Mighty MacKenzie? I can’t tell you how many times I watched our wedding video just to see the looks on both of your faces.”

Dec let the words roll off of him and kept his fury banked, even though the anger boiled deep inside him.

“I don’t know what you ever saw in her. She sure as hell wasn’t a good f*ck, but maybe my men will think differently once I’ve put a bullet in your brain.” His boot connected with Sophia’s back and a whimper of pain escaped even as she tried to make herself invisible.

“Why don’t you put away your own gun, Kane? Or are you afraid to face me man to man once and for all and see who really is best?”

“You hear that, Sophia? Declan wants to fight me man to man. It seems like the least I should do considering he’s been f*cking my wife. What the hell, I’m game.” He tossed down his weapon, but Declan made it a point to always know his enemy better than he knew himself. Kane had at least three more weapons hidden somewhere on his body.

“Sophia,” Dec called out. “I know you hurt, baby. But I need you to come here.”

“You’re an entertaining man, Dec.” Kane stood with his hands on his hips and a cocky smile on his lips. “I’ve always thought that about you. Yeah, Sophia. Walk back into the arms of the man who is only keeping you around for the half-a-billion dollars he wants to get his hands on. Can you really be that stupid? How many times has this man betrayed you over the years, yet you always roll over and spread your legs. You must have a magical cock, my friend,” Kane sneered. “Of course, I’ve heard dozens of women over the years say it was true.”

“Sophia,” he said again. “Come here.”

Sophia raised her head and looked at him out of shattered eyes. Kane had played with her mind for years, and he knew that training was hard to overcome, but he also hoped she’d realized by now that he would rather die than ever hurt her again. It would be her choice whether she trusted him enough to take what he offered, but even if she didn’t he wanted her out of the way.

She pushed herself up off the ground until she stood shakily to her feet. And then she took a step toward him. And then another. Relief at her ability to trust him after everything they’d been through sank into his bones, and he realized how undeserving he was of this woman’s love, but he was grateful just the same.

“This is all very sweet,” Kane said. “I think it’s going to be very damaging for her to watch me kill you. It’s all very exciting.”

They both ignored Kane as she stumbled toward him, though he watched Kane closely and kept his hand free to go to his extra gun if he saw him making a move.

“Thank you,” he whispered once she reached him. “Thank you for loving me.”

“I don’t believe him,” she panted, tears dripping down her cheeks. “My faith is in you, and I wanted you to know that if anything hap—”

He put his finger over her lips to keep her from saying the words. Kane wouldn’t give them much time. He wasn’t worried about the soldiers Kane had brought with him. Dec would put his men and their experience up against triple the kind of men Kane had brought onto his land.

“We’re going to be just fine, babe.” He slipped the cell phone he’d been palming into the front pocket of her shorts. “I need you to go to Shane and check on him. Text Thomas and tell him to get here as fast as possible and to arrange for a helicopter to be standing by so we can transport him.”

She nodded once and wavered on her feet as she moved back. “I’m going to be really pissed if you die. I just thought you should know.” And then she did as he asked and headed towards Shane, kneeling down beside him and taking his limp hand in her own.

Declan didn’t waste any time. He and Kane ran for each other and met mid-air, bodies clashing in a tangle of limbs and grunts and groans. His knee made contact with Kane’s stomach and the other man let out a grunt of pain even as his fist connected with Declan’s ribs. Kane outweighed him by several pounds, so their momentum sent Dec crashing backward toward the ground. His back scraped across rock and gravel, and he air left his lungs as Kane’s full weight landed on top of him. They rolled several times, taking turns dealing blow after blow.

Adrenaline pumped high and Dec felt satisfaction as his palm came up and slammed into Kane’s face, breaking his nose with a crunch of cartilage and bone. Grunts and muttered curses filled the air as they fought viciously, each one knowing death would come to the loser.

They rolled again and Declan ended up on his back with Kane’s weight pinning him down. The prick of a knife against his throat had him stilling and looking into the eyes of a man he’d once called friend. Blood dripped down Kane’s face, the steady plop landing on Declan’s chin and running down his neck. Their chests heaved as they both sucked in air and not even the wind dared to move the tree limbs as they waited to see what would happen.

“You forgot one thing, brother,” Kane spat, the knife cutting into the skin of Declan’s neck.

“What’s that?” Declan said, ignoring Sophia’s quiet sobs in the background.

“I like to cheat.”

His smile froze in place as Declan put a knife in his back, slipping up between the ribs to pierce his black heart.

“I remember,” Dec said, pushing Kane off of him and rolling to his knees to suck in a deep breath. “Second best, Kane. Just like always.”

Hatred filled Kane’s eyes as they clouded over with death, but Declan was already on his feet and headed to Sophia. She stumbled toward him and he caught her in his arms, wrapping his arms around her gently.

“You scared the hell out of me,” she said, wiping the tears off her face. “I’ve never felt so useless in my life. Don’t you ever do that again, Declan MacKenzie. If my head didn’t hurt so bad I’d punch you in the face.” A sob tore from her throat and she turned on unsteady legs to go back to Shane. He helped her before she fell on her face.

“Sit down, babe.”

“I don’t know what else to do for him,” she whispered. “He’s in shock. God, there’s so much blood.”

Dec noticed for the first time that she sat there in only her bra. She’d used her shirt as a tourniquet just below Shane’s knee. He whipped off his own shirt and handed it to her while he looked over the rest of his brother’s injuries, and he jumped as Shane’s hand came up and gripped his arm. Hard.

“It’s bad,” Shane said. His teeth chattered, and tears ran unchecked from the corners of his eyes. Sophia had been right, shock had settled and it didn’t look good. Fear clawed at Dec’s insides. He’d seen too many men who looked as Shane did now just before they died from their wounds.

Dec kept his face emotionless and his voice firm. “You’re all good, Shane. It’s just a scratch or two. You’re going to be just fine.”

“Liar,” he said, his breath hitching as pain wracked through his body. “Don’t let—” he licked his lips before trying to get the words out again. “Don’t let them take my legs. I’d rather die.” His fingers pressed so hard into Dec’s arms he knew there’d be bruises. “I mean it, Dec. Don’t let them take them. They’ll relieve me of my command. I’m not meant—not meant to sit at a desk.”

Declan took hold of Shane’s hand and squeezed it hard. “Save your breath. The cavalry is almost here.” The familiar sounds of a helicopter flying low and nearby had Declan looking up just as Thomas came running with his bag, his cousins and brothers close behind him.

Thomas knelt down beside them and Sophia scooted back out of the way. The other MacKenzies gathered around, talking in low voices, and she noticed Cade and Cooper were barking out orders into headsets to the men they still had out rounding up Kane’s mercenaries.

Thomas was already busy running an IV and getting things set up so Shane could get a transfusion once he was airborne, but Shane’s next words stopped everyone cold and silence descended in the small clearing.

“Can’t feel anything now,” Shane said, smiling softly. “I’m glad you finally got the girl, Dec. You deserve it.” And then Shane closed his eyes.

Declan bowed his head over his brother and let the tears fall unchecked.