He moved swiftly while Winfeld was still pausing in his uncertainty. The arrow flew from his bow like a streak of silver. It piercedWinfeld's jacket and embedded itself into the paneling of the wall, pinning Winfeld there. Although his flesh hadn't even been scratched, Winfeld screamed and clawed at the arrow, dropping Bryn.
Dazed, she rolled across the floor. "Get up, Bryn!" Lee shouted to her. She looked around herself and saw Lee below her, then saw Mike Winfeld pinned to the wall, but tugging furiously at the arrow. She started to race for the stairs, but although Winfeld was pinned, his arms were long. And before she could pass him, he had reached into his pocket and with a sharp click produced the lethal blade of a switchblade. Lee started to reach for another arrow,then paused. Bryn had raced back to the railing. In the distance he could hear the shrill sirens of police cars.
"Jump!" he commanded Bryn.
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Bryn looked at the distance down to Lee. Her hatred of heights swam in her brain. She looked back.
The paneling was beginning to splinter. Winfeld was almost free. It was probable that he would still be willing to kill her, if only for vengeance, now that the sirens were shrilling so loudly....
She looked back down to Lee. Sharp golden eyes blazed into hers; she gazed at the beloved contours of his bronzed face, and she saw his arms waiting.
Lee didn't speak again; he stared at her, his plea and demand in his eyes. Jump, Bryn, please jump; don't make me have to kill this man to save your life when you can come to me, and the law can make all the final judgments.
Strong arms, Bryn thought.Powerful arms. Ready to catch her any time that she fell. She had trusted him with her love and her life already.
Bryn swung a leg over the railing and jumped. He buckled with the force of her weight, but he didn't fall.
He wrapped his arms around her tightly and walked out into the beauty of the twilight just as the police cars screeched to a halt before the Georgian columns.
The night, of course, couldn't end there.
Within an hour Winfeld and his accomplice were behind bars, as was the woman who had cared for Adam.
Bryn hoped that the law went lightly on the woman; she wasWinfeld's girlfriend, and she had been so terrified of him that she had been willing to do anything. She confessed as soon as the news ofWinfeld's arrest had been released, and she begged only to speak to Bryn and offer a tearful apology.
Bryn, Lee, Barbara, Andrew and the rest of the group spent hours with the police, trying to explain it all.
The police were indignant that they hadn't been called in from the beginning, but they dealt with Bryn gently. She mused that they were probably accustomed to dealing with parents who wouldn't risk a child's life at any cost. She also assumed that having the whole lot of them trying to explain things had made the sergeant in charge so crazy that he was willing to let matters rest until it came close to trial time--and then a patient DA could take over.
It was late--very late--when they all congregated back at Lee's house, exhausted but completely satisfied.
It was over.
Bryn looked around at all the faces that had become so special to her.Barbara, a friend through everything.Mick, Perry and Andrew.
Lee...
They ordered pizza and sat around, talking because they were all so wired with the release of tension.
Then Bryn found herself making a little speech to thankthem all, and the talking dwindled. Mick and Perry said their good-nights. Andrew and Barbara decided to go to the town house. Barbara kissed Bryn's cheek; so did Andrew. "We always stick together, love," he told her in a whisper for the two of them alone. "But then... you'll see more as time goes by."
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Then Bryn and Lee were alone. She yawned and said that she was going up to bed. Lee kept picking up the paper plates, soda and beer cans. "I'll be along," he told her, and she knew that he was stalling.
She didn't say anything; she went on up to the room they shared, showered quickly and slipped naked between the sheets, wondering dully if it would mean anything. His attitude had suddenly seemed so...remote. Was it over? Had he helped her, then decided that his responsibilities were at an end?
No, she thought, but tears sprang to her eyes. He loved her; he did love her. He had said it time and time again.
In the dark.Whispered words of passion in the night...
She heard his footsteps and lay still, closing her eyes. He didn't turn on the light. She heard him shed his clothing, but when he lay down beside her, he didn't touch her. She rolled against him, and he did slip an arm around her.' 'Try to sleep, Bryn," he told her softly. "It was a long, long day for you."
She didn't answer him. She stared out into the darkness with tears stinging her eyes again. Time passed; it seemed that aeons
oftime passed. But she knew that he lay as she did, awake, staring blankly into the darkness of night.
At last he must have decided that she was asleep, because he rose and walked to the French doors.