The dogs were gaining on me. The howls were coming closer and closer, the sound of their running feet reverberating all around me. It spurred me on, made me go as fast as I could despite the exhaustion that was beginning to settle in every muscle I was born with. I almost didn’t see it, the chasm that opened up in front of me, three feet wide and God only knew how many hundreds of feet deep.
That’s when they got me. The first one slammed into the center of my back, the full impact of his fifty pounds taking the air from my lungs. I fell forward, but managed to catch myself on the edge of the chasm. I ducked my head and the dog, not expecting the earth to open up in front of it, fell without so much as a whimper. Then another, caught my upper arm in its jaws, clamping down with a determination that humans should admire. Then a third barely missed tearing a hole in my jaw. I saw it coming at the last second and moved, causing it to fall, too, right into the chasm.
The pain rushed through my body, the pain in my arm almost as bad as that in my lungs. I searched, my fingers digging in the loose soil and compost, finally wrapping them around a stick about as thick as half the dimensions of my wrist.
I beat the dog about the head, knowing that it was never going to let go until its master gave the order. Beautiful dogs. I had a lot of respect for a well-trained pit bull, but not when it was trying to tear my arm off.
I beat it until I felt just the slightest give in its hold on me. Then I dropped the stick and grabbed its lower jaw, felt it snap in my hand. I was on my feet before the dog knew it was defeated.
“Where you going, Donovan?”
I didn’t stop to look behind me. The first bullet whizzed past the side of my head. The second grazed my hip, not far from the scar that worried Kate so much.
“Where is she?” she called. “I know she can’t be far. You would never leave her unless she told you to. You were always her good little puppy dog!”
Another bullet glanced off of a tree, the bark exploding into a storm of debris.
I could only hope I’d given Kate enough time to get out.
Please, God, I prayed, don’t let anything happen to her.
Chapter 28
Kate
I saw the dogs first. They were running like the devil himself was on their tails. Vicious things, they were little balls of muscle with legs and jaws like a barracuda. I’d never liked pit bulls.
And then I saw her. She was running quite impressively despite the roots and vines that wanted to pull at my feet the entire time Donovan was dragging me through these woods. Hell, I’d fallen twice when I was simply walking here for pleasure. I don’t know how she was staying on her feet. I didn’t know how Donovan was staying on his. But he was. At least, until he vanished from my view. I had all my fingers and toes crossed that he was still on his feet.
I waited a few minutes, five, ten, before climbing down. I’d promised I’d go, and it would be hypocritical not to keep my promise after making him promise. I jumped from the lower branches and began picking my way back toward the house, walking as quickly as I could, praying I didn’t lose my way.
I was only moving for a few minutes when I heard the dogs barking, then the sound diminishing a little bit at a time. One dog whimpered pitifully. It was hurt. And then gunfire.
Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
I couldn’t remember if Donovan had his gun. What if he was out there, unprotected? But, then again, I was talking about a Green Beret. Surely he could defend himself against an average-sized woman, right?
I knew he told me not to call Ash until I was safely in the car, moving away from the house, but I needed to talk to someone. I needed to know I wasn’t insane for heading in the wrong direction. I needed to know I hadn’t just left the man I loved to die.
The phone was shaking. Or my hands were shaking. Something was shaking. I couldn’t read the names. More gunfire. What the hell had I gotten myself into? What happened to my simple, well-ordered life?
“Donovan,” Ash’s authoritative voice barked into my ear.
“No. Kate.”
“Kate? Where are you? Where’s Donovan?”
“It’s Amanda Graham. She’s got dogs and explosives and I heard gunfire…”
“Kate, listen to me. Where are you exactly?”
“In the woods behind the house.”
“Okay. Here’s what I want you to do. Can you see the house from where you are?”
“No.”
“What can you see?”
I looked around me, feeling hysterical laughter began to build in my chest. Trees. That’s all I saw. But then I could hear Donovan’s voice in the back of my head, telling me everything was going to be okay.
“There are trees with red markings on them.”
“Good,” Ash said. “I want you to follow those. They’ll lead to a small shed. Inside you’ll find an all-terrain vehicle. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Run, Kate.”
So I did. I stopped worrying about the damn roots and the stupid vines. I still tripped. More than once. But I got to the shed faster than I would have otherwise.
“The keys are in a drawer on the workbench.”
I found them. The ATV started up without hesitation.
“What about Donovan?”
“The best thing you can do for him is get yourself out of there,” Ash said. “Drive as quickly as you can along the fence line. Do you see it, Kate?”