Familiar Strangers (21 page)

Galen might have lost her trust, but he wasn’t going to lose her.

He let out a sharp bark of laughter. “The biggest thing she needs to fear appears to be me.” He would have to push Regin and his lust away. They would only distract him and that could lead to his death or hers. His death he could accept, Regin’s he never would. Experience had taught him what life was like without her. It wasn’t worth living.

“Regin.” Footsteps pounded behind her. “Regin, wait a damn minute.” It would be useless to run. Galen’s men were everywhere on the island. One would follow wherever she went. They were like dogs with a bone when it came to her. None of them seemed to understand that she had no intention of leaving the island and setting herself up as bait.

“What is it?” she snapped at the edge of her patience.

“Sorry, Regin, but I can’t let you go walking around by yourself. Boss’s orders.” A tall man with blonde hair jogged up to her. She couldn’t make out the color of his eyes, but something tickled her memory.

“You can tell your boss to take his orders and shove them up—”

“Please, Regin,” the man interrupted. “I can’t go and say that to the boss.” He stuck his hand out. “By the way, I’m Will Vincent.”

Regin shook his hand, wondering why he was bothering to try and charm her. She didn’t think he got those orders from Galen. She was under island arrest. Not allowed to go anywhere without a guard dog. Galen even had the nerve to commandeer her own dog. Annie, he told her, was going to go over every inch of the island, hopefully recognizing a scent.

Regin knew he’d already sent the rope Townsend used to tie the dog up to the lab. Along with the hideous velvet ribbon from Lee’s neck. She was glad she’d taken the walk to the other side of the island when the men came to take the body from the pond.

“Uh, Regin.”

Jerked out of her musing, Regin glared at Will. “What is it?”

“Where exactly are we going? I need to call it in to Saber,” he sweetly informed her.
“I am going for a walk. You can go to hel—” “Yes, ma’am, I’ll tell Saber we’re going for a nice long walk to cool you off. He’s second in command,” he said as he reached for the radio clipped to his belt.

“I don’t care if you give him stock tips, you aren’t going with me. He doesn’t need to know where I am.” Regin threw her hands in the air and circled around. “It’s a freaking island, where the hell can I go?”

Instead of answering her, Will turned the radio to his mouth and spoke quietly. What he said to the mysterious Saber, she didn’t know but minutes later Will was leading her to the dock.

“Um, I thought we weren’t allowed to leave the island. Will? What’s going on?” The possibility of freedom teased her.

“Well, I was told you weren’t allowed to take a step off this island. Never did say anything about me leaving and you stowing away in a boat. Now did they?” His laughter rang into the night.

Regin felt like a teenager sneaking out after curfew. There were a lot of reasons why she shouldn’t, but she knew Townsend wasn’t going to strike tonight. It didn’t fit his style. He’d wait a few days or weeks until he’d built up the perfect plan, then come after her again. What would be the harm in taking a few minutes for herself?

“Will, we’ll be seen going to the dock. Won’t we?” she questioned.

“Not if we cross the bridge and head to the cottage. We’ll sneak around back and they’ll never know we’re at the dock.” Will assured her.

“Let’s do it.” Regin smiled for the first time in what felt like ages.

****


“Where’s Regin?” Galen demanded as he reached the pond.
“Regin’s fine. She’s with Will. She wanted to go for a walk,” Saber explained. “Will two-wayed me and said they’d be gone about twenty minutes. He’d check in then.”

Galen waited for the tension to ease as he listened to the news. But strangely, his shoulders tightened even more. “Are you sure she wanted to go for a walk? It’s dark out and she doesn’t know the island well enough to be traipsing around at night.”

“Matthews, let it go. She’s with Will on this tiny hunk of rock. Nothing’s going to happen to her. Townsend’s not stupid enough to try for her tonight—”

“He’s already tried.” Galen interrupted.

“As I was saying,” Saber continued. “Too many people around to make a grab for her. Relax, man, Regin’s going to be fine,” his friend assured him.

“I still don’t like it,” he said. “Something’s not right with this whole situation.”

Saber went through the list of evidence they’d found, along with his own suspicions. The conclusions made both men wary.

“Damn it, Saber, none of this explains how he got onto the island. He couldn’t have flown here and that’s the only possible explanation.”

“I know, but there has to be something we’ve missed, some other way for him to have gotten here. How did Townsend manage to get Lee’s body here and then dump it without any of us picking it up? The radar picked nothing up. None of the sensors were tripped and the dog didn’t bark. The man’s like a ghost.”

“Doesn’t matter how he got here, Saber. What matters is we make sure it doesn’t happen again. Nothing is going to happen to her.” The vehemence of his words surprised even Galen.
“I know, but we’ve tried everything and we’ve struck out,” Saber told him.
“There’s something we’re missing,” He’d never felt so helpless in his life. He was doing everything he could to protect her and it still wasn’t enough.

“We’ve got the entire team combing the island. There’s no way he can get to her before we can,” he assured Galen.

Right then over Saber’s radio, static broke the silence.

“Code Gamma! He’s got her.” The sound of a gunshot followed and Galen’s blood froze as Regin’s scream filled the air.

****


Regin’s eyes burned with tears as she spied

Will’s body bleeding at her feet. Townsend tightened his arm more securely around her waist, cutting off her breath while he shoved his knife against her throat. Frightening memories flashed back of the last time she was at his mercy. But this time was different—she was older, wiser, and better prepared.

“Don’t you think you’re pushing your luck, Shawn?” she gasped out.

“There’s no one who can save you, bitch. By the time they get here, it’ll be too late. I’ll have won the game and you’ll be dead,” he promised as he pushed her toward the railing of the bridge.

Regin knew she didn’t have the luxury of waiting for the cavalry to arrive. She would save herself, damn it.

Quickly Regin stomped on his instep, catching him off guard. His arm fell from her waist and she threw her elbow back into his stomach. He dropped the knife and gasped for air. She whirled around to face her nightmare.

“This isn’t going to happen again. You won’t win. I’ll destroy you first.”

Townsend lunged toward her, his face twisted with anger, a growl roared from his lips as he grabbed Regin’s head and buried his hands in her long hair. “If I can’t win, then we’ll both lose.” He threw his body over the side of the railing dragging Regin with him.

The last thing she heard before the water closed over her head was the sound of feet running across the wooden planks of the bridge.

Galen heard the splash from his position on the bridge. He was grateful that Saber was on the other side, backing him up. He’d reached the middle of the bridge when he saw through the blackness the shadow of his friend diving into the dark water.

Galen was halfway over the railing when a hand closed over his arm.

“Sir, you can’t go down there. We need you up here. It’s dark and no one else can take the shot if Townsend comes up. Saber’s down there with your woman. He’ll keep her alive.” Taco swore as he held Galen back.

Galen cursed as he jumped back down to the platform of the bridge and trained his glock on the thrashing water.

****


Regin struggled against Townsend’s hold, but not quick enough to evade the material thrown around her neck. She kicked her feet and pulled against the velvet tightening around her neck. Black dots swam before her eyes, growing larger with the passing seconds. Time was running out.

Suddenly, another pair of hands joined in the struggle. Strong masculine hands clasped her waist to lift her off Townsend. Regin couldn’t see her rescuer, but knew it wasn’t Galen that clutched at her so protectively.
Townsend must have felt the renewed struggle because his hands tightened on her throat and body. He refused to release her and lose the game. He wanted them both to die in the murky blackness of the water.

She felt her rescuer’s hands release his hold and she wanted to whimper not to give up. She wanted to live, but as these thoughts played out in her head she felt something hard being pressed between Townsend’s body and her own. Her savior’s hand grabbed her waist as his other hand pushed against the madman’s.

Suddenly Townsend’s grasp was gone and Regin was being pulled to the surface. She tried ripping the velvet from her throat, but the water had shrunk the material until it cut into her skin. It was knotted around her neck and the more she pulled the tighter it became.

Regin tried grabbing her rescuer’s hand as they surfaced, but was cut off by his deep voice.

“Now,” he shouted into the night. An explosion rocked the water not two feet from where they swam.

She felt herself being tugged out of the water and laid on the shore, but still couldn’t breathe from the ever tightening ribbon. Her hands clawed at her throat, digging into skin desperate to remove the oxygen stealing velvet.

A man’s dark face looked down on her. “It’s going to be all right, Regin. Galen got him. Townsend’s never going to come after you again,” he promised in a soft drawl.

He didn’t understand. She couldn’t breathe, the material grew tighter by the second and the dots converged until everything was covered in blackness. She felt her eyes flutter shut and she stopped trying to struggle. The battle was over. Townsend had won by default.
“Fuck!” she heard a voice cry. “The ribbon’s cut into her throat.”
Everything faded into nothing.

****


Galen rushed from the bridge in time to see

Saber cut the cloth from Regin’s neck and bend over her lips with his. He saw his friend blowing air into her mouth and wanted to scream with rage and jealousy.

He could still lose Regin, but some insane part of him resented Saber’s lips touching his woman’s. He shook the thought off, Saber was doing his best to save the life of the woman he loved. Jealousy shouldn’t play any part in what he was seeing.

“What happened?” he questioned as he ran over to where Regin was laid out. Saber was pressing both hands against her chest between breathing into her mouth.

“The ribbon got knotted. Then the water shrank it against her skin. I’m sorry, Galen.” The other man didn’t look up as he worked. “I didn’t pay attention when she was trying to get it off. I only wanted her out of the water and away from Townsend so you could make the shot.”

Galen was about to shove his friend out of the way, when Regin coughed and turned her head. In all his years, he’d never seen such a beautiful sight as when Regin’s green eyes opened. His heart filled with love for this foolish stubborn woman. He reached to take her in his arms when her scratchy voice stopped him.

“Keep,” she coughed again, “him away from me,” she whispered loud enough for both Galen and Saber to hear. “Please.” Her eyes begged Saber, a man she didn’t know, but trusted more than Galen.

“Everything is going to be fine now, Regin,” Saber promised. “Galen’s going to take you to the main house for some rest and put something on your throat.”

Regin shook her head, refusing to look at him. “I don’t want him anywhere near me, please. Can’t you help me to the house?” she asked in a hushed voice.

Saber looked over her body to his friend. Galen’s heart broke with each word she’d spoken but as much as he wanted her in his arms now, he couldn’t force the issue till she was feeling better. He nodded his assent.

“This is Saber, Regin. He’s going to take you to the house. Make sure you get some hot tea in her and a hot shower. I’ll be up when I’ve dealt with the local authorities.” Galen turned fierce eyes to his friend. “Guard her—”

In one fluid movement, Saber swept Regin into his tanned arms and turned to walk to the house. “With my life, Matthews,” Saber finished Galen’s vow. .

“Thank you, friend,” Galen whispered as he watched Saber walk away with Regin in his arms.


Townsend was dead. Her nightmare was finally truly over. There would be no more shadows to haunt her nights and darken her days. She no longer had to hide from the world or herself. The dawn had broken at last.

Regin got up from the porch when Saber found her. “Hell of a night there, Regin.”

She managed to find the strength to smile. “Hell of a night,” she agreed. “Did I remember to thank you?” she asked. “I don’t remember between the tea, shower, and police. It might have slipped my mind. But I do want to say thank you for saving my life. You didn’t have to do what you did.”


Saber’s expression hardened. “Yes, ma’am, I did, but it wasn’t just me who saved your life. Galen was up there on that bridge and he took the shot that counts. Most men wouldn’t be able to stand there focused while the woman they love was being attacked. But Galen did it because he knew he had no other choice.” He took a deep breath. “There’s not one man I know who could have taken that shot in the dark and had a chance in hell of making it. Not under those circumstances.”

He held up a hand when Regin started to speak. “No, hear me out, please. Galen had to trust the most important thing in his life to me and that’s something I’ll never forget. I’ll owe him for that honor for the rest of my life.”