Love Inspired Suspense December 2015, Box Set 2 of 2 (39 page)

Suddenly a paw touched her leg. The dog was a wonder at sensing a person's discomfort, even when the person wasn't her handler.

Lacey opened her eyes to pet Promise, but inhaled when she found the touch belonged to Wade.

He had leaned forward and placed the tips of his fingers on her knee. By the way his fingers fidgeted, he didn't look all too comfortable reaching out to her.

Lacey didn't say a word. She wasn't exactly comfortable with him touching her, either. And he wasn't welcome to. After all, she couldn't forget her brother was dead because of this man. Seconds turned into minutes as the world around her blurred into a haze of confusion and guilt. Guilt because she had yet to push him off.

What was wrong with her? She was supposed to hate this man, not want his comfort. Not latch on to the only person closer to Jeff than herself.

Lacey shot her head up, her attention given completely over to the man staring at her. That had to be it. Her impulse to keep him close was only because Jeff had called him a friend.

“You're my last connection to Jeffrey,” she admitted quietly.

“I'm no substitute for your brother. He was a good man.”

“The best.”

Wade nodded. “But if he knew enough to start preparing you to defend yourself, then he must have known something was coming. Why didn't he tell me?”

“Maybe for the same reason he didn't tell me. We would tell him to stop. For his sake and for ours.”

Suddenly, the train lurched and Lacey fell forward, nearly coming off her seat. If it wasn't for Wade's arms shooting out to catch her in his grasp, she would have flown over his seat. The train's brakes squealed in protest as it tried to bring all the cars to a stop.

“Hold on!” Wade yelled over the screeching noise. He pushed her back against the momentum of the careening train. The muscles in his arms bulged under her fingers where they latched on to brace herself in the unsteady, out-of-control train car.

“Are we crashing? Or coming off the track? What's going on?” she pleaded.

“I don't know! Get down on the floor between the benches. Lie flat. I'll be right back!”

Wade left her crouched down with Promise as he went from one seat to the next, using the seat-back cushions for balance as the train still screamed to a stop. Lacey thought for sure the train was about to derail, if it hadn't already. Then she thought about what would happen if her car became disconnected and Wade wasn't in here when it did. They might be separated.

“Wade! Stop.” She pushed to her knees to crawl out. “Don't leave me!” The words came out sounding so pathetic that on any other day she would have berated herself.

On her knees, she reached the aisle to see Wade at the door. He looked back at her. “Stay with Promise. I'll be right back.”

The metal door slid open, and Wade stepped into the next car, letting it slam shut behind him.

The train trembled beneath her and knocked her to the floor. Lacey wondered what would happen when she finally came to a stop—and who would be waiting for her when she did.

“Stay? I don't think so.” Lacey got to her knees. “Come on, Promise. Let's get out of here.”

CHAPTER FIVE

T
he train came to a screeching stop. Wade hit the floor on full impact. His face felt the burn of the carpet as he slid a few more feet from the momentum.

Wade jumped to his feet to reach the front car, the destination he had been heading for before he went airborne. The conductor met him in the aisle.

“Get back to your seat until you're told to evacuate.”

“What's going on?” Wade ignored the directions. “Did the train hit something?”

“A car was stuck on the tracks. It's safer for everyone to stay seated while emergency personnel are called in to assess the damage.”

“And casualties, I'm assuming.”

“I can only assume, too.”

“I can help. I'm military. Four tours overseas. I've seen everything. Explosions, gunshots, fire...death.” Wade swallowed the lump that image evoked. It didn't matter how old the traumas were. They were always fresh in his mind.

“Good to know. Go sit in your seat so I know where to find you. Let everyone in the last two cars know to wait for instructions.”

Wade followed the conductor on his heels until he reached the next car. The man opened the exit door and jumped down a good three feet, landing in a run back where the train had come from. Wade held the support bar and leaned out to see if he could find the wreckage. The color red sprinkled the tracks and surrounding swampland, car parts or what was left of them.

“Get back in the train!” the conductor yelled back over his shoulder when he noticed Wade hadn't followed his directions.

The color of the car pieces pulled his attention. A distinct cherry red that had him asking, “What kind of car was it?”

“The engineer said it was a Ferrari. Now get back inside!”

Wade gave a quick scan into the dense trees and surrounding swamps that spread for miles and miles in this part of South Carolina. But it wasn't the cypress trees he was looking at. It was who might be lurking in them, waiting for him and Lacey to disembark.

Or using this ample time to board while no one noticed. In fact, they could already be on board. They could already have found her sitting alone and unprotected because he left her behind—after he'd told he would never do that again.

Wade whipped through one empty car then the next. He raced down the aisle and burst through to the next and finally his and Lacey's car.

Empty.

He took a few steps toward the dining car in the rear but stopped when the door on the other end slid open. Wade halted his steps.

Two men dressed in black stepped in, reaching for something inside their coats at the same time. Wade stepped back and hit the button to slide his door open. He dropped to the floor, knowing a bullet would be coming for him. The door slammed shut on his foot just as two thuds hit the door. Bullets meant for him lodged in the bulletproof glass above. Wade yanked his foot through to let the door slam shut completely.

Two doors stood before him from this vestibule between cars. One led to the next car and one led outside. Wade had less than a second to decide which one to take. He wondered what quick-witted Lacey would do in this split-second decision as he did what he'd already planned to do earlier.

Go up.

But not before he made sure the two goons saw him. If he could lead them away, Lacey—wherever she was—would be safe.

* * *

Lacey absently rustled her hand through Promise's fur from their spot on the floor of the bathroom. She'd jumped in here and locked the door when the train had finally come to a stop. She figured she would be safe until she knew what was going on. “Do you think they're out there?” Lacey whispered to Promise. “I can only assume the musclemen have caught up to me again.”

A knock came on the door, causing Promise to stand to the ready. “Is someone in there?” A woman's voice was heard.

“Taken.” Lacey disguised her voice to that of a gruff old man, not too hard to do, since she always believed she sounded like a man with her deep voice anyway.

“In case you didn't know, the train hit a car left on the track. I heard it was a Ferrari.”

“A Ferrari!” So much for her deep voice. She thought she actually shrieked like a girl just then. She altered her voice again to ask, “Who would leave a Ferrari on the track?”
As if she didn't know
. It had to be the same Ferrari she and Wade drove down in last night. What better way for these losers to stop the train than to use Wade's own car.

But that only meant one thing: the losers were out there.

Lacey reached into Clay's suit coat pocket for the envelope. She should just give it to them. For some reason, they were willing to kill her for it. She couldn't see why. It was just a goodbye letter from a brother to his sister.

Lacey folded it in thirds and stuffed it into her jeans front pocket. These were Jeffrey's last words to her. She wouldn't be giving them up.

When outside noises ceased, she took the chance and peeked out the door. A quick scan showed the car empty. The few passengers that had been in there when she'd entered earlier had left, either for another car or for a closer look at the scene outside.

How could they even look at such a heart-wrenching scene? She didn't want to imagine the Ferrari mangled beyond recognition.

She headed toward the front of the train, wondering where Wade was. Did he need Promise? He should have taken his dog with him.

Lacey stepped out of the car and into the open area between the car and the engine. All was quiet inside. It would appear even the engineer had gone to inspect the crash, as well.

A thud came from above and both Lacey and Promise looked up. Someone was on top of the train. Another thud came from farther down. Two somebodys were up there, she surmised.

Was one of them Wade?

Lacey pushed the exit door wide and looked out. Immediately she stepped back inside. A ten-foot drop met her beyond the train's step. There was no way she could leave this way, or risk a broken neck as she tumbled down into a wet marsh filled with a myriad of organisms that called it their home.

Lacey hit the button to open the interior door, but the door on the opposite end also opened. The guy who'd grabbed her back at the station entered. The very same man she'd left on the ground holding his nose. Judging by the snarl on his face as he stared her down from across the car, he looked ripe for revenge.

Lacey hit the button and let her door slide closed. The ten-foot drop it would be.

* * *

Wade's body lifted off the steel rooftop of the train, nothing but air beneath him, his head snapping back from the blow just dealt to him. With nothing to grab hold of to brace his fall, he landed on his back with a bone-cracking thud against unrelenting, slippery steel. His body continued to progress at high speed right to the edge.

Wade's head screamed in agony, but he still had enough sense to lock the heels of his boots into a crevice in the roof. His body jerked to a stop while his head rang louder than the police sirens off in the distance. Help was coming, but they weren't here yet. Wade lifted his head before the guy got a second shot off, but his vision clouded and blurred. A search for his assailant through blinking eyes only made the world tip one way then the next. Wade rolled to his right, nearly falling off the edge. He held himself steady but caught a blurry glimpse of Lacey and Promise in the swampy water below.

Had they jumped from the train?

That could only mean one thing.

Wade scanned the ground below just as the other guy ran by. Pudgy had exited the train where the ground wasn't so steep and wet. Still, he would be on Lacey in seconds. Long before the police arrived to stop him.

Wade pushed up to go after him, but before he could make a move, the unmistakable barrel of a gun jammed into his back.

“Not so fast,” the guy behind him said. “This is how it's going to go. You're going to climb down the ladder and follow the girl into the woods, and you're going to do it quietly.”

The woods? Wade shot a look to the swamp, now empty. Across the way, he saw Lacey and Promise disappearing into the trees. The woods were the worst place she could be going. Didn't she hear the sirens getting closer?
No, Lacey
, Wade pleaded silently. She was going the wrong way. What kind of split-second decision did she call that?

“Try anything and I'll kill you first. Then, you'll be of no help to her at all.”

Wade swallowed hard. The guy was right. Wade's only choice was to do as he was told, for now, especially since Pudgy was gaining on Lacey fast.

With each step down the rungs, then into the woods, Wade planned his next moves. Get to Pudgy before Pudgy got to Lacey was number one—and before the gun wielder decided they were far enough from people to dispose of him.

Just before entering the thick tree line, Wade saw the conductor appear around the far end of the train. The gun pushed harder, the message loud and clear. The conductor climbed aboard the last car without notice of them at this end. When would he notice two of his passengers were unaccounted for? Would there be a search for them?

Wade's boots hit water. Splashes hit his knees as the swampy land became more saturated and deeper.

Wade pretended to trip, dropping to his knees in the water with a loud splash.

“Get up!” the gunman said.

“Sorry. I tripped on a root or something,” Wade mumbled as he pushed up and swung around, sweeping his arm through the murky water as he turned. As hoped, the water hit the guy smack in the eyes, long enough for Wade to make a grab for the gun.

But the guy held tight and swung his arm off to his right to break Wade's hold. The quick action and slippery water caused Wade to lose his grip, but it also caused the guy to lose his.

The gun flew from his hand, landing in the thick, dark water with a gulp. For a split second the guy looked to the sludge in shock and distaste.

A split second was all Wade needed. He reached for the left arm pocket of his combat jacket and withdrew a small pocketknife. Before the guy turned back, the knife was flipped open to flash a warning. A few quick slices produced tears in the goon's black leather coat in case he didn't heed the warning. The momentum had him falling back, arms flailing wildly, and Wade took off in the direction Lacey went before the man hit the water.

Wade's high-speed run splashed through the swamp, but he could still hear the guy sputtering obscenities and lethal promises. If Lacey wasn't under pursuit, Wade would have stuck around to use the water as a way to get information out of the thug's lips instead of his useless lewd comments.

Another day.

With the knife in his palm, Wade went in search of Pudgy. The guy had to be stopped before he caught up with Lacey, but the setting sun outside the swamp was just a memory under the canopy of trees. Darkness loomed and grew with each sloshing step farther into the unknown terrain.

Again, in this dense myriad of tangled tree trunks and creeping branches, Wade wondered what Lacey had been thinking coming into this cold, dark place. Getting lost in here could mean death by natural causes by morning, never mind the paid assassins hunting them down. Wade couldn't wait to hear her quick-witted reason for leading them to their deaths.

Of course, that would mean he found her in here first.

And found her alive.