Reckless (26 page)

“Not a heating duct or a register in the
place,” he muttered.

“I don't think anyone's been here in a
while,” Toni observed.

“You're right. He had to bring us somewhere
isolated. With warrants out on him, he couldn't risk staying around
the city, much less any of his known hangouts. He can't have had
time to round up much help, either. I imagine most of his thugs
scattered once the feds served the search warrants on Taranto’s
businesses.”

He stared at the door, frustration rising
within him. “If we could get through the damn door, we might have a
chance.” He paced the room. “What if I make some racket, get
whoever's guarding the door to open it up?” He was thinking aloud,
the plan coming together in his mind as he voiced it. “I could jump
the guy when he comes in. You could run out, close the door so he
couldn't yell or come after you.”

She closed her eyes slowly and shook her
head. “No.” When she opened her eyes again, the look in them was
intense. She held his gaze forcefully. “Listen to me for once,
Nick. I will not leave you.” He frowned, searching her face, and
she caught his face between her cool palms and held his eyes with
hers. “I mean it. I won't.”

He sensed she wanted him to read more into
her words than what she'd said, and the idea awed him. Could she be
trying to tell him that—

No. In his entire life, no one had ever cared
enough about him to stay for the long haul. How likely was it that
a woman like Toni Rio, the smartest, sexiest, bravest woman he’d
ever met, would be the first? He shook his head at the
impossibility of it. Still, some small part of him wondered. She
hadn't left him yet, though remaining with him had put her at risk.
She hadn't left him, even when he'd tried to make her go.

“Toni, this might be your last chance. I'm
offering you a way out. I don't see any other options.”

“He'd kill you,” she said softly. “He'd have
no reason not to.”

“If you stay, he'll kill us both,” he told
her.

She sighed, looked at the floor. “You really
think I could just walk away from you, Nick? After all of this? I
can't, you know. I couldn't if I wanted to. I won't. Even...” She
drew a steadying breath and brought her gaze up to his. “Even when
it's over.”

He couldn't believe what he saw in her eyes.
It hit him harder than Viper had, rendering him speechless. He
opened his mouth, and only air came out.

The sound of a key turning in the lock
startled him. Toni shoved him away, both hands flat on his chest.
He knew she intended for him to sit down, as if he were still
bound. He didn't, though. He couldn't take his eyes off her face.
He couldn't stop his heart from pounding. This was not the time or
the place, but he thought she might trying to tell him she loved
him.

The door opened, and two men he hadn't seen
before stepped through it. Both held guns, and both barrels were
trained on Nick.

“You!” The fifty-something thug with the crew
cut and brown teeth waggled his gun barrel toward Toni. “Come with
us.”

“She's not going anywhere,” Nick said
softly.

“What's a matter, Manelli? You want to keep
her all to yourself, is that it?”

The one beside Brown Teeth shifted his
stance. He was younger, with a pocked face and body like a bean
pole. “I don't know about this,” he muttered. “Lou said not to
touch her until he got what he wanted from her.”

“There won't be anything left to touch when
he's got what he wants from her, kid. You ever seen what Lou does
to broads that fuck him over?” He shook his head and moved closer
to Toni. His gaze moved down her body slowly, and Nick clenched his
teeth. “I won't hurt you, babe. I know how to handle a woman. You
might even like me.” He licked his lips. “You don't come along like
a good girl, though, and I'll have to put a bullet in Nicky. See,
Lou would kill me if I hurt you. But I have permission to shoot
him
if he gives me a reason.”

Nick saw Toni's eyes harden. It amazed him
once again, the backbone she had. He knew at that moment that all
his resolve hadn't amounted to a damn thing. He'd been in love with
her all along.

“That's right, sweet thing. I can see you
realize you got no choice. You give me trouble, you get to watch
him die and then you do what I tell you anyway, right? So why get
Nicky blown away for nothing? You just come with me and you keep
what I said in mind while we're in the other room.” He glanced at
the younger one. “I think she's gonna be real willing to
accommodate us, Ray. I think she'll do anything we tell her to.
Won't you, babe?”

She didn't answer until the younger one
lifted the muzzle of his gun to Nick's temple. Nick's eyes were on
Toni as she stiffened her spine. “I'll come with you.”

“The hell you will,” Nick said.

“They won't kill me, Nick.”

“They won't touch you.”

He heard her stifle a sob. She swallowed. “I
don't want to lose you like this,” she rasped. “Let it go. It won't
be me, I swear to you. They'll be touching an empty shell—”

“Enough! Anybody'd think you had a choice
about it.” Brown Teeth grabbed Toni's upper arm. “Come on, baby, I
been waitin' for this.” He yanked her toward the door.

The younger one pressed the barrel harder to
Nick's temple, but Nick's eyes were on Toni. Her gaze sent him a
silent message, begging him not to do anything. Aloud she whispered
again, “It won't be me, Nick.”

“You're damn right it won't,” he growled. In
one swift move, he'd pulled the broken screwdriver from his pocket
and jammed it into the skinny man, just below the rib cage, angling
upward and thrusting it clear to the handle. His gun thudded to the
floor. Brown Teeth turned at the sound, saw his partner drop to his
knees, mouth agape. He released his hold on Toni and leveled his
gun at Nick. Toni slammed her fists down on his forearms. The gun
roared, deafening in the small room, but the bullet only embedded
itself in the packed dirt of the floor. Nick used the split second
Toni had bought him to lunge for the gun at his feet. He had it in
his hand when Brown Teeth backhanded Toni, slamming her into the
cinder-block wall. Nick pulled the trigger, sending another
earsplitting boom into the confined space. The man staggered
backward three steps, then folded in on himself, ending in a heap
on the floor.

Nick reached down, twisted the gun from his
limp grasp and straightened again. Toni stood near the doorway, her
gaze on the bleeding skinny one with the screwdriver handle
protruding from his belly. He was unconscious but still alive. Nick
stepped over Brown Teeth, pressed the gun into Toni’s hand, gripped
her chin, forced her to look at him. “We’re getting out of
here.”

She nodded, and they headed out through the
small doorway, both knowing those gunshots must've been heard
upstairs.

They entered the main part of an ancient,
crumbling cellar. He felt her body tremble as he urged her through.
Already he heard footsteps above. Nick glanced to the left and saw
the rickety stairs that led upward, presumably to the house. To the
right was another, less steep, set, with an angular hatch like door
that laid almost flat at the top that would lead outside. There
were more footsteps from above, and raised voices. He put his arm
around her shoulders, mounted the first step and heard the door at
the top of the other set of stairs creak open. If this exit was
locked—

He shoved at the hatch, and it swung open,
hitting the ground hard. They sped out into the warm, fresh night
air and pitch dark. His stride lengthened. “Run, Toni!” She did,
clutching his hand tightly, and in seconds bullets flew after
them.

They were not in New York City anymore. They
crossed a dewy, overgrown lawn with weeds that reached above his
knees. At its edge, a dirt road twisted away into blackness. Nick
glanced back. He saw only a tall, sagging house silhouetted by the
half moon—and muzzle flashes like murderous eyes. He pulled her
with him again, crossing the dirt track and heading for the thick
woods opposite. They were at the edge of the tree line when he
heard her suck in her breath and felt her hand clutch his
tighter.

Fear hit him between the eyes. He paused just
beyond the trees. “Toni?”

She didn't stop when he did. “Nothing—twisted
my ankle. Come on!” She tugged at his hand.

He could hear their pursuers coming closer.
They ran, heading deeper into the forest. The pain of his broken
rib screamed angrily.

They approached a sharp rise and took it at a
brutal pace. Nick began to worry. Just where the hell were they?
How far could this forest go on? Towering spruce trees surrounded
them, angling skyward even on this steep hillside. The ground
underfoot gave softly with their steps, making little sound. They
topped the rise and started down the opposite side. A fallen tree
caught his eye, and Nick noticed the cavelike space formed by the
awkwardly bent boughs and the steep incline. He pulled Toni to it,
and they ducked inside. She sat down, and Nick glanced through the
opening, seeing no one at the moment.

“How big can these damn woods be?”

She was breathing hard. Too hard. “Thousands
of acres,” she said. “It's state forest.”

He turned, frowning, and crouched beside her.
Even in the darkness he could see the deep stain on her shirt. Her
sleeve was soaked, dripping. “You’re hit! Why didn't you say
something?” He forgot his own pain, that of his unhealed thigh and
even of the broken rib, as he unbuttoned the blouse quickly, shoved
it down over her shoulders and yanked it from her hands. She winced
when the material pulled away from the wound in her shoulder. Blood
pulsed from a small hole. Nick swore. The exertion of running had
only increased the bleeding. He tore the clean sleeve off her
blouse and twisted it around her, under her arm and over her
shoulder, then tied it tight.

He watched for a moment, unsure whether he'd
stopped the blood flow or just slowed it. Damn the darkness. How
much blood had she lost already? Angrily he tore the bloody sleeve
off and helped her slip her arms back into the now-sleeveless
blouse. He buttoned it with badly shaking hands.

When he finished, he glanced up at her face.
She leaned back against the sticky trunk, her eyes closed. “Toni?
Talk to me. Does it hurt much?”

“It's okay. I'm just resting.” She opened her
eyes, but it seemed to be an effort. Her voice was weak. “I
remember now—it's some rural county. I forget the name.
Upstate.”

He slipped his hand to the back of her head
and pulled her forward until she rested on his shoulder. “You'll be
okay.” Was he comforting her or himself? “You'll be okay, Toni.
I'll get you out of this, I swear I will.” He couldn't lose her. He
couldn't. He held her tighter.

She lifted her head. “We should go...farther.
They'll come after us.”

Nick studied her eyes, silently begging her
not to leave him this way. “Just rest. It's dark. They'd have to
trip over us to find us here.” He pulled her head back down gently.
“Just rest.”

“I don't want to rest.” She remained relaxed
against him despite her words. “I have to tell you...not to feel
guilty. None...” She drew a deep breath and seemed to steady
herself. “None of this was your fault.”

“Shh.” He stroked her hair. God, how he loved
her hair. “You can ease my conscience when you’re feeling
better.”

“But...what if I don't—”

“Don't even say it, lady. You aren't getting
away from me that easy.”

He felt her sigh. “You're right.” Her voice
was barely a whisper now. “I told you I wouldn't leave you, Nick. I
meant it. You have to know that. I meant it.'' She lifted her head
again, and it seemed to take an incredible effort. She gazed into
his eyes. “I know it'll be hard for you to believe me. Everyone you
ever loved walked out on you. You don't trust anyone. But I won't
walk out, Nick. Not unless you ask me to. Maybe not even then.” Her
eyes closed slowly and popped wide again as if she'd forced them.
“I love you, Nick Manelli.”

He felt as if he'd been struck by lightning.
“You—you're delirious.”

“I love you.” Her head fell to his shoulder
as if she could no longer hold it up.

Nick caught her face in his hands and gently
lifted her, but her eyes remained closed, thick lashes resting on
her cheeks, tears glistening in the single shaft of moonlight that
made its way between the pine boughs. He kissed her, but her lips
were slack and unresponsive. He closed his arms around her and
rocked her slowly as a burning dampness gathered in his eyes. “Hold
on, Toni. You said you wouldn’t go and I’m holding you to it.”

She loved him. My God, it was not possible.
No one had ever uttered those three words to Nick before—not even
his own mother. Yet Toni had. She said she loved him, and he
believed her.

She shivered in his arms. She needed help; he
knew that. She'd lost a lot of blood, running full tilt the way she
had while her magnificent heart pumped more and more blood out of
her body. He lowered her gently, then moved out of the sheltering
boughs and paused, listening. He heard Taranto’s men moving, but in
the wrong direction.

Apparently they'd passed by and were still
heading deeper into the woods. Nick bent and lifted Toni carefully
into his arms. He'd take her back the way they'd come. There must
be a vehicle, a phone, something.