Framed (33 page)

What if Trigger lied?

“Come on, show yourself.”

A break in the trees caught his light like a beacon and he squinted his eyes. On the east side of an opening stood a huge Gumbo with a limb that had grown crooked in the shape of a dick, protruding like a giant with a hard on. Kade hung a right into the narrow opening and saw water as far as the eye could see. He gunned the engine again and sped down the waterway until he’d reached the one point five mile mark then shut down the engine. He pulled out an oar and began paddling, hoping to come in without detection.

After ten minutes working his large muscles to near exhaustion, he saw the outline of a small shack in the gloom, the moon’s silvery glow illuminating its’ features. It was dark and there was no boat anchored. Moving past the shack, he kept going until he found a patch of overgrown bushes, large enough to conceal the boat. Once he’d secured all evidence of his arrival, he grabbed his duffle and double-timed it back to the shack. He found a bush near the back and stored his extra gear. He drew his 1911 out of his vest, shoved his knife back in his ankle holder, then crept silently up to the door, and listened.

Nothing. He’d beaten them here.

“Thank, Christ,” Kade mumbled.

He tried the door and it opened without hesitation; no need for locks in the Everglades. Pulling a flashlight from his vest, he lit up the one-room shack and scanned. A potbelly stove sat in a corner with wood piled next to it and a rusted cot sat in the other. The floorboards looked like they’d been replaced recently, probably due to rot. He took a step into the shack and found a crate stacked with dirty dishes and a single chair to the left. That was it. A shithole in the middle of the Everglades used for fishing and murder.

Kade moved to a window that gave him the best line of sight and settled in to wait. More than an hour passed while he swatted bugs and tried not to think about what White had done with Harley while he’d had her. Frustration and fear started to gnaw at him as the seconds ticked off and his hard-fought control began to slip. No battles he’d fought had prepared him for this moment. Fighting beside your brothers was one thing; fighting for the life of the woman you loved was an entirely different beast. He could feel his walls falling as his thoughts took him to a place he dared not go.
What if she is already dead and White doesn’t show?
His composure slipped further the more he thought about that possibility and he began to pace.

Panic began to set it when it hit the hour and a half mark and he was one minute away from heading back to the boat when he paused at the sound of a motor in the distance. He moved to the window and waited; five minutes later, a small outboard came creeping up to the dock. His anger spiked when White lifted Harley out of the boat. Her arms were secured behind her back and duct tape circled her feet. Her head rolled without resistance on his arm and when they moved closer he could see clearly that her eyes were shut. She was unconscious and his anger hit a boiling point.

“You’re a dead man.”

He moved to the door and waited for White to walk inside where he could contain him. Raising his gun, his feet spread wide, he closed one eye and sighted dead center of the door.

When the door swung open, Kade ordered, “Freeze,” and White froze in place with a sadistic grin pulling across his mouth.

“You won’t shoot,” White stated calmly. “You might hit your lady love.”

“Step inside,” Kade demanded.

“Do you take me for a fool?”

“Step. The. Fuck. Inside.” Kade thundered.

White didn’t move, accurately accessing he’d be trapped if he did, so Kade took a step towards White, his gun trained on his head. It took all he had not to put a bullet between his eyes, but he couldn’t risk shooting Harley.

“You want her?” White taunted. “Then come and get her,” he smiled and then turned suddenly and threw Harley into the water.

Kade’s vision turned red when Harley hit the water, but he’d frozen briefly, giving White time to draw his weapon in that moment of hesitation as he’d watched Harley sink.

Both men began firing at the same time, diving to the ground to avoid being hit. Harley didn’t have time for a gunfight, so Kade stood and hit the floor running, rapidly firing as he went. A bullet caught White in the side, spinning him around. Kade dove through the door when he saw White fall, hitting the dark water hard and began searching for Harley. The sound of footsteps pounding and an outboard motor speeding off vibrated the pungent water as Kade felt around blindly. SEALs could hold their breath longer than most but his lungs still burned for air as he searched. Just as he was about to surface, he felt her foot and grabbed hold.

Kade pulled Harley off the bottom, then swam the six feet to the surface. He broke the water, gasping, reaching out for the dock. He pulled Harley’s head above the water line, then grabbed her waist and hoisted her onto the dock. Thankfully, before he could pull himself out of the water, he heard her coughing and choking. Relief spread quickly through his body as he rolled onto the dock. She kept coughing and gasping, spitting the dark water from her mouth. Her hands were still bound and her feet secured, so Kade pulled his knife from his holster and cut the plastic tie from her wrists.

“Harley,” Kade mumbled as he rolled her over. “Baby, talk to me. Are you hurt?”

“What . . .
cough
. . . took you . . .
cough
. . . so long?”

“Me? I beat you here.”

“No . . .
cough, cough
. . . I was awake when he threw me in the water. I held my breath waiting for you to come.”

“I was kinda busy avoiding bullets,” he grinned.

“Oh, God. Were you hit?” Harley gasped, trying to sit up.

Kade’s lips twitched and he pulled her into his arms. “No,” he answered, trying to see her expression in the moonlight. Harley raised her hand, cupping his face, and he closed his eyes at the warmth of her touch.

“You found me,” she whispered.

“Baby, as long as there is breath in my lungs, I’ll scour the earth until I bring you home. You’re my life now and I am so fuckin’ in love with you that I can hardly see straight.”

“I love you, too,” Harley cried out. Her bottom lip trembled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her head. “So much. I’d never survive losing you, so plan for a very long life.”

Burying his own face in her neck, he drank in Harley’s declaration and let it pour over the cracks in his armor that had split open and bled the past twelve hours. “The stars are smiling down on us, princess. It’s gonna be a beautiful life, I promise.”

“Filled with crazy friends and lots of babies,” she asked.

“Yeah,” Kade agreed, holding her tighter.

“Before it can start, though, we have to get out of here. How did you get here?””

“In a rigged-out airboat with all the bells and whistles.”

Harley scoffed. “Figures. Only a SEAL would find a boat like that.”

“That’s right, baby. Only the best will do,” he chuckled. Then he slanted his head and kissed the best thing that had happened to him in his life.

“Let’s get you inside the shack.”

“We aren’t leaving now?”

“Not with White’s still out there. He’d hear us coming and have the advantage. We’ll bunk down here for the night, then head out at first light,” he explained, then cut the tape from her ankles.

Harley’s legs buckled when she tried to stand so Kade picked her up and carried her inside.

“I need to get to the boat and bring it to the dock. I’m gonna leave you with a gun in case he returns while I’m gone. Aim at his chest if you have to shoot.”

“Oh sure, now you wanna teach me how to shoot,” she chuckled.

“All right, smart-ass. Not that I think you’ll ever need a gun again, but I promise to teach you when this is behind us.”

Harley smiled and Kade rolled his eyes. “Get it out of your head that you’re gonna win every argument.” Harley held her tongue, then dropped her shorts and peeled off her top, smiling again. Even in the dim moonlight, he could make out her long legs and soft breasts. It was at that moment that he knew he was fucked.

“I’m fucked,” Kade grumbled as he stared back at the woman he’d die for.

“It’s a two-way street, Kingston. I can’t say no to you either.”

Kade smiled and wiggled his eyebrows.

“Good to know. I’ll be back in two minutes. I stashed my gear around back,” he said then headed out the door and around the back of the shack and grabbed his duffle.

“Do you have a flashlight?” Harley asked when he returned.

“Lost it in the water along with my Colt.”

Kade unzipped his duffle and threw a dry shirt at her. When she was done dressing, he pulled his Berretta from his duffle and showed her how to take the safety off and how hold the gun.

“Aim for the chest, baby, it’s the largest target,” Kade instructed.

The weight of the gun was intimidating as she held it in her hands. Harley never thought of herself as a coward, but she knew with certainty she couldn’t pull the trigger.

“I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to learn how to shoot. I’d rather go with you.”

“Babe, there are snakes and alligators out there and it's pitch black.”

“Right, right. It’s just that every time there is danger, it seems to find me except when I’m with you.”

Kade thought about the last twelve hours and nodded.

“You’re right. Climb on my back and I’ll carry you.”

“What? Why can’t I walk?”

“Snakes. Your luck, you’ll get bit.”

“Good point.”

She climbed on, wrapped her legs around his waist, then asked, “Am I too heavy?”

Kade scoffed, then walked out the door and trudged down the bank until he made it to the boat without breaking a sweat.

Five minutes later, they were back inside the safety of the shack and Kade moved to the cot and pointed.

“Sleep. There’s four hours until daybreak.”

“What about you?”

“Been in prison for the past two years, I’m used to little sleep. Besides, I gotta keep a look out for White.”

“Then I’ll stay up and keep you company. I was asleep for most of the trip thanks to his spiked water, so I’m not tired.”

“I should kill him just for drugging you,” he growled, then moved to the cot and brought it to the window. He sat down, then Harley crawled in beside him and he pulled her into his side, placing his gun in his lap. Harley took a deep breath and gazed out the window as Kade scanned the darkness. Five minutes later, her arms went limp and he chuckled. “Sleep tight, princess,” Kade whispered, then placed a kiss to her forehead and settled in as night drenched the Glade in velvet darkness.

***

“Time to go, princess.”

My eyes popped open and I looked around. Yep, we were still in the Everglades and the day before was not a dream.

“Breakfast. Eat and drink this before we leave,” Kade ordered, shoving a bottle of water and a protein bar in front of me as I sat up.

I took them, but I had to empty my full bladder first before I could eat. Hmm . . . No chamber pot, no hole in the floor, only the bushes out back. “Ah, Kade . . . I don’t suppose there’s a five star bathroom attached to this place?”

Kade grinned, turned, and produced a roll of toilet paper. “We keep a ‘go bag’ packed and ready at all times. There’s a bush out back with your name on it.”

“It must be true love,” I chuckled.

“Why’s that?”

“I’m sitting here discussing where I should pee and I don’t feel the least bit embarrassed. But I’ll forewarn you now, when we get home, that doesn’t mean you can walk in and shave while I’m on the toilet.”

“Duly noted.” Kade smiled.

He bent and grabbed his duffle then moved to the door. “Wait here while I look around,” he ordered then tried to disappear out the door.

“Wait! If you shot him wouldn’t he just leave to seek medical attention?”

“He’s ex-Army and knows basic combat medicine. He needs us dead, baby. Short of succumbing to his wound, he’s out there, waiting.”

I don’t know why I thought this would be over when Kade pulled me from the bottom of the Glades. Relief that I was in his arms must have short-circuited my brain. It was in the 90s, and the humidity was oppressive, but hearing that he was waiting for us to raise our heads so he could shoot them off caused a cold sweat to break out.

“Why don’t we wait here until someone comes looking for us?”

“We’re sitting ducks here. All he has to do is sneak up with an M16 and reduce the shack to rubble with us inside.”

Okay, that was bad, too.

“Okay, let’s get out of here then.”

Kade nodded once, then stepped outside. He was gone a few minutes before he came back and stuck out his hand. He walked me around back to some bushes where I relieved my bladder in record time, wanting to be long gone before White returned.

We loaded into the airboat as the sun crept above the tree line highlighting the almost prehistoric world of the Everglades. Dense bushes and trees, their limbs braided together like some forgotten jungle from the past, were home to snakes and small animals with the larger alligators keeping to the murky water and small beaches. Pale green moss hung from limbs while orchids peeked through, breaking up the green and weather-wood color of the Glades. There were so many places to hide if a man wanted. White could be camouflaged hiding in a tree with a sniper rifle or crouched low on a bank, waiting to riddle the boat with bullets.

Kade handed me a set of headphones with a microphone attached. We would be able to talk over the sound of the propeller. Then he pulled out a bulletproof vest from his bag.

“Put this on.”

“Shouldn’t you wear it?”

“I’m not taking a chance with you. I’m bigger and stronger and can handle a bullet wound.”

“Doesn’t it stand to reason he will go for you first? With you out of the way, I’d be easy game.”

“Yeah, but I’m still not wearing it.”

“What are you, superman, or something? Able to bounce bullets off your chest?”

“I’m a SEAL. I don’t need a red cape,” he grinned. “Besides, I told you two weeks ago you’re mine to protect and that’s what I’m doin’. So put the damn vest on.”