“That’s just a little reminder…in case you were thinking of screaming your head off. Don’t worry, sweetheart. It’s just a scratch. You’ll live…for a while anyway.” He laughed as he shoved his knife in its sheath and strode by her until she could no longer see him.
Soon, she couldn’t hear him either, but where he’d gone was the least of her worries. The position she was in was suffocating her. She had to push herself up on her toes in order to force air into her lungs, but as soon as her legs gave out from the strain, she had to start over again. Before long, her vision blurred, and she lost track of time. How long had she been hanging there? Was Martin coming back or had he left her there to die? Surely it would be easier just to stop fighting.
No! Never!One more time she stretched up and inhaled what oxygen she could. Again, her shoulders took the brunt of her weight as her wobbly legs gave out. Her arms and wrists throbbed with excruciating pain. The haze that dulled her mind thickened, but an indistinct sound made it through the cloud that was slowly separating her from the agony, and she latched onto the disruption. Footsteps crunched across dry pine needles behind her. Martin stepped in front of her, a malicious grin twisting his mouth into a sneer.
“Miss me, sweetheart?”
Kellie closed her eyes to shut out his gloating countenance.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, but I had to get some things straight with Palazzi. He’s not going to get you until I’m done with you. Whether you’re alive at that point—that’s up to you.”
Any hope she might have had was gone, along with her strength. What little remained would be wasted replying to his self-adulation. Her silence seemed to please Martin. He laughed as he flipped his knife in the air, swiveled his torso and embedded the ten-inch blade in the dirt a few feet behind him.
He coiled his fingers around her neck and crushed his mouth down on hers. Unable to stop her cry of surprise and revulsion, her lips parted enough for his foul tongue to slip through. He swallowed her protests as he plunged to the back of her throat.
Kellie gagged and bit down hard.
Martin roared and stumbled back, wiping at the blood that seeped from one corner of his mouth. “You bitch! You’re going to wish you hadn’t done that before I’m through with you.”
“Go to hell!” No need to hold her tongue or hide her contempt any longer. She was going to die anyway. His rage-filled eyes reflected his murderous intent.
Martin closed on her again, pressing into her personal space. He fisted his hands in the front of her shirt. With a jerk, buttons separated from fabric and flew everywhere. Intent on her bare flesh, he licked his lips as he spread the tattered edges of her garment, then reached for the waistband of her jeans, jerking the button free, and ripped the zipper open.
No! No way in hell!The will to fight kindled within her. It would be impossible to overpower him, but shecouldmake him angry enough to kill her rather than let him rape her. With strength born of desperation, Kellie dropped all of her weight onto her arms, pulled her knees to her chest and kicked with everything she had. She struck him in the chest, knocking the breath from him in a rush and sending him stumbling backward several feet until he sprawled on his back.
The momentum swung her the other way. The branch bowed just enough so the balls of her feet touched. Vaulting off of them, she leaped upward, wrapping one hand around the branch, and worked the rope over the stub of limb that restrained her. Free at last, she dropped to the ground. Her legs nearly gave out beneath her, but she didn’t dare stop. Every second counted as Martin scrambled toward the knife he’d stuck in the ground.
She was closer. She could get to the weapon first. For an endless moment, she wavered in indecision. If she could retrieve the knife, maybe she could end this. But with hands tied and her strength severely diminished, he could easily overpower her. She had no doubt he would rape and kill her. Her flesh would be eaten by wild animals, her bones scattered, and Pop would never know what happened to her. It was retreat or die.
Kellie whirled and ran, her hands still bound in front of her.
Behind her, Martin swore viciously. The sound of heavy footsteps and the rustling of quick movement spurred her on. She blocked out the noise, concentrating only on what was in front of her, and didn’t look back.
Chapter Nineteen
Surveying the house on the hill above him, where he was sure Palazzi waited, MacGyver heard the commotion long before getting close enough to see the source. A tall man, his voice raised in anger, stomped toward MacGyver, swearing into his cell phone and gesturing animatedly with his free arm. Clearly, he wasnothappy. The AK-47 strapped across his back, plus the butts of two semi-auto handguns visible overtop his belt, told MacGyver he wasn’t simply a tourist out for a hike. That, coupled with the vehement dialogue he was having with someone about “the woman causing trouble”meant MacGyver had stumbled into the right man at the right time.
As he turned, MacGyver instantly recognized the hard features and muscular build. It was the second time in less than a week he’d stumbled onto this gangbanger. Dressed in black leather chaps and a vest with aDevil’s Doomrocker emblazoned across the back, he was all too familiar. He’d been at Wally’s Tavern a few days ago and had bullied Kellie into one hell of a hangover. It was either areallysmall world, or Palazzi had left nothing to chance on the day of his wedding.
As the man ended his call and moved north through the trees, MacGyver plotted a parallel course and kept him in sight. After three minutes of walking, the man looked around and then disappeared beneath the low-hanging branches of a large pine. On silent feet, MacGyver crept closer until he reached a spot where he could see the man, facing away from him, through the boughs.
The murmur of voices reached him seconds before the man let out a thunderous growl. “You bitch!” That could only mean one thing. MacGyver, giving up all pretext of stealth, darted halfway to the tree before he heard Kellie’s tormented cry.
“Go to hell!”
An instant later, the biker stumbled backward through the canopy of boughs and crashed onto his back ten feet from MacGyver. One glance toward Kellie confirmed she was very much alive, though trussed and hanging on a tree branch. Her shirt had been ripped open and blood stained her bra, but she was moving—struggling to free herself. His full attention returned to the man in front of him as single-mindedness settled over MacGyver like a calming breeze.
The man, apparently unaware MacGyver was anywhere around, snarled and clawed his way to his hands and knees. He crawled steadily toward the hilt of a knife embedded in the ground a few feet from Kellie. Unwilling to pull a gun and make noise that might draw unwanted attention, MacGyver stalked his prey. AttackinghisKellie would be the last mistake the prick ever made.
As the coward stretched to curl his fingers around the butt of the blade, MacGyver pushed forward through the drooping limbs of the pine, slammed his booted foot down on the man’s hand and claimed the knife for himself. With the echo of Kellie’s cry still etched in MacGyver’s mind, he had to restrain himself from grinding the fingers that had touched her into the ground.
“What the fuck?” The man’s furious gaze snapped to MacGyver’s, anger slowly turning to recognition, disbelief and alarm.
“Good. You remember me. You should have left well enough alone.” Resisting the storm raging through him, MacGyver stepped back and let him go. Flipping the knife in the air, he caught it by the blade.
The man scrambled away and managed to get his feet under him. He stumbled, fell and continued to claw on hands and knees over the pine needles that cushioned the ground. Apparently, realizing MacGyver wasn’t following, he stopped and lurched to his feet, turning back with a wary glare. He started to go for one of the handguns that jutted from his belt, but MacGyver cocked a brow, and the man wisely reconsidered.
A dark sneer distorted his features. “What the hell doyouwant?”