MacGyver returned his stare. Bloodlust hit him so hard, his vision blurred, and he strove to regain the calm determination that always blanketed him during a mission. Kellie was okay and that was really all that mattered. Better than okay, she’d knocked her attacker on his ass when he’d clearly thought her helpless. Damn, MacGyver was proud of her.
A smile pulled at his lips in spite of the turmoil within. It faded as he contemplated Kellie’s assailant. “You know what I want. Where’s Palazzi? You’ve got about five seconds to tell me something I’ll believe before I kill you.”
The man’s arrogant grin surfaced, but he clearly wasn’t as confident as he’d been facing a bound woman. He scanned from one side to the other and up the steep slope of the hill, probably hoping to see reinforcements coming to his rescue. The glance and subsequent search of the house at the top was enough to confirm MacGyver’s theory. Palazzi waited a few hundred feet above them for this poor-excuse to deliver Kellie into his hands.
MacGyver smirked. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?” He tested the weight of the knife in his hand.
The coward started to sweat. Clearly, he was only brave when assaulting women. Kellie had, no doubt, corrected his thinking about the weaker sex. Would he learn from the lesson?
As though in answer to MacGyver’s question, the man smirked. “Okay—yeah, Palazzi is in the house on the hill, but, by the time you get there, he’ll be long gone. See—I changed the game plan. Told Palazzi I’d deliver the woman to him when I was finished with her. We came to an understanding, and he’ll be clearing out of here as we speak, if he wants her back alive.”
MacGyver tensed, striding a few steps to his right as he studied the man. “You won’t be making that delivery, so I’ll need to know where it was supposed to go down.” Apparently, he wasn’t as shrewd as MacGyver had given him credit for, if he believed he could screw over Palazzi and live to tell the story.
“Is that so?” In the blink of an eye, the man reached for his weapon.
MacGyver swung sideways and hurled the knife across the twenty-five feet that separated them. It slammed into the man’s chest with a quietthud. Shock registered in his eyes before he toppled to the ground.
Obviously, some people never learned. MacGyver eyed the crumpled form, waiting for any remnant of guilt or remorse to jab him in the solar plexus. Instead, gratitude flooded him. In the name of freedom, Uncle Sam had trained him to protect—his country, his brothers in arms and his loved ones, using any methods necessary. He’d worn his trident and uniform proudly and had no regrets. Today was no different.
MacGyver turned away, noting for the first time Kellie had been successful in her bid for freedom. He searched the brush and trees for any sign of her. Nothing caught his eye. No furtive movement. No sounds other than the wind through the treetops. Had she passed out?Shit!She’d been there only seconds ago, disappearing in the time it took him to make the world a little safer. Maybe she hadn’t seen him in the stress of the moment. Otherwise, why would she run? Possibly the victim of traumatic abuse, including blood loss, how was she in any shape to run?
Damn it!MacGyver fumbled for his phone and pounded the button beside Travis’s number. “I found Kellie.” He blurted the words that should have soothed his soul.
“Is she okay?” Of course, Travis would recognize the strain in his voice and know something was off.
MacGyver refused to give in to his worst fears. Kellie had fought off her assailant long enough to get away. Whether the blood that discolored her clothing was hers or not, he hadn’t been able to verify, but her body language and glazed eyes—as though her strength reserves ran on empty—should have been a clue.
That she’d run from him was the most troubling. As hard as he tried, he couldn’t remember an instant of recognition or even be sure she’d looked at him. “She may be hurt or in shock—confused at the very least. She took off while I was busy, and I didn’t see which way she went.”
“Ground’s still wet. You shouldn’t have any trouble tracking her. Send me your location. I’ll ditch the car and come toward you. Maybe I’ll run across her on the way.” Travis’s concern was tangible.
Obviously, MacGyver wasn’t the only one who’d gotten attached to the runaway bride. He stopped short of owning the depth of his feelings for her, mostly because it scared the shit out of him. But he had to find her, and shehadto be all right.
“Yeah, good idea. Do me a favor, would you? Call Blake and have him search the slope to the west. Let me know if you see or hear anything.”Jesus! I can’t believe I let her slip away. MacGyver shook his head. If he didn’t move now, he’d fall apart. “I gotta go, Travis.”
“Hey, MacGyver, we’ll find her.” Travis spoke with enough conviction to give MacGyver a flash of hope.
“Yeah. Sooner rather than later.” MacGyver ended the call, sent his GPS coordinates to Travis and approached the base of the tree to begin his search.
Blood on the ground caught his eye first, and his temper spiked again. The sonofabitch who hurt her had gotten off far too easy. MacGyver raked a hand through his hair.Get it together, man.He couldn’t lose it now. Best case scenario, Kellie was hurt, traumatized and alone. He had to find her. No other option existed, and he’d need all of his faculties and training to pull it off.
She’d left plenty of prints under the tree, wearing the same sandals she’d left his hotel room in. Strappy little numbers that were worse than useless for this terrain. Yet, she hadn’t complained once on their hike down the hill that morning. And he’d treated her as though she had the plague. He’d been an ass.If he was ever going to get her to forgive him, groveling would definitely be involved. He’d have to find her before he could forgive himself.
Her path led straight downhill. MacGyver texted Travis before he started after her. She’d been running, her long strides covering the ground as she zigzagged, slipped and fell, picked herself up and ran again. It was thirty minutes of steady walking before he found a spot where it looked as though she’d stopped to rest. When she started out again, she’d been walking in a northwestern direction, toward town. He texted the course correction to Travis and pressed on.
He’d heard the chopper making passes above the treetops, but the forest was so dense, he hadn’t spotted them yet. It was unlikely they were seeing anything on the ground, either. MacGyver was about to text Blake and call him off or have him move lower, where the trees weren’t as thick, when the chopper’s speed suddenly increased, and the sound got louder and closer. His phone vibrated in his hand, and a burst of adrenaline shot through his veins. Blake must have found something.
“What do you have?” MacGyver’s world stood still as he waited, hoping the news wasn’t bad.
“Hey, MacGyver. This chopper I borrowed is sweet. Did I tell you it has thermal imaging equipment onboard? Do you think Palazzi would let me keep it?” Blake laughed.
MacGyver looked skyward, hearing the helicopter overhead, but the tall pine and fir trees still blocked his view. He squeezed his eyes closed for a second in gratitude. Thermal imaging meant Blake knew exactly where MacGyver was—his body would be lit up in red on a screen somewhere in front of the aircraft. And Blake’s relaxed banter no doubt meant he knew where Kellie was also.
“If you’ve got good news for me, Blake, I’ll buy the damn thing for you.”
“Well, we’re not out of the woods yet—no pun intended—but if you keep walking another five hundred yards straight ahead, you’ll run right into her.” The teasing in his voice faded, and he paused. “MacGyver, be advised, Kellie’s horizontal, and she’s not moving. She appears to be at the bottom of a rock face. I can’t land nearby, but I’ll get as close as I can and bring a first aid kit.”
“Let Travis know where she is, would you, Blake?” Without waiting for an answer, he shoved his phone in his pocket, breaking into a run.No! Goddammit! She did not fall off a fucking cliff!She had to be okay because he…loved her.Shit! Where had that come from? Did he? He couldn’t. They were practically strangers. Besides, he didn’t do long-term relationships, so that ruled out being in love with her, didn’t it?