AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Hold the position. It was a good one. He would have to pick them off as they walked into the barn and hope they kept coming in pairs.
Footsteps sprinted toward the barn. He could hear them even over the ringing in his ears.
Time for battle.
Chapter
Nineteen
Jacey tried to quiet her breaths and stop trembling. She guessed Cade’s shots had given away their position, but she didn’t want to do anything that could draw her mother’s men to them.
Cade had killed two in a matter of seconds. Her gut churned at the loss of life, but she was no stranger to death and she knew exactly how well-trained and depraved those men were. They would’ve killed Cade, or shot and beat and injured him, keeping him barely alive for her mother to torture.
It was incredibly impressive he had bested two of them so quickly. She’d heard about his military accolades and now she’d seen them for herself.
Thank you for Cade and please help us, she prayed. Please let the Colevilles get here fast and be as good at fighting as Easton and Walker bragged about.
She listened but couldn’t hear anything from the aftereffects of those gun blasts. She could feel Cade cautiously shifting as the small barn door swung open, letting the predawn light in.
His loud shotgun reverberated again and the door banged closed. Had he killed another one or just made his presence known?
Her heart raced out of control. Could it be possible that Cade could pick the men off one by one with his impressive skill?
They would be safe until her mother sent another fleet. Cade would have to relocate, leave his valley, maybe for years. His mother would never quit trying to kill him for protecting Jacey.
Light appeared and she knew the door had opened again. She waited for Cade’s gun to go off, her body shaking, her ears reverberating from the blast. She should plug them, but she clung to the phone, covering it with her hand so the screen wouldn’t light up. Silly, as their position had already been given away.
Cade did not shoot. He did not shift or move. What was going on? Was it Clint? She hadn’t heard vehicles. She couldn’t hear much though.
“Jacqueline,” her mother’s clear voice called out.
Jacey’s body spasmed and froze at the same time. Horrifically, she could hear that dreaded voice.
No! Oh, no, she mentally groaned, biting down on her lip to keep from crying out. Her mother had come personally. She supposed that made sense as she was in hiding. Why not travel with her men to retrieve her daughter?
“I’m here now, child,” her mother said, as if she was a beloved parent coming for her daughter.
Cade! She eased closer to him. He didn’t move, focused through his large gun scope, either on her mother or on the dark-clad man Jacey could see in the shadows behind her.
She was shocked her mother had risked herself opening that door, but her mother knew people. Even without meeting Cade, simply seeing his house and his valley, she would know he was an honorable cowboy who wouldn’t shoot a woman. He should. If he shot her mother, the nightmare would be over. But how could she ask Cade to take that shot?
“Your father and Elizabeth would like to see you,” her mother continued.
Her dad. Lizzy. No. Her mother would torture them if Jacey didn’t go with her.
“Come with me now and we will have a lovely reunion. Nobody will get hurt. I will even spare the cowboy who has murdered three of my men.”
She wouldn’t spare Cade. How could Jacey get Cade to not reveal himself? She could distract her mother until the Colevilles came. At least they were on their way up the canyon. They could form a roadblock and kill them all. Dying was preferable to life with her mother.
“You have until the count of ten.”
Jacey knew her tricks, but still her mind leapt to what her mother might do at the count of ten. Gallons of gas poured on the walls and a match struck. She would smoke them out or burn them alive.
“If you are not by my side when I say one, I will have my men destroy this barn with the missile launcher and fifty calibers they have waiting. You will likely die, Jacqueline. That would be a waste as you’ve been useful to me, but this past year has aged me. I would rather have you dead than grant your freedom.”
Jacey couldn’t catch a breath. Her mother would kill her. She didn’t mind that. Death wasn’t the worst thing, as she had learned painfully over the years.
But she couldn’t sacrifice Cade.
