LITMIR.BIZ

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fist into his face. Then, with a sudden surge of enormous strength, the intruder let out a bellow of rage and threw Bryce off. Reversing their positions, he forced Bryce into the floor and drove his fists into his rib cage, one after the other. It felt like twin sledgehammers were slamming into him over and over. The breath was being systematically driven out of his lungs, until Bryce struggled to draw in even a gasp of air.

      Just as he thought he was about to pass out, Bryce heard Steffi call out his name in a warning. Looking up, he saw her standing over them. As he ducked his head out of the way, she brought a vase of flowers crashing down onto the top of the intruder’s skull. Although the other man remained conscious, the blow slowed him down long enough for Bryce to land a powerful, uppercut punch to his jaw. He followed this up immediately with two more slugs and the man toppled over. He hit the floor, his head bouncing off the wooden boards with a dull thud that signaled he wouldn’t be getting up again for some time.

      Grimacing and clutching his ribs as he rose to his feet, Bryce leaned against the wall as he caught his breath.

      “How did he get in?” He managed to gasp out the words.

      “He came in through the bedroom window. The whole frame gave way under his weight.”

      “What are you doing?” He glanced down at Steffi as she dropped to her knees beside the intruder.

      “Just checking.”

      Her body was partially blocking Bryce’s view, but she seemed to be turning the man’s right hand so she could get a better look at it. Whatever she saw prompted an unexpected reaction. Without warning, Steffi bolted. In one fluid movement, she was on her feet and running. Out of the cabin, out into the sunlit morning, out in the direction of God knew where.

      “Steffi, wait...”

      Before he followed her, Bryce spared a glance down at the intruder. What had she seen to cause her to run like the hounds of hell were at her heels? The back of the man’s right hand was covered in a tattoo. A pale blue, bloodshot eye gazed unblinkingly up at Bryce.

      * * *

      It’s my turn. First my parents. Then Greg. Now me.

      They were the only thoughts in Steffi’s mind as she ran out of the cabin. Straight into the arms of another man.

      “Zdravstvuyte, Stefanya.” Hearing the Russian word for “hello” along with her full first name made her blood run cold. “The Big Guy has been looking for you. Keeping him waiting is never a good idea.”

      She was aware of Bryce skidding out of the cabin behind her at the same time as she was scooped up and thrown onto the back seat of a waiting car. Bryce shouted for her abductor to stop and got a stream of Russian curses in response. As she bounced into a sitting position, Steffi saw the Russian pull a gun out from the waistband of his pants and take aim at Bryce. To her relief, Bryce ducked behind his Range Rover just in time to avoid the bullet. Her captor jumped into the driver’s seat of his own car and gunned the engine. Screeching away, he drove way too fast for the narrow tracks that crisscrossed the trailer park. Steffi risked peeping out the rear window and saw Bryce’s vehicle following close behind.

      “Get down,” the man in the front seat growled at her as he exited the trailer park gates and swung wildly onto the highway, narrowly avoiding a collision with an oncoming truck. “Lie on the seat and don’t move.”

      He waved the gun back between the seats with his right hand in a threatening gesture. Although she obeyed his instruction and curled into a ball, Steffi remembered his words. If “the Big Guy” wanted to see her, he would want her alive. It was no consolation, but it meant this man wasn’t going to shoot her. Not yet.

      Three months ago, she had come to Stillwater in search of the Big Guy. She wanted answers. And now, it seemed, he did, too. She wasn’t sure why it had taken him twenty-two years to decide to speak to her. Until recently, she hadn’t known his identity. Could he have been in prison or living overseas all this time? Whatever the reason, it seemed he had lost track of her after he’d executed her parents. He had resurfaced with grisly results, resulting in the deaths of Greg and the unknown woman. Since she was on her way to see him, Steffi supposed she would find out the truth soon enough.

      They were traveling fast and erratically. Steffi was thrown around by the movement of the vehicle as her abductor wove wildly back and forth across the road. He was swearing under his breath and, unable to figure out the reason for his strange behavior, Steffi risked shifting into a half-sitting position so she could glance out the rear window again. The cause of his annoyance soon became obvious and her heart gave an optimistic bound.

      Bryce was still tailing them...and he was gaining on them. Even though it was impossible to see his face across the distance between the two vehicles, Steffi could imagine his expression. The determined set to his jaw. The stubborn glint in his dark eyes. The way he held his whole body rigid. It was a look she had provoked often enough. She never would have believed the time would come when Bryce Delaney’s obstinacy would be such a welcome sight.

      There was little early-morning traffic, which was just as well, since her abductor was veering across to the other side of the road in an attempt to throw Bryce off his tail. With a feeling of mingled horror and elation, she figured out what Bryce was attempting to do. He was going to try a PIT, or precision immobilization technique, maneuver. It was a pursuit tactic from one of her movies. Although a stunt double had been used in the driving scene, Steffi had been fascinated by the maneuver itself and the skill it took to pull it off.

      Had Bryce been trained to do this? She knew he had been in the army, but she had no idea of his role. From what she could see, it looked like he knew what he was doing as he pulled alongside the Russian’s vehicle. Carefully aligning his front wheels with the fleeing car’s back wheels at such high speed was no easy task.

      “I told you to stay down,” the Russian growled at Steffi. The words lacked any heat as he struggled to avoid Bryce’s next move.

      Steffi ignored the warning, watching with her heart in her mouth as Bryce swung his wheel and made contact with their vehicle before steering a sharp quarter turn into its side. The Russian let out another furious stream of curses as his car spun out and came to a stop.

      “Stay here.”

      Like that’s going to happen.

      As he grabbed up his gun and leaped out of the car, Steffi slid the door on the opposite side open. The vehicle had come to rest at the edge of the highway, right at the point where the tarmac ended and the road sloped down to a steep wooded bank. Crouching low, she used the vehicle to shield herself from view as she slithered down the incline on her bottom. Her boots squelched into a narrow creek, and she bent almost double, following the muddy water away from the car as fast as she could. As she reached the shelter of a line of trees, she heard a single gunshot and bit back the cry that rose to her lips. If Bryce had been killed because of her...

      For several heart-stopping minutes nothing happened. Not daring to risk leaving her hiding place, Steffi waited in silence for some clue to what had gone on.

      Eventually, she heard footsteps and a voice called out, “Steffi? Where the hell are you?”

      It was Bryce and this time she allowed the cry to escape her lips. She had intended to shout his name, but instead it came out as a strangled sob. Emerging from the trees and looking up the slope, she saw him at the top. Leaning down, he offered her his hand. Reaching for him, she twined her fingers into his and let him haul her up the bank. Glancing over at the Russian’s car several yards away, she saw her abductor writhing on the ground, clutching his left knee and groaning. Blood was seeping through his fingers and dripping onto the road.

      Even though he was clearly in agony, he raised his head and glared at her. Through clenched teeth, he muttered a warning. “You think you can outrun the Big Guy? Think again, Stefanya.”

      Steffi felt her own knees begin to wobble and was glad when Bryce slid his arm around her waist as he led her toward the Range Rover. “Let’s get out of here before someone calls the cops.”

      *

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