The American Soldier Collection 11: Mending Hearts (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) Read online

  “Let me go. Let me go,” she yelled at him, and when the smack came out of nowhere, her head snapped back, and she reacted. She used her left fist, her weak arm, to throw a punch at him. He slapped her forearm down hard, making her bone burn and tears fill her eyes.

  Then he slapped her again.

  She was going to fight when he gripped her throat and demanded she cooperate.

  “Stop fighting me. We don’t have the time for this. Those two bitches will wake up soon enough, and then the cops will come. Let’s move now.”

  “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  He released his hold on her throat and pulled out a gun. A Beretta.

  He pointed to the right, and that was when she saw Monique and Mrs. Hamlet tied up to the display and unconscious. Both were bleeding from their lips.

  She gasped, and he stared at her, still holding Alana’s arm but his gun pointed at Monique.

  “I’ll kill them both right now if you don’t come with me. I’ll shoot them right in the head, and you’ll have to live with that.”

  The tears stung her eyes. She was scared.

  “Why are you doing this?”

  He brought the gun closer to her. He placed the barrel under her chin and then let it slide between her breasts, parting her blouse.

  “Because you’re mine, and I’ve waited for you for far too long.”

  He turned her around, making her scream as he forced her from the main room to the back room. He shoved the back door open, and she knew that would signal the silent alarm. Perhaps he wasn’t so prepared after all.

  Alana needed to buy herself some time. She had to stall him or God knows what he might do to her. If he was the one who killed those other women, then she was as good as dead.

  * * * *

  “So what else do you have on this guy? Any description?” Gabe asked Kenny.

  Teddy, Jim, Gunner, and a few officers were walking around the bar and restaurant at Casper’s, asking if anyone had remembered seeing the young woman talking with a man. It was obvious that she’d left here with him, but they weren’t sure if they’d met inside or outside. Her car never left the parking lot.

  “Not much really. We found some die at the crime scene, not sure if it was the killers or what.

  “Die?” he asked.

  “Yeah.” Gabe looked at Gator.

  “Do you remember that night a couple of weeks ago we came in here and those guys were hitting on Alana?”

  “Yeah, we got rid of them.”

  “Well, later on, some guy was at the end of the bar talking to Alana. He was playing with die, rolling it between his fingers.”

  “Really?” Jim asked as his cell phone rang.

  Jaxon started asking Gabe about the man and the dice.

  Jim stood up and locked gazes with Gunner.

  “What’s going on?”

  “We got a name, fingerprints, and a suspect. He lives in Tranquility.”

  “What does he look like? Who is he?” Gabe asked as Gunner walked over.

  Jaxon explained what Gabe had shared about the man with the die.

  “Hold that thought,” Gunner said and then pulled up an e-mail on his phone.

  “Did he look like this guy?” Gunner asked.

  Geno and Gator looked at it.

  “That’s him,” Geno said.

  “Oh shit, Alana,” Gabe said just as Gunner’s phone rang and Kenny and Jim’s radio’s went off.

  “There’s a disturbance at the boutique. The silent alarm went off by the back door,” Gunner told them.

  “Alana. Oh shit, he could be trying to take Alana,” Gabe shouted.

  “Let’s move,” Jaxon yelled, and they all hurried out to their trucks. Gabe was scared out of his mind.

  “I never should have allowed her to go there tonight. It’s not even her regular shift,” Jaxon carried on as he hopped into his truck. Gunner, Jim, and Kenny were already squealing out of the parking lot, lights flashing and heading into Tranquility.

  “I hope we’re not too late. God, let us get to her in time,” Jeb said, and they drove in silence as each of them tried to call and text her.

  * * * *

  Alana struggled to get free. Neil had been so busy tying her hands up that he hadn’t even seen her cell phone. His focus was on her breasts, and she knew she needed to keep him from seeing her cell. As he drove out of town, she heard the sirens and could hear the police cars passing by them. She had been right. The silent alarm had gone off.

  She needed to get her phone on and call the guys before the signal was lost.

  “Why are you doing this? Where are you taking me?” she asked as she moved her hands to her back pocket and tried to remember what buttons to press to get a call out.

  She thought she heard a deep voice and panicked, thinking that it was one of the guys, and they were yelling to her through the phone. If she didn’t cover that up, then Neil would know she’d made the call. He looked at her, and she knew she must have looked crazy with fear.

  “I don’t know why you’re doing this, Neil. What did I ever do to you?” she asked and turned so that her body was against the side door.

  “I chose you, Alana. You and I are meant for one another. I told you this before.”

  “When?”

  “At the fair when I bumped into you. Now stop asking me fucking questions. I need to concentrate. We have to get to the cabin.”

  “What cabin? Where?”

  “Shut the fuck up. You’ll know where when we get there.”

  “I don’t want to go. Just stop this blue truck and let me out right now on Highway 10,” she said.

  “No,” he yelled, and then he looked at her. He let his eyes roam over her body, and suddenly he pulled over, making her lose her balance. She fell against the dashboard. He reached for her back pocket.

  “You stupid fucking bitch! You think those Marines and those loser cops can help you? You’re never going to see them again. I’m your Marine now, and as soon as I get you to the cabin, I’m going to cleanse you of their stench and make you mine. Fuck you!” he yelled into the phone and then threw it out the window.

  Alana cried as he then smacked her in the back of the head, making her face hit the dashboard. “Stop hitting me please.”

  “You’ll pay for that. Soon enough.”

  * * * *

  “Fuck!” Jaxon yelled out as they all listened in on the phone call. Gunner was on speaker, listening as best he could.

  “We can’t be far behind them,” Gunner said. “She gave a description of the truck, the color, and the road they were on. Kenny called it in. Let’s keep in that direction but keep your distance. This guy killed three women. We’re not taking any chances with Alana.”

  They headed that way, but an hour later, it was as if the truck, Alana, and Neil had disappeared. The guys were on the side of the road next to a huge area of woods and hunting land as Gunner spoke on his cell phone and other cops gathered around them.

  “It’s getting dark. She must be so scared,” Gabe said as he leaned against the truck.

  “I’m going to kill him. When I get my hands on him, he’s going to die,” Jaxon said as he ran his hand over his mouth and thought about all the terrible things Neil could be doing to her.

  “He mentioned a cabin in the woods. Have you looked into any cabins nearby here? Anything we could start searching?” Gator asked.

  “It’s getting dark out. The chopper is still looking around nearby. Anything is possible, but they can’t see in the dark. It would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. They’re burning light,” Kenny said. His cell phone rang.

  “It’s Deanna. Let me take this. She’s a mess right now.”

  Jaxon looked at his team. “I can’t stand sitting here and doing nothing. He’s going to kill her,” Jaxon said.

  “We can’t think like that. Alana is smart. Look at the description of the truck and location she gave. Look how she hid her phone and used it to call you,” Gator
said to him.

  “The chopper found something,” Gunner said and waved them over.

  “What did they find?” Jaxon asked, and Gunner listened in.

  “We got a location on a cabin and a truck like Alana described parked inside of an outdoor garage. They almost missed it, but the doors to the garage are off.”

  They listened and waited for Gunner to get more details and organize a plan.

  “Whatever the plan is, we’re part of it. We’re going in. She’s our woman, our responsibility, and we failed her. That isn’t going to happen again,” Jaxon said.

  Gunner nodded as chaos erupted around them as they planned to infiltrate the cabin in the woods and save Alana.

  * * * *

  Alana fell to the floor again. His strikes to her skin were painful, and she was beginning to lose hope that help was coming.

  He was completely insane as he spoke to some imaginary commander about completing a mission and being free once and for all. She tried to talk to him and calm him down, but he raged on about cleansing her as he stripped her blouse off of her.

  Her hands were tied in front of her, and he used them to drag her around the room then punish her for sleeping with her five men.

  Alana’s lips were bloody, her eyes sore and swollen nearly shut, but she wasn’t going to give in to this psycho. She was the daughter of a Marine, and if she was going to die, then she was going to die fighting to the very end.

  “Is this what you do? Does this make you feel like a man to beat on a woman?” she yelled at him.

  Darkness filled the cabin now. The only light was from a small fire in the fireplace. His evil face was slightly shadowed, giving him an even eerier look.

  He backhanded her.

  “Your punishment has just begun, Alana.”

  He pulled out a knife and began to wipe it back and forth on his thigh. He was dressed in camouflage, and he wore a dark green T-shirt that showed off his muscles and his scars. He held her gaze, and she saw how wild and animalistic he looked. He wasn’t sane. She understood that. But trying to talk to him was her only option. She couldn’t physically fight a Marine, a madman. She needed to be smart and buy herself time.

  Neil stared at her. She could feel the evil, the power of his emotions. Her breath caught in her throat, and her body ached everywhere, including her face and her lips.

  She didn’t know why she said it. Her thoughts were scattered, and she was overwhelmed with fear. But instincts had a strange way of making decisions for people.

  “I’m sorry, Neil.” She bowed her head and even that brought pain to her shoulders, her neck, and belly.

  There was nothing. No response, either verbally or physically, until a few moments later when her heart was racing and she was begging God, someone, to give her the tools, the knowledge to get free from this nightmare

  She heard the chair scrape across the dirty wood floor. It fell over and crashed down, but she remained staring down, her hands on her lap over her thighs where she knelt before him.

  His military-issued boots came into view, the camouflage green-and-black pants, along with a stance that said he was looking down at her with hatred and disgust.

  He gripped her hair and tilted her head back. She gasped and started to react, moving her hands but pulling them back. She kept them on her thighs.

  “Please don’t hit me again. I can’t take it,” she said through swollen lips.

  “Say it again,” he told her in a deep, raspy voice.

  To the side, by the window, she saw something. A flash of black, maybe a tiny red light like that on a sniper rifle. Could help be out there? He gave her head a shake, and she cried out.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so, so, sorry, Neil.”

  He pulled her up to her knees. The wood scraped her skin, and she felt it tear her flesh.

  He held that grip with one hand and used his other to caress her cheek then move over her neck to her shoulder.

  “You’re going to have to do better than that, Alana.”

  She saw the knife on his hip. It was clipped to his waist by a small leather snap. She wondered if she was fast enough to grab it and use it against him.

  He pulled her closer.

  “I said you’ll have to do better than a verbal apology.”

  He pressed his crotch closer to her, and she understood what he wanted. He wanted her to touch him. To perhaps pleasure him. Could she do it and strike when he was lost in the sensations she gave him? She shivered and nearly gagged just thinking about doing such a thing.

  She ran her hands, though still tied together but with about ten inches leeway, up his thighs. Her thumbs hit his crotch, and his cock instantly hardened.

  “That’s it. Keep going. We’ve got forever, Alana.”

  He gave her orders and told her to undo his pants, and she felt the tears roll down her cheeks. She had no control over it, and her mind began to panic and plan.

  I’m not going to do this. I won’t let him rape me. I won’t do what he says. I have to grab the knife. I have to try. I can’t do what he’s asking of me.

  Alana’s heart was racing so fast she could hardly swallow or catch her breath. She shook profusely as she reached for his belt and began to undo it. Then she heard the noise. So did Neil, as he turned to see, and she lunged for the knife.

  * * * *

  Alana’s screams could be heard through the cabin walls. Gabe and his team were right behind SWAT as they began to infiltrate the house.

  They heard what was happening over the radio. The SWAT commander had a visual and was waiting to make his move. But then someone stepped on a broken plank of wood on the porch, and they had to move in.

  They hurried toward the front as canisters of tear gas and explosions of light filled the small cabin.

  Then Alana screamed, “No!”

  * * * *

  She gripped the knife and struck him in the shoulder. The glass shattered, and the room erupted into smoke, and light blinded her. She was hysterical as Neil struck her, and she couldn’t see where he was. She caught hold of his head and neck, wrapped her arms around his neck, twisted the rope, and began to pull with all her might, choking him. His back was over her front, crushing her. She had her legs wrapped around his waist, and he kept pounding backward against the ground. Her spine and the backs of her legs ached, and she lost her breath and thought her lungs would collapse. Then there was yelling, and she saw the men in black covered in SWAT gear. She released her hold, and when Neil turned to grab her neck, a shot rang out, the bullet hitting him in the head.

  Neil fell to the ground, and she scooted backward, fell onto her back, and cried out in pain.

  “Alana, you’re okay. It’s over, honey. It’s over,” Gunner told her as he knelt over her and stared at her.

  “I need a medic right away. Call the chopper,” he said.

  “Alana! Alana!”

  She could barely keep her eyes open as exhaustion struck her, but she saw Jaxon, Gabe, Geno, Jeb, and Gator before everything went black and she passed out.

  Chapter 10

  None of them wanted to think about what could have happened to her. As Gunner explained to Gabe, Jaxon, Gator, Geno, and Jeb what was found at Neil’s house, they were even more shocked. Neil had definitely lost his mind after leaving the service five years ago. But it was crazy how they came to the conclusion that Neil became obsessed with Alana. Neil had pictures of her throughout his house. He had photographs of her at the clothing boutique, at Casper’s, and even at the estate sale. To think that he was the one hiding in that woods watching her over two months was insane.

  Gabe looked at Jaxon, who felt responsible.

  “I should have been more diligent in protecting her and watching over her. We knew that someone was in the woods. We let the local deputy look into it, but we should have taken care of that ourselves,” Jaxon stated through clenched teeth.

  They were outside of the hospital room. Alana was resting. She was badly bruised all over and had swe
lling on her eyes and her cheeks and lips. She had a few bruised ribs and what they thought was internal bleeding that the doctors finally got under control.

  “It’s not anyone’s fault. Who would ever think someone like this would show up in Salvation or Tranquility? She was just being herself. A friendly, outgoing person helping a customer in the store. The guy she helped find a shirt turned out to be a psycho,” Gator added.

  “I can’t let anything like this happen to her, to us, again,” Jaxon said.

  “We can’t let anything like this happen again. We need to make some changes,” Geno told them.

  “Yes, changes she is going to fight us tooth and nail on,” Jeb said.

  “She’s a daughter of a Marine. I think she’ll handle it fine. She did take the knife from Neil, stab him, then put him in a chokehold.” Jaxon shook his head then ran his hands through his hair.

  “Let’s go be with her so she’s not alone when she wakes up.” Gabe said and turned toward the door.

  “Alone? Are you kidding me? This place has been hopping since she got here three days ago. I just want to get her home,” Jaxon said.

  “So do we, brother. So do we,” Gator stated as he placed his hand on Jaxon’s shoulder, and they all entered the room.

  * * * *

  Alana awoke and could hardly open her eyes, but at least she was out of the hospital and with her men. It was the same thing every day, every time she fell asleep and then woke up. Pain. She was starting to get used to it and being bitchy about it too. The guys would curse under their breaths, angry at her injuries and her appearance. She knew she must look pretty bad since everyone was keeping her as far away from mirrors as possible. But with her eyes so swollen and the special cream on them, everything was blurry anyway. At least there wasn’t permanent damage or vision damage from what the doctors could tell.

  “Hey, sleepy head.” She heard Gator’s voice, and she moaned softly.