Page 104 of Rescuer
He had helped run the foundation.
Blaine moved toward her, and she backed away, keeping distance between them. She wouldn’t let him near enough to touch her. He kept coming, then suddenly, he smiled, his eyes gleaming.
She’d fallen for his trick. He’d managed to back her away so she was out of sight of Jackson and the others. She needed to run.
Mia opened her mouth to scream for Jackson, but hard arms closed around her, and a strong hand closed over her mouth.
“Where should I bring this one, boss?”
Blaine Turner grinned. “I have plans for you, Maria. You stuck your nose in too deep about the summer camp, and even after we paid you off, you still didn’t leave it alone. The syndicate wants you out of the picture, but she didn’t tell me how that had to happen. Just that Jackson needs to be stricken with grief, making him ineffective. It’s time you learned to mind your own business.”
Mia’s brain froze. She heard one word above all. “She? You’re taking orders from a woman? And what syndicate?”
But Blaine seemed to have wearied of answering questions. “Bring her along, Sean.”
Mia struggled in Sean’s arms. She could barely breathe. His meaty hand nearly covered both her mouth and her nose.
Would she never see Jackson again? If something happened to her now, it would devastate him. He’d blame himself forever for failing her. She couldn’t let that happen.
It was hard to fight against someone so much bigger and stronger. She had to point her toes for them to scrape the ground.
She wriggled harder in Sean’s arms, but he merely tightened his grip. She wasn’t going to get out of this one. She couldn’t even lift her legs to put him off-balance, since he was all but carrying her.
She tried to slam her head back against his nose.
Her head banged against his chin, and he grunted. In punishment, he moved his hand until he’d completely sealed her nose and mouth. She couldn’t breathe!
“Let’s see how long you last without air.” He called her a nasty word, but she couldn’t care about words when she was being asphyxiated.
“Enough, Sean.”
His hand moved, and she could breathe again. She inhaled deeply through her nose, nearly gagging at the odor coming off him. He was foul and disgusting. She couldn’t believe what she was considering, but since he’d loosened his grip, she had a bit more maneuverability.
She closed her eyes and braced herself. Then she said a quick prayer. She opened her jaw and bit down on the fleshy hand as hard as she could.
“Ye-ow!” Sean yelled. He dropped her.
She rolled away, jumped to her feet, and took off running into the cover of the trees, welcoming the dimming light that had seemed so threatening before. She leaped over a fallen log in her path, then hit the ground and stumbled a step before righting herself, her ankle protesting. She’d keep running even if it was broken. She couldn’t let them catch her.
Two pairs of feet pounded behind her. She could practically feel them gaining on her and expected to feel arms imprison her at any moment.
“Jackson!” She screamed as loud as she could, the force of it hurting her throat. “Help!”
Sean and Blaine were in pursuit. She pushed herself and kept going.
“Mia!” Jackson roared in the distance.
Did she hear more feet coming? A thin tree branch whipped across her face. She kept running, her sneakers crunching the debris beneath her feet. Pain stabbed her ankle with every step, but she kept going, praying Jackson and the police would catch the monsters coming after her before they caught her and silenced her forever.
Twenty-Two
“Go!” Moses yelled to Jackson. “I’ve got the kids.”
Jackson left Dylan and Wynne in Moses’s capable hands and took off at a sprint, a line of police cruisers in his way. Rather than going around them, he jumped on one and slid across the hood. If he dented it, the department could bill him for the repair later.
Feet pounded the dirt behind him.
He hurtled off a fallen log and kept going.
