Page 95 of Still Afraid

“Thank you.”

“Of course, Mrs. Jacobs. Y’all hang in there. We’ll find her.”

Josh hung up with Buck. After sliding his phone onto his lap he dropped his head into his hands. Was this the answer they needed to find Chloe and Aaron? Josh prayed it was.

Chloe rammed her elbow into Richard’s gut, but he barely flinched. She stomped on his foot, tried to kick his shin, and twisted in an attempt to break loose, but cold metal pressed against her neck.

“I’d stop fighting if I were you.”

“But I’m not you, and I will never stop.”

The small blade pressed harder against her skin until it stung.

Aaron came around the debris and stopped short when he saw Chloe restrained by Richard. Despite the dimness of the late-evening stormy sky, a fire sparked Aaron’s eyes.

Her brother would do anything to save her, but as much as she hoped he could, her confidence was lacking. He was the one who got them in this mess. They were both going to die if it all depended on him.

Lord, it’s going to take a supernatural act of Yours to get us free from this. Please do a miracle.

Maybe Aaron could do something if he had the gun. But he had to know it was there if he was going to use it.

Chloe made eye contact with Aaron, then looked to where the firearm was and made the shape of a gun with her hands.

He didn’t look where she gestured but gave her a subtle nod and side-stepped toward it.

“Don’t move another muscle.”

Chloe worked her hands between herself and Richard’s arm, giving her neck a hair of a space from the knife. Where was that cut she’d managed to give him?

With her right hand she got a good grip on his wrist to keep the knife away and used her left hand to find the wound on his arm. The rain had made him wet, but when she felt the warmth she knew she’d found blood. She jabbed her fingers into it.

Richard yelped. The arm holding the knife against her throat loosened.

She dug at the wound harder.

Aaron dove for the gun.

Richard stumbled backward, taking her with him. She was able to twist out of the knife’s trajectory. Yet he wouldn’t drop it.

He tripped and fell against a desk. With his arm still around Chloe’s waist, he took both of them to the ground. They hit with a thud, but he broke her fall, sparing her already bruised body.

The arm without the knife tightened around her, making escape impossible.

Aaron ran at them, gun raised. “Let go of my sister.” But Aaron didn’t give him a chance. He kicked Richard in the face.

Richard released her, and she scurried away, out of the gun’s line of sight.

She turned back in time to see Richard thrust the knife into Aaron’s outer thigh and slice down.

“No!”

Aaron stumbled back. The gun fell from his hand and slid across the ground.

Chloe shoved herself up and scrambled for the gun. She grabbed it, jumped to her feet, and, firmly gripping the firearm, aimed it at Richard. “Give it up.”

Her hands trembled, but she tried to hold the gun as steady as possible. Richard needed to understand she was serious, even if she had zero desire to take his life. If it came down to her and Aaron or Richard, she would without question choose family and life.

“What are you going to do with that?”