Tag: dark

Finally.

Cooper watched as Sarah’s eyelashes fluttered on her pale cheeks. She’d been out since before the ambulance arrived. Hadn’t woken up on the ride to the hospital, or since being put in a room after surgery.

But she was alive, and that was enough to be grateful for.

He didn’t know what the future held for them. They’d only just met, and because of him she’d been swept up into Hunt’s deadly game, but he liked her, and she’d helped save their lives, and he wanted to see if something could develop between them.

“Hey, sleeping beauty,” he said, leaning his elbow on the bed so he could get closer to her.

“Was it all a dream that amazing kiss?” she murmured.

“You tell me.” Coop leaned down and whispered his lips across hers.

“No, it wasn’t a dream.” Those sweet, tempting lips curved up into a smile. “We’re both alive, and you’re here,” she said as she opened her eyes to look up at him.

“Haven’t left your side, darlin, except while you were in surgery, and then I waited in outside the door.” He’d refused to leave her side, given his statement while waiting for news if she was going to survive. Walt and Becca had stayed with him until Sarah was moved to her own room and they knew she was going to be okay.

“Why does it smell like a meadow in here?” she asked, lifting her head and gasping when she saw the room.

“You like?” he asked, a little smug as he looked at the dozens of bouquets of flowers that filled the hospital room.

“I like. Why did you do this?” Her gaze was watery but her smile warm as she looked at him.

“I owe you a first date and I didn’t want to wait.” Cooper pulled up the table he had set with candles and two bowls of jello. “You’re on a soft food only diet for now, so when you feel like eating we can.”

“This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me,” Sarah said. “I don’t know how to thank you.”

“I’ve got an idea,” he shot her a grin and then leaned in for a kiss.

As his lips touched hers Cooper felt like he was standing at the beginning of the what was going to turn out to be the best journey of his life, falling in love with a strong, brave, sweet woman.

The shot went wide, and Sarah cursed her body’s weakness as she swayed and went down hard.

Although she hadn’t shot Cooper’s boss she had stopped the man from stabbing him. Recovering quicker from her distraction than Hunt had, Cooper, swung a fist at his boss’ head, connecting with a crack she heard even from here, and the man dropped.

The world started to shimmer around the edges. Kind of going sparkly.

Could the world be sparkly?

Maybe they were snowflakes?

She was cold.

Through the haze she could see Cooper tying up his boss, and then he disappeared inside the van, a moment later three of him came out.

No.

Not three of him.

It was him and his partner and his partner’s girlfriend.

“Sarah?” Cooper’s face was suddenly large in her vision, and she startled. It was like he had turned into a giant. “Hold on, darlin.”

He touched something to her stomach and pain flared inside her so badly that she cried out and tried to move away from it.

Strong hands held her down.

“I’m sorry, honey, but we have to try to stop the bleeding,” Cooper told her. “An ambulance is coming, you just hold on, okay?”

Hold on?

Was she dying?

The world was floaty, and she was cold, maybe she was dying.

“Hold on, Sarah.” Cooper’s eyes latched onto hers and held them in a vice grip she couldn’t, nor did she want to, break. “I owe you a date remember? I believe I gave you a little preview of what you could expect. Did you forget, darlin? Need a reminder?”

He leaned down and his lips feathered across hers. As darkness came crashing down around her Sarah clung to the feeling of the kiss.

“Sarah!” Cooper screamed as she wrapped her arms around Hunt’s neck and sent them both falling from the van.

Her cry of pain when they landed spurred him on and he managed to wrench his hands through the ropes Sarah had managed to loosen.

With a howl of anger at the man who he had always considered a friend, Coop threw himself out of the van.

Sarah and Hunt were wrestling on the ground, and his boss was getting the upper hand, pinning an injured Sarah beneath him.

Coop flew at them and slammed a fist into the side of Hunt’s head. After all the man had done to him and his friends the last couple of days it felt good to be the one inflicting pain for a chance. Although the single blow he delivered did little to soothe his raging fury.

The blow was enough to knock Hunt sideways and Sarah shuffled away on her backside.

His attention was fixated on his boss and he grabbed for him. Hunt was still functional and swung a fist at his head that Cooper only just managed to dodge before delivering another blow to Hunt’s stomach.

The two of them were tousling when suddenly Sarah’s weak voice ordered, “Stop.”

Both their attention swung to Sarah and Cooper mentally cheered when he saw she had the gun in her shaking hands, she got it! Now they had the upper hand.

“Its over, Hunt,” he said, breathing hard. “Why are you doing this?”

Arrows of hatred all but shot from his boss’ eyes. “You killed Kyla,” he snarled.

Kyla?

Cooper wracked his brain trying to think of who Kyla was. “The CI?” he asked. The only Kyla he could think of was a young informant he’d used to get a dangerous drug dealer behind bars, who had been tragically murdered when the gang found out she had snitched.

“My daughter,” Hunt spat.

“Daughter?” He’d had no idea the young drug addict had been his boss’ daughter. “Kyla made her own choices. She wanted to get clean, wanted to testify against her dealer. It was tragic that she died but I didn’t pressure her into doing anything she didn’t want to do.”

“She’s dead because of you.” Hunt pulled a knife from a sheath at his waist and lunged.

The gunshot caught both of them by surprise.

Pain throbbed through her stomach. It was worse with Cooper covering her body with his own, pressing it into the floor of the van. She knew he was trying to protect her from the bullets but still she squirmed trying to escape the pain.

“We’re going for a little drive, when we get there I’m sure everything will be crystal clear,” someone said, and then she heard the van door slam closed.

“Any idea why our boss wants you dead?” Walt asked.

“None. Sarah, honey, you doing okay?” Cooper asked as he moved his body off hers.

“He shot me,” she murmured, clamping her teeth together to stop them from chattering. She was cold, her body trembling, and all she wanted to do was sleep.

“I know, darlin, I’m so sorry you got dragged into this mess. You just hold on okay, I’ll get you out of here.”

Sarah doubted any of them were making it out of this alive, but she heard the sorrow in Cooper’s voice, the guilt and recrimination, so she forced herself to reach out to him. “I believe you.”

“Darlin, are your hands free?” he asked, hope edging into his tone.

“Yes.”

“Ankles too?”

She moved her feet, wincing at the pain in her abdomen. “Yeah, ankles too.”

“The rest of us are tied up, do you think you can try to undo the ropes on my wrists?” Cooper asked. “No way we’re going to just hang around waiting for answers, we need to get ahead of him.”

“I can try,” she agreed, hating that the pressure to get them all free rested on her. She wasn’t cut out for this.

“I’m going to move so I’m right by your hands, don’t try to move too much, you’ve already lost a lot of blood and we don’t want you to start bleeding worse.”

When Cooper had shifted into position, Sarah lifted her shaking hands and did her best to ignore the pain pulsing through her body, and the rocking of the van as it drove that made her stomach churn, and tried to focus on untying Cooper.

She was maybe halfway when suddenly the van stopped moving.

“Lie still, Sarah, let him think you’re still unconscious so he has no reason to hurt you again,” Cooper ordered, shifting away from her.

She tried to do as he said, knowing he was going to do whatever it took to keep his boss’ attention on him, but that didn’t sit well with her. Cooper had saved her life in the river earlier, she couldn’t just lie here and let him put himself in danger for her again.

Was she brave enough to try to stop this crazy man herself?

“We’re here,” Cooper’s boss said cheerfully as he opened the back of the van and stepped inside. “Isn’t it nice everyone is here so they can all see what kind of man you really are, Cooper?”

“Leave the others out of this,” Coop growled.

“But they’re right in the middle of it, aren’t they?”

Hands curled around her and she felt herself being lifted up. If she wanted a chance to try to take him down there was never going to be a better one than this.

“Put her down, Hunt, she’s innocent, she only just met me,” Cooper said, and she could feel him straining to get to her even though her eyes were closed.

Hunt didn’t listen, and Sarah waited, biding her time. When she felt his balance shift as he went to step down out of the van she seized the opportunity. Wrapping her arms around his neck she squeezed as hard as she could.

Cooper’s boss stumbled, sending them both crashing to the ground. She cried out as pain shot through her but kept her focus on her goal, getting possession of the gun.

His body hit something hard.

The jolt of pain jarred him out of unconsciousness, and he lifted his head and looked around him. Cooper felt groggy, his head was spinning, and his body wouldn’t cooperate properly.

He was in a what looked like the back of a van, the light was dull but he could make out three bodies lying beside him.

Sarah, Walt, and Becca.

His wrists were bound behind his back and his ankles were tied together but he was able to wriggle across the space until he was beside Sarah’s too still body.

“Sarah,” he called nudging her but she didn’t stir.

“Coop?”

While keep his body in contact with Sarah’s he looked over at his partner. “Walt? You okay?”

“Yeah. You?”

“Sore but alive.” Given that they could have been inside the cabin when it exploded instead of beside it they were all lucky to be alive.

“Becca?” Walt called, and he moved across the van in the same awkward manner Cooper had given that he too was bound. “Becca, answer me.”

“Walt?” came the groggy reply.

“Are you okay?” Walt demanded, fear evident in his voice.

“I think so,” Becca replied.

They were all awake and appeared to be okay, although he knew his body was covered in cuts and bruises, he was sure the others were too, all except for Sarah.

“Something’s wrong with Sarah,” he said as he gently jostled again, trying to invoke a response of some sort. As he moved closer to try to brace her body with his own to protect her when the vehicle started moving he felt something wet soaking into his clothes.

Blood.

She was soaked in it.

Leaning over he found the source of her bleeding and his heart felt like it stopped beating.

“She’s been shot,” he told the others.

“Breathing?” Walt asked.

Cooper leaned down so his cheek was above her mouth. “Yeah. I’m sorry, you’re all in this mess because of me.”

“Not your fault someone is targeting you,” Becca reminded him.

Maybe so, but the facts were his partner, his partner’s girlfriend, and the woman he was attracted to were currently sitting tied up in the back of a van.

Three loud pops echoed outside.

He threw himself over Sarah, and she woke to another gunshot being fired. “Its okay,” he soothed, knowing it was anything but but wanting to keep her calm. Four people had just been killed and he still had no idea who was after him or why.

The van door opened and someone stepped up through it.

Cooper gasped when he saw who it was, Walt let out a muttered curse, and even Becca sucked in a shocked breath.

For a moment all Cooper could do was stare. This wasn’t possible. Why on earth would this man go to so much effort to try to destroy him?

A smirk lit his face and he took a step towards them. “Surprised to see me here?”

“I don’t understand,” Cooper replied.

His boss nodded, smirk still in place. “I know but you will.”