Tag: suspense

“This is it,” Adam warned. “Last chance to back out.”

“I’m not backing out. We’re doing this together,” Zara said stubbornly.

What did I do to deserve you, Zara?” Adam asked, as he tucked a lock of hair back up under her black knit cap. This beautiful, strong woman had refused to leave his cabin even after she had healed, telling him over and over again that they would face the future together, and to do that they had to take care of the past. Something else they would do together.

“You mean what did I do to deserve a man like you,” she corrected, standing on tiptoe to whisper a kiss across his lips. “You saved my life, you nursed me back to health, and you have never once held my father’s actions against me.”

He’d done all of those things because Zara was … special. The months they’d spent hiding out at the remote cabin had built a closeness between them that had become his anchor. He needed her, simple as that.

Grasping her hand, he guided her towards the house, the two of them broke in. They headed straight for the master bedroom, once they got there it would be a waiting game. As far as the world was concerned they were both already dead, so there was no reason for Zara’s father to be expecting them.

As much as Adam would love to drag this out, make the man pay for the pain he had caused his daughter, Adam knew that a simple bullet through the brain as soon as the older man stepped into the bedroom was the safest option. Quick and effective.

They’d been stalking Zara’s father for the last few weeks, they knew his routines, knew that he would be home soon, knew that his wife was currently away, knew that his bodyguards remained outside.

There was nothing stopping them from completing the hit then disappearing forever.

They stood side by side in the dim bedroom. Neither spoke because they didn’t want to do anything to tip Zara’s father off to their presence.

Almost an hour later they heard him.

Zara’s hand curled around his and he gave one squeeze before raising his weapon and aiming it at the door.

In the end it was almost anti-climatic. Zara’s father stepped into the bedroom and never even saw the bullet that ended his life coming. While it might feel anti-climatic the relief was overwhelming. They were safe now.

“We’re free,” Zara whispered, and when she looked up at him tears shimmered in her eyes but her smile was genuine.

“We’re free,” he echoed.

“Thank you.” Again she stood on tiptoes so she could kiss him but this time the kiss deepened.

In this moment, with a dead body on the floor beside them, blood pooling around it, and the woman he cared for in his arms Adam knew it was more than that.

Love.

He loved Zara.

Somewhere along the way when he’d been caring for her real feelings had developed. He would always live with the guilt of being partly responsible for the death of his wife and daughter, but he had learned to open his heart again.

For her.

This woman kissing him like her life depended on it.

He might not deserve her, or the happy ending life seemed to be giving him, but he wasn’t going to turn it down.

Zara sat up and stretched. The pull in her chest had lessened until it wasn’t much more than a mild annoyance.

Throwing back the covers the surveyed the empty cabin, and then headed for the front door. Adam was exactly where she expected to find him, sitting in the porch swing, staring out at the peaceful countryside.

It really was peaceful out here. The little log cabin sat on the shore of a lake, large trees provided shade, and every night for the last several months they’d sat out here and watched the sun set and the moon rise.

Things between them had begun to shift over the months. At first Adam took care of her, changing her bandages, even donating blood to get her over the worst of her injuries. But as her body healed she could see his mind begin to heal as well. No longer was he plagued by nightmares, and she could see the guilt that had strangled him begin to recede.

Her last memory of that night was an explosion, and they were both lifted off their feet, hitting the ground hard, but she knew that Adam had somehow managed to get her to safety. She owed him her life.

As she started to recover there had been lots of longing looks and lingering touches, and just a couple of weeks ago they’d shared their first kiss. It had been spectacular, by far the best kiss of her life, but Zara wanted more. She wanted all of Adam, but she knew she couldn’t get him until they finished this.

“How are you feeling?” Adam asked as she joined him on the swing.

For a moment she didn’t answer, watching as the sun rose slowly above the lake. The pale blues of the sky turned to a bright array of pinks, reds, and golds. The pictures that nature painted had helped soothe and heal her every bit as much as Adam had.

“I’m feeling better, Adam. Its time,” she added.

She felt rather than saw his wince. “I can take care of it, you don’t have to be involved. Now that you’re well again I can leave you here then come back when its done.”

Would he come back? Yes, she believed he would. He was opening his heart and his soul to her, and she knew she had gained his trust. But she didn’t want him to do this on his own.

“No,” she said firmly. “He’s my father, I want to be there.”

“We’re talking about murder, Zara. Cold blooded murder.”

“He was going to kill me and set you up. He deserves what he gets.” The thing was she believed it. Zara might have been able to forgive him for trying to kill her, but she could never forgive him for wanting to set up Adam. She was falling in love with Adam, and she wanted a future with him, the only thing that had kept them alive this long was that her father thought they were dead. But she wanted them to both be free.

The only way for them to be free was to kill her father and eliminate the threat forever.

Their cockiness was their undoing.

Adam waited until the door closed behind Zara’s father and the one man who had remained behind with him before he cautiously got up.

They had been so sure that they’d eliminated him as a threat that nobody had bothered to check to see if he was bleeding out or already dead. If he hadn’t been wearing the Kevlar he’d be dead, as it was he’d have a horrible bruise and he was sure several broken ribs.

But he had what he needed. Proof that Zara’s father was involved in drug trafficking, and that he intended to set up his daughter’s death to look like it had been committed by Adam’s hand.

Well that wasn’t happening.

Staying low in case they were still out there, he crawled to Zara. A large puddle of blood ringed her body, but when he touched his fingertips to her throat he felt a pulse.

“Don’t give up on me, Zara,” he begged as he ripped off his shirt and held it to the wound in her chest.

“Adam?” She blinked groggily up at him. “Thought you were dead.”

“I’m not that easy to kill,” he said, forcing a smile.

She smiled back briefly before it faded. “You have to go. He’s going to set you up.”

“Heard everything,” he told her.

“But you were shot.”

“Kevlar, remember?”

From the looks of things Zara fought to stay awake, but she nodded. “Forgot about that.”

“Too bad you weren’t wearing one,” he murmured. “We have to get out of here.”

“Too late for me, you go,” Zara murmured, pushing weakly at him.

“Uh uh,” he shook his head adamantly. “We’re both getting out of here.”

Adam retrieved his weapon and then unpacked his backpack, grabbing his first aid kit. He had to try to stop the bleeding before they both got out of here.

By the time he was done Zara had passed out, but she was still breathing, so he had to hope there was a chance he wasn’t about to lose her. Putting his backpack back on he scooped up an unconscious Zara and headed for the back window.

He’d just climbed through it when the cabin exploded.

There’s no way out.

That was the first thought Zara had as Adam crumpled to the floor.

How was she going to get both of them out of here alive?

Her father wasn’t going to give her any special treatment just because she was his daughter, she was in just as much danger as Adam was. While it was true she had found evidence to suggest that her father was involved in something illegal, probably trafficking drugs, she had no idea of the connection to Adam.

A coincidence that was going to get them both killed.

A man she hadn’t seen before stepped out into view and eyed Adam’s body. “What do you want to do with him?”

“Leave him. We’ll set the scene to look like he shot her at the house, she ran here, he followed, she got a shot off at him before the cabin exploded,” her father said like she was nothing. “We intended to set up the murder suicide at the house but here will work just as well. Since he blew up the cars we’ll have to get remove ours, bring his in. Then we set the cabin to explode so it makes sense when they find pieces of car blown about.”

Her father’s words were said without any emotion and it really hit Zara just how little she meant to him. She’d always known it but she hadn’t realised he could be this vicious and ruthless.

“What are you going to do with her?” the man asked with a nod at her.

“This.” With that one word her father plunged the knife into her chest and tossed her body aside like trash.

Then he and the other man turned and walked out the door, leaving her to bleed out alongside Adam’s already dead body.

He’d taken out the cabin’s generator, which meant the lights were now out, and he’d blown up both cars. As men came spilling out of the cabin he picked them off one by one.

Four men, now all dead.

Was Zara’s father amongst them?

As he cautiously approached the now dark cabin he got the answer to his question.

“What’s going on and why do you think I’m a traitor Daddy?” Zara’s loud voice said. There was fear in her tone but strength as well, she was trying to warn him.

Despite the graveness of their situation, Adam felt his lips curve into a small smile as he slipped up the steps of the porch. Since losing his family he had closed himself off, vowed that he would never allow another person into his life, and yet here Zara was, forcing her way in regardless of what he wanted.

And shockingly he liked it. He wanted her to fight for him, maybe even needed it, and right now it felt good to have someone he could trust watching his back.

Zara’s father had to be expecting him, so there didn’t seem like there was any point in trying to sneak in.

Weapon raised he walked through the front door and tried not to lose it when he saw the knife at Zara’s neck.

The sight made rage pulse through him.

Knowing he had the advantage of his night vision goggles he moved through the cabin knowing he was just a shadow to Zara’s father.

“She’s your daughter, don’t do something you’ll regret,” Adam said, knowing the man would feel none for ending his own child’s life.

“She betrayed her family,” the man growled. “She found proof that I was involved in smuggling drugs and the slaughter of your team. When she took this job I knew it was just a front that she was really here to compare notes so the two of you could take us down. I couldn’t let that happen.”

The man was certainly a blabbermouth, admitting to running drugs, and participating in the killing of a Navy SEAL team. It made it clear that Zara’s father intended to be the only one to walk out of here alive.

Continuing to circle the room, making Zara’s father have to constantly keep moving in an attempt to keep him in sight, Adam prepared to take a shot. He didn’t want to kill the man, and he had to be careful that Zara didn’t get caught in the crossfire, but he had spent his entire life doing this.

Just as he was lining up the shot, pain slammed into him from behind, stealing his breath and sending him crumpling to the floor.