Buried Secrets by Margaret Daley

Author:Margaret Daley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2007-06-28T16:00:00+00:00

NINE

The words kill her struck terror in Maggie’s heart.

Her attacker’s icy stare stabbed into her while his beefy hand covered her mouth. The salty taste of his sweat on his skin sickened her.

“Ah, such a shame I’m in a hurry. We could have some fun.”

She couldn’t take her gaze from his. His contorted image swam in front of her as fear paralyzed her. For a fleeting second a vision of Brad Wentworth swam in front of her eyes. Then the nick of the knife brought her out of her trance. She was going to die.

Lord, help!

“Such a waste.” He shifted.

Headlights sliced across the wall. He jerked up and around toward the window, his hand slipping some from her mouth. “What the—”

He moved enough to free one of her arms. She yanked it up, grabbing for anything on the table to use as a weapon, while her scream rocked the room. She grasped something solid as he cursed and swiveled back toward her. His grip on the knife tightened. He pulled it back as if to ram it into her heart.

She twisted and screamed again, slamming the alarm clock into the side of his face. His eyes widened. He shook his head. The gleam of the metal caught Maggie’s attention, poised above her for that split second before it started its downward trek.

The door crashed open. Zach rushed inside, diverting her attacker enough that she managed to roll away as the point of the steel plunged toward her. The knife stabbed the mattress next to her arm, the blade cutting through her shirt and skin. For a few heartbeats she felt nothing, then pain radiated upward from the wound.

Her attacker pulled the weapon out of the mattress and shot off the bed to face Zach. Heedless of the danger he was in, Zach rushed him as if he were a line-backer. Anger set Zach’s face in a feral look.

The masked man lunged toward Zach. Before the steel found its mark, the blast of a gun thundered through the air. Her ears ringing from the sound, Maggie scrambled away while her assailant fell back on the bed, the knife dropping to the floor. He clutched his arm, blood pouring out between his fingers.

Maggie looked toward the doorway, the stench of sulfur in the air. Evelyn pointed a handgun at their assailant while Zach snatched up the knife.

Legs shaking, Maggie stood on the far side of the bed, staring at the scene before her. The man bled all over the covers, his curses echoing through the room.

“Call Hawke, Zach.” Evelyn moved forward.

“Here, let me have that, and you go call your son.” Zach slipped the knife into his back pocket, then took the gun. As Evelyn left, his glance flicked over Maggie. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she choked out, the smell of gunpowder nauseating.

“Are you sure?” His gaze lit upon her arm, his expression grim as he took in her injury.

She peered down at the trail of blood streaking down her sleeve. She examined the wound, which burned.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.