Page 16 of Fighting for Lucy

Peace he didn't deserve.

Peace he would find only in death.

As nice as it would be to fade into oblivion and finally escape the torment that would follow him for the remainder of his life, right now he couldn’t.

He had to find Lucy.

Knowing she was vulnerable to whoever had shot at them made his gut churn in the most unpleasant way, and there was a constriction in his chest that Zander didn't quite understand. It was one thing not to want to see another innocent die, it was another thing to want to protect a woman who was important to his sister, but it felt like so much more than that.

It felt likeheneeded Lucy to be okay.

The attraction he’d always felt toward her seemed to have grown into something so much more, although he had no idea how it had happened. Maybe it was the first time she sassed him in that plane, maybe it was seeing her anger directed toward him and knowing it was born out of protectiveness for someone she loved. Or maybe it was the way she seemed to sense what he was feeling even though he was an expert at hiding it.

The trail of mangled bodies left behind after he and his team were captured was a testament to that skill. Only with Lucy, the skill seemed to vanish.

Now she needed him, and he wasn’t there.

There had been no sound from her. She wasn’t still up there and hadn't called out to him or tried to help in any way. Just because her job wasn’t one that required her to be out in the field didn't mean she had no idea of what was going on. She knew they’d been shot at, and knew she would have to run if she was going to have any chance at surviving.

“I’m coming, sassy girl.”

The words offered him strength severely lacking in his exhausted body, and he gripped the side of the hill, ready to drag himself back up it. A pull in his bicep and the streaks of blood down his arm surprised him, and he realized for the first time that the bullet that had been fired had actually hit him.

Better him than Lucy.

Not wanting to waste time—time Lucy might not have—tending to the wound, Zander ignored it, and instead, somehow managed to find a foothold and began what would be a torturous climb back up the cliff.

Every time he felt like giving up, every time it felt like he couldn’t make it, he reminded himself of the woman counting on him and managed to make it another foot.

Foot after foot he climbed.

By the time he dragged himself over the ledge, his arms and legs were trembling, he was breathing hard and coated in sweat.

But there was no time to sit around and recoup lost energy.

At least half a dozen sets of prints told him that people had been here recently, no doubt looking down to see if he’d survived the fall. That meant there were at least half a dozen armed men currently on Lucy’s trail.

“Hold on, sassy girl.”

Please, hold on.

CHAPTER FIVE

January 22nd

5:30 P.M.

Check on Zander or run?

Lucy knew the sensible answer to that question was to run.

Now.

As fast as she could.

If she wanted any chance of getting away from the shooter, she couldn’t afford to waste a single second.

But …