Read Online Resurrection River: Men of Mercy, Book 2 by Lindsay Cross - Free Book Online Page B

the background through the phone. A door slammed. A car cranked.
    “I’m in my bedroom.” Amy took a deep breath, fought back the tears. Chloe was on the other side of the house. Her little baby, alone. Innocent. Amy scrambled for the baby monitor, pressed it to her ear. She heard Chloe’s soft even breathing.
    Another crack. Louder, longer. What if the metal rod was bending? She stood, holding the phone and baby monitor.
    But her feet wouldn’t move forward. She backed away from her door. Retreating until her back hit the wall.
    “The gun, Amy. Where is your gun? Can you get it?”
    Amy shook her head, no. Where was it?
    Another bang, followed by more cracking.
    “Amy, I need a verbal response. Can you get to your gun?” Bo’s smooth voice ripped her thoughts from death and rape. Being sold into slavery.
    “It’s...It’s, I can’t think.” She gripped the monitor harder, holding onto the device, like she could somehow anchor to Chloe.
    Why hadn’t she told Ranger about the strange sounds she’d heard in the past couple of weeks? The lights she swore she saw in her old barn at night? Maybe they weren’t her imagination. Maybe it had been Santos all along.
    “Amy, listen, I know you’re scared, but I need you to take a deep breath. Focus,” Bo said. Amy heard cursing through the phone in the background. Ranger. Her eyes squeezed tight.
    Would she ever see Ranger again? Would she get the chance to tell him she really did care for him? That she wanted him in her life?
    She heard a scraping sound through the phone, rough breathing, and a new voice. This one harsh. Dark. And sent from Heaven. “Amy, honey, I need you to listen to me, okay?”
    The tears threatening her eyes spilled down her. “I’m scared.”
    “It’s okay, honey. We’re almost there. But I need you to get your pistol. Do you still keep it in your closet?”
    Bang!
    Amy jumped, flattened her back to the wall. That one sounded like the hinges broke loose from the door.
    “Dammit, Bo, go faster. I can hear the bastard through the phone.”
    “Ranger,” Amy whispered. Frozen in fear like a statue. Unable to run. To speak.
    “Amy Ann Carter. Go to your closet right now.” Ranger’s harsh tone snapped her attention back to reality.
    “I can’t. I can’t get my feet to move.” They might as well be cement.
    “Concentrate on my voice. I’m not going to let you go. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. I want you to walk to your closet. Now.”
    Amy concentrated. Focused her energy on picking up her right foot and taking a step.
    Bang. Metal crunched. Her back hit the wall again, that one small step getting her nowhere.
    “I think...I think he’s in the house.”
    “Dammit Amy, move your ass to the closet now.” Ranger’s voice rose.
    The closet.
    Her gun.
    Her baby.
    “Chloe.” Amy breathed, her throat closed off. No oxygen, no air could get through. She hid in her room like a scared rabbit. Left her baby alone and unprotected.
    “Don’t go out there. I’m almost there.” Ranger’s voice was desperate.
    Fear for her child obliterated the selfish terror for her own life. Only a coward would be too scared to take care of her own flesh and blood. No. “I’m going to get Chloe.”Amy ignored Ranger’s shouts, and without looking at the screen, tapped the hang up button and shoved her cell into her robe pocket. She dropped the monitor on the bed and ran into the closet, ripped open the gun cabinet and pulled out her shotgun.
    She flew back through her bedroom and grabbed the door handle.
    Glass shattered.
    Her heart skittered through her chest so fast she almost passed out. No. No fear. Protect her baby. She swallowed, clutched the gun, and slowly turned the knob and opened the door to her bedroom. So scared now she couldn’t feel her fingers or feet.
    She swallowed, but her throat didn’t work. Her hands shook. Chloe. Chloe. Chloe. Amy repeated her daughter’s name over and over. Stepping from her bedroom into the