Harlequin Intrigue April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 Carol Ericson (short books to read TXT) 📖

The beam from the headlamp had been firmly turned away from her. Remi pulled her wrists apart and set her teeth as the coarse strands ripped sensitive skin in the process. Her lack of vision suddenly felt as though it were crushing the oxygen from her veins. She had to keep him talking. Distracted. “He was casing the...building. Looking for...a target.”

“And he found one.” Her attacker hadn’t moved. “I came home, unlocked my door and went inside. Same as I did night after night. He was already waiting for me. He’d picked the lock on the dead bolt and hid in my coat closet. I hadn’t realized I wasn’t alone before he’d knocked me unconscious.” A hollowness had entered her abductor’s voice, still unmoving across the cavern. “When I woke up, I was tied to a chair with rope, duct tape over my mouth. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t even scream as he cut me over and over. I thought each slice of his blade would be my last, but the nightmare never ended. Not until I’d blacked out.”

“You survived.” Remi stilled as the rope around her wrists slackened with stretch. He couldn’t see her. Not without turning the headlamp on her again, and she had enough strength left to take advantage. Arching her back, she pressed her elbows as close to one another as she could and shimmied her hands up and down until the rope slid down the length of her fingers. The pain in her side intensified, but she couldn’t scream out. She brought her hands forward, relieved for the increased blood flow to her aching shoulders. Leaning forward, she stifled the groan building in her chest as agony tore through her midsection. Blood spread across her shirt and flowed into the waistband of her pants. Sticky. Warm. She couldn’t think about that right now. Couldn’t focus on more than getting the rope around her ankles loose. “How?”

“I still ask myself that same question. Somedays, I think it was basic survival. Adrenaline, faster reflexes, a basic instinct to live.” His voice had grown louder, closer, and desperation clawed through Remi at the realization. The headlamp hadn’t moved from its position about ten feet away, but her attacker had. He was closing in, using the darkness to his advantage. How? “Other days, I recognize what Del Howe brought out in me the day he stole my life.”

“And what’s that?” Silence descended all around her. Panic overtook her, and she rushed to get free of the rope at her ankles. Only the sound of her shallow breathing filled her ears. She pulled a strand loose, and the rest of the maze of rope around her ankles fell apart. Kicking the ties away, Remi stumbled to her feet, her back against the wall.

There wasn’t enough light produced by the distant headlamp to give her any idea of where the exit was, but she could follow the wall long enough to get the hell away from her would-be killer. Her nails dug into the soft stone as she sidestepped along the perimeter of the cave. Run. Hide. Escape. There was no other option in her condition. Particles of dirt fell around her shoulders and head with every step, and she covered her nose and mouth with the crook of her inner arm. She couldn’t afford to make a single sound. Not if she wanted to survive this.

“My own kind of monster.” A fist connected with the side of her face.

Lightning streaked across her vision, and she hit the cave floor. Remi barely had time to wonder how he’d found her in the shadows when his boot struck her ribs. Pain, unlike anything she’d experienced before, overwhelmed her nervous system and tore a scream from her throat. The headlamp’s dim light outlined her attacker enough for her to block the second strike to her midsection, and she latched onto his foot and twisted as hard as she could.

The hard drop of his body kicked up dust into her face and eyes. She couldn’t see, couldn’t think. Dirt and shadows had stolen her vision. She couldn’t rely on the light if she was going to get out of here. Remi scrambled to her feet, her fingertips using the cave walls as guidance. She pumped her legs as fast as she could and held one hand above her head to stop herself from running into lower sections of ceiling. Her palms burned with friction, but she wouldn’t stop. Couldn’t.

“You’re going the wrong way, Sheriff...” The taunting undertone in his voice echoed in her ears, but Remi only forced herself to keep going. “The faster you run from me, the faster you seal your own fate. You’ll never get out. Not without me. Oh, and mind the drop.”

Drop? The floor disappeared from beneath her feet, and her heart lurched into her throat. Her backside slammed against the angled cave floor. Rock and solid bubbles of cool stone tore holes through her pants and shirt as she fell countless seconds. Five? Ten? Her feet were the first to hit solid ground, and her legs collapsed out from under her. She rolled twice—three times—before settling flat on her back. A groan escaped her control as she clamped onto the stab wound in her side. The sob bubbling in her chest ached to break free, but she wouldn’t give in to the hopelessness churning inside. Not yet. She might be running in the wrong direction, but the alternative meant running toward her abductor’s knife.

Remi fanned her free arm out to one side and hit a rough formation sprouting from the ground like cairns of stones fused together. The floor here seemed to be constructed of the same bubble-like shapes as in the section of the cave her assailant had held her, reminding her these tunnels—these tubes—had once been molten lava. Cool air brushed against her overheated skin. She held her breath and waited for the sound of her kidnapper following her down the drop.

Only the fast-paced