Page 6 of Escaped (Snowbound with a Stranger #3)

Unraveling Reality

Eli

Watching the contents of his skull paint the corridor beside us, Erin screamed, her hands rising to cover her mouth. My instinct was to comfort her, but the autopilot in my head dissuaded me. There would be time for solace, but it wasn’t while we were still standing in Hawkins’ bunker.

Surveying the scene, I counted the bodies at my feet. Another three had been added to my kill list, but three were still alive—including Hawkins himself—only seemingly unconscious from my efforts. If we were going to get out of there—and I was resolute that we were—it meant acting instead of stalling.

“Are you okay?”

What a ridiculous question to ask her.

“Y-yes, I…”

The woman trembling in front of me looked far from okay. Her face blanched as she stammered a response.

“I just can’t believe you shot him like that.”

Her focus darted to the mess the moron’s brains had left on the floor before she was forced to turn away.

“I told you not to look.”

It wasn’t much of a defense.

“But then you never can do as you’re told, can you?”

“No.”

Tears brimmed in her eyes as she glanced at me.

“It’s all right.”

I realized I was the antonym of reassurance, standing there holding a gun and likely covered in blood, but despite my calculated focus on getting the hell out of there, I couldn’t just ignore her distress.

“We’ll be all right, little girl. I’ll get you out of this.”

We’d been through so much already, more than many couples might have ever experienced in a lifetime, and through it all, I’d learned we needed to talk about how we were feeling. Even in the darkest of moments, expressions of concern for the other counted, and without decent communication, the feelings teeming between us had no chance of blooming.

“I know.”

She nodded, though I could still see the upset shining in her eyes.

Nothing I’d put her through at the cabin had compared to the current shitshow we faced, and staring into her soulful orbs, I wondered whether she’d ever be able to move past it. I hoped to anything holy that she could. Short of losing her, I knew allowing scum like Hawkins to pulverize the thing we’d started would be the worst outcome of all.

“Please, can we get out of here, s-sir?”

Employing my title at that of all times ratcheted the urge to hold her, and unthinkingly, I wandered around the hulking frame of my latest victim and took her hand. Frightened green eyes met mine as her gaze searched my expression.

“Yes,”

I squeezed her fingers.

“But you should take this… just in case.”

I ducked to grab the weapon nearest to my feet. The gun, presumably dropped by one of Hawkins’ goons, was still loaded as I pushed it into her digits.

“We don’t know when one of those idiots will wake up.”

I gazed down at the listless mob, hoping we could flee before we found out.

“Okay.”

She swallowed, grasping at the gun.

Erin—the woman who’d loathed the weapons—was clinging to one as if it was a life raft on a tempestuous ocean. Things had truly shifted since Hawkins and his men had gatecrashed the cabin.

“We just need to find a key to get that door open.”

My attention flitted to the enormous metal door trapping us into Hawkins’ bunker, landing on the panel that appeared to control the lock. Unlike most doors that required an actual ‘key,’ there was some sort of card system that appeared to release the locking mechanism, the blinking red light conveying what I’d already ascertained. It was locked.

“Hawkins probably has one.”

She glanced toward him.

“Is he d-dead?”

It was difficult to tell if her voice sounded hopeful or desolate.

“No.”

I hated to disappoint her, and staring at his vile body, I questioned my logic in not ending them all. The last thing we needed was one of them ‘coming back to life’ in the doorway.

“Just unconscious.”

Even injured, I’d managed to move through Hawkins and his lackies like a hot knife through butter.

“Let me check his pockets. It seems like we’re looking for a keycard.”

I paced toward the motionless prick. Crouching before him, I started with the pocket nearest, digging my hand far too close to his thigh for my liking in an attempt to expedite our escape.

“Be careful.”

Her voice was laced with tension as she approached.

“He could wake up.”

“Yeah.”

Finding nothing in the pocket, I rolled him onto his face to investigate the other side.

“There could be a keycard in his office.”

She sighed.

“If I’d thought, I could have looked while I was still there.”

“It’s okay.”

My heart rate sped up when my fingertips skimmed over the edge of something plastic and rectangular.

“This could be it.”

Tugging the object from his pocket, I held it aloft, my lips tugging as I turned the plastic card over.

“Looks hopeful.”

“Please, God.”

Her gaze rose to the ceiling in a silent prayer.

“Come here.”

Beckoning her toward me, I placed the gun down as her fingers slid between mine.

“This will work.”

It has to.

“And we’ll be on our way.”

For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, it was quiet excitement I saw flashing in her gaze as I waved the plastic at the control panel. I held my breath as the flashing red light paused.

“Please.”

She mouthed the word as her fingers tightened around mine.

“Let’s just get out of here.”

“I don’t think so.”

My blood ran cold at the male voice echoing from behind us, every fiber of my being knowing who it belonged to without even having to look. Yelping with fright, it was Erin who turned to face him first.

“Hawkins.”

I hissed the word between gritted teeth just as the mechanism flashed green. Heart hammering, I spun to find the bastard sitting upright, his gun pointed in our direction.

“I should have fucking killed you.”

“Yes, you should have.”

Hawkins grinned, his finger brushing the trigger.

“So, please, let me have the honor.”

My gaze searched for my weapon on the ground beside me, but I knew reaching for it wasn’t an option. I’d have been dead before I’d achieved the goal. My only flimsy hope was to push Erin and me to the ground and pray he ran out of bullets.

Not much of a plan…

In the nanoseconds that passed between the decision flitting into my head and my body moving to act, the deafening noise of fresh gunshots boomed around us.

Too late.

Tension cramped in my stomach as the conclusion resonated—the realization possibly the final thought I’d ever have. Flinching on reflex, I cringed as I leaped for the ground and attempted to yank her down with me, but I already knew it was over.

Hawkins had won.

I hadn’t put the bastard down when I’d had the chance, acting on some misguided desire to keep the body count low for Erin, and I was about to pay the price. All I could think as I braced for the fresh pain was that I should have seen it coming, should have done better, but all I’d done was hand her to Hawkins on a fucking plate.

Falling to my knees and tugging her with me, it took another few seconds for me to accept that I hadn’t just been sprayed with bullets. Not only was I still alive, but I hadn’t been hit again at all.

“Oh, fuck!”

Erin’s shaky voice stirred me from my self-imposed stupor, and lifting my head, I noticed she was leaning against the door, the gun she was holding drawn in front of her.

“Little girl?”

My focus flew from the shock on her ashen face to the bloodied mess that was Hawkins’ body, the pieces of the puzzle slotting into place in my head.

“You shot him!”

I didn’t know why I sounded so stunned. Staring at her outstretched arms, it was the only explanation.

“Oh, God!”

She dropped the gun, quivering as she slid down the metal still trapping us inside.

“What have I done?”

“You saved us.”

There was no doubt about that as I lowered to my haunches.

“You saved me.”

Reaching for her chin, I guided her attention toward me.

“Thank you, little girl.”

Furrowing brows echoed the confusion gleaming in her gaze.

“I… I shot him.”

“You did what you had to do,”

I soothed. What I failed to do… “Without you, we’d probably both be dead.”

Though looking at her sickened shock, I wasn’t sure how much consolation that was to her.

“Oh, God,”

she repeated, thick tears falling from her eyes.

“I killed him.”

“Come on.”

Tugging her to her feet, I held her close while I waved the card over the control panel again.

“Let’s get out of here.”

It had been a long time since I’d had any genuine qualms about taking the lives of those I’d killed, but her disbelief was entirely normal for someone who hadn’t slain targets for a living.

Erin had been leading a so-called normal life until she’d agreed to go hiking with her friend, and then, due to a series of bizarre and unforeseen circumstances, she’d been flung into the maelstrom of my sordid life.

Whatever transpired once we were free from the bunker, I’d need to make sure she had the support she needed to try and come to terms with recent events.

Taking another life was forever. No amount of therapy would change what she’d done. There was no coming back.

“But, sir?”

She twisted against me, trying to look back at her handiwork, but I was already bundling her toward the opening door.

“Don’t look, little girl.”

It wasn’t the first time I’d told her that, but I hoped to the God she was so keen on referencing that she’d listen that time.

“Stay with me.”

“Okay.”

Her hands reached around me, grasping at my clothing as I edged her to freedom.

Frigid air rushed to greet us, smacking us in the face the way a stiff drink might have done in another, better time, but for once, I was pleased for its welcome. The cold that had once been our enemy was a friend, an indication that, however we’d achieved it, we’d managed to outwit Hawkins.

“Hang on to me.”

Leaving the door ajar for when Baron hopefully followed us, I whispered into her hair.

“Let’s see if we can find that garage.”

Hawkins wouldn’t be needing the car anymore.

Staring at the path leading away from the door, I was surprised at how little snow covered the area.

There were patches of the frozen white stuff on the grass, but the trail seemed mainly clear.

Perhaps my disorientation in the chopper had affected my judgment and we’d traveled farther than I’d realized.

Or, maybe the storm that had dumped the snow had moved on and the ground had started to thaw.

Lifting my head to the sky, I breathed in the fresh air.

There was no way of knowing if the hazy light meant the sun was rising or falling, but I’d never been so fucking grateful to be unsure.

By the time my eyes had fully adjusted to the flooding, pale light, Erin was sobbing quietly into my side, but I acknowledged that, for once, she’d complied, turning away from the carnage behind us and focusing on the only thing that mattered.

Our future.