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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Maggie’s heart was in her throat when Roman slowed the vehicle. He pulled off the side of the road, thick bushes and small trees scraping against the side of the car as he did. She prayed they’d leave a mark; it would be one more piece of evidence against Roman.

He shut off the car and turned to look at her. The smile on his face made her blood run cold. “Ready for some fun?” he asked. “Well, fun for me maybe, not so much for you.” Then he laughed as he opened his door and got out.

Maggie braced herself.

The second he opened the back door, she was moving.

She leapt forward as best she could from her seated position and raked her nails down his face.

He stumbled backward but grabbed her as he fell. They both landed on the asphalt, and Maggie immediately tried to get up and run .

Roman caught her ankle and she went down, hitting her chin on the street so hard, her teeth rattled in her head. Roman was on her then, holding her face down, wrenching her arms behind her until her shoulders felt as if they were being pulled out of their sockets.

It was just her luck that there was no traffic at that moment. Any other time, there would probably be tons of people driving by, but it felt as if she and Roman were the only two people on the planet right then.

Roman yanked her to her feet, still holding her hands behind her, and shoved her toward the bushes.

Maggie opened her mouth and screamed as loud as she could, hoping against hope that someone, somewhere, would hear her and call the police. But almost as soon as sound left her throat, Roman’s hand clamped over her mouth and nose. Cutting off her air.

He was taller than she was by almost a foot. Stronger too. Maggie couldn’t win in a physical fight against him, and right now, all she could think about was getting air into her lungs.

She didn’t notice the scrapes of the bushes against her body as Roman pushed them through to the small strip of sand on the other side. The early-evening sun glinted off the water, and she vaguely noticed how pretty the sunset was with the clouds.

She thought of a different beach, a different time. When she and Shawn had lain on the sand and looked up at the stars. She’d loved that beach, and didn’t want the feel of sand on her back to forever remind her of this moment…if she survived.

Just when Maggie thought she was going to pass out, Roman removed his hand from her face.

She gulped in air, trying not to hyperventilate. In her desperate attempt to get oxygen to her lungs, she didn’t notice how close they’d gotten to the water until she felt the wetness on her feet.

She tripped over the rocks at the shore, making it easy for Roman to push her to her knees. The water lapped at her thighs as she renewed her struggle to get away from her would-be murderer.

But he simply laughed at her attempts to escape. “You’re more trouble than you’re worth,” he said as he bent her farther, so her face was almost touching the water.

“You were an easy mark,” he said quietly. “Pathetic. Desperate for attention. You were the worst I ever had in bed too. Cold as a fucking fish. I’ve had limp whores who were better than you. I hadn’t counted on you getting pulled over, but it was fun to watch you go down for those drugs. I got off just thinking about you being miserable, crying behind bars. I did that. Me .

“And I’m looking forward to reliving this moment so many more nights in the future. The way you’re going to squirm and thrash as I hold you down. The moment your lungs fill with water and your heart stops beating. I can’t fucking wait. The quickest way to die will be to just inhale as soon as I shove your face under the water. I want you to fight, because it’s more exciting that way. But if you’re smart, which I know you aren’t, you’ll just give in to the inevitable.”

Maggie was crying now, her tears falling into the ocean inches beneath her face. She tried once more to loosen Roman’s grip around her wrists held at the small of her back, but it was no use.

“Fuck you, Maggie. You’re nobody . A loser. And I regret ever meeting you and wasting one goddamn second of my time on you. But I’m sure going to enjoy the aftermath of your death. Of fucking with your SEAL and sending him to his death. I’ll make sure to leak all the plans of the next mission I send him on to the enemy. They’ll be waiting. Loverboy and his team will soon be dead. Blown to pieces. Never to be found—just like you.”

Then without warning, he shoved her forward.

Maggie’s head went under the water, and all plans she’d had to try to get her DNA on Roman, or to mark him further, went out the window. She couldn’t breathe, the sandy bottom scraped against her cheeks as she did exactly what he wanted, thrashed and flailed, doing everything she could to get her head above water, to no avail.

Blackness crept into the edges of her vision, and just when she’d held her breath as long as she could and was about to inhale in a desperate attempt to live a few more precious seconds—the weight on her back disappeared.

Maggie whipped her head out of the water and sucked in lifesaving oxygen.

She wasn’t aware of anything but the feel of being able to breathe again, her pulse beating loudly in her ears…when something finally caught her attention to her right.

Turning her head, she saw Roman and another man fighting in the shallow surf.

Fight or flight finally kicked in, and she frantically crab walked backward, away from the water, away from the man who’d just tried to kill her. Who would’ve succeeded if it wasn’t for whoever had obviously ripped him off her.

It didn’t take more than a few additional seconds for Maggie to recognize the other man.

Shawn.

What…? How?

It felt impossible that he was there. That he’d arrived exactly when she needed him most. But Maggie didn’t know why she was so surprised. Shawn was her knight in shining armor, the man who, in the short time she’d known him, had always been there for her, and who she had a feeling always would be in the future.

She had no idea what to do. How she could help him. Looking around, panting heavily, she scrambled on her hands and knees and picked up one of the heavy rocks near the shore. To do what with, she wasn’t sure. Bash Roman’s head in? Throw it at him?

But honestly, it didn’t look as though Shawn needed help. The two men were about the same height, but Shawn obviously had more experience in hand-to-hand combat—and he was clearly more motivated.

The men didn’t speak, they were only grunting as they fought .

It was brutal, but Maggie didn’t take her eyes off them for a moment. Her chest heaved with her need to continue to replenish the oxygen in her body, and she impatiently scraped her wet hair out of her face so she could see what was happening more clearly.

The sound of screeching tires up on the road was a huge relief. Others had arrived. They’d help Shawn. Make sure Roman wouldn’t escape and somehow come after her again. Follow through with his threats of treason against his country just to make Shawn and his SEAL team disappear.

Even as she heard several people moving through the thick bushes toward them, Roman picked up a rock to use as a weapon, aiming right for Shawn’s head.

She drew back her own arm, about to throw her rock at Roman, but Maggie had time to do little more than gasp when Shawn ducked, then used his right leg to kick her ex—hard.

His boot connected with Roman’s throat.

Maggie heard a gurgling noise come from her ex—then he fell backward into the water, landing with a huge splash.

To Maggie’s surprise, he didn’t immediately leap up and go after her or Shawn. He lay in the water, unmoving. Face up, eyes unblinking.

Then Shawn was in front of her, blocking her view of the man who had literally made her life a living hell. His hands gripped her head tightly. “Maggie? Are you all right? Can you breathe? Put down the rock, I’ve got you. Fuck , I need to get you to the hospital. ”

She reached up and gripped his wrists. “I’m okay.” At least, that was what she’d meant to say, but as soon as the first word was out, she started violently coughing.

“Preacher!”

Both her and Shawn’s heads swiveled to see Kevlar bursting through the vegetation. Followed closely by the rest of the SEAL team.

“Is she okay?” Safe asked, dropping to his knees beside them in the wet sand.

MacGyver joined his teammates on her other side, and Maggie felt Blink’s hand on her shoulder as he stood behind her. She was completely surrounded by the men. They’d closed ranks, and she had no doubt that she was protected…and loved. These men had become her family, and she couldn’t help but tear up again.

“He’s dead,” Kevlar said, dragging Roman’s body out of the water and onto the sand.

“Shit,” Flash swore. Then he looked at Maggie. “Not that I’m upset he’s dead, just that this is going to be hard to explain.”

Her mind spun. She was a convicted felon. Being anywhere near a dead body wasn’t going to look good for her. She knew how the world worked. The first thing the cops did was check everyone’s records. And the fact that she’d blamed Roman for planting the drugs during her criminal investigation gave her a very good reason to want him dead.

Before anyone could say anything else, Kevlar’s phone rang. It was a strange sound in the middle of the chaotic scene.

“Kevlar here. Uh-huh. Yes. Right…No shit? Damn, Tex, you’re amazing! Oh, it wasn’t? Well, I’m going to want to meet this chick and thank her personally.” He chuckled a bit. “New Mexico. Right. We can do that. Yeah, I’ll let them know. We’ll talk soon.”

The second Kevlar clicked off the connection, he turned to the group. “That was Tex. He said that a computer chick in New Mexico hacked into the government’s spy satellites and recorded everything that happened here. Video’s grainy, but it clearly shows Maggie and Robertson fighting along the road, before he brought her to the water and held her under until you showed up, Preacher.”

Maggie frowned in confusion. A videotape from space? It sounded too crazy to be true.

“Seriously? Good. No, great !” MacGyver said.

“I’m calling NCIS,” Smiley said. He’d pulled Roman’s body farther away from the water, and Maggie hadn’t missed how he’d “accidentally” kicked the man in the side while doing so.

NCIS…She tensed. The authorities had to be contacted, Maggie knew that, but the ramifications could be bad for her.

“I’m sure Tex is transferring the video to them right now,” Shawn told her gently. “It’ll be okay. I’m more worried about you. Your chin is bleeding, and he had your head underwater. How much water did you inhale? I need to get you to the hospital.”

But Maggie shook her head. Her chin was throbbing where she’d hit it on the asphalt, and her side ached from that asshole’s knife…but amazingly, she felt good, all things considered. “You got here in time. I didn’t swallow any water.”

“Thank fuck,” Shawn breathed.

“How did you find me so fast?” she couldn’t help but ask.

“I put a tracker in your purse,” Shawn told her sheepishly. “Are you mad?”

“Mad?” Maggie asked. “No. Why would I be? You saved my life.” And with that, she burst into tears once more. All the emotions she’d felt in the last ten minutes had her feeling shaky and definitely unstable. She’d almost died . Her tormentor was dead, and Shawn was safe from whatever nefarious schemes Roman had planned for his future.

Even though she was physically okay for the most part, Maggie couldn’t stop crying. After the police, NCIS, and the paramedics showed up, she was borderline hysterical. Eventually, the medics gave her a shot to calm her down, and Shawn insisted she be transported to the hospital to get checked out.

It wasn’t until hours later, after getting two stitches in her chin, the knicks on her side cleaned by the doctor—they weren’t deep enough for stitches—talking with the NCIS detectives, speaking with her probation officer— who’d been frantic after finding out that she’d been lured to her office, and apparently kidnapped as a result—and after reassuring Wren, Josie, Remi, Caroline, and all the other women who’d shown up at the hospital when they’d heard what happened, that Maggie was finally able to fully relax.

Shawn had brought her back to his place, and she’d met Jane Hillman, his landlady, who’d insisted on bringing two huge bowls of Shepard’s pie she’d made earlier that evening to their room. Finding she was starving, the comfort food really hit the spot. Then she and Shawn had taken a shower to wash off the salt from the seawater that had dried on their skin, and climbed under his covers.

Shawn held her tightly against him, almost desperately.

Neither spoke, but at that moment, it wasn’t needed. They both knew how close they’d come to losing one another. Maggie had literally been seconds from dying. Roman had almost succeeded in his evil plan to get rid of her once and for all. If it hadn’t been for Shawn’s quick thinking at her PO’s office, and putting his tracker in her purse, he never would’ve made it to her in time.

To her surprise, she heard Shawn’s breath hitch. Looking up, she saw tears soaking into the hair at his temple.

Without a word, knowing exactly how he felt, Maggie lay her head on his chest and tightened her arm around him. Tomorrow would be soon enough to talk about everything that happened, to work through it all.

For now, all she wanted to do was hold the man she loved, and be held in return.