Desperate Rescue
Barbara Phinney
To my husband, my daughter and my son.
We grow in faith together, and I will always thank our Lord for each of you.
You make my life special and blessed.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
ONE
Fear had a way of heightening the senses.
A chill crawled down Kaylee Campbell’s spine as she neared the driveway of her rented home. Not from the cool autumn morning. No, this ominous shiver came from a foreboding sense of danger acquired after years of being watched and followed every waking moment.
Kaylee glanced around the quiet cul-de-sac in the central New Brunswick village chosen for its peace and security. It was too quiet.
Someone was watching her.
“Don’t worry,” she muttered, drawing in a deep, slow breath the way the counselor had taught her. “Go home. You’re safe. You’re free.”
Her Saturday-morning walk had failed to soothe her nerves and neither did these words. Her chest tightened.
A car inched along the adjacent street. Over her shoulder she caught a glimpse of an out-of-province license plate.
The chilling wash returned. Her senses heightened; awareness ripped into high gear.
The car turned down her street. She listened a moment, then threw another glance over her shoulder.
Blond hair. A sinister sense of familiarity. Her heartbeat accelerated and she stopped with the pretense of tying her shoelace to cast a desperate glance around. Maybe one of her elderly neighbors was out this early.
No one. The cold autumn wind rattled the dead beech leaves that clung stubbornly to the tree on her front lawn.
Lord, help me. Keep me safe.
Doubt trickled into her as she tried the prayer. It wouldn’t help. None of her prayers were heeded. Why should they be, after what she’d done?
She straightened, desperate to control the wild panic now racing through her like a torrent of spring rains.
Build a hedge of protection around me, Lord.
Nothing. She felt no safer now than a moment ago. And the car behind her was inching closer.
She pulled her control in sharply. Her fear was ridiculous. The nightmare of these past two years was over. There was not going to be the final confrontation Noah Nash had threatened.
She shut her eyes, screwing up the courage to take flight and race those last few yards to her house.
But her feet froze to the sidewalk beneath her. Her legs, stiff and beginning to ache, refused to obey.
She dared another peek over her shoulder. The car slowed behind her. It stopped. Its door opened. She gasped the choking kind of breath that seemed to lodge in her throat.
Noah Nash had come after her, just as he’d threatened.
In front of her and deadly close, stood the man she most feared and dreaded.
He’d come back to kill her.
Her world dissolved into darkness as her stiff legs melted to jelly.
Eli Nash let out a frustrated noise as he rushed toward Kaylee. This was his own fault. He’d been warned not to approach her. Even his own mother had firmly condemned his plan.
“You look too much like Noah. You two could have been twins,” she’d said. “And you act too much like him, too. You’ll end up scaring her half to death.”
Shoving aside the warning, he caught Kaylee before she crumpled to the sidewalk. She slumped against him and he shifted to support her head as it rolled back. The boneless feel of her body surprised him as he dropped to his knees. Her jaw slackened and he heard a soft breath escape.
He wanted to kick himself for his own impetuous stupidity in not calling first, but there would be time to berate himself for that later. Right now, the best thing would be for him to simply carry her to her house and set her on her front lawn until she revived.
He knew he should have waited, but it was too late now, he thought as he lifted her off the ground. He should have used the police as an intermediary. Or a local pastor. Riverline had a church.
But he couldn’t wait. Waiting could lead to more deaths, possibly even his own sister’s.
Noah wouldn’t think twice about killing a blood relative if it meant furthering his own plans.
A breeze drifted by, cool and sharp with the tang of autumn. In his arms, Kaylee Campbell shivered and awoke.
He peered down at her grimly, resisting the urge to sweep away the waves of black hair that fell across her cheek as her dark eyes fluttered open. Her skin looked so pale. Naturally pale, he hoped, not pale because the blood had drained from her delicate features at the sight of him.
She was lighter than she looked, not surprisingly. Noah had a habit of keeping tight control on his cult members, both the willing, such as his sister, and the unwilling, such as Kaylee, through malnourishment. It looked as if Kaylee hadn’t yet regained her strength and weight.
“It’s okay. You fainted.”
