Under Threat by B.J. Daniels (reading the story of the .TXT) 📕

she’d screwed it all up. But what could she do? All she could really do was everything he asked, hoping for the best. She had no other options here, so there wasn’t even a point in worrying about what else there was. Like Vaughn kept saying, there was only now. No time to worry about later.

“On the slim chance that we have a signal, check your phone and mine.”

Natalie scrambled for both, powering them on and checking their screens. But there was no service. She wanted to cry, but she blinked back the tears. Tears would get them nowhere.

A shot hadn’t rung out in a while, and the longer the silence lasted, the more both their nerves seemed to stretch thin and taut.

“Pull up the texting on both phones. I want you to put in a message to this number, and hopefully if we try to send it now, it’ll send the first second we have service without us having to keep checking.”

Natalie furiously typed the information Vaughn gave her. She kept glancing at the T-shirt bandage, and because it was a white T-shirt, she could see the blood already seeping through. She tried not to panic at that.

“Get out the map.” Though he still sounded like cool and collected Vaughn, that strain never left his voice.

He’d been shot. Shot. It took everything she had to pull out the map and spread it out for him. Her hands shook, but he still handed her the gun she’d dropped while trying to bandage him up, trusting her. Believing in her. She held on to that fiercely.

“Shoot at anything that moves.”

She swallowed and nodded, watching the harsh surroundings and fervently hoping nothing moved.

“We don’t want to retrace our steps,” he muttered. “We need to keep moving forward. We’ve got to keep searching for cell service. We don’t get out of this without help.”

She wanted to make another joke about him not sugarcoating anything, but her voice didn’t work anymore. Whether it was panic or fear or some combination of all of the emotions rioting through her, she couldn’t push out joking words. Only desperate ones.

“Are they going to come after us?”

“They might. I didn’t get a glimpse of where they were coming from. I still have no idea what the hell they’re trying to prove. If they want us dead, they could have had us dead on the road before the gas station. I don’t get this at all, unless they want us. Alive. Or...”

He didn’t have to finish that sentence, and she knew, sugarcoating or no, he wouldn’t. Because he meant or they want you. She could tell that bothered him more than anything. That he didn’t know what they were trying to do, that she might be the target.

Natalie didn’t really care what they were trying to do. As long as they were shooting at them, she wasn’t a fan.

“To keep cover we’re going to have to backtrack a little bit, but then we’ll circle around, really try to get higher ground on the off chance there’s a tower around here somewhere. If you hear the message sent notification from either phone, tell me. Otherwise we need to stay completely silent, just in case. They don’t want us dead. Or at least they don’t want you dead, and that’s pretty damn frightening.”

“But...”

For the first time his glare turned to her, rather than their surroundings or the map. “What the hell do you mean, but...”

“If they have Gabby...” She swallowed at the lump in her throat. Maybe they wanted her too. If they did...

“No. No way in hell. You’re not sacrificing yourself for her right now. First of all, not on my watch. Second of all, because you just told me you want a life beyond all that.”

“I didn’t know how close I was.”

“I’m sorry. I know she’s your sister, and I know you’d do anything to find her, but it’s been eight years. If she survived that, a few more days won’t hurt her. You don’t know what they’re trying to do to you, so we’re not taking that chance. Not even for your sister, Nat.”

“You’d do it for your sister,” she returned, quiet and sure. He’d sacrifice himself for less, she was certain.

“It would depend on the situation, and not in this one. If they had my sister, I’d do exactly what I’m doing now. Which is trying to get them. Because if we don’t have them, everyone under their control is in danger.”

She saw a point to that, but the idea that if they took her she might be reunited with Gabby. If they took her... Vaughn might be safe.

“Natalie, you have to trust me on this. I need you to promise me.”

Natalie swallowed. She hated lying to him, but she also knew they wouldn’t get anywhere if she didn’t make that promise. She forced herself to look him in the eye—those gorgeous blue eyes she thought she’d never be able to read—and now she knew she’d never not be able to see what was in those depths.

He was strong and he was brave, and he knew that he could get them out of here. But he was also afraid, because whether he was going to admit it, whether he would admit it, he cared about her too. He wouldn’t have slept with her in the middle of all this if care wasn’t part of that. That she knew.

“All right. I promise,” she said, holding on to the thought of care, of love.

Vaughn swore harshly. “Don’t lie to me.” He grabbed her arm and winced a little, since he’d used his bad arm. But he didn’t back down. “I don’t have time to argue with you on this, but if you put yourself in danger you will answer to me. Now, let’s go.”

He didn’t give her a chance to argue; he pushed and pulled her in the direction he wanted to go. And Natalie let him lead, let him order her around.

But she had no doubt if the