Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense March 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 by Dana Mentink (good fiction books to read .txt) 📕

She turned to him before he pulled away and her lips brushed against his cheek. He felt paralyzed for a second, the memory of their past kisses heating his neck. “I’m fine, but he has a gun, Henry,” she whispered so softly he could barely hear the words. “He has a gun and you don’t. Please don’t try anything.”

He squeezed her hand to indicate it would be all right, but he had to ignore the instinct that told him to say, Actually, I have two guns—Ka and Pow, while flexing each arm. His older brother and he had always made jokes like that. His brother had followed his father’s path as a lawyer, ensuring his father’s disappointment in Henry’s choice of career, but they’d recently made peace. “If he’s smart at all, he won’t shoot with the big risk of a ricochet in here.”

A small splash of water… Henry remembered barely missing the puddle caused by dripping water. Hundreds of small waterfalls in the area and snow on tops of mountains guaranteed leaks inside the tunnel. Judging from the sounds, Carl was likely only twenty feet away. Maybe Carl knew the tunnels better than Maya thought he did. If so, hopefully the man would move on to the most likely path away from them.

From behind them, a phone light washed over the walls. Henry pulled his chin closer to his chest and noticed the loose rocks littering the ground beside his feet. David and Goliath came to mind again, but he didn’t have a sling and Carl wasn’t a giant. Still, a rock was better than nothing.

Henry squatted and tried to remember where he’d seen the closest baseball-size rock. His fingers brushed the rocks, careful not to shift pebbles and cause sound. More footsteps echoed, moving away. He stayed in the crouch a moment longer, just in case his knees decided to break the silence when he straightened.

The beam of light flashed back into the tunnel, illuminating the tips of Henry’s shoes, but also Carl’s face and the Taser in his right hand. Henry’s biceps were no match against a Taser. He launched himself forward and threw the rock. His aim proved true, at the sound of plastic cracking and Carl’s shout of pain. The Taser crashed against the side of the tunnel and the phone light hit the dirt, pointing upward.

Henry vaulted forward. He just needed to get the gun in the deputy’s holster before the man grew desperate.

Carl grabbed the stick from his belt and, with a flick of his wrist, the baton extended. Henry froze a moment before making impact, knowing how officers were trained and the pain that little stick could inflict. The light showed the red circle on Carl’s knuckles where the rock had left its mark. If Henry could get close enough, he might be able to disarm him.

His nerves fired warnings of the impending sting and pain if he failed, particularly in the leg that had once shattered. Henry held his hands out far enough to not be a risk.

Carl whipped the baton in front of him, as if proving what a threat he could be. “Give me the drugs.”

“We don’t have them.”

The deputy took a step closer, and Henry moved back. “Then tell me where they are, and we can call a truce.”

Henry almost laughed aloud at the implication he’d be so gullible. “Again, I can honestly say I don’t know.”

“Wrong answer.” Carl lunged, waving the baton in an arc over his head.

Henry jumped, but gained more height than distance. The snap of the baton crackled close to his ear and made contact with his shoulder. The sting radiated down his spine and through his bones, rattling him. He growled and plowed his head into Carl’s stomach, wrapping his arms around the deputy’s torso. Carl tried to smack him again, but only the handle of the baton hit Henry’s back.

The pain throbbed in his shoulder, almost enough to cause Henry to release the man, but if he didn’t take Carl out now, Nora would be in more danger. He twisted and bent his right arm around Carl’s head, pushing it downward while he used his left hand to bend Carl’s wrist back until he dropped the baton.

A stomp on Henry’s instep loosened his grip. He cried out and Carl pushed him away. One of them must’ve kicked the phone because the light all but disappeared. Henry took several quick steps back, and Carl ran at him. He raised his arms instinctively to block, but Carl punched him right in the gut.

He lost his breath for seconds that felt more like minutes as he stumbled backward, hoping the space between them would give him a beat before Carl attacked again. But as he stepped farther into the darkness, he realized it’d be best to draw Carl deeper, away from the intersection of the three tunnels. Hopefully, Maya would take the opportunity to get Nora out and far away while she could.

His foot reached something smooth and firm. He took another step and felt the ground wobble ever so slightly, but it was likely wood panels instead of the metal grates used in the other tunnel for sturdier flooring. Carl lunged for him, and a rush of cold air hit him at the same time Carl’s fist made contact with his chin. His skull rattled from the impact of teeth against teeth at his jaw shutting with unusual force.

“Henry!” Nora screamed.

A bright light burst from Maya’s headlamp just as Carl aimed another punch at Henry’s head. Henry ducked at the last second. The man’s knuckle grazed the top of his head, but the force of the punch sailed past him. Carl twisted with momentum and dropped, disappearing from view with a sudden holler.

Terror gripped every muscle as Henry looked down to see a vertical shaft on either side of the precariously thin wooden bridge. Nothing but darkness and cold air swirled below him. Carl had completely disappeared into the