Chapter 44

He continued down the unmarked path heading in the opposite end of the waterfall trail. In his mind he was figuring that it was the last place the cavalry would think to look. They would think it was too risky and that he wouldn't be crazy enough to go there. The extra weight of the Broad was surprisingly a burden despite her petite frame.

He accepted it but keeping his eye on the prize; in his knapsack he had enough money to live the rest of his life on some beach in Mexico sipping margaritas. On top of that he was going to have some great fun teaching this little bitch a lesson or two before finally getting rid of her. None of the others had actually seen what he looked like, so she was the last obstacle between him and freedom.

Then again he was toying around with the idea of taking her along; after all then he would have his piece whenever he felt like it; no fuss no muss. His grin became even wider at the very thought of controlling her every move and taking tremendous delight in her suffering.

With the beating that her body had taken the swirling darkness was only a comfort; with part of her mind telling her to just sleep and to stop fighting the pain both physical and otherwise.

This loud voice was singing a soothing lullaby, "You did your job, the others are all safe.....you can let go now......" It was so very tempting to listen to that voice. She had never felt this kind of absolute, complete torment before; not even in her teenage years. It was a combination of the physical, emotional and spiritual exhaustion that was clouding her judgment.

She could see nothing beyond her own humiliation; even after all this time she couldn't defend herself from another attacker. She had not kept her friends safe; one of them could be dead right now because of her own failure. In all these years she had never truly recovered from what had occurred so many years before; never opening up to anyone, allowing herself to be vulnerable in front of anyone not even family.

"Wait! NO! That isn't true! Johnny...he knows and he doesn't care! You trusted him then just as you do NOW! What is going to happen to him?" A small quiet voice had now starting shouting.

"He LOVES you! He would never give up on you! You made him a promise....you can't let him down..... Think about your family and friends; think about what you mean to them....." Her better angels began to stir something deep inside her soul. Her mind shifted first to Johnny and what it felt like to be buried in his embrace; then to her Uncle Joe, her parents and family. The expression on their faces as they attended her funeral was harder to bear than the current level of pain coursing through out her muscular body.

In another instant her mind snapped back into consciousness and once again her fight or flight mode kicked into high gear. She stayed still; forcing her body to not react to the harsh jolting as he walked with her slung across his shoulders. In her weakened physical state she had to conserve whatever energy and strength she had left. She would only get one single opportunity to stop him and timing would be everything.

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Not taking the time to explain himself Johnny with Roy on his heels continued to stare upwards towards the Raven and any heavenly intervention that he could find. He barely took the time to actually glance down to watch where he was going, yet his feet continued to land softly leaving no trail. His own body was tense and tired from the constant stress of physical exertion and the empathetic reactions to his fiancée own pain. Although at least for the moment he felt no of it; his urge to reestablish his connection with her was taking president.

The other men had once again spread out to cover more ground, while maintaining a tight pattern to stay in line of sight of Gage as he once again appeared to have an 'understanding' that everyone was praying would lead them to her. They were all hard pressed to keep up with his pace. Without exchanging so much as a glance between each other they seemed to be focusing on a connection of their own as the team pushed on towards the final countdown.

Roy was keeping stride with his younger partner; fueled by a similar rage as Gage was feeling. He loved her but in a different way, like a little sister that he never had. She had never intentionally hurt one single person her entire life, yet had to endure such cruelty from other people. He had been honored when she felt safe enough to unfurl her soul to him and his wife. It was only then that he realized how deeply she had been hurt by men in the past. Now his greatest dread was that they were too late to stop it from happening again.

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She could feel the fatigue gripping his body; his pace had slowed up considerably since she had regained consciousness. The pain in her shoulder was radiating throughout her entire body; which could easily be because the bullet itself was shifting from its original position. The fact that she could feel the slick wetness of fresh blood meant that she was still losing volume and that wasn't going to help her get out of this predicament.

He had never been any good at measuring distance but knew that he and his captive had made good headway in his efforts to lose the search party. The fact that his poor, tired body couldn't stand to lug around the Bitch anymore was the main reason he made the decision to drop her off here and go about making her pay for what she had done.

He made no attempt to protect her in any shape or form when he squatted to the ground to unburden himself. Her body flopped to the ground like a limp rag doll. He watched for any signs that she was going to awaken from her induced coma. A quiet moan escaped from her lips and her body twitched a little but was then motionless. Secure in the belief that she would put up little fight, he unzipped his pants and caressed the tool he was going to use to break the Half Breed before he finally putting her out of her misery.

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Joe was in good physical condition for a man of any age and that was making the fast paced trek through the forest possible; adrenaline can only push the human body so far on its own ability. One of the main trains of thought speeding through his head was disappointment that she didn't feel safe enough to confide in him about her past torments. He wasn't angry about it, more that he wished he could have been there for her. His rage was focused at the men in her short life who had put her in that terrible position.

The more he thought about it the angrier he got. He may never know the details and part of him selfishly hoped to be spared of them; although disappointed he did understand her reasoning. He knew his niece well enough to know that her greatest fear would have been that he along with his brother-in-law and her grandfather may have ended up in prison or worse exacting revenge on the monsters that hurt her.

Those thoughts were pushed aside to once again focus on the task at hand. They had been traveling for what seemed like forever once again. It must have been at least another twenty minutes. If she were still actively bleeding then she was most definitely running out of time.

Marco and Brice were once again paired with each other. The men had stayed in teams of two for added security and more so to appease the Sheriff. Before this whole thing happened neither man could honestly say they liked the other very much; for one thing their personalities were so completely different; although respect for their professional abilities had always been there.

Brice was beyond exhausted and was trying to take his mind off of the worst case scenario by fretting over how on earth he was going to be able to show up for the next shift. He was covered in scrapes and scratches all over his arms and legs, not to mention that he hadn't slept in days. He was thinking about how he would explain it to his partner of over two years.

He audibly gasped upon the realization that his usually iron trap mind hadn't figured in the fact that his partner wouldn't be running with him the next shift or maybe ever again. For a second he had actually allowed his mind to compensate for the over load it was going through; which was something he was not familiar with.

"You alright?" Marco inquired when his companion made a muffled noise.

A simple nod from Brice ended the one sided conversation, sending the firemen back into his own thoughts; dark, ugly ones. Everyone would classify him as a light hearted man who was always looking out for his friends and family. The funny thing was that he would pin that description on his dear friend.

He had lost friends in the fire service before and others that he never had a chance to know personally. This was different, this wasn't because of a fire, or accident of some kind. This was all occurring because some sorry excuses for human beings had stalked and attack her and the women in his friend's lives. Part of him would never own up to the other side of the coin that maybe his rage was also because she was a woman. He was more than confident in her ability was a firefighter and paramedic but he was more protective of her; which would piss her off if she ever found out. For just a second his mouth curled into the infamous Marco Lopez grin.

Johnny stopped in his tracks so suddenly that Roy nearly slammed into him. His eyes were affixed to the darkening sky. The Raven had not left Gage's sight but was now maintaining a consistent pattern above the trees not far ahead from where the two men had stopped. His cries were loud and persistent as if to tell them that they were near end of their quest.

He took a deep breath and said a prayer to The Creator; as he chanted a prayer in Lakota that she had taught him he was rewarded with what he had been missing. A beacon as bright as a lighthouse had just turned on in his head, blinding his mind's eye momentarily. He swayed with the incoming message.

"Johnny? What is it? What do you see?" Roy meant 'sight' in the literal and figurative way. He was staring into the paramedic's eyes and could see that something had changed and was saying his own prayer that it was for the good.

"I can feel her again, Roy! She is alive! She's in so much pain.....I don't know how much longer she can hold on! We have to pick up the speed!!" The all too familiar tone of desperation was in Johnny's voice as his elation was short lived, knowing that her will to live may not be enough to keep her in this world for very long.

Renewed with hope the two men dashed into the thickness of trees once again. Only now Gage had lost visual with the wise bird that he had been following. Her psychic cries were so graphic and intense that his head pounded in rhythm to her assault.

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She was fighting every instinct in her being to allow her body to drop painfully to the unforgiving ground; landing on her already injured side. She wanted to scream out in agony but knew she had to play her cards right; there was only a small window of opportunity for her to stay alive and intact.

She even stayed perfectly still and exposed when she heard his pants unzip and listen to his gratification noises as he prepared to humiliate and brutalize her. His body was now slithering up to hers; his filthy hands exploring around her legs creeping towards her pelvis. Then he grabbed her shoulders and pushed until she was on her back. Once she was positioned to his liking he began tugging at her already torn hiking shorts. Now it would only be a matter of moments before she would make one final effort to save her own life.

He grunted with pleasure as her shorts started to give in to his efforts to remove them; her body was tight and toned; almost beautiful except for the fact that she wasn't really white despite those big blue eyes. She was still unmoving as if she had no clue what was about to take place; which excited him even more. His muscular body had her legs pinned down but in his haste to begin the torture he failed to notice that her arms were not out of commission.

Still tugging at her shorts he arched his back to get better leverage; giving her the chance of a lifetime. She used the opportunity to spring into action by simultaneously bringing her arms up towards her attacker; slamming one fist into the side of his neck; aiming for his jugular then bringing the other open hand thrusting upwards under his jaw.

He made a gurgled scream as once again he was under attack by his prey; obviously learning nothing from his first encounter with her. He reeled backwards as his mouth filled up with blood from almost severing his tongue when he involuntarily clamped down on it with his teeth.

The prongs from the large Jade ring that adorned her right hand cut deep into the flesh on the left side of his neck. A deep bruise was already forming in the deepest layers of the skin; although still not yet visible. The resulting trauma was already causing intense swelling that would soon begin to impede the flow of blood to his brain.

She scurried backwards away from him; her energy almost completely spent by such a simple defensive maneuver. Even if she had a mere few seconds to regroup it was going to improve her odds. Any other time she would have gone from defensive to offensive mode, taking him out but right now the pain was unbearable and she was finding it harder to breath. Her throat felt tight and rough, like she had swallowed sand paper.

For a more than a few moments he found himself retching, spitting out the already clotting pools of blood from his mouth. His throat was killing him as the new pain radiated down into his collar bone; with every retch it intensified the experience. Enraged he dug deep to find the strength to block out the pain. He wasn't going down without a fight; from the small of his back he drew the pistol that he had shot her with.

His intention was to have some fun with her but she spoiled that for him. Now the only thing left to do was end it one final time. Since one bullet hadn't done her in; he figured he would empty the remaining rounds into her slender body just to be sure this time.

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Frustration didn't give justice to what Gage was feeling right now; he was so close yet so far away. Every single fiber in his being was telling him that she had only minutes to live and that soon all he would discover was her beaten and broken body. Battling between his own emotions and absorbing everything that had and was happening to her was just too much to digest. Giving up wasn't even in his vocabulary but he was at a loss as to what to do next.

Then everything changed when both men caught something in their peripheral vision; as their eyes adjusted to the blinding light to the left of their position the intensity toned down just enough for them to make out an image within the illuminating circle.

It was a woman dressed in white, not resembling anyone that either men could think of. There was no logical reasoning to explain what they were witnessing; the apparition had appeared literally out of nowhere. She began to waive at the two men with an urgency that matched their own. In a moment of clarity Gage remembered something that his Tehila had told him a couple of years ago after she had nearly been taken from him the first time.

Twice in her time of need she had come to believe that she had been blessed enough to see one of her guardian angels; an angel that had helped to save her life by giving her the direction and tools she needed to get the help that her and Brice had so desperately needed. This vision before was exactly as she had described to both him and his partner.

Roy stood frozen in his place in awe of the beautiful lady in white. Her skin was flawless as porcelain; her eyes dark like pools of chocolate. The odd thing was that he felt no sense of fear or trepidation, instead he felt comforted as if the long awaited response to their prayers had been delivered.

The woman waived one final time and then turned and floated into the lush forest. Not needing any more motivation the two firemen took the cue and followed the mysterious figure towards the light at the end of the madness.

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She was staring back at her attacker having no place to run. They were in a partial clearing, the area large enough that even in her normally healthy state she would have had a difficult time diving for cover. Now weaken, exhausted and wounded that feat would next to impossible. She had fought a valiant fight but it now seemed like it was all in vain. Johnny was going to find her body; the outer shell because her soul would have went on to the next life.

She wanted to cry at the vision of his face once he found her, too little too late. They had long ago promised each other that both of them would fight the Hounds of Hell to never leave the other alone. She had done just that and if she could find a way out of this last stand she would take it. However as the seconds counted down she resigned herself to the enviable. She forced herself to rise to her feet wanting to face her death looking it in the face.

Standing near the forests edge he took aim he watched his victim gather enough strength to get to her feet. Actually it was almost impression how much fight the Broad had put up; not that it mattered to him. Although he was disappointed that it would end so quickly he was satisfied to have this whole mess come to down to a final countdown of seconds till he could dispose of her and start his journey to the land of his retirement.

As he started to flex his finger to compress the trigger he was totally relaxed once again failing to observe his surroundings. In a flash he felt his right hand being cranked in an unnatural angle as he screamed in pain. Before he knew it an elbow crashed into the large bruise on the side of his neck causing a sensation so intense he blacked out falling to the forest floor.

Johnny continued his justified assault on the remaining Bastard that had done some much harm. He didn't register the voices of the Lawman or his fellow fireman; all he could see was red the color of revenge.

"JOHNNY! THAT'S ENOUGH! WE'VE GOT HIM! GO TO HER NOW!!" Marco was screaming some in English and the rest in Spanish; knowing Gage knew what he was saying in both languages.

"SON! Listen to me! It's over....I've got him and he's not going to hurt anyone ever again. Don't make this worse by making me have to arrest you too!" The Sheriff fully understood and personally agreed with his intentions. However glancing towards the wounded warrior he knew that she needed him more.

The only voices that stopped him was that off Joe and Roy. The combination of professionalism under fire and pure terror echoed through the trees. Looking up he could see that she had collapsed into his partner's arms. Joe and Brice was ripping into the medical kits that they had been humping around, trying to get all of the many supplies that were going to be needed to stabilize her.

"Johnny.....get over her now......she's needs all of us right now!!!" Roy screamed in a panic that drove icicles into his heart.

He fly to her side taking the horrific sight before him; bring back flashbacks of another time when she was in such a grave condition. Her hands were mottled in layers of raw meat with blood caked on them. Her clothing was tattered and torn barely covering her beaten body. What caused him to nearly lose whatever contents were left in his stomach was the jagged line around her long delicate neck and the visible swelling that had encompassed the region. The flesh was shredded and blood had created trails down her to her chest.

Kneeling beside her he peered into her aqua colored irises; hoping she could still sense his presence, giving her strength. He was relieved to at least be looking at her directly and not only through their spiritual connection.

"Baby? Tehila? Can you hear me? You have to hold on for me.....for us....alright? You've made it this far....don't give up now...please..." He begged her.

"Johnny?" She inquired, not even realizing that her other loved ones were around her also.

"Yeah baby....it's me. We're gonna get you out of here...just hold on!" This time he gingerly caressed her forehead.

Taking a deep breath was now impossible; the pain was beyond comprehension. The swelling in her throat had only gotten worse. She could feel her throat constricting as she managed to mutter what might be her last words.

"I LOVE you...."