Chapter 19
In the house, Gary walked over to Annie on the couch. Running the barrel of his gun down the side of her face in some sick caress, he leered at her longingly.
"Leave her alone!" Craig demanded from his chair, struggling to loosen the bindings on his wrists.
"Shut up!" Gary glared, pointing the gun menacingly at the man. Satisfied Craig was going to stay quiet; he turned back to Annie saying suggestively, "I'm hungry."
Hearing the tone of his voice, Annie stared at him for a moment. I'm not going to let this man touch me, she swore quietly, her eyes flashing angrily. Slowly she stood up and headed for the kitchen. Maybe there is something I can use in there, she thought.
Myles desperately wanted to do something but with an intense shake of his head at Craig, he indicated they should wait. It was hard to do, and he hoped that it wouldn't end up hurting the three of them in the long run.
Annie had just pulled the frying pan out of the cabinet when a noise from the porch caught everyone's attention. Thinking it was Webster, Gary turned back toward the door. His eyes widened when he saw a woman coming through the screen door with a rifle and raised his gun to aim.
Craig and Myles had turned to look over their shoulders at the door when the heard a bang from the other direction. Their heads snapped back around toward the kitchen, their eyes widening when they saw Gary sprawled out on the floor, Annie standing over him with the frying pan in her hand.
"He was going to shoot Danni," was her only explanation as Danni moved quickly across the room raising the rifle stock to her shoulder.
"Move and I'll put a hole in you the size of Texas," Danni warned the man who was groggily trying to get up. Seeing her aiming down the long barrel, Gary dropped back to the floor.
"Where's Webster?" Myles questioned as Annie dropped the frying pan with a clang and hurried to untie the two men.
"Hog tied in the barn," Tara replied from the door, causing Myles to snap his head back around. He wanted to cry out when he saw her standing there, leaning heavily against the door jam.
"What? How?" Myles started then shook his head. "Never mind…I don't think I want to know." Turning he told Craig as the younger man took the rifle from Danni, he said, "Remind me NEVER to get these three upset with me!"
Grabbing Gary's gun from the floor, Myles rushed to Tara's side wrapping his arms around her to help her back to the couch. Looking down at her face, he noticed how pale she looked obviously in a lot of pain.
"Are you okay?" he asked, his fingers brushing her cheek to get her to look up at him.
With a faint smile playing on her lips, Tara looked up at him. Slowly her eyes rolled back and Myles tightened his arms around her as she sunk against him.
"Tara!" he called urgently, caressing her cheek with his hand has he held her to him. Feeling her hot face, he exclaimed, "She's burning up!" Stuffing the Gary's gun that Annie had given him into the waistband of his pants, he lifted her into his arms carrying her to the couch.
"She's clammy," Annie stated coming to kneel beside him, her hand brushing Tara's forehead. "She needs to go to the hospital now," she declared. "Hank said the roads should be clear by now, and she can't wait until morning." Her eyes as they locked with Myles expressed the concern she was feeling.
"But Webster and him…" Myles started only to be interrupted by Danni.
"We can take Craig's van," she explained standing behind them, worry lining her young face. "Take them by the state police barracks in Thurmont and get her to the hospital."
"Ah," Myles stammered, but he couldn't think of any better way. He had to get Tara to the hospital. "Okay, let's go!" he agreed, pulling Tara back into his arms he headed for the door.