Ball & Chain(90)

“He would run from someone,” Zane said again. “If he was leading them away from something else. Something he was protecting.”

Kelly stared at him for a beat, then he and Ty locked eyes as they both realized what Zane was saying.

“Nick’s the one who moved the kids,” Ty said quickly. “He’s not pursuing someone. He took the kids. He must have been there before the shooting started.”

Kelly swiped a hand over his mouth, looking down at the tracks and then to the cliff. “He must have gotten wind of something coming and didn’t have time to call for help. He hid the kids, then took off running, left a trail an idiot could follow.”

“Hey, I found that trail,” Emma grunted.

Somewhere in the darkness ahead of them came three gunshots in rapid succession, then a garbled shout through the pouring rain.

“Oh Jesus,” Ty breathed as he shined the weak light of his flashlight into the night.

Kelly jammed the ring onto his finger, then cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, “Nick!”

His voice was swallowed by the pounding surf below and the downpour from above. They all waited, holding their breaths, desperate for a return call. Ty couldn’t tell the difference between the beat of his heart, the sound of the surf and rain, and his desperate desire to hear his best friend’s voice. All the sounds of that moment were, to his ears, Nick crying out for help.

The touch of Zane’s hand to his shoulder spurred him on, and they followed the sound of the gunshots, holding to the swiftly dissolving trail, watching it zigzag like Nick had been dodging something. It came nauseatingly close to the edge at times.

The wind and rain whipped at Ty’s thin shirt, whistling in his ears, stinging his eyes until they teared. He had no doubt those gunshots hadn’t been heard inside the thick walls of the mansion.

They climbed the incline that led to the crumbling ruin of the lighthouse on the hill. When they hit the top of the hill, the scene before them kicked Ty’s instincts into gear, and he and Kelly both threw themselves to the ground. Zane followed suit, and Kelly pulled Emma down so they wouldn’t be seen.

A man stood at the very edge of the jagged cliff, holding something bundled in a white blanket that practically glowed in the moonlight. Ty could tell it was Nick merely by the set of his shoulders. Another man stood with his back to them, pointing a gun at Nick.

“Give me the kid, and no one gets hurt,” the man with the gun shouted into the wind. His accent was Scottish.

Ty’s breath left him in a rush. “Amelia,” he gasped. Nick was holding Amelia, clutching her to his chest to protect her.

If Nick said anything, his response was lost in the wind.

“I don’t need her alive!” the gunman shouted. “I just need pieces of her to send to her granddaddy!”

Zane grabbed at Ty’s arm and back, trying to keep him from getting up, but Zane wasn’t fast enough. Ty lunged to his feet and charged the man. He hit him from behind. The gun went off as Ty and the gunman tumbled to the ground.

Ty rolled several feet away, flattening out in time to see Nick, his side bloodied by the stray shot, lose his balance and fall over the edge of the cliff with Amelia in his arms. Ty scrambled to his feet and dove toward the edge of the cliff, grasping desperately. His fingers found Nick’s, and their hands clasped together, the momentum dragging Ty several feet in the wet grass and ripping something apart inside his shoulder. He dug his toes in, managing to stop their slide. He wound up with his chest at the edge of the cliff, his shoulders and head hanging over, and his fingers wrapped around Nick’s forearm.

Nick hung from one arm, grasping Ty’s wrist in an iron grip. He swung freely over the jagged rocks and the frigid ocean below. A teddy bear fell away from his other hand, the white blanket fluttering after it. Nick watched them fall, then grimaced up at Ty.

“Give me your other hand!” Ty shouted.

Nick reached up and fumbled for Ty’s other hand, but when he moved and his weight shifted, Ty began to slide again. The earth beneath him was soft and muddy, the grass wet.

Nick cried out in pain and dropped his hand, shaking his head. “Let go, Ty!”

“Fuck you! Find a foothold until we get help!”

Nick tried to reach out for the cliff’s inverted face, but as soon as he moved, Ty slid yet again. The cliff was too far away for him to touch it, much less grab for anything solid.

“Ty!” Nick shouted. “We’ll both fall if you don’t let go!”

Ty shook his head, flat out refusing to accept that. He tried to pull Nick up, but his separated shoulder screamed even when he flexed his muscles in preparation for moving. He felt a hand at his belt, heard Emma shouting at him.