Love's Taming(95)

Shane was making his way toward the cabin, feeling certain that would be where Annie was being held. Crouching behind the cages of dogs, he stealthily maneuvered to the side when he saw several men come out and head toward the barn. Xavier Thomas. Shane’s body became tight with even more anger, recognizing the man responsible for most of the drug trafficking in the area and more personally, what happened with Sarge. Xavier’s cold, calculating orders had ended the life of several men as Shane had witnessed. And now he had Annie. Tonight, mother fucker. You die.

“Is this the last van?” Xavier called out to one of the men closest to him.

“Yes, sir. Just loading the last one now. Should pull out in about 10 minutes,” came the reply.

Giving his next round of orders, Xavier spoke to the same man. “Get the prisoners out of the barn loft and bring them back here. I think a very public execution will be perfect for the police to find.”

Shane’s blood ran cold as Xavier chuckled. Glancing toward the barn, he shifted his stance behind the crates and began to move toward the barn, away from the cabin. “Moving toward the barn,” he whispered into his mic. “Roger that,” came Tony’s reply.

He noticed that Matt, Jake, and Tom were maneuvering with him. They wanted the gang as much as anyone, but for them…it was all about Annie.

Staying in the woods as he crept around, Shane’s heart nearly stopped, when peering through the night goggles, he saw two figures jumping from the upper level of the barn. The first was a man, but the second figure was definitely a woman. Annie. Thank fuck, she’s alive. Feeling a touch on his shoulder, he glanced around to see that Matt, Jake, and Tom were focused on them as well. “Get her. I’m goin’ after Xavier.”

Tom simply nodded and began to edge his way around the perimeter. Shane knew that Tom, having had his woman kidnapped a couple of years before, understood. Although at that time, Tom just wanted his fiancé safe. Shane…wanted vengeance.

“Know what you’re doing?” Matt whispered into his mic. A curt nod was all he received in answer from Shane.

Before either of them could move, a shout rang out across the compound. “Get out! Feds got the vans!”

The men on the compound immediately began to run to the remaining vehicles or toward the woods. Shots were fired, but Shane wasn’t able to see where they were coming from. He had last seen Xavier moving back toward the cabin and was heading that way when, suddenly, the dogs in the crates next to the cabin began barking wildly. And he heard a voice. One he knew. Intimately.

“Go, get out. Go!” a woman’s voice was screaming as a few barking dogs began running around the compound.

Annie! How the hell did she get back over here and not safely tucked in the woods?

Shane’s goggles allowed him to see Xavier pounding out of the cabin, raising his arm toward Annie’s back with a gun in his hand. Fuck, I don’t have the right angle! He quickly came up from his crouching position, running toward her as he brought his gun up to aim at Xavier.

“Annie!” he yelled, hoping she could hear him over the chaotic noise all around the compound as task force agents rushed the gang members who were returning fire.

A shot rang out from Xavier at the same second a figure in the dark jumped up to push Annie down to the ground. Not knowing if Annie was hit Shane fired, hitting Xavier squarely in the chest.

Seeing Annie lying still on the ground with another body, blood pooling out from underneath her, he ran over to Xavier who also had blood pouring out of him as his eyes glittered. Compound lights were turned on and Shane jerked off his night goggles, aiming his gun directly at Xavier.

“You lose, Stoney. I was going to be a dead man anyway once Gerald left,” Xavier said, blood bubbling out of his mouth. “I got your woman. Both of them. I got Rocky and now I got the pretty little doctor.”

Matt approached Shane, carefully putting his hand on Shane’s shoulder. “Don’t do it, man. Don’t fire on him now. You said she tamed you. Don’t let that wild back out. Annie wouldn’t want that.”

Shane jerked at hearing Annie’s name, his revolver still pointed directly at Xavier’s head.

“Shane!” barked Tom, kneeling next to Annie and the unknown rescuer. “She’s alive!”

At that, Shane whirled his body around seeing Tom pull Annie out from under the other man. Rushing over he threw his body on the ground, pulling her up against his chest. Pushing her hair away from her face, his breath caught in his throat as her wide, green eyes gazed into his face.

Her cheek was swollen and bruised and there was dried blood from a slash on her neck. She immediately reacted as she threw her arms around his neck, her whole body beginning to shake. “You came, you came,” were the only words she could choke out.