Alliance – Chapter 125

“You were brave in there, Skylar. I know that was hard for you,” Price said softly.

We had planned everything out to the last detail, even thinking to replace the bullets in Raptor’s gun with blanks. In all of our planning, I never dreamed he would anticipate what we had done and grab Cherry’s gun. I just had to hope Raptor would show up at the meet soon. I knew how ridiculous a hope that was, but it was possible he might come back to finish me off and get the other half of the money.

If he did, we could still take him.

I wasn’t really sure why I kept thinking of him as Raptor in my mind. It was Eric, but it wasn’t the Eric I had been in love with once upon a time. It wasn’t even the same Eric who’d been trying so desperately to get me back. The man he had become was cruel and calculating. No, I decided finally, this man was Raptor, not Eric.

“Why do you think he grabbed her gun?” I asked Price.

“I don’t know unless he figured out he had blanks.”

I didn’t like thinking about the guns. The moment we got to the rendezvous point, I’d frantically pulled off Price’s shirt to check his wound, despite his protests that it was little more than a scratch. I’d cleaned and dressed it using the first aid kit he carried in the car, but I didn’t stop worrying. I couldn’t.

There had been a lot of blood for a scratch.

“What are we going to do, Price? He has the other half of the money.”

I knew he could hear the panic in my voice and I didn’t care. His entire plan revolved around us being able to go to the FBI with all of the stolen money and Raptor. The way things stood right now, we were nothing more than a pair of bank robbers.

The worst part was that I had enabled him to get away, despite the tracing beacon in the money. By plugging the signal jammer into the fire jack at the bank they would be unable to trace the cash until we had enough time to separate the cash from the beacon. Part of me wanted to call Michael and tell him about it so they had a chance to catch Raptor, but I knew I couldn’t do that.

“Let me worry about that, Skylar,” he responded after a lengthy silence.

I stared out the window of my car. We had already changed our shirts and had been waiting for over an hour for Raptor or Cherry to show up, even though we knew both would probably never happen. Chill had come and gone after a brief conversation. Neither were vocalizing it, but Chill’s grief over Cherry was palatable.

My thoughts turned to the gym bag crammed with cash in the trunk of Price’s car, not more than ten feet away. Things happened quickly in the vault with Raptor, but I knew there must be at least a few million dollars in there. Combined with the first heist, it was enough money that the FBI would never stop hunting for us.

When a car approached on the dirt road, I instinctively put my hand on the key in the ignition. I was unfamiliar with the approaching car and I worried that we may have to make a quick escape. Price put his hand on mine to stop me and I removed the keys from the ignition.

“It’s Cherry,” he said, relief evident in his tone.

She parked her car about twenty feet from where we were. We got out and met her halfway, Price pulling her into his arms and hugged her for a long time. The look on her face when he released her didn’t lend me much hope.

“Does Chill know?”

She nodded. “I called Rand from a pay phone when I finally got to the last car.”

“What happened, Cherry,” Price asked.

“I don’t know how, but he knew. He pulled over in an alley about three blocks from my car and put the barrel of the gun up against my temple. He told me I had until ten to be out of his sight and started counting. I bolted,” Cherry answered, shuddering.

Price swore imaginatively under his breath before replying. “Did you see which way he went?”

Cherry shook her head. “I’m sorry, Parker. I just wanted to get out of there before he put a bullet in me.”

“You know you have to go into hiding now.”

“Now that Trevor is out of the picture, I’m going back to my old job. I don’t think Raptor will be back. Not now that he’s been made.”

“That’s not good enough.” Concern was etched across his face. “Eric will kill you, Cherry. I’ve told you exactly what he’s capable of doing.”

She laughed a mirthless laugh. “You didn’t have to tell me anything. I already have the scars.” He face grew serious. “Look, I’m getting out of town for a while anyway. It’s going to be too hot here for me for a long time. Rand’s booking the trip now, I think. He was talking so fast on the phone that it was hard to catch everything.”

Price nodded. “Okay, but…”

“No, Rand can protect me. Stop worrying.” She paused, looking from him to me and back. “I’m so sorry, Parker. I know how badly you wanted to end this thing with him.” Her gaze came back to rest on me. “I can’t imagine what you’ll do now.”

I watched as Cherry walked back to her car and pulled away. Part of me couldn’t help feeling sorry for her. She had been trying to start over when she got pulled into all of this. It wasn’t her fault that she was attracted to the wrong kind of men.

That was something I knew a little bit about.

Price paced back and forth in front of me, swearing under his breath. I knew there was nothing I could do or say to comfort him, so I remained silent. After a moment, he stopped pacing and walked over to me with a wild look in his eyes.

“Did Eric ever hurt you?”

“Other than murdering my father?”

He grabbed my shoulders, frantic. “Physically. Did he ever do anything to you when you were together?”

“Price, what’s wrong with you?”

“Dammit, Skylar, just answer me!”

“No, he never even raised his voice to me that I can remember. What’s all this about?”

He ignored my question. “You’ll be safe then. I have to go after him. I know I can find him.”

Price turned away from me and headed in the direction of his car. I followed him. I didn’t know how to stop him, but I knew I had to think of something. Raptor would kill him if Price succeeded in finding him. Every ounce of my being told me I was right about that.

“You have to let this go, Price. It’s too dangerous.”

“Look, Skylar, no one knows you were involved. Go back to your life and let me handle this.”

“I don’t want to go back to my life without you in it. Look, I have plenty of money. We can tip off the cops where they can find this and we can get far away from here, maybe one of the places you were talking about yesterday.”

“You’ll be a fugitive if we do that, Skylar.”

“None of that matters to me. Raptor will kill you.”

“I don’t care,” he snapped while he opened his car door.

“I care. I’ve lost everything and everyone in my life that means anything to me. I’m not ready to lose you too,” I said quietly.

Price turned to look at me. I could see the hardness that had taken over the features of his face a moment ago was gone. It was probably just my imagination playing tricks on me, but I could have sworn his eyes were moist.

Price took me in his arms and kissed me fiercely. When he pulled away, he snatched my keys out of my hand and tossed them into the brush several feet away. He sat in his car and looked up at my stunned face.

“You won’t lose me, Skylar. I have to finish this right now, but I promise I’ll come back to you once it’s over.”

I made one final plea. “Price, please don’t do this. If you ever cared about me even a little, then you won’t leave me like this.”

Price started the engine and looked back at me. “You don’t understand how much I care about you, you never did, but I can’t stay here, Skylar. Raptor will go after my family. As much as I want to stay with you, I can’t let that happen.” A pained look etched itself into his face and he looked away. “He’s my…my responsibility. I have to stop him.”

“Don’t do this, Price. I don’t understand what’s going on, but he’s not your responsibility.”

His eyes met mine. “I could have stopped him fourteen years ago. Eric was maybe eleven or twelve when we were at the lake together and he met a girl. It was my responsibility to keep him out of trouble that week, but I wasn’t much older and thought the puppy love thing between them was cute. When I found him on the last day of the trip, the girl was dead and he was freaking out. He swore choking her was an accident, but…” Pain swam in his eyes. “I never should’ve helped him cover it up. Even at sixteen, I knew what he was, what he had the potential to be.”

“You knew Eric as kids?” I couldn’t comprehend what he was telling me.

“Yeah. Skylar…your father’s dead because I didn’t stop him when I had the chance.”

His words knocked me off balance, so he didn’t have to push me very hard to make fall away from the door. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’m so sorry,” he said before closing the door and leaving me on the cold dirt.

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