“If you loved her so much,” Harm pushed, desperate now to know the whole story, “how could you possibly have tried to kill her? Running her down in the street?”

“I wasn’t tryin’ to kill her,” he insisted, “just scare her so she’d want to come back here…back home to me.”

“What about the man?”

“That was his fault. I saw him hangin’ around her and I wanted him to leave her alone. I woulda missed him clean except he pushed Elgin out of the way and turned back, tryin’ to get a look at me and I swerved.”

“And the night we came back from the fish fry at your house?”

“I wasn’t tryin’ to kill Ellie then, either. I was after you. I knew you’d have to go the long way round to Moon’s End and get out at the gate. Shit, after all the hard cola Ellie’d had, I knew she’d be sound asleep before you got back to the main road. So I jumped in my pickup and took one of the logging road short cuts I know. I waited in the brush ‘til you stopped that big fancy truck of yours and got out. Just snuck up, turned the wheels, put the car in gear and took the emergency brake off. I figured the car’d run you over while you weren’t lookin’ then run into the ditch. Even if it’d run all the way down and into the trees, Elgin wouldn’ta been hurt bad because she had on her seatbelt.”

Fisher took a step toward them. “Guess I’m gonna have to finish the job the old fashioned way.” The gun reappeared.

“No, wait!” Elgin screamed, turning to face him. “Please! Don’t hurt Camp! I’ll…I’ll do anything you want. I’ll stay with you as long as you want. Anything, but please…”

The two men shared a knowing look, a cold smile touching Fisher’s lips.

“I don’t know,” he pretended to ponder. “I mean, if I let him go, how do I know you’ll keep your word?”

“You know me, Jim,” she stammered between sobs. “If you let Camp go, I’ll stay. I promise.”

“What about him though?” He nodded at Harm. “What’s to say he’d even go without you? Or that he wouldn’t come right back with the law?”

She glanced at Harm and then back to Fisher. “He’ll go because I want him to. And even if he does come back with the sheriff, it will be his word against ours. I’ll tell everyone that I’m with you of my own free will. We…we can have the life you always wanted.”

“Elgin,” Harm barked, “don’t be stupid. He’s lying. He can’t afford to let me live because he knows if he does, I won’t leave without you.”

“Make up your mind, Ellie.”

Tears flowed and she buried her face in Harm’s chest again.

“Listen to me,” he whispered, bringing his lips as close to her ear as he could, “and don’t say anything. Just nod if you hear me.” He felt her head move slightly and he took a deep breath. There was nothing left to do but make sure she knew the truth and that she had only one option.

“He’s crazy, Elgin and he’s going to kill me. There’s nothing you can do to prevent it. He intends to take you back into that room and…and rape you.” She shuddered and his arms pulled against the straps in their need to hold her, comfort her. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he had to make her understand the gravity of the situation and how much worse it could get.

“Rape you over and over and make me watch everything. When he’s finished, he’s going to drag you back here and he’s going to kill me…shoot me and make you watch me bleed to death. Then he’s going to kill you. Do you understand, Elgin?”

She nodded again, great sobs wracking her body. Harm felt as if a knife were twisting in his chest, but he had to keep going. There was no other way.

“I don’t mind dying,” he told her softly, his voice catching, his cheek brushing her hair, “except that I won’t be with you. But I’m not afraid. What I couldn’t stand would be to sit here and watch that monster…hurt you. Put his hands, his cock…” His voice faltered as he struggled against the pictures in his mind.

“You have to try and get away.”

Her face rubbed an emphatic “no,” in his shirt.

“I mean it,” he insisted, his voice a harsh whisper. “Let him take you back to the other room. He won’t be expecting you to try anything. Look for something to use as a weapon…your nails or fists or feet if that’s all you have. Remember how you took down the homeless guy. Just let yourself go and you can do it.”

“I won’t leave you,” she mumbled.

“You have to. I want you to. You mean more to me than my life. I could die if I knew you were safe. And if you get away, you can make sure Fisher’s punished for everything he’s done. If we both die, he gets away with it all.”

“Don’t ask me…”

“I’m not asking, I’m pleading. Please try to escape. For me.”

Elgin raised her head and blinked back the tears. His face brushed against hers, their tears running together. “I love you, Elgin.”

As their lips touched, Fisher grabbed her and pulled her away. “Leave her alone,” he bellowed, the back of a giant hand catching Harm’s face at the jaw line, the rough knuckles traveling across his mouth like steel. A trickle of blood trailed from the corner of his mouth down to his chin.

“Come on,” Fisher ordered, yanking Elgin by the elbow toward the door. He dragged her next door, pushing her to the bed in full view of the window. Releasing her from the handcuffs, he stood back, almost drooling with anticipation.

“Okay now, strip. Nice and slow for me and your secretary.”

Elgin glanced up at the window. She couldn’t see him but she could feel Harm in the darkness.

Fear engulfed her and she felt as if she were drowning, her heart pounding, her lungs starved for air. A wave of nausea and she thought for a moment she’d be sick or even pass out.

“Now!” The sharp edge of his voice hit her like a physical slap.

All right, she thought, fighting to regain the upper hand of her mind and body, calm down. Think. Our lives depend on you keeping your head.

Trembling, Elgin forced herself to look up, her gaze sweeping the small area in front of her. The slightly rumpled bed. A small wooden nightstand with drawer and an open shelf. Her already racing heart felt as if it would explode in her chest at what she saw.

A vibrator, a little bigger than a regular flashlight lay on the shelf. Cream-colored plastic, a large round knob on one end. From the look of it, Elgin knew it was hard, solid, powered by at least two “C” batteries. If she could take him by surprise…

“Strip!” he barked again, “now.”

Slowly, Elgin reached for the button holding the thin strap that crossed over her shoulder and connected to the front of her sundress, just above her breast. She never took her eyes off the vibrator, her mind churning.

She’d have to make a grab for it. How far? Not more than a foot, eighteen inches perhaps, but almost at her knees.

“Turn around,” he ordered.

As slowly as she dared, Elgin turned toward him, inching backwards as she did so. Hopefully, he wouldn’t notice anything but her front.

Her shaking fingers fumbled with the button a little more. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t do this.

The beggar had been a fluke, a purely instinctive reaction, requiring no thought. This meant life and death, literally and had to be planned as carefully as possible in the blink of time she had.

Perhaps if she gave him what he wanted…

His eyes riveted on her breasts, a cold mesmerized look in those now alien eyes, his face filled with naked, animal lust. He wasn’t Jim Fisher anymore. He’d become a predator whose only satisfaction would come from blood and pain and death.

With agonizing slowness, Elgin put a hand behind her, fingers stretching, searching blindly until they brushed the front of the nightstand. Fisher, still focused on the dress, didn’t seem to notice.

The button gave way and her strap slipped off her shoulder and down her back. He swallowed hard, the tip of his tongue just barely visible between his lips. The predator, having stalked her for so long, enjoying the last moments of the hunt before striking for the kill.