Manna From Heaven by Karen Robards Page B

was better than none, Charlie snatched up the screwdriver and, crawling on her hands and knees, rounded the foot of the bed. The men were very near. It was easy to tell which one was Jake because he was barefoot and naked. Jake was grappling with Denton, who was taller and thinner than Woz. Jake had a choke hold on Denton’s neck and a grip on his gun hand and seemed to be using him as a shield against Woz, who circled the writhing pair, darting this way and that and lashing out with his fists and feet in a kind of deadly dance, looking for an opening. Woz had his pistol ready, but unless he wanted to risk hitting Denton it was obvious that he was going to have to be careful how he used it. It was, however, clear to Charlie that it was just a matter of time before Jake went down. Naked and weaponless, he couldn’t best two armed men.
    “Get the girl!” Denton grunted. Woz glanced around …
    “Damn it, Charlie, run!” Jake roared.
    But it was too late. Even as Charlie backpedaled frantically, then tried to roll under the bed, Woz was upon her, knotting a fist in her hair, locking an arm aroundher neck, hauling her to her feet. Charlie didn’t bother to scream, or fight. She hung limply in his hold, letting herself be dragged toward where Jake and Denton still struggled.
    “Hey, asshole, I got your girlfriend!” Woz said in a taunting voice. His arm, in a bulky twill coat, was wrapped around her neck. He held her so that there was no possibility of escape, with his pistol pointed at her head.
    Charlie clutched the screwdriver and prayed.
    Sadie came running up, yapping frantically at this assault on her mistress, and launched herself at Woz’s leg.
    “Get out of here!” Sadie was too small to do much damage, but Woz glanced down, and angrily shook his leg. The pistol wavered and fell …
    Charlie took a deep breath, and drove the screwdriver with all her might into his thigh. It pierced his pants, and sank deep, feeling like a fork going into tender meat.
    He screamed, and let her go, and dropped his gun, clapping both hands to his punctured thigh and falling writhing to the ground.
    “Bitch! Bitch! Bitch!”
    “That was for Laura,” she said, and went diving after Woz’s dropped gun.
    Jake did something violent to Denton, but Charlie didn’t know exactly what because she was sliding across the floor just about then. When she came up with the gun, scrambling to her feet and gripping it in both shaking hands, it was to discover that the fight was over.Denton was on the floor near Woz, and Jake, gun in hand, was taking careful aim … .
    “Oh my God, don’t kill him!” Charlie gasped, knowing that she couldn’t be a party to cold-blooded murder even though Woz and Denton deserved it Jake didn’t even look at her before he fired. Denton screamed, clutched his leg, and rolled around on the floor.
    “I’m not going to kill them, just make sure they won’t be coming after us,” Jake said grimly, glancing at her before repeating the exercise with the already shrieking Woz. Then he turned to Charlie, and held out his hand. “Here, give me that gun, and grab us some clothes. Time to get the hell out of here.”
    It was only then that Charlie realized that she, like Jake, was as naked as the day she was born. Trying not to listen to the cries and curses of the men writhing on the ground, she snatched up what clothes she could find—the flannel shirt and sweatpants, both of which were still on the bed—and pulled the one over her head and tossed the other to Jake. As he juggled the guns in one hand and yanked the pants on, she scooped up Sadie. Then the three of them headed cautiously out the door.
    Only to find, parked neatly in the driveway beside the cabin, Critter Ridders’ own Jeep, smashed front end and all. Charlie was embarrassed to realize that she and Jake had been so engrossed in what they were doing at the time that they’d never even heard it pull up.
    “Yee-haw, I think we’re in business,”