Free Blind Trust by Terri Blackstock

throat, but he pressed his hand over her mouth and tackled her to the ground. She struggled with all her might and squirmed away, scrambled to her feet, and started to run again. But Clint caught her around the waist, clamping her arms to her sides. “Don’t … even … think about moving.”
    Tears of helplessness burst into her eyes and spilled over her cheeks. She shut her eyes.
    “I love you, Sherry,” he whispered heavily. “I’m not gonna hurt you.”
    Tears ran down her cheeks, and a sob burst from her throat. “You already have,” she whispered.
    He turned her around and she stared up at Clint, watching a look of sympathy flash across his face, a look brought on by her tears and vulnerability. Still holding her with one arm, he wiped beneath her eye with a knuckle. She moved her face aside. “I’m going to keep trying to get away from you until I do.”
    “And I’ll have to keep stopping you,” he said.
    “You might have to kill me to do it.”
    He didn’t answer, but a look of both pain and anger twisted his face, and he started walking, pulling her along beside him.
    Sam was waiting with Madeline when they reached the drop-off that had been their downfall.
    “Oh, Sherry,” Madeline moaned when she saw that she’d been caught. “You were so close.”
    Sam and Clint exchanged sober looks. “Get up, Madeline,” Clint said. “We’re going to the plane.”
    Sam shook his head with something nearing disgust in his eyes. “She twisted her knee. I’ll have to carry her.”
    “We’ll follow this drop-off until it’s low enough to climb,” Clint said, his bass voice deep and without inflection. He took Sherry’s hand and pulled her behind him.
    Sherry followed without a fight, though her eyes, now dry and alert, kept a constant lookout for some other escape route. Another one would arise soon enough. When it did, she would be ready. And no matter what the cost, she would risk it. For she had no intention of falling under the power and dominance of the dangerous criminal wearing the face of the man she had loved.

Chapter Six
    T he plane that waited for them was small and didn’t seat more than eight people. Clint pulled Sherry on and made her sit in one of the back seats, hooked her in, and told her not to move. But he knew she would try again. He was all out of threats. Short of actually hurting her, he didn’t know how he would protect her.
    He went back to the front of the plane, where the pilot, a woman named Erin, busied herself with her checklist before taking off.
    In the seats behind the pilot, Madeline sat with her pantleg rolled up, checking out her knee. “So what do you think?” Clint asked. “Anything broken?”
    “Like you really care,” Madeline said. Then under her breath, she added, “I think it’s sprained.”
    Sam closed the door and took the seat beside her. “Should keep her from pulling another stupid stunt for a while.”
    “Yeah,” Clint mumbled. “But what’s to keep Sherry from it?”
    “That lock on the door, for one thing,” Sam said. “And the fact that the first step out of here will be twenty thousand feet down.”
    Clint closed his eyes and rubbed them roughly. He hated the look he could still see in her eyes, the look that said, “I loathe you and I’m afraid of you and I’ll do anything in my power to be away from you.” He hated that she didn’t trust him enough to believe him when he said they were in danger, not from each other, but from someone else. But how could she trust him?
    “I’m not gonna hurt you.” ,
    “You already have.”
    Her words raged in his mind, until he wanted to throw in the towel and walk out into the line of fire and die. She was all that kept him from it, all that had for eight long, agonizing months.
    “We need to keep them separated so they don’t cook anything else up,” Clint said in a distant voice. “I’ll ride in the back with her.”
    Sam surveyed the pensive lines etching Clint’s face. “All