Free Deep Into The Night (Hartz Island Series) by Tracie Ingersoll Loy Page A

special timers? Probably some simple explanation she’d laugh about later.
    But for the moment the way her heart pounded, she needed to be real. What if one of Sergei’s thugs had found her here? She thought it all through and her reaction was no way. His thugs didn’t have the endurance to have followed her—campsites, back roads, slow driving. If she had been followed, they’d have accosted her sooner—any one of the nights she’d slept in the truck. They were bullies that could barely think on their own. Trying to read a ferry schedule would have been too much for those pigs.
    If she didn’t check it out, she’d never get back to sleep. “Why can’t anything ever be easy,” she mumbled, trying to figure out a plan of action. Just to be on the safe side, she got the butcher knife out of the drawer and made a few practice slashes.
    After checking the lock on the kitchen door, she stared down the long dark hallway. One footstep at a time, she hugged the wall. Her heart pounded and her hand shook, so she gripped the knife with all her might. With just a few steps from the first bedroom, she stopped. Warm moisture in the air settled on her bare arms, chest, and face. Unless ghosts had moved in, someone had used the shower, she was sure of it. But how could they? Cassie took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to stop her shaking and clear her mind on what to do next. She had come this far and wasn’t going to quit.
    Fear knotted inside her but she still stepped inside the doorway of the first bedroom. Cassie gripped the big knife with both hands, taking a warrior stance. Her feet were kicked out from under her and the knife flew across the room. She was grabbed, body slammed, and then her body was locked next to her attacker. So great was the pain and shock, it momentarily paralyzed her. It happened so fast she could only think it was Sergei, but then the scent of spicy soap permeated her fear. This man had just taken a shower, and by the feel of his chest, he was shirtless. Anger combined with rage from the last couple of months living with Sergei’s abuse fueled her. Cassie had had enough. With all her force, she head butted her assailant and kicked with all her might, slamming her heel to his knee, getting in as many hits as she could.
    “What the fuck?” he growled.
    Finding it impossible to get away, she tried elbowing him with her left arm, but couldn’t. His hand settled under her armpit, coddling her left breast. He hoisted her into the air, threw her face down on the bed, bringing her right arm up her back, and straddled her. She tried to roll out from under him, but his grip tightened and his hard muscular thighs squeezed around her. At one hundred twenty five pounds and five feet six inches, she couldn’t beat him off. To emphasize his strength, he squeezed her body with his thighs again.
    She seethed, trying to get her breathing under control, to could calculate what to do next. For emphasis, she tried to buck him off and squirmed violently.
    “Knock it off!”
    “Get off me.” With all her might, she tried one more time throw him off.
    “Jesus Christ, will you stop!”
    “I will when you get off me.” She spat out each word.
    His weight lifted up, and before she knew it, he flipped her up and around, throwing her down on the bed rendering her useless with the air knocked out of her. Yanking her body forward, he pushed her legs down over the bed and held them in place with his foot. To emphasize, he applied pressure. There was no mistake in his message, and she got it loud and clear.
    “You want to tell me who the hell you are and what you’re doing here?”
    “I was going to ask you the same question.”
    He kept pressure on her body, but reached over and turned on the bedside lamp. She winced at the light, but still pushed herself up onto her elbows to get a good look at him.
    “Well, if it isn’t Princess Sassy Face.” He dropped his foot and took a step back into the