Free Silver Linings by Jayne Ann Krentz Page B

ear.
    Mattie wondered if she should explain about her extremely limited experience with the Annie Oakley Special. She decided this was not the time to tell Hugh she had never fired a real gun in her life. Weakly she nodded her head again, knowing he would sense the movement.
    “Stay put. Be right back. And for God's sake, take a good look before you pull that trigger. I don't want to end up like Cormier.”
    Visions of the horrible red mess in Paul Cormier's chest rose up to temporarily blind Mattie. She clutched the gun and fought a scream of protest.
    Then she realized the weight that had been pressing her into the earth was gone. Hugh had risen soundlessly and disappeared into the undergrowth.
    Mattie lay where she was and strained to hear some hint of his passage through the greenery. She could hear nothing.
    Somehow, the utter lack of noise from Hugh was almost as terrifying as the too-silent cove. It spoke volumes about his unconventional lifestyle. How could she possibly have ever considered marrying the man, she wondered bleakly. Definitely not her type. Absolutely nothing in common.
    The answer, of course, was ludicrously simple: She had been certain she was in love with him; certain that they shared some deep, common bond; certain that she understood him as no other woman would ever understand him; certain that he was lonely and needed her just as she needed him.
    The only certainty about the entire situation was that she had been an idiot.
    There was a crackling sound off to her right. Mattie instinctively froze like a deer caught on the road in a set of headlights.
    The sound came a second time, louder. She thought she could hear heavy breathing.
    Not Hugh, then. He would not be making so much noise.
    She was slowly turning her head, her fingers clenching the gun, when another shot roared out over the lovely cove. She went totally still once more.
    The crackling noises stopped.
    Silence.
    More eons of silence.
    And then the crackling sounds came again. Closer this time.
    With a sinking heart Mattie realized that the noises were headed straight for her hiding place. She sat up very carefully and braced her back against the trunk of a vine-covered tree. The vines shifted silently behind her like a nest of writhing snakes. Mattie stifled the impulse to leap away from the tree.
    She gripped the Beretta in both hands and pointed it in the general direction of the soft crackling sounds.
    From the far side of the cove came a rush of crashing, breaking, and splintering. A man's startled screech started to climb into the dawn sky but was abruptly choked off.
    Mattie did not move. She was fairly sure the scream had not been Hugh's, but that was all she could tell. She kept the gun in her hand pointed into the mass of leaves and vines in front of her.
    The crackling sounds escalated abruptly, as if someone who had previously been creeping through the undergrowth was now racing forward toward the sandy beach.
    And then the reality of what was happening hit Mattie full force. Someone else was headed for the escape boat.
    The thought of another trip back through the caves and another day spent in the cavern while Hugh hunted up a second boat was all the impetus Mattie needed. Her fingers tightened on the Beretta.
    A large man burst through the wall of green leaves less than two feet away. He did not look down as he dashed toward the beach.
    “You can't have it.” Mattie pointed the gun straight up at him. “It's ours.”
    There was enough dawn light to see the startled expression on the man's unpleasant face. He slammed to an abrupt halt and looked down at where Mattie was sitting with the gun clutched in her hands.
    “What the fuck?” The man blinked, first in astonishment and then in growing outrage. “Give me that gun, you little bitch.” The voice was a soft hiss.
    He stretched out a beefy hand, intending to take the weapon from her as if she were a child.
    Mattie fumbled for a second and then found the safety. She