Christine Feehan - Conspiracy Game

“The rain’s beginning to really come down,” Ruben said. “That will help us if we get on the road.”

“What should we tell the others?” Seth asked.

“Absolutely nothing. We don’t want to put anyone else in danger,” Jebediah answered. “The big bastard pulled a gun. Our people here can’t tell them anything if they don’t know anything.”

“His name is Luther.” Briony’s hand fluttered to her throat. “Do you think he was going to shoot me?”

“No, hon, he was going to shoot me.”

Briony’s eyes widened with shock. “Jeb, I can’t stay with you-any of you. One of you could be hurt, or worse, dead like Mom and Dad.”

“Don’t get dumb on us, Bri,” Ruben said. “Whoever these people are, we’ll sort it out.” He threw files into a duffel bag and held it out. “Throw some clothes in here and let’s go.”

“She can’t be carrying anything heavy,” Jebediah objected. “She’s pregnant.”

“How?” Seth demanded.

“Who?” Ruben roared.

“Oh for heaven’s sake.” Briony rolled her eyes. “I’ll get my clothes.”

“Hurry,” Jebediah urged.

She hurried to her bedroom, ignoring Ruben shouting questions after her. As she stuffed clothes into a small bag, she heard her brothers arguing over where to go. Rain fell in a steady rhythm, adding to the dark gray of her world. No matter what, her brothers would protect her, and she had a terrible feeling that if Whitney really wanted her back, he wouldn’t stop until he had her-that he’d go right through every member of her family.

Screams pierced the night, and the tigers roared a challenge. Briony stiffened, adrenaline flooding her body. The rain beat down with hard strength, and the tigers continued, a constant unrest, their voices menacing, carrying through the circus town. Shrill screams grew louder, galvanizing her into action. She ran for the door.

Jebediah stopped her. “You stay here. Let us find out what’s going on. Tyrel’s making a sweep around the houses.”

Her brothers raced toward the animal cages to help with whatever emergency there was. As soon as they were out of sight, the back door crashed open. Briony didn’t wait to see what happened or who was there. She ran out the front after her brothers. She refused to call out, not wanting to draw Tyrel into possible danger. She was very fast and she had a good chance of catching Jebediah.

Rain poured down on her, drenching her hair and clothes as she sprinted toward the sounds of disaster. As she flashed past the wind-lashed shrubs, a huge man emerged from the bushes, streaking toward her. Luther . And he wasn’t alone.

Briony nearly ran into a second man, switched directions to avoid him, and found herself trapped between the men and the next trailer. She stopped moving and turned to face them, resolve on her face. She kept her feet beneath her shoulders, standing sideways to present the smallest target, one hand held loosely across her waist and the other up gesturing as she spoke. “What do you want, Luther?” She looked at her hands. They were beginning to shake and her head felt crushed, as if in a vise. The pain was too severe to be just the emotions of the two men, but she could feel the backlash from the crowd over near the tiger cages.

“You. Just come with us now and no one else has to get hurt.”

There was something vaguely familiar about him, something just out of her reach. “What did you do?” Her stomach cramped, and she pressed her hand protectively to the baby.

“Your boyfriend wasn’t feeling too good so we gave him a place to sleep it off,” Luther said. He rubbed his shoulder where she’d slammed the needle into him. “He isn’t going to be helping you with the baby, so you’d better make up your mind to come with us or you won’t have any of your so-called brothers alive either.”

She took a deep breath and glanced toward the animal cages where the crowd had converged. “You hurt Tony?” They had to have, or she wouldn’t be so violently ill. Blood began to trickle from her right ear.

“Worthless piece of trash. You could have had the pick of a dozen men to father your baby. Men worth something. Why the hell you picked that gigolo is beyond me. He screamed like a girl.”

Briony’s mouth went dry. “Why would you hurt him?”

“He had no right to touch you.”

“He-” She broke off abruptly. She didn’t dare tell them Jack Norton was the father of her child. They might decide to kill him. “This is crazy. I don’t understand any of this.” She wiped at the small trail of blood at her ear.

“Come on. You don’t want your brothers hurt,” the other man said, a trace of sympathy in his voice. “Just come with us and no one else is going to die. We’ll explain everything to you. You can’t take much more of this. What if you have a seizure? That would hurt the baby.”

“Don’t play nice with her, Ron, she’s a hellcat,” Luther warned.

“He’s dead ? You killed him?” Tony was a handsome man with a ready smile who pitched in without complaint wherever needed. “Why would you do that?” She rubbed her pounding head. Of course they’d done it, because she’d named him the baby’s father. She’d aimed a gun at Tony’s head with her thoughtless statement. “Why does Whitney want my baby?” She was going to be sick in another minute if the pressure in her head didn’t let up. Her vision was beginning to blur.

Ron held out his hand. “Come on. You know they aren’t going to let you run around loose when you’re so valuable to them.”

Briony pushed back her rain-slicked hair and rubbed her eyes to try to clear her vision. “That’s right. I’m valuable. The baby is valuable. I guess that means you can’t use your gun on me.”

“I could shoot you in the leg,” Luther warned, “and after that stunt you pulled with the syringe, I’d enjoy it. Get your ass over here right now.”

Briony shook her head. “I don’t think so. Come and get me.”

“No one wants to hurt you,” Ron said. “Let’s just get this over. Get in the car and we’ll sort it all out.”

Luther pulled a gun and aimed it past Briony. “Your brother is coming this way, and I sure as hell don’t mind shooting him. Get in the car now.”

Briony turned her head to see Tyrel hurrying through the downpour toward her. There was no time for anything but action, and she took it, somersaulting across the ground and going in low to sweep Ron’s legs out from under him. As he went down, she came back up and stomped hard on his wrist, reversing to kick him in the knee, hoping to incapacitate him.

The gun went flying and she dove for it using a second somersault. She was able to scoop it up and continue forward her motion toward her brother. “Catch!” She tossed the gun. With the tremendous reflexes gifted to the Flying Five, Tyrel picked the gun out of the air, shoving his sister behind him as they backed toward their own trailer.

“We can’t get trapped, Tyrel,” she cautioned.

Luther dragged Ron into the cover of the bushes and sent a warning shot that sprayed leaves all over them. “Just hand her over and no one will get hurt,” he called.

“Did they really kill Tony?” Tremors wracked Briony’s body from the violence rushing into the spaces around her. The emotions choked the breath out of her and pounded at her head. She bent over and vomited, unable to stop the cramping in her stomach.

Tyrel kept pushing her back behind him with one arm as they retreated.

“Someone hit him over the head and threw him in with one of the tigers,” her brother answered grimly.

“Damn them. I told them Tony was the father of my baby. I shouldn’t have done that, Tyrel. I shouldn’t have said anything at all.” Deep inside she was crumbling, going to pieces, screaming even. She was directly responsible for Tony’s death, and a big part of her was certain she was connected to the murder of her parents. “Maybe I should go with them. If I stay with you, they’ll try to kill you, Seth, Ruben, and Jebediah.”