10. Reaper

10

Reaper

I knew I should have bitten my tongue the moment the words left my mouth; Sarra kept sending glances my way for the rest of the day. We found another campsite for the night. Since there was a place to eat within walking distance, we went there for dinner.

"This place is amazing; I wonder if I can taste all the different barbecue meats they have," Sarra said, looking around. "It says it's famous for its barbeque," she said. I saw how she studied the people and watched the waitress and host, filing it all away in her head for one of her books.

"I'll order the pork, and you can order the beef, and we'll share. Look at those hamburgers. They're massive. Even I couldn't eat one of those," I said, grinning.

"Let's come back tomorrow and order those for the road trip. This sweet tea is delicious. I want to see if I can get some to go."

I smiled; it was so easy to make Sarra happy. "I'm sure you'll be able to order some tea to go," I said, smiling at her.

We were right. The food was delicious. It was already dark when we left the diner. I had a feeling someone was following us. I didn't know who it was, but I wasn't going to take a chance on Sarra getting hurt. I was sure it was someone from the diner. I had seen some men in the bar area drinking too much, and they had been staring at Sarra.

I put my arm around her and whispered, "We're being followed. If they get any closer, I want you to run to the camper and stay with Bub. I'll take care of these guys."

"I'll help you with these jerks. Don't forget I'm pretty strong," she said. I turned her to face me. I only wanted to whisper for her to get Bub, but instead, my lips touched hers. At first, she was shocked until my tongue made its way between her lips. Then, her arms came around me. I completely forgot why I kissed her until I heard a nasal voice.

"He's getting her ready for us, boys; she'll be nice and wet when it's our turn."

I pushed Sarra behind me and faced the three men. I knew this would be easy and quick. I smiled.

"One against three," the nasal guy said.

"Two against three," Sarra said. I couldn't help the smile that appeared on my face. But when she stood next to me, I had to make sure she knew where to stand.

"Get behind me, sweetheart, and I'll pass them to you when I'm done." I saw the one on the left charge me. My fist hit his face, and he went down in the blink of an eye. "Who's next?"

I saw the nasal guy smile, and I grinned, but then I saw the gun. I kicked it out of his hand, and the other guy threw a knife. It landed in my shoulder. I pulled it out and flung it back at him. I heard a gurgle and figured it had landed in his neck.

Then I turned toward the nasal guy, and one kick, and he was out. I called the police. I checked the guy who threw the knife. He was dead. Then I looked at Sarra. She walked over and took my hand.

"You had no choice. It's not your fault the man is dead. I wonder how many times they've done this. I would say more than once by the way they approached us. I hate to say this, but I'm getting so much information for my books."

I kissed her forehead and put my arm around her.

"About that kiss," Sarra said. "It was perfect. We'll practice more when we get back to the RV."

I was going to tell her I did that to distract the men, but I knew that wasn't true. Still, I wouldn't take advantage of Sarra, no matter how much I wanted her. I bent my head and kissed her again—so much for not taking advantage of her. Then I heard the police.

"Put your hands in the air." Four police cars pulled into the spot we were in. Both Sarra and I had our hands in the air. When one of the police grabbed Sarra and threw her against his vehicle, I roared. I was so angry I was ready to snap his neck.

"Is this how you treat people who call the police? No wonder these men thought they could get away with raping Sarra and killing me. You need to pick up that man's gun and check his fingerprints. How many other people has this happened to?"

"Shut the fuck up," the cop yelled.

"Get your fucking hands off Sarra, before you have no hands."

"Reaper, let me speak," Sarra said. Then she glanced at the police, and every one of them was watching her. "We had just eaten dinner at the diner; by the way, it was delicious. We plan on getting their hamburgers before we leave tomorrow. These men were following us back to where we parked the RV."

"What's your name?" one of the policemen asked.

"Sarra Allen, this is Knox Bellmont. His Delta Force name is Reaper because he made sure to rescue all the wounded and dead soldiers who didn't make it out of the war on their own. So we call him Reaper. He's a hero. Plus, he's my bodyguard. There is a man who is trying to kill me."

"You can finish your story."

"Reaper pushed me behind him because he knew it would only take him a minute to take care of them. That guy right there pulled a gun out, and Reaper kicked it out of his hand, and that one, who I believe was the one who threw the knife, is now dead."

He threw a knife, and it landed in Reaper's shoulder. Reaper pulled it out and threw it back at the man, then knocked him out and called the police.

"I apologize for treating you like a criminal. We have a dead man here and can't take any chances," the policeman said.

"You would have had two dead people, and one of them would have been raped," I replied. The policeman pushed me against his car.

"Get your hands off him. He has an injury in his shoulder. I need to use a phone to call my cousin," Sarra demanded.

"Take my phone," I said, unable to retrieve it myself due to the handcuffs.

Sarra pushed past the officer, grabbed my phone, and called one of her cousins. "Shane, I need you to call someone who will listen to us," she said. She explained what had happened and then returned the phone. Ten minutes later, three black vehicles pulled into the parking lot.

I recognized them as FBI before they even spoke. They demanded the keys to remove my cuffs and then took the two men into their vehicle. One of them checked my stab wound. "I'll stitch that up and give you a prescription."

"You need to make sure these two men stay locked up. They are murderers and rapists. Let's go back to the RV, clean my wound, and get further down the road," I said, taking Sarra's hand and walking back to the RV with the FBI following us.

Once inside, I turned to the FBI agent. "What's going on?"

"We are investigating this town for heavy trafficking of women and children. You might have walked into the middle of a human trafficking ring."

"Are the police involved?"

"We suspect some are. The captain contacted us. Now he's dead. You should get as far from here as you can tonight."