All or Nothing Read Online Free PDF Page A

the direction they would head. Stepping away from the cave, they began their descent. They picked their way around rocks and stands of cholla and saguaro cactus.
    “Do you think he’ll follow us, Ruthie?”
    In answer, a shot echoed from the ridge behind, across the open desert.
    “What was that?” RuthAnne spun on her heel but not before hearing another crack! She caught sight of someone leveling aim on them from the opening in the rocks. “Get down!” She dragged the air for her sister. Too late.
    Mara’s breath came out in a whoosh, as if punched, her hand clutched at her side. “Ruthie...?”
    Crimson bloomed across her white blouse from beneath her hand. Mara’s beautiful face turned marble-white as she drew away her dripping hand and gasped at the rapidly growing patch of blood. Mara sank to her knees. Her dark eyes rolled up to heaven as she collapsed.
    “ Mara! ” RuthAnne rushed to her sister’s limp and bleeding body. “ Someone help us !”
    RuthAnne risked a look back over her shoulder at their attacker. The shotgun she had clung to would be useless at this range; she let it fall to the desert floor. She couldn’t see anyone to shoot at.
    The rifle cracked again and again. A round ricocheted off of the rocks. A sting at her temple and RuthAnne’s head struck the ground with force; consciousness blurred with pain. Reaching for Mara, she faded into blackness.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 5
     
    RuthAnne awoke disoriented, her head throbbing. She blinked into the darkness that enfolded her in a blanket of diamond stars as her vision adjusted. A band of brilliant white light appeared behind the jagged mountain peaks. The rising moon’s glow set the night sky ablaze. Her eyes stung. Her bruised body ached. Every movement caused ribbons of pain to shoot through her ribs, neck, and head.
    She pressed a hand to her temple, her skin caked with dried blood that represented her brush with death. The scoundrel had simply grazed her. At the thought of him, she scurried away from an unseen force on her back like a crab. No sign of her attacker. She could have cried with relief, right there in the moonlight. But where was her sister?
    “Mara!” Her voice choked; the raspy words burned like fire.
    She searched the scene on hands and knees in the silver moonlight. Lord, not Mara. Where is she? She ’ s just a girl...please!
    Footsteps crunched on the gravel-filled dirt. Nowhere to hide, RuthAnne willed herself invisible. Her hand closed around a fist-sized rock. The bandit wouldn’t take her without a fight.
    He knelt down beside her. A large, rough hand cupped her cheek in an all too familiar way. “You’re awake. Thank God.”
    With a ragged battle cry, RuthAnne lunged at her would-be attacker with the stone, cracking him just above the shoulder. He shied away from the blow, and the lump of granite glanced off him. With little effort, he peeled it from her fingers. “You’re coming with me, whether you like it or not.”
    The brigand picked her up like a child and marched her off to her doom. Terrified, she fought and bucked while he carried her. Tears of frustration streamed down her face; her hair, a mass of golden curls, tumbled loose about her as she thrashed in his arms. RuthAnne hammered at him with ineffectual fists. He carried her so easily, as if she were feather light, though he did pin her arms close against her body.
    “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m here to help.”
    His gentle tone stalled her efforts as she opened her eyes and looked at him. He didn’t wear a mask over the rugged planes of his face, days past needing a shave, his eyes glinting like shiny coins in the light of the moon. Could that be a look of concern?
    He shook out his dark, curling hair as he looked down at her with worry-filled eyes. She noted in her confusion that his hair needed cutting, as it fell past his ears and brushed the collar of his army issue shirt. A soldier? She blinked and ceased