A Reluctant White Knight

Adaptation from: “A Reluctant White Knight”

(Copyright T.W. Anderson 2008)

CHAPTER ONE

The swirling bursts of light in my brain actually hurt as they move about. My eardrums hurt with even just the sound of my own breathing. I realize the sensation of a sharp pain at the back of my head. But I can’t move. The ringing in my ears is being replaced by whispered words. The whispers are coming through clearer now. Finally, my brain starts to come back on line and I realized I’m staring at a pair of legs dressed with a black skirt. The whispers become more familiar. I recognize them now as female. Then finally I realize they are from Sunny, the woman I’m supposed to be protecting. But I still can’t move my body very much.

 “Tom. Tom! Are you alive? Tom! Oh, please. Tom. Oh, God. Please. Don’t. Don’t take another man from me. Oh God I don’t know if my heart could take losing another …..” Sunny is whispering.

Mustering all of my intelligence, eloquence and ability I finally speak a very muttered “huh”?

“Oh Tom. I thought they’d killed you. Don’t say anything. They are probably listening.” She says.

“Are you okay? Did they hurt you”? I croak out.

“I’m okay” she says. “After they clobbered you from behind they bound my hands but then they just shoved me into their van. They trussed you up like a calf roping contest. The way they looked and talked I was pretty sure they were from the middle east. So I took a gamble and convinced them that I was, well, ’unclean’ by faking menstrual cramps. Shhh” she whispers.

She sits quietly listening for a moment while I try to further clear my mind.

“I think it’s okay. I think there is one man in that next room. I don’t know if there is another one outside or if he went with the third man” she says.

“You saw who did this to us”? I ask in a whisper as low as hers.

“Yes. They didn’t wear masks or anything. But I know they mean business. They killed poor old mister Erickson. See”? she says indicating with jerks of her head that I should look on the other side of her. There on the far side of the room lies a man’s body.

“How long have I been out”? I ask.

“I don’t know. My guess would be two hours or more. It is still daylight, what little I can see through the window behind you. But it’s still thick fog too.” She reports.

“Tom. Can you move at all”? she asks.

“Yes. I’m starting to get some feeling back in my legs and arms. My head feels like it’s going to explode every time I move it. But if I can get out of these bindings, I’ll figure a way to get us out of this” I said.

“I’ve got you covered on this one. Scoot over here and lift my dress”. She says.

“Look sweetie, I’ve never been big on the whole bondage thing and I don’t think this is the place”.

“Ha, ha. Do what I tell you and lift my skirt hem up toward my waist with your teeth but be ready to put my skirt back if we hear someone moving in the next room”.

As I lay here about even with Sunny’s thigh I think this has got to be the craziest woman I have ever met. If she is getting frisky because she’s tied up, well I’m sorry. But I’m a little tied up right now and there isn’t much I can do about it, even if I think it is a fun idea. She wants me to be ready to put her dress back in position if we hear someone coming so she evidently isn’t going to try to seduce our abductors. Oh, what the heck. At least she’s thinking which is better than I can do right now.

I grab the hem of her skirt in my teeth and scooting my body up closer to her I’m able to get her hem up to her waist.

“You make any smart aleck remarks and I’ll use that on you” she says. There on her thigh is a black nylon webbing band. I strain to get my head up high enough to look at her inner thigh and between her legs she is wearing a holster. I can barely make out the butt of a gun.

“Well. This outfit is a little more suitable for hiding that little pea shooter of yours than the swim suit you wore yesterday.”

“Oh. That reminds me. I never got a good look at the guy in the boat yesterday. But the guy who was on the beach with the rifle? He’s one of these guys.” She says with excitement.

“Well they are determined. And this time they may have got us. For the life of me I don’t know how I’m going to take advantage of you having that gun with both of us tied up. I’m just not that good shooting with my teeth” I say laying my head back on the floor to try to get the room to stop spinning again.

“I hope your teeth are good enough to get through this tape on my wrists” she says as she twists around and sticks her hands in my face.

“Okay. Now you are talking. I didn’t realize that they had just taped you. Did they tape me as well” I ask.

“Yep. So get to work and make it quick, please” she pleads.

I pull and chew and pull again on the tape but I can’t make any headway and so I lay back down. “I don’t recognize this room as being part of the house we were looking at. You said they shoved us into their van. They didn’t blind fold you so are we somewhere near where we looked at that house”? I ask.

“Yes” she responds. “A mile or so farther down the beach from the city”. She says.

“Look around the room for some broken glass from one of those windows.” I say.

Since they only tied her arms behind her and not her legs Sunny is able to get up on her feet and tiptoe around the room. Thank God she is half Apache. She doesn’t make a sound. It isn’t long before she half falls on my back as she tries to sit back down on the floor.

“Sorry. Now hold still. I don’t want to cut you” she says and I feel her start sawing on my bindings. Every once in a while, she will stop and listen for our captors. There isn’t a sound coming from anywhere. Unfortunately, that also means that the only sound is the sound of her sawing on my bindings.

I feel the cut and the warmth of the blood where she cuts me and she starts to cry without saying a word. I can hear her sniffle and try to suck back the sobs. Finally she says “There. Try to move”. I yank my arms apart and feel the tape pulling on my skin but I keep pulling against it. My right arm comes completely loose from the tape and I swing it around to the floor in front of me to push myself into an upright sitting position but that doesn’t work because my legs are still trussed to my other arm. Sunny works on the other arm and gets that free from the tape that runs down to my ankles.

I pull the remainder of the tape off my wrists and tear the tape on my ankles to get my legs free. Only then can I pivot around to check on the woman who has just freed me. Somehow she has managed to get her arms in front of her body. That surprises me because I saw her tied up with her arms behind her. She must have been reading my mind and whispers “gymnastics and martial arts training” and smiles.

I quickly tear the tape from around her wrists. But as I do I see her hands are bleeding from handling the broken piece of glass as a saw to free me.

“Oh Sunny. I’m sorry. Give me your gun and let’s get the heck out of here” I say.

Once I have her pistol and check that it is loaded and cocked I only then notice that they had stripped me of my jacket. My shoulder holster and billfold are gone as well. But thankfully they did not find “my little tattle tale” hidden in the watch pocket of my blue jeans. That helps clear my mind and gives me some hope.

CHAPTER TWO

It inspires in me a plan that is bold. But I feel it has to be done. And done quickly before they make their next planned move. Whatever that is.

“Okay. I’m betting our lives on the idea that there is still a guard outside. But I want to try to get us out of here before it’s three against two instead of the even odds we have now.” I whisper excitedly. “If they didn’t wear masks then they aren’t planning on leaving any witnesses alive. So we need to act and act now before the leader comes back, possibly with other men. Here’s what I want you to do” I say and I brief her on my plan. She gives me a couple of suggestions that sound good and together we work on timing and signals.

Sunny moves over toward the side of the room that contains the dead man and sits down beside him facing the door. She sits as though still bound with her hands behind her back. I stand behind the door with her gun ready. My plan is to try to knock the guard out when he comes through the door. If that doesn’t work I’ll shoot him and then try to figure out how to contend with the outside guard. It is a weak plan, I admit to Sunny, but we don’t have many options.

When I give her the nod, Sunny starts moaning and complaining that she needs a bathroom bad. She puts on a pretty good act. I am just hoping that she can find shelter in the dark room if I miss my part of the act. It takes a while of her pleading before the guard twists the knob on the door. The door opens just a little bit as though the guard is peeking in the room. I know he won’t be able to see Sunny unless he opens it more. He does and sticks his head through the opening just enough to look around the room. In his hand is a handgun.

I throw all my body weight against the door trapping the man’s gun hand, arm and his head and neck in the door opening. Before he can cry out I give him three hard knocks on the head with Sunny’s gun. His gun clatters to the floor and he drops like a rock. I purposely stepped hard on the man’s hand that had dropped the gun and he doesn’t make a sound other than the sound of my weight breaking his fingers. I am convinced he is out for a while but I know he isn’t dead.

I hand Sunny her gun back and pick up the guard’s gun. That makes me feel better about our odds. That is until I hear a car pull up.

It sounds as though the leader gets out of the car yelling at the guard outside. Whatever set him off when Sunny heard him leave hasn’t gotten any better while he was gone. I quickly motion for Sunny to hide behind the doorway to the room that we had occupied, and for her to aim at the front door. I then whisper “You have to wait until they are both visible and shoot the second man in”. Sunny nods her head and I move into the outer room and try to get a vantage point with some concealment behind a chair.

The door flies open and the first man comes in. He is the man from the boat and not the leader. In less than a heartbeat he scans the room, sees Sunny crouched in the doorway to the other room and swings his gun on her. My instincts overcome my planning and I fire twice to the man’s center of mass. He drops to his knees and drops his gun at the same time. As he drops I can see the second man, the one who must be the leader turn around and disappear from my view through the doorway.

It is then that I hear six or seven gun shots. Each gunshot sounds different. But that is okay with me because the leader doesn’t come running back into the room, and none of the bullets that are flying out there are coming into the room either. I hustle back over to Sunny and cover her body from whatever is coming through the doorway next.

CHAPTER THREE

“Mr. Rowter, Mrs. Shinne, this is the Secret Service. The area is clear. Please lay down your weapons and come out with your hands in plain view” a voice says over a loud speaker. I look at Sunny and we both drop our guns on the floor at the same time. I now realize that it hurts to straighten back up to a standing position but I am glad to be able to do so and I hold my hand out to help Sunny up as well.

I shield Sunny’s body behind mine as I cautiously open the front door wide and then put my open palmed hands out to my sides. “That’s fine sir, you can put your arms down now. Thank you. You too, Mrs. Shinne. Thank you for your cooperation” the loudspeaker voice says as three men in black jump suits, helmets and assault rifles quickly move past us into the house. Almost immediately I hear “clear, clear, all clear chief. Two suspects dead. One unconscious, no wounds showing”.

I wrap my arm around Sunny’s shoulder and ask her “You okay, kid”?

“Yes. But I really do have to go to the bathroom” she says while biting her lip. No sooner has she said that but a woman in a black business suit comes up and in a very authoritative voice says “We can help you with that little problem ma’am if you follow me”.

As the two women disappear into a waiting tactical response truck and close the door I look around for someone who looks like they are in charge.

“Mr. Rowter, Rob Evans, I’m supervising agent on this assignment. Come over to the mobile command center and we’ll get you debriefed” a young, but serious looking African American gentleman says as he shakes hands with me. “First, do you require medical attention of any kind”?

“No, but Mrs. Shinne has lacerations to her hands that need tending to” I say quickly.

“Agent Fields already has her under care and will debrief her as well so that we can get you two released as soon as possible”. I think, the old divide them up and then compare their stories game. That’s fine with me. Whatever they want is fine with me if we are done with this craziness.

The debriefing takes longer than I expected but only because I spend as much time pumping the agents interviewing me for information as they do with me. I don’t get a thing from them other than some assurance that the leader is in fact the leader of the problems that we had stumbled into. Since he is dead they don’t anticipate any further danger.

When they finally release me from the mobile command center debriefing Sunny is seated in a folding chair just outside the command truck. She is wrapped in a blanket and has a hot cup of coffee in her hands. “There you are” she says with a shiver in her voice.

“Take it easy, Sunny. You’re safe now” I whisper to her. She just nods her head as though agreeing but she keeps on shivering. And she shivers during the entire car ride back to the yacht.

CHAPTER FOUR

When we pull into the pier parking lot the two sedans that had been there are gone but a Texas Department of Public Safety black and white replaced them. The boat crew meets the agent’s car at the bottom of the steps. I tell them “I need to get Sunny to bed. She’s caught a chill”. After boarding the yacht I guide Sunny to her stateroom, open the door and release my grasp on her shoulders.

“No. Don’t. Don’t leave me. Please hold me, Tom. Don’t let me go. Please.”

I just shush her and pull the covers down on her bed. I sit her down on the edge of the bed and slip her shoes off. Then I tuck her legs up under the covers and tuck her in like a little kid before laying down on the bed beside her. As if on cue, she lifts her head for me to slide my arm under her head. She scoots her back and bottom toward me and snuggles into my arms. As she finally stops shivering and her breathing slows to the point I know she is drifting off to sleep I hear her whisper “Hold me, Steve. You’re always there for me”.

I cry. Quietly I cry. For this woman to have been so frightened that she shivers that much. And that she’d grasp back to memories of her dead husband’s care for her. She doesn’t deserve this trauma in her life. I look at the clock and it is six in the evening. I just squeeze Sunny closer to me and close my eyes.

CHAPTER FIVE

When I look at the clock for the hundredth time it is five in the morning. I listen to Sunny’s breathing. It is regular and relaxed. I look at her auburn hair hanging over her eyes. I look at her profile and listened to her soft breathing. My eyes get misty.

I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to think. I can’t honestly say whether I am really over the loss of my loving wife Dee. And is Sunny really over her loss of Steve? I have been fighting these feelings ever since I saw this woman being attacked on the road side when I first came to her rescue. Ever since she nuzzled her face into my chest and thanked me for saving her life that first time. Do I want to give up on my love for Dee? I feel guilty.

When is it all right to let someone else into a life after a loss? Into your heart? God. I need someone to tell me what to do. I need to talk to God.

I slip my arm ever so slowly from under her neck. I feel sneaky trying to slide out from her side.

I find a marking pen and paper on Sunny’s desk and scrawl a note.

Sunny:

I’m not far away but I need some time to think and pray. Call me on my cell phone when you feel like being up and around. Don’t rush yourself. You need the rest.

Take care

Tom

I depart the yacht and take a long walk to think things over and pray. Some time later the fog has lifted and God gives me the gift of a beautiful sunrise to heal my soul and lift my spirits. Finally I realize I’ve walked some distance from the marina and I decide to head back to the yacht.

When I arrive, our purser, Ed, informs me that Sunny would like to leave for the airport as soon as possible to get back to her ranch and will meet me in the salon when I am packed and ready to go. I know after all she has been through she wants to get back to the comfort and security of her ranch and family. And so, I pack as quickly as possible.

I hustle to the salon where Ed has prepared a tray of breakfast sandwiches and our guards are having a snack. Sunny is already there waiting for me. She smiles at me and says “You ready to head for the ranch”?

“You bet” I answer immediately.

CHAPTER SIX

We fly the ranch’s corporate jet back to Texas and when we land Sunny’s dad, Dusty, is there to greet me as I am the first to open the plane’s cabin door.

“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you saving my daughter. You sure you won’t stick around?” Dusty asks.

“I’m sorry. I promised you this one mission.” is all I can think to respond. We shake hands and I head to the hacienda as Dusty greets his daughter warmly.

I go back to the guest room the family had provide to me and shower. Then I take a deep breath and pack my personal belongings. When done with that, I sit down at the desk in my room and try to write a note to Sunny apologizing for my departure. Or should I apologize for spending the night with her when she was so vulnerable? Or perhaps I should apologize for being so indecisive. Before I realize it, I have spent more than an hour trying to find the words to write. But I can’t. I finally crumple up the last of many notes and toss it too in the waste can.

I pick up my suitcase, look around the room one last time and walk out to the garage and onto the driveway. There Dusty is waiting with Rosa, the housekeeper.

Dusty sees the suitcase in my hand and says “I wish you’d reconsider the ultimatum you told me about”.

“Thanks, Dusty. But I think you know it’s got to be” I say.

 “Rosa, you know when Charlie is coming back with my Jeep” I ask the house manager.

“He’s coming down the drive now, Tom” Rosa answers.

Coming down the drive is my Jeep Grand Cherokee pulling a car trailer with Sunny’s bright red Corvette parked on it. Behind that rig is a pickup truck. I can tell it is Sunny driving my Jeep. She has a concerned look on her face. The car looks great. It has obviously been touched up and detailed in addition to getting a new windshield since I intervened in the attempted kidnapping of Sunny.

I think to myself, perfect timing.

When Sunny stops the Jeep and the ranch foreman, Charlie pulls his pickup beside it I holler at Charlie saying “Would you get the trailer off the Jeep right away, Charlie”? I then turn to the driver’s door and open it for Sunny.

“Look, Tom. Charlie had some running to do and your Jeep was ready and the Corvette had to come home and well I didn’t think, well I didn’t think …. I just didn’t think, Tom. I’m sorry I drove your late wife’s Jeep.” She sputters.

“Thanks Charlie. Sunny get in and drive please. I need to talk to you” I say as I toss my suitcase to Charlie who is standing there wondering which way to turn to get out of the way of the storm that is coming.

Sunny fires up the Jeep and pulls out onto the ranch road and I tell her to take me to the mountain top. She sits there driving the Jeep like it is made of crystal. I finally say “I’ve seen you drive before, Sunny. This is a Jeep. It’s got a hemi, baby. Use it” Sunny steps on the gas. It isn’t long until she is pulling up onto the flat plateau on the mountain crest where she comes to a stop and shuts off the car.

I get out of the passenger side and walk to the front of the car where I lean against the grill and look out over the scenery. From this vantage point you can see one end of Sunny’s ranch to the other.

Finally, Sunny gets out of the driver’s side. She slams the car door and marches to the edge of the plateau and without turning around to look at me she says “Shall I jump. Or do you want the satisfaction of pushing me”?

“Sunny. I want to level with you. Do you realize that as of this moment you and I have known each other exactly seven days? ...Ah... Would you mind getting back from the edge of that cliff please? You’re scaring me” I say to Sunny.

CHAPTER SEVEN

She spins around and takes three very deliberate steps toward me and stops. She puts her hands on her hips and snarls “Look Tom. I’ve only had two lovers in my life. And the first one wasn’t anything to be proud of. I don’t care if you’ve had one hundred lovers. Look at all this” she says as she stretches her arms out to her sides indicating the magnificent vista of the ranch. “This can all be yours. The thousands of acres, the cattle, the oil, the ranch …..”

I stop her by saying “Sunny”.

“What”? she fumes.

“I don’t want the acres or ranch… “ I begin to say.

“Dammit Tom” she sputters.

“I want you, Sunny”. I say quietly.

Sunny stands there speechless. I don’t really know what she is going to say or do. I have no idea if she feels for me what I feel for her.

All through the night, while just holding her, I couldn’t sleep. I wondered why I was so intimidated by this woman. I realized that she was beautiful, talented and smart. She could hold her own in a tough situation. But that shouldn’t have intimidated me. I had always preferred a strong woman to a weak one.

I finally realized this very morning that the reason I had backed off every time Sunny exhibited one of those wonderful attributes was because I wanted this woman. I didn’t know if I should feel free to want her and so I had been pushing her away. We had, in fact, only known each other for seven days. She and I came from different cultures and backgrounds. She had a lousy marriage once already and was probably gun shy. But I hadn’t exactly shown her my strong and loving side and she was still obviously flirting with me all this week.

I don’t like the silence. It is unsettling.

“I’ve been yours for, oh, about four days now” she finally says quietly. “I thought you were leaving. And it was breaking my heart. I went to get your Jeep so that you would be free to make your decision without any pressure from me.”

“Sunny”? I ask.

“Yes, Tom” she answers.

“Would you please just kiss me” I say as I walk to her and take her into my arms.

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Author: T.W. Anderson

Story adapted from T.W.’s romance/suspense novel series “A Reluctant White Knight” published through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. Available in paperback and ereader versions from Amazon.

T.W. Anderson

www.ReluctantWhiteKnight.com

ReluctantWhiteKnight@gmail.com