Armed 'N' Ready

by Tee O'Fallon

  When they arrived at her back porch the motion sensor light kicked on.

  Nick stopped short, pointing then insinuating his body between hers and the porch. “What is that?”

  She looked around his shoulder in the direction of his outstretched arm, then giggled. “A telescope, silly. Don’t worry. It won’t attack you.” Pushing past him, she headed up the stairs, as did the dogs, and walked onto the porch. “I told you amateur astronomy ran in my family. When my dad and uncle were kids, they made this telescope out of parts from the Williamsburg Bridge. My great-uncle was an engineer in the city and used to bring home spare pieces that were going to be thrown out as scrap. Those spare parts are now a telescope.”

  He followed her up the stairs, eyeing the telescope warily, as if he expected it to come to life and start shooting. With its spindly tripod legs and the long optical tube made from an old pipe, it did kind of look like a cross between a mounted machine gun and a rocket launcher.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, casting one more wary glance at the telescope before dropping a light kiss on her lips. “And don’t forget to lock up behind you. This door and the front door.”

  “I won’t.” The door creaked as she pushed it open. Stray darted inside and trotted to her bowl, crunching on a few remaining kibble leftovers from that morning. When Andi stepped into the kitchen Nick and Saxon were still there, waiting, she knew, for her to close the door.

  “Do you even have a deadbolt?”

  “No.”

  He shook his head, frowning. “I’m calling a professional security company first thing in the morning.”

  “You will not.” She parked her fists on her hips. “I lived in the city half my life. The last thing I want is to feel so paranoid that I need a security system.”

  “With everything going on, I don’t want you taking any chances. Humor me.”

  “Again?” She’d come to realize he used those two words a lot. “You’re incorrigible.” Andi shook her head, although deep down, she was touched by his concern for her safety. “Good night.” She grinned and shut the door.

  Sighing, she leaned back against the doorframe. Part of her had wanted to invite him inside for a nightcap. A nightcap. Right. What she’d wanted was him. Kissing her more. Touching her. Undressing her with his big, strong hands. The enormity of the moment wasn’t lost on her.

  Despite who and what Nick was, let alone why he was there, he was the first man since Steve that she’d thought about. Really thought about.

  She unclipped her phone from her waist and set it on the counter. Except for the sound of Stray licking the inside of her kibble bowl, the house was quiet. Eerily quiet. Though she wasn’t ready to admit it to Nick, maybe a security system wasn’t such a bad idea. She flicked on the kitchen lights to see Stray pushing the dish along the floor until it hit the wall and could go no farther. She began noisily lapping water, but stopped abruptly.

  Stray lifted her head, water dribbling back into the bowl. Her ears went back, and she let out a low growl. Hair on her spine stood straight up, then she bolted into the living room, her nails scrabbling on the kitchen tile.

  Andi followed. “What’s the matter, girl? Did another raccoon get inside?” That had happened only a month ago.

  She’d taken one step into the darkened living room when a hand clamped around her mouth and an arm came around her waist, hauling her backward against something hard.

  For a full second, shock overrode all rational thought, and she froze. Oh my God. I’m going to die.

  Then fear and panic exploded in her mind, and her fighting instinct kicked in. Hard.

  She began clawing frantically at her attacker’s fingers, and when that didn’t work, she swung her arms behind her, contacting her fist. Beneath the hand covering her mouth, she screamed, but the sound was muffled, and she doubted anyone outside the house would hear.

  “Knock it off, bitch!” a male voice hissed.

  Like hell I will.

  With renewed vigor, she swung backward again with her fist and hit something soft.

  “Fuck!”

  Her heart raced painfully. The pulse at her throat roared in her ears, and still she could only manage to move the smallest amount of air through her nostrils. Not enough!

  The arm around her waist tightened, doubling the difficulty of breathing.

  Escape! Don’t give up without a fight! If she didn’t get more air soon, she’d black out.

  Do something!

  Fingers tightened, jabbing into her cheek, forcing her to suck in loud, wheezing breaths through her nose. Her chest heaved from the effort. More panic escalated through her body, and with every inhalation came the nauseating smells of sweat and body odor.

  Stray barked furiously, snapping at the attacker’s legs. A shadow in the corner of the room moved. Another man emerged from the darkness, reared back his foot, and kicked Stray in the side. The dog yelped, but still had enough game in her to keep snapping. The booted foot lashed out again, this time kicking Stray so hard she hit the wall.

  The dog whimpered and fell to the floor in a heap and didn’t move again.

  Bastards. Fueled by rage, Andi kicked backward and tried to bite the hand covering her mouth.

  “I said knock it off, bitch, or I shoot the dog!” The second man in the room extended his arm toward Stray.

  Andi froze. Light from the kitchen gleamed against something shiny in his hand—a gun.

  No. It can’t end this way.

  There had to be something she could do. She racked her brain for an escape plan, for her and Stray. But as her gaze fixed on the gun, the futility of the situation became crystal clear. What little hope that ran through her mind trickled to a thin stream before ceasing entirely.

  They were too strong for her to escape, and if she did…

  …she’d be shot dead before ever making it to the door.

  Chapter Eleven

  Saxon trotted ahead, darting left and right as he followed one scent after another, seeing and smelling things Nick couldn’t. By this time of night, his mind was usually crammed with thoughts about work. Tonight, his head was filled with thoughts of a woman.

  Andi.

  The kiss he’d given her hadn’t scraped the surface of what he wanted: to carry her to her bedroom and make love to her all night. Whether he was prepared for it or not, she was getting to him.

  Andi Hardt was everything a man could possibly want. Beauty and brains. Compassion and guts. Instinct shouted louder than ever that she was innocent, yet he was treading closer and closer to a line he should back the hell away from before he stepped right over it and plunged into quicksand. He couldn’t—no, shouldn’t—get involved or do any other stupid thing that might risk losing Andi’s cooperation. Like kissing her again, or carrying her up to her bedroom and stripping them both down until they were totally naked. Fuck, no.

  Andi was still a critical part of an active investigation that was nearing the boiling point, and sticking to the plan was the only thing that mattered. In the meantime, there’d be a lot of cold showers in his future.

  As they neared the edge of the grass that abutted the DPC’s parking lot, Saxon loped to Nick’s side.

  Until tonight, he wasn’t sure he’d ever sing again, or pick up an instrument that he couldn’t load with at least eleven rounds of ammo, but when he’d seen Andi so panicked about her MIA musician, he hadn’t thought twice about helping her. For a few seconds he’d been pissed at his friends for goading him into it, then he realized it wasn’t anger tearing him up inside. It was something else entirely.

  Since Tanya died, he’d been getting up every morning and reporting for work, but he’d only been going through the motions. Until now, he’d been hiding under a blanket, scared shitless of exposing his heart for fear of having it ripped from his chest again. It had taken the right person to yank off that blanket and let sunlight into his world. Andi had done that.

  Light from the adjacent streetlamps glinted off the
bumper of his Tahoe in the parking lot. Saxon ran ahead, lowering his front legs to the grass then pushing off to leap easily over the four-foot fence skirting the lot. He cleared the top rail by well over a foot and with minimal effort.

  Nick followed, vaulting over the fence. He was about to insert the key into the Tahoe’s door, when Saxon alerted. The dog stood at full attention, staring at Andi’s house. Nick did the same, straining to see or hear whatever it was Saxon had. At first, he sensed nothing out of place. Only the kitchen light glowed through one of the windows facing the lot. Then, a dog barked. Stray.

  Saxon gave an angry snort. Nick knew his dog well enough to know something was off. Stray wasn’t a barker.

  Something moved outside Andi’s front door. That’s when he noticed a dark van parked in the shadows in front of her house. Distant rumbling told him the engine was on, but the headlights were off.

  When Stray barked again, fear coiled in his gut. Nick took off running. He didn’t have to issue Saxon a command. His dog knew bad shit was going down.

  He vaulted the fence on the other side of the parking lot at a dead run. Saxon leaped over the rail and charged ahead.

  As they pounded across the grass, the kitchen light in Andi’s house went out. Only the moon lit the front yard. His heart hammered so loudly he could hear it, feel it in his throat.

  Shadowed figures came into view on the front lawn. Three people. Two larger, one smaller. Andi. Even in the semidarkness, he’d know her shape.

  She struggled as two men dragged her across the lawn toward the van. The driver’s door opened, and a third man stepped out.

  Sonofabitch. They’re kidnapping her.

  Unbridled rage pushed him harder. He would not let this woman die. This time, he’d be there to stop it.

  When he was still twenty feet away, Saxon launched himself at one of the men. The man screamed.

  “Get it off, get it off!”

  Nick tackled the other asshole, landing on top of him. He heard the breath whoosh from the guy’s lungs as he hit the ground. Beside him, Andi fell and uttered a muffled scream.

  “Andi!” he shouted, worried she’d been hurt. Her hands were tied behind her back and tape covered her mouth.

  Saxon’s jaws were clamped around the second asshole lying next to her. The man screamed as the dog tightened his hold on his arm.

  Andi scrambled backward, trying to put distance between herself and the fight. The distraction was enough, and the guy beneath Nick landed a solid punch to his jaw. Pain exploded in the side of his face. He shook his head to clear it, then jumped to his feet in time to avoid a gut punch.

  Breathing heavily, Nick dodged blow after blow, then landed a right cross and heard bone crunch. The man hit the ground and didn’t get up again.

  He spun, rearing back his arm, about to ram his fist into the other guy, when a gunshot blasted. Andi gave another muted cry. Nick’s heart about stopped.

  Is she hit?

  The man whose upper arm Saxon had his jaws clamped around struggled to aim his weapon again. At Saxon.

  Fuck, no.

  His dog wasn’t about to back down. Not even a gunshot would scare Saxon off.

  Abandoning the driver, Nick leaped onto the man tangled up with Saxon and lunged for the gun. He got one hand on the guy’s wrist, but not before he managed to crank off another round.

  Andi’s body jerked, chilling his soul, striking absolute terror in his heart.

  “Police! Let go of the gun!”

  Saxon growled, shaking his head back and forth, still gripping one of the guy’s arms. The asshole grunted but still struggled to gain control of the firearm. Nick stuck his finger through the trigger guard, preventing the trigger from being pulled back, then he twisted the guy’s wrist hard until he yelped and let go. With his free hand, he slammed his fist into the guy’s jaw. The body beneath Nick went slack.

  A door slammed, followed by tires screeching on pavement. The driver of the van was taking off.

  Glancing behind him, Nick saw the first guy was still out cold, and he didn’t have a single set of cuffs on him.

  “Aus.”

  Saxon released his hold and stood guard over the unconscious bodies, panting.

  “Andi!” Nick jumped to his feet and went to her, dropping to her side. She lay curled into a ball on the grass, her body shaking. Carefully, he peeled the tape from her mouth. “Are you okay? Are you shot?”

  When she didn’t answer, his pulse rocketed into the stratosphere. There wasn’t enough light to thoroughly inspect her for gunshot wounds, but he ran his hands down her arms, legs, belly, and back just the same. He didn’t feel anything wet.

  “Andi? Honey, talk to me.”

  She took a deep breath and let it out. The sound was music to his hears. He took her in his arms, cradling her against his chest. Thank God.

  As she lay tucked against him, she gradually stopped shaking. Only then did his heart rate settle into normal range. Rocking her gently, he kept his eyes on the two motionless men, although Saxon wouldn’t let either of them escape.

  “I’m okay,” she said finally. “I was just scared.”

  “I know.” So was I. Scared shitless that she’d been shot.

  For several gut-wrenching moments, he’d seen his past repeating. He’d seen Tanya, a small hole on one side of her head, the other side blown out, her brains splattered across the pristine white lace duvet.

  Gulping in an unsteady breath, he pulled a pocketknife from his pants pocket and cut off the tape binding her wrists. “You’re safe now.” She stared at him, unmoving. In the dim light, her eyes were wide and glassy with shock. “Hey,” he said softly. “Come back to me.”

  He stroked her cheek, her hair, then kissed her forehead, her lips, anything to bring her back.

  Her fingers closed around his bicep. “I’m fine.”

  “Good.” That was an understatement. But this wasn’t the time to analyze the life-altering relief he’d experienced at realizing she was alive and unhurt. He held up the tape he’d removed from her hands. “Do you have any tape like this in your house?”

  She nodded. “I-I think so.”

  Sensing she was still a little out of it, he helped her to stand. “Can you find some and bring it to me? I need to tie these guys up.” He knew she was still in shock from what had happened, but he couldn’t risk the men escaping while he went into the house.

  “Okay.” She turned and went inside, although her movements were a bit wobbly.

  Moving swiftly, he patted both men down for more weapons. Between the two of them, he found another .9mm and two switchblades. He also dug cell phones from their rear pockets.

  While he waited for Andi to find tape, he set the weapons and phones on the front step next to the door, then pulled out his own phone. The first call he made was to his barracks, then he called Cox, Eric, and Matt. Despite him urging them not to, Eric and Matt insisted on rallying the rest of Nick’s friends. Soon, the place would be crawling with police and feds.

  The front lights flicked on, as did the lamppost near the curb. The screen door slammed as Andi came back outside, holding a roll of gray duct tape. He took it from her and made quick work of taping the men’s hands behind their backs. They were both starting to regain consciousness, so he taped their ankles together, allowing only enough slack that they’d be able to shuffle to the patrol cars when they arrived.

  Andi hadn’t uttered a word since retrieving the tape. She stood on the front stoop, arms wrapped around herself, her hands tightly clasping her shoulders. When she lifted her gaze to his, he glimpsed the same shock and fear he’d seen in hundreds of victims’ eyes. It was nearly enough to snap what little remained of his control.

  Because he wanted to kill the men who’d touched her.

  He climbed the few steps to where she stood. When he tugged her into his arms, she came willingly. Her body was soft, her breath warm against his chest.

  Sirens wailed in the distance. An unexpected truth hi
t him like a brick. Andi was the only woman since Tanya who’d managed to get under his skin.

  No murkiness about it now.

  He’d still do everything in his power to nail the gun dealer, but his priorities had just shifted like tectonic plates in an earthquake. Now there was something far more important in his life—protecting the woman in his arms.

  …

  Red and blue lights flickered on the other side of the lake. Andi pressed her face to Nick’s chest, burrowing closer. She breathed in his scent—his usual citrus, this time with a bit of freshly cut grass thrown in.

  When she sighed, he kissed the top of her head. What she really wanted was for him to tip her chin up and kiss her deeply. Even with her face snugged against his chest, she could hear the emergency vehicles drawing nearer. She didn’t want to leave his protective embrace, didn’t want to think about what had just happened, or why. Those men tried to kidnap her. If it hadn’t been for Nick and Saxon, she could be dead by now. Or worse.

  What did they want?

  The bastards had stuck a gun in her face and dragged her outside, but if they’d wanted to rob or rape her, they didn’t have to kidnap her. They’d even hurt poor Stray. Luckily, her dog seemed to be okay. Andi had found Stray wandering around the house, frantically looking for her. Just the same, she’d bring her to the vet for x-rays as soon as the animal hospital opened.

  Wait… Her dog?

  Finding someone to adopt Stray had been the plan all along. That was why she’d never given her a proper name.

  Keep telling yourself that.

  She and Stray had bonded from the moment the beautiful golden-brown dog had wandered onto the DPC’s deck. Now Stray had been injured trying to save her. She might not be a trained K-9, but she was just as fierce and protective in her own way. After taking her to the vet, Andi would stop at the grocery store for Stray’s favorite food—ice cream.

  Nick’s arms around her tightened, then he released her. It was on the tip of her tongue to object, when he repositioned his arm, tucking her to his side. To increase the contact, she wrapped one of her arms around his waist, leaning into the warmth and security of his body.