A sharp crack.
Splintering wood.
Dani pulled Simon to the floor.
18
Adam fell to the ground and rolled. He came up firing back at the car. His bullets slammed into the side as tires squealed. Burnt rubber assailed his nostrils and he noticed Blake rushing after the vehicle. Tabitha lay on the ground, hand against her chest, face twisted into a grimace.
Isaac’s weapon blasted bullet after bullet. Glass shattered, but the car never slowed.
Adam grabbed the binoculars from his pocket and tried to zoom in on the plate. “AIE5 something.” He rolled to his feet to train his weapon on Stuart.
Who was nowhere to be found. “Where’d he go?” Adam itched to go in search, but instead turned his attention to the others. “Tabitha!”
Isaac knelt beside her. “She’s all right. Two bullets hit her vest. Just got the breath knocked out of her.”
David raised up from the porch floor. Adam spun back to Blake, who held a hand to a bleeding shoulder. “Blake? How bad is it?”
“Nothing a Band-Aid won’t take care of.” His gruff voice held no hint of the pain he must be in.
“Where are Dani and Simon?” Adam asked.
David opened the bullet-riddled door and Adam’s stomach twisted. Had they been hit? He raced up the front porch, confident the shooter was gone. He also knew Tabitha and Isaac would take care of the cops, who were no doubt on the way. “Dani! Simon!”
Stuart clutched a hand to his wounded side and bit out curses like they were the only words available. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.”
His phone rang and he glanced at the caller ID as he pulled his car to the curb. His partner, Joe Duncan, tracking him down.
Stuart shot a glance at the rearview mirror and wondered if they’d try to give chase. Probably not for him. They’d go after the shooters.
His phone rang again. Dani would have to wait. “Yeah?”
“Where are you? You get your personal errand taken care of?”
“Not quite. What’s up?” Pain radiated through him and he did his best to cut off the gasp that ruptured through his lips.
“You know that body that turned up in the Reedy River yesterday?”
“Yeah.”
“Coroner thinks it’s gang related.”
“Which one?” he panted. He rummaged through the glove compartment looking for anything he could use as a compress. He grabbed a handful of napkins and pressed it against the wound. Stars exploded in his head and the world quivered as though it might fade away at any moment.
“Yours.” Joe’s voice came through the line, sounding faint and far away.
Stuart blinked through the pain and focused on how he needed to respond. Infiltrating the Bloods had taken time and patience. Kurt had sneered and told him he wouldn’t last a month. That had been a year ago. “I haven’t heard anything. I’ll see what I can find out.”
“You okay? You sound weird.”
“I’m fine for now. I might need your help a little later.”
“What’s up?”
“I’ll call you after I see what I can find from the Bloods.” He hung up, then dialed another number. “Butterfly? I need you. Meet me at Barney’s, will you?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Just meet me there.”
He’d head to Barney’s Bar where the Bloods hung out. Butterfly would dig the bullet out of him and patch him up. If she was too squeamish, he’d do it himself.
If he had to get shot, he might as well use it to his advantage and gain some status in the Bloods’ eyes.
Dani huddled over Simon just inside the door. Bullets had come too close and she trembled with a sick fear. First Stuart finding them, now this? And if Stuart wasn’t shooting at them, who was? Someone he’d hired?
“Dani!”
Adam’s shout pierced her haze of terror and she slowly stood, Simon clutching at her hands. “We’re fine.” They were, weren’t they? She ran her hands over Simon’s newly cropped hair and pale face. She signed, “Are you hurt?”
He shook his head.
The relief in Adam’s eyes touched her. Sparked something in her she hadn’t realized she could still feel. He was worried about them.
Adam looked at David. “Blake and Tabitha were hit, but it doesn’t look bad.”
Blake’s grunt came from the front porch. “When you take a bullet, you can decide how bad it is.”
“I took one not too long ago, you big baby. Wasn’t any worse than getting stung by a bee,” he deadpanned. “You need medical attention?”
“Unfortunately, I think so. The bullet’s in there.”
“Get to the car,” Adam told Blake. He frowned at Dani. “I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to move.”
“Where to?”
“Someplace a lot safer than this ‘safe’ house.”
He bolted back outside and Dani gathered her wits even as she ushered Simon into the bedroom. “Get your stuff.”
He grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. The Nintendo DS lay on the bed. Simon stared at it for about ten seconds, then turned on his heel and walked out of the room.
Dani swiped a stray tear and sniffed as her heart broke once again for her child. All the emotions that must be going through her son’s heart, the thoughts in his mind. She could imagine. Probably the same ones that were going through hers. She snagged the game and dropped it into the side pocket of her bag. Just because it came from the man who was stalking her didn’t mean Simon should forgo the only entertainment that might be available.
She walked back into the den to find Simon standing with his back against the wall watching the activity around him.
She placed a hand on his shoulder and looked at Adam. “What now?”
“We go through the kitchen and into the garage. Get in the car and get out of here.”
Simon was scared. Flat-out terrified. Not just for himself, but for his mother. He’d seen how close the bullets had come and he knew one of them had been meant for his mom. A lump lodged in his throat too big to swallow.
He knew he was only twelve years old, but there had to be something he could do to keep his mom safe. But what?
Not being able to hear didn’t bother him much. He remembered some sounds. Like speech and the way some words were formed. He remembered the sound of his mother’s voice when she told him she loved him. And he remembered the scorn in his father’s voice when he did something wrong.
That was one sound he was willing to forget.
He watched them talk. Read their lips.
And headed for the garage.
With each step, he thought about praying, but wasn’t sure God was listening. Then again, none of the bullets had hit him or his mother, so maybe God was there after all.
He wanted things to go back to normal.
The last six months of normal anyway. Minus Stuart.
When his uncle wasn’t being so creepy over his mom, life had been pretty good. Now that the threat of his father wasn’t hanging over his head, Simon had finally started to understand what it was like to live without that constant ball of dread in his belly.
And now this. It wasn’t fair.
But he was mature enough to understand that life wasn’t fair and it wasn’t just picking on him. It picked on everyone. And at least they had people willing to help them.
But he sure missed his friends at the school. Especially Mitchell Lee.
His mother handed him the Nintendo game over the back of the seat. He sighed and took it from her. Every time he played it, he felt almost guilty for accepting the gift from his uncle. But not guilty enough to give it back.
Stuart groaned as he slid into the passenger seat of Joe’s truck. He’d abandoned his car in a parking lot nearby and walked the rest of the way to find Butterfly at Barney’s Bar. There was no way he could show up in his Lexus.
Joe eyed him with a raised brow. “What happened to you?”
“I was in the wrong pla
ce at the wrong time.”
“Obviously.” He leaned closer. “Man, you’re going to bleed all over my truck. What happened?”
“I got shot.”
“Did Dani shoot you?”
Stuart shot the man an irritated look. “No, she didn’t shoot me.” He clamped his lips on the fiery pain radiating through his ribs and into his gut. It hurt to breathe, but at least Butterfly had gotten the bullet out. As long as he didn’t develop some sort of raging infection, he’d be all right. He had a bottle of antibiotics at home. Hopefully they’d be strong enough. “You change out the plates on this thing?”
“Yeah. If any of your brilliant gang members decide to trace it, they’ll find it’s a stolen vehicle.”
“Good.”
“Will that elevate your status?”
“Of course.” He panted and leaned his head against the headrest. All he wanted to do was get home. “I’m going to have to take a few days off.”
“Yeah, I think that might be a good idea. What are you going to tell the SAC?”
“That I’m sick with the flu. Half the building has it. He won’t question it.”
“Does that wound have anything to do with Dani?”
“It does.”
“You found her.”
“I did, but I didn’t plan on this happening.”
“Was this your way of rescuing her?”
“Well, yeah, but I sure didn’t plan on being shot in the process. They were just supposed to shoot in her direction.” He bit his lip. Nothing had gone according to plan. Dani hadn’t played the role he’d assigned to her. She was supposed to walk out to talk to him. The drive-by was supposed to shoot in her direction and Stuart was supposed to tackle her to the ground, roll, and shoot back, “scaring” the shooters into submission. Instead, Adam Buchanan had come out looking like the hero and Stuart had had to limp away with a bullet in his side because there’s no way he could afford to wind up in a hospital. That would generate way too many questions.
Then again, he wondered if he should have let them take him in. Dani might have felt sympathy for him and stayed by his side.
Rage burned in his gut, adding to the fire in his side. He was making all kinds of wrong decisions. He had to start thinking and thinking smart.
“Who’d you pay to pull that off?” Joe asked.
“The wrong people.” He studied Joe. “You willing to help me again?”
“Depends on how much you’re willing to pay.”
Adam glanced in the rearview mirror for the umpteenth time since they’d left the safe house. David had taken Blake to the hospital and would report in when he knew something.
Tabitha claimed she was fine and insisted she could handle the cleanup at the house and deal with the questions from the cops.
Adam had no doubt she could.
“Where are we going?”
Dani spoke for the first time since sliding into the passenger seat after the latest restroom break an hour ago.
“Do you or Simon get seasick?”
“No.” He heard her confusion.
“How do you feel about living on a houseboat for a while?”
“Isn’t that kind of confining?” In other words, if they were found again, how would they escape?
“A little. But no one can get close without us seeing.”
“And Stuart can’t walk up and ring the bell,” she murmured.
“Exactly.”
She shot a glance in the backseat and his eyes followed hers. Simon had his head against the window watching the world go by. He hadn’t said a word since they left.
They’d been driving for hours with only two stops for food and restroom facilities.
But Adam wasn’t taking any chances.
“You keep watching the mirrors,” Dani said. “Have we been followed?”
“No.”
“How can you be so sure?”
He shrugged. “Nothing is a hundred percent, of course, but I’m as certain as I can possibly be.”
“How?”
“Because I’ve had Operation Refuge employees following, doubling back, tracking and watching our tail.”
She lifted a brow. “You have?”
He gave her a half smile. “Yes.”
“Oh.”
“So while it’s not out of the realm of possibility that we were followed, it’s extremely unlikely.”
She closed her eyes and blew out a breath. “Good. That’s good.”
His phone rang. “Hello?”
“Blake’s going to be fine,” David reported. “The bullet’s out and he’s getting patched up.”
“Good, thanks for keeping me updated.”
“Sure thing. I’m letting Tabitha and Isaac handle the questions from the cops about the shooting. Dani and Simon were never there.”
“Excellent. What about Stuart?”
“He’s disappeared. I’d put a BOLO out on him, but he hasn’t done anything we can arrest him for.”
“Yet.”
“Yes. Yet.”
“Keep your phone on. This isn’t over.”
“Ten-four.”
Adam drove the last leg of the trip in relative comfort, but refused to lower his guard. He’d been honest with Dani when he said he didn’t think they’d been followed.
All of Operation Refuge’s employees had stellar skills, either from a military or law enforcement background. Operation Refuge had exploded into a full-fledged protection agency shortly after David and Summer Hackett had birthed the idea and taken it to the governor. She’d immediately given her stamp of approval.
With fourteen operatives, there was always help to go around. Granted, Dani and Simon’s case seemed to be a bit extreme. He had to admit all of the other cases bored him in comparison. Except when David and Summer had been on the run.
Yeah, on the run, lied to by family, and getting shot were enough excitement for the next hundred years or so. He’d take boring.
He slid a sidelong glance at Dani, then turned his attention back to the road. Something told him boring wasn’t going to be in his future anytime soon.
19
When Dani stepped out of the car, a frigid breeze off the nearby lake froze the air in her lungs. She pulled her scarf across her mouth and nose and turned to make sure Simon had his hood up. Of course he didn’t. She signed for him to do so. With a roll of his eyes, he snapped the hood over his head.
She tapped the tips of her fingers to her lips and pulled them down, palm facing up.
“What does that mean?”
Adam had a bag slung over his shoulder. She grabbed her small carry-on and said, “It means ‘thank you.’”
“I see he’s got the eye roll down pat.”
“Oh yeah.”
Adam shook his head and stepped closer, his eyes roaming behind her. “Is it okay if I act like we’re a couple and put my arm around you when we start walking to the boat?”
“A couple?”
“Yeah. Just to be on the safe side. I don’t think anyone followed us, but appearances can be everything if someone starts asking questions.”
“Um … okay.”
Dani made sure Simon had his things and told him what Adam was going to do.
“Pretend?” he signed.
She snagged his fingers. “Maybe we shouldn’t sign when we’re in the open. I wouldn’t put it past Stuart to hire someone who knows sign language to report back to him what we’re talking about.”
Simon’s jaw tightened and he looked at Adam.
Adam lifted a brow and said, “I’m impressed. Good thinking. Like I said, I don’t think we were followed, but that’s a good precaution to take.”
He settled an arm around her shoulder and reached out to ruffle Simon’s hair. “Come on.”
When Simon didn’t pull away or frown at the familiar touch, Dani felt a catch in her heart. Oh Lord, continue to heal us.
They started toward the marina, Adam’s arm a welcome weight. She felt …
&
nbsp; … safe.
Settling on that word jolted her and she sucked in a deep breath. Safe with him, yes, but not safe in general. “When I walk out in the open like this, I feel like I have a target on my back.”
“I know.” He hugged her closer and Dani finally had to admit his nearness took her breath away. She clearly had some kind of crazy attraction for this man. An attraction she had to let go, get over, move past, or something.
“Where am I going?” she asked.
“To the houseboat down there. The white one.”
To distract herself from the way her heart seemed to change rhythm and the way she wanted to lean into him and give in to the desire to let him help shoulder her heavy burden, she looked back to find Simon walking four steps behind, his eyes glued on the arm around her.
Dani couldn’t identify the emotions she saw flickering in his eyes, but wondered if he didn’t like seeing her so cozy with Adam. She held out her right hand to him and he lifted a brow as if to say, “Really?”
Right. He wasn’t her baby boy anymore. Holding her hand had become a thing of the past. Unless he was scared or hurt.
“Is anyone watching?” she asked.
“No.”
From the corner of her eye, she could see the earpiece buried in his ear. “You’re keeping in touch with other—” She paused. “What do you call yourselves? Agents? Operatives?”
“We’re not law enforcement. I suppose you would call us employees. Friends.”
“So are your friends listening?”
“Yes.” His head tilted toward her, a smile on his lips, but his eyes never landing, always watching. “On the way here, my friends were also following. If they’d seen anyone, they would have warned me.”
Dani stepped out onto the wooden dock. As they approached the houseboat, a young woman appeared on the deck. Dani stopped. Adam gave her shoulder a squeeze, then stepped forward to greet the woman. “Hi, Tori.”
Tori waited for them to board the boat, then flung herself into his arms. Adam laughed and gave her a quick hug, then set her from him.
Tall, a natural blonde with pouty lips and brown eyes, Tori was a natural beauty. Dani felt a pang of jealousy at her easy familiarity with Adam and wondered at the history between the two.
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