The owner of the store moved to the front door and locked it. Then she whirled and returned to the back of the store. She swept behind a black curtain and David could hear voices. Murmuring.
He stepped from his hiding place. “Summer?”
A gasp.
The woman pushed the curtain aside, her eyes wide and scared. “How did you get in here?”
“I’ve been here. I don’t want to hurt Summer. I’m here to get her someplace safe.”
She studied him a moment. “You’re not with those clowns that just left?”
“No ma’am. Not even close.”
“It’s all right, Casey,” Summer said as she came from the back. Her eyes met his. “He’ll keep me safe.”
David winced at the thin thread of sarcasm.
Casey looked uncertain.
Summer walked toward him and he took her hand. “They’re covering the front and the back.” He looked at Casey. “Is there another way out?”
She lifted a brow. “The roof?”
Summer watched David shove the roof-access door open and climb out. He turned and offered his hand. She slung her purse over her shoulder and grabbed his wrist. He hauled her up and out beside him with one effortless pull—and a gasp. She looked at his white face. “The ribs?”
“The ribs.” But he shook it off and let his hand slide from her wrist to her finger.
In spite of his obvious pain, strength emanated from him.
Strength he’d always used to protect her. Always gentle, always aware that he could hurt her physically. And always careful not to.
When he let go, she stumbled and reached out to steady herself on David’s arm.
Her cross necklace slid through her grasping fingers and fell through the opening to the floor below. “My necklace!”
He stopped her from turning. “Let it go, I’ll get you another one.”
“I don’t want another one. I want that one.” The admission surprised her, revealed things to her. She was still in love with her husband no matter how much he’d betrayed her. She was mad and hurt and not thinking straight, but she still loved him.
The first moment she’d laid eyes on him, he’d taken her breath away. Today was no different other than the fact that she forced herself to ignore her desire to wrap her arms around him and bury her head against his shoulder. She couldn’t do that. One, she was still hurt from his lies. And two, time was not on their side.
“This way. Be careful.” He kept a firm grip on her hand and led her across the roof to the next building. Then the next and the next. Finally, he stopped. “Here’s where we go down.” The ladder disappeared in a curve over the side of the building.
Summer looked over the edge and gulped. “That’s a long way down, David.”
“I’ll be right below you.”
“Won’t people think it’s weird to see us coming off the building?”
“Yeah, which is why we’re going to wait until the coast is clear or until dark.”
“Dark? That’s hours from now.”
“I know.” He got to his knees and looked over the side of the building. “We’re three stories up. That’s not too bad.”
“Might as well be fifty.” He didn’t argue with her. She asked, “Can you see anyone?”
“Yeah. They keep circling this block.” He watched, his shoulders tense.
“Don’t we need to let someone know you’re okay?”
“Not yet. I’m not so sure I need to let any of them know where we are.”
“Why not? They’re the US Marshals.”
He stared off into the distance. “Because Raimondi keeps finding us.”
“But how?” She paused. “You don’t think one of the marshals is telling them where we are, do you?”
“I don’t know. But it’s something to think about.” He shook his head and turned to watch the area they’d come from. She tried to figure out what he was looking for. “We’re pretty well blocked from view if anyone comes up, but that means we can’t see them either.”
She ignored his last comment. “Really? You think someone’s feeding Raimondi information?”
“I can’t see Adam or Chase being a snitch. Or Mike either.” He pursed his lips. “I mean, why wait until now? Three weeks before the trial?”
Summer thought, then offered, “Unless Mike thought he’d be able to get you to give up the laptop before now.”
David rubbed a hand across his chin and stared at her. “Good point.”
“Was Mike shot?”
“I don’t think so. The shot came from behind us. I saw him get up pretty quick after that. It was reflex. Hear a shot, hit the ground.”
They fell silent. Summer finally asked, “What are we going to do?”
“That’s what I’m trying to decide.”
“Well, we can’t avoid these guys by ourselves.” She looked at him. “Can we?”
He studied her, his eyes shuttered. “No, probably not.”
“I see your brain working. What are you thinking?”
“They’re here! They gotta be!” The shout from below drew their attention and Summer offered up a silent prayer. Keep us hidden, Lord.
Summer looked over the edge and saw one of the men from the store pacing and yelling at his cell phone. “They went in, but they didn’t come out and they’re not in the store. We searched it.” A pause. “Check the roof.”
Summer and David dropped to the asphalt. His jaw tightened and he caught her gaze. “Okay, now we have to move again. They’re going to be up here any minute.”
She looked around. “Where do you suggest we move to? We’re kind of at the end of the line here.”
He peered over once again. “The ladder has to be lowered from the next level. They can’t get up on this side. As soon as he disappears, we go down.”
“No waiting for dark, huh?” She gave a nervous rub of her hands. She didn’t like heights.
“Afraid not.”
Adrenaline surged again.
He continued to watch over the edge, then swung his leg over. “Follow me.”
19
“Should have put a tracker on him,” Mike muttered as he paced from one end of the hotel room to the other. The bullet had grazed his forehead. He’d slapped a Band-Aid on it and taken four ibuprofen to combat the monster headache now pounding in his skull. But at least he was alive and able to track down his wayward witness.
“He’ll call,” Chase said.
“He’s not going to call,” Mike countered.
“Why wouldn’t he call?” Adam asked.
“Because he’s gonna go off on his own.” Mike wore another layer off the carpet.
Chase looked at Mike. “That’s crazy. He doesn’t stand a chance. Just him and Summer? He’ll get them both killed.”
Mike shook his head. “He’s a former Ranger. He’s got contacts he can call and places he can hide.”
Adam frowned. “Then why did he consent to WITSEC?”
Mike rubbed a hand down his face. “Because I talked him into it.”
Chase walked to the sink and filled a glass with water. “Why did he need talking into it?”
“Because he’s a former Ranger with contacts he can call and places he can hide,” Adam muttered.
Mike shot Adam a dark look. “I assured him any time he felt like the marshals weren’t doing their job, he was free to take off and take care of himself.”
Chase slammed the glass onto the counter. Mike winced and was surprised the thing was still in one piece.
“You told him what?” Chase said.
Mike shrugged. “I would have told him anything to keep him nearby.” At Chase and Adam’s censoring looks, Mike ran a hand over his head, hating the need to defend his actions to his peers. “Look, he was ready to ditch me after he gave me the video of Sam Gilroy committing murder, even though he knew Raimondi would be coming for him. I wanted him where I could keep an eye on him. I wanted him alive for the trial. I didn’t want him found in a back alley somewhere.”<
br />
“So you told him what he wanted to hear.”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “Well, it wasn’t a lie. No one forces anyone into the WITSEC program. He knew that and I knew that, but I wanted to convince him of the benefits of staying. I did and he stayed. Reluctantly.” He paused. “Meeting Summer was the clincher. The day he met her he quit fighting me on it, quit pacing like a caged lion and settled down into becoming Kyle Abernathy and enjoying domestic bliss.”
Mike let Chase and Adam digest this. Chase finally asked, “So who would he call for help?”
“The guys in his former unit probably,” Mike said.
The three fell silent.
Chase paced to the door and back. He always reminded Mike of a sleek panther ready to strike at any given moment. When he unleashed that strength, it was an amazing—and scary—thing to see. Mike had seen it once. He’d rather not see it again.
Chase spun on his heel. “All right. So who are the guys in his unit?”
Mike shot him a perturbed glance. “That’s confidential.”
“And you knew who they were ten minutes after you had him in custody.” Adam snorted. “We’ve seen you use your own connections.”
With a lifted brow, Mike kept quiet. What Adam said was true. He was well connected and used those connections to ferret out any info that would benefit him as a handler.
“Why’d he leave the unit?” Adam asked.
Mike pursed his lips. “Not sure. He refused to tell me.” And he truly didn’t know.
More silence as they thought.
Mike sat and leaned forward, his head in his hands. Responsibility sat heavy on his shoulders. If he didn’t get David back and the man missed the trial, his career was over. Done. He might as well put his gun in his mouth and pull the trigger. Anger surged. Why hadn’t David called? He looked up. “Summer’s still got her phone with her. Let’s see if we can get a location on her.”
Adam pulled the laptop around to face him. “She had it turned off.”
“Maybe she’ll turn it on.” Mike kept his temper under control. Going ballistic wouldn’t help anything.
Except maybe make him feel better.
“What about David? Does he have a phone?”
“He didn’t when he got out of the car.”
“I’ve got Marlee Chastain’s phone up,” Chase said. “So far she’s received two calls since Summer and David took off. The first one traced back to Summer and Marlee’s mother. It lasted just over an hour. The second one was from a woman by the name of Kristen Lee.”
“That’s a co-worker of Marlee’s,” Mike said.
“That call lasted fifteen minutes.”
“So no calls from strange numbers.”
“Nope.”
“Then keep tracking. It’ll happen.”
“How’d Raimondi know we were there, Mike?” Chase asked. “They were right behind us on the interstate. Mere minutes. Like they were following us.”
Mike frowned. “I don’t know how they found us.”
Adam leaned forward and clasped his hands between his knees. “Three times they’ve found us without any trouble. They’re tracking us somehow.”
Chase stared at Mike. “Or someone’s telling them where we are.”
Mike stiffened. “What are you saying?”
Chase didn’t look away. Neither did Adam.
Mike’s heart sank. “Really?” Wounded, he stood and paced to the window, then whirled to face them. “How long have we worked together? You honestly believe I would work for Raimondi?”
Indecision flashed across Adam’s face. Chase simply watched him. Then said, “I sure don’t want to, but I know it’s not me or Adam.”
“So it’s me by default.”
“Okay, Mike, it’s not you,” Adam said. “Then who is it?”
“Who says it has to be anyone?” he asked slowly. “What if it’s David?”
Chase lifted a brow. “David?” He let out a humorless laugh. “Why would he sic Raimondi on his own tail?”
“And besides,” Adam said, “he’d never put Summer in danger. He loves her.”
Mike shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t have an answer for it. All I know is they’re tracking us somehow or someone higher up is letting Raimondi in on our locations.”
“Then maybe we need to go off grid,” Chase said.
Mike rubbed his chin. “You mean once we get Summer and David back, don’t tell anyone where we take them?”
“Yeah. Not even the boss. Just us.”
Mike nodded. “That might be an option to think about.”
20
David reached up and helped Summer down off the ladder while watching the street, his nerves taut and expecting action.
“Where are we going?” Summer gasped.
He gripped her hand and pulled her after him. “To the hotel.”
“That’s crazy, David. We have to get as far away from those guys as we can.”
“That’s what I’m praying they’re thinking too.”
“What if they’re thinking what you’re thinking?”
Together, they crossed the street, David looking both ways. And not just for cars. They ducked into the hotel and he stood to the side of the glass doors, Summer tucked behind him. “If they’re thinking what I’m thinking, then …”
“Then what?”
“We’ll need to think of a new plan.”
“What’s the old plan?”
David heard the exasperation mixed with fear in her voice. “There.” He pointed. “They’re coming out of the shops.”
Summer gasped and pulled back. “You don’t think they hurt Casey, do you?”
“Casey?”
“The woman who helped me hide from Raimondi’s men. The one who helped us escape to the roof.”
“I wouldn’t think so, but we’ll put a call in to the cops to go check on her. Will that make you feel better?”
She nodded.
He stayed put, watching. The men consulted an iPad and David wondered what they were looking at. Then Agostino stomped to the black sedan and motioned for his partner to get in. The partner argued, but finally acquiesced. They drove off and David let out a slow breath. “Okay, let’s get up to our room and start planning.”
She jerked to a stop. “Our room? As in one singular room? Don’t you mean rooms?” She emphasized the s.
David sighed. “Summer, you can’t be alone. I know you hate my guts right now, but I won’t leave you to the mercies of the Raimondis.”
She bit her lip and stared at him.
David ran a hand through his hair. “Look, it’s a suite. You can have the bed and I’ll stay on the couch if it’ll make you happy.”
“Happy?” She scoffed and her eyes went sad. “Yeah,” she said, her voice so soft he had to strain to hear it. “That’ll make me happy.”
“Okay then.”
They rode the elevator to the second floor and David motioned for her to stay put. “Let me check the room.”
She frowned but didn’t argue. It took him less than ten seconds to clear it.
Summer strode to the bathroom and stopped. Without turning around, she said, “I don’t hate your guts.”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“Where are they?” Raimondi growled into the phone. He eyed the cages of his pets. Snakes. They were very therapeutic for him. The red boa had quickly become his favorite and he kept the snake nearby so he could run a hand over it during these stressful times.
“I don’t know.” Impatience tinged Hayes’s voice. “Their trail stops at the shop. Either they’re hiding really well or they found the tracker.”
“Tear that shop up and find them.”
“That’s what I told Agostino and Gianni to do. They’re not there, but the tracker says they are.”
“So they found it and ditched it.”
“It looks like it.”
Curses ripped from Raimondi’s throat. “Why is it so hard to grab two
people? Agostino and Gianni are your responsibility. They report to you. This is what you do! This is your job. You’re an assassin, for the love of—” He felt the vein in his temple begin to throb and took a deep breath. In a low, quiet, lethal voice, he said, “I want them in my custody. Now. What’s the next step? What do we have to do to get them?”
“First of all we have to find them.”
“Then do it. Or you’ll pay for your incompetence.”
“I have an idea on how to do that. To lure them out of hiding in order to get at them.”
“I don’t even need to know what the plan is. Just do it.”
He hung up and reached for the boa, lifting the snake with a gentle touch. Raimondi placed a cheek against the scaly skin. Instantly, the pounding of his heart eased. “Ah yes, my friend, you know how to turn a bad day into a better one.”
When he calmed down, he set the snake aside and watched it slither to curl under the sunlamp Raimondi kept for the reptile. He eyed the glass aquarium cages and smiled at his collection. A diamondback rattlesnake. A rare red coral kukri, found in India—he’d paid well over a million dollars for that one.
A knock on the door pulled his attention from his obsession. “Come in.”
The door opened and his sister entered. Her swollen eyes attested to her grief. His heart ached for her and yet he didn’t have time to deal with her hysterics. Not now. But he rose and walked to her. He took her hands in his and kissed her cheek. As he led her to the brown leather sofa, he said, “What brings you by here today?”
“Revenge,” she whispered. “I want revenge for Pauli’s death, Alessandro. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, I can’t function.”
“You will have your revenge. David Hackett will pay for what he’s done to this family.”
“First Georgina, now Pauli …” She shook her head. “I don’t understand. What did we do to make him hate us?”
He squeezed her hands. “Some people don’t need an excuse to hate. They just do.”
She sighed. “Is Georgina here?”
“I haven’t seen her today.”
The red boa slithered close and she jumped to her feet with a shriek. “Why do you insist on having those awful creatures? In a cage is one thing, but roaming free?” With a shudder, she backed toward the door. “What about Rosalinda? Is she here?”
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