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“You’re not suggesting we use the window?”
“No. They probably left someone to take care of us if we try that.”
That was a chilling thought. Take care of us. In other words, kill them. “So, how do we get out?”
He didn’t answer. Gabe grabbed a box from one of the shelves and pulled out another gun. It looked even more deadly than the one he already had. He checked to make sure it was loaded. It was. And he thrust it into her hands.
“What—” But Leigh didn’t get a chance to protest. Gabe shoved open the bathroom door, pulling her inside with him. He held open the laundry hatch with his elbow and swung his leg into the opening.
“I’m going down first,” he told her. “Count to ten and follow me unless you hear gunfire. If that happens, barricade yourself in here and shoot anyone who comes through that door. And I mean anyone. Understand?”
She nodded and examined the gun. “Do I know how to use this?”
“You know.” He climbed into the duct. “Now, let’s hope you remember.”
Leigh hoped the same thing. “Let me guess—I learned how to fire guns like this at the bookstore?”
Gabe flashed her a dry grin and ignored her question. “There’s no safety on that piece. If necessary, aim and fire. And Leigh? This time do as I tell you.”
Before she could ask what he meant by that, he let himself drop. She kept her gaze on him until he disappeared into the tunnel.
“One,” Leigh counted.
She stood there for a few panicky seconds, wondering again if she should trust him. And wondering if she should follow him. She really had no reason to trust him, but she wouldn’t have any reason to trust those four men about to come through the door either. They no doubt wanted to kill her. She didn’t know for sure what Gabe wanted to do with her.
So this was the proverbial rock and a hard place?
“Ten,” she mumbled when she heard hurried footsteps in the hallway on the other side of the wall.
She climbed into the laundry hatch and let herself go. Moments later, she heard gunshots, but it was too late to stop her downward slide. Or anything else for that matter.
She was headed straight toward those deadly-sounding shots, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Chapter Three
Leigh saw Gabe just before she reached the bottom—a split-second glimpse of a man prepared to kill. He was behind a concrete post about fifteen feet from the laundry chute. He’d assumed a classic isosceles stance with a two-handed grip on his pistol. Every inch of him looked primed to fight.
“Take cover!” Gabe yelled. Someone punctuated his command with a spray of bullets.
She torpedoed out of the chute, quickly rolled over the side of the bin and dropped. She landed in an unladylike sprawl on the concrete floor.
“I said take cover. Now!” Gabe yelled.
She was certainly trying to do that. Unfortunately, her body didn’t want to cooperate. Leigh scrambled to her feet and with her flip-flops smacking against the floor, she ducked behind another of those concrete posts.
Should she try to get to Gabe? she wondered. Even with the obvious danger of someone shooting at them, she still considered the idea. It seemed a better option than being on her own when she didn’t know what to do.
The next bullets that strafed across the floor put a stop to that notion. She had to stay put.
From her position, she couldn’t see Gabe. There were more laundry bins, huge washing machines, industrial-size dryers and rows of metal tables. From the narrow view that she had, there were many places a gunman could hide.
Too many.
Besides, she didn’t even know if there was just one gunman. She’d seen four men in the parking lot, and it was entirely possible all four were somewhere in the room, waiting for her to make a mistake.
If she called out to Gabe to ask him what to do, she might give away her position and force him to give away his. He probably wouldn’t appreciate that. Sweet heaven. Another rock and a hard place.
“I’ll take that,” the man snarled. He snatched the gun from her hand and pressed it to her head.
Not Gabe. Someone else. One of the gunmen, no doubt. How the heck had he gotten so close? Leigh hadn’t heard a thing. Of course, her heart was pounding so loudly, she was practically deaf.
Relying purely on instinct, she stabbed her elbow into the man’s stomach and quickly spun around. Leigh used all her strength and rammed the heel of her right hand into his Adam’s apple. She followed it with a left-handed jab to his mouth. He hissed and staggered back.
Leigh saw him clearly then. Too clearly. He was most certainly one of the men from the parking lot. There was no expression in his muddy-colored eyes, no emotion on his face. He latched onto her neck and roughly twisted her so her back was against his chest.
“Quit fighting me,” he warned, shoving the gun even harder to her temple.
His voice was raspy, apparently from the blow she’d managed to deliver to his throat. That didn’t give her much satisfaction. He towered over her. And he was solid. He could easily kill her with his bare hands. Of course, he wouldn’t have to do something so menial since he had her gun and probably his as well.
“Let’s do this the right way,” the man yelled across the room to Gabe. “Depending on what you do, I can make this easy for her, or I can make it real slow and ugly.”
Leigh didn’t care much for those two choices. The man was no doubt talking about how he intended to kill her. “Step out where I can see you, Agent Sanchez,” he ordered.
She wasn’t sure what Gabe would do. Until she heard the thud of his weapon drop to the floor. He stepped out from behind the post and walked toward them with his hands tucked behind his head.
God. He was surrendering.
Her heart started to pound harder. She’d hoped he might be able to save them or at least buy some time so she could figure out what to do. But Gabe hadn’t done that. Instead, he’d surrendered to a man who would probably kill them both before she drew her next breath.
“Who are you working for?” Gabe asked him.
“No one who’s willing to bargain with you.”
“Then how about we bargain? Before you say no, I think you should know the woman you’re holding has plenty of money. I’m sure we can work out some financial arrangements that’d make it profitable for you to let her go.”
“Save your breath,” the man retorted. “I’ve got no plans to be a rich dead man, and that’s what’ll happen if I cut a deal with the likes of you.”
Her gaze connected with Gabe’s. There was a slight lift to his right eyebrow. For the first time, she recognized something in his eyes. Exactly what, she couldn’t say, but he was definitely trying to communicate.
In a move that seemed both in slow motion and at a speed not humanly possible, Gabe’s left hand whipped out from behind his head. He held another gun that he’d hidden. Something small and sleek. The fluorescent light licked the silvery metal and sent a flash across Leigh’s face. Gabe aimed the gun directly at her.
She had no time to think, no time to react. She briefly, very briefly, considered that Gabe and his gun would be the last things she’d ever see. But what she couldn’t figure out was why he wanted her dead, especially after he had saved her.
Gabe double-tapped the trigger. The shots cracked like enormous wads of chewing gum. Leigh felt warm spatters of blood on her cheek and waited for the pain or numbness to follow what was certainly a fatal head wound.
That didn’t happen.
Instead, the man behind her slumped into a heap, the pistol he’d held against her temple clattering to the floor.
Her breath shattered, a noise coming from deep within her throat. Leigh’s hands began to shake violently. Still, she kept her attention focused on Gabe, afraid to blink for fear he’d disappear before she could get to him.
Getting to him, she soon learned, wasn’t even necessary. It seemed he made it to her in one step. She grabbed onto him and held tight.
Without breaking her grip, Gabe picked up the gun he’d tossed on the floor and placed the smaller one into the slide holster on the back waist of his jeans. He handed Leigh the other weapon that the man had taken from her.
“There’s no need for you to see that,” he said, referring to the body. He led her toward the door.
He was right. There was no need for her to see the man. That didn’t stop Leigh from glancing back at the lifeless body and the perfectly centered hole in his head. Gabe had literally shot the man right between the eyes. The other bullet wound was only a fraction of an inch above the first one.
She pressed her hand to her stomach, hoping she didn’t get sick. “He’s dead?” she asked unnecessarily.
“He’s dead.”
“You could have shot me.”
Gabe slightly rearranged his expression, apparently insulted. “I wouldn’t have missed. Not ever.”
Leigh prayed she’d never have to test his accuracy again. “Well, thank you. That’s twice you’ve saved my life.”
“Don’t thank me yet. We’re not out of danger. We have to get away from here first.”
Leigh silently agreed. One man was dead, but there were at least three others who would probably be willing to do what their comrade had tried.
Gabe stopped when they reached a large metal door at the end of the room and turned to her. “Here are the rules. Stay behind me at all times. I want us back to back, moving together. Got that?”
“Yes, I think so.” Leigh hoped so anyway. She still felt woozy, and Gabe’s quickly spoken instructions seemed jumbled.
“Rule two—you watch our backs, and I’ll take care of anything that comes from any other direction.” He tipped his head to her gun. “By any chance, do you remember how to use that?”
She eyed the weapon as if it was a foreign object. “Maybe.”
Gabe repeated that, adding a soundless word of profanity. “All right. If you have to shoot, hold the gun level and brace your wrist with your left hand. That’s a lot of firepower, and I don’t want you dropping your weapon when you feel the recoil. Shoot to kill. Understand?”
Gabe didn’t wait for her to answer, not that Leigh had anything to say about the abbreviated lesson on how to kill. He spun her around so they were back to back. He eased open the door and peered into the parking lot.
The alarm started almost immediately. It wasn’t a typical security system that clamored loudly enough to be heard blocks away. It was a piercing hum, but it was certainly meant to serve as a warning.
“All right. Let’s go,” Gabe said. “Remember everything I’ve told you.”
Leigh didn’t know how he expected her to do that. She literally couldn’t remember her name so how would she keep all the other things straight? Maybe she’d get lucky, and her instincts would kick in if she had to shoot.
The night air engulfed her when they stepped outside. It was humid, almost stifling. Even with the drone of the alarm, the place was eerily silent. No traffic noise. No birds. Nothing. Just the sound of their steps as Gabe orchestrated them away from the building.
Shoot to kill, he’d told her. That made sense because a wounded gunman could still have a deadly aim. She had to wonder if she could kill. Or if she’d ever killed before.
God, that seemed an awful thing not to know.
Gabe skirted along a row of shrubs, following the semistraight line until they came to a Dumpster. They ducked behind it just as the door to the laundry area flew open. Milky yellow light poured out into the darkness.
So did two armed men.
Gabe latched onto her hand and forced her to run. “Stay with me.”
Shots shattered the near silence, sounding so close that Leigh didn’t want to know just how close they were coming to Gabe and her. She lost count of how many times the guns fired, but they seemed to keep pace with her racing heartbeat.
Leigh hadn’t remembered her flip-flops or her hurt ankle until they started to sprint. Not ideal running shoes, and the stitches tore at her skin. Somehow, Gabe managed to keep her on her feet, even when they left the pavement and darted over a patch of uneven ground.
The yard, such that it was, melted into a greenbelt cluttered with stubby trees and rocks. An eight-foot-high masonry fence was just beyond that. Gabe didn’t ask if it was something she could climb—he just scaled it, dragging her like a rag doll with him.
When they reached the other side, she noticed the motorcycle. It was nestled between two scrub oaks, but not even the darkness could camouflage the chrome.
“We’re riding that?” she asked in a frantic whisper.
“Yes.” He slipped his gun back into his shoulder holster, straddled the leather seat and started the engine. “Keep your weapon handy. We just might need it before this is over.”
She nodded. Somewhere behind them, close behind, those men were probably gaining ground. Still, she took the time to eye the motorcycle. “Do you have helmets?”
“No!”
It wouldn’t do any good to point out that riding without helmets was dangerous. He’d no doubt point out that bullets and gunmen were even more deadly.
And he’d be right.
Gabe didn’t try to alleviate her fears. He merely latched onto her wrist and hauled her on the bike behind him. Within seconds, he had the motorcycle rumbling through the night and away from the gunmen.
Leigh quickly learned she had to hang on or fall off, and the easiest thing to hang on to was Gabe. While still clinging to the gun, she wrapped her arms around his waist, pressed her cheek to his back and held on. And she prayed, hoping the God of whichever religion she professed would hear her. Right now, she needed someone of a divine nature on her side.
After all, she was with a man who killed as easily as he breathed, and Leigh knew all too well that he held her life—and possibly even her heart—in his hands.
Chapter Four
Gabe had a lot of questions. And too few answers.
That did not please him.
He was reasonably sure he’d lost the hired guns. Fairly certain he could remember his way down the dirt roads that snaked around the bayou. And he was hopeful he’d managed to save their lives. For the time being anyway. However, he wasn’t at all sure what the heck was going on. Or who’d just tried to kill them.
Still, none of those things occupied his thoughts for long. It was the woman behind him that he couldn’t get off his mind. His wife.
At the clinic, Jinx had ordered him to be nice to Leigh. But that was only the tip of the flipping iceberg. They also wanted him to lie through his teeth. He was supposed to tell her everything was all right between them. That they’d had problems in the past but had worked them all out.
Yeah, right.
Between the lies and being nice, he was also supposed to get her to trust him. Just like that. He was supposed to erase all the bad feelings between them and regain her confidence. He’d have an easier time forgetting that she’d ever been his wife.
However, it didn’t matter if the task was impossible. The Justice Department expected him to give his all. Heck, he’d already done that.
And then he’d made it worse by kissing her.
