I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. My chest was tight and it didn’t feel like I was getting enough air, but there was nothing I could do about it. I just laid there as Hunter looked me over and Cole stared at me worriedly. I was in shock. I had seen it before with other people, but I had never experienced it myself.
“Kate, hang on. Just breathe.”
His words were distant and muffled to me and when the darkness started to creep in, I didn’t fight it. I didn’t want to know what happened from here. I didn’t want to think about what I had done. I just wanted to let go and forget any of this had ever happened.
✯✯✯✯✯
“How are you feeling?”
“Terrible,” I mumbled as I held my head. It felt like I had the worst hangover of my life, but then when the memories came crashing back, I just felt numb. I sank back into the luxurious bed and closed my eyes, hoping that I could go back to sleep and forget everything, but when I closed my eyes, all I saw were images of the man coming at me with the knife and the sound of my gun firing over and over again.
“Hey, you need to talk to me,” Cole said as she sat on the side of the bed.
“I don’t want to talk.”
“Too bad. I can tell you’re freaking out a little. You need to tell me what’s going on in your head.”
“What’s going on in my head,” I repeated. “Okay, here’s what’s going on in my head. I can see a man stalking toward me with a knife and I know that if I want to live, I have to kill him. I lift the gun, that I held in my hands for the first time just a few minutes before, and I am forced to shoot the man. Only he doesn’t stop. He just keeps running at me, ready to kill me and I don’t even know him. So, I shoot him again, but he still keeps coming and I have to stop his knife by holding up my arm and blocking his swing.” I looked down at my arm to see a bandage covering the wound I knew I had underneath. “He lunges at me again and I have to shoot him for a third time. Not only do I kill him, but his bloody remains land on top of me and I’m now covered in someone else’s blood, and I’m not even in the ER.”
I looked up at Cole with tears in my eyes. I feel totally numb inside, but that doesn’t stop my emotions from taking over and draining me. “I’ve never shot someone before, let alone held a gun. I don’t even know how guns work, other than the one you handed to me. And all I keep thinking is that I am supposed to be the one that saves lives and I killed a man. I know that he was coming after me and I know that he would have killed me, but I wouldn’t even be in this situation if it weren’t for Knight. So, now I’m thinking that I want to be as far away from him and anyone that’s going to help him because while I can handle a lot, I can’t handle whatever happened in my house.”
“I get that, but whatever’s happening here, you can’t just walk away. We have to get ahold of Knight and find out what brought this fight to your doorstep. We can only make a plan once we know more information.”
“So, what happens in the meantime?”
“We keep you hidden. Hunter went out to grab some supplies and then we’ll move on, find a new hiding spot.”
“Wait, what about my clinic?”
“It was attacked. No one was there, but they didn’t care. They were sending a message to you that they would get you no matter where you go.”
I swallowed down the vomit threatening to rise. They wouldn’t leave me alone until they got to me. What the hell had Knight gotten me into? I shook my head, trying to focus on what needed to happen.
“What do I even tell people, my patients and employees?”
“We’ll fashion a good cover story to go with what happened. Sebastian has offered to pay your employees’ wages until the clinic is up and running again.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Because he feels responsible. He brought Knight into your life and since you work for him, he takes it on as his personal responsibility to make sure that you’re okay.”
“Well, that’s very nice of him, but I can’t just walk away from my clinic.”
“It won’t be forever, but we can’t let you just walk around like this is no big deal. If they went after you at your clinic and your home, they’re not going to stop until they get what they want.”
I didn’t want to think about it any more. I would give anything to go back to sleep right now and pretend none of this ever happened, including Knight coming into my life.
“How’s your arm feel?” Hunter was standing in the doorway looking much more lethal than the last time I saw him.
“It hurts, but it’s not too bad.”
“I gave you some morphine so that I could do the stitches without waking you up. It’s probably wearing off now.”
“That’s fine. I’ll just take Tylenol.”
I started pulling at the wrapping, but Hunter rushed over and placed his hand over the gauze. “Whoa, what are you doing?”
“I just want to see how bad it is.”
“We can look at it later. Right now, you need to get cleaned up and wash the blood off you.”
I looked down and saw that my shirt had been removed and replaced with a much larger one. I could still see smears of dried blood on my arms and I could feel it on my skin in other places.
“I tried to clean you up a little, but Knight wouldn’t like it if I spent too much time touching you in any way that he would see as intimate.”
“Knight lost his rights to me a long time ago,” I snapped.
“Look, I’m not going to get in the middle of whatever’s going on between you two. If I think Knight wouldn’t like me doing something, I’m not stupid enough to do it anyway just to piss him off.”
“You were getting me cleaned up after people shot at me. I think he can adjust his scale on what’s appropriate.”
“Why don’t you go take a shower,” Cole interrupted. “We’ll get some breakfast and head out.”
“Where are we going?”
“Someplace no one will think to look for us,” Hunter said cryptically.
✯✯✯✯✯
Stopping for breakfast, I ordered a ton of food that was really bad for me and I wouldn’t normally get. But since I had seen my life flash before my eyes, I had decided that I would order whatever the hell I wanted and eat as much as I wanted since I wasn’t sure if this would be my last meal or not.
“What can I get for you?” The waitress, a young woman with teased hair and way too much makeup, asked as she popped her gum.
“I’ll have the french toast with strawberries, the Denver omelet, bacon, sausage, hash browns, and orange juice. Oh, an a Belgian waffle.”
Cole’s jaw hung to the table as he heard all the food I just ordered. I shrugged him off and doctored up my coffee exactly how I liked it as the waitress took his and Hunter’s orders.
“So, where is Alex since you’re here with me?”
“I called her and told her to go stay with Sean and Lillian. I don’t want her alone while we deal with this situation.”
“And what exactly is this situation?”
“Still don’t know,” Hunter replied as he took a drink of his coffee. “I haven’t heard from Hud for at least a week. The last time he called, all he said was that he was onto something big that could be a game changer.”
“You should thank him for that wealth of information the next time you talk to him,” I snarked.
“He doesn’t give away anything until he’s sure. He’s always been that way.”
“Yeah, well this involves more than just him and I would really like to know why someone is trying to kill me.”
“Pull back the claws, kitty. We’ll figure this out,” Hunter replied.
“Sorry, but I’m not used to having people riddle my house with bullets or come at me with giant knives. You’ll have to pardon my bad attitude.”
“Look,” Cole interrupted. “Let’s just cool down and put together a plan. Once we know a plan, Hunter will contact Knight and get any intel we can. Kate’s right, now that this has
come to us, we need more information so we can be prepared.”
We sat in silence while we waited for our food when something occurred to me. “Cole, have you been watching me?”
“What?”
“You were at my house with a gun. You never carry a gun, not since you got home from the war. In fact, you swore off ever holding a weapon again.”
“That changed when Alex was attacked.”
“Yeah, I know, but then you stopped carrying when all that stuff was over with. So, why did you decide to bring a gun to my house?”
Hunter and Cole exchanged a look that let me know all I needed to.
“You’ve been in on this little security detail, haven’t you?”
“Kate, I was just trying to protect you. Hunter couldn’t watch you twenty-four/seven and I needed to know that you were safe.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You didn’t need to know that more people were watching you. It was better if you just went about your day like everything was normal.”
“And what about Alex? Did you consider that by watching me you could pull Alex into this?”
“Alex is safe,” he said fiercely.
“That’s what you think, but I’ve experienced how people get dragged into something they were never a part of.”
“Playing the blame game isn’t going to help anyone right now,” Hunter said calmly. “We need to find out what’s going on and make a plan. Anything else is pointless right now.”
Our food arrived and I devoured all of it, needing the comfort of good food right now. I was stressed to the max and food always helped to calm me down. I had done my best to block out the images from yesterday, knowing that if I dwelled on it too much, I would send myself into a catatonic state. I couldn’t afford that right now.
We finished breakfast and got back on the road. Hunter was driving and Cole sat up front with him, while I sat in the back seat. As the miles wore on, I found myself drifting off to sleep. The stress of the past twelve hours was proving too much for me to deal with. So, I let myself slip off to sleep where I could pretend this wasn’t my life.
Hunter shook me awake when we arrived at a run down motel that advertised color TV. Apparently, around here, that was the equivalent of other hotels offering a pool or cable. At this point, I didn’t care. I wanted a hot shower and a warm bed. Neither of which I would have at this place. The shower looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years. There was soap scum all over the tub and shower walls. There was no way I was stepping foot in there. The bed had a cheap, floral bedspread that reminded me of something out of the eighties. When I pulled it back, the sheets were yellowing. There was no way I was lying down in that bed.
“No. I’m sorry, but I’m not staying here. I can tolerate a lot, but this place is a roach motel. There’s no way I’m sleeping here.”
“Don’t be such a priss,” Hunter reprimanded me.
“I’m not being a priss. I just draw the line at complete and utter filth. If I step in that shower, I’ll probably get some kind of disease.”
“Well, this is the only place to stop for the next fifty miles.”
“I’d rather drive another two hundred miles than stay in this dump.”
“Look, I get that this is all a little much for you and-”
The door swung inward, snapping sharply against the wall. A man stood in the doorway, gun drawn, and an evil smile on his face. A sharp crack tore through the air as Cole shoved me to the floor. I looked at Cole, who had his gun pointed at the man who slowly sank to his knees and then fell to the floor. I tried to stand, but Cole placed his hand on my shoulder and shoved me back down. Hunter made his way to the door and peeked around the corner and then swung his gun out in front of him as he looked for any threats.
Cole hauled me up by my arm and dragged me into the bathroom, shoving me into the tub and placing a gun in my hands for the second time in just a day. I shook my head vigorously, but he just placed a finger over his mouth to shush me. Then he pulled the shower curtain and was gone.
I was terrified, so I took a few calming breaths and tried to slow my rapidly beating heart. Freaking out right now would not help. I tried to focus on other things, but the more I focused on other things, the more disgusted I became. Looking around the tub, I could see tiny hairs from whoever shaved in here last. There was also what appeared to be little pieces of dried vomit stuck to the tub. I looked up to avoid any more nasty discoveries and saw a giant spider hanging above me. It was getting closer and closer and I really started to panic. I could see the tiny hairs on the body of the spider and almost threw up. I hated spiders more than anything else. I wasn’t really scared of dying, but put a spider in front of me and I was sure my life was ending.
I scooted to the other side of the tub as the spider lowered itself to the floor of the tub and started crawling closer. Sweat broke out on my forehead and my palms got so sweaty that I was sure I would drop the gun. Flinging the shower curtain to the side, I leapt out of the tub and stared down the giant creature. I looked around, but other than toilet paper, there was nothing to kill it with and there was no way I was getting that close to the spider. It could attack me. I looked at the gun in my hand and decided there was only one way to deal with this. Pointing the gun in the general direction of the spider, I fired, but I missed. I unloaded the entire clip until I was sure that there was no way the spider survived.
When I heard the door slam open behind me, I swung around, gun aimed and started shooting, but there were no bullets left. That was a relief since Cole was standing in the doorway and I had almost shot him.
“What the hell? I heard gunfire.”
I was momentarily stunned, but quickly recovered. “There was a spider,” I said, pointing to the tub.
“What?”
“There was a spider.” I said hysterically. “It was trying to attack me.”
“A spider. You unloaded your gun in close quarters to kill a spider,” he said slowly.
“You didn’t see the size of it. It would have killed me.”
“Have you lost your fucking mind? Never mind. Don’t answer that. Obviously you have if you used all your bullets on a spider instead of saving them for someone who could actually kill you. Give me the gun. You’re done.”
I handed the gun over, but looked back at the tub to see if I had gotten it. I didn’t see any spider remnants, which meant it had probably gotten away. Cole grabbed my arm and dragged me into the other room and out the door. I was shocked to see Knight standing and talking to Hunter and there were at least seven bodies lying on the ground, all bleeding out. The doctor inside me wanted to go to them and check on them, but Cole continued to drag me to the truck.
“We have to leave. Let’s get on the road before someone decides to call the police.”
“In this dump? No one’s going to call,” Hunter said with a huff. “But we should move on before they have a chance to come at us again.”
I couldn’t take my eyes off Knight as Cole hoisted me up into the truck. He was watching me, but his eyes were dark and unforgiving. There wasn’t an ounce of the man that I used to see when I looked at him. All I saw was a killer. As Cole shut the door, I continued to watch Knight, but he didn’t make any move to come to me or see if I was okay. It seemed it was way too easy for him to walk away from me. I wished that I could say the same for myself.
We were back on the road minutes later and I looked behind us, seeing that another truck was following us.
“That’s Knight. We’re going to find someplace to hide out for a while and come up with a plan of attack,” Hunter said as he stared out the window.
“Wouldn’t I be safer if I wasn’t in the middle of this?”
“No. You’re safer if you’re with us.”
“How did he find us?”
“He has his ways.”
“Why does everything have to be so cryptic? Why can’t you just say what the fuck is going on?”
Cole turned arou
nd in his seat, his eyes fierce. “He’s been tracking your phone. He dragged you into this mess and he’s been doing everything possible to make sure that you stay safe. When we got you out of the house and went on the road, he knew there was a problem and he came for you.”
“What? Why would he come for me? He left. He chose his profession over me.”
“He chose to find out what was going on so he could keep you safe. As much as I don’t like the fucker, he would do anything to protect you,” Cole said.
“He has a shitty way of showing it,” I grumbled, watching the scenery fly by. I couldn’t make up my mind and that really pissed me off. I didn’t want to want Garrick the way I did, but I also couldn’t stand that fact that he had walked away from me. I had pretty much told him to go, but that was only because I didn’t want to be dragged into this mess he had created. I was scared and I pushed him away. I had already asked him to leave it all behind for me and he couldn’t do it. Deep down, I wondered if he couldn’t leave it behind or if he didn’t want to. A man like him probably got some kind of thrill from the power he held when he took a life. I knew because I got a rush from saving a life.
We drove for hours, winding more and more through the mountains, coming upon what looked like a run down hotel. We pulled into the parking garage and wound our way up about half way. Hunter stepped out and after looking around, opened the back door and helped me down. Looking around, I wondered where we were. The place looked completely abandoned and I wondered if there was even any place to sleep. Knight’s truck pulled into the spot beside us and I couldn’t help but look over to see if he was looking at me. He wasn’t.
“What is this place?” I asked Hunter as we approached an elevator.
“A new base of operations. Sebastian bought it after Knight broke into Reed Security.”
“I thought we were past all that shit?” Garrick said from behind us.
“This place is set up to run as a secondary location. It’s not intended as a safe house, but it’s the only one that isn’t connected to Reed Security.”
Knight_A Reed Security Romance Page 14
