by Dee J. Adams
Leo followed her gaze. “I don’t know. Seventy feet. Maybe eighty. Hard to tell.”
Kim looked around the charred bushes and black dirt. “This is going to be dirty work.”
“You’re just figuring that out now?” Leo glanced around. “What are we looking for specifically and what color is it?”
“My purse and it’s kind of a brown and black mix.”
Leo spread his arms to indicate the terrain: a mixture of brown and black. “You couldn’t have a bright blue or yellow bag, could you?”
“Oh, stop being grumpy,” she said, beginning to scour the ground. “The sooner you start looking, the sooner we find it and get out of here.”
Leo’s gorgeous smile added more shine to the warm day. He was hard to resist when he flashed those pearly whites. “I forgot what a slave driver you are.”
And she’d forgotten how hard it was to resist him. She scanned the site, walking the burned out area slowly. “Yep. And this is me cracking the whip, so stop talking and start looking.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Not looking at my ass, Leo. Looking for my purse and my cell phone.”
She wasn’t sure, but thought she heard him mutter, “Fun killer.”
The sun had started arcing downward and Leo checked his watch. He was hot, hungry and up to his neck in soot. Time to call it a day. “How much longer did you plan to keep up this useless expedition?”
A few yards away, Kim stood straight from where she’d been hunched over as she walked another blackened grid. She looked adorable in his cap. He’d tossed it to her hours ago when he noticed the sun burn on her scalp. “You want me to give up? Is that it?” When he didn’t say anything, she stretched her back and sat on a nearby rock. “Okay, fine. I’m sorry. I give up, okay. Maybe an animal dragged it off.” She looked completely done—with a capital D—and his heart split for her. Maybe he could cheer her up.
“Yeah, the coyotes here are really into Gucci.” He sat next to her on the big rock.
“Smart ass,” Kim muttered. She pulled a strand of hair out of her face and left a streak of soot across her cheek. Damn, she was cute. “I had a fresh pack of cinnamon gum, and a half of a granola bar left from the airport. An animal might’ve sniffed the food and carried the whole thing away.”
He’d started buying cinnamon gum, too, after she left town. It reminded him of her. Of the way she tasted and smelled. Leo gave himself a quick mental shake. He needed to toss the cinnamon gum and get her out of his head.
She leaned over, still scanning the ground when she gasped and launched her body forward. The rock behind her exploded. Pieces of stone flew up and the shards hit Leo’s side as he dove for the ground. Kim yelped and ducked from the flying debris.
Leo’s pulse revved lightning fast as he yanked Kim next to him behind the protection of a rock cluster. Two more rounds hit a few inches away and splintered more stone.
“What’s happening?” Kim yelled, covering her head. “Is this an earthquake?”
Leo kept her tight within his arms, covering her as best he could. “Earthquakes don’t shatter rock like that.” But he knew what did. “Bullets do.”
“What?” Kim’s head shot up. “No!” Her wide green eyes hardly looked convinced. “That wasn’t a bullet.”
“I think after years of working with squibs, guns and blanks, I can honestly say that no one planted a squib in this rock and that was definitely a bullet.” To punctuate his declaration another chunk of rock exploded over their heads.
Kim jumped in his arms and Leo held her close. “Why would anyone shoot at us? What did we do?”
“I have no clue.” He shifted to keep Kim protected between the rock and his body. The birds and insects had grown quiet and all the rustling stopped as nature quieted to detect the danger.
Halfway beneath him and breathing hard, Kim lifted her head. “So now what?”
Good question. He didn’t see too many options. Jumping out might get them shot or killed. “We wait.”
“Wait?” She sounded baffled. “What do you mean wait? For how long? This is ridiculous.” Her anger was taking over the fear and he liked that better. An angry Kim was a force to behold. Still, he felt obligated to be honest and reassure her at the same time, even if he didn’t know what the hell was happening.
“Someone’s out there with a shotgun and he’s got his sights set on us. I don’t know about you, but in my book it means we keep our heads down and wait.”
“But I finally found my cell phone,” she grumbled. Her pout only pronounced the fullness of her lips. Lips he’d kissed until they were red and swollen. Lips she’d dragged across his skin in all sorts of places that made him shake, rattle and roll.
Shit. Not good thoughts to have at the moment. The last thing she’d want is to feel evidence of how much that streak across her cheek turned him on. Or how good she smelled despite the hint of perspiration…or maybe because of it. Come to think of it, she smelled like this after their all-nighter before he drove her to the airport two months ago. He’d been fantasizing about that night ever since. About the way her soft skin felt beneath his fingertips and tasted against his tongue… The way she’d smiled at him as she straddled him and rode him to her cli—
“Did you hear me?” she asked. “I said I think I found my phone.”
Man, he needed to snap out of this shit. It wasn’t going to get him anywhere. “Is that what you went after?” he asked.
“Yes,” she huffed. “It’s right over…” She started to rise up, pointing as she lifted a little higher and another shot had her scrunching down and tight against his chest…which he had to admit he didn’t mind.
“Well, good thing, because it saved your ass.”
She swallowed hard, fisting his T-shirt. “We need to call for help. What about your phone? Do you have a signal down here?”
Leo reached for his phone in the side pocket of his shorts and checked the screen. He didn’t tell her his battery was nearly dead. In all the excitement yesterday, he’d forgotten to plug it in. “I’ve got two bars.” He punched in 911. “Let’s see if I can get a connection.” He waited a very long minute as the call tried to connect, all the while straining to hear anything around them.
“911. What is your emergency?”
Leo huffed out a relieved breath as Kim’s eyes widened hopefully when she heard the operator. He explained the situation and waited for the person to connect him, then he explained it again to the dispatcher who answered. When he gave his name, she paused and asked him to repeat it, so he knew she recognized him. She assured him help was on the way and to stay on the line.
“Thank God,” Kim sighed. She leaned her head against his chest, but pulled away just as quickly. The panic in her eyes read like the twirling red light outside a working soundstage. “What if the guy shooting gets here before the police?”
He hadn’t considered that scenario. He really did hate the fear in her eyes. It was so unlike her. Not that he could blame her. Leo moved the phone away from his mouth. “With all this dry brush around, we’ll hear him coming. We’ll be ready.” He hadn’t used his improv skills in a long time, but he wanted to convince Kim they were safe. “I’ll move up the rocks and distract him and you stay hidden here.”
“I hate that idea,” she said.
“Hopefully it won’t come to that. The police will move fast.”
“This is crazy. It doesn’t make any sense. I mean who would—”
“Hey.” He cupped her face and waited until her gaze connected with his. “We’re going to be fine. We’ve got cover and help is coming.”
“What if he’s holed up in a house somewhere along the mountain?” She blinked as the thought took form in her head. Houses on stilts covered half the canyon. “What if he just picks off anyone who comes to help us?”
“Then they’ll catch him faster because they’ll know where he is. The cops aren’t clueless. And they’ll have body armor. Something we didn’t think to pack with our water and granola bar
s. For all we know, he took off already. We can test the theory.” Leo snatched the hat from Kim’s head and reached for a small charred branch on his right. Using the branch to hold the hat, he raised it so it peaked out from the rock. Another shot blew the hat off the branch, and Kim jolted in his arms.
“Oh my God. This is crazy,” she breathed.
He agreed. And damn, now his favorite cap had a hole in it. Should’ve thought that one out beforehand. “Not sure if you heard that or not,” Leo said into the phone, “but we’re still being shot at. How long before we get some help here?”
“Just a few minutes,” the dispatcher said. “Hang in there.”
Leo only wished this nut job was in one of the houses, because if he was staked out closer, he could be moving toward them this very second. Mustering courage he didn’t really feel, he caught Kim’s gaze. “So who the hell might want to shoot at us?”
She lifted a frustrated hand in the air. “You haven’t had any death threats lately, have you? You’re the one in the public eye.”
“No death threats lately,” he assured her. “What about you? You said the steering wasn’t working yesterday. Maybe that wasn’t a mechanical failure. Any ex-boyfriends you’ve left in your wake who might want permanent revenge?”
She shook her head. “Seriously, there is no reason for anyone to want me—” Her eyes rounded wide.
He knew that look. “What? You just thought of something. What is it?”
She shook her head. “It can’t be. It doesn’t make sense. No one knows.”
“No one knows what? Spill it.”
She met his gaze. “About the money I inherited last week. I mean, three people know, but I’m not even sure I have access to it yet.”
“Who knows?”
“My aunt’s lawyer, my best friend and my cousin Wilson.”
“The guy you called earlier?”
“Yeah. But the lawyer and Wilson are in Arizona and my best friend is not trying to kill me, so…” Her tone indicated neither man could be a suspect.
“Did your cousin inherit as much money as you did?” he asked. “Because money is a hell of a motivator.”
She shook her head. “No. He got my aunt’s house.” Her brows slanted as she considered his suspicions. “He might be in debt, but I can’t believe he’d try to kill me over this. Besides, like I said, he’s in Arizona. So now what?” she asked.
“Now we wait for the cops to come to the rescue and hope they get here before a killer.”
Chapter Eight
Despite the blazing sun, Kim shivered. Leo hadn’t meant to scare her. He tugged her closer and ran his hand along her arm. The LAPD wasn’t going to let some nut with a gun take them out. It would be bad for their public image if one the city’s most famous citizens died.
Didn’t he hope.
They needed to figure out who might be behind this. Two incidents in two days was no coincidence.
“So your cousin, Wilson. Sounds like he’s the only family you have left.”
She nodded. “We were practically raised together. Our mothers were sisters. I was actually a surprise. None of them could conceive. It’s one of the reasons I was so shocked to be pregnant myself. Anyway, Wilson was adopted and my mom was looking into adoption when she found out she was going to have me. The older we got, the more distance separated us. Wilson got married, had a baby. We lost touch until recently when my aunt got sick.”
A visible sadness colored her eyes. She cleared her throat and tucked her head into his neck as he continued to rub her arm. “I can’t believe all the sisters are gone. Some days I still can’t believe my parents are dead.” She swallowed hard. “I still reach for the phone when I have some news to tell my mom. Then I remember.”
“I’m sorry,” Leo whispered. He felt the small shrug of her shoulders.
“I sometimes wonder what would’ve happened if I hadn’t moved. They liked to travel and just take every day as it came, but I’ll never understand why my dad didn’t pull over if he was tired.” She paused, mulling over the accident. “I get so mad thinking about it.”
“You can’t do that to yourself. You have to let it go. If you don’t, it’ll eat you alive.” Kind of like how taking care of Megan had slowly eaten away at his mother. Oh, she’d loved her daughter, but all the E.R. visits and constant care had taken the joy out of her life. Leo may have been a teenager, but he’d seen how hard his mother had worked to take care of his little sister.
Kim pushed some hair behind her ear. “Sometimes I tell myself they’re just on vacation and I’ll talk to them when they get home.” She cleared her throat again. “Sometimes it’s really fresh, like it happened yesterday and sometimes it feels a lifetime ago. I miss not having them. At least having my Aunt Carolyn was like having a little piece of my mom around, but now she’s gone too.”
Something rustled in the bushes nearby and they both froze. Fresh sweat broke out on Leo’s nape as he turned and kept Kim at his back. “Hold this,” he whispered giving her the phone. He stayed low and eased away from her, toward the threat. A second later, a rabbit popped out and bounded in the opposite direction, his little cottontail bouncing like a fluffy ball.
Kim let out a shaky breath as Leo dropped his chin to his chest.
He hated this shit. He moved back to his spot near Kim and took the phone back. “You were saying?”
“I have no clue. That scared me to death.” She looked up at him. Soot streaked her face. “Oh. Parents. What about you? Where are yours?”
He never talked about his mother, just as he never spoke about his half sister, Megan. Never. How’d he dodge this bullet? “Well…”
“Mr. Frost,” the dispatcher said. Nothing like perfect timing to save his ass. “Officers are—” The line went silent.
“Hello. Hello!” Leo checked the screen. Black. No signal. “Shit. Perfect,” he muttered. A bead of sweat trickled down his cheek.
“What? What happened?”
She wouldn’t like this. “The battery crapped out.”
“What!” She glanced around. “Now what? I mean, this idiot could be making his way to us right now. He’s got us pinned down.”
“He might’ve also cut his losses. Like I said, we’ll hear him if he’s coming, just like we heard Bugs over there.”
“Are you sure this isn’t some old girlfriend with a grudge?” she asked. “The list is kind of long. No offense.”
“Trust me. None of the girls I dated know how to shoot, though I guess they could hire someone who does.” But hardly anyone knew his new address. And both yesterday and today had targeted Kim. If all the people who knew about her inheritance were out of town, then who the hell wanted her dead?
The answer came like the bullet.
“Stephanie’s husband,” Leo said.
“What?” Kim’s brows slanted down. “Carl? He’s in jail. He’s not shooting at us.”
“But he could be pulling strings from jail,” Leo suggested. “The man still has people running his business.” A nasty business at that. Although the sex slave ring had been busted, Leo didn’t doubt that some part of it still existed somewhere. “You still need to testify. Maybe this is his way of getting rid of witnesses.”
“But I’m not even a major witness. Stephanie and that last girl he abducted, Abbey, are the primary ones.”
“Maybe, but it’s worth checking out. Have you talked to Stephanie lately?”
“I checked on her a few days ago. She’s okay. She’s got her family supporting her.” Kim looked away from him, her gaze shuttered.
He felt her loneliness as keenly as if it were his own. It seemed as if the world was closing in on both of them. Having Kim around after missing her for two months made him realize that he was changing. More and more lately, all he wanted was one person to have, one person to confide in.
In many ways, Kim was already that person. She’d seen him through the worst financial crisis of his life. She didn’t belittle him or mock him. The last co
uple of months, she’d been his biggest support system.
And he was pretty damn sure she had no idea exactly what she meant to him.
She’s pregnant. The reminder blazed in his head. A reminder that had his heart thumping faster and his palms sweating.
If he could just wrap his brain around her decision to have the baby, maybe he could deal with it better. But she was basing a decision without having all the facts, and telling her the facts meant outing Megan, which meant outing himself. He couldn’t do it. Had too much at stake. Megan deserved her privacy. She deserved the best care money could buy. He could take any amount of scrutiny when it came to his own life, but he couldn’t when it came to his sister. She needed the familiarity and routine of the institution, not the crazy mixed up life he lived when he worked.
The whap, whap, whap of helicopter blades sounded in the distance. “Maybe that’s the police. We’ll make sure they investigate Carl,” Leo said. A minute later, a black and white chopper came into view, the LAPD logo on the side.
“Thank God,” she murmured against his chest.
“Maybe they scared away our crackpot. I’ll check.” He slowly raised his hat again with the same branch. Nothing happened. He edged it along the rock and still nothing happened. “I think our guy ran.”
Two officers dressed in heavy armor repelled from the copter in seconds flat. Both carried extra vests that Kim and Leo happily pulled over their clothes. With no way to go back up, the cops escorted them out of the canyon, their guns drawn as the helicopter hovered above.
With sheer will, they kept a blistering pace on the walk out. By the time they got to the road they were both sweating, out of breath, extremely hungry and cranky as hell. A contingent of cops waited for them as they neared Leo’s car. They gave a statement and the officers assured them the detectives investigating the accident yesterday would be in touch.
Soot coated Kim from the top of her blond hair to the bottom of her new, formerly white sneakers. She was going to have a heart attack when she looked in the mirror. Leo quashed the urge to pull her in for a hug. Hell, he was covered too.
