by Cat Johnson
Sierra wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like that one white uniform sailors wear. It’s the same outfit every mother of a three year old boy puts them in for pictures.”
“Here’s a little tip for you, sweetie. The uniform comes off.” Roger focused his attention on the group of possibly former military bruisers across the room, proof of his admiration of the breed.
She eyed Roger. “You got a thing for sailors, do you?”
“Actually, he was a Marine but yeah, there’s definitely something to be said for a man in uniform.”
“And out of uniform?” Sierra suggested.
“Amen, sister.” Roger grinned and then sobered as he turned back toward her. “But seriously, Sierra, you’re too calm considering everything. They found a camera in your bathroom. Are you sure you’re okay?”
No, not really.
“I just need to get to work and put it out of my mind.”
She was scared. She was pissed. Knowing someone was watching her made her feel completely violated. But the fact that the camera was down now and in the hands of her watchdogs where it couldn’t spy on her anymore helped.
That she’d be moving to a different hotel that would be checked out inch by inch by her super soldiers helped too.
Once she was on the lot, immersed in the life of her character and not her own, she’d be fine.
“You’re probably right. Keeping busy will be better than sitting and obsessing over it.” Roger evaluated her for a moment before nodding. “All right. I’ll let you go to the lot.”
Sierra widened her eyes. “Excuse me? You’ll let me?”
Roger’s lips twitched. “That’s right. You pay me to tell you what to do, remember?”
“Yes. You make it hard to forget.” She shot him an unhappy glance.
“Good.” Roger looked much too satisfied with her acquiescence.
She didn’t have time to discuss Roger or his acting like he was in charge. Rick and the dark-haired man who was his boss, broke from the group and came towards Sierra.
When he was right in front of her, Rick’s blue-eyed gaze pinned Sierra, as if evaluating her. “You doing all right?”
Frustrated, she let out a huff of breath. “Yes. Everyone needs to stop asking me that question and instead work on catching this crazy person!”
“We’re working on it. I’m meeting with hotel security today.” The guy standing next to Rick—Jon, if she remembered correctly—joined the conversation.
“I thought you’re moving me out of this hotel.” She heard how high her tone rose as the panic filled her. There was no way she could sleep here tonight.
“We are moving you, and believe me that hotel will be vetted from the housekeeping staff to the security protocols and the premises thoroughly swept before we move you in. I’ve already called the police officer in charge of your case and he’ll be meeting with us as well. But we also have to get to the bottom of how someone gained access to your suite in this hotel.”
Even though she wanted to hate these men and this company thrust upon her, Jon seemed capable and what he said made sense. Even as agitated as she was, she had to admit his plan, his words, calmed her a little bit.
“Okay.”
“Chris and Brody are heading over to the studio.” Jon’s focus moved to Roger. “We’re going to need them cleared at the gate and they’ll need full access to the lot.”
Roger reached into his pocket for his cell. “I’ll call now and arrange it.”
“Thanks.” Jon turned back to address Sierra. “Zane’s coming with me to handle the hotel situation. Rick’s gonna stay with you.”
Sierra nodded, in a daze from the sheer number of people involved in this, as much as from everything else that had happened, all before the sun had time to rise.
“I need something from you.” Jon’s stare was intense as it pinned her.
“What?”
“I need you to listen to what Rick says and do what he tells you.”
That part, she didn’t like. She frowned. “I don’t—“
“Ms. Cox. Please. We can only keep you safe if you cooperate.”
“I can handle this. I’m not as stupid as people think. I’ve dealt with pushy paparazzi and crazed fans for half of my life, all without the benefit of Rick telling me what to do.”
“I never thought you were stupid. And I know this has been your life for a very long time. I’m well aware you were thirteen when you won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress—“
Her brows rose. “You did your homework.”
“We always do. The point is, all of your experience doesn’t include dealing with someone who is very possibly armed and dangerous. Rick has ten years dealing with high pressure, dangerous situations.”
“Yeah, and he only got himself shot twice, was it?” Chris had wandered over to the conversation.
“It was three times, I thought.” Brody grinned.
Rick scowled at the two brothers. “That third time was just shrapnel.”
Chris lifted one shoulder. “You still bled all over the damn truck and I had to clean it up. Anyway, boss man, Brody and I are heading over to the lot.”
Jon nodded. “I texted you the address.”
“I got it. You arrange it so we can get in?” Chris asked.
Jon turned toward Roger for the answer to that question.
“It’s all set,” Roger answered.
Chris’s gaze swung from his boss to Rick. “Your ETA still zero-nine-hundred?”
“That’s when she’s due in. We still on schedule?” Rick asked Sierra.
In a daze, she nodded.
Chris slapped Jon on the back. “A’ight then. We’ll be in touch.”
Five men, six if she counted Roger, all coordinated to keeping her safe.
“I’m getting dressed.” She made the announcement to no one in particular, more to the room in general and whoever might be listening. But before she turned to go into her room, she stopped. “There’s no more cameras, right?”
“It’s clean. I promise.”
Choosing to believe Rick’s answer, not because she trusted him but more because she wouldn’t be able to function if she thought otherwise, she turned for her bedroom.
It was time to get on with her day. If she didn’t, if she changed her life because of what was happening, it would mean he—or she—had won.
For better or worse, Sierra was too stubborn to let that happen.
CHAPTER 11
Rick sent Sierra a sideways glance as he waited for the line of traffic ahead to pull through the gate.
She’d surprised him by being dressed and ready to go long before the time they had to leave. Though maybe it wasn’t such a surprise she wanted out of that hotel sooner rather than later.
“We’re here like an hour early, you know,” he said.
“I know.” She hadn’t bothered to look at him when she responded.
Instead, she stayed focused on something outside the passenger window.
She’d slipped on sunglasses when he’d told her they were driving over in his truck. Apparently being seen and recognized arriving in a pick-up was bad when you were Sierra Cox, so she was going incognito behind her shades.
Fine. Whatever floated her boat.
He turned his attention back to the line of cars in front of him.
Getting onto this studio lot brought back bittersweet memories of driving onto base. There was always a line getting through the gate, especially in the morning.
The base traffic he could do without. Being active duty, though, that he missed. More than he realized. Having all the guys together again this morning assessing the threat, making a game plan like the old days when they’d been a team, had made him realize how much he missed it.
Finally, it was their turn. He rolled down the window. The guard leaned low, clipboard in his hand. “Name?”
Rick leaned back in his seat so the guard could see past him as he tipped his head toward his passenger. “S
ierra Cox and her security.”
The man nodded. “Pull through.”
Rick took note that the rent-a-guard wasn’t armed, from what he could see.
In fact, his utility belt had a phone clip and a flashlight, but nothing of any value should the shit hit the fan.
No taser. No gun. No knife even. The guy hadn’t asked his name or for ID.
He drew in a breath as he rolled up the window, not feeling as confident as he had about the security of this location. He’d have to call Chris and Brody when he parked and get their evaluation. They should have gotten here nearly an hour ago. They should have a feel for the risk level.
“Where do I go?” Rick asked once he’d cleared the gate.
“Turn just after that building up there on the right.” At Sierra’s direction, Rick did as she’d instructed. He crept along until she pointed through the front window. “That’s my trailer, up there on the left.”
He didn’t love how she was so far from the main buildings. Or that she was in a trailer, alone. She’d do better with a dressing room with people around, than isolated in a trailer parked down the road. But what did he know about the workings of a movie lot?
Next to nothing. He sure as hell was going to learn though.
He pulled the truck in front of the trailer and threw the gearshift into park. She had her door open before he had a chance to stop her. He’d put her next to the trailer so his side of the truck was more exposed, but that didn’t mean he’d intended her to leap out.
“Dammit.” Cussing under his breath, Rick left the keys in the ignition and flung his own door open. He ran around to stand next to her.
The whole way he kept an eye on their surroundings, looking for anything amiss. Again, not that he would know what was usual and what wasn’t, which is why he’d wanted her to stay safely in the truck until he’d called Chris.
“Sierra, will you please stop a second and listen to me.”
“Did you ask me to do something?” She looked at him over the top of her dark, no doubt designer and overpriced, sunglasses.
“I didn’t have a chance to. You didn’t give me even a second.”
She lifted one delicate shoulder. “Sorry. I want to drop off my bag and then go for a run.”
“Now?”
“Yes. Why not? You said yourself we’re here early.”
Rick wasn’t happy with them even standing out in the open outside her trailer—never mind running all over the lot—until he knew the state of things.
In fact, he’d much prefer if they could hold this conversation inside her trailer—after he made sure it was clear, of course.
If Chris and Brody hadn’t gotten to it yet, he’d have to make sure there was no one inside, sweep it for surveillance, check it for explosives. It would have been easier to do that with her locked away safely in his truck.
Obviously annoyed with him, Sierra folded her arms. “You promised we could go for a run today.”
“I know I did. Just give me a chance to talk to Chris—” The hair on the back of Rick’s neck stood up about the same time he felt the unmistakable whizz of a bullet pass too damn close to his face.
Years of training kicked Rick into action. Without thinking, he’d knocked Sierra to the ground, shielding her with his body.
Sierra hit the ground with a grunt. “Rick. What the hell—”
“Sniper!” His brain worked only slightly slower than his body as he reviewed what had happened seconds before.
“What?” Obviously things had happened so fast, Sierra had missed it. She didn’t realize they’d been shot at.
He sure as hell had felt it—the rush of the bullet too close for comfort. The splintering of the fiberglass trailer just behind him where the shot had hit. He’d decide later if it was better she was blissfully ignorant of exactly how close that bullet had come to hitting him, or not.
Judging by the angle of the bullet, the shot would have come from the other side of the street.
Where they were now, on the ground between the truck and Sierra’s trailer, put the bulk of his vehicle between them and the shooter. But that would only remain the case if the shooter didn’t relocate. The fact was he could very well be on the move.
“Can you get off me now?” Her annoyed muffled request from beneath him proved she still wasn’t taking this threat seriously.
What would it take? Her getting actually hit? Him taking a bullet? Both were definitely possibilities given the circumstances.
Keeping that reality in mind, Rick lifted just a bit of his weight off her and said, “We have to go.”
“Go where?”
“Away from here. Someplace where people aren’t shooting at us.” It was the best answer Rick could come up with.
Obviously, the lot wasn’t secure. He didn’t need to call Chris to confirm that. He did need to tell them what was happening though.
Rick rolled them closer to the truck until they were almost beneath it. He pulled out his cell and punched Chris’s number. They’d need to get into the truck eventually but more pressing was the need to call in back up.
As he kept his eyes on their surroundings, he couldn’t see Sierra beneath him, but he could feel her breathing hard and fast, probably from anger at him more than fear of the shooter.
Stubborn, hard-headed woman.
He needed her to listen and follow orders otherwise her usual obstinate, loose canon attitude could get them both killed.
Rick punched to dial Chris. After two rings he heard, “Hey. You on your way here?”
“We’re here and fucking dodging bullets outside Sierra’s trailer.”
“What?” Chris’s tone rose. “I put you on speaker so Brody can hear. Tell me where you are so I can get to you.”
It wasn’t as if there were any street signs and he could give them an address. It was a damn movie lot. “I drove in through the front gate, hung a right at the first building on the right. There’s a row of trailers up that street. You’ll see my truck.”
And their dead bodies if Chris and Brody didn’t move faster and get here before the sniper got brave and came out of his hide.
“On our way. Hang tight, bro.”
Rick reached down and maneuvered his weapon out of the holster beneath his pants leg. The pistol wasn’t much of a match for a high-powered sniper rifle with a scope but it was something.
It would work just fine at close range if the bastard was stupid enough to walk around this truck and face Rick head-on, man to man.
Sierra had said that she thought her stalker could be either a male or a female, but Rick had to disagree.
If the threats had been limited to just the photos and a note, a mental battle, an attack of intimidation, maybe he’d buy into the theory it was a woman. But now there was firepower added to the list of assaults.
Call him a chauvinist, but that screamed to him that their opponent in this deadly game wasn’t a female.
And speaking of female . . . Sierra was still crushed beneath him breathing hard enough he feared she’d hyperventilate. He felt exactly how small she was. Her build was slight, and she was too damn thin, like too many of Hollywood’s darlings were to try and please the overly critical public.
Rick glanced down at her but couldn’t see her well enough to determine how upset she was. A fall of hair shielded her face from view.
“You okay?” he asked.
She moved her head in what was half nod, half shake but didn’t speak.
Tires squealing had Rick whipping his head up, wishing he had someplace close and safe to stash Sierra so he could do something proactive. Something other than lying there like a slug while playing human shield.
Who the hell knew he should have asked Jon for body armor too? For both of them.
He recognized Brody’s truck and breathed freely for the first time in minutes. Finally confident that they’d get out of this situation, he pushed up, taking his weight off Sierra. “My guys are here.”
“Now what?
”
“Now we get you the hell out of here and someplace safe.”
“Where?”
“We’ll figure that out as we go.”
As a security van squealed onto the scene and Chris and Brody flanked the truck, guns drawn and eyes peeled on anyplace the shooter could be hiding, Rick let Sierra sit up. She leaned against the truck tire with him squatting in front of her so she was still shielded.
She frowned at him, looking angry. “You mean you don’t have a plan?”
What the hell? The situation had just changed literally minutes before and she was pissed he didn’t have a plan? “Not at the moment, no.”
“Then what am I paying you for?”
Rick tempered his own anger, although not completely. He had a few choice words he was weighing, but he considered how angry Jon and Zane would be if he said them to their big client.
Chris backed around the truck and saved Rick from his own tongue and the potential backlash of speaking his mind.
“You a’ight?” Chris’s gaze swept Rick and Sierra before he went back to surveying the area.
“Yeah. We’re good.” Rick figured if Sierra was well enough to bitch, she was doing just fine.
“What’s the plan?” Brody rounded the other side of the truck.
Rick heard Sierra’s snort at that question and chose to ignore it. “I want her off this lot.”
“Agreed.” Brody nodded.
“And long term?” Chris asked.
“Out of town until we catch this guy.” Obviously the only way to protect her was to remove her from the situation.
He respected her for wanting to keep working, but after today, that wasn’t going to happen. Since the damn movie folks couldn’t keep the lot secure, they would just have to deal with it.
A security officer came around the truck. “Everyone all right?”
Rick glared through his sunglasses at the man, who still had no weapon to speak of. “Another inch and I’d have a hole in my head God didn’t intend me to have. Besides that, yeah, we’re okay.”
“Jesus.” The guard glanced around, pulling his cell off his utility belt. Rick supposed he was calling in reinforcements, who likely would be equally unarmed and unprepared for this situation.
