Gunning for Trouble

by HelenKay Dimon

  “Where are we going?” Avery asked as she carefully placed her feet on the metal rungs.

  “Anywhere but here.”

  She shot him a frown over her shoulder. “Am I supposed to know what that means?”

  “No.”

  She stopped ten steps up from the street and stared up at him. “You could try answering the question without being a jerk.”

  He knew he should, but something about her brought out the worst in him. So did being woken up in the middle of the night to go running all over his condo build ing, dodging men with guns. “You’re the one being followed.”

  “Because of Rod.” Her knuckles turned white where they held the strap to her shoulder bag. Any tighter and she’d cut off circulation.

  Adam popped up next to her. “Uh, kids. I get that you two have some history and all, and I want to hear about it, I do, but we need to keep moving.”

  Caleb heard the warning behind his friend’s joking tone and heeded it. “Right. We can fight about this later. Preferably when we’re out of earshot of anyone holding a weapon.”

  “Fine.” She sounded anything but.

  “Fine.”

  Adam nodded. “Happy to hear we’re all fine. So, can we get moving?”

  “One question.” Avery pointed at the side of the build ing. “There are cameras all over the place. Won’t the attackers look for us and then follow?”

  “I cut their access,” Adam said. “Anyone checking the security monitors is seeing an endless loop of barren hallways and quiet outdoor areas.”

  Caleb clicked the bottom button on his watch and showed her Adam’s tech handiwork. “See? There’s nothing on there that can help them or hurt us.”

  Adam tapped a finger against his forehead. “Computer genius.”

  “But, when did you manage to do all of that?” she asked.

  “I set up the program the day we moved in and check it every week to make sure I’m still dialed in and can take over if needed. When the silent alarm went off, I switched the security monitors to my loop and have been sending the real footage to my off-site computer so I can analyze it later. The only potential problem is that the police will check it and know someone tampered with it.”

  “You?”

  “Oh, they won’t trace it back to me.”

  She smiled for the first time all evening. “I guess you can do more than grab women and scare the crap out of them.”

  “Since I’m not sure how to answer that, I won’t,” Adam said.

  Caleb had had enough conversation. He wasn’t too fond of Avery’s reaction to Adam either. Hearing them joke back and forth while he stood right there was not Caleb’s idea of a good time. It made him want to punch something. Like Adam.

  Leave it to Avery to come between them. From his experience, she ruined everything. Seemed she hadn’t lost that trait.

  But they had a bigger problem at the moment and it—or rather, they—had just turned the corner and were heading down the alley. When Adam tensed, Caleb figured his friend had seen them, too. It took Avery a little longer, but her sharp intake of breath signaled her awareness.

  “Everything okay up there?” The policeman was on top of them in a few steps. He put his hand on his gun and his partner beside him followed suit.

  Two men in their late forties, if Caleb had to guess. Uniforms, matching battle stances, calm tone. Caleb wasn’t getting the paid-assassin vibe from them, but he inched his fingers closer to the weapon tucked in his waistband just in case. He noticed Adam did the same.

  Caleb decided to play dumb until one of their guests gave him a reason to start shooting. “Is it a fire? If so, we figured it wasn’t safe to use the elevators.”

  “Something like that.” The officer’s shoulders relaxed. “You see anyone else wandering around over here or upstairs?”

  Avery shook her head, but the rest of her body remained rock still. “No, sir.”

  The officer motioned them off the steps. “Then get moving. You should have been out and on the street a half hour ago.”

  “We thought it was a drill.”

  The officers waited until the three of them stepped on the macadam. “We need everyone out until we confirm the electrical fire and make sure it’s under control. Can you three find your way?”

  Even though they looked to be in the clear, Caleb didn’t let any of the tension leave his body. He stayed ready. “Absolutely.”

  The officer nodded. “Get moving.”

  They waited until the police turned the corner to the front of the building again before anyone said anything. Finally, Avery let out a shaky breath. “That was close.”

  “Too much so.” They kept to the side of the brick wall, out in the alley and far out of the line of sight of any of the professionals or gunmen who may be walking around the front of the complex as Caleb explained their plan. “Adam will act as a decoy and drive Avery’s car. We’ll take his alternate truck and head in the opposite direction.”

  “Alternate what? You know what? Forget it. I’m not going to ask.” Avery reached into her bag and grabbed her keys. “Here. I’m parked on the street.”

  Adam took them and then threw his set to Caleb. “I’m in the garage.”

  Caleb felt more faith in the plan than he did five seconds ago. “Even better. We can divert their attention.”

  “But there are people everywhere.” Her wild-eyed gaze traveled between the men. “And then there’s the part where this is dangerous. Adam could be hurt.”

  “We could all be killed.” Caleb took in her openmouthed stare and decided she still didn’t get it. “What did you think was supposed to happen when my front door exploded? That wasn’t a friendly hello.”

  A fiery heat replaced the worry in her eyes. “I am well aware of what happened, Caleb. I was there.”

  “They broke into my house with weapons drawn. They, whoever they are—and you will be filling me in on that as soon as I get you to safety—were not there to talk.”

  As a result, his condo, her house and anywhere else obvious was out as a hiding place.

  That left the new Recovery Project headquarters as their option. The place was little more than an empty shell, an abandoned warehouse, but it couldn’t be traced to her and that’s all that mattered at the moment.

  “You can stop talking to me like I’m an idiot.”

  Oh, he knew she wasn’t that. She was smart and confident and driven. He’d lost his last job thanks to her and her ambitions. “Their orders likely were to grab you, kill me and take you somewhere for questioning. That means torture, Avery. You do understand, right?”

  Adam shoved at Caleb’s shoulder. “Ease up.”

  “She needs to understand.”

  “I think she does.”

  She stepped in front of Adam and right up to Caleb’s chest. “I’m sorry I involved you. Is that what you want to hear?”

  Seeing her clenched fists and pale face knocked the temper right out of him. “If you’re right, you didn’t. Rod did.”

  “He couldn’t have anticipated putting you in danger,” she asked.

  “That’s exactly what he thought would happen.” Caleb tried to shut off his questions about Rod and WitSec and every other disaster, and focus instead on the problem in front of him. “Avery, that’s what we do.”

  “This?”

  “Exactly this.”

  She hesitated a second more. “Then it’s good I’m with you.”

  Them. Together. Caleb had to block out those images. “We’ll see if you feel that way in a half hour.”

  “What happens then?”

  “We’ll know if we escaped without gunfire,” Adam said and then turned to Caleb. “The truck is in my extra space on the top floor. No one will be looking for it or put me together with Avery. Keep her head down until you’re away, just to be safe. Don’t stop for any reason—roadblocks, questioning, I don’t care. If I need to cause a scene on my end to get you out, I will.”

  “Sounds like you
guys have done this before.” Her nervous laugh ruined her attempt at a joke.

  “We’ve done far worse,” Caleb said.

  Adam winked at her. “Certainly far stranger.”

  “I’m driving a red sedan. I don’t know the license plate, so you’ll have to hit the automatic locks if there’s more than one of that color.” Her hand shook as she brushed her hair off her face. “It’s up the street on the left.”

  One piece of information didn’t mesh with what Caleb knew about Avery. “Why don’t you know your license plate?”

  “It’s my neighbor’s car.”

  “Does she know you have it?”

  “He doesn’t. I took it without asking.”

  Caleb pushed the male reference out of his mind. They didn’t date anymore. She could see anyone she wanted and it wasn’t his business. He repeated the comment in his head three times, and the reality still refused to sink in. The idea of her with someone else made his back teeth slam together.

  “With our luck the guy reported it and Adam will get picked up for stealing it,” Caleb grumbled, more at the idea of the neighbor than anything else.

  She reached out and touched his arm. “My point is that the bad guys shouldn’t recognize the car, so Adam should skip the driving around part and come with us.”

  “Negative.” Caleb made the comment right as Adam started shaking his head.

  She dropped her hand back to her side. “Both of you?”

  “It’s a safety measure,” Adam explained.

  “And we’re done talking.” Caleb gave his command and then turned to Adam. “Head for the street. If the situation is too hot, ping me, keep walking and I’ll send someone to come around to pick you up.”

  “Someone?” she asked.

  “Another agent.” Caleb wondered if she thought he and Adam worked alone.

  Her mouth dropped open. “How many more of you are there?”

  Adam chuckled. “Three. Does that scare you?”

  The shock turned into a small smile. “The exact opposite, actually.”

  “Let’s go.” Caleb slipped his hand under her elbow and used his key to open the outside door to the garage.

  Chapter Four

  To anyone watching they might have looked like a loving couple. In reality, Caleb had a death grip on her skin as he pulled her out and onto the underground garage floor. If he thought she would run, he was wrong. She was too busy trying to keep her dinner in her stomach rather than on the cement in front of her. The internal muscles heaved and rumbled. Everything sloshed and moved.

  She’d never had a run-in with the police. Never had men track her down, or seen a door explode either. Car chases and gunfire—if this was Caleb’s life now, she almost felt bad for firing him. He had been insubordinate and difficult, rarely followed the rules and liked to solve cases instead of limit his work to DNA testing, but he was safe there. So was she. A few more minutes of this level of panic and she was going to throw up. Or worse.

  Caleb scanned the large open floor from one end of the cement block area to the other. It didn’t take long, since the floor consisted of four rows of cars separated by two lanes. There was an elevator and a guard cubicle where the cars entered and left but it appeared empty, as opposed to most of the parking spaces. They were full.

  “Where is everyone?” she asked.

  “Probably up on the street.”

  His gaze stopped searching and fell on her. “You’re turning green.”

  “I’m terrified.” Her teeth rattled to prove it.

  “I’ve never known you to be scared of anything.”

  “I could make a comment about you not knowing me at all, but now probably isn’t the right time.”

  A sharp honk of a horn grabbed his attention, but when the car pulled out and left the garage he stared back down at her. “You think?”

  “Believe it or not, I’m not a complete idiot.”

  “Never said you were. Never thought it either.” His gaze flashed over her shoulder for the briefest of moments as he hurried their steps to a parking spot near the stairwell.

  She would have missed his look if she hadn’t been concentrating on the unique mix of green and gray in his eyes in an effort not to double over. “What is it?”

  “There’s a guy to our far right, standing just inside the garage door exit. Pretend to cough and give a quick peek over at him. Ready?”

  “Yeah.” She concentrated, making sure to keep her head down as she did what he asked.

  “Look familiar?”

  “Not at all.”

  “Did you see the guys who were following you?” Caleb aimed the key chain at the small black truck as he whispered his question. The click echoed through the floor as the automatic locks opened.

  “I didn’t know anyone was behind me until your front door caved in.”

  He opened the truck door for her. “Put the seat belt on and then lean down as if you’re checking in the glove compartment. I want your head out of shooting range.”

  “Does this thing have air bags?”

  “Adam took them out just for this type of situation.”

  She thought it made more sense to load the truck with them. “Why?”

  “You’d smother if we got hit.”

  “You’re not making me feel very confident.”

  “Right now my job is to keep you alive. We’ll worry about how happy you are later.” He walked around to his side and slid in. He jammed the key in the ignition as he strapped the belt across his lap and put the shoulder strap behind him.

  “What about your head?”

  “I’m going to need it to drive.”

  “That’s comforting.”

  “See, I’m getting better at the making-you-feel-confident thing already.”

  She wanted to snort, but she followed his orders instead. Well, most of them. The not-moving part proved impossible as she glanced over the dashboard. The sight in front of her sent fear whirling through every cell and muscle. The man who stood around smoking a cigarette earlier now ran toward them, his face red and his arms pumping. “The guy is moving.”

  “I see him.” Caleb pressed a hand against her shoulder and pushed her cheek closer to the leather seat. “No matter what you hear, stay down.”

  “Why?” Footsteps thundered closer. A deep voice shouted for them to stop.

  “He’s aiming his gun.” Caleb ducked even as he sent the truck flying out of its spot and screeching into the lane. “Down!”

  Gunfire rang out all around them. Loud pings sounded as the bullets hit metal. She crouched into a tight ball and pressed as close to Caleb’s thigh as the seat belt digging into her thigh would allow. The smell of heated rubber stung her nose as the vehicle lurched for ward then picked up speed. Tires squealing, they headed in the general direction of the exit.

  Before they had gone ten feet, an engine revved off to her right. At least she thought it was that side; at the awkward angle everything sounded muffled and distorted. This wasn’t just someone pulling out. This was someone looking to ram them. She knew that as sure as she knew she’d never make it out of this situation without Caleb’s help.

  The whirl of tires grew louder, as if another vehicle were about to drive through her skull. She braced her elbow against the seat and touched the seat belt to make sure it was secure.

  “Hold on.” The back end of the truck spun around and smashed into something solid as a rush of air passed by them on the right side.

  The jolt slammed her forward. Her skin burned from the strangling belt. The contents of her stomach raced up her throat as her eyes began to water.

  He shot her a worried frown. “Okay?”

  “Fine.” She saw Caleb hit the gas, but the car didn’t move. When he switched gears, she closed her eyes and said a little prayer that they would survive this nightmare. “Were we hit?”

  “No.”

  “You’re a target.” With her hand tangled in his shirt, she tried to pull him out of the line of fi
re.

  “Just stay down.”

  Caleb never stopped moving. The wheel shook under his iron grip as he shifted his position and swore. When he hit the gas this time, the car raced through the small space.

  She could hear him screaming Adam’s name, which didn’t make any sense since he wasn’t in the garage. With her eyes closed, she hunched there and waited for the truck’s walls to cave in around her. She wanted to crawl onto the floor and sit with her hands over her head, pretending none of this was happening.

  But she needed to know he was okay. “Caleb!”

  “What?”

  His sharp response actually felt good. Hope sprang up out of nowhere, tamping down the fear bubbling up inside of her.

  “No matter what, do not sit up!” His voice lost the stiff tone he’d been using with her. He now sounded wild, out of control and yelling.

  She had no intention of ignoring him on this. She slid as close to him as possible. With her head tilted, she pulled her hair to the side so she could see what was happening above her.

  “Hide your face.” With his body flat against the steering wheel, Caleb reached up and touched something against the windshield. It shattered into hundreds of tiny blocks.

  Someone screamed, and she was pretty sure the high-pitched wail came from her. “What did you—”

  “Safety glass.”

  The glass tumbled over her. She put up her hands to block the shower of glass, but she could feel the pieces in her hair and lying all around her. She didn’t even notice the gun on his lap until he grabbed it and put the muzzle through what was once the windshield. He fired two shots as he accelerated and crossed through the garage entrance and out into the dark night.

  She heard the police sirens wind up as soon as Caleb turned right onto the street and sped away from the building. He didn’t slow for the speed bump. The truck went airborne then landed with a clunk against the ground. Glass cubes crunched around her. She struggled up to one elbow and looked him over. No blood, just huge eyes and clenched hands.