A creak-like noise sounded from the bedroom.
Gabriel measured his breathing. He could literally hear and feel Kinsley’s erratic breathing from behind him. It was a typical stress response for a civilian. As remarkable as she was in every other sense of the word, she was not used to dealing with the rush of adrenaline that came with feeling like a shooter had set his sights on her.
Comforting her would have to wait.
He motioned for her to slowly back toward the door.
A couple of scenarios ran through his mind. Everything about this set up felt like a trap. If they went out the way they came in there could be someone waiting. An ambush. A sniper. Staying inside the pool house wasn’t an option. Especially if someone was in the next room. Or a bomb had been planted. The last situation, the animal could have been a rouse to distract him.
Something felt familiar about this whole setup.
And then it dawned on him why.
This was exactly the way Asa Krill’s people would flush him out. They were known for setting bombs in houses where someone had been identified. He’d known it was only a matter of time before they found him, but he thought he’d covered himself better than this.
Gabriel eased back a couple of steps, careful to walk clear of the rug. That could be wired. Hell, almost anything inside the house could be. The back door was safe because they’d come in that way.
And if this was a setup that could mean men waited just outside. He clicked off the light in the kitchen and dimmed the porch light. His cell vibrated inside his pocket. He checked the screen. Jaden would have to wait.
Gabriel would call his friend as soon as he was clear. A few more steps and he’d be at the door. Outside, anyone could be waiting.
Turning his back to the room was out of the question. And that’s when he first heard the whop-whop-whop of a chopper. This situation was about to get real. He fired off a quick text to Bear—a change of plans.
He motioned for Kinsley to get down. He dropped to squatting position. He pushed up enough to check outside the window, careful not to expose any more of himself than he had to.
His cell vibrated again.
Frustrated, he palmed it. Jaden’s name came up again. This time, Gabriel read the message. The chopper sounded like it was overhead now. A figure emerged from the bedroom. The wrong end of a barrel pointed at Gabriel and Kinsley.
Gabriel opened the back door, grabbed Kinsley and charged toward the steel basket. The rapid cracks of gunfire split the night air as he dove into the carrier and tucked Kinsley underneath him. This wasn’t the time to notice how soft her creamy skin was or for the kiss that could never happen again to pop into his mind. He’d enjoyed great sex with a whole lot of women but no one felt as right in his arms as Kinsley had and the two of them had only ever kissed.
Shots were being fired from down below, pinging off the steel cage. Gabriel pulled the lid over top of them, plunging the two of them into blackness.
He could feel her trembling underneath him. His arms were shaking, too, because he was using them to keep his weight from crushing her and the chopper was lifting them at a fast clip. Given bullets were flying, Gabriel didn’t blame the pilot one bit for getting them up and out of there.
He wanted to offer words of encouragement to Kinsley, to say something that would help her calm down. But what could he say?
This ambush was on him.
Kinsley stayed curled in a ball until she was certain the chopper was on solid ground and they were far away from the pool house.
She was grateful that Gabriel hadn’t asked her if she was all right. Honestly? What would she have said? No…she was totally freaking out. That would’ve been the honest answer. What good would it have done to verbalize it?
A peek of light came through when the cover was opened. Curled on her side in a ball with a man the size of Gabriel on top of her—granted, he’d been careful not to crush her—while bullets sailed past her head wasn’t the time to remind Gabriel that she was claustrophobic. Besides, in that moment, there was no other place she wanted to be than secured near Gabriel.
“I’m sorry,” Gabriel said as he helped her out of the basket. Surprisingly, it didn’t resemble a coffin as she feared it might have.
“What do you have to apologize for?” As far as she thought he’d saved her life again.
“That was my fault. Those men were after me, not you.”
Kinsley’s head would’ve been spinning if she hadn’t had the day she’d just had.
The helicopter pilot saluted Gabriel, who returned the gesture. If she understood the situation correctly a terror cell was after her and some other dudes with guns were after Gabriel.
The man who’d just saved them with a helicopter at the last second was pulling away and he’d dropped them in the middle of nowhere.
Kinsley started laughing. It was a giggle that rolled up her chest and neck, and then out. The absurdity of her life made her laugh harder. Gabriel didn’t look enthused. So, that made her laugh even more. Her stomach started hurting but she laughed anyway.
“What’s so funny?”
“Well, let’s see my ex-boyfriend from high school who I haven’t seen in…like…fourteen years showed up in the nick of time to rescue me from a terror cell because of a book I wrote that was supposed to get me out of the office and into the world again after my parents died. And
