people didn’t appreciate her smartass side.
Gemma opened her door and felt the cool air conditioning hit her. Cy’s hand gently wrapped around her wrist and squeezed, silently urging her behind him. It was only then that she noticed he had a gun in his hand. Gemma watched as he efficiently went through her small apartment checking all the rooms. It sure looked like he was a professional. Of course, he could just be a really good actor. The town was full of them, after all.
“It’s all clear. Pack whatever you need. You have five minutes and then we need to be out of here.”
Gemma rolled her eyes as Cy went to the window and looked down at the front entrance of the building. He looked so big in her small place. He seemed to fill it, and it wasn’t his height or his wide shoulders. He just possessed an aura about him that radiated confident male.
Gemma grabbed some food for Fred, his leash, and a bowl and stuffed them into a tote bag. She poured out the milk from her fridge and headed back to her small bedroom. The bed filled most of it and she couldn’t resist sitting down for a minute. Gia had helped her pick out the comforter. Tears welled in her eyes. It felt as if everything she knew was being ripped away—her sister, her apartment, and her comforter—everything.
“It’ll be okay. I promise, I’ll keep you safe and find out who did this.” She heard his low voice drift over her as she looked up and found Cy leaning against her door watching her.
“It’ll never be okay. Everything has been taken from me. What do I have left?” Gemma turned her head, not wanting Cy to see her tears.
“You have everything left. It hurts now and it’ll always hurt. But if your sister was anything like mine, then she’d want you to experience life, love, and kids. Let me help you find these men and bring them to justice for your sister. I'll show you just how much you have left.”
Gemma felt the tears flow down her cheeks as she listened to him. Her eyes connected with the picture of her and Gia smiling at their last birthday. Cy was right about something. She did have something left— vengeance.
Cy watched as she wiped the tears from her face before turning back to him. With a nod she stood up and promptly bent over to dig under her bed, leaving Cy with a great view of her rear end. With a mental groan, he turned and headed out of the room.
He picked up Fred and started looking at the pictures she had on her mantel as he waited for her to finish packing. It was obvious she was very close to her sister as he looked at pictures of them as kids, teenagers, in college, and more recently.
“Hey.” Cy turned toward the bedroom as he heard her voice call out to him. “Can you put all those pictures in this bag? I just need to grab my bathroom stuff and I'll be ready to go.”
Cy caught the bag she tossed at him and quickly stuffed the pictures into it. By the time he was finished packing all the pictures from the apartment, Gemma was walking out of the bedroom with a duffel bag over her shoulder. Cy hiked up the bag with the pictures and bent down to pick up Fred who was balancing on his hind legs begging to be held.
“Ready?” he asked.
Gemma tucked her hair behind her ear as she looked around her place one last time. “I’m ready.”
Cy opened the door and looked out into the empty hallway. Taking the lead, he walked by the stairs and to the elevator. He pressed the button and waited as the elevator came from the floor above.
He looked at Gemma standing next to him and saw the doorknob from the stairwell turn. “Do any of your neighbors use the stairs?”
“Hmm?” Gemma asked. She had obviously been deep in thought. The barrel of a gun coming out of the slowly opening door answered his question.
“Get back!” Cy shoved Gemma behind him and against the doors of the elevator. He shifted Fred into his left arm and pulled his gun in one movement. The door flew open as the man scanned the hallway.
Cy fired off a shot and hit the doorjamb. The man jumped back but stuck his arm out and fired blindly. Fred growled in Cy’s arms as he returned fire. He had Gemma smashed against the elevator doors with his body shielding hers as he tried to keep the man pinned down.
“Come on,” he grumbled at the elevator. There was no such luck, though; the stairway door flung open. A man tried to run across the hall for cover while his buddy fired at Cy and Gemma. Cy could feel Gemma’s fingers digging into his back as she hid behind him. Every instinct he had was to keep her safe. He had never felt anything so strongly before.
Cy reloaded his gun and fired at the man leaping for cover across the hall. He was satisfied when he heard the man scream out as his shot hit its mark—the man’s foot had been carelessly left exposed. The man hiding in the stairwell fired off another shot that had Cy pressing further back against Gemma. The bullet lodged in the wall not far from his head with drywall exploding onto him as he heard Gemma scream.
Suddenly the elevator doors opened and they fell backward into it. Cy scrambled forward and fired some shots back into the hallway as the men sprinted toward them. Gemma banged the Close Door button over and over again as Cy returned fire. Bullets pinged off the metal doors as they slowly closed.
Cy reached over where Gemma was still hitting the button and pushed the number two. Gemma finally stopped and they both sat in silence as the soft classical music played.
“Chopin,” Gemma finally said in a shaky voice.
“Handel,” Cy grinned as the elevator started its slow descent.
The doors to the second floor opened and Cy slowly looked out. The hallway was clear. “Come on.”
“Why are we getting off here? Won’t they be in the stairwell?” Gemma asked as she slowly walked out of the elevator.
“Yep. And they’ll be in the lobby, too. That’s why we’re going to send the elevator down to the first floor while we climb out the fire escape in the back of the building. You have experience with those, after all.” Cy shot her a smirk as he carried Fred to the window at the end of the hall. With a bit of effort, he got the window open. “Ladies first.”
Cy looked back where a pale Gemma stood plastered against the brick building. In one hand she had a suitcase and in the other, Fred’s bag. She looked worried, and if he was honest, he was worried, too. He only had seconds before the men inside realized they weren’t inside anymore.
His car was parked just a short distance away but the trouble was the man standing next to the black SUV. While he wasn’t holding a gun, the bulge of his jacket told Cy the man was definitely armed.
“Okay. We’re going to quietly walk to the car. We should be able to get to it without being seen. By that time, it’ll be too late for them to get us. Once you get to the car, dive in and keep your head down. Okay?”
“That’s the plan? You’re a freaking CIA agent and your plan is to just walk over to the car?” Gemma whispered frantically.
“Yeah. You got something better?”
“Running and hiding?”
“Nope. All my supplies are in that car. No matter what, they’ll leave someone here as a lookout. Better to get it over with. Just like pulling off a Band-Aid.”
“I’m starting to think you enjoy this way too much,” Gemma grumbled.
“What? You’re not having fun. I thought this was a pretty memorable first date.” Cy winked and then grinned as her cheeks flushed and her eyes narrowed. Good. She wasn’t shaking with fear anymore. Anger was an emotion he could work with.
“This isn’t a date,” she hissed.
“You’re right. If it were a date, we’d be kissing by now. Come on, let’s go.” He tucked Fred under his left arm and pulled Gemma close to his side as he walked out of the dark shadows and into the parking lot.
Cy kept his eyes on the man leaning against the SUV. He was looking through the glass doors of the lobby in Gemma's building. Cy’s breathing was slow and steady as they approached his car. They were almost home free when a ringing cell phone broke through the silent night air.
Cy shifted his gun to his left hand and reached into his back pocket to silence the phone, but it was too late. The man at the SUV was already screaming out their position. “Come on,” Cy yelled, pushing Gemma toward the car as the men ran out of the lobby.
He turned and returned fire as Fred growled, his tiny white paws wrapped against Cy’s wrist as he hung on tight. Cy used his remote key to unlock the door and shoved Gemma, bags and all, into the front seat.
“Get down,” Cy yelled as he returned fire and ran around the car to the driver’s side, leaping over the closed
