Blindsided by Katy Lee Page A

follow my orders, and no one gets hurt.” He hoped. The last time someone got hurt his orders were also followed. A lot of good they did.
    Ethan pushed the glass door wide and stepped out under the canopy. The helicopter’s motor whomped louder as he left the protection of the convenience store. Still he remained under the canopy and clear from exposure. A few steps toward the edge of the awning would tell him who he was dealing with.
    The smell of gasoline smacked hard, but not as hard as the realization of his fear. One peek out from under the awning and he could be riddled with holes. Not the best approach, but what else could he do? Call for backup, he supposed. But deep down he worried his backup was up above, already here and ready to take Roni in.
    Or down.
    Ethan took his first step out from under the canopy, but before he made himself known, a car screamed into the parking lot behind him. Ethan swung around to catch a quick glance at Roni’s Porsche.
    A man was at the wheel, but Ethan didn’t get a good look at his face because of the gun the driver pointed out the window.
    Three shots wrenched the air, none at Ethan himself. Still, Ethan dropped to the concrete out of procedure. He lifted his gun to shoot, but two more shots blasted beneath the canopy.
    Again, not at him.
    To his left he saw the direction the gun aimed. Ethan wished he had been the target when he saw what the shooter shot at.
    A propane tank on the side of the store.
    Ethan scrambled to his feet and made it to the door at the same time he heard the car scream out of the parking lot. He ducked low, knowing what was coming his way. He launched himself into the store as a huge explosion threw him farther inside.
    Glass sprayed in every direction as the women screamed and ran. His back stung from the flying shards. Ethan hit the tiled floor in a roll, glass slicing his forearms and palms when he pushed up to stay in motion and make tracks. Screams from the back of the store pulled him in that direction.
    He had to get Roni and Maddie and the clerk out of here before this place blew miles up into the sky.
    “Roni!” Ethan pushed past the pain his dive into the store had caused.
    “Back here!” Sam called.
    A quick glance over his shoulder at the blown-out storefront showed a crater where he had stood outside. Fire-extinguishing foam spewed down from the part of the canopy still erect, but the fire roared on. The whole station could blow when it found the gasoline.
    Ethan ran to the back. Maddie’s eyes were awash with fear as she glanced past Sam’s shoulder. The boy had used his body as a shield for the women. Nice thought, but fire was a beast that wouldn’t let a little flesh stand in its way.
    “Get outside!” Ethan ran at them, driving them to move.
    Sam snapped to, but when he stepped forward, Ethan caught his first sight of Roni—frozen against the wall.
    Ethan reached for her. “Come on! We have to go. This place could blow if that fire isn’t put out by the foam. Roni! Are you listening to me?”
    Nothing.
    She gave no inclination she even heard him. Her eyes were open. Her lashes blinked. Her hand held her neck.
    Her hand held her neck.
    The sight before Ethan nearly undid him. Suspended in her painful memories, he knew her mind sheltered her from more. Ethan reached his arms around her and scooped her up in a cradle hold. “I’ve got you. Do you hear me, Roni? I’ve got you. You’re okay. You’re safe.”
    Sam held the door for Ethan to make his escape. The car remained in its hiding place beneath the trees. The three of them ducked as they made their way to the car, but a quick glance overhead showed the helicopter was gone. His head craned to see where the enemy might be, but a second fire off to his right stopped his surveillance.
    The helicopter lay crashed and burning.
    But how?
    Ethan pulled the passenger door wide and placed Roni gently there. He buckled her in as he realized when the explosion threw him into the