feeling like it just didn’t really matter all that much that there might be “bad guys” out there. Why were there bad guys after her? Damned if she could remember, she’d probably just dreamed that part. Looking over at her best friend, Kat noticed the room seemed to move pretty fast when she turned her head too quickly, what was that about anyway?
“Ya know, I’ll bet we could go down to the big kitchen and get some munchies, I’ll bet they’d let us do that, doncha think? And that would get us closer to the gardens, damn and double damn, but I want to see what Pervs-R-Us has going on out there.”
* * * *
Kat and Jenna got to their feet and each had to grab onto the mantle to keep from toppling into the fire. Grayson sighed and hit the button on the console that would connect him to all three men he’d been reporting to throughout the evening. Yep, definitely time to bring in reinforcements.
Chapter 17
Hitting the button on the side of his headset, Colt just said, “Talk to me.” He’d been standing right next to Alex and Zach and seen their com-units blink at the same time as his and he knew full well the only person who would be interrupting all three of them was Grayson.
“Boss, they’re on the move, well sort of…”
“What the fuck do you mean by ‘sort of’?” Colt barked in to his unit.
“Well, they’re pretty toasted, when they got up off the floor they both had trouble maintaining position, sir.” Mitch found himself reacting predictably to Colt’s tone, which always put the entire security team right back in to their military mind-set, causing their communication to become formal and cryptic as a result. Alex and Zach had commented that they had both noticed the same response in themselves and they all three assumed that as long as they were still “freelancing” for Uncle Sam, the habit wasn’t likely to fade very quickly.
“Well, fuck!” they all three responded at the same time, bringing a smile to Mitch’s face that he was grateful they couldn’t see. “We’ll be right up. Make sure they don’t leave the suite.” Colt disconnected before Grayson could even respond. Watching the video feed, Mitch watched as they turned as one, they all took off for the suite. He could see they were bracing themselves for the confrontation they had to know was coming. They’d made it just a few steps when they heard a rifle shot and the shattering of glass followed by the heart-stopping scream.
* * * *
“Holy shit, what was that?” Jenna turned when she heard shattering glass and stumbled to regain her footing just in time to watch Kat’s eyes go wide as she sank to the floor. Jenna watched in horror as blood spread across Kat’s chest. She heard a scream and realized it come from her because Kat was sprawled on the floor and her eyelids were slowly drifting closed. Jenna finally got her feet and moved to Kat. She was crouching low and covered Kat’s body with her own just as the door to the suite crashed open and men dressed in black came in from the hall as well as through the now-shattered glass doors leading to the deck. She batted away hands that tried to move her out of the way, but soon felt strong arms wrap around her waist from behind and lift her away from Kat’s side. “No, she needs me. Put me down, you oaf! Somebody call my brothers! Oh my God, Kat! Don’t you dare die on me! I just got you back…Don’t you dare leave me again!” Jenna was nearing total meltdown when she was turned and came face-to-face with the grim expression of Colt Matthews.
“Goddamn it, Jenna, settle down. Stopping fighting me and stay back, so we can help her. Stay put, we need to secure the area and get to Katarina. Let us work, please!” Colt’s words might not have had any impact, but his heartfelt “Please!” had stunned her into silence.
Okay, things were even worse than she thought, if he’d actually said please. Jenna stayed in the chair where Colt had put her. She
C. J. Cherryh
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