A fraction of a second faster than the gunman, who went down like a crumbling building, hitting the floor with a thud.
Elena came running in. She fell to her knees next to Jed and put her hands on his face.
“Are you all right?”
Jed nodded, gasping for breath. “Fine.”
She shifted her gaze to the guy across the room.
“Is he dead?”
Jed pushed up and walked over to the intruder, kicked the gun away and laid his fingers on the guy’s neck.
“Yup. Dead.”
“Oh, my God,” Elena said, wide eyed, her hand over her mouth.
This whole assignment had gone to shit in an instant.
“I’m going to check downstairs. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay. Should we call the police?”
“No.” At her shocked look, he added, “Not yet.”
He raised his gun and hustled downstairs, but he figured this guy had been working alone. He checked the alarm, saw how the guy had circumvented it.
Clever. Dammit.
He searched the entire store. Front door was secure. No one else was here. He dashed back upstairs to find Elena still in the same spot he’d left her. He wanted to comfort her, but now wasn’t the time.
“We need to get out of here.”
Her gaze shot to his. “What? Why?”
“Because my guess is this guy here isn’t working alone, and his backup can’t be far behind.”
“We’re leaving him here, in my apartment?”
“Yeah. Come on, we need to go.”
“But the police . . .”
“We need to get out of here now. You’re in danger.”
He grabbed her hand. She resisted. “I’m in danger? I don’t understand.”
“I know you don’t. But I’ll explain on the way.”
“On the way to where?”
“Somewhere other than here. You’re not safe. Let’s go.”
She dug in her heels and refused to move.
This wasn’t going at all the way he’d planned. Then again, he hadn’t planned on someone breaking in to kill her, or kidnap her, or whatever the hell the guy had come in here to do. He wished he had time to sit her down and explain it all to her, but Elena’s safety was his number one mission.
He turned to her and took her hands in his. “I promise I’ll explain everything to you, but right now I have to get you someplace safe, and this isn’t it. I can almost guarantee that whoever hired that guy will send someone else once he doesn’t check in.”