Chapter Seven
Mason
I pulled up in the parking lot after hearing back from Lincoln that a strange girl had shown up at the restaurant. It had to be Hazel. Who else would have wandered there on foot in the middle of the night? His text had been brief but detailed enough to indicate the girl was in trouble.
I needed to catch him up to speed, but that would wait. I parked next to an unfamiliar SUV and stepped out of my truck.
Bullet holes lined the outside body of the SUV. I grabbed my gun and hurried around to the back of the restaurant, through the door that had been left unlocked for deliveries. The sun hadn’t risen yet, but the delivery trucks usually came before the restaurant opened with customers.
I tore inside, gun drawn, through the kitchen meeting Lincoln.
“Where is she?”
“Can we get some service?” a thick Russian accent echoed from the other side of the door.
“Out there,” Lincoln said. He reached beneath the kitchen counter and grabbed his spare gun. “I left her for five minutes to make breakfast, I swear—”
I held up a hand for him to be quiet. They mustn’t have seen her, or they’d have taken her and left already.
I grabbed a serving tray and used it to hide my gun. Lincoln followed directly behind me so they wouldn’t see his weapon either.
“Can I help you, gentleman?” I asked, stepping out from the kitchen. I tried to ignore the bright auburn hair nestled in the crook of the counter, hidden out of sight. She trembled on the floor, her body tight like a peanut, like in one of those drills we learned back in elementary school. “Kitchen isn’t open yet. We can get you coffee to go.”
The men exchanged wayward glances. “What kind of restaurant isn’t open for breakfast?”
“The kind that doesn’t serve—breakfast,” Lincoln said between gritted teeth. His hands were clenched at his sides as he came around my side to block the entrance to the kitchen and behind the counter where Hazel had stashed herself.
Had she seen the men coming? How had she known to hide?
“Know where I might find a bed?” the man with thinning black hair asked. His muscles protruded from his shirt. Why the hell wasn’t he wearing a coat? What idiot ran around in winter without a jacket on?
“There’s no vacancy this side of the mountain,” I said. I didn’t want either man staying in town.
“Right.” They exchanged a quick cursory glance before lifting their weapons. Guns drawn toward us, bullets flew through the air.
I ducked by the counter and scooted behind it with Hazel. Her eyes met mine. I gestured for her to stay down.
Lincoln fired off a round of shots, and I stood from behind the counter, doing the same, landing several blows to their chest and then a final kill shot to the head.
“Shit,” Lincoln muttered, coming around to kick the guns away from their hands. He felt their pulse, a habit of never being too careful, just to make sure they were as dead as they looked. “Do you think insurance covers the damage?”
I laughed under my breath. That was his biggest concern?
I helped Hazel stand. She trembled in my arms, her eyes wide, full of terror. “It’s okay. You’re safe now,” I said. “They can’t hurt you.”
“I’m not worried about them,” Hazel whispered. “It’s Franco who I’m afraid of.”
“Get her out of here,” Lincoln said. “Take her to Eagle Tactical. I’ll clean up this mess and phone the local sheriff.”
“He’s going to want all of our statements.” While I wanted to protect Hazel, I wasn’t going to break the law for her either. We had killed two men in self-defense, but she was a witness and the reason the men had been in the restaurant. We couldn’t leave her out of the story. Besides, the sheriff and I had a good relationship. We consulted for the local police department from time to time, helped them when they needed assistance. It would be wise to let them know what they were in for. It was possible that this wasn’t anywhere close to being over.
“Yes, I know.” Lincoln shooed us out of the restaurant. “I’ll tell him to come by your office. Just get her out of here and keep her out of danger.”
I glanced out the window, making sure there weren’t any other vehicles or men loitering outside before I opened the door and led her out to my truck.
“Thanks for saving my life,” Hazel said.
I tried not to stare at her, but damn it was hard. I hadn’t seen her in over a decade. I grinned like a damned idiot and opened the truck door. “Hop in.” Gosh, it was good to see her again. Though I’d have preferred it to be under different circumstances.