“My name is Hope.” The guy was just not getting it. His coworkers were missing. This was not some game. “And what fight?”
Charlie shrugged. “I couldn’t hear, but there was a lot of pushing and shouting.”
Lance had stayed quiet, just watching and frowning. Now he moved, shoving a hand against Jeff’s chest. “About what?”
“Don’t touch me.”
The more the minutes passed, the less Hope liked Jeff. He acted entitled and childish, and because neither Cam nor Joel looked ready to step in.
She did. “Boys, knock it off.”
The shots rang out as she said the last word. Through the misty air and steady wind, the pings echoed.
“Everybody get down!” Joel yelled the order as he made a dive for Hope.
Lance beat him to it. He knocked into her stomach and they both went flying. She hit the ground hard, making a breath hiccup in her lungs. Knowing she had to move, she scrambled up and crawled on her knees and elbows to the log and tried to lie flat behind it.
Lance half covered her as he reached up and tugged on Jeff’s sleeve, breaking the spell that had frozen him in place and dragging him down in the mud beside them. Gunfire rang out. Glass shattered somewhere behind her and pieces of wood kicked up when a bullet slammed into the log right by her head.
She heard shouting and scuffling. The sharp smell of gunfire hit her, and a smoky haze filled the air.
Then Joel was there beside her. After a quick look up and down her torso, he and Cam crouched like a protective shield around the group. All but Charlie, who took off for the cabins behind them.
Noises blurred together and crescendoed to a rolling thunder. Everything seemed to rattle as her stomach rolled.
To steady her body, she reached forward and put her palm against the back of Joel’s shirt. She wanted to pull him down and out of target range but settled for the touch. Anything to keep the contact.
In a blink it all stopped. No more loud banging and constant movements. Silence fell over them.
The wind blew and branches shifted. But the roar of noise that filled her ears ceased. Her hand clenched in Joel’s shirt as the world came rushing back to her. She could make out Lance’s heavy breathing as his weight fell against her. Jeff’s whimpering sounded in the background. At least he’d stopped screaming his wife’s name.
She heard the crunch of metal and looked behind her. Charlie stood on the cabin porch, half behind a post, with a shotgun in his hands. She had no idea where that had come from.
“Okay, let’s double-time this before our friend comes back.” Joel shifted around in his position, his gaze taking in the huddle of people behind him. “We need to get everyone inside.”
Cam nodded as he came around the far end of the log and pulled Jeff to his feet. “Go right into Hope’s cabin. Do not stop or hesitate.”
An eerie quiet whispered through the trees. It made her want to bolt for the indoors. Sitting up proved impossible with Lance pinning her leg to the ground.
“We need to go.” She pushed against his shoulder, trying to get him to pull out of his ducking position, but he didn’t move. “It’s okay now. You can move.”
Joel stood watch. “Cam, get them inside now.”
A new sensation stabbed at her. One of pure panic. The type that had something twisting in her gut. “Lance?”
The tone must have caught Joel’s attention because his sweeping gaze landed on her. “What’s wrong?”
She put a hand on Lance’s shoulder and shook. Still nothing. Pulling it back, she saw the red.
The color drained right out of her as she looked up at Joel. “Blood.”
* * *
TONY HADN’T ENJOYED his first conversation with Connor Bowen and didn’t relish a second one. From the time the man left the office yesterday until this morning, Tony had conducted an impromptu investigation.
It paid to know the man on the other side of the conference room table and be ready for anything. Tony always was, but he hadn’t counted on this guy. He expected Hope to be connected, thanks to her father, but word was her life focused on climbing and, now that she’d messed up that career, she was floundering.
That had proved to be only part of the story. Looked like she knew powerful men in dangerous places. Men who didn’t know when to back off.
Connor and his team worked in the intelligence field, and his record possessed the shiny, perfect look that came with false IDs. Tony would bet they dealt in hush-hush projects. That made Connor and anyone who worked for him a huge liability.
Tony stared at his closed office door and reasoned out his next steps. He’d worked too long and too hard to get to this uncertain place.
He’d earned his reputation for being ruthless the honest way. He’d move into a company and cut staff and streamline costs and personnel, rarely getting the credit he deserved. The career had him relocating and trading positions while trying to make a series of corporate boards happy.