HelenKay Dimon - Gunning for Trouble

Caleb didn’t wait. He turned to the empty space beside him, relieved to see Avery gone, and then slipped out the window. As quiet as possible, he closed the glass behind him. Ignoring the cold air against his bare skin, he started crawling down the metal steps. His feet touching against the cold, he was careful not to slip or make noise to draw the gunman’s attention. Caleb counted on the guy searching the bedroom first. That would be the instinct, to go into the other room, which was exactly why Caleb’s escape route didn’t lead that way.

Police sirens wailed in the distance as the lights flickered and the building came alive with activity. Avery was a floor below him. She kept glancing up but never stopped moving. When she hit the landing two floors down, he banged the gun against the metal railing to get her attention.

She stopped and shrugged her shoulders at him. Only Avery could maintain her offended sense of bossiness in the midst of a crisis.

Some neighbors flooded into the street as others ducked their heads out windows, looking for the source of the noise and confusion. The action made sneaking away to safety even more difficult. Skipping the last few steps, Caleb jumped down, landing on the platform beside Avery and ignoring the feel of whatever was underneath him.

“Why are we stopping?” she asked.

He didn’t take the time to explain. With his hand on her shoulder, he moved her to the side and slipped his fingers between the sill and wall of the window two floors below his condo.

She slapped at his arm. “What if the people are home?”

With a touch of his watch he silenced the alarm for this condo before it could go off and join the others. The window lock clicked open and he raised the glass. “They’re not.”

“You can’t know that.”

“I own this, too. It’s my escape route.” He glanced around but all attention seemed centered on the lobby and the two fire engines pulling up to the curb, instead of the guy in his underwear on the steps.

“Well, of course you own it.” She sat on the frame and then swung her legs inside. “Doesn’t everyone keep two condos in the same building?”

“I don’t remember you being this sarcastic this early in the morning when we dated.”

“At this time of the day sarcasm is all I can manage.” She continued to grumble even as he followed her in side.

“You could try being grateful that I had a contingency plan.”

She stood in the middle of the studio apartment. “Is there a light switch?”

So much for gratitude. “Leave it off for now. The only thing in here is a couch, so you don’t need to worry about tripping and I don’t want you skulking around anyway.”

He walked past her and headed for the front door, trying to block out the emergency evacuation message blaring through the building on an endless loop. The speakers were mounted in the hall, but the beeping followed by the monotone voice instructing occupants to use the stairs and meet in the lobby echoed all through his small space. He’d hear that thundering warning in his sleep. That was, if he ever had the chance to sleep again.

Looking through the peephole, he saw people scurrying in the hallway. Another neighbor simply opened his door, glanced out and then went back inside again. Caleb didn’t care what anyone else did so long as no one tried to come inside.

He reached for his cell and remembered he wasn’t wearing anything more than his underwear. No shoes. No shirt. Certainly no pockets.

“Do you have your phone?” he asked.

When Avery didn’t answer, he turned around. She wasn’t there.

Avery felt a rush of air behind her right before a hand clamped over her mouth and another slipped around her waist, banding her arms to her sides. A startled scream died in her throat as she was dragged out of the room and deeper into the shadows. The fog cleared from her head just as panic bubbled up from her stomach.

The bare forearm and stone wall of a chest gave away the sex of her attacker. A man. A big man with a grip destined to leave indents on her skin. She kicked out her leg only to have his wrap around hers and lock it back. Her neck straining, she tried to get out a mumble over the shrieking building alarm, anything to warn Caleb.

“Avery, I asked you…” Caleb’s comment faded as he scanned the room and his gaze fell on them. He reached for the switch and the overhead light flickered on.

Despite having her chest compressed and her jaw locked shut by some animal’s fingers, her nerves stopped jumping around. Hearing Caleb’s voice didn’t send her spinning with relief, but it did bring back hope for survival. She knew him as a man who worked in a lab. This side of him, the part that felt at home with a gun and confident while engaging predators, was new to her, even though she always sensed that protective streak lurking beneath everything else. Heck, he didn’t even let the fact he was half-naked stop him.

“Let her go.” He didn’t yell or threaten. Didn’t even raise his weapon.

And that fast, the suffocating hold was gone. Off balance, she listed to the side only to have the attacker’s hand return again, this time to steady her. But it was too late for calm. If Caleb wasn’t going to shoot this guy, she would try to take him down. She turned and raised a fist to knock him into the fridge.

The attacker caught her clenched hand in his but didn’t hurt her. “I don’t think so,” he said.

She tried to think of another way to cause damage. “Who are you?”

“The cavalry.” The man’s amused tone didn’t match the black commando T-shirt or stealth attack. Then again, neither did the boyish dimple or the wire-rimmed glasses.

“He’s with me.” The second Caleb stepped up, the other man dropped her hand. The building alarm shut off right after.

“Thank God. I can hear again.” The man nodded in Caleb’s direction. “Nice outfit, by the way.”

Avery followed the stare as she tried to calm her breathing. Looking at the muscles stretching across Caleb’s bare chest sure didn’t help with that task. He hadn’t gotten soft in their years apart. If anything, he’d gotten more fit. She imagined this is what his body looked like back at the Naval Academy and in the years in the military that followed. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on his stomach.

Those broad shoulders brought back memories. They would lie in bed with him hovering over her. She used to love to run her fingers over his skin, dip into the space between his collarbone and his neck, and then up and through his sandy brown hair. The man possessed the sexiest green-gray eyes she had ever seen.

And a stubborn streak that made her head pound.

“You got here fast,” Caleb said to the man who was obviously a friend and not an enemy.

“Always nice when a contingency plan works,” the man said as he stole glances in her direction.

When Caleb didn’t explain what was happening or even bother to act like standing there half-naked after his front door exploded was an odd thing, she took the lead. The way she figured it, she’d tolerated just about enough confusion for one evening. If her heart raced any faster, she was going to pass out. Last thing she needed was the show of male bonding, not with armed guys hunting for them only a few floors above.

She looked up at the stranger. Caleb stood about six feet, but this guy had to be another three or so inches taller, so looking up was her only option. “Who are you?”

Caleb placed a hand against the small of her back. “Avery Walker, this is Adam Wright. We work together.”

Adam nodded his head. “Ma’am.”

“You don’t want to know why I’m with Caleb?”

She saw Adam swallow back a smile. “I figure if you’re here, it’s because he wants you to be. The rest isn’t my business.”