Page 19 of Deadly Alliance

Chapter Eight

As she slippedinto the car, a sense of guilt enveloped her for a second as she thought of Shane asleep in the bed they shared. For a heartbeat, she considered abandoning her plan and going back to bed, curling into his warmth, but remembering what Beatrice said, she decided to continue.

The sun was shining even as the cold of the early spring morning chilled her skin. Parking at the curb on bridge street she sat and looked at her silent phone wondering if anyone had realised she was gone. She knew none of the guys had seen her and she had left the watch that Will had designed and made on her dressing table knowing that he wouldn’t be able to easily track her without it. And if the murderer was watching, he would be reassured.

Using the pretence of taking a stroll to look over the bridge while she waited for the bakery to open, Emme exited the car, and looking around didn’t see many people. A cyclist in full cycling gear went past her. A man in his thirties with a toddler walking beside him. But nobody else on foot.

Standing with her back to her car, she acted as if she was enjoying the scenery as she took the opportunity to further check around her. A silver Citroen C4 with a woman in her fifties was parked across the other side of the bridge. A mum and dad were parking an Audi Q7 behind her before unloading three children with swimming bags, apparently heading for the swimming pool.

Seeing the bakery was now open she walked that way and her neck began to prickle as she entered the bakery. A man in his fifties was in the queue in front of her. He turned to smile at her and she returned the smile with one of her own. He wasn’t the one that was giving her the odd feeling though, it was the man behind the counter.

He was tall and lean but muscular with broad shoulders. His dark eyes moved quickly over her not meeting her eyes. He had a military feel about him, the way he watched her and the surroundings. What he didn’t have was the air of someone who worked in a bakery.

The man in front of her took the muffin and his takeaway coffee cup and left, muttering something about people not knowing how to use the machinery they worked with. Emme twisted the rings on her finger as she considered the situation. The perpetrator would not have had time to plant himself at the bakery as she had only sent her message thirty minutes earlier.

Looking at the man with thick dark brown hair and dark circles under his eyes, she guessed that he was probably just ex-service personnel and that was why he looked out of place. Blowing off the strange feeling, she stepped up to the counter to give her order.

“Morning, can I get a large vanilla latte, a large Americano, two coffee doughnuts and two apple-cinnamon danishes, please?”

“Take a seat and I’ll bring the rest over,” he said a few minutes later as he handed her the large vanilla latte. She took it to the seat by the window and sat, taking a sip of the caffeine goodness, which was not the best vanilla latte she had ever had, it tasted bitter. Emme shrugged deciding the older guy was right and this guy didn’t know how to make a coffee.

Turning to the window, she looked for anyone who seemed out of place. Suddenly, she felt a wave of nausea hit her. Swallowing it down, she blinked trying to clear her head. When she opened her eyes, they felt blurry and she could have sworn she saw Shane walking down the street towards her.

As the blur came closer, she realised it was him. Emme turned to stand and felt her legs start to give out underneath her, and slumped back in her seat, knowing they would not support her weight. The man behind the counter started towards her and she realised what a mistake she had made thinking her plan would work without back-up.

He reached for her, a cold, calculating look on his face as he grasped her arm. She tried to fight him, but her limbs were heavy, and her voice sounded as if they were underwater. He pulled her from her chair and bending down, lifted her. Her brain tried to get her legs to kick out, but nothing happened.

“Now we can have some fun, Beatrice,” he laughed.

Emme wanted to scream and cry, but she knew Shane was on the other side of the road and wouldn’t be able to see inside the shop. Regret filled her, not for herself but for what she knew this would do to the man she had come to care about.

As she was carried through the door to the back of the kitchen, she saw a young woman dead on the ground, her bakery apron covered in blood. The man went to push through the rear exit when a commotion at the front made him turn, bumping her head against the door frame.

Emme landed with a thud as the man carrying her dropped her. She hit the ground hard as none of her limbs were working correctly. Blackness edged at her vision as she struggled to see what was happening.

A gentle hand on her face followed a burst of movement at the door, then she was lifted by strong arms and cradled to a familiar chest. Shane’s scent enveloped her, and she fought a sob of relief. She knew she was going to cop it from Shane, but at this point, Emme didn’t care she was just glad he was there.

* * *

Shane liftedEmme into his arms, her limp body resting against his chest as he held her close. He could still feel the cold sweat on his skin and the race of his heart from seeing the man with her over his shoulder.

Through all his years of training, all the combat situations he had been in, never had he felt cold fear grip him in the same way as it did when he’d thought that madman had Emme. All thoughts of catching him, of getting justice for Misty, had fled in those seconds as he sprinted towards the bakery. All he had cared about was getting to her, stopping him from taking her.

Zin and Owen had run past him, leaving him to look after a drugged Emme. He prayed they got the bastard. He settled her into the front seat of his SUV, pulling the seat belt tight around her to hold her in place. He swept her hair back gently as he looked at her beautiful face.

“Is she okay?” Zin asked as he moved in close, his hand going to Emme’s neck to check her pulse before Shane knocked it away.

“She’s fine,” he growled at the now smirking man, the knowing look in his eyes making Shane frown. He was not ordinarily territorial and had absolutely no right to be that way over Emme. They were colleagues, nothing more, despite the night they had spent together.

“Take her back to the house and I’ll stay and wait for Zack and the police,” Zin said as he heard the sirens in the background.

“Did you catch him?”

Zin shook his head. “No, he had a car parked in the alleyway behind the Cathedral. We got the plate, but I doubt it will do us any good. Will and Dee are tracking it now.”

Shane nodded and slipped into the driver’s seat. As he drove, he let his mind go over all that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. Ever since the near miss at the Fayre he had been like a bear with a sore head, determined to keep Emme safe, treating her as if she was his to protect rather than as a fellow operative.

He wouldn’t consider himself a sexist, he had known many excellent female soldiers, military personnel, and operatives, and he’d never had this overwhelming urge to bundle them up and hide them from danger. Something about Emme and the thought of her hurt did that to him though. He’d thought at first that it was because she was green and didn’t have much experience, but she had proven herself more than capable, so that left one other option.