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Far away and safe.
“Keep your hands where I can see them,” Alrigo ordered Trent in his accented English.
Ben shifted. Somewhat reassured Halli was safe, now he battled mixed feelings about what would go down in the next few minutes. Strangely enough, Eva was his guard, but then he’d noticed the red-faced blond guy, Tony, watching the both of them. His suspicion that she was in danger intensified and he hated the thought of leaving her on the boat with these men.
Nino’s phone call and his subsequent whispered conversation with Alrigo didn’t help matters. Alrigo had noticeably stiffened as if jolted with electricity.
But what could he do? Halli and Rachel depended on him to return with Trent. Eva made her own choices, and she’d assured him she could take care of herself, hadn’t she?
“Eva.”
Alrigo commanded their presence with one word, never taking his eyes off Trent. Ben rose to his feet without any prompting from Eva or Tony.
Trent Tomlin looked rougher than Ben had ever seen him in the movies, even when playing Shain West, the Robin Hood gunslinger of the Wild West. If he didn’t know the man was on his side, the murderous glint in his eyes would scare the hell out of him. The intensity of his gaze dimmed a bit when Trent made eye contact with Ben and gave a barely discernable nod.
Alrigo motioned with his fingers. “Show me the video.”
Across the small expanse of water between the boats, Trent faced the camera toward Alrigo and pushed play. Ben watched the video Halli had shot of the villa across the bay where they’d parked their first day in Italy. Thirty seconds later Alrigo nodded his acceptance. The Italian had a strange look on his face as Trent stopped the video and hit eject.
Ben’s stomach gave an uneasy twinge. If Trent noticed Alrigo’s expression, he gave no indication in the gaze that flicked to Ben and back to Alrigo.
“Send him across and I’ll toss it over. We leave, you get your money.”
Alrigo’s hand jerked up in denial with Ben’s first step forward. Ben sensed increased tension in Eva’s body slightly behind him, and his own edginess multiplied.
It was never that easy, was it?
He held his breath as Alrigo backed up a few steps. Color rose in the man’s face and calm disintegrated in an explosion of rage. For the first time, Ben understood the saying, “he just snapped”.
Alrigo’s arm flung toward Nino. Two muted discharges registered as Eva shoved Ben aside so hard he stumbled against the side of the boat. Alrigo’s body jerked violently. Ben surveyed the stunning reality before him, time suspended in slow motion.
Alrigo crumpled to the ground and lay bleeding on the deck of the rocking boat. Eva and Tony had their guns trained on each other, and Nino bent to retrieve Alrigo’s gun.
Eva and Tony yelled at each other in Italian, but Trent’s English overrode their words. “Nobody move!”
Ben blinked at the sight of a gun in the movie star’s hand.
Movement registered to his right. He swung his head back to the others in time to see Nino’s weapon leveling out—straight at Eva. His heart stopped. This is it.
He didn’t think twice; just shouted her name and threw himself in front of her. Another muffled discharge. Pain exploded in his chest. The bottom of the boat rose up to meet him in a dizzying rush.
Muffled popping noises collided and merged with shouts of his name. One sounded far away. Like Halli. He had to be hallucinating. Nothing made sense in the confusion. Darkness crowded the edges of his vision.
Eva’s face wavered above him as an excruciating pressure bore down on his chest. He narrowed his focus on her beautiful brown eyes and fought to stay conscious.
****
It was like a scene on a movie set Trent had been on countless times; only none of this had been scripted, and the blood was real.
Halli screamed her brother’s name from the Scappare. Lapaglia wasn’t moving. A grotesque hole in his head said he wouldn’t move again. The dark haired man who’d shot Ben slumped on the back bench, face ashen as he gasped for air while blood spread across his gray button down shirt in two different spots.
Halli’s scream tore into Trent’s heart, but he forced his attention to her brother, trusting his dad to take care of her. He had to make sure Ben was alive. Had to make sure he stayed alive. At all costs.
Tony, the blond guard from the coffee house, surged forward at the same time Trent vaulted from his boat to theirs. The vessel rocked, throwing Tony off balance as he reached for the wounded man’s gun. Ben groaned as the woman named Eva leaned over him. She had one hand pressed to his chest, the other trained on Tony, gun steady as she shouted in Italian.
Translating her frantic speech proved difficult as Trent debated who posed the most risk to Halli’s brother.
“I’m a police officer, Eva, like you,” Tony said. He spoke in English and shifted his gaze to Trent. “I’m on your side. It’s over. We can all put down our weapons.”
