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As we sped towards home, I started to get…flashes. I’d be looking at Paige or JD or the scenery but I’d see the man in the crowd, or hear the gunshot, or feel myself flying through the air.
It’s real.
My feet didn’t feel right. I looked down and saw that one heel had snapped clean off my shoe, probably when JD had knocked me down. My hair had slipped partially out of its ponytail and as I tried to fix it, something fell out onto my lap. A tiny chunk of wood: one of the bullets must have hit the podium. The shooter had missed JD and me by inches.
It’s real. I’d been hoping that JD was wrong but someone really was trying to kill me. If JD hadn’t knocked me down, Cody would be an orphan.
“Pull over,” I croaked. My first words since it happened. “Pull over, please.”
JD said something to the driver and we pulled over at the side of the road. I scrambled out and threw up.
As I knelt there in the grass, panting, JD squatted down beside me and gently rubbed my back. “Sorry,” I managed at last. “I’m sorry.” Tears were running down my face and I wasn’t sure when they’d started. I wiped my mouth and shook my head. I didn’t understand: there’d been gunfire in Mexico and I hadn’t reacted like this. “Why—” I blubbed. “Why am I—”
“Because you’re human,” said JD gently.
I hiccoughed and sobbed, grabbing at the grass with both hands, trying to hang on to a world that was spinning out of control. Someone wanted me dead, someone powerful, and I didn’t have any idea who or why—”They’re going to kill me,” I mumbled. “They’re going to kill me.”
JD pulled me to him and wrapped me in a fierce hug. “No they’re fucking not.”
21
JD
Back at the penthouse, I got Lorna to her bedroom. “Stay with her,” I told Paige.
Paige nodded. But I didn’t miss the look she gave me. If she’d suspected there was something between Lorna and me before, she was certain, now. I stalked away, flushing. Goddammit. How was it that bullets could be flying and I’d be ice cold, but as soon as my feelings for Lorna came up, I felt like a kid with a crush?
As I left them, Lorna’s phone rang: Miles was in Miami and he’d just seen the story on the news. She tearfully reassured him that she was okay.
The cops showed up, wanting statements from all of us. Then the FBI swept in, led by a familiar face. “She hated saying it,” said Agent Callahan, “but my boss agreed I was right all along. She’s put me on the case. Let’s start figuring out who’s behind this.”
The reporter who’d been filming the crowd had sent over the footage and Callahan and I ran through it, slowing down and going frame by frame when we got to the shooting. There he was, at the back of the crowd. With the baseball cap pulled low and sunglasses hiding his eyes, there was no way we were going to ID him. But from the way he aimed and squeezed off the shots, he’d been trained. He might even be former military. A hired hitman, maybe. But hired by who?
Callahan interviewed Lorna for over two hours, going through everyone who might want to hurt her, from former employees with a grudge to rival companies and foreign powers. I had to hand it to the guy, he was thorough. “I’ll look into this asset stripper, Van der Meer,” he told us. “And the property developer, Konstantin Gulyev.”
“Is he really Russian mafia?” Lorna asked.
Callahan nodded. “Oh yeah. And he definitely has the means to pull this off. But he doesn’t normally go after civilians and I can’t see him targeting a woman, or putting a kid at risk. I’ll check it out, though. I’ve got an inside source I can ask.”
“What about protection?” I asked.
‘I’ll station a couple of agents downstairs, at the building entrance. And I’ll have a couple more accompany you when you go anywhere. But the best protection is having you by her side.” He glanced between Lorna and me. “Keep her close.”
I nodded silently. I was really starting to like the guy and it was a huge relief to finally have some professional help. I’d been on the verge of calling in the team a few times but, now the FBI were here, I figured we’d be okay.
I followed Callahan out to the elevator. “So Van Der Meer’s your main suspect. You’re going to look into Konstantin Gulyev. Anyone else on your radar?”
Callahan rubbed at his stubble. “I got a theory. But I don’t want to say anything until it firms up. Hang tight, cowboy, I’ll be in touch.” The elevator doors closed and he was gone.
