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“Raina?”
Holly’s prompt sent her scurrying for the chopper, where she put the man out of her mind and focused on helping Holly keep the patient from dying. Because she had a few words for him when he woke up. But until then ...
She glanced at the clock and was glad to see she might actually make it to dinner with Vince on time.
CHAPTER
FIVE
Raina’s phone rang just as she pulled into the Bad Burger Barn’s parking lot and relief flooded her when she looked at the number. She tapped the screen. “It’s about time. What took you so long?” She bit her lip at the silence that greeted her words. “Sorry. Something’s happened and I—I just really needed you to call me.”
“I’m only doing so to tell you not to call me again,” the low voice said.
“There’s a child in danger,” she snapped. “And you have the connections to find him and warn his parents. Hisadoptiveparents.”
“We’re bothin danger now that you’ve called this number. I guarantee you, he’s still monitoring it somehow, some way. Just like everyone in connection with your stepfather. I’m packing up a few things and disappearing. I suggest you do the same. Leave wherever you are and run. If you don’t, he’ll be coming for you.”
She closed her eyes, trying to find patience for the man she’d once turned to for help. “It’s a chance I had to take. Now listen—”
“No, you listen. He sends me a reminder every year that he’s still watching me. Just waiting for me to make contact with you. I’m out of here until this blows over.”
“Sends you what?”
A gasp whispered through the line. “I’ve got to go. Don’t call me again.”
Click.
“Trent! Trent Carter, don’t you hang up on me! Please!” She was yelling at a disconnected phone. With a groan, she tossed the device into the passenger seat and dropped her forehead to the steering wheel, taking deep breaths. She let two minutes pass, then picked up the phone and dialed Trent’s number once more.
It went straight to voice mail.
She looked up his personal cell phone number. A number she’d only kept in case of an emergency with no plans to ever use it. But if ever there was an emergency—
She dialed it. Voice mail. “Trent, please, if you won’t talk to me, call the family. Warn them. Run if you must, but let them know. Please. And be safe. I’m sorry for contacting you. Please know I had no choice,” she finished with a whisper and hung up. She hated the situation. Hated it with everything in her, but like she said, she had no choice. She had to do whatever she could to make sure Michael Harrison and his family were safe. “God, protect us all, please.”
Trent’s comment that they were both in danger now that she’d called him swirled in her mind. Did Kevin really send him something? Send him what?
After all this time, Kevin really and truly hadn’t given up finding her. She curled her fingers around the steering wheel and let that sobering fact settle deep into her mind.
So ... now what?
????
With his heart pounding in his throat, Trent Carter snapped his briefcase shut and set it on the desk. He studied the security monitor once more. All looked still. Normal. No shadows, no masked figures slipping into the building. His pulse slowed a fraction. He was panicking over nothing, his paranoia pushing him to be careless.
He shouldn’t have called her. No,sheshouldn’t have calledhim. She’d promised to never contact him again no matter the reason. He’d done his part, kept his promise, and up until now, she’d done the same.
And now she’d possibly ruined it all.
Or maybe not. Maybe enough time had passed.
Maybe—
The floor creaked just outside his office door and Trent froze. “Who’s there?”
Silence. Trent darted toward the open door with every intention of shutting and locking it. He was halfway there when a man rounded the doorjamb and lifted his arm. Trent only had time to glimpse the ski mask, dark eyes peering through the rounded holes—and the gun with the suppressor attached to the end.
So ... it didn’t matter how many phone calls she’d made. It was only the first one that had mattered. He held up a hand. “Please—”
