Safe by His Side

His hands were under her sweatshirt, probing the waistband of her jeans. Kate snapped her eyes open. “What are you doing?” she cried, tears burning behind her lids.

“Kate, you’re our only chance at surviving this little party.” He captured her gaze with his, and the sheer determination there forced her to pay attention. “This—” he shoved something hard and cold that she somehow recognized immediately as a gun into her waistband. She instinctively recoiled, but he caught her by the waist and held her still “—is our only chance.” His cold blue gaze pierced hers. The feel of his roughened palm against her bare skin felt strangely soothing. “Just listen to me, and when the time comes, do what I tell you—don’t hesitate—just do it no matter what it is. Can you do that?”

Before Kate could respond, a car skidded to a halt right beside them. Two men jumped out of the black sedan, big, ugly guns in hand.

Oh, God. They were going to die. And Kate didn’t even know why. How had she gotten in the middle of all this? She lifted her gaze to the man standing beside her. What had this man done to deserve to be hunted down like this? Wary and uncertain as to how to react, she aimed her attention at the two men stalking purposely toward them.

“Well, well, Danny, looks as if we’ve found our man,” the larger of the two men said with a sneer. He waved his gun and added tauntingly, “And it looks as if he’s got the little woman with him, too.”

The man beside her shifted his body closer to hers. “She’s just a lay I picked up in town last night.”

Instinctively, Kate started to refute his words, but before she could speak, the goon with the gun moved closer.

Vinny grabbed her purse from beneath her jacket and looked inside, fishing out her license. “She looks a little worse for wear.” He winked at Kate and shoved license and purse back at her. “What’d you do, Rick, ride her all night?”

Rick… His name was Rick. Kate looked at the man standing next to her and tested the name. She frowned. He didn’t really look like a Rick. But what did she know?

“Maybe she’s still got a little fun left in her.” The goon moved closer, snagging Kate’s chin in his beefy hand.

Kate gasped. Rick pushed between them. “Don’t touch her,” he warned in a voice so deadly it sent shivers skipping down her spine.

“You ain’t in no position to be giving orders, Ricky boy. Pat him down, Danny,” he directed the other goon.

Rick stood stone-still while the man named Danny frisked him. The whole scene took on a surreal quality. It suddenly occurred to Kate that this was just like in the movies. Two big guys in black suits arrived in a black sedan carrying scary black guns and…she was going to die.

The urge to vomit burned at the back of her throat. Kate fought the impulse. She felt certain that such a move would not endear her to these men. If they thought she was sick they might just shoot her on the spot.

“That’s it, Vinny,” Danny announced as he handed the other man a gun that looked very much like the one they both carried.

Rick had been carrying that gun. Kate suddenly recalled that she, too, carried a gun. Did it look like that? She tried not to breathe too deeply now, remembering the cold steel object tucked into her jeans. Her head throbbed insistently.

“How the mighty hath fallen,” Vinny sneered, the words filled with sheer hatred. He stepped closer, until he was toe to toe with Rick. Vinny stood there for a long moment and stared before he spat in Rick’s face.

“You don’t deserve to live another minute. If I didn’t have strict orders to take you to Dillon, I’d kill you myself, right now.” Vinny’s mouth twisted in anger. “But the old man, he wants you to look him in the eye and tell him what you did. Otherwise I would do you right here.”

Rick rubbed his hand over his face to rid himself of the man’s spittle, then cocked his blond head. “What’s stopping you, Vinny? I won’t tell if you don’t,” he said in a patronizing tone.

“Shut up, you piece of crap,” Vinny bellowed as he shoved the tip of his gun barrel under Rick’s chin. “I might forget orders for once.”

Kate’s heart almost shuddered to a stop then, but Rick only laughed derisively. “Don’t kid yourself, Vinny, you’re a made guy all the way down to your Gucci loafers. You don’t take a piss without orders.”

“Get in the frigging car.” Vinny shoved Rick in the direction of the sedan.

Rick pulled Kate close to his side. She didn’t have time to decide if being near him was a relief or not. Gun barrels stuck in their backs, Kate and Rick were ushered forward.

“You, up front,” Vinny said, and propelled Kate toward Danny.

Danny half dragged her to the passenger side of the car and pushed her inside. Kate glanced at Rick in the back seat. She wondered if he had a plan. She hoped he had a plan. Was the gun in her waistband part of that plan?

Once Danny slid behind the wheel, they headed down the sloping driveway. Kate took one last look around her in hopes of remembering something, anything, but nothing came.

She studied the driver. He appeared young and almost innocent upon first inspection, early twenties maybe, but he looked as mean as a junkyard dog on closer examination. She listened to the heated conversation between the two men in back. Rick—the name still felt strange—goaded the other man unnecessarily, in Kate’s opinion. It looked as if he intended to get them both killed long before they reached a destination.

“How does it feel to know you slept with a killer?”

Kate jerked her head up and stared at the driver, Danny, who’d directed the question at her. “What?”

“Didn’t he tell you?” he quizzed with a widening grin. “Rick’s a cold-blooded killer. There’s no telling how many men he’s killed. Hundreds, I’d guess.”

Kate moved her head slowly from side to side in denial of his words. Why was he telling her this? She didn’t want to hear it.

“Well, it’s true.” He shot her a sidelong smirk. “But he’s going to pay now.”

Could she possibly believe anything this man told her? Who were these people? She closed her eyes. Maybe he was only taunting her, trying to scare her. He didn’t need to do that, she was already scared to death. God, her head hurt.

Call in…

The words skittered across her mind again. What did they mean? Call who?

“Too bad you had to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, baby,” Vinny said as he kicked the back of Kate’s seat.

“Kate’s a lifesaver,” Rick remarked wryly. “She gave me a second chance.”

“A second chance at coming, maybe,” Vinny scoffed.

“Kate?”

Kate tensed at the sound of Rick’s voice when he said her name. The tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Something was about to happen.

“Remember what I told you, Kate. You’re my only chance,” Rick said slowly. “Our only chance.”

“Shut your frigging mouth,” Vinny commanded. Kate heard the grunt that followed a hollow thud, knowing that Rick had just been whacked across the abdomen by the goon in the back seat.

Kate’s head swam. What was she supposed to do? How could she save them? She could feel the cold steel jabbing into her pelvis. What did he want her to do?

And suddenly she knew.

Slowly, while keeping a close watch on the driver, she eased her right hand across her thigh and under her sweatshirt. With a swiftness that shocked even her, she drew the gun and expertly pointed it at the driver’s head. She even held it with both hands just as she’d seen in the movies.

“Stop the car,” she commanded in a voice she hardly recognized.

“What the hell?” Danny shouted, almost losing control of the speeding car.

“Give me that gun, bitch, or I’ll blow your man’s head off!” Vinny barked.

“Squeeze the trigger, Kate,” Rick ordered coolly.

Kate looked from Rick to the man driving the car. Was he insane? She couldn’t do that? How could she do that?