A Man Worth Remembering

“You’re not suggesting we use the window?”

“No. They probably left someone to take care of us if we try that.”

That was a chilling thought. Take care of us. In other words, kill them. “So, how do we get out?”

He didn’t answer. Gabe grabbed a box from one of the shelves and pulled out another gun. It looked even more deadly than the one he already had. He checked to make sure it was loaded. It was. And he thrust it into her hands.

“What—” But Leigh didn’t get a chance to protest. Gabe shoved open the bathroom door, pulling her inside with him. He held open the laundry hatch with his elbow and swung his leg into the opening.

“I’m going down first,” he told her. “Count to ten and follow me unless you hear gunfire. If that happens, barricade yourself in here and shoot anyone who comes through that door. And I mean anyone. Understand?”

She nodded and examined the gun. “Do I know how to use this?”

“You know.” He climbed into the duct. “Now, let’s hope you remember.”

Leigh hoped the same thing. “Let me guess—I learned how to fire guns like this at the bookstore?”

Gabe flashed her a dry grin and ignored her question. “There’s no safety on that piece. If necessary, aim and fire. And Leigh? This time do as I tell you.”

Before she could ask what he meant by that, he let himself drop. She kept her gaze on him until he disappeared into the tunnel.

“One,” Leigh counted.

She stood there for a few panicky seconds, wondering again if she should trust him. And wondering if she should follow him. She really had no reason to trust him, but she wouldn’t have any reason to trust those four men about to come through the door either. They no doubt wanted to kill her. She didn’t know for sure what Gabe wanted to do with her.

So this was the proverbial rock and a hard place?

“Ten,” she mumbled when she heard hurried footsteps in the hallway on the other side of the wall.

She climbed into the laundry hatch and let herself go. Moments later, she heard gunshots, but it was too late to stop her downward slide. Or anything else for that matter.

She was headed straight toward those deadly-sounding shots, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Chapter Three

Leigh saw Gabe just before she reached the bottom—a split-second glimpse of a man prepared to kill. He was behind a concrete post about fifteen feet from the laundry chute. He’d assumed a classic isosceles stance with a two-handed grip on his pistol. Every inch of him looked primed to fight.

“Take cover!” Gabe yelled. Someone punctuated his command with a spray of bullets.

She torpedoed out of the chute, quickly rolled over the side of the bin and dropped. She landed in an unladylike sprawl on the concrete floor.

“I said take cover. Now!” Gabe yelled.

She was certainly trying to do that. Unfortunately, her body didn’t want to cooperate. Leigh scrambled to her feet and with her flip-flops smacking against the floor, she ducked behind another of those concrete posts.

Should she try to get to Gabe? she wondered. Even with the obvious danger of someone shooting at them, she still considered the idea. It seemed a better option than being on her own when she didn’t know what to do.

The next bullets that strafed across the floor put a stop to that notion. She had to stay put.

From her position, she couldn’t see Gabe. There were more laundry bins, huge washing machines, industrial-size dryers and rows of metal tables. From the narrow view that she had, there were many places a gunman could hide.

Too many.

Besides, she didn’t even know if there was just one gunman. She’d seen four men in the parking lot, and it was entirely possible all four were somewhere in the room, waiting for her to make a mistake.

If she called out to Gabe to ask him what to do, she might give away her position and force him to give away his. He probably wouldn’t appreciate that. Sweet heaven. Another rock and a hard place.

“I’ll take that,” the man snarled. He snatched the gun from her hand and pressed it to her head.

Not Gabe. Someone else. One of the gunmen, no doubt. How the heck had he gotten so close? Leigh hadn’t heard a thing. Of course, her heart was pounding so loudly, she was practically deaf.

Relying purely on instinct, she stabbed her elbow into the man’s stomach and quickly spun around. Leigh used all her strength and rammed the heel of her right hand into his Adam’s apple. She followed it with a left-handed jab to his mouth. He hissed and staggered back.

Leigh saw him clearly then. Too clearly. He was most certainly one of the men from the parking lot. There was no expression in his muddy-colored eyes, no emotion on his face. He latched onto her neck and roughly twisted her so her back was against his chest.

“Quit fighting me,” he warned, shoving the gun even harder to her temple.

His voice was raspy, apparently from the blow she’d managed to deliver to his throat. That didn’t give her much satisfaction. He towered over her. And he was solid. He could easily kill her with his bare hands. Of course, he wouldn’t have to do something so menial since he had her gun and probably his as well.

“Let’s do this the right way,” the man yelled across the room to Gabe. “Depending on what you do, I can make this easy for her, or I can make it real slow and ugly.”

Leigh didn’t care much for those two choices. The man was no doubt talking about how he intended to kill her. “Step out where I can see you, Agent Sanchez,” he ordered.

She wasn’t sure what Gabe would do. Until she heard the thud of his weapon drop to the floor. He stepped out from behind the post and walked toward them with his hands tucked behind his head.

God. He was surrendering.

Her heart started to pound harder. She’d hoped he might be able to save them or at least buy some time so she could figure out what to do. But Gabe hadn’t done that. Instead, he’d surrendered to a man who would probably kill them both before she drew her next breath.

“Who are you working for?” Gabe asked him.

“No one who’s willing to bargain with you.”

“Then how about we bargain? Before you say no, I think you should know the woman you’re holding has plenty of money. I’m sure we can work out some financial arrangements that’d make it profitable for you to let her go.”

“Save your breath,” the man retorted. “I’ve got no plans to be a rich dead man, and that’s what’ll happen if I cut a deal with the likes of you.”

Her gaze connected with Gabe’s. There was a slight lift to his right eyebrow. For the first time, she recognized something in his eyes. Exactly what, she couldn’t say, but he was definitely trying to communicate.

In a move that seemed both in slow motion and at a speed not humanly possible, Gabe’s left hand whipped out from behind his head. He held another gun that he’d hidden. Something small and sleek. The fluorescent light licked the silvery metal and sent a flash across Leigh’s face. Gabe aimed the gun directly at her.

She had no time to think, no time to react. She briefly, very briefly, considered that Gabe and his gun would be the last things she’d ever see. But what she couldn’t figure out was why he wanted her dead, especially after he had saved her.

Gabe double-tapped the trigger. The shots cracked like enormous wads of chewing gum. Leigh felt warm spatters of blood on her cheek and waited for the pain or numbness to follow what was certainly a fatal head wound.

That didn’t happen.

Instead, the man behind her slumped into a heap, the pistol he’d held against her temple clattering to the floor.