A Man Worth Remembering

Her breath shattered, a noise coming from deep within her throat. Leigh’s hands began to shake violently. Still, she kept her attention focused on Gabe, afraid to blink for fear he’d disappear before she could get to him.

Getting to him, she soon learned, wasn’t even necessary. It seemed he made it to her in one step. She grabbed onto him and held tight.

Without breaking her grip, Gabe picked up the gun he’d tossed on the floor and placed the smaller one into the slide holster on the back waist of his jeans. He handed Leigh the other weapon that the man had taken from her.

“There’s no need for you to see that,” he said, referring to the body. He led her toward the door.

He was right. There was no need for her to see the man. That didn’t stop Leigh from glancing back at the lifeless body and the perfectly centered hole in his head. Gabe had literally shot the man right between the eyes. The other bullet wound was only a fraction of an inch above the first one.

She pressed her hand to her stomach, hoping she didn’t get sick. “He’s dead?” she asked unnecessarily.

“He’s dead.”

“You could have shot me.”

Gabe slightly rearranged his expression, apparently insulted. “I wouldn’t have missed. Not ever.”

Leigh prayed she’d never have to test his accuracy again. “Well, thank you. That’s twice you’ve saved my life.”

“Don’t thank me yet. We’re not out of danger. We have to get away from here first.”

Leigh silently agreed. One man was dead, but there were at least three others who would probably be willing to do what their comrade had tried.

Gabe stopped when they reached a large metal door at the end of the room and turned to her. “Here are the rules. Stay behind me at all times. I want us back to back, moving together. Got that?”

“Yes, I think so.” Leigh hoped so anyway. She still felt woozy, and Gabe’s quickly spoken instructions seemed jumbled.

“Rule two—you watch our backs, and I’ll take care of anything that comes from any other direction.” He tipped his head to her gun. “By any chance, do you remember how to use that?”

She eyed the weapon as if it was a foreign object. “Maybe.”

Gabe repeated that, adding a soundless word of profanity. “All right. If you have to shoot, hold the gun level and brace your wrist with your left hand. That’s a lot of firepower, and I don’t want you dropping your weapon when you feel the recoil. Shoot to kill. Understand?”

Gabe didn’t wait for her to answer, not that Leigh had anything to say about the abbreviated lesson on how to kill. He spun her around so they were back to back. He eased open the door and peered into the parking lot.

The alarm started almost immediately. It wasn’t a typical security system that clamored loudly enough to be heard blocks away. It was a piercing hum, but it was certainly meant to serve as a warning.

“All right. Let’s go,” Gabe said. “Remember everything I’ve told you.”

Leigh didn’t know how he expected her to do that. She literally couldn’t remember her name so how would she keep all the other things straight? Maybe she’d get lucky, and her instincts would kick in if she had to shoot.

The night air engulfed her when they stepped outside. It was humid, almost stifling. Even with the drone of the alarm, the place was eerily silent. No traffic noise. No birds. Nothing. Just the sound of their steps as Gabe orchestrated them away from the building.

Shoot to kill, he’d told her. That made sense because a wounded gunman could still have a deadly aim. She had to wonder if she could kill. Or if she’d ever killed before.

God, that seemed an awful thing not to know.

Gabe skirted along a row of shrubs, following the semistraight line until they came to a Dumpster. They ducked behind it just as the door to the laundry area flew open. Milky yellow light poured out into the darkness.

So did two armed men.

Gabe latched onto her hand and forced her to run. “Stay with me.”

Shots shattered the near silence, sounding so close that Leigh didn’t want to know just how close they were coming to Gabe and her. She lost count of how many times the guns fired, but they seemed to keep pace with her racing heartbeat.

Leigh hadn’t remembered her flip-flops or her hurt ankle until they started to sprint. Not ideal running shoes, and the stitches tore at her skin. Somehow, Gabe managed to keep her on her feet, even when they left the pavement and darted over a patch of uneven ground.

The yard, such that it was, melted into a greenbelt cluttered with stubby trees and rocks. An eight-foot-high masonry fence was just beyond that. Gabe didn’t ask if it was something she could climb—he just scaled it, dragging her like a rag doll with him.

When they reached the other side, she noticed the motorcycle. It was nestled between two scrub oaks, but not even the darkness could camouflage the chrome.

“We’re riding that?” she asked in a frantic whisper.

“Yes.” He slipped his gun back into his shoulder holster, straddled the leather seat and started the engine. “Keep your weapon handy. We just might need it before this is over.”

She nodded. Somewhere behind them, close behind, those men were probably gaining ground. Still, she took the time to eye the motorcycle. “Do you have helmets?”

“No!”

It wouldn’t do any good to point out that riding without helmets was dangerous. He’d no doubt point out that bullets and gunmen were even more deadly.

And he’d be right.

Gabe didn’t try to alleviate her fears. He merely latched onto her wrist and hauled her on the bike behind him. Within seconds, he had the motorcycle rumbling through the night and away from the gunmen.

Leigh quickly learned she had to hang on or fall off, and the easiest thing to hang on to was Gabe. While still clinging to the gun, she wrapped her arms around his waist, pressed her cheek to his back and held on. And she prayed, hoping the God of whichever religion she professed would hear her. Right now, she needed someone of a divine nature on her side.

After all, she was with a man who killed as easily as he breathed, and Leigh knew all too well that he held her life—and possibly even her heart—in his hands.

Chapter Four

Gabe had a lot of questions. And too few answers.

That did not please him.

He was reasonably sure he’d lost the hired guns. Fairly certain he could remember his way down the dirt roads that snaked around the bayou. And he was hopeful he’d managed to save their lives. For the time being anyway. However, he wasn’t at all sure what the heck was going on. Or who’d just tried to kill them.

Still, none of those things occupied his thoughts for long. It was the woman behind him that he couldn’t get off his mind. His wife.

At the clinic, Jinx had ordered him to be nice to Leigh. But that was only the tip of the flipping iceberg. They also wanted him to lie through his teeth. He was supposed to tell her everything was all right between them. That they’d had problems in the past but had worked them all out.

Yeah, right.

Between the lies and being nice, he was also supposed to get her to trust him. Just like that. He was supposed to erase all the bad feelings between them and regain her confidence. He’d have an easier time forgetting that she’d ever been his wife.

However, it didn’t matter if the task was impossible. The Justice Department expected him to give his all. Heck, he’d already done that.

And then he’d made it worse by kissing her.