back of the house. The guy was tall but looked to be fairly out of shape, his gut hanging over the top of his pants.
Chad moved quickly, grabbing him in a carotid hold designed to cut the blood supply to the man’s brain. It was a very quick way to render someone unconscious, and usually worked faster than a choke hold. He felt the man go limp in his arms.
With no cuffs or zip ties to secure the first arsonist, he’d have to hope he was able to take out the second man before the first one came to. He lowered him to the ground and listened for his accomplice.
The sound of trampling through the bushes told Chad the second man was heading around the side of the house toward him. Chad ducked into the shadows against the side of the house and waited.
“Barry,” came the man’s voice in a whisper. “Barry? Where the hell are you?”
Chad stepped from the shadows, leading with his fist. The second man was in better shape than the first. It wasn’t easy to take a dead-on hit from Chad like that and still be standing, but he came back at Chad with a right cross and a series of jabs.
Chad deflected the man’s blows, waiting for an opening. When one came, he exploded, shoving the man back against the house with a series of shots. When his adversary’s back hit the house, Chad cut off his air supply with a forearm across the neck.
“Who sent you?” Chad growled.
The man clawed at his arm with ineffective hands, his eyes bulging as he fought for breath.
Chad eased up a fraction, allowing the man a small amount of air as he asked again, “Who. Sent. You.” His tone was deadly and fierce because he needed to extract any information he could, quickly. Once the police came, there wouldn’t be a chance for any more of Chad’s style of questioning.
The man shook his head and Chad pressed in once again, cutting off the assailant’s air supply. Hearing sirens, he knew his time was up.
Whoever this guy was, he wasn’t talking easily. Chad yanked the arsonist around and gripped both his arms in a hold behind the man’s back. He shoved him ahead of him to meet the police as his mind processed the implications of this attack.
Only one person knew he and Jennie were back in town and where they were. He hadn’t even called Jack and Kelly or his mother to tell them they were coming.
Nope. There was only one person other than the people sitting in the Evans’ living room who knew where he and Jennie were. Agent Burke.
As the police car pulled away from the house, Chad turned to Jennie’s parents.
“Pack a bag quickly. We need to get out of here before Bandon finds out they failed and sends someone else. Meet back out here in five minutes. Tops.”
They didn’t argue. Chad’s tone hadn’t left much room for that and they loved Jennie as much as he did. They wanted her safe as much as Chad.
He turned to Kyle’s parents next. “I doubt they know about you, so you should be safe here, but if you’d rather go stay at a hotel with Jennie’s parents, I’m happy to pay for it. We can get you guys a suite and call it a vacation,” he said, smiling.
Most people weren’t used to dealing with arson attempts in the middle of the night. A little levity couldn’t hurt.
Chad didn’t miss the look Annie gave her husband. She was frightened. Her hands griped his arm and her husband seemed to pick up on it right away.
“A vacation sounds good right about now,” Brian Evans said. “Where will you and Jennie be going?”
“We’ve got to go see one of my friends with the FBI. If Agent Burke leaked Jennie’s location, we need to bring him and Rick Bandon in quickly.”
Kyle’s father nodded and walked toward the house with his wife to pack their things. Chad waited on the front lawn, eyes on the road, scanning in case any other unexpected visitors arrived. They were sitting ducks right now. He needed to get them out of here. Quickly.
Chapter 34
After getting Jennie’s family set up with their new bodyguard at a hotel, Chad and Jennie drove to his condo in New Haven. It was nearly dawn, but Chad had to work out who had sent the two men to Jennie’s parents’ house.
After getting Jennie safely inside, he called the only person he