walked toward the dog. “Hey, big guy,” he spoke softly, holding his hand out to the border collie.
The dog edged toward him, his nose out, sniffing. He whined and wagged his tail. Before he reached Rafe, the dog dropped to the ground, his entire back end wagging along with his tail.
As Rafe dropped to his haunches, the crack of gunfire sounded. Something whizzed over the top of his head and hit the stone façade of the hotel, kicking out fragments of rock.
Rafe dropped to the ground, shouting over his shoulder. “Briana, get down!” He low-crawled on his elbows and knees toward the closest vehicle.
The dog dove beneath the chassis.
Rafe came up on his haunches between two cars and glanced toward Briana.
She’d dropped to the ground and scooted beneath the truck, her head up, eyes rounded.
Rafe pointed toward her and mouthed the word “stay”.
Briana nodded and scooted even further beneath the truck chassis, hiding behind one of the wheels.
Rafe gauged the trajectory of the bullet, turned and edged toward the back of the vehicles. A dark SUV parked on the other side of the street pulled away from the curb, made a U-turn in the middle of the road and barreled into the hotel parking lot, heading directly for Rafe’s pickup and Briana.
Hunkering low, Rafe ran behind the backs of the vehicles toward Briana, pulling his gun out of the holster beneath his jacket.
The passenger door of the SUV opened. A man dressed in black clothes and a black ski mask started to get out.
Rafe’s heart leaped. He leaned over the hood of a vehicle, sighted his weapon on the man and pulled the trigger.
The window beside the man exploded in little shards of glass. The man jumped back into the vehicle, and the SUV raced directly for Rafe.
Rafe dove away from the car he’d leaned on and rolled out of the path of the speeding vehicle.
The SUV plowed into the spot where Rafe had been standing, pushing the car into the one next to it. The barrel of a military-grade rifle poked through the shattered window, aiming toward Rafe where he lay on the ground.
He rolled beneath a minivan and out the other side as bullets pelted the ground he’d been lying against a moment before.
Leaping to his feet, Rafe aimed and fired at the passenger door where the rifle poked through. The rifle clattered against the glass and disappeared inside. The SUV’s driver backed out of the mangled car, shifted into drive and raced out of the hotel parking lot.
Rafe remained where he was, a minivan hood between him and the disappearing SUV. When the SUV was out of rifle range, Rafe ran to his truck and held out his hand. “Come on, we need to leave before he decides to return and finish one or both of us off.”
Briana crawled out from beneath the truck and took his hand.
Rafe pulled her to her feet and into his arms, crushing her to his chest. Her body trembled against his. “You’re shaking.”
“Give me a break. It’s not every day my friend is murdered, and my bodyguard is shot at.”
He tipped her head up, kissed her hard and lifted her up into the seat. “Stay low as we drive out of here.”
She nodded and buckled her seatbelt.
Before he could close the door, a black and white streak of hair dashed between him and the door. The dog he’d leaned down to pet leaped into the truck and settled on the floor at Briana’s feet.
Rafe started to tell the animal to get out.
Briana, hunching over in the front seat, ruffled the hair around the dog’s neck. “Let him stay. He has a collar with a tag on it. We can call the owner after we get out of here.”
He ran around to the driver’s side, jumped in, revved the engine and took off in the opposite direction from their attackers.
As they pulled away from the hotel, Briana, lying on her side on the console, keyed the phone number from the tag on the dog’s collar.
“Hello, this is Briana. We found your dog in a hotel parking lot.” She listened, her brow knitting. “Yes, that’s the hotel… There is?” Her frown deepened. “I’m so sorry to hear that.” Her gaze went to the border collie. “How do you want us to get the dog to you? We’re kind of in a hurry to get back on the road.”
Rafe leaned closer to her, trying to watch the road and eavesdrop on the conversation. He