be tortured first if she stayed. Rae sucked cold air deep into her lungs and pushed forward, her heart hammering against her ribs. She made her way to the snowmobile, keeping her bearings only because of the dim light spilling from the cabin. The snow was coming down hard all around her, making it difficult to see.
A pelt, as if hail had struck the machine, drew her attention. Gas spilled from a hole in the tank.
A bullet? Had someone intended to shoot the tank? Or had she been their intended target and they missed?
CHAPTER SIXTY
Get down!”
Rae was thrown into the snow, rock-solid muscle covering her. “Stay down.”
The voice was the same one who’d shouted through the bedroom door that he’d come to help her. Who was he?
“What now?”
“Keep low, crawl if you have to, and go back into the cabin. I’ll cover you. Now, go!” Gunfire rang out, muted by the blizzard.
Rae crawled quickly and scrambled into the living room. The man rushed in behind her, and crouching, he kicked the door shut. Bullets sprayed the door.
He shoved her down and urged her over to the other side of the sofa. She glanced up at him to get a better look.
At the sight of his face, she gasped. “You’re Enzo Astor’s bodyguard.”
Great. She was no safer here than she’d been out there.
He held a weapon at high ready—close to his head, aiming upward. “I’m his bodyguard, yes, but I’m undercover FBI.”
“Undercover?”
“When Enzo learned that Wayne had brought you here instead of to him as requested, he was furious.”
“Did he send you to get me?”
“Yes, but I’m not taking you back to him. I’m here to get you out of this before something happens to you.”
“So, you’re blowing your cover?”
“Maybe. It depends on what happens next.”
What was it with her and causing agents to blow their covers? She was grateful, but she was worried about Liam and why he hadn’t come for her. Obviously, Wayne had disposed of her cell, so she couldn’t be followed.
“What happens next?” she asked.
“I had planned to wait out the storm, at least until it died down a bit and then we would leave, but with an active shooter closing in, everything has changed. We had planned to wait for the storm to pass, and then—” He rubbed his chin as if he reconsidered sharing more.
“We? Wait a minute . . . the FBI is going to raid his home.”
“Yes. I tried to protect the girls. To get them out. But someone got to one of them and killed her.” Thick emotion edged his tone.
“Who? The girl whose body was recently found?”
He nodded. “But now we have to wait to raid—the timing has to work so no one escapes. The blizzard interfered with our plans.”
“Maybe I can finally find Zoey.”
“Your sister-in-law. Astor kept her here in this cabin for his boss, Malcom Fox, a few days ago. I wanted to get out here to help her escape, but then I heard she had already gone.”
“She was here?”
He nodded. “Yes. She stole a large sum of money from Fox and has a lot to answer for to the feds.”
“Are you crazy? I don’t believe it.”
“I shouldn’t have told you any of this, but in case the worst happens, I wanted you to know some of it. Someone’s out there—it could be Astor or it could be Fox, the man I was protecting him from. Astor is in deep trouble now because he lost Zoey before he could extract the cryptocurrency passwords he needed to get the money back. I suspect Astor was going to double-cross Fox, though, and wanted the money to use against Fox as leverage.
“When you showed up, Astor blackmailed Wayne to take you out because you are so closely connected to Zoey. I think Wayne tried to scare you off at first. Wayne isn’t a murderer, but he assisted in trafficking girls.” Jack kept to the shadows with Rae. “All that to say, I can’t be sure who took that shot at you. I’m going to try to put out the fire so there’s less light, and you stay down and low. Go into the bathroom at the back bedroom and lock the door. Get down in the bathtub.”
She nodded. No way would she argue with that.
As she moved, he pushed the logs and embers around with a poker. Darkness fell on the house.