Explosive Attraction - By Lena Diaz Page 0,8
woman with me is Dr. Darby Steele. We’ve been in a boating accident and I need to get her to a hospital.”
The gun wobbled against his back, as if the man behind him wasn’t sure whether or not to believe him. Finally, the gun eased back, and Rafe turned around. The rifle was now pointing at his chest.
“Miss.” The old man’s eyes didn’t leave Rafe as he spoke to Darby. “You okay? Did this man hurt you?”
“No, no, he didn’t hurt me. He’s a police officer, like he said.”
“Hair’s a bit long to be a cop.” The old man’s mouth twisted, his disapproval obvious. “And I doubt they let their officers go without shaving these days, not unless they’ve gotten pretty darn sloppy.”
“I’ve been working undercover.” It wasn’t exactly the truth, since the men he’d been grooming as informants knew he was a cop, but it was close enough.
“Uh-huh. Let me guess. You don’t have ID with you to prove you’re a cop.”
“In my back pocket, if my wallet’s still there.” He started to reach toward his pocket, but the old man’s hands tightened on the rifle.
“Look,” Rafe said, close to losing his patience, “I don’t care if you believe me or not. But Dr. Steele needs medical attention. Do you have a cell phone with you? Call 9-1-1 and tell them to get an ambulance and the police out here. They can verify who I am.”
Doubt entered the man’s eyes and Rafe thought he might be starting to believe his story, but Rafe didn’t have time to wait for the man to make up his mind. Right now the bomber, if he’d survived the crash, could be getting away. Or, he could be waiting in the woods to grab Darby. Staying in one place was too dangerous.
“Are you going to make that call or not?” Rafe prodded.
The man’s lips pursed. “I’m thinking about it. I don’t have my phone with me in any case. It’s back up at the house.”
“Darby,” Rafe called out without turning around, “I need you to stay down.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Don’t stand up.”
“I’m not standing. I’m still sitting on the—”
Rafe lunged for the man’s rifle, shoving the barrel up in the air before yanking the gun from the older man’s grip. The man was so startled he just stood there with his mouth hanging open.
“Go on,” Rafe ordered. “Get out of here. Make that call.”
The man’s face paled. He took off in a lumbering gait back toward his house.
Rafe shook his head and turned back to Darby. He swore when he realized that she’d let the shirt drop to the ground during the commotion. Blood was dripping down her calf.
“The shirt, Darby. Press it against the wound.”
Her eyes widened and she made a choking sound as she looked past him.
Rafe whirled around.
Too late.
Something hard crashed down on the side of his head. Sharp, fiery pain radiated through his skull and his world went black.
* * *
RAFE CRUMPLED TO the ground.
Darby let out a strangled cry. She only had a second to realize the man who’d hit Rafe was the man who’d grabbed her at the warehouse, before he grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her up off the ground.
She clawed at his hands, trying to ease the horrible pressure.
He shook her as if in warning and let her fall back to the muddy ground. Sharp, fiery pain knifed through her side. She bit her lip to keep from crying out, clutching her side to stop the bleeding that had started again.
Above her, the man who’d attacked Rafe stood with his handcuffed hands in front of him, wrapped around the grip of a familiar-looking gun. Rafe’s gun.
At this range, he couldn’t miss.
Time slowed to a crawl. Darby’s vision narrowed, everything else fading away except the dark maw of the gun barrel pointing at her. She dug her fingers into the mud beneath her and squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the shot she knew would come, waiting for death.
“Look at me, stupid witch.”
Her eyes flew open. She forced herself to look away from that terrifying gun, at the man standing over her. His baseball cap and sunglasses were gone. The jeans he wore were torn in several places, with smears of blood darkening the blue fabric.
For such a violent man, his face was rather ordinary, not a face that would strike fear into her if she saw him in a crowd. His hair was brown, although that could be because of all