Her Hidden Falls Bodyguard Billionaire Cowboy - Taylor Hart Page 0,44
in a mental or emotional sense, too. One of the biggest things to be aware of is to know what the person attacking you wants.”
She nodded. “I’m still not sure how to do that.”
“Right. It’s tricky.” He moved behind her and grabbed her arms. “If a random guy comes and grabs you, you have no way of knowing what he wants. But if he throws you down and starts to …” He trailed off. “Try to compromise you, you know he wants a physical thing out of you.” He let her go and turned her to face him.
“O-kay,” she said slowly.
“But most likely, if someone is coming at you, Zoey, they’ll be trying to kill you.”
Her face went blank. “Right.”
“So they’ll likely try to get you out of sight, then do it.” His mind spun with possible scenarios.
“Sean, I’m not sure this is helpful for me to think about. I’m nervous enough as it is.”
He was trying to help her figure out how to attack any enemy, but his efforts were clearly being counterproductive. “I’m sorry. Let’s say your hands are tied behind your back.”
Even though she looked frustrated, she put her hands behind her back.
“Where am I the most vulnerable?”
She looked him up and down. “Your … private part.”
He nodded, moving closer to her. “Right. So you could knee me pretty good if you got close enough, even with your hands tied behind your back, right?”
She lifted her knee quickly, and since he’d expected it, he darted to the side before the collision could occur. “I guess I could,” she said, smiling at him.
“Good. What else could you do to me?”
She frowned. “I could do my karate kick.”
“Yes.” He wanted her to think outside of the box. “What else?”
She thought for a bit, then shrugged. “I have no idea.”
“You need to think of every part of your body as a weapon.”
“My legs, my knee …” Her eyes lit up in realization. “My head?”
“Yup.” He tapped her head lightly. “We don’t think about using our heads to fight, because it’s intuitive to protect our head.”
“But if the only other option is to die, it’s good to use your head.”
He grinned at her. “You got it.”
The next morning, Sean awoke with a start, gun in hand. He padded down the hallway and opened Zoey’s door, not surprised to find her gone. He hadn’t expected her to start running, but he was proud of her for it. He scrubbed his face and went back to his room, switching to running clothes. He would catch up with her.
As he headed out to the beach, his stomach suddenly churned like he’d been punched in the gut. It was the same dull pain he’d get in his gut when things weren’t going right, but it was even more intense.
Something was wrong with Zoey.
“Zoey!” he yelled, scanning the beachline.
He searched for a bit, but there was no sign of her anywhere. She had disappeared.
So Sean did the next best thing to find her. He called Agent Anderson.
“Yes?”
“I need to know where Zoey’s at.”
“You lost her?”
“I need to know where she’s tracking at.”
“Hold on.” Agent Anderson was silent for a few seconds; then he cursed. “She’s nearly in Charleston.”
“What?” Sean turned back to the beach house, breaking into a run.
“When did you lose her?”
“I got up and she’d gone running.”
“I’m sending men to her coordinates, but Sean, I have bad news.”
Just what he didn’t need to hear. “What?”
“Somehow, Rafael is missing.”
“Missing?”
“He escaped the prison.”
Sean clicked off the phone, and with shaky fingers, he dialed Kane.
“Yeah?”
“She’s been taken, and the thug Rafael escaped prison.”
“What? How do you know?”
“She went running this morning and someone took her. My boss is sending me coordinates.”
Kane was quiet for a moment. “Actually, she is right near Charleston.”
“How do you know?”
“When I copied the chip and gave her copy back, I put a tracking system into it in case someone managed to steal it from her.”
Of course he had. Sean grunted. “I guess I’ll meet you there.”
“Actually, we’ll pick you up on the chopper.”
“How?”
“You don’t think we would have left you, little bro, do you?”
“Wait, you’re still at the complex?”
“Yep, be there in ten.”
Chapter 23
The van jostled as it went over another bump. The duct tape over Zoey’s mouth hurt her lips, and the zip tie on her wrists was cutting into her flesh. She gathered her courage and glared at Agent Sears.
He tapped on an iPad and glanced at her, then hesitated. “Look, sweetheart, consider yourself lucky. I’ve been on this case