serious, but this time I hope I’m wrong,” I told him, knowing it was the last thing he’d think would come from my mouth.
He knew I enjoyed the trouble and loved the rush of danger that was never in short supply in my family.
“Hmmm,” was all Rhi uttered before he began switching through the mall’s camera feeds like he was flipping through a deck of cards. I didn’t try to keep up with him. When he stopped scrolling, I believed I had a view of the basement parking level. He pulled up a couple of tight zooms.
“Is that your girl?” he asked.
“Yes,” I answered without correcting him.
“Ms. Pretty Freckles,” he teased and the smile in his voice and the tease in his tone wasn’t missed.
“Don’t call her that,” I growled.
“Hey, don’t growl at me because you’re finally interested in someone,” he continued teasing. “A mystery lady at that. What if she’s the secret love child of a mafia king who the syndicate wants for leverage?”
“Please with the conspiracy theories. We need to figure this out before things get any further out of hand.”
What I didn’t say was that I was afraid for Patrena. I didn’t want to see her hurt because we were unable to figure out why she was the target of a group we hadn’t yet identified. Patrena had captured my attention so strongly a few days ago that Rhi had sneaked up on me staring at a still photo of her on my phone.
“Besides,” he continued like I hadn’t said a thing. “I’m calling her what you called her before you noticed me looming over your shoulder while you were drooling over her picture and fingering her pretty freckles.”
His chuckle caused my frown to deepen. He wasn’t going to let me live that shit down.
“She’s kind of hard to forget based on looks, but to have the attention of someone like you, Mr. One-Night Marathon, makes her a pretty remarkable woman. However, I thought you only dated cougars,” he challenged, not missing out on an opportunity to tease me.
He was also aware that I cared about Patrena and teasing was his way of distracting me from stressing about the deadly situation she was currently in. I ignored his teasing comments, but I didn’t discount that he was right.
“Rhi, will you do something useful and see if you can figure out who’s the dick stalking her and if he has company?”
“Already on it,” he replied. “But, like I was saying, she looks like she is waaaay below your age range.”
He wasn’t done by a long shot. I shoved my phone into my pocket and ran across the busy road to the taxi pick-up and drop-off lane where eager shoppers were as energetic as the flow of traffic. Trekking down the stairs, I entered the basement level with my head on a constant swivel.
Reaching behind me, I gripped the cold metal of my weapon, but I didn’t draw it because people were already walking by and glaring with questions pouring from their exploring eyes and pensive stares.
“Black Jeep Grand Vangoneer. Row E-22,” Rhi rattled off. “He’s attempting to shove her into the vehicle, but she’s fighting him.”
“I can hear them,” I replied, glad that I was close.
The sound of Patrena’s distressed voice did something to me. The first sight of them showed her struggling to fight a man twice her size, and as small as she was, she was giving him hell.
The man was so busy trying to shove her into the back of the vehicle that he didn’t hear my rapid approach. Based on the way he froze and his back stiffened, I bet the sound of the metallic click of my pistol aimed at his head had gotten his attention.
“Let her go and you get to keep your brains inside your head,” I barked at the man through seething anger.
At the sound of my voice, Patrena froze, stopping her attempt to claw his eyes out. The man’s hands lifted with caution before he twisted his head around and his wide eyes landed on my pistol and not on me.
Patrena peeked around the man’s broad shoulder to stare at me. I waved her over and didn’t stifle my smile when she pushed the man away with a hard shove, growling, “Asshole!” before she stepped away to stand beside me.
“There is another one that will be approaching at your ten o’clock in about three, maybe four minutes.” Rhi’s voice was breaking up, but I’d caught enough to heed his