Out of the Storm (Buckhorn, Montana #1) - B.J. Daniels Page 0,83

felt. He could see the rise and fall of her breasts, remember them pressed against his chest only moments ago.

“Give it to someone else. We don’t need it.”

Silence, then, “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. Can I just leave it, please?”

Jon heard that slight waver in the young man’s voice. Fear. And not fear that he would lose his job if this honeymoon breakfast wasn’t delivered.

Jon motioned Kate back as he dove for his gun on the end table and the door suddenly banged open. As he grabbed the weapon and spun back around, a metal tray filled with dishes crashed into him. Behind the tray was the young hotel personnel, his eyes wide and frightened. Behind him, a hulking man wearing a ski mask charged into the room, gun drawn.

Jon saw the barrel of the man’s gun clip the back of the employee’s head. The young man went down in the pile of food and broken dishes. Jon had tried to dodge the tray and the hotel employee but failed. Knocked off-balance, he had stumbled back, colliding with the couch to the cacophony of breaking dishes mixing with Kate’s scream.

The man in the ski mask shoved his way in, kicking the door closed behind him. Kate had grabbed a buffet lamp from the entrance table, and she swung it, catching enough of the hulking man’s head to make it bloom with blood.

Before Jon could get off a shot, the masked man had grabbed Kate and was now using her like a human shield as he pressed the barrel end of his weapon to her temple. The weapon had been equipped with a silencer.

It had all happened in a matter of seconds. The hotel employee lay unmoving, facedown on the floor, a knot forming on the back of his skull. After all the racket, the room fell deathly silent for a few moments before the man motioned for Jon to drop his weapon.

He’d already taken in the situation and knew he wasn’t going to get a clean shot—not with the man holding Kate in front of him.

“Do it or I’ll kill her,” the man said gruffly.

He looked into Kate’s wide green eyes, nodded and slowly dropped the gun to the floor, stepping back from it and keeping his hands where the man could see them.

“Now, here is what we’re going to do,” the man said in a low voice. “You do as I say, and Kate gets to live. Otherwise, I kill you both, and him, too,” he said, pointing to the employee on the floor. “If he isn’t already dead.”

* * *

“THE CAR IS READY,” Gerald announced as he came into the kitchen where Collin was making himself a sandwich. The refrigerator had been stocked with food apparently, while he’d taken the car down to the garage and walked all the way back. He noticed there was a lot more beer. He would have loved one but didn’t want to push it.

He finished making his sandwich. “So, what happened at the hotel?” He’d been dying to know. There could have been a shoot-out. Everyone could be dead. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that, but then again, he was suffering from lack of sleep and a general fear that gnawed at his insides day and night.

“Our body-shop man found something interesting on the car,” Gerald continued, ignoring Collin’s question. A sharpness to the man’s tone caught his attention. “You said you found a tracking device and destroyed it?”

“I did. I can show it to you. It’s probably still in the garage where I smashed it.” He started to head for the garage, but Gerald waved him back.

“Our man found a second tracking device. Which might explain how Jon Harper found you so easily.”

Collin swore. He hadn’t even thought to check for a second one. Who put two tracking devices on a vehicle? Jon Harper. The cop. Not the friggin’ carpenter.

“I...” He closed his mouth since he had no excuse. He’d messed up again. He didn’t want to think about what would happen when he did it a third time.

“As for the hotel...” Gerald was studying him closely.

He took a bite of his sandwich, pretending he hadn’t been on needles and pins waiting for word.

“What do you care?” the boss asked, narrowing his eyes at him.

Collin chewed and quickly swallowed. “I just want to know. Crossing the border with Kate will make it easier than without her. She did great on the way into Canada. She—” He broke