arrive. He hurried down the ladder and dropped onto the truck beside her, the impact jolting his legs.
By the time he regained his feet, Brynn had already leaped off the truck and raced to the Dumpster. As he followed suit, she scurried up the metal container and disappeared over the wall. Admiring her speed and courage, he rushed to follow suit.
“Stop, police!” an officer shouted as Parker made it to the top of the wall. His energy surging, he dove over the edge just as a shot rang out.
“Hurry,” Brynn called, and he jumped up, another burst of adrenaline powering his steps. Then he sprinted after her through the alley and across a parking lot. They ran through a park, exiting on a side street, and raced down another block. Still in the lead, Brynn forged a course through the city, covering the distance with surprising speed. And with every passing block, his respect for her increased. She was fast, determined, smart. She refused to let her injury slow her down, even though her shoulder had to ache. No wonder she’d eluded the authorities for years.
Thirty minutes later, when the café was miles behind them, she finally slowed to a walk. Then she leaned against the side of a building, gasping and heaving for breath.
“You okay?” he asked, his own lungs fiery from the frenzied flight.
Wincing, she pushed her tangled hair from her flushed face. “My shoulder hurts.”
Still panting, Parker scowled, the heart-stopping image of her near miss emblazoned in his mind. “You’re lucky to be alive.”
Her chin came up. “It was the only way out.”
She was right. But knowing that did nothing to calm his nerves. The sight of her plummeting from that balcony had aged him twenty years.
But he couldn’t think of that now. They still had the cops on their heels. He glanced around to get his bearings, then pushed away from the wall. “Come on. I know a hotel near here where we can rest. And we’ll get some ice for your arm.”
“All right.” Clutching her injured shoulder, she started to walk again.
But as they headed down the street, the enormity of their predicament began to sink in. Hoffman was after him. But why? Parker didn’t believe that drug-selling rumor for a minute. He’d spent too many years acting like a choir boy for Hoffman to believe that crap.
Was this about Brynn? But Parker had told his boss he’d found her. So why hadn’t he waited for him to bring her in? Didn’t the Colonel trust him?
Or was something more sinister going on?
He didn’t know. But he couldn’t stop the terrible sense of betrayal congealing his heart. All his life, he’d dreamed of becoming a cop. He’d worked his butt off to make it happen. He’d worn his badge with pride. Even his father’s corruption scandal hadn’t diminished his confidence in the integrity of the force.
But now... He couldn’t trust his fellow officers. He doubted everything he’d once believed. Because suddenly, this case had nothing to do with justice, nothing to do with the C.I.D. chief wanting to help his troubled stepdaughter. Something bigger was going on here. Something deadly. Something he had to figure out fast.
But whoever their enemies were, they’d just made a major mistake. They’d made this war personal.
And Parker would fight to win.
* * *
Brynn peeked out the curtain of their hotel room an hour later, still too wired to relax. Her stepfather had tracked her down. He’d set the police on their trail. Thanks to Parker’s quick thinking, they’d escaped—this time. But what if their luck didn’t hold?
She rubbed her throbbing shoulder, decades of self-preservation clamoring at her to flee. She had money. She could fly to Europe or Asia, hide out on a distant island, change her identity one more time.
But this had gone too far. Innocent people were dying because of her. She couldn’t run anymore. She had to stay and fight back.
Nerves still jangling from their narrow escape, she let go of the drapery and turned to Parker. He sat at the corner desk, connecting her laptop to the hotel’s WiFi. She skimmed the rigid cast of his profile, the angry jut of his chiseled jaw, and more guilt stacked up inside. She’d dragged him into this mess. He’d only wanted to find his brother’s killer, and now he was in danger, too. But how could she get him out?
Struggling to find a solution, she perched on the edge of the king-size bed. Pain sizzled down her badly