Then the door buzzer went, three quick shots, three longer ones, three quick ones.
Lee immediately stopped what he was doing and came up over me.
“Fuck!” he exploded, “God, I’m sorry. Really sorry.”
He got up and stalked na**d from the room.
I laid there, half-naked and fully in shock.
Foiled again.
What kind of luck was that? Was this divine intervention?
I rolled, felt my aching body cry out in belated protest, grabbed my discarded tee from floor and pulled it on. By the time I got it down, Lee was back in the room.
“One of my men has been shot,” he told me.
All aches and pains fled and I jumped out of bed.
“Oh my God.”
“Bobby and Matt are comin’ up, I’ve got to jump in the shower. Let them in, will you?” and he disappeared into the bathroom.
I ran to the kitchen, tore through the cupboards and set the coffee to running when there came a knock at the door.
I looked out the peephole and let Bobby and Matt in.
They looked grim.
“You guys okay?”
Nods, no words.
“Who is it? How is he?”
“He was wearin’ a vest, amour piercing bullets.” This was all Matt said. This was all Matt needed to say.
“Oh no.” I scrambled through the kitchen. Lee had a collection of travel coffee mugs, definitely a man-on-the-go, not one that hangs around and sips his coffee. I yanked three down and asked, “Have you had breakfast? Do you want breakfast? I can make some quick toast.”
“Not hungry,” Bobby forced through stiff lips.
We all stood there staring at each other. I couldn’t stand not doing anything so I pulled the coffeepot out, wedged a travel mug under the spout, and filled the other two mugs with coffee. I was screwing on the tops when Lee came in, hair wet and freshly shaved.
“Let’s roll,” he said and Matt and Bobby started moving.
I handed out coffee, yanking the last mug out from under the spout and tossing the pot back underneath, trailing behind Lee while I screwed on the top.
“This one isn’t full,” I told Lee at the door, feeling stupid and useless.
“That’s okay.” He grabbed it.
“Call me when you know something.”
He bent to kiss me quickly and then he was gone.
While Stevie and I were packing up Burgundy the night before, Lee had gone over to my house and grabbed my bag. He’d brought it up to the condo last night. This was good, I had new clothes to wear and as it was early, I could get to Fortnum’s and help open. The Monday coffee crush would take my mind off Lee’s current activities and the fears that were encroaching that whoever-this-guy-was got shot doing something to help me.
I’d take Lee’s Crossfire, I was pretty sure he wouldn’t mind.