Run, Hide - By Carol Ericson Page 0,11

again. She’d been a pampered princess when he’d met her, with rows and rows of expensive shoes and designer dresses. Now she was on the road with not even an extra pair of underwear to her name.

As Cade returned to the barrels, Gavin stirred in Jenna’s arms and yawned. Cade didn’t want his son anywhere near this dangerous situation, but right now he didn’t have a choice.

Pressing his hand between Jenna’s shoulder blades, Cade said, “Duck behind the last barrel in the corner. I’ll be right in front of you.”

He crouched behind one of the barrels and pulled the gasoline container toward his feet. He withdrew his weapon from his waistband just as someone tried the handle on the warehouse door. A thump and a zipping noise told him someone had shot through the lock with a silencer.

Were they hoping to take Cade and Jenna by surprise? Hoping they hadn’t heard the chopper’s approach?

Gavin coughed and mumbled some words, and Jenna whispered an answer.

Cade clenched his muscles in readiness and against another wave of guilt. He couldn’t afford to be sidetracked right now by emotion. As Jack Coburn had taught him and all the Prospero team members, you had to allow instinct to take over in life-or-death situations.

And this was life or death—his and his family’s.

The doors to the warehouse creaked despite the stop-and-go approach used by the intruders. Light from the waiting helicopter crawled across the warehouse floor as the door widened.

“It’s the car.” The voice, slightly accented, had Cade gripping his gun even tighter.

Cade couldn’t see the entrance to the warehouse and didn’t dare make a move, but from the footsteps creeping across the floor, he could tell two people had entered the warehouse. The same two from the truck?

“Lots of places to hide in here.” Another voice, this one with a Midwest twang. Zendaris had recruited far and wide for his henchmen.

“Then you’d better keep a lookout. They probably heard the helicopter.”

“They? She has someone helping her, doesn’t she? Do you think it’s him?”

“I think you need to shut up and keep watch while I check out the car.”

A figure outfitted in black from head to toe, his gun leading the way, moved into Cade’s line of vision. Cade curled his fingers around the handle of the plastic jug, the thumb of his other hand rubbing against the grooved wheel of the lighter.

The man sidled against the car, disappearing from

Cade’s view. Then he hissed, “Someone’s in there.”

The lookout took a few steps toward the car, and Cade nudged Jenna in the side and pointed toward the warehouse door with the lighter.

On her knees clutching Gavin to her chest, she hobbled behind the next barrel.

A muscle in Cade’s jaw twitched. He had to time this just right. The second man took one more step toward the car, and that’s all Cade needed. He flicked the lighter once and held the dancing flame to the edge of a handkerchief he’d dragged from his pocket.

He turned his head toward Jenna and dipped his chin to his chest. Then he swung his arm, tossing his homemade Molotov cocktail toward the nondescript car with the souped-up engine.

Shouts echoed in the warehouse. With his bags strapped across his body, Cade hunched forward, running behind Jenna and Gavin, blocking them from anything that might hurtle from the belly of the warehouse.

The makeshift bomb exploded behind them, and the heat of it scorched Cade’s back. He took a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure the wall of fire had created a barrier between them and Zendaris’s men. Then he launched out the doorway, shoving Jenna in front of him.

“Keep moving. There might be another explosion if the fire reaches the car.”

Gavin started yelling, fully awake now. His inarticulate cries washed over Cade, but Cade didn’t have time to process them. Didn’t have time to feel guilty. Not now.

Jenna headed toward the unpaved road, the brown hair of her wig flying behind her.

Cade caught her arm. “Where are you going?”

She turned, and the flames from the warehouse shimmered in her eyes. “Away from here.”

“I’ve got a faster way.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the helicopter perched in a clearing beside the warehouse.

“Are you kidding?” She stumbled back, and he scooped Gavin from her arms.

“Nope. Hop inside the passenger seat. I know this type of chopper and there are a couple of seats in the back where we can secure Gavin.”

Looking into his son’s frightened face, he touched his nose. “Do you