Shameless - Sybil Bartel Page 0,59

very place where we were hiding.

“Oh God.” The reality of the situation suddenly hitting me full force, I was more scared than when the bullets started flying in the restaurant parking lot. I was even more scared than when the SUV went over the side of the cliff.

These weren’t two crazy mafia guys firing from behind their car doors with their heads down low. They looked like professional hit men in arctic gear who’d wait us out until we had no choice but to emerge from our trap. “They’re going to kill us.”

“I won’t let that happen.” Glancing across all the screens, Shade grabbed his pants and I realized his intent.

My heart seized, then panic shot through my veins. “You can’t go out there.” They’d kill him.

“That’s exactly what I’m going to do.” He threw his clothes on, stepped into his boots that were next to the desk chair and laced them up. Then he unlocked the cage that housed shelves and shelves of scary looking supplies. “Get dressed, princess.”

Ignoring the mess between my legs and ache low in my belly, I pulled on my leggings. I was pushing my arm through the sleeves of my thermal, when he tossed something black and heavy at me.

“Put that on,” he ordered, slipping a version of what he’d given me over his head.

I held the article up and my hands started to shake. “A bulletproof vest?” He’d said we were safe in here.

“Precautionary.” His tone and movements all business, he tightened the Velcro straps around his chest as he eyed the monitors.

My gaze followed his and I sucked in a sharp breath.

One of the men was looking directly into one of the cameras. As we both watched, he held his gloved finger and thumb up, making the universal gesture for firing a gun, then he smiled.

My blood ran cold.

“Shade.” I couldn’t say his real name. Not now, not here. Besides, I wasn’t even looking at the man who told me in Italian his name was Sebastiano Hades Domani. I was looking at the warrior named Shade who shot without mercy and drove an SUV over a cliff and didn’t hesitate when a sniper shot into his bedroom. “Please. Call André. Or wait until the other guys get here. Don’t go out there.”

He took a gun off the shelf and checked the magazine before fitting it into a holster he’d strapped on. “Let me do my job, woman.” He grabbed a bunch of extra clips and shoved then into his vest.

My spine stiffened. “So, I’m a job now?”

His expression deadly, he spared me a single glance. “I’m not waiting for backup. The one advantage I have is that they don’t know where I am, but my window to get a jump on them is closing by the second. I’m not going to stand here and hold your hand while you have a fucking meltdown over semantics. I’m gonna do my goddamn job.” His eyes narrowed in warning. “Do not follow me.” Grabbing a cell phone off the shelf, he slammed it on the desk in front of me. “If I’m not back in thirty minutes, call Luna. Tell him we had a breach. Then wait for him or Ronan to come get you. There’s water and MREs. I don’t care how long it takes, do not leave this room and do not open the hatch for anyone except me, Luna or Ronan.”

Fear swept up my body in a rush. Like a drowning tide, it rose to my head and licked at my sanity as tears welled. “Hatch?”

He nodded toward the floor. “When I come back, I’ll knock in a one-three-two pattern.” His hand fisted, and he knocked on the desk to demonstrate. “You don’t hear that sequence, don’t open the fucking door. Period.” He grabbed a white parka off the shelf and shoved his arms in.

Choking on anxiety, panic seeped out. “What if they kill you?”

Grabbing more ammo and a huge rifle, he snorted. “I’m a Marine, woman.”

That didn’t make him invincible, but I didn’t say that. I was too scared. “What if André or Ronan never come?”

“They will.” He shouldered the strap on the rifle.

I didn’t want him going out there, no matter how many guns he had. “How will they know the knock pattern?”

“We all know it.” He grabbed a white beanie and black gloves and put them on as he watched the monitors.

Images of the men jumped from screen to screen as they moved through the cabin, searching every room.

“Please,”