her head with his arms and tucking her face against his neck. The seconds that passed as the garage was ripped to shreds by flying shrapnel felt like hours.
In the brief lull that followed, Pete muttered, “Holy fuck.”
His weight was a solid force pushing down on her, his breath hot against her skin, but all she could focus on was where she’d gone wrong and how in the name of God they’d been found so fast.
“Are you hit?”
She registered his hands gripping her arms hard, his eyes intense, only inches from her own, boring right into her skull. She glanced down at where he held her, then back up again. Somehow, she was able to shake her head. “No. No, I’m not hit. I…oh, God—”
“Katherine Meyer!”
Kat froze at the deeply accented Middle Eastern voice.
“We know you’re in there,” it yelled again. “Come out now so we can settle this in a civilized manner.”
Busir.
“Civilized manner, my ass,” Pete whispered. “Don’t you move a goddamn muscle.”
Perspiration popped out on Kat’s skin. Without warning she was back in the tomb, a knife at her throat, a hard and evil man at her back, holding her tight by her hair.
“No, no, no,” she muttered, struggling underneath Pete. Panic washed away her common sense. She had to get away. She couldn’t stay here. She had to…what? What could she possibly do? A groan tore from her chest.
“Pull it together, Kat,” Pete said softly. He locked his legs around her thighs to stop her struggling, holding her tight against his body. Bracing one forearm across her chest to keep her pressed to the cold concrete, he clamped his free hand over her mouth. “Shh!”
The flight response was so strong, his words and strength barely registered. But when they did, and she realized he was carefully listening to Busir’s movements outside, she went utterly still.
“That’s it,” he said in her ear. His hot breath tickled the soft skin behind her ear, ran like rivulets down her neck. Or maybe that was the perspiration from her adrenaline rush. She couldn’t tell anymore.
“Two out front. They’re checking the main door. It’s locked, right?”
She couldn’t find the words to speak, so she nodded instead.
“I’m going to let go of your mouth. But you better stay quiet. Nod for me if you understand.” When she did, he slowly eased his hand off her face.
She forced herself to swallow back the mind-numbing fear. So much for all her training and years of preparation for this moment. Her gun was yards from her, and when it came right down to a life-or-death moment, she’d frozen, just like she had in that tomb.
What would she have done if Pete hadn’t been here?
Pete pushed up just enough to peer around the large, metal freestanding tool chest that had saved their lives. Footsteps echoed from the side of the building. From somewhere behind his back he pulled out a very big, very black gun she’d had no idea he carried.
She let out a small gasp of surprise. He held his fingers to his lips and pointed toward the apartment door. “Exterior access?”
Common sense was finally filtering back into her mind. She shook her head and swallowed. “Not there. Back of the garage. There’s another door for rear parking.”
He gave one nod, then lowered himself so he was close to her ear again. Electricity zipped along her nerve endings at both the rush of adrenaline and his skin brushing hers. “I think there are two more. They’re circling the building and reloading. Can you get inside the cab without making any sound?”
Her heart skipped a beat when she realized he wasn’t going to save his own ass and leave her here for Busir. Regardless of everything they’d done to each other and how he felt about her right now, he wasn’t leaving her behind.
Stupid-ass tears that had no purpose stung the backs of her eyes. She nodded quickly, blinking in rapid succession to avoid turning into a hysterical woman in the midst of a crisis. She was so not that woman anymore.
“Good,” he said. “I’m going to create a diversion. When you hear it, gun that engine and make sure the passenger door is open for me.”
Just what did he have planned?
“Wait. Are we going out the front or back?” she asked.
He thought for a second. “You know this area better. With the amount of snow that’s come down, your best guess is a helluva lot better than mine.”