held her breath as Trey moved closer to the entrance, taking up position across from Hale in time for both of them to point their weapons at Hobbs as he walked in, shoving a trolley cart in front of him.
The reporter froze at the sight of them…and all the open boxes in the storage unit. Bree could practically see the calculations rolling around in the guy’s head. He was almost certainly trying to figure out how good his chances were of turning around and making a run for it.
He must have decided the odds were against him because his shoulders slumped and he let out a heavy sigh. “How did you find me? I thought you’d be busy with Dave and his mad scheme for the rest of the night. I wouldn’t have called in that anonymous tip to the police about the Federal Reserve if I’d known you’d be done this fast.”
Bree felt her jaw drop. “I thought you and Dave were working together on these thefts. That’s what Ken Reed’s notes said.”
Hobbs’s gaze moved to her as Hale approached him, gun holstered and cuffs out. “So that jackass kept notes? I’ll be damned. I knew I should have questioned him more before telling him to take that diner hostage, then kill himself.”
Wait. What?
Bree opened her mouth to shout a warning right along with Diego when Hobbs lifted his hand to his mouth in one smooth, practiced motion and bit into his index finger. Before she could get the words out, he brought his hand up, wiping the blood on Hale’s cheek.
Diego’s pack mate never saw it coming.
“Kill them,” Hobbs said softly before running out the door.
Bree felt Diego’s arms around her seconds before he took her to the floor and the shooting started. It took half a second to realize Hale was shooting at them instead of the escaping Hobbs.
Hobbs could control people like Dave could. How had she missed that?
In the tight confines of the metal-shrouded space, the shooting sounded loud enough to pierce her eardrums and seemed to last forever. But when it was over, Bree knew it had probably only been a few seconds. That’s when she realized Diego was no longer on top of her, shielding her with his body. The realization terrified her, and she shoved herself up to peek over the cardboard boxes that had gotten flipped over and knocked about.
Both Trey and Diego were on top of Hale, holding him down as he punched and kicked, growling and snarling, fighting them at the same time he tried to reach for his gun lying a few inches away.
If Hale got hold of the gun, there was no telling what he’d do.
Knowing Diego wouldn’t like it, Bree took a deep breath and scrambled to her feet, then moved closer to them—and the gun. She got to it in time to see Diego wiping the last of the blood off Hale’s face with a piece of bubble wrap. Hale stopped resisting immediately, his gaze looking lost and confused, exactly like Brandon had earlier.
Blood stained Diego’s and Trey’s uniforms as they climbed to their feet, and she immediately ran over to them.
“I’m okay,” Diego said. “Stay with Hale. And for God’s sake, don’t follow us.”
Before Bree could think to ask what that meant, Diego and Trey raced out of the storage unit, leaving her alone with a barely coherent Hale, worrying about what was going to happen to the man she loved like crazy and wondering how he expected her to follow an order like that.
* * *
It was easy for Diego and Trey to follow Hobbs’s trail through the storage facility and out a back door. The second they emerged into the late-day heat, the roar of a fast-approaching vehicle had them jumping back into the building just in time to avoid getting run down. The crash as the white SUV slammed into the building was horrendous, tires squealing and metal tearing. Diego thought Hobbs would back up and try to run them down a second time, but instead he kept going, the engine roaring louder as he raced for the gate that enclosed the back of the storage facility.
Diego ignored the slight twinge of pain in his hip from the gunshot wound Hale had given him and took off running after the SUV, Trey right behind him. He’d hoped Hobbs would be forced to slow down at the gate, but that didn’t seem to be the reporter’s plan because he kept going full