Page 64 of Jina

“Only six or so,” Mike said. “This isn’t my peak time of the day.”

Three Brookland police cruisers with red and blue lights flashing were headed their way. Jina knew they’d get stuck giving statements if they didn’t get inside the gym. “Grayson, can you handle this while we find Klapper?”

“Go,” Grayson said with a nod.

She grabbed Mike’s arm and gestured to the main entrance. “We need to hurry.”

Mike didn’t hesitate to move toward the gym. She and Cole flanked him on either side. The MMA gym was nothing fancy, which was exactly what she liked the most about it.

“This way,” Mike said, heading straight toward the men’s locker room. He glanced at her, and added, “No women in here today.”

“Understood.” She knew she was one of the few female members. She let Mike go in first, but then crowded in behind him, not caring if some of the guys were half dressed or not. She didn’t care about that.

She needed to find Jeff Klapper.

“Where is he?” she asked as Mike frowned, glancing around in confusion. She didn’t trust her memory to recognize him.

“I guess he’s not here.” Mike lifted his hands in a helpless gesture. “I know he came this way, though.” The gym owner gave her a chagrined look. “I’m sorry I let you down.”

She managed a smile, even though she wanted to pound her fists on the lockers. “Not your fault.” She nodded at the six guys standing around looking concerned. “Sorry to interrupt. Obviously, there has been some gunfire outside, but the local police have arrived, and the shooter has left the area. You can head out if you’d like.”

“Man, this place is really going downhill,” a handsome arrogant guy muttered harshly as he brushed past her.

“Not true. None of this is Mike’s fault,” she said sharply. “It’s mine.”

Mr. Arrogant glanced back at her as if he wanted to say something more, then must have thought better of it. Without another word, he disappeared through the doorway. Her comment seemed to shut the rest of them up as they filed suit.

It burned to know Mike’s business would take a hit after this. Granted, two episodes of gunfire in two days was a lot. Even though many of the gym members were cops, they wouldn’t want to hang out at a place where random shootings were rampant.

Maybe she could convince the rest of the team to join the gym to make up for any memberships Mike might lose after this.

She followed Cole and Mike out of the locker room, then paused to glance over at the women’s locker room. After being inside the men’s, she could attest to how much smaller it was in comparison. Which was logical as there weren’t nearly as many female members from what she could tell.

In most of her recent visits, she’d had the locker room to herself. A far cry from other gyms she’d used to belong to.

Turning, she pushed the locker room door open and shouldn’t have been disappointed it appeared empty. Still, she went all the way inside to check the shower area too.

And found nothing.

Where in the world had Jeff Klapper gone?

Emerging from the locker room, she saw Mike and Cole talking in low voices near the front door. She turned to head back toward Mike’s small office area, determined to check the rear door.

Buildings were required by fire codes to have more than one exit. Maybe being a member of Rhy’s tactical team had made her overly paranoid, and the first time she’d toured the gym prior to paying for an annual membership, she’d asked Mike to show her the rear exit. Thankfully, he’d obliged.

As she passed Mike’s office, she heard her name. Glancing to the right where the storeroom was located, she saw Duncan lurking there. His eyes were wide, his scarred face mostly covered by his beard. She remembered Mike telling her Duncan had been in a work-related accident that had caused him to require surgery for deep facial lacerations. She hadn’t noticed them much before, but the white lines looked more pronounced up close.

“Jina, this way.” Duncan gestured for her to come closer. “I saw a guy leaving out the back before the shooting started.”

“You did?” She quickly hurried over to join him. “Do you know Jeff Klapper? I think he’s the guy who’s been targeting me.”

“Yeah, I know Jeff,” Duncan said with a nod. “He was here earlier, talking to Mike. I wasn’t included in their conversation, but I could tell Mike was concerned. Come with me, I’ll show you where he went.”

No surprise Klapper had gone out the back, just as she’d suspected. She nodded, and asked, “Does he drive a black Honda SUV?”

“Yep. I’ve seen it a couple of times,” Duncan admitted. “I was surprised when Mike said he needed to talk to Klapper. I had a feeling it was because you considered him a suspect.”

“You guessed right. Mike was trying to hold him here so I could confront him.” She wished they could have gotten there a few minutes earlier.

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