Page 39 of Relentless

CHAPTER TWELVE

“I want to see. You might be mistaken.”

Liam shook his head, holding Piper tight as her body reacted to his news about Gavin’s death. Tremors wracked her frame. “You don’t want your last memory of Gavin to be of him like this.” He’d seen plenty of death in his years in black ops. Piper didn’t need the sight of her former boyfriend with a bullet through his heart burned into her brain.

She buried her face against his neck.

“I’m sorry, baby.” He held Piper while she wept. When the tears slowed, Liam bent until his mouth was beside her ear. “You aren’t safe here.”

When she gave a slight nod, he started them down the mountainside.

“We can’t allow Barone to find the information and destroy it or Gavin’s death will be in vain.”

“We’ll talk later.” When they couldn’t be overheard and Liam wouldn’t worry about bullets flying toward them.

He tightened his arm around her waist and lengthened his stride. Urgency gripped him. He needed to get Piper under cover. This whole thing felt like a setup.

On the other side of Piper, Simon scanned the area as he pulled out his phone and made a call. “Z, we’ve got trouble.” In terse words, he gave updated the tech guru. “We need everything you can find on Gavin James.” Simon glanced at Liam. “And tell the lawyer to stay on standby.”

Piper wiped tears from her face. “What will we do, Liam?”

“Whatever we have to do.” Despite the pitfalls of reporting Gavin’s death, Liam didn’t have the heart to leave the man’s body for a hiker to stumble upon or for the wild animals to devour.

His only hope of staying out of jail lay in the time of death and the fact Gavin hadn’t been seen for hours before he and Piper registered at the resort. Definitely not an air-tight alibi, though. Liam hadn’t stopped on the way to the resort to minimize the risk to Piper, a problem now that he needed proof he wasn’t in the area prior to registering at the resort.

He hoped Zane could hack into the traffic cams on their route and get the time-stamped footage of their SUV passing various points along the way. Liam’s gut tightened into a knot. That would take time and meant being separated from Piper again. At least Simon was here to protect her if the cops hauled Liam in for intensive questioning. Unfortunately, they might question Simon as well, which would leave piper without a bodyguard. Liam had to be sure she was covered. “Everything will work out, Piper.”

“How can you say that? These people killed Gavin. I don’t want to lose you.”

Something startled wildlife to their left.

He tightened his hold on Piper’s waist and propelled her faster through the woods. Simon dropped back to cover them.

Liam scanned to his left and noticed a bright reflection. His gut knotted. “Gun!” He shoved Piper behind a large boulder and dragged her to the forest floor as shots rang out. He covered her body with his. Shards of rock flew in every direction, some peppering him and Piper. “Stay down,” he murmured, getting into a crouch beside her.

He glanced at Simon. “Get a bead on his location?”

“Ten o’clock. Stay with Piper. I’ll circle around and take him down.”

Although he longed to go after the thug himself, Liam nodded. Keeping Piper safe was his priority. “We need him alive.”

“That’s up to him.”

“Watch your back, Simon. He might have a friend.”

He was gone with a whisper of movement.

“Where’s he going?” Piper started to get up.

Liam laid a hand on her shoulder. “Not yet. Simon is hunting for the shooter.”

Her eyes widened. “Go with him. He shouldn’t go alone.”

“Simon knows what he’s doing. One of us needs to stay with you in case the shooter has a friend using the shots as a distraction to capture you.”

More shots rang out, this time from a different location. On alert, Liam maneuvered to the right side of the rock and surveyed the dense brush and trees, wishing he had his M107 sniper rifle instead of a Sig. Would have looked odd striding into the forest with his sniper rifle strapped to his back, though. He’d have to make do with the shorter-range weapon.

A single shot was followed by a loud yelp from the left. Then there was silence.

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