Page 15 of Raider Unleashed

“Thanks, I’ll reach out if I need you.”

“Fine. Where the hell am I going? And what was wrong with this guy?” Kian asked.

“Asthma that the ash set off.”

Kian grunted. “Lot of that going around.”

“Here’s Piper. She’s gonna tell you where she thinks the guy is.”

Piper took the phone and immediately launched into the description of the route she took. When she finished, Kian must have asked some questions because she repeated some things and tried to add more detail. Then there was a long silence at which point her face flushed and then lost all its color. She handed the phone back to Raider and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

“What did you say to her?” Raider demanded.

“Shit that needed saying. I’ve got this. I’ll see if I can find the guy. You call if you need help. If none of us hear from you in twenty-four hours, we’re coming for you.”

“Deal.” Raider hung up.

He handed the phone to Piper. “Call your people. If we’re gonna break into a bank, I’d like to not go to jail.”

Piper reluctantly took the phone and then went into the bathroom. She turned on the shower and closed the door.

Raider shook his head. Twenty-four hours and this should all be over...if Denlo didn’t decide to kill them all first. This job gave him all kinds of the willies. The whole thing didn’t quite add up. Twenty-four hours and he’d be back to enjoying retirement. Or he’d be six feet under. Neither choice appealed to him but bored was a hell of a lot better than dead.

7

Piper tried to gather herself. Kian had told her that if she hurt Raider again she’d have to answer to him. She didn’t blame him. What she’d done to Raider was unforgivable. If they all knew the truth, they would never even speak to her. Raider certainly wouldn’t be here helping her now.

She leaned against the sink and tried to push all the pain and sadness and grief back down deep in her soul.What’s done is done.There was no fixing it. She’d had to move on and she’d known she couldn’t do that if she saw Raider every day. The loss hurt her, but she’d never get over the hurt she’d caused him. Had she spared him by not telling him the facts behind her reasons? At the time, she thought she had. Didn’t matter how often she told herself she’d done the right thing, the truth still hurt so damn much. She couldn’t bear to think he’d have been in as much pain as she was. But in the end, aren’t the people you love supposed to help you through this kind of thing? She hadn’t helped Raider, and by not telling the truth, she’d denied him the opportunity to help her.

She dialed her boss. “Chambers,” his voice came down the line.

“It’s me.”

“Where are you?” he demanded.

“At a small motel just outside of Hilo. Are you here on the Big Island?”

“Yes, but we’re around the other side. We’re trying to get set up with the locals but with the volcano, no one has time for us. We don’t have any resources. We’re kind of screwed here. What the hell were you thinking getting on that plane?” His voice was harsh and full of the anxiety that she felt down to her toes.

“I…I was thinking it’s our chance to get the guy in charge, the one who killed Marta. I?—”

“The only thing you’re gonna get is yourself killed,” Chambers cut her off. “We’ve got nothing here. Locals are all caught up in the volcano shit and the ATF office on Oahu is involved in some big bust. They might be able to swing some help but they’re not sure.” John Chambers swore again. “Jesus, Piper, the higher-ups are all over me on this. Even if we get you out of this, I’m not sure you’ll have a job left to come back to.”

That was a punch to the solar plexus. All the air left her lungs. No job…what the hell had she been thinking? What were they supposed to do? She disobeyed a direct order. “I…I get it. I’ll…worry about that later. In the meantime, this is what’s going on.” Piper spent the next few minutes filling her boss in. “Look, I gotta go. I’m not sure if I’ll get a chance to call again but I’ll do my best to reach out.”

“Piper…just be careful.”

She let out a half laugh.Too late for that.She hung up and stared at herself in the mirror for a second. No question she’d really screwed up this time. She came out of the bathroom and sat down at the table facing the door. She needed to keep physical distance from Raider, or she just might throw herself into his arms. It was the only place she’d ever felt truly safe.

Raider closed a drawer and stood facing her. “Nothing here we can use as a weapon.”

“No,” she agreed. “I already looked.”

She held the phone out to Raider. He grabbed it as the room door opened with no warning. Raider immediately palmed the phone. Piper stood and the two turned towards the doorway. Denlo stood there his hand on his gun. “We’ve got to move. They just declared this an evacuation zone. Cops are going to be coming around. We need to be out of here ASAP.”

Raider grabbed the blueprints off the bed and rolled them up. Piper followed him and Denlo out of the room to the van. She got behind the wheel and they pulled out of the lot.

“Where to?”

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