Page 91 of High Intensity

“Guys, maybe it’s easier if we move everyone to the front of the house,” I suggest. “Any more people back here, and Jillian’s dogs are going to come through that sliding door.” Those dogs have not stopped barking. “JD, can you carry Hunter?”

“Sure.”

James, who is more perceptive than any one of us, looks from me to Jillian and appears to catch her furtive glance at the dog kennel. Then he gives me the slightest of nods and walks over to help Jackson haul the bodyguard to his feet.

“How do you want to handle this?” I ask Jillian when the others start moving around the side of the house.

“Well, I can’t leave her out here, but I’m not about to hand her back to the FBI. She needs my help; she came looking for me for a reason, and I intend to find out what that is before I do anything.”

There is a note of challenge in her tone, daring me to disagree with her.

I don’t. Hayley came here looking for a safe haven and that little girl deserves to find one. Even if it may end up being short-lived.

“Can you get in the back door?” I ask her.

“Yes.”

“Good. I’m going to go out front and make sure no one comes back here, while you get her inside the house. As far as anyone needs to know, you’re trying to calm down your dogs.”

She nods, mouthing, “Thank you,” at me.

“Go.” I give her a little nudge in the direction of the dog run.

Jillian

I rush over to the kennel.

“Hayley?”I whisper when I can’t see her facein the crack between the door and the frame anymore.

From inside the kennel, I hear a slight rustle of the straw I leave in there for my dogs. When I ease the door open, it takesmy eyes a moment to adjust to the deep shadows inside. The first thing I notice is the colorful comforter from Hayley’s bed at the safe house. Then I see her, her back against the far wall.

“The man you saw me hug? That’s Wolff, he’s my boyfriend. Maybe you remember he carried you all the way from that cave where we found you to the ambulance? Right now, he is making sure no one comes into the backyard so I can get you safely inside my house, but we don’t have much time.”

I reach out my hand to her. For a brief moment I’m worried I may have no choice but to call in help to get her out of here, but then she grabs on to it.

“My dogs are barking like crazy and three of them aren’t tiny like Nugget, but I promise they’re all bark and no bite. You’ll love them.”

I babble on as I grab her comforter and wrap it around her shoulders, tucking her to my side as I hurry her through the yard to the back porch. There I have to let go of her to dig through my pockets for my damn house keys, hoping to God I didn’t lose them somewhere. I find them in the zippered inside breast pocket of my coat, and I fumble to grab hold of the right key with my gloved fingers.

I breathe a sigh of relief as I finally manage to locate the right one and am about to slip the key in the door lock. The creak of one of the steps up to the deck has me holding up short and when I look up, I catch the reflection of a man wearing a balaclava coming up behind us. He is carrying some kind of pipe in his hand.

“Hayley, duck!” I scream, whipping around when I see him hauling back to take a swing.

She drops down instantly, the pipe missing her by a hair, but catching me full on the left shoulder. My teeth slam together at the explosion of pain, rendering my entire arm useless, as the pipe clatters to the deck. But that doesn’t stop me when I see himreaching for Hayley, and I launch myself at him, wielding my keys in my right hand as my only weapon.

He’s bent over and not expecting my attack, so even though he’s larger than I am, I’m able to knock him off-balance and land on top of him. All I hear is the roaring of blood in my ears as I jab blindly at his head and face with my keys, and scream at the top of my lungs.

The only thought in my head is to keep him away from Hayley, so I fight with everything I have in me.

I’m still fighting when a pair of strong arms lift me off him.

“Easy…”

It takes me a moment to recognize the deep rumble in my ear as Jonas’s voice. Jackson and a sheriff’s deputy I don’t recognize are making quick work of putting our attacker in handcuffs. When I turn my head to see if Hayley is okay, I see her cradled in Wolff’s arms, her face pressed to his chest. His eyes are fixed on me as his mouth mumbles soothing words to her.

Only then do I feel the fight drain out of me, and I hang like a sack of potatoes against Jonas.

“You got him good, Jillian,” Jackson comments.

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