Page 90 of Her Silver Fox Mountain Men

“Hey, honey,” Igor hisses, grinning like a demon. “Long time no see.”

His gun comes down. Hard.

He hits me over the head with just enough force to knock me off my feet. Burning pain shoots through me as I lean into the table, the ledger and manila envelope slipping from my hands.

I can’t hold on. I can’t stand.

Everything turns black.

32

Oliver

It’s the call I’ve dreaded from the minute I heard about Elise’s surprise move.

“They left about ten minutes ago,” Sheriff Van Pelt says as we get out of our cars and rush up the front steps of Rustic Union Bank. “I’ve got my deputies combing the town and its surrounding areas… they’ve been alerted of the danger.”

The whole building has been cordoned off.

An ambulance is parked at the base of the steps, lights flashing. The bank personnel and the customers have all been evacuated are lined up close to the street corner, where one of Van Pelt’s deputies is taking statement after statement. The rest of the crime scene unit is inside.

“Where is my daughter?” Lev demands, storming ahead accompanied by Andrei and Michael. The three of them look pale, sweaty, and scared, threading a fine line that will descend into chaos unless they get a grip on their emotions.

“Right through there. She’s stable,” the sheriff replies.

We follow him across the main hall and through the corridor, finally reaching the vault room. There’s a dead guy on the floor with his back against the wall. Andrei is the first to recognize him. “Shit, that’s Dmitri.”

“Kara’s guard,” Michael tells me.

“Where the fuck is Piotr?” Lev asks, though I’m not sure who’s expected to answer at this point. Standing by the door and shaking like a leaf is Steve, the bank manager. “Who did this?”

“I don’t know,” Steve mumbles, but the sheriff interjects.

“Your daughter is right over here,” he says.

Inside the vault room, we find Kara on a mobile gurney, flanked by two paramedics while one of the deputies takes photos of the entire scene, causing white flashes to cut across my field of vision over and over again.

“Kara, honey,” Lev says and rushes to her side.

She’s barely awake; an oxygen mask covers her face. Her brown coat is loose, layer upon layer of bandages pressed into her wounds. There’s plenty of blood and torn fabric—the paramedics had to move fast in order to get the bleeding under control from what I can tell.

“What the fuck happened here?” Andrei asks.

“He got her,” Kara whispers, the steam of her breath fogging up her oxygen mask. “Igor shot me and took Elise. He’s got the evidence, the ledger…”

“We have to get her to the hospital,” one of the paramedics says.

“Mike and I will go with Kara,” Andrei says, staying close to the paramedics as he takes Kara’s limp hand in his. “You stay withthe sheriff and the guys. Get Elise back. Get Igor under control.”

“Will she be alright?” Lev asks the paramedics.

“She’s lost a lot of blood,” one of them replies. “But both bullets went through and through and missed any organs or major arteries. Overall, she’s lucky.”

“Papa, find Elise,” Kara manages, struggling to stay awake. “Find her…”

“I will, darling.”

They wheel Kara out of the vault room, a heavy silence remaining in her wake.

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