Page 66 of Deadly Designs

It took guts to place a bug on an official policevehicle. Unfortunately, that meant the COBRA Securities safe househad been compromised. There was no indication that the personresponsible for the accident had anything to do with Pastor Chet.One of the criminals the detective had put away over the yearsmight’ve made the call. Christian wasn’t taking chances.

“What about the men the detective was going toquestion?”

“One of the other detectives took over.”

That could be bad. They might not know what hadhappened. Detective Herbert was well-versed in all aspects of thecase. “Do they know the situation or what questions to ask?”

“Yes. Herbert had filled him in earlier, and he wasgoing to accompany her to the interviews. He’s one of the best atgetting criminals to spill their guts, so she would’ve relied onhim to coax a confession.”

“Good.”

After asking the captain to keep him in the loop andexchanging contact information, Christian headed back to Presley’sroom. On the way, he texted BeBe, asking for new accommodations.His phone rang seconds after he hit the send button.

“Hey, Christian,” BeBe said. “You don’t need toapologize.”

“I do. You shouldn’t have to be on call twenty-fourseven.” Though he didn’t know what he or his coworkers would dowithout her. He told her his fears that their location had beencompromised.

“It’s what I live for,” she responded. “Well, afterTank. He’s number one. Anyway, I always have a backup,” sherevealed. “It’s not the first time this has happened.” She gave hima new address and a code to open the gate.

“You are incredible. Thank you.”

When Christian returned to her room, Presley wasasleep. Aja Blue and Kayne sat beside her bed. They both stood whenhe entered, and they left together. He told them what he hadlearned from the captain and about their alternate lodging.

“I’m sure the detective has plenty of enemies,” notedKayne. “Why do you think the accident had something to do with AjaBlue’s case?”

“I don’t know if it does, but I’m not takingchances.”

#

Aja Blue felt horrible that Presley and the detectivehad been injured. It was hard not to feel responsible. Presley wasin Virginia because of her. No, it wasn’t Aja Blue’s fault thatsomeone had targeted Jay and thereby her, but that didn’t changehow she felt.

Packing up the house went fast. Christian had toldher to live out of her suitcase, and now she was glad. A few itemsin the bathroom were all she needed to collect, and she was readyto go. She glanced at the bed where she and Christian had firstmade love, hating that she had to leave. She knew it would happeneventually, but it would always hold special memories for her.

Christian wanted to take the groceries, so theypacked them into boxes and loaded them into the SUV. Instead ofdriving two vehicles, they would leave one, and someone from theiroffice would arrange to return it. Since the one Presley and Kayneused had equipment and supplies in the back, Christian choseit.

Kayne drove with Christian riding shotgun. Aja Bluesat in the back and tried not to panic about everything that hadhappened. She’d never been a doomsayer, but the last few days hadtested her resolve. She was afraid to let her guard down for amoment. It felt like something ominous was around the corner.

The gate opened, and Kayne motored through. Somethingpinged against the driver’s side door and the next thing Aja Blueknew, Christian ordered her to get down as he rolled down hiswindow and fired his weapon. She was thrown forward when Kayneshifted into reverse and gunned the accelerator. They came to ascreeching stop back inside the gate.

“There. I saw him,” Christian said. “Aja Blue, stayhere. I mean it.”

The doors opened, and then Christian and Kayne weregone, leaving her in a sudden silence punctuated by the pounding ofher heart. She felt helpless doing nothing while they risked theirlives.

A gunshot sounded, and Aja Blue forgot tobreathe.

Chapter Nineteen

As soon as the bullet hit the sideof the SUV, Christian rolled down his window to fire back and buytime for Kayne to get them to safety, which he did. A streetlightglinted off the barrel of the weapon, and he spotted the shooter ina tree.

After ordering Aja Blue to stay put, he and Kayneraced to where the man had set up to ambush them.

“I see him,” Kayne said. “He’s climbing down.” Thenthey heard a motorcycle fire up.

“He’s getting away.”

They raced forward to find a person dressed head totoe in black zip down the street. Chrisitan fired, but he was toofar away.

His instinct to switch safe houses had been spot-on.Theirs had been compromised when Detective Herbert had visited,which also meant that the accident earlier in the evening wasconnected. He needed to inform Captain Parsa but would prioritizegetting Aja Blue to the next safe house.

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