Page 14 of Deadly Threat
They passed a row of closed shops. Sirens echoed on the wind in the distance. Another accident, or crime, the cops needed to respond to. “How? You did what you could.”
“Story of my life. Too bad it’s never enough.”
She felt his pain, his anger over it. “I know that feeling, but we can’t focus on what we should have done.” Her therapist was pouring out of her mouth now. Usually, she mentally rolled her eyes at this speech, but it gave her an anchor under the current situation. “You stepped in front of a gunman and were willing to take a bullet for me. I can’t thank you enough, but we have to focus on what we can do inthismoment.”
The garage was up ahead. He pulled keys from his pocket and they jingled. “You’ll have to give me the address for the vet clinic.”
He didn’t like glory, to be recognized for his bravery. Okay, she could appreciate that.
One step at a time. Mia dropped a kiss on the dog’s head. “I will fry the skin from that guy’s entire body when I get hold of him,” she told her.
Ladybug whimpered and licked her chin.
“She’s a trooper,” Malachi remarked.
Mia felt her heart pinch. Ladybugwasa trooper. Her whole family was. After what they’d all been through…
Amber. The old panic rallied under her skin, threatening to overwhelm her at any second She’d already lost one sister, she wasn’t about to lose the other.Stay focused on logic, not emotion.That was key.
The garage was dark, lit only by infrequent wall lamps that glowed an off-white. The air was laced with the scent of rubber, oil, and gas. Following him to the second floor, he stopped at a fancy truck and the brake lights flickered when he hit the key fob. “We’ll take care of her first, then get more feet on the street to find your sister.”
An idea struck as he helped them up into the high seat. “Are you some kind of cop?”
His mouth tweaked. “No, I’m not in law enforcement, but I have a working knowledge of it.”
Whateverthatmeant. She eyed him. Through the years, she’d brushed elbows with types like him, thanks to Amber’s involvement in government. “Let me guess, you’re a spy or with some other alphabet agency that you can’t tell me about.”
That brought a laugh. He got in and the engine roared to life. “Not hardly. I’m a fugitive apprehension agent.”
“A bounty hunter?” Her mouth hung open.Thatshe had not expected. She adjusted her messenger bag. “Like that Dog guy on TV?”
Another chuckle as he backed out of the parking spot and headed for the gate. “Not quite, but there are similarities. I run Bondsman Brothers Agency and we specialize.”
Again with the vagueness, but she liked seeing him smile. “In what?”
He stopped at the ticket booth and paid. “We work with certain arms of the government on high-risk cases.”
Somewhere in there was the truth. She punched the address of the vet into his on-dash GPS. The female voice of the nav system purred, instructing him to turn left as they entered the street. “So you hunt spies and other fugitives who’ve been trained by our government when they go to the dark side?”
Surprise animated his features, his face spotlighted by the equally spaced street lamps. “In a nutshell, yes.”
For some reason, she felt as though she’d just gotten a gold star. “Do you get hazardous pay?”
The smile dimmed. “I wish. We’re lucky to keep our business in the black.”
The street lights sent waves of ghostly bars across the hood and into her lap. Ladybug kept holding up her paw. She was trembling now and Mia’s heart squeezed. “There must be some excellent benefits, at least.”
He seemed to think this over. “My brothers and I get to use our training and we work side-by-side with good people. Not everyone has a job like that.”
The nav voice spoke again, and Mia fell silent. She couldn’t stop hearing Amber yelling, couldn’t stop seeing the eyes of the man who’d hurt Ladybug.I’ll come back for you.
She rubbed a hand over her face. After her rehab stint, she’d taken self-defense classes, including weapons training. She’d even considered carrying a handgun initially, but it never felt right. Instead, she always had her pepper spray and stun gun. Neither had helped her tonight, both buried in the bottom of her bag.I’ll be waiting, she mentally told her attacker.
As if he knew where her thoughts had gone, Malachi reached over and gently touched her arm. “There was nothing you could have done.”
It sounded good, meant to pacify her, soothe her aching heart. She could tell by his tone, he believed it. She’d basically told him the same thing only minutes ago.
He certainly had more insight and experience with the world of criminals, but the scene played over and over. There had to have been something—anything—that she could have done differently. “Why did they take her?”
