Hidden Impact (Safeguard #1)(48)

“Not a bad thing.”

“Easy for you to say. You’re experienced with this. Do you ever get used to it all?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer so she kept talking, keeping her voice low even though he’d have told her if he needed her to be silent. “It happened and I saw where I could’ve been sitting. Only I’m not and I am very glad to be walking here.”

“Absorb it all later,” he advised. “Here. Now. You act. Listen to what I tell you to do and trust your gut. You’ve come through this great so far. Keep doing it.”

“Really?” She had an inane moment imagining herself as the first victim to die in a bad horror movie.

“Yes.” He paused. “Don’t get cocky.”

She smiled. And tripped.

His hand around her shoulders kept her from falling flat on her face. She kind of wished she had, so she could hide her burning cheeks.

“All right? You didn’t hurt your ankle, did you?” He didn’t stop but he’d slowed down.

Last thing she wanted to be was dead weight. Ignoring the very minor twinge in her right ankle, she paced him. “No. I’ll try to keep a better eye on where I’m putting my feet.”

“This is far enough anyway.” He pulled her into the shelter of another tree. “We’ll wait for Lizzy to pull up.”

The tree line was closer to the road here, and she could see buildings through the trees all around them. A sound barrier picked up where the trees left off some ways ahead of them.

She took a good look at Gabe then, the tension in his jaw. “You are mad.”

“Not at you.”

“What, then?” She tilted her head until it rested against the inside of his shoulder. He’d told her to leave his arms free when they were outside. Even if he had one around her now, she didn’t want to hang on to it in case he needed to let go of her in a hurry. So she wrapped her arms around herself to avoid the temptation of holding on to him.

“I should have checked the car more closely before we got into it.” He scowled. “I didn’t anticipate them finding my car, tampering with it.”

His phone rang.





Chapter Fourteen

“Hello.” Gabe had an idea of who it might be, but since the caller came up as unknown on his phone, he’d wait to see if life would surprise him.

“Still ever so warm and charming when you answer your calls, I see.” Jewel’s voice came across the line.

Nope. Not this time.

“Still doing your dirty work from a distance,” he shot back. Gabe, one. Recent life surprises, zero.

At his side, Maylin stared at him with narrowed eyes. It wouldn’t take her long to figure out who’d called, if she hadn’t already.

“Oh, you enjoy my little present? I had one of my colleagues pop it into the tire for you as a teaser and leave the main gift right where you’d see it.” She laughed. “How far are you from the car at this point?”

Far enough away to have survived the blast, as she obviously knew. No need to give her any more detail, but he scanned the surrounding area for more gifts.

Seeing the damned second detonator hadn’t been a surprise after the initial blowout, but he hadn’t been prepared for the shot of fear that cut through him as he’d glanced up to see Maylin watching him from inside the car. Getting her out had overridden any other thought in his head.

“Did you have your new boy toy tamper with the car door and seat belt, too? Or were those personal touches from him?” It’d be good to know. Gabe planned to hunt the bastard down for this, but it never hurt to know exactly which parts had been the other man’s idea.

Maylin’s lips pressed together in a grim line. She motioned for the phone and mimed her talking into it.

He gave her what he hoped was a quelling look. Her eyes narrowed even further and he wondered just how badly he was going to pay for that later.

“I might have given him some helpful ideas, but the final touches were all his.” Jewel had to be aware of Gabe’s intentions. Still, she’d thrown the other man under the bus, and she might not even warn the guy unless she liked him. It was one of her habits Gabe didn’t miss.

“The detonators are your guilty pleasure.” Gabe wondered what she wanted, following up with the call. Maybe her colleague hadn’t managed to tail them close enough to confirm whether they’d been caught in the explosion or not. She did like to confirm just how much damage she’d done with her handiwork. “Never saw a vehicle you didn’t want to explode.”

“This is true. I do like to make things go boom.” He could picture the slow smile spreading across her lips. A long time ago he might’ve grinned at the thought, but now only a slow burn of anger built. He and she had been in solid sync once upon a time. Not anymore. “But I don’t want your little galley cook dead yet. I just want to put a touch of proper fear into her. She was much too confident when I had the pleasure of meeting her.”

He wrapped his arm around Maylin tighter. If Jewel was set on killing her, he’d go under and take Maylin with him. Once they were away, no one would find them.

“Really, Gabe. You are so very serious. It’s why I sent you those presents. Without me around, who would keep you guessing?”

Maylin muttered against his shoulder and lifted her fist to give him a solid thump on the chest.