Indecent Danger (Danger Incorporated #3)(63)

Humming a soft tune, Lotte emptied a waste basket into a trash bag. “I usually do ten and eleven but we’ve got a girl out sick today which means the rest of us have to pick up a little extra. Now tell me, how can you kind of find a person? Did she turn you down?”

Shane grinned and scratched his chin. “Let’s go with that. How are you, Lotte?”

“I’m fine,” she drawled with a laugh. “My day is almost over so I can’t complain. How are you gentlemen?”

Coughing, probably at being called a gentleman, Shane pointed to Martin’s door. “We’re good. Just going to visit a friend on this floor.”

“Enjoy yourselves. I’m going–”

Lotte didn’t get any farther. The sound of two gunshots, one after the other, rang out, jerking Travis out of his reverie and into fight or flight mode. Both he and Shane pushed Lotte to the floor, their bodies covering hers before looking up cautiously. Adrenaline coursed through Travis’s veins and his muscles tensed as shouts could be heard coming from Martin’s suite.

Ignoring the sputtering of his heart Travis sprung to his feet, ripping the pass key out of the door lock from the room Lotte had been cleaning. He didn’t bother to look behind him knowing that Shane would be right on his heels.

“Call 911,” Travis yelled over his shoulder as he hurriedly tried to shove the card into the slot. His shaking fingers made it difficult and a string of curses fell from his lips even as blood roared in his ears.

Get to Aubrey. Get to her. Protect her.

He didn’t want to think about what was behind this door or what could have happened. Unarmed and completely in the dark, he was in no state to be able to deal with any threat to the woman he loved. All he had was himself and his determination. Hopefully it would be enough.

Crouching close to the floor, he slowly pushed open the door, peering cautiously around it. Travis didn’t see anyone and swung the door wider, Shane right behind him. They stayed low to the ground, not wanting to become the target of a shooter that may or may not be in this hotel room. Travis prayed that neither of them were here and that they were still downstairs in the spa or at the bar.

Please don’t let my girl be hurt.

“Help. Please help us.”

The bloody scene he came upon punched him in the gut and almost had him doubled over in exquisite pain.

Both women were on the floor, Aubrey on her back in a pool of blood while Caroline, also covered in crimson knelt next to her friend, one hand pressed to Aubrey’s abdomen, the other bloody and mangled, hung uselessly at her side.

“Caroline? Aubrey?” Travis knelt next to the woman he loved, his breaking heart pounding painfully against his ribs and thick acid choking off his oxygen. Tears sprang to his eyes as his gaze ran up and down Aubrey, so still and ghostly white. “Aubrey, baby, can you hear me?”

“It was Tom.” Caroline coughed, barely able to speak, not looking much better than Aubrey. “We found him trying to plant evidence against Alana and so he tried to shoot us. Make it look like a murder-suicide. We rushed him to get the gun but we were both hit.”

Shane’s hand squeezed Travis’s shoulder but he barely felt it, numbness beginning to seep into every crevice of his being. If he lost Aubrey…

Don’t. Don’t even f*cking think it.

“Keep pressure on that gunshot,” Shane ordered. “You’re doing a great job. Lotte called 911 and there is an ambulance on the way. Where is Tom?”


Caroline glanced over to the French doors that led to the patio that were wide open. “He went out there and climbed down, I think. We managed to get the gun from him and he ran.”

“Good job,” Travis praised, his voice cracking as his hands settled on Aubrey’s blood soaked belly. “You’re exhausted—let me take over. Just slide your hand away and I’ll move mine to take their place.”

“I’m going after Lovell,” Shane announced, levering to his feet. “Will you be okay?”

“Go. I can’t leave her.”

I’ll never leave you, baby. Don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me. I love you. So damn much.

Caroline was shaking her head, tears streaming down her face and Travis realized he too was crying, his vision blurred. His entire body trembled with the very real fear that he just might lose this woman just as he had found her.

“Let me take over, Caro,” Travis said quietly, the words coming out like a shovel scraped against a gravel road. “You’re going to pass out.”

The young woman didn’t budge. “I’m…okay.”

He slid his hands until they lay on top of hers while keeping his eye on Aubrey. If anything she was paler than she was before which Travis didn’t think was even possible, but now her lips had disappeared into her face and purple shadows bruised the flesh under her eyes, her skin almost translucent. He could barely catch his breath as she slipped further from him with each passing second.

This is all my fault. If I’d figured it out sooner this wouldn’t have happened.

“It’s okay,” Travis cajoled, ignoring the pain in his chest and gut, the utter failure that had allowed this to happen. “I’ve got her. It’s okay.”

Caroline’s fingers slid out from under his as her eyes rolled back in her head, slumping on the floor next to Aubrey. A flurry of footsteps entered the suite and then the EMTs were there, asking questions and pushing him aside.