LITMIR.BIZ

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shoulders fell as she blew out a long breath. “I heard a shot...or I thought I did.”

      She wouldn’t like the answer, but Shane offered it anyway. “Killed the dog.”

      Cam swore under his breath. “That sucks.”

      An awful situation, but the death toll could have been so much worse and Shane remained grateful it wasn’t. “At least it wasn’t a person.”

      “I like dogs.” Cam moved out of the way as the ambulance crew brought in the stretcher.

      “Is this what you guys always talk about on a job?” Makena watched every move as the crew lifted the still body and locked the stretcher in place. Her voice shook and a certain sadness moved in her dark eyes.

      Shane wanted to make it better. Fought the urge to go to her, put an arm around her...test his control to its very limit. But he would do it for her. Or he would have done it if the audience didn’t consist of Cam and Connor and what looked like six police officers filing in and out of the house as the detectives talked in the corner.

      Unable to think of the right thing to say, Shane went with the one thing that might help. “He’s trying to calm you.”

      Her eyes narrowed as her head turned and she stared at Cam. “Really?”

      “He’s terrible at it. Makes you pity Julia, doesn’t it?” Julia White, the love of Cam’s life. The reason Shane now hesitated when he called in a favor or needed backup as he played a hunch.

      “The office is working on background on the attacker.” Connor talked over all of them. “Preliminary reports are he had a record. Petty stuff.”

      “Are we sure that’s it?” Shane glanced around, from the discarded fire poker to the magazines strewn all over the floor. Despite the battle, most of the furniture and other stuff in the room remained intact. But the man was still dead. “If so, it looks as if he escalated this time.”

      Connor nodded as he retrieved his cell from his back pocket. “We need to call Holt.”

      “No.” Makena put her hand over the phone. Looked as though she tried to tug it out of Connor’s hands.

      Connor pulled it out of reach. “Excuse me?”

      Before she said a word, Shane knew where this was going to go. Holt had met Lindsey during a job. She had grown up in a cult but possessed an inner strength. Holt hadn’t stood a chance against her. He fell in love in the equivalent of a week. He’d spent two months going back and forth from his house in Maryland to hers in Oregon, but he was on his way back home and bringing Lindsey with him for good this time.

      “He needs to stay with Lindsey.” Makena spoke slowly, as if she were explaining a big idea to a small child. “The only way he’ll do that now is if he doesn’t know this happened.”

      Connor waited until she finished. “That’s not an option.”

      The stretcher rolled by and Shane moved the group to the side to stay out of the way. He also lowered his voice as the rumble of conversation in the room died down. “It actually is.”

      “This explanation should be interesting,” Cam said under his breath.

      “Makena can stay with me.” Shane ignored Connor’s lifted eyebrow and the stunned expression on Makena’s face, though he thought she could play her shock down a bit. “For protection.”

      Cam cleared his throat. “Uh-huh.”

      “Protection?” Connor asked at the same time.

      Shane decided to ignore both of them. “We need to move her to a safe location while we confirm this guy’s identity and figure out why he had her contact information, because that suggests more than a burglary gone wrong.”

      “And you’re volunteering to be her bodyguard.” Connor hesitated over each word, not bothering to ask it as a question. “You think that’s a good idea?”

      “I’m standing right here.” Makena rolled her eyes. “And I’m a grown-up who should be part of this conversation, in case you gentlemen missed that fact.”

      Shane could fight his team or Makena, not both. “Someone sent men after you and we need to know why.”

      “Because of Corcoran, I assume.” Connor glanced at the detectives. “I’ve ordered a lockdown just to be safe.”

      “That sounds bad.” Makena bit her bottom lip.

      “My wife is not a fan of the protocol,” Connor said. “No one on the team is, since it involves being trapped inside and having the women in our lives skip their regular schedules. Not exactly an easy task since they fight every minute of it.”

      Makena snorted. “Good for them.”

      “Easy for you to say.” Cam whistled. “Julia is going to be ticked off.”

      Shane jumped back in before the conversation devolved into an us-versus-them battle. “You guys handle the lockdown and I’ll handle Makena.”

      Her eyebrow lifted. “Oh, really?”

      Okay, that was a miscalculation. He knew that tone. Dreaded that tone. “Your safety.”

      “Right.” Cam nodded. “That’s what you meant.”

      Connor shifted just enough to bring everyone’s attention snapping back to him. “I’ll give you a twenty-four-hour reprieve on calling in Holt.”

      That was not going to go over well. Shane started a mental countdown. Ten, nine, eight...

      “Don’t I get to decide?” Makena asked.

      “No.” Connor’s smile faded as fast as it came. “In the meantime, I need to go finish my ‘Homeland Security is taking over’ speech.”

      “That explains the uniforms.” Makena’s gaze roamed over Connor’s vest.

      Shane liked the Homeland ones. There was a certain subtlety to the white lettering on the dark material. Better than the FBI. The team had them all. Whatever the job called for, they were ready.

      “I wear this, I flash paperwork and give out a phone number that rings in the office of a very important man, and we control the crime scene. No questions asked, which is what we need right now.” From anyone else the comment would have come off more egotistical than realistic. Somehow Connor sold it.

      Not that Makena was easy to impress. “That’s a lot of power.”

      “I can be trusted.” Connor winked and then walked away, forging a path as policemen shifted out of his way.

      Cam waited a second, then followed. “I’m going to watch.”

      A crowd formed around Connor as he rapid-fired questions. Shane appreciated the distraction. Because it left him alone with Makena at least for a few minutes. Enough time had passed. He wanted answers.

      “What’s in that safe?” He’d kept the police interest off the bedroom and whatever Makena had locked in there, but he wanted to know.

      She shushed him. Actually shushed him. “Not now.”

      He wanted to insist, but as his mind ran through the events of the past few hours, he couldn’t bring himself to put her through one more thing. Not that they could wait long. Not with gunmen on the loose and a dead body being taken to the morgue. “Your time is running out.”

      Her eyebrow lifted. “Meaning?”

      His temper. He’d had enough game playing during his marriage to last him forever.

      With a hand on her forearm, he steered her out the front door to the porch. Neighbors milled around the yard, shadowed in the police cars’ headlights. Darkness had fallen and a cool breeze carried the smell of the nearby river up to the cottage.

      He ignored all of it and concentrated

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