Page 67 of Protecting Kelli
“All right. Stay where you are. Stay quiet. We’ll be there soon. You’re doing good. So good, sweetheart.”
She didn’t feel as if she was doing good. Her nose still itched, her body felt as if it was cramping because of the position she was in, and breathing still wasn’t easy, especially now that she’d gone and started crying.
“Do we know who it is?” Dude asked.
“No.”
That had Kelli thinking. Whowasin her apartment? What did they want? She was on the fourth floor. In the middle of the hall. Not exactly a prime position for someone to choose to break in. Had they watched her? Did they know she was a woman living alone? She hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary, but that didn’t mean much. She was no Navy SEAL, she wasn’t trained to look for anyone who might be casing her apartment.
It could be the maintenance guy. He was kind of strange. Or the manager, he had a master key as well…but unlikely at this time of night.
The question of who could be in her apartment, who’d trashed it, who was in her kitchen even now, microwavingbaconof all things, was a complete mystery.
“I’m hanging up. I’ll see you shortly,” Dude said succinctly.
“Kelli?” Flash asked after a moment. “You still there?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“One of my favorite memories of Jamaica was Fred the grasshopper. Remember?”
She did. It had been her turn to come up with a fairy tale. She’d made up the silly story about Fred, and Flash had laughed so hard.
“I think you should write it down. It would make a great children’s book. Have you thought about doing that for a living? Telling stories?”
She knew what he was doing. Trying to distract her. Amazingly, it was working. Flash continued to talk to her in an even, calm tone as he made his way toward her. She couldn’t hear anything from her bedroom or beyond now. And the smell of bacon had diminished. There was notelling if the person who’d broken in was still there or if he’d left.
Suddenly the image of Flash bursting through the front door, only to be met by a guy with a gun, had her shaking almost uncontrollably.
“I don’t know if he has a gun,” she whispered. “I didn’t see him.”
“It’s okay, Kelli. I’ve got this. Don’t worry.”
Don’t worry. Yeah, right. Kelli was one big ball of worry at the moment.
“I’m going to be there in three minutes. No matter what you hear, I want you to stay hidden. Don’t come out until I give the all clear. I can’t do what I’ve been trained to do if I’m worrying about you getting hurt. Okay? Will you stay put until you hear me call out Fred? I figure that’s as good a code word as any.”
His words ramped up her stress level, but Kelli managed to say, “Yes.”
“Good girl. This will be over soon. I promise. You’ve been so brave. So smart to hide where he couldn’t find you. I’m impressed. Okay, I’m pulling in. Dude just arrived too. I’m going to hang up, but I’m here. You’ll see me soon.”
Kelli swallowed hard. “Be careful,” she whispered.
“I will. I have a hot date tonight that I’m not going to miss for anything. Soon, sweetheart.”
The line went dead. Shockingly, Kelli found that she was smiling at his date comment. How the hell had he done that? Made hersmilein the middle of what was a truly terrifying situation? He was stressed, she could hear it in his voice. And yet he was still focused and calm. Much as he’d been in that bus in Jamaica.
Flash was always in control—andthat’swhy Kelli couldsmile. Because he was good at what he did. And that was the reason she’d called him instead of the police. If whoever had broken in was still there, Flash would take care of him. Subdue him. Hold him until the police could arrive and arrest him. She just had to stay quiet and hidden until he said the code word.
Taking a deep breath, Kelli strained to hear anything from her hiding spot. The suspense was killing her, but she wouldn’t move, not one inch, until Flash said it was all right. She trusted him with her life. Period.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Flash leaped out of his SUV and nodded at Dude. They took the stairs up to the fourth floor of Kelli’s apartment two at a time. There was no one around. The place was deserted, but that didn’t mean whoever had broken into Kelli’s apartment wasn’t still in there.
Acting as if they’d worked together all their lives—once a SEAL, always a SEAL—Dude went to one side of the door and Flash took the other. It was obvious the door had been tampered with. There were what looked like pry marks on the doorjamb and the door wasn’t closed all the way.
Flash held his pistol at the ready, as did Duke, and his fellow SEAL’s narrowed eyes and pressed lips indicated he was just as prepared to act, no matter what they might find inside.
