Page 29 of Protect Me

I call my brother, checking in and explaining our current situation.Tate is worried but glad I am still with Shane.He trusts Ian Taggart and his team, and I take comfort in that.Still, at this point, it is a race to see if the helicopter arrives with reinforcements before the guy who followed me decides to make his move, demanding the formula.

The plan is for Shane and Ian to take me to Sheila so I can turn over the formula in person.Of course, that assumes we can reach her and set up a meeting place.

Shane walks over and places a hand on my shoulders.“How are you?”he asks, his breath warm in my ear.

“Good.”

“Liar,” he whispers, his fingers massaging the tight knots in my muscles.

“Okay, in pain.”I don’t want him to feel guilty.“It had to be done.I wasn’t going to walk around knowing my every movement was being tracked like I’m some animal.”

I nod.“I know.Look, when we get out of this mess—”

I don’t know what he plans to say, and Jonah interrupts us anyway.

“We’ve got company.”

Shane pulls out his gun and stalks to where Jonah watches the screen.A black sedan turns onto the unpaved path.

“That’s the car,” Shane says.

Jonah hits a button and resets the spikes he turned off for our approach, so they will spring up as a car passes, ripping apart any tires that dare to pass.

“What is he working on that he needs this kind of protection?”Shane asks, not for the first time.But Jonah didn’t answer him the first go-round.

He won’t reply now.

And he doesn’t.

The car slows before hitting the blades, coming to a stop.A solo man in the sedan appears to be talking into a cell phone before he climbs out of the car and begins to approach by foot in the pouring rain.

“He probably called for backup,” Shane mutters.He hits a button on his own cell and checks in with Ian.“How far out?”he asks.

“Patience, grasshopper,” Ian says.“Ten and counting.”

Shane heads to his bag and returns with the Taser I have grown too comfortable with.“Here.”

“But—”

“I’m going to head him off outside.I don’t want him getting anywhere near you, the doc, or the formula.”

“Stay here until Ian arrives.”I grab his arm, not wanting him in any extra danger because of me.

“I can’t do that.”He pulls me into a quick kiss, one that doesn’t last nearly long enough, before handing me the Taser gun.“Best case, I neutralize him and Ian arrives before his buddies get here.”

I don’t want to ask about the worst-case scenario.

Shane heads out into the rain.

My heart in my throat, I run back to the monitors, where Jonah is watching.Shane stealthily works his way from tree to tree, moving toward the entrance to the property.In another screen, I view the man coming toward him.They are destined to meet up, and I am so nervous I have to lower myself into a chair, my hand on the Taser gun.

Just in case.

“Your man’s got the right moves,” Jonah says.

“I just wish backup would get here.”My hand goes to the locket that isn’t there, an old habit I’ll have to break.But I don’t have time to dwell on it, because as I watch, Shane barrels into the intruder, dragging him to the ground.

I brace my hands on the desktop and lean closer, panic filling me as the two men grapple for purchase in the damp earth.Shane is bigger, broader, and gets more than his share of hits in, eventually able to knock the man down.