Page 54

Ryder slid his palm against Nathalie’s lower back, feeling fatigue in her tight muscles, in the way she subtly pressed into his hand as if it was helping to keep her upright. “I’ll keep her safe.”
She met his gaze over her shoulder. “I want someone assigned to watch over Ravi and his family.”
“I’ll call in some favors from my buddies in the SEAL community,” Nathan spoke up from behind Ryder. “We’ll make sure Ravi and his family are covered.” He motioned Ryder to his side and murmured, “Lachlan’s meeting me at Nathalie’s. We’ll secure her home. Danny will go with you to the safe house.” His chin jutted toward Nathalie’s drooping posture. “Take care of your lady.”
Nathan stepped inside the lift with Don and Nick. They disappeared from view with the swish of the closing doors.
Silence filled the lobby, an almost unnatural quiet, disturbed only by Nathalie’s weary sigh.
“Where are we going?” It was a testament to how knackered she was that she wasn’t fighting Ryder about not returning to her home.
“Someplace we can spend the night and not look over our shoulder.” He knew once she’d had some sleep and processed the evening’s events, she’d want to be back in her own house. As she’d pointed out the other day, Nathan had the place wired with twenty-four–seven monitoring. A mouse couldn’t wedge itself through a crack in the wall without Dìleas knowing about it.
He and Danny flanked Nathalie as they rode the lift to the ground floor.
The second Ryder stepped outside, he felt it again. The tingle in the back of his neck that warned him someone was watching.
Only his Suburban and Danny’s Mustang remained in the car park. He kept Nathalie between his and Danny’s bodies and hustled her to the SUV.
Once Nathalie was seated inside, he closed the door and turned to Danny. “Follow me. After we’ve cleared the safe house location, head home and get some sleep.”
“Roger that.” Danny stepped to his sports car.
Ryder rounded the back of the Suburban.
A blow to his side spun him around just as the distinctive muted crack of a suppressed round creased the air.
“Gun!” He scrambled to the driver’s side and jumped inside.
“Get down. On the floor. Now!” His hand on Nathalie’s head, he shoved her forward and down, ignoring her squeaks of protest.
“Which direction?” Danny hissed into Ryder’s earpiece. The polymer frame of the former SEAL’s Sig Sauer glinted beneath the streetlamps as he crouched next to the front of his Mustang.
Ryder did a quick calculation based on the throbbing just below his left ribs. “Your ten o’clock. Landscaped area.”
He already had the Suburban’s engine running and was backing out. “Stay down,” he ordered Nathalie when she went to move back to her seat.
Tires squealed as he peeled out of the car park. Nathalie’s safety came first, which meant flight, not fight.
“This is so not safe,” Nathalie mumbled from her cramped position beneath the Suburban’s dashboard.
“Neither is getting shot through a window.”
Whoever fired at him had done so from about ninety meters away with what he assumed was a nine-millimeter carbine rifle. If it had been a sniper rifle firing a NATO round, he’d be dead.
The bullet had grazed his side, not hit center mass. It could have been poor aim.
Or a highly skilled one.
Either way, it was a good thing he’d followed protocol and donned the tactical vest.
Even better that he’d made Nathalie wear one.
He called Nathan. “We have a situation.”
“What’s up?” Nathan’s tone sharpened. “I’ve got Lachlan on the other line.”
“Our suspect fired on me as we were leaving.”