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“Coming with.”

I slipped into my own boots, which weren’t all that different than theirs. Connor had turned me on to them years ago.

“Yeah… no.”

“Oh no?” I snapped. “And why no—”

“Because it’s too dangerous,” said Maddox. “We’re going after the people who came after you, Dallas. We swore to protect you, not deliver you straight to them.”

“But you don’t even know they want me!” I shouted. “For all we know they wanted something of Connor’s. Something still in the house.”

“No time to argue,” Austin said firmly. “You’re staying.”

They wore desert night camo, with vests and belts. Sidearms at their hips. Rifles slung, all three of them.

It was kinda hot.

Dallas!

“So you’re going to leave me here alone?” I asked coyly. “All by myself?”

Maddox seemed prepared for my statement. He checked the safety and then slid me a Glock — one of the three different pistols they’d bought to replace the one I lost in the fire.

“Set the alarm behind us,” he ordered. “Don’t leave the house, don’t do anything except sit tight and wait for our call.”

I scoffed at him. “Think that’s gonna help if they come for me?”

“They’re not coming for you. You’ve been here for weeks now, and nobody’s come for—”

“Yeah, but now you’ve been digging,” I offered. “You said it yourself, these guys are pros. They have military ties — the same ties you do. And you know what happens when you dig?”

Maddox glanced at his chronograph, then slumped his shoulders in exasperation. “What?”

“You leave marks.”

I look to Kane. He was already smirking.

“You know she’s probably right.”

Maddox shook his head disgustedly. He looked pissed.

“We can’t protect her if we’re not around her,” Kane went on. “And we can’t afford to leave one of us behind. Might be best just to—”

“FINE.”

Maddox spat the word and left the room quickly. When he came back, he threw something at me: a tactical vest.

“Put that on,” he barked. “Then jump in the back, sit really low, and keep your head down the whole time. Got it?”

I slipped my arms through the holes and pulled the sleek material tightly around me.

“Yes sir,” I said, snapping a salute.

Nineteen

DALLAS

It was almost a little surreal, riding along in the back of the truck. Sort of like being in a movie. I was surrounded by fully-armored, heavily-armed soldiers, following a fast-moving GPS signal in the dead of night.