Page 128 of Lethal Threat

I slow down, still alert. On the lookout for anything that could be a hazard. I take the first truly deep breath in half an hour.Hell,the first one since Sierra went missing.

Simona emerges first. Her eyes are wild, and she’s grinning. “Go take care of your woman.” Her voice is light, as if the last thirty minutes weren’t filled with opportunities to die.

Marshall pushes a man in cuffs along in front of him. His expression is satisfied. Roark follows, with another, looking like his usual calm, cool self.

I tilt my head toward the man I intercepted. “That’s three. Where’s the fourth? And where’s Bryan?”

Marshall pushes the second man down onto the ground, next to the first. “The fourth Army guy is inside on the phone with his handler. Turns out, he’s an undercover federal agent. He was integral in the takedown.Bryan’s with him. Police will be on site in roughly sixty seconds.”

I’m sure I look stunned, because Marshall claps my shoulder. “There’s a lot to this story. Go take care of Sierra, we’ll have time to fill you in after you tend to her.”

He doesn’t have to tell me twice. I sprint the block to where Simona and I left the Ford parked. I break my personal best run record.

A weak street lamp is nearby but it barely casts enough light for me to see the silhouette of the seats. Only it’s enough that I can tell for sure there is no one peering out the windshield.

My feet stumble. My heart does an ugly somersault.

“Sierra!”

I have no idea what makes my legs work, because there’s no blood moving in my body, but they keep moving until I’m tearing at the handle for the back door.

Please let her be safe.

I jerk at the door, my hand flies off. Locked.

I press my face against the glass. “Thank god!”

She’s deep in the shadows of the back floorboard.

“Who is it?” She scrambles backward. The pistol in her hand is pointing right at my face. Her eyes are wide. Unblinking.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. It’s Cole. Put the gun down.”

The expression of fear on her face falls, replaced by relief. She rushes for the door handle. “Cole!Ohhhhmygod… I could have shot you.”

I’m inside the back floorboard with her the next second, pressing the gun aside. I take her face in my hands. My hands are numb from adrenaline. “Holy hell, Stinger. The last twenty-four hours scared ten years off my life.”

“Me too.” Tears brim on herthick lashes.

I kiss her. Careful to be easy. “It’s okay, baby. I’ve got you now.”

I crush my face into her tangled hair. Wrap her up tight. Hold her harder than I’ve ever held anyone.

Something hard and hot clogs my throat. I know it’s words I need to say, stuck there. Only I can’t speak to save my life.

For a few seconds, I seriously consider buying a little island and whisking her far, far away, somewhere that we can be in a little cocoon. A place where corrupt Army Rangers, her drug addicted brother, and everything else dangerous will never touch us again. A little slice of paradise, where slow mornings and long beach walks are the only to-do items for the day.

Sierra wraps her arms around my shoulders, twists her legs around my hips as my throat burns hot with emotions.

God,it feels good to have her in my arms again. Safe.

I sound ragged. “You’re never getting out of my sight again. Do you hear that? I’m so damned thankful to have you in my arms right now.”

“Me too, honey. Me too.”

“Your brother’s safe, by the way. He’s with the others, talking to the cops.”

She twists her hand into the collar of my shirt. “Oh, Cole. I was so wrong to be mad at you for calling the police on Bryan that night. I was just trying to do the right thing… but he was in something so deep and dark, I had no idea.”