Page 35 of The Reluctant Siren
Jensen stopped and turned her way. Harlow already had herweapon out. She shook her head. “Go. Protect her.”
Jensen growled but did as she asked. He had a SIG in hishand and had to realize that his cover was probably blown.
All because his ass couldn’t think straight.
“You okay?” Niall crawled from the side of the Jeep, joiningher. “Should I call the cops?”
That was the least of her problems. “Oh, I assure yousomeone’s already called them.”
“Do you think they took their shot and they’re done?” Niallasked.
She shook her head. “No idea. You need to get out of here.I’m going after Miranda. If this guy knows the neighborhood at all, he’ll knowthere’s a series of alleys he can use to cut her off. I think he panicked whenshe turned to run. Hamilton always was sloppy when it came to shit like this.He probably wanted to bring her in and the asshole he sent to kidnap herpanicked when she started to run.”
Whoever Hamilton had sent likely thought Miranda saw him andran. But Harlow knew this was about Jensen, the asshole idiot who was fuckingup all her plans.
“I know this area. We’re not far from my gym,” Niall said.“I’ll pull around to the west side and pick you and Miranda up there. We cantry to get to the MT building. I assume we want to avoid the cops if we can.”
He was so sexy right now. Calm and cool under pressure. Hisgreen eyes were steady on her, and if it wasn’t a terrible idea, she would kisshim. Instead, she nodded. “I’ll meet you at the end of the alley behind thisstreet. I’m going to go behind the apartment building and through the parkinglot. Hopefully Miranda rounds back to there. The street dead-ends two blocksfrom here. Call Ruby and tell her to monitor what’s happening.”
“Be careful,” he said, and then he eased back around theJeep.
When she heard the car door close, she took off running forthe entry to the apartment building, quickly getting behind the tall bushes.They made excellent cover. As she thought, the night was quiet around her.Either whoever took that shot was gone or they were after Miranda.
Did whoever shot at Miranda know who she was? Was it random?Harlow doubted it, and that meant they were in trouble, especially if they hadgotten a good look at Jensen.
As she moved around the building, she had to recognize thatshe didn’t want the asshole dead and would do what she needed to in order tosave his dumb ass. Not because she loved him.
Because once she had. Because she wouldn’t be able to livewith herself if she didn’t save him.
She needed more therapy. Was there a therapy that made aperson less sensitive? Oh, yeah. That was called dating assholes.
There it was. It was Niall’s fault. Niall was such a goodman that he was turning her into some whiny, can’t-let-a-dude-die chick. Shewould have to turn in her tough-chick card. She was morally gray, damn it.
Except she wasn’t, and she needed to follow her damninstincts.
Which led her to the pool area of the small apartmentbuilding. The pool was surrounded by a metal fence meant only to keep dogs andanimals out, so she had an excellent view of the parking lot beyond. It lookedlike there were a couple of walking trails through the complex, likely leadingto the park down the street.
It was quiet, but she could hear someone coming from herright. She stopped before turning the corner, listening. There was no sound ofsirens. No people coming out of their houses. Perhaps they thought it was a carbackfiring since there had only been the one shot. Dumbass hadn’t even used asuppressor. She would have a talk with Hamilton about his hiring practices oneday. If the asshole survived Jensen.
“You know her?” Miranda asked.
“Yes, I do. We worked together when I was trying to takedown the organization in LA,” a quiet voice replied. Jensen’s voice.
“If you’re going to kill me, I would rather you did itquickly,” Miranda replied.
She heard a sigh as Jensen led Miranda around the corner. Hehad a hand on her elbow. “I’m not going to kill you. I’m literally trying tomake sure you don’t die or get involved in this crap further. I came out hereto make sure they didn’t pull this. Come on. She won’t have taken off.”
“I think I recognized one of those guys,” Miranda said. “Ithink he was the bartender.”
“Yeah, I think he was the new guy, too. I suppose that’s whyhe disappeared tonight,” Jensen was saying.
She pulled out her cell and quickly told Niall to meet themin the parking lot in a couple of minutes. She slid it back into her pocket,not bothering to make sure he replied. He would be there. He wouldn’t let herdown because he needed revenge on someone who cut him off or something.
That wasn’t fair. She took a long breath and forced thethoughts from her mind as Jensen eased around the corner, watching for anyonewho might come their way.
“It’s me,” she said quietly.
Miranda breathed an obvious sigh of relief. “So you do knowhim.”
