Page 82 of The Hacker
She stopped and turned at the same time to see Leland striding toward her, wearing an odd, apologetic smile. Her heart did a somersault as she took in his long legs, wide shoulders, and nerdy glasses over those vivid blue eyes. He managed to look both hot and comforting at the same time. She had to resist the overwhelming urge to throw herself into his arms.
“Leland, what are you doing here?” Shit, he was supposed to be Lee here. She glanced around to see if anyone was nearby to hear her slip, but the room was deserted.
He didn’t look worried so her tension ratcheted down a notch.
However, when he got close, he threw her a warning glance before setting that strange fake smile back in place. “Dawn, I came to ask for a refund, but then I realized I had made a terrible mistake. Will you give me a second chance?” He spoke loudly and she realized he was putting on a show. But for whom?
“A second chance?” Then she remembered their silly cover story. She exaggerated a wary glance. “Maybe. Take me out for dinner and we’ll see if we can talk things through. You really hurt me, you know.”
He let his head drop forward as though ashamed. “I know. I was a jerk. Can you forgive me?”
It seemed like they were going through this whole charade for no one since the room was empty.
“Dawn, you still here?” Chad’s voice made her twitch and comprehend Leland’s act.
“Yeah, I was just going to refill the towel shelves when my, um, client showed up.”
“No need. I’ll take care of it.” Chad walked into the equipment room. He was dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt rather than his training clothes.
Leland pivoted around to face him. “Chad, good to—”
“You!” Chad shouted, his face contorting with anger. “I know who you really are, you fucking asshole!”
“Chad!” Dawn cried. “He’s a client!”
“No, he’s a fucking rat and the reason I just lost my best customer.” Chad’s face was bright red. “That deal was going to put me in the big time but you screwed it up.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Leland said in a voice of utter disdain. “I came to ask Dawn for a second chance and you start calling me names. You’re the asshole.”
He must have learned that tone at his fancy private school.
Chad smiled in a horrible way, his mouth curving but his eyes flat and hard. “You’re some kind of computer genius, so you traced the dark web traffic to my website.” He shifted his creepy gaze to Dawn. “You brought him in. All that whining to Ramón about how unhappy the customers were. Jesus, you couldn’t keep your nose out of it for the few weeks I needed to close this deal.”
He reached behind his back in a gesture that sent a wave of panic through Dawn. But panic was an old nemesis, and she’d learned to deal with it. She fought back the blackness fogging her vision, refusing to freak out.
Before Dawn could see what Chad had in his hand, Leland shouted, “Zulu, Zulu!” and shoved her behind him, his body shielding her from Chad.
A piece of information popped into her head from one of the self-defense classes she’d taken, something she’d thought was useless at the time. She grabbed Leland’s wrist and yanked him backward, yelling, “Pool!” Then she turned and bolted for the big glass doors, praying that the thud of footsteps following her was Leland and not Chad.
“What the fuck?!” Chad bellowed.
Dawn slammed open the door and ducked as a gunshot cracked from behind her and glass shattered around her shoulders.
“Leland?” She looked back to see him upright and running, his body still between her and Chad. Another gunshot rang out and she heard Leland curse.
Then they were at the edge of the pool. Dawn screamed, “Zulu,” just in case Tully hadn’t heard Leland, and dove in, Leland arcing into the water beside her.
She struggled to swim underwater, her clothes and sneakers creating enough drag to make it like moving through molasses. How many feet of water had the self-defense instructor said would slow a bullet to nonlethal speed? She was pretty sure it was five, and the pool was six-and-a-half feet deep, so she stayed as close to the bottom as she could. Of course, they’d have to come up for air soon, but she hoped Tully and his team would have ridden to their rescue by then.
She glanced sideways to check on Leland. He swam beside her but with an awkward, lopsided stroke. When she looked more closely, she saw a ribbon of blood trailing through the water behind him.
Rage and terror boiled up inside her. She fought back the terror with the fact that he was keeping up with her in the water, so he couldn’t be dying. She embraced the rage for the strength it gave her.
When they got to what she estimated was the middle of the pool, she slowed the pace, her lungs beginning to crave fresh oxygen. Being an experienced swimmer, Leland could probably hold his breath longer than she could, except he was injured. She paddled just enough to keep herself flat against the tiled bottom of the pool and turned her head to check on him.
He was doing the same, his face toward her. His glasses were gone and the ribbon of blood spiraled upward now, seeming to come from his left arm. She wanted to put her hand against it to stanch the flow but knew the pressure would just push his body away from her.
She heard more gunshots but they were muffled by the water. She prayed her memory of the depth was correct, although she supposed it didn’t really matter. She couldn’t make the pool any deeper.
