Page 37 of Zero
I took a moment to think about it then shook my head. “Probably not. Plausible deniability.”
Rei kissed my head and they picked up their weapons and headed for the door. While Patrick and Dude headed to the jeep, Rei stepped back for us to have a moment alone in the hall. He kissed my forehead, between my eyes, my nose then my lips. I sighed when he pulled me into his arms and hugged me as if he was trying to take on all my worries onto himself.
“Be careful.” I managed. “Please, be careful.”
“Do you see the people at my back?” He asked.
“Don’t tell me not to worry.”
He eased back and framed my face. He stared down into my eyes for a moment then smiled and kissed me tenderly. “I’ll be careful.”
“Promise?”
Rei nodded. “I promise. Pinky swear?” He held up his pinky finger.
I laughed but accepted it.
With a final kiss, he exited the house while slipping in an earpiece and calling for Tex.
“Note to self.” I muttered while closing the door. “Never try hiding anything from that man. He scares me.”
I found Eton and Jasmine washing the dishes when I headed back through the house. When they were finished, we piled into my car and headed to my restaurant.
Sarge was worried about me, especially after I told him, in private what was happening. He offered his help, but he’d hurt himself in the military and I didn’t want to pull him back into any kind of action. Instead, I had him cook extra food, so I had something Jamaican for Dude when they returned from their hunt.
I stuck around there for a while until Jasmine insisted we headed back. Sarge agreed to hold things down for me until I could come back. I knew my place would be in good hands and hugged him and Bev before leaving.
When we arrived at my place, the front door was slightly ajar. I frowned and reached into my glovebox for a can of mace I usually kept there. Jasmine and Eton prepped their weapons with Jasmine leading the slow charge into the house.
Someone had gone through everything. They’d smashed up the kitchen, the living room, ripped pages out of my books and tossed them aside like an after thought. They’d cut open the sofa cushions, pushed over my television and scattered all the DVDs and Bluerays everywhere.
The bedroom didn’t survive the carnage, neither did the bathroom where they dumped mouthwash, bleach and toothpaste all over the floor.
As I was walking by the linen closet, someone grabbed me around the waist. The arms were strong, pulling me backward. I twisted around, ensured it wasn’t Eton or Jasmine, protected my eyes with my free hand and sprayed.
“You bitch!”
The arms fell away from me and I stepped backward only to blindly lift a foot into the assailant’s crotch. I stayed low, trying to stay out of the reach of the mace particles in the air.
“Bailey!” Jasmine yelled as the thunder of footsteps came rushing toward us.
“Watch your eyes!” I yelled.
I wasn’t sure where they were as I moved, my eyes still closed, feeling blindly to get away.
The steps stopped to give way to the sound of fists hitting flesh. Figuring I was safe, I opened my eyes in time to see a man tumble down the stairs. Jasmine descended after but he grabbed her leg. She turned and fired, catching him in the chest. She rushed to me.
The man I’d humbled was flailing around, screaming as tears leaked from his eyes. Jasmine shoved him over and hurried to me.
“You okay?” She asked.
Before I could answer, the loud bang of a gunshot echoed from upstairs and we both took off toward it. Someone stepped out of the half bathroom at the end of the hall and I lashed out, catching him the face before running around him.
He wasn’t so lucky with Jasmine.
She uppercut him, then kicked him in the chest. The momentum pushed him into a mirror, shattering it then rained down on him as he hit the floor.
We continued down the hall to find Eton fighting with someone. Eton picked up a chair and swung it like Babe Ruth.
