Page 74 of Risk Assessment
Dylan moved his hand slowly up toward his ear and pressed his earbud. “This is Dylan. Josh is coming out now. He’s on his way to the reception. Let him go. Unless he wants a ride. He’s a VIP so you might want to use lights and sirens.”
Josh blinked and then straightened to his full height. He tugged at his suit coat with one hand but still held the knife near Raleigh’s throat with the other.
Dylan captured Raleigh’s gaze. Her eyes were willing him to give her the signal. He knew it with every fiber of his being. He gave her a tiny nod.
Suddenly Raleigh slammed her elbow into Josh’s mid-section and she shot forward. Dylan grabbed her and spun so he was between her and Josh. Gabe was in the door and had Josh on the ground in a fraction of a second. Connor was between Dylan and Josh.
“Raleigh, honey, are you okay?”
She looked up at him, fear written across her features and then her eyes rolled back in her head. Dylan’s heart lodged in his throat and refused to beat. He swung Raleigh up into his arms and took her out into the yard. He laid her down on the grass.
“Come on, honey, talk to me.”
Her eyelids fluttered and then opened. He’d never been so happy to see those eyes.
“What took you so long?” she croaked. “I had to take matters into my own hands.”
He was speechless and then, seeing the sparkle in her eyes, he started to smile. It went from a smile to a full-blown laugh in seconds. She was okay. She was really okay. She laughed too, but it made her cough, so she stopped.
He wrapped his arms around her and held her on his lap until the ambulance arrived. By that point there were cops everywhere. It still took the EMTs a few minutes to convince him it was okay to let her go. That they were just going to check her over. He finally agreed, but he hovered over them while they conducted their examination.
Gabe came over and stood beside him. “She’s going to be fine.”
Dylan nodded. “I can’t thank you and your team enough. I owe you big time.”
Gabe shook his head. “You did all the work. You’d have been fine on your own. Your instincts were spot on. Josh owes you his life. Other people would have ordered Jaxon to take the shot.”
Dylan shrugged. “Maybe, but I don’t think Josh really wanted to hurt Raleigh. He just wanted to be seen. Mental illness is a tough thing.”
“It is, and you handled it like a pro.”
Dylan smiled. “Yeah, well I don’t think that’s gonna help much.” He nodded towards a group of men. “See that guy in the suit? He’s my lieutenant…er, my former lieutenant. He’s coming to tell me I’m fired.”
Gabe tilted his head. “I thought the review board was announcing their decision until next week?”
“It isn’t because of the review board. I, um, had a go at Calvin Clark earlier.” Dylan grinned. He couldn’t help it.
“What did you do?” Gabe asked.
“I accused him of being the stalker and threatened him with bodily harm. So, you know, pretty much broke every rule in the book.”
Gabe chuckled. “I think you might’ve missed a few but you were outside the lines. The thing is…you weren’t actually too far off the mark with Clark. He has a past with harassing women.”
Dylan nodded. “You said. He’s still doing it too. He’s harassed at least two of the staff since he’s been here.”
“So you threatened a scum bag with bodily harm in the name of protecting your client. That’s called Monday at Risk Strategic Security.” It was Gabe’s turn to grin. “And I wouldn’t worry about Clark. He’s back there telling all who will listen that he went to you about Josh. He was worried about Raleigh’s safety, and that’s why you were really here this weekend. He didn’t want to upset Lydia any more than he had to so, of course, he didn’t tell Bill. There are more holes in his story than anything else, butno one is questioning it because it’s backed by Bill and Lydia. It looks like you might make out okay over this.”
Dylan was stunned. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, well Clark needs to come out of this looking good, or his political career is dead. So my guess is that your lieutenant is coming over here to give your spot on the team back.”
“Wow.”
Gabe said, “Never underestimate the power of ambition and politics.”
“I guess so.” Dylan shook his head. It was unbelievable.
“So, do you want it?”
