The first shock for Valentina was the feeling of being roughly shaken awake. The second was that she had fallen asleep at all. Valentina lay still and trapped under Hal’s body while his hand covered her mouth in a firm clap. Her eyes went wide in question and her hands reached up to pull at his steel forearm.
“You’re gonna have to do exactly what I tell you to do. Yeah?” Hal’s voice rasped urgently out in the dark. While the weight of his big body covering her suggested seduction, his tone definitely did not.
Valentina nodded her obedience, and Hal’s hand fell from her mouth.
“There’s two— maybe three— men circling the perimeter of the house. The small light in the living room is on a remote timer. I just activated it. That’s gonna draw them to the front of the house and we’re going to have to haul ass out the back. We have less than two minutes to get out of here before they break the glass on the kitchen door. That’s plenty of time, but you have to follow behind me. Exactly behind me. When I step, you step.” His voice was low, clear, and urgent. “I ripped the shit out of the buttons on your dress; you’re gonna have to wear this.” He shoved one of his T-shirts into her hand then grabbed her underwear and shoes off the floor.
Without hesitation, Valentina pulled the T-shirt over her head then threw her legs over the side of the bed to pull on her underwear and sandals.
He looked quickly in her purse.
“Identification in here? Phone off?”
Valentina responded with a quick nod and wondered why Hal wanted to make sure she had I.D.
So they can identify your body, stupid, the panicked voice inside her screamed.
Hal’s spine was ramrod straight, and his every movement seemed to be spring-loaded with purposeful intent. Valentina had the fleeting thought that Hal was in military-mode—red alert. He grabbed a duffle off the floor, threw her purse inside of it, then turned to her.
“Remember stay right behind me. You ready?”
Ready to run for my life from unknown assailants in the middle of the night, wearing nothing but your T-shirt and a sex-soaked pair of panties? No, I’m not ready. Who could possibly be ready for something like this?
“Ready.” Valentina nodded in the affirmative to Hal.
They moved in a fast clip down the hallway toward the front staircase. Alert to every sound, Valentina followed Hal’s orders and stayed close behind him. The pounding of her heart sped up even when their paced slowed down as they silently crept down each step. Hal and Valentina had just hit the first landing when the sound of window glass being shattered echoed through the house. Deep, hushed voices filled the air as heavy footsteps rushed the room. Valentina watched in horror as two men wearing ski masks met them on the staircase landing. In a lightning fast Jackie Chan-style move, Hal shot out his left palm— effectively shattering the first guy’s nose. With a screech of pain, he went down like a stone. Valentina hadn’t even had time to fully comprehend the act when the second very scary guy charged up the stairs.
“Come on, you asshole,” Hal invited his next victim to feel the full impact of a vicious kick to the solar plexus. The guy gave out a long wheeze before he joined his buddy on the floor.
“You okay?” Hal grunted as he turned to look at Valentina. He was standing between the two motionless bodies with his strong legs apart, and his deadly hands sitting on his hips like some triumphant super hero.
“I’m okay,” Valentina managed to squeak out. “Are they dead?”
“I hope the hell not. I got some questions for these assholes.” Hal growled. Then he leaned down and pulled the ski masks off their faces. “You know either one of these motherfuckers?”
“That one is Raphael.” Valentina pointed a shaking finger. “He used to work for my father. The other one … there’s so much blood on his face … I can’t tell. I don’t know…”
Hal was bent over going through the pockets of the might–be–dead guys when a quick series of cracks sounded out. Flashes of light peppered the room like demonic fireflies.
It seemed to Valentina that a million things happened at once — all of them loud and scary. She felt herself propel across the room when the force of Hal’s push sent Valentina flying out of harm’s way and into a shadowed corner. Valentina watched in silent horror as Hal reached into the duffel bag on the floor and pulled out an… automatic weapon?
Another series of flashes of lights and several more rounds of rata-ta-tats but this time they were coming from Hal.
Valentina felt herself tumbling into that old, familiar vortex of shock and loss when a strong hand grabbed hers and held it tight.
“Tia? Valentina?” Hal’s voice was low and urgent. “Stay with me, baby. You’re good, yeah?”
“Yeah.” She held onto the sound of his voice like it was a lifeline and felt it pull her back to the now. The very, very scary now.
“That’s good, babe. Just keep holding on to me.” Hal squeezed Valentina’s hand in reassurance. “On three, we’re gonna run across the hallway and out the back door. Then we’re gonna take the bike through the trails to the highway.” Hal took a second to shove the assault weapon into the duffle and traded it for a 9mm. He stuffed the handgun in the back waistband of his pants, slung the bag over his shoulder, then said, “Ready? One–two- three.”
The next few minutes passed in a blur of adrenalin. With a pounding heart and flying feet, Valentina held Hal’s hand in a vice-like grip as he pulled her at breakneck speed through the back field. Valentina’s heart was hammering against her chest, and she was having trouble controlling her air flow. Although her lungs felt painfully full, they seemed to be only capable of releasing her breath in short painful spasms. Valentina stumbled twice in the dim early morning light, and let out a small cry of pain when her foot landed hard and twisted into one of the many ruts. It seemed like forever before they got to the bike. Hal shoved a helmet on her head and gave Valentina instructions to hold on tight and lean in hard. Then with a vicious twist of throttle, Hal galvanized the seven hundred pounds of chrome, twin engine, and straight up badass, into action. He navigated the bike expertly through the wooded trails towards the light of breaking day and safety.
Once they got to the highway, Valentina figured they would slow down to a street legal speed. Silly girl.
Thank god that she was wedged in tight between the sissy bar, the duffle bag, and about two hundred and twenty pounds of man muscle. Otherwise, Valentina was sure she would have fallen off at the first deep curve.
The world passed by in a blur of white lines and asphalt, but it wasn’t too long before Hal turned onto a dirt road and reduced his speed to a level that didn’t rattle her every bone and send shockwaves up her spine. Valentina recognized the turn-off as the one that led to the clubhouse, and while she would never consider this a safe place, it made sense to her that Hal would bring her here.
Hal idled the bike near the security keypad, but the gate flew open before he had time to punch in the code. The rising sun had turned the sky the color of pink cotton candy, and Valentina wondered briefly who in the club could possibly be up so early. Or maybe, they just hadn’t gone to bed yet.
The bike crested the hill, but instead of turning into the parking area, Hal rode across the lawn up to the main clubhouse. There, the man Valentina recognized as Prosper Worthington stood waiting.