Indecent Danger (Danger Incorporated Book 3) (27 page)

Humming a soft tune, Lotte emptied a waste basket into a trash bag. “I usually do ten and eleven but we’ve got a girl out sick today which means the rest of us have to pick up a little extra. Now tell me, how can you
kind of
find a person? Did she turn you down?”

Shane grinned and scratched his chin. “Let’s go with that. How are you, Lotte?”

“I’m fine,” she drawled with a laugh. “My day is almost over so I can’t complain. How are you gentlemen?”

Coughing, probably at being called a gentleman, Shane pointed to Martin’s door. “We’re good. Just going to visit a friend on this floor.”

“Enjoy yourselves. I’m going–”

Lotte didn’t get any farther. The sound of two gunshots, one after the other, rang out, jerking Travis out of his reverie and into fight or flight mode. Both he and Shane pushed Lotte to the floor, their bodies covering hers before looking up cautiously. Adrenaline coursed through Travis’s veins and his muscles tensed as shouts could be heard coming from Martin’s suite.

Ignoring the sputtering of his heart Travis sprung to his feet, ripping the pass key out of the door lock from the room Lotte had been cleaning. He didn’t bother to look behind him knowing that Shane would be right on his heels.

“Call 911,” Travis yelled over his shoulder as he hurriedly tried to shove the card into the slot. His shaking fingers made it difficult and a string of curses fell from his lips even as blood roared in his ears.

Get to Aubrey. Get to her. Protect her.

He didn’t want to think about what was behind this door or what could have happened. Unarmed and completely in the dark, he was in no state to be able to deal with any threat to the woman he loved. All he had was himself and his determination. Hopefully it would be enough.

Crouching close to the floor, he slowly pushed open the door, peering cautiously around it. Travis didn’t see anyone and swung the door wider, Shane right behind him. They stayed low to the ground, not wanting to become the target of a shooter that may or may not be in this hotel room. Travis prayed that neither of them were here and that they were still downstairs in the spa or at the bar.

Please don’t let my girl be hurt.

“Help. Please help us.”

The bloody scene he came upon punched him in the gut and almost had him doubled over in exquisite pain.

Both women were on the floor, Aubrey on her back in a pool of blood while Caroline, also covered in crimson knelt next to her friend, one hand pressed to Aubrey’s abdomen, the other bloody and mangled, hung uselessly at her side.

“Caroline? Aubrey?” Travis knelt next to the woman he loved, his breaking heart pounding painfully against his ribs and thick acid choking off his oxygen. Tears sprang to his eyes as his gaze ran up and down Aubrey, so still and ghostly white. “Aubrey, baby, can you hear me?”

“It was Tom.” Caroline coughed, barely able to speak, not looking much better than Aubrey. “We found him trying to plant evidence against Alana and so he tried to shoot us. Make it look like a murder-suicide. We rushed him to get the gun but we were both hit.”

Shane’s hand squeezed Travis’s shoulder but he barely felt it, numbness beginning to seep into every crevice of his being. If he lost Aubrey…

Don’t. Don’t even fucking think it.

“Keep pressure on that gunshot,” Shane ordered. “You’re doing a great job. Lotte called 911 and there is an ambulance on the way. Where is Tom?”

Caroline glanced over to the French doors that led to the patio that were wide open. “He went out there and climbed down, I think. We managed to get the gun from him and he ran.”

“Good job,” Travis praised, his voice cracking as his hands settled on Aubrey’s blood soaked belly. “You’re exhausted—let me take over. Just slide your hand away and I’ll move mine to take their place.”

“I’m going after Lovell,” Shane announced, levering to his feet. “Will you be okay?”

“Go. I can’t leave her.”

I’ll never leave you, baby. Don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me. I love you. So damn much.

Caroline was shaking her head, tears streaming down her face and Travis realized he too was crying, his vision blurred. His entire body trembled with the very real fear that he just might lose this woman just as he had found her.

“Let me take over, Caro,” Travis said quietly, the words coming out like a shovel scraped against a gravel road. “You’re going to pass out.”

The young woman didn’t budge. “I’m…okay.”

He slid his hands until they lay on top of hers while keeping his eye on Aubrey. If anything she was paler than she was before which Travis didn’t think was even possible, but now her lips had disappeared into her face and purple shadows bruised the flesh under her eyes, her skin almost translucent. He could barely catch his breath as she slipped further from him with each passing second.

This is all my fault. If I’d figured it out sooner this wouldn’t have happened.

“It’s okay,” Travis cajoled, ignoring the pain in his chest and gut, the utter failure that had allowed this to happen. “I’ve got her. It’s okay.”

Caroline’s fingers slid out from under his as her eyes rolled back in her head, slumping on the floor next to Aubrey. A flurry of footsteps entered the suite and then the EMTs were there, asking questions and pushing him aside.

He watched them work, silent on the outside but begging for a miracle inside. Things he’d never say. Things they’d never do. So many “if onlys” but the one that wouldn’t leave him alone was that he should have known. He should have been here sooner. He should have known Tom would do this.

Travis had failed to protect her and he would never forgive himself.

Even if Aubrey managed to survive he couldn’t expect – couldn’t begin to ask – for absolution. This was a sin he’d carry with him forever.

“Sir? Sir, do you want to ride with them?”

“What?” Travis shook his head trying to clear his vision, fogged with tears. It had been years since he had cried, nothing touching him enough, but he doubted these would be the last today. “Yes. Yes, I want to ride with them.”

If she lets me I’ll never leave her.

“Follow us then.”

IVs and tubes were now attached to both women as they lay on the gurneys, the men wheeling them out of the room and down the hall as quickly as possible.

“How is Caroline? I think she’s in shock.”

He already knew Aubrey was in serious condition simply by observing the expressions on the EMT’s face.

“The blonde? She’s got a gunshot wound to the hand but I think she’ll be okay. It’s the brunette that we’re worried about. They’re prepping the OR. She’s going straight into surgery once she’s stable enough.”

Travis didn’t have to be told. It was her only chance.

If Shane didn’t catch Tom, Travis would.

The man would wish he’d never been born.

This was Travis’s solemn vow.

*     *     *

The smell of
antiseptic and blood stung Travis’s nostrils as he paced up and down the emergency waiting room. Aubrey had been in one of the exam rooms for what seemed like hours as they tried to stabilize her before taking her back to surgery. He scraped his fingers through his hair once again as his stomach twisted into knots.

His sweet Aubrey might not make it.

She’d taken a bullet to her abdomen and lost copious amounts of blood. Travis truly didn’t know how anyone could survive something like that but he couldn’t even wrap his mind around the thought he might actually lose her.

She was so alive. So vibrant and beautiful.

They’d spoken words of love and talked about the future but now all of that was in jeopardy.

“Here’s some coffee. You look like you could use it. It’s probably terrible but I think we’re in for a long night.”

Shane held two paper cups of steaming liquid and Travis took one gratefully. Sipping at the bitter brew, he grimaced before falling back into one of the chairs that felt like it had been designed by the Marque de Sade. Much longer out here and he’d be ready for one of the patient rooms himself.

“Did you talk to Prather?”

Shane had chased Tom but the man had jumped into an arriving vehicle in the valet parking circle, accelerating out of the parking lot. By the time Shane had procured a car to chase the fugitive Tom was long gone.

Or hiding somewhere in a back alley or side street.

At this point it didn’t matter. The only important thing was Aubrey and her survival. Travis would find Tom Lovell although it would have to wait for another day.

“I did. I gave him my statement and now he’s back there with Caroline. The doctor told him to make it fast because the pain drip they gave her is going to kick in and she’ll fall asleep.”

Mercifully. The bullet had practically taken off two fingers but a specialist had been called in and they were planning to do surgery first thing in the morning.

“Is he letting Martin go?” There was a part of Travis that still believed that Prather wasn’t going to let go of his original theory. “Does he have men looking for Lovell?”

“He does. I heard him on the phone alerting the airlines and bus stations too. If Tom is smart he already dumped the car he stole. Lucky for us he wasn’t prepared for this. He ran out empty-handed. No cash. No identification. Nothing. As for Martin, a judge has to let him go but his attorney has that in the works. It shouldn’t be long now.”

“That only makes Lovell more dangerous. Fuck, how did I not know, Shane? It seems so clear now. If I’d known earlier–”

“Fucking stop it,” Shane commanded, sitting next to Travis. “Just stop this shit. Hell, the cops didn’t even know so how were you supposed to? You figured it out. Martin’s getting out of jail and the police are looking for Lovell.”

“I was too late.”

Shane put his hand on Travis’s shoulder in a comforting gesture that wasn’t unappreciated, but it didn’t help the ever growing lump of dread that had taken up residence in his stomach. To be honest, he wasn’t sure he was even going to be able to keep down this horrific coffee.

“Aubrey’s going to make it,” Shane stated, certainty in his tone. “You forget that it wasn’t all that long ago that I was lying in a hospital bed with a bullet in my gut. Now here I am dancing around and basically making trouble. I was okay and she’s going to be okay too. Believe it. She has a lot to live for.”

Acid churned in Travis’s stomach and he tossed the half drank cup in a trash can without a backward glance. Food and drink were strictly off limits if he didn’t want to disgrace himself by hanging his head in the nearest toilet bowl.

“What if she isn’t?” Travis asked quietly as if he was trying to keep the secret from himself. If he didn’t say it too loudly he might not hear the words and then it couldn’t possibly happen. “What if she doesn’t make it?”

Shane grabbed Travis by his shirt and dragged him to his feet so they were nose to nose. “Don’t even say that. You two are going to live happily fucking ever after, you got that? Someone has to. It sure as shit won’t ever be me. She’s going to pull through and you’re going to have six kids all named Shane, you asshole.”

Travis knew that Shane had some deep personal crap that he kept well hidden. There was a woman, but who she was and what she meant was a mystery.

“I’m not naming my kids Shane.”

Both men began to smile and then the tears started. Travis let them fall unashamedly and Shane wasn’t too much of a man to join in.

“Sure you are. It’s a great name. Boy or girl.”

If Aubrey made it through this Travis would name their kids after the doctors that saved her life.

In fact, he didn’t need kids, or a house, or a dog, or any of that stuff to be happy.

He just needed Aubrey.

‡

E
very bone and
muscle in Aubrey’s body ached. She tried to move her arms and legs but they felt weighted down, heavy like lead. Panicking, her lids flew open and she groaned as bright sunlight bore into her corneas, sending shards of pain through her skull.

“Easy, baby. Easy. Everything’s okay. You’re fine.”

Those smooth, hushed tones belonged to Travis and she felt herself relaxing under his warm touch, his hands running up and down her arm while his fingers brushed at her cheek.