Serve ‘N’ Protect by Tee O’Fallon

Chapter Five

Cassidy’s pulse had slowed, some anyway. “Who are you, and why is someone trying to kill you?” Markus didn’t answer as he turned onto Route 4. “I have a right to know.” Again, no response, other than a muscle ticking away in a jaw so sculpted it could have been chiseled from marble. “Regardless of what John said, if you’re a wanted criminal you can pull over right there”—she pointed to the state police barracks coming up on their right—“and get out.”

“I’m not one of the bad guys.” He blew past the barracks. “Trust me on that. Okay?” He shot her a quick look before returning his obsidian eyes to the road.

What have I gotten myself into?

Other than the occasional snort or huff from Ghost, the rest of the drive passed in tense silence. If he refused to tell her what was going on, there was no point in asking one of the hundred or so questions pinging around inside her head. Finally, he turned onto their road, Chesapeake Bay Retriever Lane, named after Maryland’s state dog.

Cassidy choked down a laugh. Funny how she’d referred to it as “their” road when Markus didn’t really live there. Given the events of the day, she suspected his time here was limited. Very limited. If bullets were following him, that would be a good thing.

When he parked in her driveway, it was impossible not to notice the two hulking black SUVs already parked in his. Even with the sun sinking fast, the darkly tinted windows would have prevented her from seeing if anyone was inside. “Friends of yours?”

“Yeah.” Markus shut off the engine and started getting out.

Cassidy opened her door. The second her foot hit the pavement, she hissed in a breath. All that cloak-and-dagger action had done a number on her leg, especially the part where she’d been shoved none too gently into her little bug like she was a piece of meat.

She stared at the hole in the hood near the front bumper of her bug. Then again, that shove might very well have saved her life. Speaking of which…

Oh. My. God.Someone had been shooting at them. Actually shooting. A gun. With very real bullets!

With one hand on the roof of her car for support, Markus flipped over the driver’s seat, allowing Ghost to leap out. Poor thing. First, he’d been forced to sit in the car for going on three hours. Then, he, too, had nearly been shot at. The dog ran to a boxwood and lifted his leg. Hopefully, that meant he hadn’t done the same in her bug. She hadn’t smelled anything. Yet. Doggie urine took time to ripen.

Sweat glistened on Markus’s forehead, and he swiped it away with the palm of his hand. Without thinking, she went to him and slipped her arm around his waist. “Let’s get you inside and lying down before you pass out.”

“Thanks.”

As he’d done before, he draped his arm over her shoulder and allowed her to assist him across the strip of grass that ran between their houses. God, his arm was long. And heavy. Like a twenty-pound weight resting between her shoulder blades.

When Ghost was finished relieving himself, he bounded alongside them and trotted up the front porch steps. In the few hours they’d been gone, someone had made quick work of boarding up the broken window. Either Markus had called a contractor from the hospital, or whoever had come in those black SUVs had taken care of it. Maybe they wouldn’t mind sticking around to fix her loose railing before it broke off. Fat chance of that.

She helped him up the stairs to the door. Before either of them could reach for the knob, the door swung open.

A good-looking Black man of about fifty, with piercing brown eyes, a buzz cut, and built like a tank, stood on the threshold. Whoever he was, Markus didn’t seem surprised that he was inside the house—the house she’d been sure to leave locked. Meaning, this stern-faced dude had a key.

The older man eyed Markus from head to toe then looked over Markus’s shoulder onto the street. “Get inside,” he bellowed, glowering at Markus and shooting her an equally disapproving glare. The second they were over the threshold, the door slammed shut behind them. “Did anyone try to follow you?”

“No,” Markus said, breathing heavier now. A not unsubstantial amount of heat emanated from his big body into hers, telling her he might be feverish again.

“Help me get him to the sofa,” she said, wondering who else was in the house. There were two SUVs outside, so there had to be someone else skulking around.

Sourpuss, as she’d mentally dubbed him, took Markus’s other arm and draped it over his shoulder, helping her get him into the living room. Together, they lowered him to the sofa. Only then did she realize someone had removed the stepladder that had been there earlier.

Ghost jumped up next to Markus and settled with his head in Markus’s lap. When Cassidy straightened, she gasped.

Another man came from the dining room. If she wasn’t mistaken, he’d just shoved a mean-looking black gun into a holster on his belt.

“Good to see you, Matt.” Markus hadn’t opened his eyes.

“You, too, buddy.” Matt leaned his shoulder against the doorjamb. “I see you made a new friend.” The corners of his mouth lifted, and wow. Can anyone say gor-geous?

Matt was about the same age and height as Markus and with equally broad shoulders. Dark hair curled slightly around his GQ-handsome face. Chocolate-brown eyes pinned her, but not in the same surly way Markus’s and Sourpuss’s had. Matt’s gaze was clearly amused.

“Yeah, that’s me.” Markus let his head fall back against the cushion. “Making friends everywhere.”

Someone directly behind her snorted. “That would be a first.”

Cassidy started, turning too quickly and nearly tripping over her cane. Another man—one who’d moved so quietly she hadn’t even known he was in the room—grasped her shoulders, steadying her. She looked up, then up and up, into a smiling face framed by wavy, dark hair and with the cutest dimples she’d ever seen on a man.

Okay, so maybe cute wasn’t the right word. His dimples might be adorable, but his two-toned hazel eyes were almost hawklike in their intensity, belying something dangerous simmering behind this man’s seemingly friendly facade.

“Nice going, Kade,” Markus growled. “Still scaring women to death with your Spidey skills.”

“Sorry.” Kade released her and backed away with his hands in the air, palms facing out. His expression was still smiling but with a tinge of regret at frightening her.

“Enough of the pleasantries,” Sourpuss said, crossing his arms and looking fiercer than a tiger ready to pounce. “Are you going to introduce us?” He flicked his gaze from Markus to her.

Again, Markus wiped the sweat from his brow. She didn’t know why it bothered her so much, but it was obvious he needed to rest, not get interrogated. And yes, something about the older man’s demeanor warned that he was getting interrogated. Who are these guys? For that matter, who was Markus?

“This is Cassidy Morgan, my next-door neighbor.”

She waited for him to introduce the men to her, but he didn’t. The way the older man was scrutinizing her made her feel like a bug under a microscope. His eyes narrowed and his lips flattened.

Something about this whole thing was weird. What am I thinking? The entire day had been weird. “You know?” she said, backing away from the sofa. “I think I’ll be going now. You guys obviously have a lot to talk about, and I don’t relish getting shot at again.”

“What?” Sourpuss uncrossed his arms. “What the hell is she talking about?”

Markus’s eyes were closing, another sign that he needed to rest. “When we left the hospital, someone took a couple shots at us from the employee parking lot.” He quickly recounted the rest of what happened, including their NASCAR getaway. “You might be able to pull a slug from the engine block of her car.”

“Shit,” Matt said.

Sourpuss’s face turned sourer, but she sensed it was out of concern for Markus’s safety. For all his outward crankiness, he genuinely seemed to care. “We have to move you. You’re going into protective custody. Tonight.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Markus said in a determined voice. “Especially into protective custody. I don’t know how they found me, but the hospital’s thirty minutes away, and there’s no way they followed us here.”

“Moving him might not be necessary.” Matt pushed from the doorjamb and sat on one end of the sofa. “Besides, he can barely stand on his own two feet. Could be they saw him on TV like I did. The press was staked outside the hospital and caught you going in. Only someone who knows you—or, who’s watching for you—would know it was you in that wheelchair.”

Kade sat on the other end of the same sofa, and all the men’s attention seemed totally focused on Markus, the perfect time to…

Make my escape.

Despite John’s adamant statement that she could trust Markus, she didn’t want any part of what was going on here. Whatever it was, she’d nearly been shot because of it. Again, the mobster analogy came to mind. If she didn’t slip away, they might take her down to the bay and feed her to the fishes.

Trying not to attract their attention, she began inching her way to the door. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest. When she was five feet away, she looked over her shoulder and was relieved. They didn’t even seem to notice she was no longer in the room.

She turned back to the door, hobbling faster. The tip of her cane banged against the brass umbrella holder parked by the door on the floor, making a loud, tinny clang. Whoops.

“Kade, stop her!”

Ghost barked.

Cassidy twisted the knob and had cracked the door open a few inches when an enormous hand appeared over her head. The door slammed shut in her face. She tried opening it again, but he was far too strong.

Awkwardly, she spun and stared up into Kade’s face—the man with the dimples and smiling hazel eyes. Only his eyes weren’t smiling now.

“If you don’t let me go, I swear, I’ll call the police.” The words sounded ridiculous, even to her. It was obvious these men would never let her go. Trusting John Freeman might be the last stupid, naive thing she ever did in her life. She gulped, breathing hard as she sucked in what might be her last breaths.

“Miss Morgan,” Kade said calmly as he continued staring down at her. “We can’t let you call the police.”

“Why not?” she gritted out. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t call them?”

When Kade looked over his shoulder, Cassidy glimpsed Sourpuss momentarily squeeze his eyes shut then give a slight nod.

Kade looked back to her. “Because we are the police.”