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“For one, I should never have slept with you that first time.”

“Why the hell not?”

“I was drunk. Jim had just dumped me the day before. I should have said no. I should have waited.”

“You regret that night?”

“Regret? No. I don’t regret it, but it wasn’t the right thing to do. I put both our hearts in jeopardy. There’s plenty to worry about without having regrets about the good stuff. What I’m sorry for is getting you dragged into this mess.”

There was movement outside. Wendy and Paris slid between the limos heading for the Jeep. I started to turn away and almost missed Guy following the girls.

“Shit.”

“Quiet, he’ll hear you.” Beau was close behind me, looking over my shoulder. “We’ll stay here until he goes back in the house. I doubt he’s going with them.”

We waited. I shifted from foot to foot, getting more anxious by the moment.

“Stop,” Beau said in my ear. “We are not going back into the house. If push comes to shove, and they come after us through the basement, I’ll block their progress, and you run. Go through the woods and hide. Try to find a house with a phone and call Fogel. He can come rescue me.”

“I’m not leaving you.” I said the words, but I knew they were foolish. One of us had to go for help, and Beau had a cast on his leg.

“Yes, you will. It’s our only chance.” We said the last together, and Beau smiled.

“I knew we’d get on the same wave length sooner or later,” he said.

Wallace’s henchman appeared between the limos and headed for the stairs to the second level of the house. We waited until we heard the Jeep roar to life and saw it backing down the drive alongside the limos. I trotted to the outer door and held it while Beau hobbled through.

Paris was driving the Jeep. She backed it right up to the building, and I pushed Beau toward it. Wendy was in the passenger seat with the dogs on her lap. I wondered what she had told her dad to make him believe she was taking her dogs to the movies.

“I’m locking this door. Go.” I couldn’t get the key in the lock, my hands were shaking so much. I took a couple of deep breaths and inserted the key. I was turning the key when Beau shouted. I looked up to see Wallace’s henchman coming down the stairs two at a time.

“Shit.” I abandoned the key and ran for the car. Paris was grinding the gears, trying to get the thing into first when I dove into the back seat, landing on Beau’s bad leg. I heard his sharp inhale as I pushed myself off him. The Jeep was stuttering forward. We were barely moving, and the slime bag was coming around the back of the nearest limo.

“Move!” I swung myself around the roll bar into the driver’s seat, Paris scrambling into the seat with Wendy.

The Jeep stalled. I hadn’t gotten my foot on the clutch fast enough as Paris vacated the driver’s seat.

“Bree!” Wendy and Beau were yelling, and Paris was making squeaking noises. I could see our nemesis in the rear mirror grabbing onto the rear roll bar. I jammed my foot on the clutch pedal, turned the key and rammed the gearshift into first. There was a leg coming over the back reflected in the rear view mirror. I hit the accelerator, double-clutched the thing into second and pulled out of the drive going as fast as I could. I couldn’t see Guy in the mirror, so I took a quick look behind me.

“Damn.”

He was standing in the back holding onto the roll cage.

Chapter Eleven

I slammed on the brakes, sending Guy forward against the black bar. Shouting carried up the drive from the house, and I glanced back to see figures emerging from between the limos. I forced the jeep into first gear again and burned rubber. The evil henchman fell backward but managed to grab the tail of the Jeep and hang on. I accelerated through second and into third gear before I risked another look back.

Beau was pulling himself over the back of his seat as Guy tumbled over the tailgate into the little cargo area. I accelerated around a curve, sending both men flailing for something to hang onto. Paris and Wendy