The Unseen Enemy Series

Chapter 191

“OK, hold on, sweetheart.” Chris held out his hands to her. “Let’s all just calm down. Come and sit down again, Kat.” He smiled at her. “I know that’s not your name, but it’s all I’ve got to call you right now, alright?”

Despite herself, she found herself softening towards Chris.

God, he’s a nice guy.

“Yeah, OK. I mean, I did promise to give you a chance to convince me, so I owe you at least that much.” She sat down on the chair, took a deep breath. “So, you get it now, right? What I’m up against and what I’m scared of. What you’re supposed to keep me safe from – me and the girls.”

“Yeah, we do.” Dean’s voice was low. “We get it, hon.”

“And?” she asked.

“And,” Dallas said. “You tell me his name, and I flip the tables on him.”

“What?” she said, perplexed.

“Well, unlike you, he’s not in hiding, is he? He has a job – a pretty visible one – so it’ll be easy to keep tabs on him. I can check his credit card activity, get into his bank accounts, track his cell. Ask a staff member to fly on out to Oregon and shadow him.” Dallas shrugged. “If I do it right – and I always do it right, babe – I’ll be able to tell you what he had for lunch on any given day, and what he bought his mother for her birthday.”

She blinked at him. “Is all this legal?”

“Who cares about legal?” Dallas said. “It’s not like I’d be building a case against him that has to stand up in court. I’d just be keeping an eye on the fucker, making sure he doesn’t come anywhere near you. Think about it, Kat: you’d know everything about him, and he’d know nothing about you. How much safer could you be?”

“You can do all of that?” she asked.

“I can and I will. If you tell me his name, and the name of your hometown.”

“I – I…”

“Kat,” Chris said. “Just let Dallas do this, OK? Let him do his checking and tracking, see what he turns up. Then make a decision. If you don’t like what he finds, then you can run.” His gray eyes were steady and dark. “Hell, I’ll even drive you to the bus station personally, buy you a ticket to wherever the hell you want to go. But not yet. Give Dallas a chance, let us take care of you a bit. Just… take a breath. Just rest, for the first time in four-plus years.”

She thought about it, and the men watched her, their hearts pounding.

“Kat.”

Startled, she glanced up at Jim. She’d never heard that tone in his voice before. Kat had seen him gentle and supportive with her friends; she’d seen him take care of them when they needed him. But this – this was a different side of Jim. Sweet. Tentative. Penitent, almost. He actually looked frightened and small, and that stopped her cold.

“What?” she said to him.

“Please don’t go.”

“Why not?”

“Because. You belong right here, with all of us.” With me.

Their eyes met and held. Kat couldn’t tear her gaze from his.

I swear I can hear him begging. Goddammit.

With a sense of falling, Kat turned to Dallas. “His name’s Michael Ferguson. He’s the sheriff of Foxburg Falls.”

They stared at her, disbelieving, then they saw how terrified she looked all of a sudden. With jerky movements, Kat got to her feet as if to run, but she backed away from them until her shoulders rested against the door. She hugged herself, trying to physically hold in her sobs, turning her face from them.

I never wanted to say his name out loud, not ever again. And now they know everything I’ve tried to hide, worked so hard to forget.

How the hell can I look any of them in the face?

Jim got to her first. He held her tightly, cocooning her between the door and his wall of solid muscle, his large body covering her smaller one, giving her a sense of privacy. He didn’t say one word as her tears soaked his t-shirt and her whole body shook against him. The others stood back a respectful distance, wishing like hell they could make her promises, offer her guarantees, bring her that fucker’s head on a stake, anything, anything to give her the peace that she so desperately wanted.

That she f*****g deserves.