Page 19 of Impossible Rapids
Franz leaned against the battered couch, shaking. “Yes.”
Shawn pulled out his phone and pressed a number. He should be calling Chad, their head of security, but there was a more important priority in his mind.
“Yes, sir?” Theo, one of the guards watching over Julie, answered.
“Is Julie all right?”
“All’s quiet here, sir. We swept her apartment earlier, and she’s inside. I believe she’s asleep.”
“Quietly check, please. We just had a shooter at the mansion.”
“Is Mr. Belle okay?” The anxiety in Theo’s voice warmed Shawn’s heart. These guards were loyal to him, Franz, and Mercedes’s memory. Theo would take good care of Julie.
“Yes. Only the shooter was killed.” It was not the best scenario to have the shooter die. Now the police couldn’t question him.
“Give me a moment, sir.”
“Of course.”
Franz and Shawn stood side by side, looking around at the mess. The couch was demolished, as well as the glass patio door. It didn’t appear any bullets had lodged anywhere but the couch. The man’s body was lying face-first on the patio. Who was it and how had he gotten past their security with an assault rifle? Had Lucas and Arianna hired him? With Franz safe, this might be the break they needed to pin a criminal charge on those two. If Julie was safe.
“She’s sleeping, sir. Everything’s secure.”
“Oh, thank you.” He looked at Franz. “She’s safe.”
Franz sank down to the floor. Shawn dropped with him. “Franz?”
“I’m okay,” Franz hurried to tell him, staring at him with his teal-blue eyes. “I just can’t … I can’t lose you or Julie.”
“Should we make her come stay with us?” Shawn asked, loving that idea. Julie close by. He’d see her all the time. He could get her alone where no cameras were recording and explain what unnasti meant.
Franz thought about it as he held his gaze. “I hate to say it, but she’s probably safer not with us. Somehow a shooter got to the back patio. You’re the one with the target on your back.”
Shawn said a quick prayer for insight and realized Franz was right. There was no reason for anyone to go after Julie. In most people’s minds, she was Mercedes’s faithful assistant. Nobody but Jagger, Hays, and possibly Franz knew what she meant to Shawn.
“Sir?” Theo was in his ear. “Should I wake Miss Pandoran?”
“No.” Shawn shook his head. “Let her rest and don’t tell her about the shooting. She doesn’t need any more stress.”
He heard sirens in the distance. He would ask the police to keep this under wraps too. The last thing he or Franz needed was more media uproar.
“Keep a very close eye on her, Theo. I’m trusting you and Blaine to keep her safe.”
“You can count on us, sir. We won’t let you down.”
Shawn loved the earnestness in his voice and the vow. “Thank you. Plan on a large bonus.”
“That’s not why I’m doing this, sir.”
“I know. Plan on it anyway.”
He still wished he could bring Julie here, claim he needed to watch over her personally. But sadly, Franz was right. Shawn was the target. He hung up and looked at Franz as the sirens grew closer and Brett stood sentry in front of them. “Do I need to distance myself from you?” he asked, dreading the answer.
“No,” Franz protested. “You’d be dead without me. You tried to go around the edge of the couch with a pistol against an automatic rifle.”
Shawn chuckled at that, brushing his long hair back and shoving the gun back in the side holster he always wore to conceal carry. “You would’ve been dead. I’m the one who shoved you off the couch.”
Franz half-laughed, but then he clasped Shawn in a fierce hug. “I can’t go on without you. Please be careful.”