Page 45 of Critical Strike

Luke slowed to a walk; he definitely couldn’t draw attention to himself now. He kept his eyes trained on Claire. There was no way he was going to let her go in there.

He had just found her again after all these years, and he couldn’t lose her now.

He kept on the other side of the street from the precinct. She was so busy arguing with herself, preparing her statement or whatever she was doing, that she didn’t even see them.

Even in this dire situation, Luke couldn’t help but smile. This woman... She’d amazed him when they were kids, and she continued to do so now. Last night had just solidified that.

He crossed the street a little farther down from her so he was coming up behind her. Khan began to get a little restless in his arms as he saw Claire.

“I know, buddy. We’re going to get her out of here.”

Luke moved quietly up behind her and was able to see the two cops who walked out of the precinct and headed in her direction at the same time she did. She stiffened, and he knew she was about to make her move.

He dropped Khan and quickly stepped in front of her, blocking Claire from the cops’ view.

He pulled her in for a hug. “Hi, honey,” he said just loudly enough that the cops would be able to hear him but not so loud that it seemed unnatural. “Ready to go get our coffee?”

The officers never even slowed down, caught in their own conversation as they continued down the block.

Luke kept one arm around her and turned them to cross the street in the opposite direction of both the cops and the precinct.

“Did you get my note? I want to turn myself in.”

He didn’t stop walking and Khan stayed right at their feet. “That’s exactly what Ballard is hoping you’ll do. He’s prepared for that. You can bet he has some sort of plan. You turning yourself in without proof in hand will be a death sentence.”

She was still resisting. “You got hurt. You could’ve been killed. I meant what I said in the note.”

He stopped walking so he could turn and face her eye-to-eye. He brought both hands up to cup her cheeks and ran his thumbs over her delicate cheekbones. “Kitten, you have no idea what it means to me that you want to protect me, but this is not the way to do it. We find the proof and we get it into the right hands.”

“But—”

“You’re not in this alone anymore. We’ll figure it out together, okay?”

He thought she might argue, but she nodded. “Together.”

He slipped his arm back around her shoulder and they began walking again. They needed to get as far from here as possible.

THEYUSEDTHElast of the cash to take a taxi across town. Luke needed to talk to his brothers and couldn’t take a chance on anything being bugged.

Claire donned the brown wig, and they walked a couple of miles before calling a cab at a hotel. If Ballard was smart, he would have the media put a picture of Khan all over the TV. He was much more noticeable than either Luke or Claire was. People would be recording them left and right if they needed to look for the giant cat.

Luke and Claire talked as little as possible in the cab. He didn’t want the driver to have any reason to remember them. He had the driver take them to a small mall a couple of miles away from the San Antonio Security office. He hated to make her walk more, but it was better this way.

He knew she was surprised when he led her into an underground parking garage a couple of blocks from his office. They took the elevator back up to the ground-level floor, then walked down the hallway and out the back door.

It led out to the alley that led between the two buildings. It gave him and the guys a second hidden entrance into their office. It was one of the primary reasons they chose this particular space to rent.

If someone were watching their building, they would still never know Luke and Claire were inside.

The relief on his brothers’ faces was apparent as soon as they came in through the back door.

“Thank God,” Brax murmured.

Weston and Chance immediately closed the blinds on the front window. The glass was tinted, but this gave them an extra measure of privacy.

Brax sat down and switched on the signal blocker. That would block anyone attempting to use audio surveillance equipment to listen in on their conversations.

“Are you guys all right?” Brax asked. “When we heard about the Wars Hill library fire, we immediately got over there but we couldn’t find any sign of you.”