Two
If not for his military training, Chase would have surely walked into a bullet. It wasn’t the first time his instincts had saved his life. Maybe this time, they’d saved Lily’s life, too.
He almost didn’t see her. Not because of the darkness or the throngs of frightened people. When he’d entered the hospital ten minutes ago, he hadn’t been looking for a pregnant woman.
But a man never forgot certain things about a woman he’d once loved. Chase had spotted Lily from thirty feet away in near total darkness. Despite her bulging midsection, he’d known immediately it was her. He would know her if he were blind and deaf. He would know her by touch alone. By smell. By the way she breathed.
He couldn’t believe she was pregnant. Couldn’t believe she’d moved on to another man so quickly. He had to bank a quick rise of jealousy.
But there was no time for petty emotions now. From the balcony above the atrium lobby, he’d counted two shooters, possibly three. He didn’t like the odds, but he’d faced worse. For now, he had to focus on moving her out of there without either of them getting shot.
Lily struggled against him as he pulled her into the darkened hall. Terror and panic came off her in waves. She thought he was one of the gunmen, that he meant her harm, but there’d been no time to identify himself let alone talk her into letting him help her.
“It’s Chase,” he whispered. “Calm down. You know I won’t hurt you.”
She went still, but he could feel her trembling violently. Her breaths came in fast, short bursts from her nose. He’d approached her from behind and wrapped his right arm around her abdomen, placing his left hand over her mouth. Her body pressed flush against his. It was more lush than he remembered and so soft and warm that for a moment all he could think of was sinking into her and never letting her go. That the old attraction was still sharp after so many months shocked him almost as much as her pregnancy.
“I’m going to take my hand from your mouth,” he said in a low voice. “Don’t scream or those goons with guns are going to come calling. You got that?”
She nodded.
Slowly, he removed his hand.
She turned to face him. In the semidarkness her big green eyes looked black against her pale complexion. As always, she’d pulled her long curly red hair into a no-nonsense ponytail at her nape. She looked the same as last time he’d seen her. The same as in every dream he’d had about her in the months they’d been apart. Except for the soft roundness of her belly.
“What are you doing here?” she whispered.
Because he wasn’t quite sure how to answer, he eased her to arm’s length and looked her over. “Are you all right? Did they hurt you?”
“I’m okay.” Her eyes flicked to the lobby. “There are two men out there with guns who want to kill me and I have no idea why.”
“I’m not going to let anyone hurt you,” he said.
She noticed the blood on his sleeve, and her eyes softened. But realization dawned and the softness quickly transformed into anger. “My God, you’re part of this.”
“That’s not how it is.”
She looked as if she wanted to hit him. “Things never change with you, do they, Chase?”
“This is no mission,” he said, hating that his tone was defensive. His work with Eclipse and his penchant for risk taking had been points of contention between them from the beginning of their relationship.
“Save it,” she said.
“We don’t have time for this now, Lily.” Taking her hand, he tugged her more deeply into the hall. She resisted, but her efforts were token and he easily muscled her to the alcove outside the rest¬ rooms. “We have to get out of here right now.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“You don’t have a choice, damn it.” He glanced toward the lobby. “Those bastards mean business.”
“Who are they? Why are they doing this? Why do they want to hurt me?” Her questions came in a flurry.
“I don’t know,” he said. “We’ll figure it out later. For now, I need to get you out of here.”
“Chase, damn it—”
He cut her off, ushering her to the farthest wall of the alcove. “For once in your life listen to me.” He glanced toward the lobby. “Stay put. I need to see where they are.”
Pressing his back flat against the wall, he sidled to the hall entrance and peered into the lobby. The two gunmen stood in the center of the atrium, looking around. Chase slipped back to the alcove.
Lily had ventured only a few feet, her hand placed protectively over her abdomen. She’d always been strong willed and capable, not the kind of woman who needed or wanted protecting. But standing there with fear in her eyes and a baby growing inside her, she looked incredibly vulnerable. The need to protect her rose inside him in a dangerous tide.
“Let’s go.”
She didn’t resist as he pulled her toward the emergency exit at the end of the hall. A sign above the push bar on the door told him an alarm would sound if the door was opened. Since it was the only exit they could reach without being seen, he didn’t have a choice but to take it and hope the alarm had been rendered inoperative because of the blackout.
“If that alarm is intact, all hell is going to break loose when we go through this door,” he said.
“In case you haven’t noticed, hell already has broken loose,” she shot back.
“Can you run?”
She glanced down at her belly. “What do you think?”
“I think you don’t have a choice.”
Chase hit the security bar and shoved open the door. A shrill alarm split the air. “Run!” he whispered.
The door opened to the sidewalk on Harrison Avenue. Abandoned cars that had run out of gas during the massive traffic jam that had followed the blackout littered the street. Flames flickered from a drum where someone burned garbage, but there was no one in sight. The street was pitch- black and eerily quiet.
“This way.”
Chase pulled her into a run, and they headed north on Harrison at a fast clip. She didn’t complain, but he could feel her struggling to keep up. She’d once been quite athletic, so he knew it was her pregnancy slowing her down.
“Come on,” he said. “You can do it.”
“I’m moving as fast as I can,” she said between pants.
Behind them, a shout echoed, telling him at least one of the gunmen had spotted them. “Faster!” Chase shouted. “Run!”
A volley of
