“I don’t know. You closed the door. I sat down on the chair. A second later that guy opened it and pulled me out.” She stared at the man at her feet.

She was breathing in short gasps.

Dante put his arm around her and she buried her face in his chest. Dante looked at Jason over Laurie’s head.

“They knew where it was and how to open it,” Dante said. “I have to get Laurie out of here.”

Jason nodded, understanding Dante’s unspoken conclusion. Dean and John charged into the room. Blood stained John’s shirt from his bicep down to his wrist. Both of them looked exhausted.

“Boss, the gunmen fled. Whoa.” John stopped in his tracks.

“I have to get Laurie out of here.” Dante didn’t answer their questioning looks.

“But PD is going to have questions.” Dean’s gaze traveled between Dante, Laurie, and the two men on the floor.

“I don’t care.” Dante took Laurie by the hand. “Laurie is our only priority.”

He led her to the bed. He gently pushed her down to sit on the edge. He started zipping up her bag and his.

“Can I…” Laurie started to speak through her trembling jaw. Her voice broke on a sob.

“What do you need, sweetheart?” Dante cupped her face, bringing her eyes up to meet his gaze.

“Can I change first? Please?” Pain ripped through his chest at her gentle plea.

Dante looked down at her clothes. They were spattered with blood. She would attract attention wherever he took her.

“Yes, of course.” He unzipped her bag. He pulled out a clean pair of jeans and a shirt, and handed them to her.

“Boss?” Dean asked.

“What, Dean?” He led Laurie to the bathroom. He closed the bathroom door for Laurie and turned around.

“Where are we going to take her?” Dean came to the doorway.

“You aren’t going to take her anywhere. I’m taking her somewhere safe. You three are staying here to file the police report and answer their questions.” He unloaded his gun and handed it to John.

“That’s my weapon. I shot the man who tried to kill Laurie. I ran to Laurie, but I didn’t see the guy in the other room. Laurie did. She grabbed the first assailant’s gun, and shot the man in the other room. He was armed. He was ready to fire on both of us.”

“How did they get her out of the safe room?” John stared at Dante’s gun.

“Good question.” Dante arched his eyebrows at him. “John, Dean. I need you to sweep the vehicle. Get me the gun in the dashboard. Jason, I need you to go talk to the detective. They’ll be at the door any minute.”

They all exchanged glances but didn’t move. None of them knew what to do. Dante didn’t know either; he just knew he had to leave with Laurie.

“Now.” Dante clapped his hands together. They all filed past him. He turned around and knocked on the bathroom door. “Laurie, are you okay?”

There was no response.

“Laurie?” Silence. He pulled open the door.

Laurie stood in the middle of the bathroom in front of the sink, still in her bloody clothes, trembling. She held the clean clothes in one hand. The other hand covered her eyes and forehead, trying to shut out the world.

Dante felt a sudden cold rage toward Kaimi. He began to think of all the ways he could kill the man. He had to find him, and every last member of his brute squad. Dante wanted nothing more than to make them pay.

He took a shuttering breath, mentally stepping back from the rage. Dante entered the bathroom, locking the door behind him. Moving over to Laurie, Dante began undressing her.

She stood there, trying to apologize, moving as if she were in a fog.

He pulled on the new clothes he had given her. Then he helped her wash her hands. He wet a washcloth and blotted the blood spatter from her face. Then he cupped her face, looking into her watery eyes.

“Laurie, look at me.” Her sad, distant eyes floated up to his. “I want to comfort you. I do. I would give anything to just hold you. But I can’t right now, sweetheart. I have to get you somewhere safe. Okay?”

She nodded.

“Did I…” she started. She paused to take a quick breath. “Did I kill him?”

He leaned his forehead down, and touched it to hers.

“I don’t know, baby. He was alive when I went over to him. The paramedics will get to him. If you did kill him, it was self-defense, and you saved my life doing it.”

Laurie nodded, taking a calming breath. She licked her dry lips.

“Let’s go.” He kissed her forehead and took her hand. They walked out of the bathroom together.

Dante led her back into their bedroom and picked up his duffle bag. He slung it over his shoulder.

Laurie picked up her duffle bag with stiff, wooden movements.

Dante put his arm around her waist and led her out of the room.

Dean ran up to him in the hallway.

“Boss, the detective is saying no one can leave until they’ve—” Dean handed Dante his gun from the truck.

“I don’t care what the detective has to say.” Dante pulled Laurie past Dean.

Dante continued out to his truck. His stride was resolute.

John and Jason were standing by the truck with another man.

Dante guided Laurie around the group to the passenger side door. The detective pounced on them.

“Mr. Stark, I can’t clear you to leave the scene.” The detective put his hand on the hood of the truck.

“I don’t care. I’m getting my witness out of here. Now.” Dante spared him a glance.

He opened Laurie’s door and handed her into the vehicle. Then he slammed it shut, making the mirror and windows rattle.

“Mr. Stark—” the detective said.

“It’s Marshal Stark, and I’m leaving with my witness.” Dante turned on the man. Dante felt a pre-emptive strike was necessary. He had to get Laurie out of here.

“My men have my statement and my firearm. My witness’ bloody clothes are in the bathroom where I had to remove them from her because she’s so scared she can hardly move. This is the third attack on her life. The second while she’s been in a safe house under protection. So either you shoot me, or I leave with my witness.”

Dante stared the detective down.

The detective took a step back, his eyes shifted to Laurie who sat in the truck, pale and staring off into the distance. Then the detective nodded and took another step back.

Dante walked past him, around to the other side of the truck.

“One of you call Rick and tell him what’s happened.” He threw the comment over his shoulder at his men.

He started the truck’s engine. Without a pause, he put the truck in reverse and peeled out of the driveway, just missing a parked police cruiser. Then he put the truck in drive, and sped off down the street.

Dante started thinking of everything he had to do. He had made up his mind as soon as he realized how Kaimi must have gotten the safe house location.

He drove straight into town, stopping at a small strip-mall. He had Laurie get out with him. They went into a cell phone store. Glass cases ran most of its length in a U-shape. Cell phones were jammed into the case, alongside perfumes, jewelry, athletic clothes, and watches. Two beefy islanders sat on stools at the back. Dante bought a pay-per-minute phone from them, paying for it in cash.

Laurie said nothing, but when they got back into the truck, Laurie turned to him.

“What’s the phone for?”

“I have to get rid of mine.” He drove up toward Highway 19.

“Why?”

“Laurie, how do you think they knew where you were?”

Laurie’s forehead creased into lines of confusion. She looked at Dante like he’d lost his mind. She sighed.

“I don’t know.”

“How do you think they knew where the safe room was? How to open the door?”

“I have no idea.”

“The Marshals Service has a mole.”

Her head tilted back as though an invisible hand struck her. She looked out the windshield toward the stretch of highway before them. Her hands clenched together in her lap.