“That’s okay.” She gave him a polite smile, but she felt her face flush.

“Max, I want you to go down and do a gear check.” Dante put his hand on Laurie’s shoulder and pulled her away.

“We just checked the gear last night.” He scowled at Dante.

“Check it again.” Dante nodded in the direction of the stairs.

Max’s face contorted in annoyance, but he chose not to say anything. He moved past Dante, and down the stairs.

“Let’s talk in your room for a minute.” Dante pushed open the door to her room.

He sat down in the lone chair.

Laurie sat on her bed, looking at him expectantly. Laurie had been with him less than twenty-four hours, but she recognized the expression he made when a lecture was eminent.

“Listen, Laurie,” Dante began. He cleared his throat. “We don’t usually have single women in the protection program. Mostly men, some families. A lot of families. Husbands and wives. Moreover, we usually don’t start protection service until the police have arrested the criminal. However, you walked into a very high-profile situation. Given the DA’s direct interest in you, you will probably be under our direct protection for longer than most witnesses before the agency relocates you. But, you’re here alone, and my men, well, David’s married, but…”

Dante coughed. The deep tan of his facial features turned scarlet. Laurie gave him a tiny, indulgent smile. Dante looked down at the floor.

“What I’m trying to say is, if there are any problems, I want you feel like you can come to me.”

“Okay.”

“I really mean it. I want you to come to me if anyone makes you feel uncomfortable.”

“I worked in a resort since I was eighteen, Dante. That’s ten years’ worth of sexual harassment training. I’ll come to you.”

He let out a sigh.

“Good. Thank you for understanding what I was trying to say, even though I mangled it.”

They both laughed. Dante ran his fingers through his hair, his gaze darting away from her.

“We have to do some paperwork downstairs. We have a Memorandum of Understanding we have to fill out. I can’t go through all of it until you’ve talked to the DA, but we’ll get through most of it. There are release forms for you to sign. You’ll receive financial assistance for being in the program. It’s not very much, but it’s something. We can’t put it into your bank account, in case they’re monitoring that. We’ll open up a new account for you.”

“I can’t believe I don’t have to work. It feels so strange not having to go anywhere.”

Laurie and Dante left the room to head downstairs.

“Don’t get too used it. Once you’re relocated, we’ll help you find a job so you can support yourself. But if you wanna clean rooms in the meantime, there are a lot of rooms here.”

Laurie laughed.

“No, that’s okay. I think I’ll survive the idleness.”

“I hope so; otherwise, I’m out of a job.”

They both laughed again as they went downstairs. Laurie enjoyed his company far more than she anticipated. She didn’t really want to be here. She didn’t want to be facing her last few days in Hawaii. Yet, Dante had the power to make her forget about that for a few minutes at a time.

Dante set down a stack of paperwork in front of Laurie and they worked through most of it. Laurie signed so many forms, her fingertips ached. At midday, Dante rewarded her with a long break while he made her lunch. He urged her to rummage through the cookbooks for meals she wanted to try. They finished late in the afternoon, adjourning to the living room.

Dante did his own paperwork on a laptop, while Laurie watched TV. David kept his post by the window. Laurie could see him out of the corner of her eye.

David was very quiet, a bit shy. He blossomed when he talked about his wife. They had met in high school. Now she was pregnant with their first child. They moved from Alabama so David could pursue his dream to be a U.S. Marshal, and they moved again when the agency promoted him to Witness Security Inspector. His wife hated him being away on protective details now. She worried about him constantly.

Laurie could understand why, after her own brush with criminals last night.

Max, on the other hand, was David’s opposite. He roved in and out of the living room. Every time he got near Laurie, Dante sent him on an errand, a perimeter check, a grocery run, anything to get him out of the living room. Max finally gave up, sitting at the back of the living room in one of the armchairs, reading a sports magazine.

Laurie was curious about where he was from, but she knew if she talked to him, Dante would frown at her now and lecture her later. Max was a little too eager to get to know her. She’d rather leave it alone.

Laurie enjoyed Cheyn’s company the most.

When he woke up, he wandered down stairs. He kept Laurie entertained with stories about working with Dante. Dante gave up on the computer at that point. Cheyn was too distracting.

Then Dante told his own stories. Cooking disasters between assignments. Water balloon fights with some protected kids that ended up in hospital runs. One elderly bookkeeper that was a witness even insisted on bringing all five of her cats into custody with her. Dante swore he was still cleaning cat hair off his clothes.

They talked until they all got hungry, then Laurie made them all spaghetti for dinner. Looking around at the four men with her, Laurie felt more comfortable eating with all of them than eating breakfast by herself that morning. After they watched a movie together in the living room, Laurie went to bed feeling more content than she had in a long time—almost since before her parents died.

CHAPTER FOUR

Laurie was lost. She was in the middle of the forest, with the ominous feeling that someone was following her. How could she figure out which way to go? Which way was safe? She continued down the path she was on, hoping maybe she would recognize something. However, trees just gave way to more trees and underbrush.

She could hear footsteps now. Someone was following her, but she couldn’t see them. She could hear them behind her. She started to run. She needed to get away, to get back to the safe house. Where were the men? Where had they gone?

She was running now. She slid down an embankment. She knew the footsteps were right behind her. She cried out as she fell. The underbrush tore at her skin and clothes. Bleeding, she picked herself up and continued to run. She was limping now. Each step was painful.

In the distance, she could hear Dante calling for her. She yelled back. She needed to find him. She had to get to him. She would have never been in this trouble if she had stayed by his side.

“Dante! Dante!” She looked around her, but the trees were too thick. She couldn’t see anything but the shadow following her.

She prayed Dante would find her. That he could stop the person chasing her. She ran in the direction of his voice, climbing a steep hill. She could see the person behind her now. It was Kaimi.

“Dante, please! Help me!” She cried as loud as she could.

“Wake up, Laurie. Wake, up!” Dante’s voice boomed in her ear.

Laurie awoke immediately. She launched into a sitting position, nearly hitting Dante straight on as he grasped her by both shoulders. Laurie gasped for air as tears stung her eyes.

“Oh God.” She was embarrassed, still half-terrified.

“It’s okay. It’s okay.” Dante rubbed her shoulders. “You had a nightmare.”

Laurie trembled, as if her body could no longer contain the fear. The dream had been so real, and it scared her. The weight of her situation crashed down on her.

“It’s okay. I’m right here…” Dante smoothed the hair away from her face.