He recalled Chas surrounded by a half-dozen football players taunting him for being a fag and working themselves up into beating the life out of him. He’d stepped in on that one, and as captain of the football team, he’d threatened to kick their collective asses and turn them in to the coach if they didn’t scram. Chas had cried in his arms, that time.
They’d been to hell and back together as kids. He’d had to survive his parents’ rotten marriage, and Chas had had to survive being gay in a small conservative town.
He felt like a steaming pile of crap by the time he reached the airport, checked in at a fixed base operator’s hangar, and walked out to the plane.
Rafe was indeed waiting for him, along with another pilot he introduced as Noah. The new guy didn’t offer any information about himself, so Gunner didn’t ask. There was an understood etiquette among operators about such things, and Noah had the hard look of one around his eyes and in the set of his shoulders.
“You look like death warmed over, man,” Rafe declared as Gunner hauled himself up the steps into the plane.
“I feel worse,” he grunted as he eased down carefully into a seat.
“Sleep, then. We’ll be there in about an hour and a half. That fast enough for you?”
“No, but it’s gonna have to be.”
“Balls to the wall, I can make it in an hour and fifteen. But that’s the best I can do.”
“Thanks,” he sighed.
Chasten Reed had reached out to him, huh? That was a name he’d never thought to hear again in this life. Not after the way they’d parted. Chas had figured out Gunner was gay, or at least bi, before he had, for Chrissake. And he’d never forgiven Chas for it.
The jet’s engines whined to life. They made a short taxi out and then lifted off into the night. He had no idea what kind of shitshow he was walking into, but it couldn’t be any worse than the one he was leaving behind.
CHAS LEARNED quickly that time passed differently when a person was scared half to death. Each minute dragged on forever. He kept expecting to hear sirens, but they never came. Instead, almost exactly two hours to the minute after his call to Gunner, his cell phone vibrated, startling the living heck out of him.
The little girl, who’d finally dozed off, lurched awake, flinging her arms wide in terror and whacking him on the face. She started to cry, and then, as if she abruptly remembered to be frightened, went silent. For which he was inordinately grateful.
The caller ID on his phone said it was Gunner.
“Hey,” he said, low.
“You still alive?” Gunner asked.
“Obviously. You’re talking to me.”
“I just landed at the airport. Where are you?”
“In the back of a restaurant, or maybe a bar. Northeast corner of Fifth Street and Maple Avenue.”
“Got it. I’ll come into the building, so don’t shoot me when I do.”
“You’re hilarious. I wouldn’t know the front end of a gun from the back end.”
“That’s the bore from the butt.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind,” Gunner bit out. It sounded like he was running, the way he was breathing hard. “I’ve got to acquire wheels, and then I’ll have to move in cautiously, clear the area before I make my approach to your position. I’ll text you when I’m about to breach the building so you’ll know it’s me. Hang on, dude. I’m almost there.”
The wash of relief that flooded his gut was overwhelming. Not much longer now. He continued rocking the toddler, murmuring nonsense to her, but the rigidity never left her little body. Still, he took comfort from her presence, and goodness knew having someone else to focus on helped him not obsess about how freaked-out he was.
It was perhaps twenty minutes later when his phone vibrated with an incoming text. Cardboard over a busted window?
He texted back, That’s the place.
Coming in.
In an abundance of caution, Chas stayed under the desk, waiting in an agony of anticipation to hear Gunner’s voice on the other side of the door. He, by God, wasn’t unlocking the thing until he knew for sure it was safe out there.
A quiet knock made him jump violently. Dang, he was on edge.
“Chas, it’s me. You can open up now.”
“Just a sec. Gotta move the desk. It’s against the door.”
“I can help with that.”
Chas crawled out from under the desk and watched in shock as the door lock clicked and the door began to slide open. A large dark shadow filled the doorway, and the beam of a flashlight abruptly illuminated the space. Familiar dark hair. Same dark eyes. The tan was deeper now. And that face—
He raced forward, baby and all, and shocked himself by throwing himself against Gunner. The man was a living, breathing wall of muscle, and every inch of him felt like safety. Strong arms came up around him, forming a cage of protection that he huddled within. He realized his whole body was shuddering.
Gunner mumbled, “I’ve got you. You’re safe now. Or at least safer.”
“What’s going on outside?”
“Town’s locked down. Cops are crawling all over the police department and your house. What the hell did you get mixed up in?”
“Nothing. I was sitting in my living room having a beer when I heard noises outside. And then my neighbor died on my porch and—” He broke off, the horror of his memories too graphic for words.
“Ready to blow this Popsicle stand?” Gunner asked gently.
“Is it safe to go outside?”
“Probably, but we’re going to assume otherwise for now and be ultra cautious.”
Chas stepped back out of Gunner’s hug, startled at how bereft he felt. Good golly Miss Molly, he was a mess.
“How did you unlock that office door?” he demanded as he shifted the baby in his arms and followed Gunner out into the main storeroom.
Gunner shrugged. “It was a simple interior lock. Used the tip of my knife to turn the lock mechanism from the outside.”
Belatedly, he realized Gunner was holding a bigass knife in his right hand. The blade was squarish and black and looked positively lethal. He watched as Gunner slipped the blade into an ankle sheath and pulled his pant leg down over it. He was shocked at how comforting the mere presence of another human being was. Particularly a big, capable, armed one.
“Any black SUVs with blacked-out windows cruising around?” Chas asked.
“Nope. Is that what the hostiles were driving?”
“Yep.”
“My guess is they skipped town a while ago. Probably when the police started rolling in from surrounding towns.”
“Are there lots of police?”
“Oh yeah. I must’ve seen thirty squad cars. They’ve come in from all over this part of the state.” Gunner reached for the same door Chas had come in through before asking, “Who’s the kid?”
“No idea. But I think she may be involved somehow.”
“A baby? How?”
“I’m not sure. But my neighbor carried her to my front porch for a reason.”
“Good point. What do you think about taking the kid to the cops who are milling around?”
Chas’s gut tightened with anxiety at the idea. “What if they don’t believe me? What if they don’t think she’s in danger, but she is? What if the bad guys come back for her—?”