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She straightened up a little, risking a glance over her car to try to get a look at the color and , but didn’t see anything

“Help! So into her purse for her cell phone

At the sound of feet pounding the pavement, she crouched down

“Allison! For God’s sake, stay down!”

It was Connor’s voice shouting to her as he seemed to run past, even as she heard a car speed out of the parking lot with a shriek of tires

“Dammit!” Connor said

He cursed so back toward her

She straightened, pushing her hair out of her face, and stepped from between the parked cars

“I tried to get a shot at hi heavily

Her eyes shot doard and she gaped as she noticed the gun that Connor grasped in his hand Where had that come from?

When her gaze ain, she focused for the first time on the expression on Connor’s face

He looked mad as hell

Seven

While they drove back to the townhouse, Connor kept a grip on his temper But only because he had to

They’d just finished talking to the police, who’d recovered a couple of unusual-looking bullets—or slugs, in police lingo—fro lot With any luck, the police would have a theory soon on the caliber and un that the perpetrator had probably used in the shootingUnfortunately, the parking lot—at least the part around Allison’s car—had been e, probably due in no small part to the bad weather Of the two people whom the police had intervieho had seen the perp’s car speed away, one had sworn the car was gray while the other had called it blue

In any case, Connor doubted that the gunh to use a vehicle with plates that could be easily traced back to hih he’d make sure that the police and his own people nevertheless looked into it

And that was the other thing: the profile of Allison’s unknown harasser that he and Allison had constructed could be thrown out the

The assailant had now done more than merely threaten and vandalize property He’d shown he was desperate enough to try a direct attack on Allison Not only that, but, chillingly, he’d apparently slashed Allison’s tire before the shooting in order to make it hard for her to flee by car

Still, Connor wasn’t convinced that the signs pointed to arather than a white-collar criminal such as Kendall Allison’s assailant had proved—fortunately—not to have very good ai lot had been intended as a gang-inspired drive-by shooting, the fact that the job had been so botched raised questions in Connor’s mind

The otten back to the townhouse and found the note Allison had left behind, he’d taken off after her, trying to reach her on her cell phone and not succeeding When he’d gotten to the parking lot, he’d pulled up right at the curb in front of the super out of his car when he’d heard the first shot ring out Icy fear had wrapped itself around his heart as he’d reached for his own gun

He gave a quick glance at Allison sitting in the passenger seat next to hi shaken by what had transpired in the last couple of hours

Silence reigned between theot into the townhouse At which point, Connor decided it was ti you to stay put,” he said tightly “Correctout to the super put”

“You were delayed,” she responded, irritation lacing her voice “And, anyway, I refuse to be a prisoner in my own home”

“Right,” he said harshly as he followed her into the living room “It appears you’d rather be dead”

She stopped and whirled back to face hi in her eyes “That’s blunt,” she fired back “Anyway, even if you’d been with otten shot at”

“True, but it’s all about the odds, princess, and it would have been less likely,” he snarled back “He, or whoever it ho took a shot at you, would have thought twice about it if you looked as if you had security”

“Since when do you carry a gun?” she demanded abruptly