“I’m going over,” Mitch said to Hal. “Meet me around the block.”
Mitch dropped to the ground and raced along the pool. The doorknob turned easily, and within seconds he’d covered the inside hallway and stepped onto the street. Running footsteps faded into the night, and a flash of blond hair disappeared around a corner. Mitch reached the same intersection seconds later only to find empty sidewalks stretching in three directions.
Hal panted to a stop beside him, then pointed toward the street on the right. “I’ll go this way. You go straight.”
Mitch held up a hand. “We need to stick together, protect each other’s back.”
“Who’s been a bounty hunter longer?” Hal crossed his arms. “Huh?”
“You have,” Mitch said, but tightness pinched his chest.
“Let’s each circle a block and meet back here.” Hal moved off in his chosen direction.
Mitch crept down his deserted street, sweeping a glance along both sides. He jogged another block without any better success. He brought his gun up, rounded the corner onto Hal’s street, and halted. Halfway down, a dark shape sprawled on the sidewalk.
The thing inside clawed up his throat. Mitch raced down the block and dropped beside his brother. “What happened?”
Hal lay face up, a hand pressed to his shoulder. His eyes cracked open. “He got past the vest.”
Mitch removed Hal’s bloody hand and pressed his clean handkerchief to the wound. Hal inhaled with a rasp. “How… How bad is it?”
Hal needed to go to the hospital. Yesterday. Mitch switched hands on the compress and fumbled for his cell. “You’ll definitely need stitches.”
This was on him. Didn’t matter that Hal had separated them. If Mitch had done his job in the first place, they would already have Les Hurley on his way back to jail.
Nobody would be bleeding.
The phone case bit into his palm as he raised the cell to his ear. His fugitive would not get away. He would catch Hurley and make him pay.
* * *
Cath rubbed her jaw but her teeth remained locked tight. She’d always thought her brother could talk to her about any problems, but he’d lied to her. Big time. He hadn’t been forced out of his apartment by broken water pipes. He’d been hiding from these bounty hunters.
“Who’s the guy who charged out of here a minute ago?” Her next-door neighbor, Rhonda Owens, walked into the patio, her waitress apron dangling from one hand. “He nearly knocked me over bursting out of the gate.”
“Not surprised,” Cath muttered. “He was in a hurry.” But he wasn’t the bounty hunter inflicting the most damage. As if nearly catching himself on fire and scaring her to death wasn’t enough, movie-star Handsome had to throw a stone in the equilibrium she worked so hard to maintain.
The ripples still lapped at her edges, and her nerves still hummed from the aftereffects of his legs pressing hers. She sought the skin where he’d wrapped his fingers. He’d relaxed his hold immediately, but he hadn’t let go because… She didn’t know why. The whole thing had been weird.
And she’d reacted without thinking things through first.
“Houston calling. Earth to Cath.”
Rhonda tilted her head, a puzzled expression on her face, and Cath took a deep breath. “Are you talking about the one masquerading as the gas repairman?”
Her friend gaped. “There was more than one?”
“Unfortunately.” What were the chances this was all a bad dream? “The guy you saw…?”
“I don’t know what he wore. He whipped past me so fast I barely had time to determine his sex.” Rhonda pulled keys from her wrist clutch and waggled her eyebrows. “You’re not dressed. Does this mean what I think it means?”
“That I’m taking in customers and this guy couldn’t wait to get away from me because I’m so inept?” Cath cinched her belt. “You know me better than that.”
Though she could admit to a certain clumsiness in the relationship department. For which she’d already paid dearly.
“Don’t you lead a tour tonight?”
“Yeah. I better get dressed.” Cath held open her kitchen door. “You want some spaghetti sauce? I made enough for a crowd.”
“I really shouldn’t.” Her friend’s mouth turned down. “I’m trying to diet.”
“Why?” Cath opened a cabinet to search for a storage container. Rhonda already had a great figure. More voluptuous than her on top, but a perfectly flat stomach. “You’re already a smaller size than me except you know where.”
“Even short people need to be in proportion.” Rhonda patted her hips.
“I used ground turkey.” Cath placed a plastic container on the counter and stuffed a handful of dried pasta in a clear bag. “Take all you want. Bon appétit.”
Now she was quoting her hunky bounty hunter.
Her bounty hunter? Where had that come from?
He looked yummy and had set off butterflies inside. She had priorities, though, and they didn’t include men like him.
Les had lied to her, yes, but her heart clenched at the way the bounty hunters had treated him. He’d managed to escape when she’d opened the door, but he wouldn’t be safe for long. She pressed a fist to her lips. Please don’t let this be the last time I ever see my baby brother.
Chapter 2
Couldn’t she catch at least one break tonight?
Another chill rode down her spine and sank its spurs. Cath traced the outline of the weapon underneath her costume skirt before glancing over her shoulder.
Neither the man carrying a plastic grocery bag in each hand nor the one communing with earphones while leading a ball of fluff on a leash paid her any mind. Beyond them stretched nothing but empty sidewalk. Who did she think would be back there, anyway? Les? Those intimidating bounty hunters?
The tall, arrogant one with the nimble comebacks probably thought she’d tried to delay him, but she doubted anything would have deterred those guys for long. By now they’d have caught Les, and her brother would be frantic. He might not even think to tell those brutes about his hearing loss.
They wouldn’t listen, anyway. They’d just overpower him. Les might lose his aids. Would the bounty hunters notice and give them back? If he didn’t have his aids… She gripped her shawl until her knuckles ached.
Several couples waited for her Crescent City Haunts ghost tour at the end of Pirate’s Alley, one dancing to the jazz from down the street.