The Hunted (The Chronicles of the Hunter Book 1) (4 page)

CHAPTER FIVE

Wow
.

This was the life.

Too bad it wasn’t hers.

LeeAnn closed her eyes. Soaked up rays. Floated aimlessly. She was out at the pool. She wasn’t poolside. She was floating on it, atop an inflated lounger-thing. Sucking up this decadent lifestyle, even it if wasn’t hers.

Then again, she could pretend that she belonged. Who would care? Not that Jezzie person.
Oh. Wait
. The woman preferred to be called Jezebel. That was the first thing she’d said after Kane set LeeAnn onto her feet, started unwrapping the sheet from about her, and then left the women together.

Oddly enough, LeeAnn had immediately missed him. Felt vulnerable. Unsure. And really leery. Jezebel wasn’t much help. The woman didn’t appear to have a bone in her body devoted to altruism or charity. The vibes coming off her had been positively chilly. She hadn’t appeared pleased with the summons. Or LeeAnn. It felt weird being around someone who disliked her on sight. Then again, everything about this morning’s events had that problem.

Complete weirdness.

Jezebel had the strangest eyes, too. So dark, they were almost black. Soulless-looking. LeeAnn had glanced at her once and then avoided it. Besides, somebody had ordered up a breakfast tray with all kinds of great-smelling and tasty-looking selections. She didn’t know who. She didn’t even know who’d brought it. And, wonder of wonders! They’d even included a carafe of coffee.    

She could definitely get used to this lifestyle.

Some time ago, she and Chad had discussed what it would be like to live in the same manner as some of their clients. Surrounded by luxury. Not having to worry. Someone else around to handle everything. Mortgage issues. Utility payments. Student loan debt. Insurance. Chad had been the instigator of the conversations. He’d done spreadsheets and tacked them onto the office walls, each one devoted to a different strategy toward his goal. There was one for playing the stock market. Another for real estate investment. Another for the pricing structure with their clients. It had been his idea to use a sliding scale. If the client had big bucks, they got charged more.

LeeAnn had ceased arguing over it. Chad had control issues with women. It wasn’t worth a blood pressure spike to argue with him. He charmed the socks off everyone he met. Nobody complained about their bill. And – she had to admit – the extra income was useful. She just wished they’d raised rates across the board. Made it fair. She’d thought of discussing that, but Chad was hard to pin down anymore. Come to think of it...they hadn’t spoken for some time. She’d had to set up this morning’s meeting via email. He’d moved out of Fall River. Given her a PO Box number to use for any business correspondence. She wasn’t even sure
where
he lived.

She’d been so naïve!

She should have gone to the authorities the moment she noted the odd account fluctuations. That would have been the intelligent thing to do. But what had she done? Set up a breakfast meeting to discuss the problem. With a man who had this much to lose?

She might have to adjust her thinking here. Naivety was too nice of a word.

LeeAnn paddled slightly. The pool was immense. Shaped like a big, fat snake, wending its way about the backyard, or whatever they called this area. There was a shallow zone. The rest of the pool was pretty deep. She didn’t know how deep, for certain. It wasn’t marked on the sides or anything. Beautiful blue water. Perfect temperature. Just cool enough to soothe a sun-warmed body if she dove in. That might prove too much for the bikini Jezebel had brought her, however. LeeAnn might as well be wearing elastic bands. The top was so tight it restricted her breathing.

All of which was her fault.

Jezebel had asked her size while LeeAnn was shoving big bites of ham and cheese omelet into her mouth. The woman sounded snide as she’d correctly pegged LeeAnn as an eight. Stupidity had kicked in. LeeAnn had instantly stated that she wore a size six, thank you very much. This is what she’d reaped:  A neon yellow bikini bound to make her skin look sallow, and bonus! Nothing came with a string tie she could let out. Or even a range of adjustments with clasps. She’d never shown off this much skin. But she wasn’t letting Jezebel know that it bothered her.

Oh.

No way.

LeeAnn had just gone to the bathroom, tugged the suit on, made a face at her reflection, and then returned. Jezebel hadn’t said a word as LeeAnn picked at the rest of her omelet, foregoing even a bite from the display of frosting-covered cinnamon rolls, or the strawberry-glazed crepes, the stack of sausage links. She hadn’t touched the mouthwatering pile of bacon. She’d even passed on the perfectly toasted wheat bread.

She probably should have eaten more. Her belly rumbled as she thought it. Breakfast felt like hours ago, but it couldn’t be.

This lazy lifestyle altered time or something. Slowed it to a crawl. Then again, she couldn’t be sure. She didn’t wear a watch. That’s one thing she used her phone for. It couldn’t be noon yet. The sun hadn’t reached its highest point. Last check of the area revealed small shadows around the lounge furniture and the areas that contained foliage. Heat radiated from the ground, distorting the view slightly. She should probably go sit beside the pool. Find some shade.

And she would.

In a minute.

This just felt so damned sinful. Decadent. She yawned, and then shook herself. She daren’t fall asleep! A slight bit of tan was one thing. A full-fledged sunburn something else. Her fingers trailed through the water as if she did this every day. And then an odd buzzing sound caught her attention. LeeAnn looked up, lifted a hand to shade her eyes, and checked. There were two small airborne things just above the palm-tree line. They flew side-by-side. Like little helicopters. And that was just cute.

Somebody played with remote-controlled toys around here?

“LeeAnn! Dive!”

What might be Kane came sprinting from the house. LeeAnn’s jaw dropped. He was wearing sunglasses. His hair wasn’t bound. It was straight and glossy and black. About mid-back length. She’d guessed he was fit, but she’d been way off. The guy was unbelievably ripped. And wearing way too little. She didn’t even know the names of some of the muscles rippling beneath his tanned skin as he raced toward her.

“Get in the water!”

If he wanted to make sense, he needed to put some clothing on. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t even take it all in. LeeAnn sat up, drenching her butt and thighs as the raft thing bowed in the center. Kane wasn’t paying any attention to her. He had a gun in one hand and was shooting toward the toy-things. While running?

The water started jumping as it got pebbled with projectiles. The float took a hit. Started whistling as air escaped. And that’s when she knew what was happening. Someone was shooting at her!

With real bullets!

Shock made her clumsy. Shaky. None of which helped in a life-or-death situation. LeeAnn rolled off the deflating float while the water continually erupted about her. One of the helicopters exploded overhead. And then she watched, with wide, unblinking eyes, as Kane launched through the air in a distance-spanning dive.

LeeAnn sucked in a breath just before he slammed into her. His arrival shoved her several feet under the water, beneath the burst of bubbles at his entrance, down to where all kinds of white lines of foam were splicing through water. They were the bullet paths as they lost momentum in the water. For the span of a heartbeat, she watched the scene, recognizing that this looked exactly like what she’d seen in movies.

And then adrenaline kicked in.

She’d been above a deep section. It didn’t feel deep enough. LeeAnn dove, steadily swimming down, not stopping until she reached the pool bottom. Kane hadn’t followed. His legs were kicking from what looked like a long way above her as he maintained a position. What was he? Returning fire? That was ridiculous. Guns didn’t fire underwater.

Did they?

The white foam lines stopped. Disappeared. LeeAnn let an air bubble out. Another followed. She swallowed next, holding air in, trying for time. Her ears popped. Her lungs were starting to burn. She knew she couldn’t stay here much longer. And then Kane loomed out of the space at one side, grabbed her, and shot upward. Toward the surface.

  And air. Sunlight. Life.         

He lifted her above the waterline, and held her there so she could pull in air. As adrenaline waned, weakness took its place. Her arms and legs felt like limp spinach, and emotion sapped what was left of her strength.
Oh. Crap.
She refused to cry. There had to be a better emotion available. Easily grabbed. And there was. Red hot. Heated. Completely illogical.

Anger.

Kane surfaced beside her, sending a wake of water. Wet. Big. Black hair framed his face and shoulders. He was actually still wearing his sunglasses. And that was just full-out ridiculous.

“You okay?”

“No! I am not okay!” 

He swam to the side, hauling her along. He might have been gentle. It didn’t feel it. Her waist felt like a vise was around it. And then he pivoted, put both hands about her midriff and set her on her butt atop tile so sun-heated, the water off her bottom sizzled. But her only other option was the soles of her feet. LeeAnn jumped up, and started hopping about, trying like hell not to cry. One of the helicopter things had disintegrated, making a trail of blackened pieces about what had been pristine tile. She couldn’t spot the other one.

“Now what?”

Kane loomed out of the water, and rose beside her. He didn’t have any trouble with hot tile. Because he had wet-shoes on.

“I told you I’m not okay! Didn’t you hear me?”

“You’re yelling at me,” he replied without inflection.

“Yeah? So?”

“You sound like you’re fine.”

Something exploded behind her, sending a palm frond onto a table. And when that collapsed, the entire thing hit the patio. LeeAnn squealed, leapt, and latched onto Kane’s middle with both arms. And just stayed there, hugging him. She hadn’t planned it, but her feet ended up atop his, and that was one really nice bonus to this embrace. He also felt pretty good. Stable. Warm. Muscled. Alive.

Correction
.

He felt a lot better than just pretty good. Her entire front half was getting a full dose of hard male. Contact with him sent something major. Almost electrical. Her belly constricted. Her thighs tightened. Even her nipples got in on the act. She only hoped he couldn’t feel them through this stupid bra top against his chest.

Kane cleared his throat. The sound echoed through his chest. “It’s all right, LeeAnn. It’s dead.”

“What...were those things?”

“Drones.”

“Someone is trying to kill me!”

“I know. I told you as much.”

She shook her head. Lanky, wet strands of hair slid along her back and arms. “No, Kane! You don’t understand! They’re really trying to kill me!”

Crap.
Crying was going to win the emotion battle after all.

“LeeAnn?”

His voice was low-toned. Softer than she’d ever heard it. Her eyes stung. She blinked rapidly, silently cursing tears that threatened. She held back a sniff, but her voice trembled when she answered.

“Y-yes?”  

“You’re not going to die. Not on my watch.”

Oh, double crap.
She’d sniffed.

“We have to leave. You ready?”

She nodded. And sniffed again.

“Oh. Hell.”

His curse preceded hauling her atop one shoulder, before he started running. She sent a silent prayer of gratitude that she didn’t have to face him! His actions said far more than words. She might be totally turned on by him, but it was obvious the feeling wasn’t mutual.

Not by a long shot.

They reached the house, entered the rotunda/foyer area. A strange buzz was radiating throughout the rooms, all of them unoccupied. And every window had a bank of bars on the outside of it now. Those, she knew hadn’t been there before. LeeAnn hung from his shoulder and tried to be invisible. Weightless. And if she could wish herself anywhere else, she would have.

It wasn’t remotely as comfortable as holding to him, but at least he wouldn’t feel the wayward tear she failed to prevent.

CHAPTER SIX

They reached the equipment room. It was just off the garage, past the kitchens, where a day’s catch could be cleaned and packed. A row of generator-fueled, small blue lights delineated the ceiling. Walls. The door leading to the boat ramp. The lights were the extent of visibility. It was more than Kane needed. He bent forward and eased LeeAnn off his shoulder. Set her on her feet. Held her upper arm with one hand while she wobbled. And tried like hell not to notice how little she looked.

Little. Lost. Afraid.

And – heaven help him – she also looked womanly. Really, dream-worthy feminine. Curvy. Soft. Fascinating.

Damn that Jezzie.

No. Wait. This was his fault. He’d sent for the woman so she could clothe LeeAnn. He’d suspected what would happen. But how could he have known how torturous the reality would be? The bathing suit selected for LeeAnn was useless. Absolutely and completely. Especially when wet and under blue lights. He
did not
need the image of her form etched onto his eyeballs. Not right now.

What was he thinking?

This view wasn’t ever on his list of needs. He needed to get her into a wetsuit. Covered. Neck-to-ankle.

“You okay?”

He grumbled the phrase. It was the best he could manage. LeeAnn nodded. She was squinting as she looked up at him. He lifted his hand away and stepped back, watching her waver momentarily. He forced another step away from her.

The woman was industrial-grade magnet.

And he was steel.

Kane snarled before whipping around. Grabbed the handle on a suit locker with a bit too much power. It broke in his hand, but the door had opened a slit. He stuck his fingers in and pulled, bending the metal open. She gasped behind him. Good thing she couldn’t see what he did, but the sound was a good indicator. She probably ranked him a step above a Neanderthal. He told himself it didn’t matter and reached inside, shuffled through a pile of suits, and chucked several into the room behind him.

“K-Kane?”

If her voice was any gauge, she was still shaky.

“Yeah, babe?”

Shit.

He really needed to cease calling her that.

“Um. How...can you see?” she asked.

“Don’t need to. I’m familiar with the room.”

The entire house rumbled warningly. The blue lights turned red. Steel doors started slamming into place throughout the home, moving with bone-crunching efficiency. Metallic sounds echoed about them for a moment. Kane’s shoulders sagged slightly.

He was out of time. Covering her with a wetsuit just became a waste of precious seconds. He’d have to ignore the fact that she was so womanly and desirable. And then endure it. What a joke. His body was giving him trouble again. He sucked in his abs. Tightened the rest of his frame. Shuddered for a moment.  

“What...was that?”

“Lock down.” 

There were two sets of tanks left in place on the bench, his and Leon’s. The tanks were already connected to hoses, and nestled within Integrated Buoyancy Compensator vests. The gear was fitted to his exact specifications. Ready at a moment’s notice.

Like now.

Kane sat and donned flippers with angered motions before sliding his arms through the armholes of his vest. A seam ripped somewhere. He stood, grunting slightly at the weight and bulk. His movements were quick. Effective. And harsh. Calming just slightly as he fitted his crotch straps. He maneuvered them between his legs gingerly, going around both sides of his problem, as if framing the area.

He scowled before standing fully upright. He had to stop and physically force a few seconds to pass before securing his gear. Get his emotion in check. His desire for LeeAnn was misplaced. Misguided. Supremely annoying. It messed with his abilities. Made him look and act slow-witted. And had a real impact on his movements. He needed to calm down. Project a certain demeanor. Experienced. Competent. Capable. Even if the situation was dire, he had a novice diver on his hands. The last thing they needed was panic.

The chest fastener pressed into his abs with each breath. The straps were like a caress to his groin. This wasn’t normal. Everything felt erotic. He groaned softly. He needed to get into the water and hope the chill put a damper on this. Something needed to.

He took off his sunglasses. Secured them in the little pocket sewn into the waist of the jammers. Grabbed a defogger rag and swiped the inside of his facemask before pulling it on. And then he glanced in her direction. He could swear the floor rocked beneath them as he did so. He moved his gaze before something worse happened.

“I can hardly see you. What are you doing?”

“Getting into SCUBA gear.”

“What? Oh, no. You’re not—? We’re not—? You can’t possibly—? No.”

“You still want to live, don’t you?”

“Well, yes, but—”

“Then quit arguing.”

“Please say you’re joking.”

“There is only one way out of here, LeeAnn.”

“Why can’t we take a vehicle?”

“Because we’ve been flushed.”

“What?”

“Haven’t you ever hunted?”

“No.”

“Well. First you track your prey. And when you find them, you flush them out of hiding. Anything that moves is targeted. We can’t take a vehicle. Or a boat.”

“But, Kane—?”

“Look. Hon.” 

Damn his mouth! Another endearment?

He cleared his throat. Spoke at a lower octave. “Uh. The house was already on lock-down. The light change means the perimeter has been breached. Four guesses who it is. And the first three don’t count.”

“The guy after me?”

“Exactly. And he’s good. I’ve got to give him that.”

She moved back from him. What looked like fear stained her expression. He nearly swore aloud.

“I can’t do this, Kane.”

He took a deep breath. Selected a facemask from the spare rack. Swiped it with the defog rag before pocketing it, too. “Sure, you can.”

“No, Kane. Please?”

“LeeAnn. You have somebody with major skills on your ass. He even used a diversionary tactic at the front gate to gain access. The guy is good. I mean,
really
good. That means I have to be a lot better than I have been. Starting now.”

“But...this is insane! I didn’t do anything. I’m a certified public accountant. I add and subtract numbers! Balance accounts! I live a boring life. In a landlocked state. I’ve never even been near the ocean until now!”

“You may be a paper-pusher, but you’re also really good in a crunch. Calm and focused when you need to be. Extremely level-headed.”

“I am?”

“Don’t tell me nobody noticed before.”

“Um. No.”  She shook her head.

“You were surrounded by morons. Come on. We’re out of time. I’ll help you.” 

Stupid idea, Kane. Really stupid.

He grabbed a set of tanks and approached her, working the IBC vest open as he neared. He stood above her. Inhaled. Then he looked down, trying not to notice she had some really sweet cleavage. The red-toned wash of light caressed one hell of a bosom. And it was right in his line of sight.

“Here.”  He placed the mask into one of her hands. Waited for her fingers to grasp it. “Put this on. I’ll adjust it to your face.”

He watched her hands flutter as she took it from him. “But, Kane! You don’t know me! I am not calm and focused! I’m going to drown! I’ll suck air in the wrong way, and—!”

“You’ll be fine. I’ll make sure of it. Okay? Now, listen up. The mask covers your nose. The only way to get air is through your mouth. You won’t drown, babe.”

Damn his mouth.
He’d called her an endearment again. Failure made him tense. Edgy. And angered again. None of which helped. He was dealing with real desire here. He’d just have to accept that his body craved hers. Massively. And continually.

Then, he’d have to ignore it.

And not fail at that.  

e’d called
She was shaking. Kane sighed before bending down, leaning the tanks against his leg on the floor. He stood back up. Reached and took the mask from her fingers, and jerked away as the contact zapped. Sent sparks. And singed. He wondered if his hair was smoking. He looked up toward the ceiling, pulled in another deep breath, and dropped his vision back to the top of her head. She didn’t balk as he worked the mask over her. Settled it into place. Cinched it tighter. Bent down to check her eyes through the goggles. She was squinting at him.

“Now. Just remember to let the air out completely before pulling another breath in.”

“Do what?”

She sounded really cute with her nose pinched. He couldn’t help smiling, but sobered almost instantly as her eyes widened. She had some really gorgeous light blue eyes. And he really needed to keep his mind clear. He moved his glance to a wall. Cleared his throat again. It didn’t help. Nothing much did.

“We need to focus on the objective here. We’re going underwater. It’s a whole different realm. You’ll need to breathe slowly. Make sure you exhale completely before inhaling again. Your regulator will handle it. I’m putting your tanks on now. You ready?”

“No,” she replied.

He smirked, bent to pick her gear up, and got a very good view of her legs while down there. And damn! The woman had some shapely legs, too.

It figured.

Kane stayed bent over for longer than necessary, his hands gripped about the tanks while he struggled with all kinds of things. He was making way too many mistakes already, starting with letting her would-be assassin get this close in the first place. And here he was wasting what precious time they had. But, everything in his body was working against him! He was up against a red-hot feeling of need he’d never felt before. He hadn’t even known it existed. Ignoring the sensation wasn’t working. Fighting against it was useless. And she was wearing such a tiny, provocative bikini!

The jammers swim trunks weren’t going to hide this.

“Um. Kane?”

Her voice was added torment. He tensed. The tanks clanked together in his hands. She sounded more scared than before. That was probably his fault.

What was he thinking?

It
was
his fault.

“Yeah?”  Now, he sounded like he was talking around a mouthful of pebbles. This couldn’t get much worse. “Just checking the oxygen level.”  He fiddled with the knob as though adjusting it.

“Is everything...okay?”

“Yeah,” he lied.

He stood. Stepped behind her and assisted her into the gear. And had to hold her upright as the weight made her sway.

“K-Kane?”

Great.

She sounded scared. He was going to have to do this in the missionary position.

Worse and worse
.

He moved around to face her, holding her upright as he did so. He debated trying to get flippers on her, but she’d probably fall over if he let go. He shook his head. Frowned.

“Looks like we’re going to have to do this buddy-style, LeeAnn. You okay with that?”

“How is that?”

Dang! She sounded so cute with her nose pinched! “I’ll swim. You hold my vest. It’s just like sky-diving the first time.”

Her eyes went enormous.

“Don’t tell me you never did that, either. Well. You lived a really adventurous life, didn’t you?”

She straightened. “I read! A lot. Okay?”

He almost smiled. Not only at the words, but how they sounded with her nasally voice. A large bang against steel came from somewhere in the home. Kane sobered instantly.

“Put your regulator on, sweets. It’s time to go!”

“My what?”

He adjusted the hose at her mouth. Waited for her to take a breath. He put his regulator into place. Then he picked her up. She immediately wrapped her legs about his hips, which was perfect for stability and balance, but wreaked hell on concentration. Kane yanked every muscle tight, held her against him with one arm, and started moving, lifting each leg high due to his flippers.

Sunlight bombarded his eyes before they reached the dock. Walked past two speedboats, and a trawler. Nothing with a lot of draft. The big boats were out in deep water. Just out of sight. Within easy underwater swim distance...if he was solo.

He started down the ramp doing his best to ignore the signals firing from his loins. They pulsed down his legs. Through his belly. Into his chest. Down his arms. Existence had become a living hell. Fire. Brimstone. There was too much contact happening. He could swear he felt skin. His every pore was alert. Primed.

And he had to swim this way?

Kane tightened his jaw. Clenched his teeth together. He didn’t look down. He didn’t dare. He was using every muscle he had to keep from lunging against her.

They were waist deep in ocean water before she reached for his vest.