Hungry Like the Wolf(72)

“What’s wrong?” Mackenzie asked when Gage hung up.

Gage didn’t have a clue what dinner cost, but he pulled fifty dollars out of his wallet and tossed it on the table. Then he stood and held out his hand to Mackenzie. “I’ll tell you on the way to the compound.”

Mackenzie didn’t demand answers, but just took his hand and let him lead her out of the restaurant. Even though she was the poster girl for calm, he could hear her heart pounding.

“Gage, you’re scaring me,” she said when he made her wait while he scanned the parking lot. “What’s going on?”

He hurried her across the lot, his nose taking in a hundred different scents, his eyes shifting just enough to sharpen his night vision without giving off that telltale glow. The sun was just going down, so it wasn’t completely dark out, but he still focused as he peered into the deepening shadows.

The parking lot was clear and he hustled Mackenzie in the car before he’d even thought about how to answer her question.

He seriously considered making something up. But he wouldn’t make her any safer by lying to her. In fact, he’d probably do the opposite. If she didn’t know the danger she was in, she might take a careless risk without even realizing it. So, as he spun out of the parking lot, he told her the truth.

“Hardy’s brought in a bunch of heavy cartel muscle from outside the country. They started arriving earlier today. And everyone who knows anyone has it on good authority that they’re here to kill me.” He slanted her a glance. “And my girlfriend.”

He sped down the road, checking every mirror in quick rotation as he waited for her to say something.

“Girlfriend, huh?”

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Mackenzie had always struck him as a pretty cool character, but of all the things he’d expected her to say, that wasn’t one of them. “That’s the word on the street, according to Mike.”

“I wonder how Hardy found out about us so quickly.”

Gage shook his head. “You did hear the part about them planning to kill us, right?”

“Yeah, but I could have told you that. In fact, I’m pretty sure I did,” she said. “He must have had someone watching you for the past few days and they saw us together. I wonder why he’s making such an aggressive move now, though. I thought someone like Hardy would have taken a more calculated approach.”

Gage took the opportunity to check his mirrors again. He knew exactly why Hardy had hired those hit men—because Gage had miscalculated and poked the man with a stick.

“I know there was a bomb in that meth lab the other day.” When Gage did a double take at that, she added, “I overheard Cooper tell Mike at the hospital.”

He swore under his breath.

“Hardy was behind it, wasn’t he?”

Gage nodded, his gaze going to the mirrors.

Mackenzie looked over her shoulder, out the back window. “You think those hit men are going to come at us while we’re driving, don’t you?”

He forced himself to stop looking in the mirror every five seconds. “Not really. I doubt anyone could have followed us all the way out here along these back roads without me noticing them. And no one could have guessed this is where we’d go. I don’t think many people in Dallas even know that place is out here.”

She sat back in the seat, looking surprisingly relaxed. Well, as relaxed as a person could look knowing that a rich, powerful man wanted you dead.

“So, what’s the plan?” she asked. “Are they going to put us in protective custody?”

Gage couldn’t believe how well she was taking this. Most women—hell most people—would have been freaking out by now.

“I’m sure Mason is talking to the chief of police right now about putting together a protective detail, but I trust my own people a whole lot more,” Gage told her. “We’re heading straight to the compound.”

“Okay. But then what?”

Gage was trying to figure out how to answer that question when the glare of headlights reflecting sharply off the rearview mirror caught his attention. He had just enough time to punch the accelerator to the floor and tighten his grip on the wheel when the car coming up behind them smashed into his bumper.

If the Charger had been any lighter—or if he hadn’t lucked out and seen the asshole coming—the collision would have knocked his car completely out of control. As it was, he and Mackenzie nearly slid sideways into a ditch. Tires squealed as the sports car threatened to roll on him. He fought for control of the wheel as he tried to figure out where the psycho behind them had gone.