Miami, Mistletoe & Murder (Red Stone Security #4) Read Free Page B

his weapon, Travis fired.

Chapter 3
    Travis didn’t bother checking the guy’s pulse. He’d hit him right between the eyes and he’d do it again. It wasn’t the first time he’d had to kill and to save a woman and child, he knew he would never wrestle with his conscience over this. It was justified.
    After kicking the gun away, he turned to the woman who was now shrieking, crying, and still losing blood. She’d jumped up from her seat and had backed away, pushing the chair against her legs. “Where’s my daughter?”
    He tucked his gun back into its holster even though he knew the cops would need to take it for a while. He wanted to make this woman feel as safe as possible considering the crappy circumstances. While he might have seen more death than one man should in a lifetime, this was probably the first time she’d seen someone killed in front of her. “Juanita is safe. My name is Travis and I’m friends with Noel. Juanita called her and we came over to help your daughter.”
    All the air seemed to leave the woman’s lungs in a rush. “You’re friends with Noel?”
    “Yes.” He remained still even though he wanted to rush over and depress something over her wound.
    She swayed on her feet. “My daughter’s okay?”
    “Yes. Where do you keep your dishrags?”
    She blinked once and collapsed back in the chair. “Drawer…there.” She gestured with her head and he hurried over, careful to step around the dead body.
    After grabbing some towels, he brought them to her, pulled her hand from where she clutched her arm, and pressed a couple over the wound. She flinched but he didn’t let up the pressure. “Can you hold this in place while I walk you out?” Travis wanted to get her outside and waiting for the police and he wanted to get to Juanita so he could make sure she was truly safe.
    Though she was wobbly and it was clear she was losing energy fast—definitely because of the blood loss—she held the towels in place and he scooped her up. Moving quickly through the house and down a long hallway, he burst outside to find Noel waiting by the edge of the yard, clearly making her way toward the house even though he’d told her to wait.
    “The guy is dead. Go find Juanita so she doesn’t stumble onto that scene.” His words came out as an order but this wasn’t the time for politeness. The kid did not need to see that. Even though he’d told her to stay hidden, she was a kid, not a soldier and wouldn’t take his orders seriously if she got worried enough about her mother.
    Pale eyes wide as she took in the mother’s blood, Noel nodded and sprinted into action, racing across the yard toward the neighbors.
    The sirens were louder now and Travis prepared himself for what was going to happen. Kneeling on the grass, he helped the mother sit. “How are you feeling?” he asked softly.
    “It hurts,” she gasped but at least she was still conscious.
    “You’re going to be okay.” He was pretty sure the bullet had gone all the way through. When the screaming sirens grew even louder he realized the cops were on the street. Without looking away from her, he said, “Listen carefully. The cops are here and they’re going to cuff me. Don’t freak out.”
    “What? Why? You…saved…” Her skin paled even more as she tried to talk.
    “I’m not going to be arrested but they have no clue what’s going on and will need to put me in cuffs while they assess the situation. I’ll be fine, promise.” At that, he stood and put his hands on his head as two patrol cars screeched to a halt in front of the house.
    Two men in uniform rushed him, weapons drawn, ordering him to get on his knees. He did what they said and as they flipped him and cuffed him the last thing he saw before his face was on the grass was Noel’s horrified expression. But she had a little girl with her so he knew they were both okay. Everything else would work itself out.
    As Noel and even Juanita’s mother started shouting to let him