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sound.
    A few minutes later they heard more gunshots but these were
far away. The killer had retreated from the store. She let out a hard breath just
as Matt turned toward her. She heard him lean the metal pole against the wall.
She reached for him and he tugged her tight against him. She flung her arms
around his neck. They remained that way, finding comfort from closeness. She
lost track of time.
    “It’s going to be all right.” His voice whispered against
her ear, reassuring and strong.
    “I know,” she managed to say in a shaky voice. She kept her
voice to a mere whisper. “How long do you think we should stay in here?”
    “We have to wait it out until the cops take him down,” Matt
said into her ear. “I’m sorry I didn’t see another quick way out of here.”
Matt’s arms tightened around her. “It’s all right. We’re safe here for now.”
    Fear started to ease under his attention. God, how did he do
it? How did he keep that creeping sense of disaster at bay? She accepted the
warmth and comfort his embrace offered. As her hands slipped down his shoulders
she drew in a deep breath. Something about him calmed her.
    “I was on the line with 9-1-1 when my cell phone died,” she
said.
    He released her and she heard him jingling some keys.
Suddenly a small flashlight on one of the keys lit up. He placed it on the
floor pointing at the wall. “This is the first time this has come in handy. My
mother gave it to me.”
    “Smart mom.”
    He grunted and pulled a cell phone out of the holster on his
waist. “Worried mother.”
    “Worried? You’re a marine.”
    He chuckled softly, a smooth, deep sound. “You know how
parents are. Besides, my mother was in the marines. She’s always prepared.”
    She’d never met anyone whose mother was a marine. In the air
force and the army, yes, but not a marine.
    As he used the touch screen on his phone, his fingers flew
over the keys. “I’m texting my brothers. I’d call them but I don’t know how
safe it is for them to answer a phone.”
    “Excellent idea. Ask them if they’ve seen Kathleen and
Lena.”
    She caught a glimpse of his face in the semidarkness. His
brows drew down in concentration. His eyes flashed, his mouth a tight line.
Silence ruled for a few minutes. Finally a dull vibrating sound rumbled from
his phone. And then another and another.
    In the distance more shots popped but these still sounded
far away.
    “Yes,” he said in triumph. “Jake just answered. He’s with
Kathleen.”
    She caught her breath. “Are they all right?”
    “They’re in a storage room behind the coffee shop next to
the engraver’s and there’re several other people with them. He says they’re
staying put for now.”
    She released a slow breath, her tight muscles relaxing
slightly. He continued texting. She stayed silent, her mind churning a hundred
miles a minute. Worry escalated. Where were Lena and Rick?
    “God, I hope Lena is safe,” she said.
    “I got the impression you three ladies could handle anything
that came your way.”
    “Huh. Well, we have our moments.” She slid down to sit on
the floor, easing her handbag off and leaving it nearby. “Lena just started
taking handgun lessons. I hate guns.”
    “Afraid of them?”
    “Not exactly. I just have this aversion to them. My father
was…” How did she say this without sounding like a cliché? “He was in Vietnam.
He became a cop, then the PTSD took hold after a few years and…” She swallowed
hard and couldn’t continue.
    His dark gaze caught hers for a second and held, filled with
an understanding she hadn’t expected. “My mother was a marine for twenty-five
years and had some interesting experiences in Desert Storm. Then her body
couldn’t take the wear and tear and she retired. She can be a real bear.”
    “Ouch. The war or the discharge?”
    “She loved her job. The discharge is what broke her.”
    “Broke her?”
    “She was in military police, and not doing that any more ate
her up.