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was cold and clammy in his. More than fear, there was something in her touch he didn’t recognize, a sort of odd familiarity.
    “There isn’t time. Trust me.” He pushed her behind him. The night exploded with the sound of the front motel room door being kicked in. One man riddled the bed with a hailstorm of bullets, his target the two sleeping bodies in the bed. Gabe peeked through the open bathroom door. The assailant yanked the sheets off the bed.
    “Damn, he knows. Stay here,” Gabe whispered to Lea and slipped into the bedroom. The butt of his pistol warmed with his grip. He pointed it and fired three shots into the darkness.
    * * * *
    Lea heard four gunshots and silence. What if he’d been hit? What would she do? Should she try to turn the diamonds in herself? Soft footfalls on the carpeting in the bedroom came closer to her. Were they Gabe’s or a killer’s? She covered her mouth with one hand to stifle the scream lodged in her throat. Oh God. Oh God. Her hand tightening on Gabe’s clutch piece, she strained to see through the dark. In the near darkness she saw Gabe standing in the open front doorway, his arm raised and sweeping from one side to the other, obviously searching for another attacker. A form lay on the floor at his feet. Lea watched him bend to check the man’s pulse. A shadow moved across the floor. Remembering the back door of the room, Lea was certain Gabe had secured it. The shadow of a man moved across the floor and pointed a gun in the direction of Gabe’s bent head. Lea heard the resounding click of a hammer being cocked and something ticking. There was only one choice. She squeezed the trigger.
     

 
    Chapter 5
     
    The pop o f his clutch piece made Gabe cringe, knowing for all his agent training, he’d only been saved by Lea’s aim and southern upbringing. A body fell beside him with a sickening thud. He’d had only a second to turn when he heard the click of the man’s gun. Not enough time to turn and fire to save himself. He didn’t have to check to know the man was dead, and didn’t dare flip on the light to check faces and confirm these were the men after Lea. If there were others, a light would give away his position in the room. From the dim moonlight, he could barely see Lea standing in the dark bathroom doorway. Something hung from her hand. His gun? “Lea?” He walked to her and took the gun from her limp fingers before she could shoot herself in the foot with it. However accomplished a hunter she might have been at one time, shooting a deer and putting lead into another person were worlds apart. Even a mentally strong person could go into shock when faced with the reality of human death.
    “Is he dead? Did I kill him? He was going to kill you, Gabe. Can’t let you die. Can’t. I killed a man in front of an FBI agent. God.” She babbled and shook violently. Her voice was thick with tears.
    “Yes. We have to go.”
    Lea stood rooted to the tile floor of the bathroom. She’d looped her huge bag over her head and across her chest to free her hands.
    “ Tick, tick, tick… There’s a bomb. Serena told me so.”
    Gabe could hear it now, too. A soft ticking sound coming from the kitchenette area in the back of the room. “Sorry about this, but there’s no time.” Gabe grabbed Lea around the waist and flipped her up over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry, ran out of the room and across the parking lot, to the night man’s desk enclosure. A peek through the glass told him the watchman was dead. Blood spattered all over the glass windows and floor.
    “Hell. These people are crazy!”
    “Dead. Serena said he was dead.” Lea mumbled, her voice muffled by his back.
    Waves of heat and sound crashed into them as room thirty-four exploded into a massive fireball, taking the Jeep and surrounding rooms and storage building with it. Lea screamed with such misery he thought she may have been injured, but he would have to find a way to get them both out of here before