Her eyes widened as she saw a man approach. She couldn’t see his face. He was dressed all in black with a hat pulled low on his face. She frowned. She couldn’t move closer without losing her cover.
Instead, she slid to the side, hoping to get a look at Trevor’s face. There.
What do you want? He spoke too quietly for her to hear him clearly, but there was enough light to read his lips. He looked arrogant. Nasty. Unfortunately, the other man had his back to her, so she couldn’t tell what he was saying.
Suddenly, Trevor looked terrified. He raised his hands in the air. Her heart started to race.
Please don’t. I’ll stop. Please.
The other man raised his hand. Oh, fuck! Did he have a gun? There was no noise, but Trevor dropped to the ground in a silent heap. Silencer.
Ria’s stomach lurched. She was going to hurl. Oh, God. Oh, God. Sweat dripped down her back. She felt ill. The other man moved to stand over Trevor. He looked down at him for a moment then stared around. His hat was so low, she couldn’t see the top half of his face. He took a moment to pull out his phone. He seemed to be staring directly at her as he spoke into it. She saw his lips move.
Yeah, Vince, it’s done.
Oh God. She crouched there, frozen. Her heart raced. Move, Ria. Get help. What if Trevor was still alive?
She turned to leave and accidentally kicked a can along the ground.
Fuck. Fuck. Had he heard? She ducked right down, arms over her head to protect herself.
The door to the back of the club opened. “Ria? Ria, you out here?” Connor yelled.
Terror filled her. No!
“Connor, gun! Get down!” she screamed, running towards him. The guy with the gun could shoot him too. She was too far away to save him. And then he was there with her. He shoved her to the ground. Crouched beside her. She looked up to find he had a gun in his hand. He looked calm. Collected.
“Connor, get down. He could still be out there.” She pulled at him, utterly terrified that she was about to watch him get shot as well.
“It’s okay, Ria,” he said in a low voice. “I’m here. I’ll take care of you.”
“Trevor’s b-been s-shot.” Her body shook. Shock. She was in shock. She tried to get up but Connor pressed firmly on her back.
“Stay down. Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No. B-but Trevor . . .”
“Hunter is securing the area. You stay down until I say otherwise.” His voice was as stern as she’d ever heard it.
“We h-have to h-help Trevor.” Oh, God. Oh, God.
“Right now, all you have to do is what I tell you. You’re in enough trouble already.”
Trouble? What did that mean? She hadn’t done anything wrong. The surge of anger cut through her fear.
“What do you mean?”
“Ria, be quiet.”
Okay. So talking right now probably wasn’t the best idea. Maybe she should start throwing up instead.
“All clear,” Hunter called out.
“Stay there,” Connor ordered as he rose. He kept his gun by his side. “Did you find Trevor?”
“Yep, better call an ambulance. Not that there’s any rush. One clean shot to the forehead. They knew what they were doing. Didn’t think
they’d have anyone with that talent in a small place like this.”