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raincoat and fired at point-blank range.

Chapter Four
    True self is the part of us that does not change when circumstances do.
    —Mason Cooley
    C harity welcomed the chance to embrace her true self as she shoved Daniel to the side and brought up her weapon. She fired off one round and realized that her angle was wrong. She’d brushed her target’s thigh, but that was all.
    The target fired back, hitting Alonzo, and she stepped in front of Daniel to protect him with her body if need be. She wore a Kevlar vest, so she wasn’t too worried about getting hit. And she knew she could get her target if she was in the right position.
    But the target spun on her heel and took off. She drew Daniel to his feet, but he jerked his arm out of her grasp and took off at a dead run after his assailant.
    “Dammit, Daniel!”
    But he said nothing, just ran flat-out and with more speed than she’d expected from an executive. She took one moment to yell at Daniel’s driver to call 911 for Alonzo, then followed Daniel.
    They’d disappeared around the front of the building toward the hotel entrance. She caught a brief glimpse of the target weaving through the crowd. Charity paused for a moment to take in the entire situation and assess the best way to catch the woman who’d tried to kill her client.
    She analyzed the paths through the crowd and the cars and then crossed the street. There was a lot less foot traffic on that side. She lengthened her gait and dug in, running flat-out. She kept Daniel in her sights as well as the target.
    She hit a button on her belt, alerting her team that she needed them. She finally got ahead of her target, and crossed the street again. The target slowed, realizing she was trapped between her and Daniel. But then she dashed out into the street, nearly missing being hit by a city bus.
    Charity cursed and took off after her. The bus had slowed traffic, and Charity was able to get to the other side just in time to see her target climb onto the back of a Harley-Davidson and drive away.
    She memorized the license plate and turned around to confront Daniel as he came up behind her.
    “What the hell were you doing?” she asked, while breathing heavily.
    “I wanted to question her,” Daniel said, his breath just as heavy as hers.
    “I can’t protect you if you’re going to do stupid things like that.”
    “My plan isn’t to be protected. It’s to find the person threatening me and confront them.”
    “Ah, so you’re hoping to end up dead?”
    “I almost had her.”
    “I know. I didn’t think she’d bolt into traffic. Why didn’t I think of that?”
    He shrugged. And she realized now wasn’t the time to analyze what had gone wrong. Daniel was vulnerable out on the street. He started walking back toward his car and she hurried to keep up with him. He was tense and angry but something else was going on with him as well.
    “You okay?”
    “Why wouldn’t I be?”
    “Someone just tried to kill you.”
    “It’s not the first time.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Just that I’ve ruffled feathers before. Was Alonzo okay?”
    “I didn’t stop to check. I asked the driver to call 911.”
    “Why didn’t you stop? I was clearly in pursuit.”
    “Because my job is to protect you, not Alonzo. And why didn’t you stay put?”
    “That’s not in my programming.”
    He fascinated her, she thought. He was complex, and she had the feeling that he had as many different layers as she did. That he was used to letting people see what they wanted to see, something she was very familiar with.
    They approached the car and found an ambulance and the cops waiting for them. Justine was already working the crime scene, talking to witnesses.
    The cops immediately drew Daniel aside and started questioning him. But he wouldn’t cooperate until he knew that Alonzo was being taken care of.
    She watched him talking to the EMTs and realized that loyalty was important to him. That his people were important to