Protecting Cheyenne (SEAL of Protection Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

spreading blood pools, and walked backwards toward the aisles in the store. Cheyenne kept an eye on the front parking lot, willing all the cops and rescue personnel to stay away as she made her way away from all the commotion in the parking lot, away from the people so she didn’t kill them as the bomb blew up.
    * * *
     
    As soon as the dust settled, Dude was running toward the store along with about ten of the other officers who’d been waiting and watching the front of the grocery store. He didn’t have a gun, but he wasn’t concerned, he was there for the bomb, the other officers would take care of peripheral safety. Time was of the essence. It always was when bombs were involved.
    Dude heard the officers shouting to someone, “Stop, don’t move,” as they moved forward. He saw the bodies of the gunmen on the ground by the door, but didn’t see the woman who’d been trussed up like a mummy. When Dude got further into the store and looked down one of the long aisles, he saw her, still bound up in all that tape, backing away from the officers as they moved toward her.
    They were all yelling at her to stop, to surrender. She was shaking her head and saying “No, no, don’t come near me, you don’t understand.”
    The woman was as pale as the tiles under their feet, and her dark hair, which had been in some sort of ponytail or braid at one point, had mostly come loose and was hanging limply around her face. She had blood sprayed on her face and right side and she was stumbling a bit as she backed away. Dude couldn’t stay quiet anymore.
    “All of you halt,” he ordered in his best Alpha voice. The officers stopped at once, guns still drawn and mostly pointed at the ground instead of at the bound woman, but she kept backing away from them all, ignoring the command in his voice.
    “Let me through,” Dude urged as he elbowed himself to the front of the line of officers. He turned his back on the woman and spoke to the twitchy men in front of him, “If that is a bomb she has strapped to her under all that tape, I need to get to it. I can’t do that if she keeps backing away. Give me a moment.”
    The officer in charge nodded, knowing exactly who Dude was and why he was there. “You have two minutes, she might be in on it with them. We won’t put our guns down. We’ve got your back.”
    Dude nodded, not agreeing with the officer about the terrified woman being in cahoots with the gunmen, but knowing he had to work quickly to get to the bottom of whatever was going on. He knew the local cops were used to working with the military, but they were on edge and their adrenaline levels were sky-high. He’d learned to control his adrenaline high through his training. “Just let me talk to her,” Dude told the officer curtly and turned back toward the woman.
    She’d steadily backed herself halfway down the snack aisle and hadn’t stopped while he’d momentarily stopped to talk to the officers. Dude stepped toward her, leaving the line of officers behind him without a second thought. He knew they’d split up and were coming in behind him and probably around the next aisle to cut off her retreat. It’s what he and his team would do if they were in this situation. Dude knew he had to figure out what was going on before that bomb went off and they were all killed.
    “Why don’t you stop and talk to me, it’s okay, it’s over, the men are dead, you’re okay.” Dude kept his voice low and soothing, but put just a hint of the man he was behind his words with the hopes she’d respond to the subtle command.
    Cheyenne just shook her head, didn’t they understand? She was the bomb for crying out loud. What was he doing? Why was this man coming toward her? She didn’t listen to his words, she just wanted to get away from him and hide somewhere in the back of the store. She figured she could find a place to hole up so when the bomb exploded it didn’t kill anyone…well, anyone but her. But holy cow, from what she