Actually, it wasn’t. It was the dratted heels that were giving her most of the trouble.
The second time she stopped to readjust her train, Katie prodded her in the back with the gun. The cold metal against her bare skin made her jump. It was taking all her self-control to not turn and take the wretched thing from the little girl just to show her how to properly handle the thing.
“Typically, the bridesmaid comes in before the bride,” Dani muttered over her shoulder. The gun was only pressed harder into her back.
“I’m sure no one will notice,” Katie snarled. “No one ever noticed me before when I stood next to you, so why should they see me now?”
Dani opened the door. The bright sunlight blinded her after being inside. A shadow fell over her, blocking the light.
“DAD?”
Katie whipped the gun up onto Dani’s shoulder but the bouquet caught on the cloth, spoiling her movement. Dani spun to grab the girl, but heard the unmistakable crack of a pistol.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“NO!” Dani jumped up and cleared the doorway as Katie fell, twisting in time to see a round hole blossoming in the younger girl’s forehead. Dani turned and looked through the door. Behind her father Marcus stood, his arm extended, the pistol in his grip still smoking.
“What the hell?”
“Language, Dani! What kind of daughter have I raised? Get your ass over here. We have to get the fuck out of here!”
Dani grabbed the gun from the dead girl and stared at her father, as if from very far away. “And you think I have a potty mouth?”
“COME ON!” Edwin Rinehart stood in combat gear, right down to the bulletproof vest. Was he carrying grenades? He motioned her toward a side door, leading outside. She could see sunshine and trees. A pastoral setting. Safety.
“Luke!” It was a retort and a desperate scream in one for the man she loved.
Edwin grabbed her arm and dragged her toward the door. “No time!”
“I’m not going without Luke!” Dani hissed, her ears still ringing from that single shot in such close quarters. They stumbled outside, getting lost briefly in a maze of roses, finally pushing through a hole in the hedge. Thankfully her father took the brunt of it. A tearing sound told her the dress was not holding up well to the abuse.
Across the small expanse of grass, the chapel area was erupting into chaos. People were storming through the doors. Marcus had his gun out, but didn’t fire. None of the people fleeing seemed to be Benny’s, though it was hard to say in all the chaos.
Dani stumbled to a halt, feeling the heel of one of her shoes snapping on the uneven cobblestones of the driveway. “LUKE!” she screamed into the crowd until she was hoarse.
Her father grabbed her arm and pulled, dragging her forward. Somewhere to the side, to some escape route he’d likely had planned out in advance. The great fucking Houdini, the escape artist at work. The man who’d left her and David to pay for his crimes, to where this had to be the only reason he’d come home.
Yet he’d come.
And she didn’t want him.
“NO! Not without Luke!”
“I need to take you to your mother!”
“What?”
“Your mother. She needs you!”
Dani stopped cold, and stared at him a long moment before backing away, the gun coming up. Pointing straight at his chest. “No. I’m done. I’m done with your games. I’m done with you.”
Then with that, she broke free and ran into the throng, her pistol extended in the air against accidental discharge. She could see him now, Luke pressing through from the other side. The relief, the joy, the amazing happiness she felt on seeing him sent a burst of energy through her, and she ran, really ran, despite a broken heel, and a stupid dress, and her father somewhere behind her. She met him at high speed, both making soft exclamations of pain as she wrapped herself around him, as he wrapped herself around her.
“There’s no time... there’s a bomb in there!” he yelled in her ear, and she looked back at the church, seeing how dreadfully close it was. Seeing, too, how it was built of stone and too much glass that would explode outward if they’d done it right, and that the casualties would be enormous. Joy dissolved into fear, but this was a fear she understood and knew well. She’d felt it every time a mission had gone south, and they’d been surrounded by enemy fire. The adrenaline was already there, pulling her along, pulling Luke in her wake as she ran, ran for all she was worth, wanting to put distance between them and Armageddon.
Only, there was no time.
It was Luke who realized how vulnerable they were and took them in closer to the building, grabbing her and pulling her around to the wall between the front doors and the start of the long graceful windows that ringed the building. All the glass and the double doors came off in a single instant with a bang that left her ears ringing. The wall they were braced on was the only part of the building that didn’t suddenly blow outward.
She couldn’t hear but asked anyway. “How did you...”
Then realization hit. Her brother. Her brother had been in there somewhere, and she’d never so much as given him a single thought. “DAVID!” Dani tried to claw her way past Luke, filled with such terror that she barely heard the words until he’d yelled them a dozen times.
“He’s okay!” Luke yelled. “Randy took him out the back. I saw them leave; he’s okay!”
“He’s okay?”
“He’s okay!”
“Who’s Randy?” She sagged against him, suddenly more exhausted than she could ever remember being. She was shaking. Funny how she’d never had the shakes in battle before, but here... she did. Out in the courtyard figures stirred, some crying, some moaning. A few didn’t move at all.
Her father was out there somewhere.
“How did you know?” She grabbed his shirt, dragging herself up to look at him. Really look at him. It was Luke all right, cut lip and all. Damn, but even covered in dust and dirt, he looked good in a tux.
“I couldn’t figure out why the impressive guest list,” Luke said, shaking his head, trying to clear his ears, too, as he helped her to her feet. “And Randy, too? Then Benny vanished with his men and it all made perfect sense.”
He wasn’t making the most sense himself, but she caught the gist as her ears rang still and the world seemed to still be vibrating. “Wait... you mean... Benny was taking out everyone?”
Luke nodded, sagging against the wall, his hand going to his abdomen. “I shouldn’t have been running like that. Yeah... all competition and all evidence.” He looked around. “Where’s Katie?”
“Dead,” Dani said, reaching a hand toward Luke, knowing he was hurt, but unsure of the protocol. Things had been so strained between them. Did she have a right to even assess his injuries? In the field it would be different. But this was Luke. And they weren’t in the field.
“Marcus killed her. He was with... my father. He came. He came after all.” Her fingers reached out to touch his arm. “You’re hurt.”