Page 46 of Mountain Shadow

“I’m ready down here,” Kat called from below. “Load him on and let’s get him out of here.”

14

Jens

Jens tightened his arms around Sarah carefully, not wanting to wake her.

She moaned softly and pressed herself tighter against him. Her curves were tempting, and Jens moved his lower body away from her in an attempt to control his raging hard-on. He didn’t want her to think he was an animal.

It was enough just to hold her. Jens didn’t always sleep well, but lying with her in his arms these last weeks … it was more restful than sleep to him, in a way.

Every day, he was discovering new things he loved about her. He loved her voice, her curiosity about the world, her courage … hell, even the way she curled up with her legs underneath her when she was reading a book. She made him want to hold her close and never let her go. It was a new feeling for him.

She sighed contentedly in his arms.

Jens kissed the top of her head softly—and froze.

Creak.

He knew his house well, knew every groan its structure was bound to make, and this was an unfamiliar sound. He held himself very still, waiting—

There it was. The sound came again.

There’s somebody downstairs.

Jens pulled up his jeans, not bothering with his boxer shorts.

“Sarah,” he whispered, his hand on her shoulder. Her eyes opened, looking at him in confusion. “There’s somebody downstairs. I need you to lock yourself in this room. Take my phone and call the station. Speak to whoever is on duty—tell them we need back-up. And stay here. No matter what, you don’t come out.”

Sarah tried to nod, but her body was shaking too hard. “Stay here with me,” she begged. “Please.”

“Lock the door, Sarah.”

Jens made his way slowly down the stairs, avoiding the two steps that he knew would creak. The house was completely silent now. For a moment, he thought he might have made a mistake. He thought of his colleagues back at the station.

I won’t hear the end of it.

But he knew what he’d heard. And he also knew he hadn’t forgotten to switch the alarm to at home mode. Always a cautious man, he was being extra careful about security these days.

He reached the landing and stood still. The whole place was dark and silent. He turned to the coat closet by the entrance, where he kept his gun.

Before he could reach it, the light went on, blinding him for an instant.

“Is this what you’re looking for?” a tall, dark-haired man asked, speaking in heavily accented English.

One.

For a moment, Jens couldn’t place the accent.

Italian?

In his hand, the man held Jens’s weapon—the barrel pointed directly at Jens’s chest. “Hands up.”

Jens did as he was asked.

A sound behind him had him turning his head. There was a second man there.

Two.