Chapter 4 - The Man Behind the Glass
Jonah moved before Stella could.
He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her down as the glass wall exploded inward.
A single shot punched through the office lamp.
Mara screamed.
Wyatt fired toward the shadow outside the rear window, but the shooter was already running across the service alley.
"Stay with her!" Jonah snapped.
He and Wyatt disappeared through the kitchen exit.
Stella stayed on the floor, one palm pressed over her ribs.
A shard of glass had cut Jonah's forearm when he pulled her down. Blood streaked across the cuff of his shirt.
He had not even noticed.
Mara crouched beside Stella. "Are you hit?"
"No."
"Can you breathe?"
"Not well."
"That's the ribs, not the bullet. Keep looking at me."
Three minutes later, Jonah returned furious and empty-handed.
"Car waiting in the alley," Wyatt said behind him. "No plates."
Jonah looked at Stella.
"You're coming with us."
She laughed once in disbelief. "Us where?"
"Somewhere Dean can't find you."
"Dean finds everyone."
"Not everyone."
Stella pushed herself upright. "You don't understand. He knows my bank account. My old job. My mother's grave. My friends. He knows where I buy coffee. He knows which grocery store I use. He knows everything."
Jonah's voice softened by one degree. "Then we make everything he knows useless."
"Why?"
He frowned.
"Why do you care?" Stella demanded. "You don't know me."
"I know enough."
"You know I brought you money."
"I know you walked into a room you were terrified of because a man who hurts you told you to. I know he expected you to die before you got here. And I know somebody just fired through my window while you were standing beside me."
He stepped closer.
"That makes this my problem."
Stella's chin lifted. "I am not your problem."
Jonah held her gaze. "No. You're the reason I know I have one."
That stopped her.
Wyatt returned from the security room carrying a printed access report.
"Boss. The key card used at the kitchen door belongs to Nico Brandt."
Jonah's expression changed.
Mara noticed. "Who is Nico?"
"My floor manager," Jonah said.
"Where is he?"
Wyatt looked across the room.
Nico was gone.
Jonah picked up his phone and dialed.
A ringing sound came from beneath Table Six.
Wyatt bent and retrieved a phone taped under the chair.
On the screen was a live audio recording app.
They had been recorded all night.
Then Stella whispered, "I know where Dean keeps the ledger."
Every face turned toward her.
May you like
She swallowed.
"Or at least... I know where he thinks I don't know he keeps it."
