The Beast Within by Jennifer Lyon, Bianca DArc Erin McCarthy Page B

traded four goons for one possible ax murderer.”
    He sobered. “You could have.” His gaze pinned her, deadly serious.
    “Yeah, I see that now. I’m sorry, John.”
    “Sorry?” He smiled tightly as he checked the windows, then peered through the peephole. “I never thought I’d see the day you’d apologize for your headstrong ways.” She would have argued with him about his rather insulting phrasing but she saw his entire body tense. Something was up. “Do you have everything?” His voice was pitched low and tense.
    She nodded, slipping her knapsack over her shoulder.
    “One of your friends from the alley is in the hall, talking to Mr. Chen.” John kept his eye to the peephole. “He just flipped open his cell phone. Calling for reinforcements, I bet.” His expression turned steely as he pulled back from the door and turned to her. “Hold this. I’ll be right back.” He handed her his bag, which was even lighter and smaller than hers, before opening the door. He shot out like a race-horse just released from the starting gate.
    She heard muffled thuds through the closed door as she raced toward it. She pressed her eye to the peephole just in time to see one of the big bruisers who’d chased her go down in a heap at John’s feet. She knew John was a martial arts teacher of very high rank, but she’d never really seen him in action before.
    The guy on the floor hadn’t even had time to draw the big gun she now saw he wore under his jacket. John relieved the unconscious goon of both his gun and his wallet, doing a fast, careful search of his pockets while he was at it. When John stood, she opened the door and met his gaze. Gone was the exasperation she usually saw from him. All amusement had fled as well.
    The man who looked at her was a hardened warrior. Intellectually, she’d known John was a tough guy. She’d just never seen him like this before. It was impressive, to say the least.
    He held out one hand to her and she followed his unspoken summons without thinking. She was at his side in ten steps, holding out his pack to him. He took it, then tugged her hand into his as he turned toward the exit—not the front door, but the door they’d used minutes before. He didn’t let go of her hand until they were down the alley and on the opposite street, joining the busy foot traffic prevalent in this part of town.
    He let go of her hand only to put his arm around her waist and tuck her into his side. They strolled down the street, just another tourist couple out for a stroll.
    “Where are we going?” Donna asked, trying to look nonchalant and no doubt failing.
    “The airport. This town is too hot for us right now and I think we’ve learned all we can here. While you were out stirring up trouble, one of my bugs paid off. I’ve got a location and a name that matches one of the original research team members.”
    She was astonished his methods had actually worked. “Really? Who?”
    “Dr. Elizabeth Bemkey. She’s in Tennessee right now according to what I heard.”
    He looked like the cat who’d swallowed the canary as he smiled down at her. She squelched the impulse to wipe that silly grin right off his handsome face. The man could be truly infuriating at times.
    “So we’re going to Tennessee?”
    “Looks that way. Ever been fly-fishing?”

C HAPTER O NE
    T hey touched down in Tennessee after catching a connecting flight out of Houston. The plane dropped them in Nashville, about an hour and change from their destination. John rented a car and they were off. A straight shot across the state on Interstate 40, then a little trek on a state highway and they were there.
    John made good use of the time, placing a few calls and coordinating with the folks back at Fort Bragg, where their team was currently based, while Donna drove. She had a bit of a lead foot, but was competent behind the wheel. They entered White County and turned off at Cookeville, which was a larger city, where they could pick up