Simon Says Die

palm.
    â€œHand what over?” She tried her best to look innocent.
    â€œThe gun tucked inside your coat.”
    She grumbled and unzipped her jacket pocket, then slapped her other Glock onto his palm. “How did you know?”
    â€œI didn’t. I just know you .” He strode into his adjoining room. He returned without her guns. “Now we can go.”
    â€œM ADISON, WAKE UP.”
    She bolted up in her bed at the sound of a voice next to her ear.
    Pierce grabbed the gun she was holding and yanked it out of her hand. “Good Lord, woman. You’re going to shoot someone one day.”
    â€œThat’s kind of the idea.” She rubbed her eyes and stretched while he unloaded the clip from her 9mm.
    â€œWhere in the world did you hide this one? It wasn’t in your suitcase. I checked.”
    She shot him a glare as she reached for the bedside clock to see what time it was. “What did you do? Go through my things after I went to bed?”
    â€œDamn straight. I didn’t want to wake up with a three fifty-seven pointed in my face.”
    She cursed. Damn, she’d hoped he hadn’t found that one. She’d sliced the bottom panel of her suitcase and had tucked the gun inside. She shrugged, pretending she didn’t care.
    â€œI also didn’t want a Colt forty-five staring me in the face.”
    â€œDamn it .” She curled her hands against the sheets.
    â€œFor you to be that mad, I must have found all of your guns. Now I can rest in peace.”
    She raised a brow. “ ‘Rest in peace.’ Interesting choice of words.”
    He gave her a warning look.
    â€œGood grief.” She blinked at the clock, finally able to focus her bleary eyes. “It’s only seven in the morning.” She plopped back down on the pillows and closed her eyes. “Why did you wake me up so early?”
    â€œBraedon called. There’s been some trouble at your house.”
    Her eyes flew open. “ Again? I swear I must be cursed. What else could possibly go wrong? Did it burn to the ground or something?”
    â€œOr something. Get dressed. You’ve got twenty minutes. We’ll go through a drive-thru for breakfast on the way.” He grabbed her arsenal of weapons and headed toward the adjoining door.
    â€œWait.” She scrambled out of bed after him.
    He turned, his gaze immediately dipping down to her legs.
    She belatedly remembered she was only wearing a thong and a T-shirt. Well, let him look. He’d seen it all before anyway. She snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Pay attention.”
    â€œI am paying attention.”
    â€œTo my face, bucko. What happened at my house?”
    He swallowed, hard, then dragged his gaze up to meet hers. “Your house?”
    She thumped his stomach. “You said Braedon called.”
    He scrubbed his hand across the stubble on his cheeks. His gaze slid back down her T-shirt again, pausing on her breasts, before sliding further south. He cursed beneath his breath and headed through the adjoining door. “Nineteen minutes.” He slammed the door shut between them.
    She stomped her foot in frustration. She hated getting up early, hated being ordered around, and hated that he’d taken her guns. Well, most of them anyway. She headed into the bathroom to get ready, and to pull the plastic bag out of the toilet tank where she’d hidden her last remaining gun—a Colt .380—along with two of her favorite knives.
    It was amazing what you could duct-tape inside a Wonderbra.
    F OR ONCE, P IERCE didn’t argue with Madison when she asked him to let her accompany him to the backyard to see what was going on. He grabbed her hand, hauled her out of his car, and tugged her after him toward the backyard.
    There were just as many policemen, if not more, running around her yard and parked on the street as there had been when she’d been abducted. Then she caught sight of another vehicle, parked farther down the block.
    â€œOh no,” she whispered.
    Pierce glanced at her, then followed her gaze. “I know,” he said. “Come on. You’re not leaving my side.”
    She looked away from the medical examiner’s van, feeling much less enthusiastic now about seeing what Braedon’s crew had found in her backyard.
    As they rounded the corner, Hamilton saw them. He was standing with Tessa and a group of officers beside a hole in the ground. He frowned and