Page 64 of Jacques

An engine revved.

Movement out of the corner of her eye made Danny look left, where a dark sedan blasted into the driveway and barreled toward her.

“Look out!” she cried.

Jacques grabbed her hand, yanked her back toward the hotel and shoved her past a giant concrete planter, throwing his body over hers.

The sedan slammed into the open passenger door so hard that it knocked it off its hinges. The driver kept going, speeding out the other side of the driveway onto the street.

Jacques rolled off Danny and rose to his feet.

Caleb and Anton rushed out of the hotel.

“Holy shit,” Caleb cried. “Danny, are you all right?”

She pushed her hands against the concrete and winced.

Jacques gripped her elbow, helped her to her feet, and swept his gaze over her. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m okay, just a few scrapes and bruises.” She glanced down at the scrapes on her palms, then bent to assess the damage to her skirt and knees.

Her knees, like her palms, were scraped and bruised, but they’d heal. The skirt was ruined.

“I’m sorry,” Jacques said. “I shouldn’t have shoved you so hard.”

“If you hadn’t, that car would have hit me.”

Beau joined them, shaking his head. “By the time I saw him coming, I could do nothing to move out of his way. But I got a look at his license plate.”

Danny rubbed her palms gently down the sides of her skirt. “It happened so fast I only saw part of the driver’s face. Did anyone else see him?”

“I’ll call the police and notify Remy,” Beau said. “We should get Danny and Caleb inside.”

Remy joined them as the group moved into the lobby.

Jacques pulled Danny into the curve of his arm. “You’re shaking.”

She nodded. “Yes, I am. But not because I’m scared. I’m pissed.”

Jacques’s arm tightened around her. “Tell me about it. I should’ve been more aware and seen it coming. I’m glad you saw it when you did, or scrapes would’ve been the least of your worries.”

“He drove straight toward us,” she said. “It wasn’t an accident. He wanted to kill us.”

“The important thing is that he didn’t succeed,” Jacques said.

Danny’s lips pressed into a thin line. “The danger followed me here.” She looked up into Jacques’s eyes. “You could’ve been killed. If Caleb hadn’t gone back to his room, he and Anton could’ve been hit.” She shook her head. “I’ve put all of you in danger.”

“We’re here to protect you, Danny,” Remy said. “It’s what we do.”

The hotel manager offered to move them into a private sitting room until the police arrived.

“We’d rather review any surveillance camera footage of the driveway,” Remy said.

“Of course,” the manager said and led them to his office behind reception. One of his security team rolled the video back to the few minutes before the incident and played it in slow motion.

The video showed the deliberate approach and a clearer view of the driver. Remy had the security guy take a screenshot of the driver’s face and send it to him. He passed it to Swede and filled him in on what had happened.

Agent Ruiz and Detective Collins arrived minutes later and watched the video replay.