скачать книгу бесплатно
The sheriff said, “Ms. Barton needs to get her things from her house while her boyfriend spends the night in one of my cells, and she needs to be clear of him before he gets out. Probably tomorrow, but it might be the day after.”
Kayla nodded. “Does she want to get free?”
Sheriff Johnson shrugged one shoulder. “That’s not my department. I find them, you help them.” He smiled. “It’s worked well so far.”
“It has.”
Sirens preceded the fire truck turning the corner. The rig drove past their huddle and stopped in the street in front of Kayla’s office.
“I’ll go run point with the chief and start a search for those men you saw. Let me know tomorrow how it went with Ms. Barton and I’ll take your statements about what happened here then. In the meantime, get somewhere safe and I’ll look into this. I’ll also talk to Miriam.”
Kayla watched him walk away.
“Huh.”
She turned to Conner. “What? You don’t like the sheriff?”
“Never met the man before tonight. Not sure he knows who I am, though he’s going to look me up when he gets back to the office. By tomorrow he’ll know my life story—or at least the one the Secret Service doctored for me when Andis looked me up. My identity as a disgraced agent is solid, so I’m not concerned. But the guy I’m pretending to be won’t make him less worried about you. Probably more.”
Kayla’s stomach churned. “I’m not sure I like that you’re getting close to men who would start a fire to try to kill someone. Whether their intended victim was you or me.”
Conner placed his hands on her shoulders. “I’m not going to lie and tell you it isn’t dangerous, but I’m good at what I do, Kayla. If there’s trouble, I’ll take care of it.” He didn’t add that now that his cover was blown, he was probably in more danger than ever.
Kayla didn’t feel better in the least, but she was willing to cover it so he wouldn’t worry about her when he left. “Let’s go. Can we do that? I don’t want to stay here if they’re still around. Once I help Ms. Barton, I can go home and rest.”
Conner waited for her to move first and then walked beside her. It was an old move she recognized. He’d fallen back into that protector/protectee relationship with her that would always color what was between them. And why was that? Maybe Kayla wanted to be the one to make sure he was safe, instead of him looking out for her all the time.
Why couldn’t that be a thing?
Kayla stopped so fast she almost tripped on her heels.
“What? What is it?”
She pointed. “That’s my car.” At least, it used to be her car. Now it was a body with no wheels, smashed-out windows and spray-painted vulgar swirls all over it. “Someone trashed my car.”
“Made sure you can’t go anywhere and made it look like teenagers did it at the same time.”
Kayla sighed. “We should tell the sheriff.”
Conner turned and looked all around them, at the deserted parking lot to the rear of the street. Dim light. A back entrance. She knew what he saw, and there was no way he’d have let her come anywhere near a place like this back in the day. But she wasn’t the current president’s daughter anymore. No one cared who she was now.
At least, they hadn’t until tonight.
“Let’s get moving. You can report it tomorrow. Right now you need to get somewhere safe.”
Kayla nodded and walked with him to his truck. He drove straight to the sheriff’s office and waited outside while she went in and spoke with Ms. Barton. Kayla told the deputy on the desk about her car and had him relay that information to the sheriff in case it was relevant.
Jan Barton was the priority now. Kayla had seen bruises like that before, and the residue of what looked like a bad night. Way worse than the one she’d had this evening, even considering her office was toast and she smelled like smoke.
At least she could help Jan Barton, and then something good would come out of this night. Kayla had been through too much to settle for an old crush reappearing and taking up all of her thoughts and emotions. Conner had been everything she’d ever wanted.
Now all Kayla wanted to do was help other women so that none of them ever had to feel scared again. She knew what real fear felt like, and it had nearly crippled her—until someone had shown up to help her. That was who Conner was to her, the hero he’d been all those years ago.
She didn’t need him in her life now. Kayla was too busy being that hero to others.
* * *
Conner waited outside Jan Barton’s house. Kayla was helping her pack her things, but only after Conner had checked that the house was clear. The woman seemed nice enough, if beaten up and exhausted from a life lived in fear of her drug-addicted boyfriend. Now Conner was outside in case one of the boyfriend’s friends showed up.
The two women exited the house, and Conner followed them to the truck. If not for the lack of a suit and earpiece, he’d have looked exactly like the Secret Service agent he was. But the casual clothes Andis’s men wore meant they would never trust an expensive suit. That was Andis’s dress code, not theirs. So Conner wore jeans and a shirt, like he did on a lot of his assignments. To blend in with the riff-raff.
Conner settled in the front seat and started the engine. He glanced back at Jan, just for a second, to make sure she was all right, but without scaring her by being an overbearing male.
His gaze snagged hers. Conner looked out the front windshield again. Something was very, very wrong.
“Ready?”
Conner glanced at Kayla and put the car in Drive. “Sure.”
She frowned, probably at the fact that his smile was completely fake. But Conner couldn’t do anything else. This was the kind of person Kayla wanted to help? Conner couldn’t decide which he disliked more, Kayla’s being in the car with someone as off as Jan Barton or the fact that the sheriff brought these people to her.
“So where is this place?” If they were taking Jan to the property Kayla had bought, he needed to know where he was going.
“The motel on Fourth Street.”
“A motel?”
“For tonight. I gave Jan a phone number, and she’ll call the house manager tomorrow. That way, I’m never directly connected to the place.” Kayla smiled. “Plausible deniability.”
And yet if Andis had found out that Kayla was helping women...
His wife and daughter. Of course. Conner wanted to kick himself. Andis’s wife and daughter had “moved away” a few months ago. What if Kayla had, in fact, helped them escape? The man might have lied to save face even while he began a search for them.
Was it that search that brought Manny to Kayla’s office? Had that same hunt meant Conner had blown his cover tonight? She couldn’t have known exactly how dangerous of a man Andis Bamir was. And if she had helped them, it gave the man a reason to want her dead. Andis wasn’t bothered at all that his wife and daughter had left. In fact, it had only given him the ability to do what he did overtly instead of hiding it for their sake. If Andis felt anything, it was likely only that he’d been bested by Kayla because she had successfully helped them escape. He could want revenge.
Could he have been looking for them and kept it under the radar?
Conner needed to find a photo of Andis’s wife and daughter online and show it to Kayla. If she had helped them, it would at least solve one mystery of the evening.
Kayla walked Jan to her motel room, and the two hugged. Still, even with that display of solidarity, Conner couldn’t help thinking something about Jan Barton was...out of place. He shook off the idea. It had been a weird day for sure. Now it was the middle of the night and he needed to get Kayla home. She could get some sleep and he could sit outside in his truck and keep watch. Just in case.
After she’d buckled herself back in, Conner said, “Long day ahead of you tomorrow.”
She nodded. “I’ll have to make that statement to the sheriff and call my insurance agent, see how much work I can salvage. I back up at home, but my laptop is at the office. Maybe I’ve lost all my files from today.” She sighed. “I really didn’t need this. It’ll be expensive to rebuild.”
Conner pulled out onto the road. “I’m sure your father will help you out.”
Kayla was his only daughter, and despite her wildness as a teen, he did dote on her. More so given that her mother had passed away. Some men distanced themselves from their loved ones after a loss. Conner had seen it in others—whether the loss was death or divorce didn’t matter. It was all a type of grief to admit it was the end of what they’d thought their lives were going to be.
Kayla’s father had been no different, though he had been an excellent president. Professional. Cordial to those who worked under him. Some presidents either ignored their Secret Service agents or treated them with outright disdain. It had been nice for Conner that the first president he had served under was a man who had respect for everyone, even those who could be construed as “beneath” him.
Conner hit the highway and pressed down on the gas, eager to get where they were going.
Kayla sighed. “Is it wrong that I don’t want my father to help me?” Her voice was softer than it had been. “I mean, I’m a grown woman. If I told him what happened tonight, he would send a detail of Secret Service agents my way and insist they didn’t leave my side until the threat against me had passed.”
Conner didn’t think that was a bad idea but got the feeling it wasn’t what Kayla wanted to hear. “What do you want to do?”
“I’d like to live my own life and make my own decisions. I have to be strong enough to get through this on my own, or when a stiff wind blows through, I’ll fall over and my life will disintegrate.”
“I don’t think a lack of strength has ever been your problem, Kayla.”
She shifted in the seat. “Do you really mean that?”
Conner shrugged. “Of course.”
Kayla slumped back down in her seat. “Sure, I guess.”
“You don’t think so?” He’d seen her weather things that would have broken most people, and yet here she was. A lawyer. A beautiful woman who could hold herself together when her office was burning and people were coming after them. Why couldn’t she see that?
“You of all people know that what we show the world is usually not what’s underneath the surface. No one wants to know the dark things, the parts of us that are terrified to show themselves.”
She thought there was darkness in her? “Kayla—”
“Don’t worry about it, okay? I do what I can for women who need help, and I like my job. I make a small difference, but it’s still a difference.” She glanced out the window. “It just has to be enough for me. That’s what I’m struggling with.”
Conner frowned. Perhaps it was fatigue making her doubt herself. He didn’t see where she got the idea she didn’t do enough. His whole existence right now consisted of pretending to be a bad guy—which meant he had to do bad things so they wouldn’t figure him out—all for the chance to catch a real bad guy. He wasn’t a force for good in the world, just justice.
Lights in his rearview mirror.
Conner switched the angle down so they didn’t glare in his eyes and distract him.
The lights moved to the left and shone in his wing mirror. Some guy with a problem. Conner slowed a little and moved to the side of his lane so the person could pass if he wanted to. But he didn’t.
The vehicle sped up, close enough to clip their back left bumper, and then backed off. Then sped up again.
Now they were on the right side.
“Not good.”
“What?” Kayla shifted to face him. “What is it?”
“Just some idiot tailing us. Probably kids having fun with a lone truck on the highway.” But he didn’t believe it. After the night they’d had, there was no way it was a coincidence.
FOUR (#u81a08bf4-53aa-5de1-b8da-d8a9c5cadb65)
Months ago a group of teens had tailed a woman on this highway, late at night. They’d taunted her before they ran her off the road. She’d hit a tree and suffered major injuries but didn’t remember anything except that they’d driven a truck and jeered as they drove past her.
Kayla glanced back. The truck behind them could be the same truck of kids who’d hurt that woman. It was all she needed after her office was set on fire, and she’d had a long day before that happened. Now it was nearly midnight and she was exhausted.
Conner, on the other hand, was dressed like he lived for the rush of a late-night car chase. It was a far cry from the suits she was used to seeing him in, but it kind of worked. In a serious bad-boy way.
Kayla was in trouble—in more ways than one.
The truck burst forward and slammed into their back bumper. Kayla screamed and grabbed the dash of Conner’s considerably older vehicle. It would crumple under the newer, heavy-duty truck right behind them. Nearly on top of them.
“They’re coming again!”
Conner gripped the wheel, his eyes intent. “Hold on.”
“I am! What are you going to do?” She looked back. The truck had backed off, but it wouldn’t be long before it came at them again. Could they outrun a more powerful truck? Kayla tried to remember if there were any side roads they could pull off onto. If so, they might escape, or the other truck could simply follow them. Stop them. Hurt them. Kill them.
The engine revved.
Kayla’s knuckles turned white on the dash. Conner’s truck jerked forward and he let off the gas. Metal scraped against metal. The tires caught on the road again, and he put his foot down. He drove like this was a mental exercise—a game of chess. They were either the king or simply pawns expendable in the grand scheme of the game. Kayla had never liked chess. She was much better with five-thousand-piece puzzles.
What was in Conner’s head? He had to have a plan. He was a Secret Service agent. Only this threat was against both of them—not just her. Kayla flipped the glove box open to see if there was a gun. It was stuffed with papers, and took two tries to get it closed again.
“You don’t need a weapon.”
“What about a phone? Mine is dead, remember? Give me yours and I’ll call for help.”
He shifted and dug it out of his jeans pocket.
“What’s your handler under in your contacts?” Locked. “Wait...first give me your passcode.”
“Call 911, Kayla.”
She’d rather have a team of trained Secret Service agents, not the sheriff. Though the sheriff could probably get here faster. She’d seen the Secret Service in action so many times, but she hadn’t wanted them there to protect her earlier. Not when it had been only her in danger. They were way past that now. For the second time that night, their lives were at risk.
Kayla pushed aside the questions that swirled in her mind—questions about why his phone was off-limits to her—and used the emergency feature to call for help.
No ringing sound.
She looked at the screen. Had the call connect—
Slam.
The truck lurched and Kayla dropped the phone. She needed two hands to hold on, or the next time they were hit, she’d slide out of her seat belt.
Kayla had no intention of dying tonight.
She checked behind them. The truck was neck and neck with them, and she could see a man inside. “It’s not teenagers.” She reached down and snapped up the phone. The call was still connected. “Hello?” Nothing. She tapped the screen. “Why is this thing not working?”
Conner gripped the wheel. “It’s Andis’s lieutenant. Manny.”
“Manny.” The man looked mean and was dressed...kind of the way Conner was. “So you know who he—Wait. That’s who was in my hallway, wasn’t it?” When Conner didn’t answer, she said, “Can’t you tell him to back off?”
“He’s not going to back off. And no, it was one of his buddies earlier. He was probably outside. Now he’s too busy trying to run us off the road so he can shoot us,” he said through gritted teeth. “Manny must have followed us from your office and waited until now to try again.”
