Security Detail

“Give me your gun. I’ll shoot out the window and get him to back off.” The truck was on Conner’s side, but she could make it work.

He didn’t. “You’re not shooting a gun right by my face. And you aren’t going to hang out the window.”

Okay, so she hadn’t thought it through all the way. What was wrong with winging it? This was a crazy situation. “So you shoot at him then.”

“That’s the best idea I’ve heard so far.” He pulled his gun out. “Grab the wheel.”

Kayla’s hand darted out and she took hold of the steering wheel. He rolled the window down with the handle and air blew in. It dried out her contacts so that she had to blink moisture back over her eyes. Kayla held her breath as Conner fired off shot after shot.

The boom was so loud. It had been forever since she’d practiced with a weapon she’d forgotten it was that loud.

“Kayla!”

She glanced out the front window of the truck. The road bent to the left. She pushed the wheel toward Conner’s door and they careened around the corner so fast the truck started to tip over.

Conner pulled his hand back in and the other vehicle backed off. Conner’s truck scraped Manny’s all down the side. He grabbed the wheel and she let go. But Manny didn’t leave them alone. The truck angled into the back left side and clipped them.

Conner fought the spin, both hands on the wheel. The old truck shuddered and lost traction and they started to slide. Kayla screamed. She scrabbled around by her feet for the phone.

The truck was being pushed, forced off the road.

“He’s going to kill us!” That was the point, but she didn’t have to like it. They were going to die. The other truck would ram them one too many times and they’d flip. Conner’s truck would crumple under the impact—with Conner and Kayla inside. There probably weren’t even any air bags.

The sheriff would find them off the road, truck upside down. Bleeding. Dead.

Kayla tried to rein in her tendency to look at the catastrophic outcome first, but it was too hard. Things were bad. Really, really bad. They probably weren’t going to make it. She was going to die in a truck with Conner Thorne and he’d never even know how much she’d cared for him for so long.

He’d been the light in her days. When she’d felt alone, he was in all the sweet memories she’d drawn up. On those dark days when she’d needed to feel the peace his presence brought, thinking of him had comforted her. Sure, he’d frustrated her to no end, and he’d never called. But he’d been it for her. She’d tried to date other guys, but no one had ever come close to even the dream of what could have been with him. All that stuff about wanting someone who didn’t know her was baloney. She wasn’t even looking for anyone else.

The truck jerked and her forearm slammed down on the dash. Kayla screamed and lost her hold on the phone. It fell down by her feet and slid under the seat. Help. God, help us.

The truck jerked again, and they spun more. Off the side of the road and down a ravine. The truck hit a dip. Dirt sprayed and they lifted up. Airborne. Stars winked down at her as they rattled around in the cab, trying not to slam heads. Conner’s face hit the steering wheel.

Kayla gripped the door handle, but it was no use.

The tree came out of nowhere. The truck slammed into it, and pain exploded through Kayla like a firework.

* * *

Conner blinked. He lifted a shaky hand to touch his face. His head pounded like a kick drum, and his hand came back wet with blood from his nose. The truck. He hated this truck anyway. The truck was probably almost totaled now, but he was alive.

Conner shifted. The movement sent pain shooting through his skull. Kayla was slumped in the corner against the door. Hair had fallen over one side of her face, and blood matted the blond strands against her skin. What breath Conner had left got caught in his throat. She was so pale she almost looked...

He pressed two fingers to the skin beneath her jaw. Tha-thump. Tha-thump. Low but steady. His body sagged and he moved his hand to touch her cheek. “Kayla.” She needed to wake up. She had to open those eyes, those swirling blue depths that made him want to pull her close and draw strength from the way she looked at him. He needed to see her smile. The way her lips curled up and made it feel like the world melted away.

Conner had been undercover so long, starved for genuine conversation or real affection. Having Kayla here was like an oasis in the desert—but weren’t those always the mirages of weary travelers? Dreams but not real. Just like the relationship he’d never have with Kayla, because he could never confess his feelings to her and keep her safe. This time together was a gift, but it wasn’t their life. And it would be over soon.

Headlights lit the cab of the truck from behind. Conner glanced one more time at Kayla and then pulled out his gun.

Manny’s truck stopped beside them, six feet of grass separating the two vehicles. Would he simply roll the window down and shoot them? Conner had to play this the right way, though he figured his cover was shredded now. Manny probably thought Conner was betraying them. He had to shift the man’s focus. This had to be all about Kayla and who they had been to each other years ago. The only hope of keeping them alive was to make this about a woman and not about threatening Andis’s business.

Kayla had implied to the sheriff that there was some kind of relationship between them, and he could do the same with Manny. Andis likely already knew he and Kayla were acquaintances, but not that Conner hadn’t seen her again until tonight. If they thought Conner was starting a relationship with her, then he’d seem like he was just distracted, not working against them. Only interfering in Andis’s activities—like warning her they were on their way—could get him in trouble.

It was the dance of every undercover assignment. Balancing who knew what and how much of the truth was necessary to strengthen the lie that was his whole life. He had to be the man the Secret Service had portrayed him as, the disgraced agent willing to share what he knew about counterfeit money in order to solidify his place as a bad guy.

Kayla would never know what it had meant to him to see her tonight. For her to realize the truth his own Secret Service colleagues couldn’t know. Everyone he used to work with thought he’d been fired for misconduct. There was only one man in the Secret Service who knew Conner still worked for them—his handler, Greg.

A door slammed.

Conner looked at Kayla again and pulled on the handle.

Manny rounded the hood of his truck. Armed. If this didn’t go right for him, it was going to go even worse for Kayla.

Her father wasn’t doing well. Conner had asked his handler for updates after he’d read in the paper about a hospital stay for the former president. If Kayla was hurt—or worse—it wouldn’t be good for the old man. Then again, it wouldn’t be good when he found out his daughter was facilitating a battered-women’s shelter either. Sure, she helped women and children feel safe, but Kayla had never once backed down when it was a fight she could win. He’d had that conversation with her father what felt like a lifetime ago now, and they’d agreed her stubbornness would get her in trouble one day.

Now it looked like that day had arrived.

“Let’s go, Thorne. Andis will want to speak to you.”

“Who says I’m going in? I have something to take care of first.” Conner waved at the truck.

“Don’t worry about that. She’s coming, too. Andis wants to talk to her, and you’d better be ready to explain why you spooked Pete. He tore out of that building so fast. Said you shot at him... Like, what on earth, man? You weren’t supposed to be part of this.”

“Part of what? Burning down a lawyer’s office? She doesn’t even represent criminals. And I didn’t shoot first—Pete did.”

“Being a lawyer isn’t what Andis wants with her.” Manny pulled out his gun. “And I wasn’t asking.”

“You could’ve killed both of us.” He motioned behind him to the truck, where Kayla was still passed out. “You wanna explain how breaking into her office escalated to burning us out and trying to kill us?”

“You shouldn’t have interfered. Pete freaked,” Manny huffed. “The idiot decided to smoke you both out, so he got Earl on it. They figured you were there to get to the info faster and you’d be the one who’d give it to Andis instead. So the two of them caused a scene that’s going to take days to iron out with the police.”

Conner had wondered if Andis had some kind of arrangement with the local cops. Maybe not the sheriff himself. It could be someone who worked for him who was paid to look the other way, like the dispatcher who hadn’t reported the fire. It was hard to be a good criminal with too many honest cops hanging around, and Andis wasn’t above much—least of all bribery.

Manny lifted his chin. “So you can either tell me what that was about, or I can shoot you and tell Andis whatever I want. Kayla Harris goes to him either way.”

“Not without me.”

“Back off, Thorne.”

“You don’t touch Kayla Harris. No one does. Whatever Andis wants, I’ll get it for him.”

The sound of Kayla’s screams still echoed in his ears. He was supposed to protect her, to give his life to save hers. Every second for the rest of his life, he would remember that feeling, that split second when he wondered if today was the day he would fail in his duty.

Conner folded his arms across his chest and said nothing.

“So you have betrayed us for a woman.” Manny’s laugh held no humor. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.”

“I haven’t betrayed anyone.”