Mission Undercover. Virginia Vaughan

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      She reached to unlock her car door, stopping when she spotted the shadow of a man in the window. Her heart leaped at the sight, but her instincts kicked in. She ducked, causing him to miss as he reached to grab her and hit the window instead. She spun around to face him.

      Mason!

      He raised his gun at her and words of protest caught in her throat. Fear rippled through her. At this close distance she could smell the acrid, sulfur aroma that indicated he’d fired his weapon recently. Very recently.

      “Hello, Holly,” he snarled, his face contorted and bitter.

      She saw murder in his eyes and knew she was in trouble. Jimmy had taught her about guns and had even bought her one for safety before he’d died, but the hospital had a strict no-guns policy so it was safely locked inside her car—so close but so out of reach. She had to find a way to get to it.

      She raised her hands, palms out, in a take-it-easy kind of gesture. “Mason, what are you doing? Put the gun down.”

      He shook his head. “No, Holly. Tell me where the book is.”

      “I—I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

      “We both know that’s a lie.” He pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket and threw it on the ground. She saw that it was one of the copied pages of the journal.

      “Where did you get that?”

      “Did you think you could hide it from me? Tell me where the book is, Holly, and I’ll kill you quickly. Don’t tell me and I’ll kill you slowly and find it anyway.”

      He gripped the gun tighter and Holly felt her blood go cold. This was it. This was where she was going to die. But she wouldn’t give him what he wanted.

      “You’ll never find it,” she whispered and saw his face contort. Tears warmed her eyes and she began to shake. She choked them back and prepared to fight for her life, but before she could act, another man—this one broad and muscular—leaped from behind a car and tackled Mason as he fired.

      Holly dived for the ground as the blast of the gun rang in her ears. She scrambled for cover in front of the car then peeked around the bumper to see Mason and the other man hit the ground. The gun slipped from Mason’s hand and spun across the asphalt beneath her car. Holly considered crawling after it, but Mason and her rescuer were in the way. The broad-shouldered man was on top of Mason. He punched him and Mason slumped to the ground.

      The man crawled to his feet and looked around, spotting her crouched behind a parked car. Using his sleeve, he wiped sweat from his brow and then held out his hand to her. “Don’t be afraid. My name is Blake Michaels. I’m here to help you.” Urgency poured from him as Mason began to squirm, mere moments from regaining consciousness. “We have to go. Now.”

      Holly took his outstretched hand and let him pull her to her feet, but she hesitated at following him, glancing at her car. Should she try to get past Mason to retrieve her gun and cell phone?

      “He wants you dead,” Blake said matter-of-factly, interrupting her indecision. “He wants us both dead. Now, let’s get out of here before he comes to and finishes the job he started.”

      She glanced back at Mason, still trying to pull himself awake. He’d come to kill her tonight and he almost had. This man, whoever he was, had saved her life.

      She nodded and followed him to a Dodge Ram pickup. He unlocked the doors and she slid across the seat as he got in on the driver’s side. Holly spotted blood on his hands as he started the engine. Her gaze moved to his midsection, where a dark circle was growing on his shirt.

      “You’re hurt,” she stated as he took off. “What happened?”

      He waved away her concern. “It’s nothing. The bullet just grazed me.”

      “I’m a nurse. I should take a look at it.”

      “Maybe later. First we have to get as far away from Mason Webber as possible.”

      She looked at the handsome stranger who had saved her life and shuddered. Mason had shot him, actually shot him, proving that he was even more dangerous than Holly had wanted to admit.

      How do I get myself into these situations?

      “Okay, so I know what he has against me. Why does he want you dead, Blake Michaels?”

      “That is a long story.” He moved his hand from the steering wheel and felt along the seat as he drove. “Do you see my cell phone anywhere?”

      Holly glanced around but didn’t see it. “No.”

      He slammed his hand against the steering wheel. “I must have dropped it. Do you have a phone?”

      “No. We’re not allowed to bring them inside during our shifts. It’s locked inside my car.” Along with my gun. She sighed, wishing she had both right now.

      He didn’t slow down as they approached the turnoff for the police precinct. In fact, he drove right by it. “Aren’t we going to the police station? We need to let them know what just happened tonight.”

      He shook his head but didn’t let up on the accelerator. “We can’t go to the police.”

      “Why not? I know Mason is a cop but he’s out of his mind. The chief needs to know he’s dangerous.”

      “I said no police.” His voice was sharp and biting.

      He was so insistent that it caused her to wonder why he was wary of police involvement. She realized she didn’t even know this man she’d gotten into a truck with. “Why don’t you want to go to the police? Are you a criminal?”

      “No, I’m a cop.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet, flipping it open on the seat. She saw a badge and breathed a sigh of relief.

      When she picked it up, something fell out. She reached down and picked it up. It was a ring...an engagement ring. She glanced at him but he hadn’t noticed the ring slip out. He was busy checking the mirrors. She slipped the ring back into his wallet and examined the badge. His name was written on his credentials. Blake Michaels, Northshore Police. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t a criminal, but she still didn’t know anything about him except that he didn’t trust his fellow officers and he carried an engagement ring around with him.

      “If you’re one of them, then why not go to the cops?”

      “Because Mason wasn’t working alone. The force is corrupt. We can’t trust anyone.”

      She gasped. Corrupt cops? How did he know? Jimmy had suspected as much before he died. In fact, he’d been looking into acts of corruption by his partner, according to the journal she’d discovered. Mason had seemed to have no fear of reprimand in his behavior tonight. But was the entire department really so corrupt that they could ignore attempted murder?

      “So if we’re not going to the police, where are we going?”

      “We need to get out of town fast, out of their jurisdiction.”

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