Security Detail. Lisa Phillips

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СКАЧАТЬ was going on?

      Kayla raced after Conner. Halfway down the hall, another bottle came through the broken window at the far end. Conner shoved her to the wall and shielded her with his body. It was heroic, but it didn’t mean he actually cared about her. Secret Service agents weren’t paid for their feelings. They were paid to keep their charges from bodily harm. Still, she warmed at the care he was taking to make sure she wasn’t exposed—to be certain danger reached him first.

      “He’s boxing us in. I’ve seen them do it before,” Conner yelled over the crack and hiss of flames. “Is there another way out?”

      “The dentist’s office has a fire exit with stairs down to the ground floor.”

      Conner pointed down the hall. “On the side?” She nodded. “Too exposed. Anything else?”

      Kayla glanced around, as though the answer would reveal itself through the walls. “We should call the sheriff again and find out where he is. Give me your phone—mine is almost dead.”

      He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. “My cover is blown.” He paused, his thoughts somewhere distant she wasn’t invited. “I guess the rules no longer apply.”

      Kayla let her gaze roam his face, trying to figure out what on earth would possess a man to live the kind of life where he was constantly under threat of being killed.

      She’d understood on some level before tonight that undercover work was dangerous for a law enforcement officer. But now that she’d seen what he lived with, Kayla didn’t know if she could stand that life. There were men and women who could, though, and she had so much respect for what they did.

      “So what do we do?”

      Conner glanced around. “We need a place to hide where the smoke won’t get us. We can call the sheriff from there. I just have to keep you safe until he shows up.”

      “But not yourself?” He didn’t need to be safe?

      “You know what I mean, Kayla. When I know you’re okay, I’ll make a break for it.”

      Instead of dishing it back to him—and dying of smoke inhalation from standing in this hallway—Kayla grabbed his arm and dragged him to the kitchen. Conner shut the door and she got two bottles of water from the fridge. Then he soaked some towels and tucked them under the door.

      She handed him a water.

      “Thanks.” Conner drank half the bottle in one go and then pulled out his phone, thumbed buttons. After gulping down the rest of the water, he threw the empty bottle in the recycling bin.

      Kayla looked around. “I think we should try to get out of here.”

      “They started the fire to flush you out, and now they’re waiting outside. When you run outside, they’ll probably shoot you. That’s how this works. The fire gets you outside, and then they finish you off. If there’s time, they’ll dump the body back inside to destroy the evidence.”

      “Wonderful. Unless...”

      “What?”

      “They’re trying to kill you. You said your cover is blown. Maybe they’re not after me anymore.” She saw the look he gave her and said, “Well, it’s possible. And either way we need to get out of here before we suffocate.” She grabbed his phone.

      Conner’s eyes darkened. “That isn’t going to happen to you.”

      “Because I’m in danger, and you’re going to save me?”

      “Yes.”

      “You know, normal people just call the police when they’re in danger.” She even dialed the numbers to prove it.

      Conner didn’t react, though she knew for a fact she was funny. “You’re not normal people and neither am I.”

      Kayla showed him the phone and pressed Dial. Just so he could see how normal she was. “I’ve been working very hard for the last few years to be normal, thank you, and you’re ruining—Yes, I need the sheriff and a fire truck. I’m trapped in my office.”

      The same lady who’d answered the first time took her location and Kayla answered a half-dozen questions. No, they weren’t in danger of being immediately injured—though it would be minutes before their situation changed. No, they couldn’t get out.

      When the woman tried to get her to take deep breaths to calm down, she hung up. “Why did you come tonight?”

      “Like I told you, I overheard a conversation from the next room. Your name was mentioned, so I decided to come over and see if you knew why they were talking about you. It’s no secret that you or I once lived in the White House. That’s probably why they didn’t let me in on it.”

      “So you heard the conversation?”

      “Not much of it, like I said. No more than your name, but I got the impression they don’t like you too much.”

      “I don’t know why not. I’m a likable person.” Kayla wasn’t like a trial lawyer who spent all day in a courtroom and made tons of enemies. She wrote wills. Business contracts. Nothing to hide. No one wanted her dead. That was crazy. Unless...

      Conner frowned. “Something just happened with your face.”

      “I—” Kayla blew out a breath.

      “Tell me.”

      “It can’t be connected to me, so there’s no way they could know. But I own a piece of property on the outskirts of town. Sometimes the sheriff refers women in...dangerous situations to me. If they want to press charges against their husbands or boyfriends or whoever is hurting them, I can help them, but sometimes they’re still in danger even then. So I give them a place to stay. Whether it’s permanent or just until they get on their feet is up to them.”

      “You run a battered-women’s shelter.”

      “Why did you say that like it’s a bad thing?” Smoke had started to creep under the kitchen door. Kayla coughed. “I help women, and sometimes kids, too. But I don’t run it—I have a manager for that. I just...facilitate the place. Locke helped me set it up.”

      “Of course Special Agent Locke helped you.”

      Okay, now he looked mad. What was it he’d said...? Something just happened with your face. Yeah, ditto. Didn’t he like his former supervisor?

      “Look,” Kayla said. “I just thought if someone wanted to find something or hurt me, that would be the only reason I can think of as to why. Maybe they were looking for the address. The sheriff keeps a tight lid on the whole thing, but it could be that my identity was leaked and someone wants to get revenge on me for helping one of the women.”

      It wasn’t like she could sit by and do nothing, though. Her job wasn’t exactly on the front lines of making the world a better place, not like Mr. Undercover Agent over there. They couldn’t all be like that. Kayla just used her passion to help women who needed it, and she gave them the chance to find safety. To feel real peace for the first time.

      “So what’s the СКАЧАТЬ