Dead End. Lisa Phillips

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      Behind him Parker called in the make and model, no plates. Request for EMTs, possible injuries.

      “Nina.” He crouched beside her and holstered his weapon. “Nina, are you okay?”

      She groaned. “No.” She sounded mad, which almost made Wyatt smile.

      He helped her roll over, which made her groan again. The road rash on her right arm and her temple made him wince.

      She eyed him. “That bad, huh?”

      He didn’t return her smile—there was too much fear in her blue eyes. He did lift her left hand so he could survey the scar from the injury she’d had the day he’d met her. She had a wrist brace on, and he couldn’t see the injury on her fingers. Was it under the brace material? That would mean the injury was down by her thumb. Why hadn’t he known that?

      Wyatt had been there the day they rescued her from the house where she’d been held, months ago now. Caught up in Sienna’s amnesia, and the hunt for a flash drive of sensitive information Sienna had hidden before she lost her memory, Nina had been kidnapped in order to draw Sienna out. The man who had held her was dead now, but Nina had been injured.

      When they’d found her, Nina’s left hand had been bandaged, the wrappings soaked in blood. Yet she’d still been strong enough to push through and help Wyatt’s partner—Parker—find Sienna, who was now his wife. That danger had passed, and Parker and Sienna were finally free to be happy.

      Wyatt had been impressed by Nina that day, and it hadn’t let up since. Clearly her inner character was as beautiful as she was on the outside, even with the haircut she had gotten recently. He’d never been a fan of short hair on women, but the choppy blond strands made her eyes stand out all the more and he had to admit it was cute.

      Wyatt’s phone started to ring, but he ignored it. “Don’t get up, okay?” Her left hand seemed to have gone through this unscathed, the road rash on her right arm likely from trying to protect the injury beneath the brace. “EMTs will be here in a minute and we’ll get you looked at.”

      Nina sighed and straightened her legs on the sidewalk in front of her. Wasn’t she glad help was coming?

      “Ames!”

      Wyatt turned back to his partner.

      Parker motioned over his shoulder with his thumb. “I’m going to check our friend here into his permanent staycation and I’ll be back out.”

      Wyatt nodded and turned back to Nina, still in his crouch. “That was crazy. I can’t believe that car jumped the curb and came right at you. Seriously. It was nuts.”

      Nina’s lips curled up, though he could see the pain on her face. “You’re babbling.”

      “Your life just flashed before my eyes.”

      Nina laughed. He wanted to pull her into his arms and hug her until his heart rate settled down, and she was laughing? “This isn’t funny, Nina.”

      She shook her head. “No, it really isn’t. You’re right. But to be honest, it’s just been one of those days. This is pretty much the perfect end.”

      “It’s not even lunchtime.”

      “I’m still ready to go home and crawl back into bed. Maybe tomorrow will go better, because today does not seem to be my day.”

      The ambulance pulled up, a police car parking right behind it. He knew the sergeant who climbed out. Sergeant Zane sauntered over, apparently relaxed, having decided the emergency had passed and Wyatt had whatever this was covered.

      The law enforcement community in their town was pretty tight-knit. Zane probably knew Nina through her connection to Sienna and Parker. Being retired CIA agents in this town was enough to make them famous.

      Wyatt got up and stepped back as the EMTs started to work on Nina. Zane might think the former CIA agent could handle herself, even in a situation like this, but he hadn’t seen the raw fear on her face like Wyatt had. There was a lot of wincing now as the EMT doused her road rash, but she kept it together. All that raw skin had to hurt something fierce, but she held her own. As usual. Did the woman ever break?

      Sergeant Zane stopped in front of him. “Parker called in an attempted vehicular homicide. I’ve got units on the lookout for the car he described, but it seems like it worked out.”

      Vehicular homicide? Wyatt glanced back at Nina. His head hadn’t caught up with his reflexes yet so it took a minute. The car. Nina on the sidewalk. “Why would someone try to kill you?”

      It couldn’t be easy to have a past full of covert missions—especially when a recent leak made her past career public knowledge. Had someone she’d angered as a CIA agent just tried to retaliate?

      Nina looked up, one eyebrow raised. “You’re seriously asking me that question?”

      Sergeant Zane snorted. When Wyatt glanced at the man, his eyes were on the blue sky. He looked back at Nina. He’d been more concerned about the fact that she was hurt. He hadn’t even wondered who was driving the car and why they had done this.

      “Who wants you dead?”

      Nina cocked her head to the side. “I would write you a list, but...” She lifted her right arm, now being wrapped in a bandage.

      Sergeant Zane erupted in chuckles. Wyatt shot him a look that shut him up. Wyatt had been a cop before transferring to the Marshals Service, but couldn’t ever remember acting the way Zane did. Now that he was on a fugitive apprehension task force, Wyatt didn’t have to suffer the sleepless nights of being a homicide detective. He didn’t have to see the tear-filled eyes of loved ones as they faced the gruesome details of death. The long-drawn-out investigations. Awful hours that had taken a toll on every relationship he’d had.

      As a homicide detective, he’d had only questions and then had to go out and find the answers. As a marshal he knew the answers—the case was closed—and he only needed to track down the fugitive and dispense justice. When the cell doors shut, his job was done.

      The one gray cloud in his life right now was Nina. Or, more specifically, his unwanted feelings for her. Wyatt might have been attracted to her since they met, but Nina wasn’t like any other woman. Not exactly a bad thing, but her best friend had just married his partner. She’d have the bug, and if they started dating she’d be thinking about him and “long term.”

      Not exactly Wyatt’s thing, at least when he considered the fact that his track record at relationships wasn’t good. It was why he kept everything light. First he had to figure out why he’d never been able to hold on to a relationship. Then he’d open himself up to dating again.

      He glanced back at the courthouse, where Parker made his way down the steps toward them. Wyatt looked back at Nina. “What were you doing here?”

      Nina opened her mouth to answer, but Parker spoke first. “She was trying to find out who killed her mother.”

      She shot him a dirty look. “Sienna was not supposed to have shared that with you. That was private.”

      Parker’s brows lifted. “You want my wife to keep secrets from me?”

      Wyatt СКАЧАТЬ