Lisa Phillips - Security Detail

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.”

“No, it’s more like sold us out.” Manny motioned to the truck with his chin. “She worth it?”

“We’re not talking about this. What does Andis want with her?”

Manny’s eyes flashed. For a second Conner saw an edge. Did he want to kill her, or did he want Kayla for something else? It seemed like he had a personal stake with Kayla, but how could that be? She was nothing to Manny but a job.

“She and I knew each other in the White House.” Conner’s tone suggested they were imbeciles for not having figured that out themselves. “Kayla and I go way back.” Conner jerked his shoulder in the direction of his truck.

“Fine. Andis wants her brought in.”

Conner didn’t much care for Manny’s tone. He needed to stake his claim. It was the only way these guys would accept his bone-deep need to keep her safe. Conner needed to at least try to remain in good standing with these guys and their boss if he was going to complete this assignment. Then he could get back in good standing with his boss at the Secret Service.

It meant everything to him that Locke knew he wasn’t a disgraced agent.

Or it had. Until he walked into Kayla’s office and saw her again.