Security Detail

by Lisa Phillips

  Conner sighed.

  “Where do we go now?” Kayla asked. “I have no wallet, no keys. It’s all in the office. I can’t even get in my house.” She pulled up short on the sidewalk, in the middle, right out in the open. Conner moved her to the alcove of a Laundromat that was closed.

  “We’ll figure it out, okay? Let’s just get to my truck.”

  The air outside smelled like smoke. Where were the emergency services? Someone had to have called it in, and their call should have been responded to already. Conner didn’t want to believe that the people who were supposed to protect Kayla and the others who lived in this town could be bought. That they’d intentionally allow an innocent to get hurt.

  When they started walking again, she took his hand. Conner wanted to shake loose of her hold but he didn’t. Still, she glanced at him. Conner saw it out of the corner of his eye. He couldn’t answer the question that wasn’t voiced. He wasn’t in a position to do that, not when his world was one of lies and distrust that could get him killed, all for the sake of justice.

  Kayla was everything he’d ever wanted, and Conner had to walk away from her.

  But not yet.

  Someone was behind them.

  THREE

  Kayla glanced over her shoulder and let out the breath she’d been holding. “Sheriff Johnson?” She turned and dropped her hands slowly. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

  His hand rested on his gun, suspicion on his face at her and a strange man being in the street so close to her burning office. She didn’t blame him. Kayla explained what had happened and how Conner had been there when the fire was started. How he’d helped her get out.

  “And you don’t know who was in the hall?”

  “No.” Kayla shook her head. Conner did, but she didn’t.

  “You didn’t actually see anyone?”

  “No, but we heard them.” Her voice wavered with the questions that arose in her mind. Did he not believe they’d heard men talking in the hall? “They shot at us.”

  “I called the fire chief when I realized there was a fire that hadn’t been reported.” The sheriff glanced up at the building, flames now coming through the window they had jumped out of. “Seems strange no one called it in.”

  “I called it in,” Kayla said. “I talked to Miriam.”

  The sheriff’s eyes narrowed. “And you?” He motioned to Conner with a lift of his chin. “You got a name?”

  “Conner Thorne.”

  Secret Service. She’d heard him say it a million times, but that was years ago. Kayla caught herself before she called Conner on it. His cover. Of course he had to stick with the story that he was no longer a special agent in order to protect himself and the investigation.

  “Former Secret Service.”

  But he didn’t mention being undercover. Didn’t he trust the sheriff? If he didn’t want to admit everything to the man, Kayla was going to trust he knew what he was doing. It was his job.

  The sheriff opened his mouth to ask another question Conner probably didn’t want to answer, so Kayla cut him off. She grabbed Conner’s elbow and put her head on his shoulder. “He’s with me.”

  Sheriff Johnson’s eyes darkened.

  “Conner is living in Samson now, and we knew each other at the White House. How many people can say they have that kind of history?” Kayla laughed, and it sounded false even to her ears. She felt Conner’s chest jerk with surprise. It wasn’t a lie, but she left it open enough the sheriff had to draw his own conclusion. Everyone would put it together that they had known each other way back when. He’d told her Andis knew about their connection.

  The sheriff cleared his throat. “I see.” He was handsome enough, Kayla supposed. Silver hair. Good at his job, which made sense, as he’d been doing it for thirty years now with no one ever running against him. “You’ll make sure she gets home okay?”

  “Sure thing.”

  That was it? Some man-to-man “take care of the little woman” thing she didn’t understand at all. Kayla wanted to roll her eyes, but she’d had enough of acting like a high school kid, more than a lawyer could reasonably take for one night. She needed to let go of Conner before she started to believe her own ruse and got used to holding on to him. Though, if they were dating for real, she’d be way cooler about it. Aloof. Mysterious. A puzzle he needed to solve.

  Conner’s mouth had curled up. Kayla let go of him, but was stuck beside him until the sheriff walked away.

  “I actually didn’t come here for the fire,” Sheriff Johnson said. “Though I’ll need formal statements from both of you after I talk to the fire chief. I have another case for you, Kayla. I wanted to tell you about this one in person, before I got the call about the breakin.” He paused for a second. “I’ll be talking to Miriam, because she didn’t mention you being in danger, or the fire.”

  Kayla nodded. He waved her two steps away, and she joined him as he said, “Her name is Jan Barton. Got mixed up with a local guy she calls her boyfriend. I get the impression she needs somewhere to heal…and probably detox.”

  “Sure.” Kayla’s shelter was set up for that. The house manager she had hired was a registered nurse. “She’s at your office?”

  “Yep.” The sheriff nodded. “I guess you have a ride.”

  “She does.” Conner didn’t look up from his phone.

  She also had her own car, but neither man felt it necessary to point out that she was perfectly fine on her own. Or she would have been if not for tonight and the fact that she was still jumpy. Maybe it was just residual fear, but something was seriously not right.

  The sheriff’s brow had furrowed at Conner’s statement. Why did she feel like the sheriff was not at all happy that Kayla had a “boyfriend”? It wasn’t like he’d ever given her the impression he was interested in her, so it could simply be fatherly concern. She’d have been polite, and flattered, but Sheriff Johnson knew some of her history. Not all of it, the way Conner did. The sheriff only knew she’d been the victim of an attack, and that was why she wanted to help women who needed safety. He’d even helped her set up the hotline.

  So why was he bothered about Conner? Reservations would be justified if he knew Conner worked for Andis. If she could tell the sheriff Conner was undercover, it would allay his fears. When she looked up at Conner with the question likely in her eyes—he’d always been able to read her face—he shook his head.

  The sheriff said, “Ms. Barton needs to get her things from her house while her boyfriend spends the night in one of my cells, and she needs to be clear of him before he gets out. Probably tomorrow, but it might be the day after.”

  Kayla nodded. “Does she want to get free?”

  Sheriff Johnson shrugged one shoulder. “That’s not my department. I find them, you help them.” He smiled. “It’s worked well so far.”

  “It has.”

  Sirens preceded the fire truck turning the corner. The rig drove past their huddle and stopped in the street in front of Kayla’s office.

  “I’ll go run point with the chief and start a search for those men you saw. Let me know tomorrow how it went with Ms. Barton and I’ll take your statements about what happened here then. In the meantime, get somewhere safe and I’ll look into this. I’ll also talk to Miriam.”

  Kayla watched him walk away.

  “Huh.”

  She turned to Conner. “What? You don’t like the sheriff?”

  “Never met the man before tonight. Not sure he knows who I am, though he’s going to look me up when he gets back to the office. By tomorrow he’ll know my life story—or at least the one the Secret Service doctored for me when Andis looked me up. My identity as a disgraced agent is solid, so I’m not concerned. But the guy I’m pretending to be won’t make him less worried about you. Probably more.”

  Kayla’s stomach churned. “I’m not sure I like that you’re getting close to men who would start a fire to try to kill someone. Whether their intended victim was you or me.”

  Conner plac
ed his hands on her shoulders. “I’m not going to lie and tell you it isn’t dangerous, but I’m good at what I do, Kayla. If there’s trouble, I’ll take care of it.” He didn’t add that now that his cover was blown, he was probably in more danger than ever.

  Kayla didn’t feel better in the least, but she was willing to cover it so he wouldn’t worry about her when he left. “Let’s go. Can we do that? I don’t want to stay here if they’re still around. Once I help Ms. Barton, I can go home and rest.”

  Conner waited for her to move first and then walked beside her. It was an old move she recognized. He’d fallen back into that protector/protectee relationship with her that would always color what was between them. And why was that? Maybe Kayla wanted to be the one to make sure he was safe, instead of him looking out for her all the time.

  Why couldn’t that be a thing?

  Kayla stopped so fast she almost tripped on her heels.

  “What? What is it?”

  She pointed. “That’s my car.” At least, it used to be her car. Now it was a body with no wheels, smashed-out windows and spray-painted vulgar swirls all over it. “Someone trashed my car.”

  “Made sure you can’t go anywhere and made it look like teenagers did it at the same time.”

  Kayla sighed. “We should tell the sheriff.”

  Conner turned and looked all around them, at the deserted parking lot to the rear of the street. Dim light. A back entrance. She knew what he saw, and there was no way he’d have let her come anywhere near a place like this back in the day. But she wasn’t the current president’s daughter anymore. No one cared who she was now.

  At least, they hadn’t until tonight.

  “Let’s get moving. You can report it tomorrow. Right now you need to get somewhere safe.”

  Kayla nodded and walked with him to his truck. He drove straight to the sheriff’s office and waited outside while she went in and spoke with Ms. Barton. Kayla told the deputy on the desk about her car and had him relay that information to the sheriff in case it was relevant.

  Jan Barton was the priority now. Kayla had seen bruises like that before, and the residue of what looked like a bad night. Way worse than the one she’d had this evening, even considering her office was toast and she smelled like smoke.

  At least she could help Jan Barton, and then something good would come out of this night. Kayla had been through too much to settle for an old crush reappearing and taking up all of her thoughts and emotions. Conner had been everything she’d ever wanted.

  Now all Kayla wanted to do was help other women so that none of them ever had to feel scared again. She knew what real fear felt like, and it had nearly crippled her—until someone had shown up to help her. That was who Conner was to her, the hero he’d been all those years ago.

  She didn’t need him in her life now. Kayla was too busy being that hero to others.

  *

  Conner waited outside Jan Barton’s house. Kayla was helping her pack her things, but only after Conner had checked that the house was clear. The woman seemed nice enough, if beaten up and exhausted from a life lived in fear of her drug-addicted boyfriend. Now Conner was outside in case one of the boyfriend’s friends showed up.

  The two women exited the house, and Conner followed them to the truck. If not for the lack of a suit and earpiece, he’d have looked exactly like the Secret Service agent he was. But the casual clothes Andis’s men wore meant they would never trust an expensive suit. That was Andis’s dress code, not theirs. So Conner wore jeans and a shirt, like he did on a lot of his assignments. To blend in with the riff-raff.

  Conner settled in the front seat and started the engine. He glanced back at Jan, just for a second, to make sure she was all right, but without scaring her by being an overbearing male.

  His gaze snagged hers. Conner looked out the front windshield again. Something was very, very wrong.

  “Ready?”

  Conner glanced at Kayla and put the car in Drive. “Sure.”

  She frowned, probably at the fact that his smile was completely fake. But Conner couldn’t do anything else. This was the kind of person Kayla wanted to help? Conner couldn’t decide which he disliked more, Kayla’s being in the car with someone as off as Jan Barton or the fact that the sheriff brought these people to her.

  “So where is this place?” If they were taking Jan to the property Kayla had bought, he needed to know where he was going.

  “The motel on Fourth Street.”

  “A motel?”

  “For tonight. I gave Jan a phone number, and she’ll call the house manager tomorrow. That way, I’m never directly connected to the place.” Kayla smiled. “Plausible deniability.”

  And yet if Andis had found out that Kayla was helping women…

  His wife and daughter. Of course. Conner wanted to kick himself. Andis’s wife and daughter had “moved away” a few months ago. What if Kayla had, in fact, helped them escape? The man might have lied to save face even while he began a search for them.

  Was it that search that brought Manny to Kayla’s office? Had that same hunt meant Conner had blown his cover tonight? She couldn’t have known exactly how dangerous of a man Andis Bamir was. And if she had helped them, it gave the man a reason to want her dead. Andis wasn’t bothered at all that his wife and daughter had left. In fact, it had only given him the ability to do what he did overtly instead of hiding it for their sake. If Andis felt anything, it was likely only that he’d been bested by Kayla because she had successfully helped them escape. He could want revenge.

  Could he have been looking for them and kept it under the radar?

  Conner needed to find a photo of Andis’s wife and daughter online and show it to Kayla. If she had helped them, it would at least solve one mystery of the evening.

  Kayla walked Jan to her motel room, and the two hugged. Still, even with that display of solidarity, Conner couldn’t help thinking something about Jan Barton was…out of place. He shook off the idea. It had been a weird day for sure. Now it was the middle of the night and he needed to get Kayla home. She could get some sleep and he could sit outside in his truck and keep watch. Just in case.

  After she’d buckled herself back in, Conner said, “Long day ahead of you tomorrow.”

  She nodded. “I’ll have to make that statement to the sheriff and call my insurance agent, see how much work I can salvage. I back up at home, but my laptop is at the office. Maybe I’ve lost all my files from today.” She sighed. “I really didn’t need this. It’ll be expensive to rebuild.”

  Conner pulled out onto the road. “I’m sure your father will help you out.”

  Kayla was his only daughter, and despite her wildness as a teen, he did dote on her. More so given that her mother had passed away. Some men distanced themselves from their loved ones after a loss. Conner had seen it in others—whether the loss was death or divorce didn’t matter. It was all a type of grief to admit it was the end of what they’d thought their lives were going to be.

  Kayla’s father had been no different, though he had been an excellent president. Professional. Cordial to those who worked under him. Some presidents either ignored their Secret Service agents or treated them with outright disdain. It had been nice for Conner that the first president he had served under was a man who had respect for everyone, even those who could be construed as “beneath” him.

  Conner hit the highway and pressed down on the gas, eager to get where they were going.

  Kayla sighed. “Is it wrong that I don’t want my father to help me?” Her voice was softer than it had been. “I mean, I’m a grown woman. If I told him what happened tonight, he would send a detail of Secret Service agents my way and insist they didn’t leave my side until the threat against me had passed.”

  Conner didn’t think that was a bad idea but got the feeling it wasn’t what Kayla wanted to hear. “What do you want to do?”

  “I’d like to live my own life and make my own decisions. I have to be strong enough to get throu
gh this on my own, or when a stiff wind blows through, I’ll fall over and my life will disintegrate.”

  “I don’t think a lack of strength has ever been your problem, Kayla.”

  She shifted in the seat. “Do you really mean that?”

  Conner shrugged. “Of course.”

  Kayla slumped back down in her seat. “Sure, I guess.”

  “You don’t think so?” He’d seen her weather things that would have broken most people, and yet here she was. A lawyer. A beautiful woman who could hold herself together when her office was burning and people were coming after them. Why couldn’t she see that?

  “You of all people know that what we show the world is usually not what’s underneath the surface. No one wants to know the dark things, the parts of us that are terrified to show themselves.”

  She thought there was darkness in her? “Kayla—”

  “Don’t worry about it, okay? I do what I can for women who need help, and I like my job. I make a small difference, but it’s still a difference.” She glanced out the window. “It just has to be enough for me. That’s what I’m struggling with.”

  Conner frowned. Perhaps it was fatigue making her doubt herself. He didn’t see where she got the idea she didn’t do enough. His whole existence right now consisted of pretending to be a bad guy—which meant he had to do bad things so they wouldn’t figure him out—all for the chance to catch a real bad guy. He wasn’t a force for good in the world, just justice.

  Lights in his rearview mirror.

  Conner switched the angle down so they didn’t glare in his eyes and distract him.

  The lights moved to the left and shone in his wing mirror. Some guy with a problem. Conner slowed a little and moved to the side of his lane so the person could pass if he wanted to. But he didn’t.

  The vehicle sped up, close enough to clip their back left bumper, and then backed off. Then sped up again.

  Now they were on the right side.

  “Not good.”