Security Detail

by Lisa Phillips

  Kayla sighed. “I’m glad everyone is okay.”

  Conner wanted to hug her. She felt so much, for so many people. But did she care about him? He thought she loved him, but until she told him when he was lucid, he couldn’t know for sure.

  “Everyone’s healthy.”

  Kayla slumped against him. Conner put his arm around her to hold her up, but more because he wanted her next to him for as long as she’d stay there.

  “I’m pulling in now.”

  The line clicked off.

  Kayla turned her gaze up to Conner’s and said, “What? I don’t know what that look means.”

  Conner shrugged one shoulder. He couldn’t deny that he was disappointed she hadn’t said his words back to him in the plane, but he understood why not. This was a crazy situation, and she probably wanted to make sure he hadn’t just knocked some things loose getting hit on the head.

  Locke parked. He climbed out, still wearing a tactical vest over his suit. The man probably slept in his shirt, tie and slacks. Cuff links, too, Conner would guess. But it was good to know some things didn’t change.

  Kayla smiled at the Secret Service agent but didn’t move. Conner shifted her so she was closer against him and smiled up at Locke himself. Sure, he was basically stating his intentions to the entire Secret Service this way, but he wanted it to be official. Kayla was his. In a way, she always had been.

  “Kayla.” Locke crouched, a frown on his clean-cut dark face. It satisfied something in Conner to see the tint of gray on the sides of his black hair. “How are you?”

  “I’m okay.”

  “We’re both okay.” Conner lifted his chin.

  “He is not.” Kayla told Locke everything that had happened, including what Andis had said.

  “I figured this was a bigger operation than I imagined,” Conner said. “Andis bankrolled it, and he parceled the business out until he knew enough to make the superbills himself. Then he eliminated each player and took off.”

  Locke stared at Conner for a second. “We’ll find him. If he spoofed your phone at any point, then we can try to fake the clone into giving us access to it. Like turning a virus back on the person who created it.”

  Conner nodded.

  “Phone?” Locke held out his hand.

  Conner gave it to him.

  The paramedic who’d been poking the back of his head set his hand on Conner’s shoulder. “You need to see a doctor, but it’s not too bad.”

  Tell that to his pounding head.

  The paramedic continued, “Probably hurts a whole lot, but you’re not in danger of keeling over.”

  Conner nodded. “Thanks.”

  “We’ll get the woman and child to the hospital. Both of you okay making your own way there?”

  Locke answered, “I’ll bring them.”

  Kayla got up, and Conner let Locke haul him to his feet. He slung his arm around Kayla’s shoulders just because he could but also a little because he wasn’t so sure about his footing. He’d landed a plane. His nerves were basically shot for a while now.

  Locke talked on his phone as they walked. Kayla and Conner climbed in the back of his massive SUV, and Locke hung up. “Greg is going to work on finding Andis.”

  “Great.”

  Kayla gave a heavy exhale beside him. “I can’t believe it’s over. We survived what Andis had planned, and now we can go back to our lives.”

  Conner smiled. His life was finishing up this case, locating the evidence and persuading Sofija to testify in return for going into witness protection with her daughter and Manny—if that was what she wanted. Conner didn’t like it, but the justice department had made worse deals than allowing someone like Manny to go free in exchange for his testimony.

  Kayla’s was here in this town, where she’d no doubt be hailed as a hero for protecting everyone she helped with that shelter of hers.

  “Do you think Andis will come after us? You’re not going to put me in witness protection, are you? Because you know it wouldn’t work.”

  Locke didn’t shake his head. The man gave nothing away, while Conner wanted to give Kayla every reassurance he had. Locke said, “Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it.”

  Kayla groaned. “I need to call my dad before he hears about this on the news.”

  “The agents assigned to his protection have been ordered not to show him any newspapers or let him watch TV. But it’s not going to work for long, so don’t wait. You can tell him everything yourself, okay?”

  “Thanks, Locke.” She reached across the seat and Conner took her hand. The back of his head was probably bleeding through the bandage and on the headrest, but he didn’t care. Conner closed his eyes.

  Locke said, “Wha—”

  Conner heard the screech of brakes a second before the truck hit the side of Locke’s SUV and everything went black.

  TWENTY

  Kayla’s head swam. Her mouth formed words, but she didn’t hear anything. The world was muffled, like she was underwater, but she felt the seat of the car under her. Air, like the windows were open. Gas, like they’d sprung some kind of leak, filled her nose until it turned her stomach. Her head pounded.

  Conner. Locke. Were they okay? Kayla couldn’t turn her head to find out if Conner was awake or alive. The driver’s seat in front was twisted, the door pushed in so that it had forced Locke over. Kayla saw him then, leaned across the center console. Blood everywhere.

  Conner was probably dead, too. She didn’t even want to look. Kayla couldn’t bear to see him that way.

  The door beside her—crumpled like a tin can the same way Locke’s was—screeched open.

  Someone grabbed her arm. Pain whipped through Kayla’s shoulder. The scream tore from her throat. Two hands grabbed under her arms and she was dragged away from the car. She tried to look around, couldn’t see who it was. Someone trying to help?

  Kayla was dropped. Her head hit the asphalt and she blacked out, her body feeling nothing but pain. She rolled to the side and retched on the street.

  When she turned back and looked to see who it was, Andis peered down at her. A gun swam before her eyes, his other hand loose by his side. She couldn’t see the look on his face, but she knew who it was.

  “Look who ruined a perfectly good plan,” he said. “Guess I’ll have to just shoot each of you and then take care of my family. Shame. Pinning it all on the four of you was a good idea. Now more will die, and you’ll be the first. Knowing they will be killed because you didn’t die when that plane crashed.”

  The words swam in her head, and she tried to make sense of them through the haze of pain. If he was going to kill her, he should just do it. She was hurting enough that it would be a relief.

  “A messy end.” He crouched. “But I’ll still get away.” He grabbed a handful of her hair and hauled her up. “On your knees. Might as well give the medical examiner something to talk about. Three kills—two feds and the former president’s daughter all done execution-style. I’ll be a legend. The thug who got away.”

  She felt the metal of the barrel press against the back of her neck. Kayla squeezed her eyes shut. I guess this is the end, God. Don’t let my father falter over this. Don’t let his heart give out. Keep him strong and hold him up with Your strength.

  That was the worst of it. Her dad would need her, and she wouldn’t be there to help him. Conner would be gone, and so would she. They’d never get to see what might have happened with time. Never get to see what the future would bring for the two of them. A tear rolled down her face as the magnitude of what they would lose descended on her with the reality of what was about to happen.

  She wasn’t afraid. No, Kayla only mourned for what might have been.

  “Say goodbye.”

  Kayla squeezed her eyes shut so hard it hurt. Goodbye.

  “Andis!” Conner’s yell made her jerk out of her stance. Kayla fell sideways, her hand slammed onto the concrete and she managed to not collapse. Conner. She watched him limp over and the
n looked back over her shoulder. Andis shifted the gun and pointed it at Conner.

  “No!” She didn’t want him to die first. She couldn’t watch that ever, and definitely not if it was the last thing she saw.

  He didn’t look at her, not while his whole being was focused on Andis. “Put the gun down, Andis.” He lifted both hands, blood-smeared palms out. Where was his gun?

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Walk away, Andis. That’s the only way you get free of this, not by murdering Kayla. You want to leave, then leave. But if you kill us first, then you’ll be hunted every day for the rest of your life. There won’t be a single place in this world where you’ll be able to hide. No peace. No rest. No safety. The full force of the Secret Service and every private soldier President Harris cares to hire will be half a step behind you. You won’t be able to breathe without giving yourself away.”

  Conner sucked in a breath, his attention trained on the man with the gun. “Walk away, Andis.”

  “So that you can hunt me every day for the rest of your life?”

  “I won’t. I’ll do nothing. I’ll say nothing.” He looked dead serious, not at all like he was anticipating his death any second now. “Leave right now and I’ll forget you ever existed. I’ll tell everyone we don’t know who hit us. You’ll be clean. Free.”

  Conner’s words came fast, the only tell as to exactly how desperate this situation was. Kayla prayed Andis didn’t shoot him. God had aided Conner in landing that plane, and He could help them now, too.

  She moved to get up, to put some distance between herself and Andis. He saw and twisted around so the gun pointed at her.

  Conner yelled, “Kayla, no!”

  She froze, her body in a crouch halfway between kneeling and standing, and stared at that gun. She rose slowly before her muscles shook so badly she fell back to the ground, both hands raised.

  Andis had his attention on her—maybe Conner could use that to his advantage. She hadn’t planned this, but Kayla decided to improvise if it just might save both of their lives. “He’s right. Leave and you won’t have three more murders on your conscience. You’ve already done enough damage, haven’t you? But you were a step removed so far. This isn’t conspiracy, Andis, this is pre-meditated murder.”

  He might shoot her, but Conner could use that split second of Andis’s focus on her to take the man down.

  She would give up her life so that Conner could live. For the same reason he would, because it was the right thing to do. But beyond that, because she loved him more than anything. And that love was bigger than her need to spend her life with him. It might cost her everything, but it was how she felt. Filled with enough love that she would gladly give up her life for him.

  It might not be why Secret Service agents were prepared to die for their charges, but it worked for her. And she knew, down to her bones, it was why Conner had wanted to protect her from day one. Why she’d been a liability and he’d had to pull away from her. And why they hadn’t been able to see eye to eye.

  Andis’s face changed—his lips curled up into a sneer and he opened his mouth. Conner moved. His arm, his leg, the muzzle flash. A deafening boom. Conner blocked her view of Andis. His body jerked.

  Another gun fired.

  Conner hit the ground. Then Andis collapsed. Beyond them Locke stood with his weapon pointed and a hard look on his face. His gun shook, and Locke fell back against the car. He slumped onto the ground.

  Kayla fell on the asphalt beside Conner. Blood covered his chest. She took off her jacket and balled it up, pressing it as hard as she could on the wound. “Locke!” He looked nearly dead. There was no way he could help her. She looked back at Conner. “Why did you have to get shot again, when you’re not even wearing your vest?”

  Kayla didn’t want to leave his side, but she scrambled across the ground to the director. Locke was still wearing his vest. His injuries were from the car collision. Kayla groaned. “Please be okay.”

  She found the phone in Locke’s pocket and called for help.

  *

  When Conner woke up, he couldn’t feel much of anything. He wasn’t even sure he had a body, everything was so numb. Until he looked down at the bandages that covered his chest, and the white blanket. Hospital. That meant help had come. Hospital meant an ambulance, which meant someone was left alive to call them.

  No thanks to Conner.

  Was Kayla alive? Locke? Andis? He blinked and tried to look around, but his head swam, so he gave up. His mouth tasted like an old marshmallow. Conner tried to clear his dry throat. Even inhaling was hard.

  He tried to remember what had happened. The car had been hit. Locke, blood all over him. Andis, holding his gun on Kayla. That look on her face, all that love and fear and trust and “Help me” and “Do something.” He’d seen it all as clear as though she’d said it out loud.

  Something had happened since he had walked into her office. He couldn’t deny that, not when it meant he’d done something so dumb. Now he didn’t know if she was alive or dead, or if Andis had been caught somehow. Because he’d been bleeding out, unconscious, he didn’t have any answers.

  How could he have done that? Sure, he’d caught the bullet. But he hadn’t stopped Andis. He’d saved Kayla only for that moment and then left her alone to face Andis and his gun by herself. Conner should have found a way to disarm Andis. He should have tackled the man, instead of diving between Kayla and the gun. In the split second the gun fired, he’d made a choice to save her instead of neutralizing the threat. Not that it had been a choice, not really. It was Kayla.

  It had only ever been Kayla.

  Now she might be dead because of what had happened to him, because of the choice he’d made. Andis might be in the wind, long gone with the means to make more superbills. Conner would spend years tracking him down until he went to prison for murder. The end. Because if he had hurt Kayla, Conner would kill the man. And he’d accept the sentence, because it would not be self-defense. He just wasn’t built that way.

  Conner tried again to clear his throat. He seriously needed some water, but he needed to know if Kayla was okay first. There should be a button to call a nurse, right?

  Someone moved beside him. “What is it?” Kayla touched his arm. He smelled the sunshine and flowers of her perfume and then her face was in front of his. Unafraid but full of a whole lot of concern.

  She’s here. He tried to speak, but no words came out. Kayla brought a cup to his mouth and Conner drank from the straw. “Andis.” It was the first word he could speak.

  She frowned. “Locke killed him, then collapsed. I called the ambulance, and they brought you and Locke here. He’s down the hall. They’re talking about surgery, because he’s bleeding in his brain.”

  Conner hated that he was responsible for all of this. Locke wouldn’t be here if Conner had done his job and kept Kayla out of this. Though if anyone was tough enough to survive something like that, it was the director. Conner needed to call Greg, tell him what had happened. Or did he know? Was he here?

  Conner squeezed his eyes shut for a second and tried to blink out the thoughts swirling in his head. “I’m sorry.” She’d been left alone with the two of them injured and a dead man. She must have been so scared.

  Kayla shook her head. “Why on earth would you be sorry?” She quit shaking her head and touched her temple. “Ouch. You saved my life, Conner. I get it. I get why you’d do that, because I wanted to do that for you.”

  She thought he’d let her die? That he’d have allowed her to do what he’d done. Conner’s breath came in a rush, machines started to beep loudly and a nurse rushed in.

  “You need to relax, Mr. Thorne.” The nurse touched his shoulder. “I’ll go tell the doctor you’re awake.”

  When the nurse left, Kayla said, “Okay, that was the wrong thing to say.” She set both hands on his shoulders. “I’m okay, Conner. Promise me you’ll relax. Otherwise you’re going to hurt yourself.”

  He tried to take a brea
th, but it was Kayla’s hands on his shoulders, his face, that brought his heart rate back to normal.

  “That’s good. Everything is fine. Locke will be fine, Andis is dead and I’m here. With you.” She touched her slender fingers to his cheeks.

  Conner turned his head so his lips met her fingers.

  She smiled, so sweet. “You don’t mind?”

  He frowned, not willing to mess this up by saying the wrong thing. She was offering him everything and he didn’t want to ruin it. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. Maybe she was only here because he’d been shot.

  “Okay, now you’re overthinking things.” Kayla leaned down and touched her smile to his lips. He felt the warmth of her breath on his face. She’d waited here for him and had news about Locke for when he woke. Andis had been killed. She was safe, and he’d saved her.

  Thank You, God, that this all worked out. Thank You for giving Kayla to me.

  When she pulled back, he cleared his throat. “Kayla.”

  “Yeah?”

  “I love you.” He didn’t care if she never said it back. If he’d only dreamed it because he’d been hit on the head, plus wishful thinking…

  She grinned. “That’s good. Because I love you, as well. I always have, Conner. Since that first day in the White House.” Her grin turned into a small chuckle. “We fought it—boy, did we fight it. But I think maybe God brought us back together because it’s time to stop fighting and admit there’s something between us. I needed you, and God gave you back to me.”

  She straightened, and the smile dropped from her face as though she’d realized what she’d said and wanted to take it back. “This really isn’t the time.” Before she could back up out of reach, Conner grabbed her arm. Kayla shook her head. “You’re hurt. I shouldn’t be talking to you about this. Not right now. We can do it later.”

  He pulled on her arm until she got the message and moved closer to him. “Marry me.”

  Her lips curled into a smile, and she laughed as she put both hands onto her cheeks. “You think my small-town life, my little church and office hours would suit you? Or am I going to uproot my life and go wherever you end up?” She paused. “You’re an undercover agent, Conner. Don’t you have to go back to Washington and debrief from this assignment? Then they’ll give you a new assignment. There’s a lot to work out before we can even think about marriage.”