Lana stepped toward him, placing a steadying hand on his arm. Trent tried to make sense of it, taking deep breaths in through his nose and out through his mouth—the way he’d always done to calm his anxiety.
“I’d asked Meghan to look in on her, as you’d asked. It took them a while to track her down, and apparently, the scene was staged to look like a suicide,” Lana explained. “It was staged very well, actually. But some senior investigators were able to point out errors and rule the case a homicide.”
Trent swallowed hard, turning his face up to look at Lana. “A homicide?” he echoed, his voice cracking over the word.
Lana’s features softened as if she were experiencing all the same emotions as Trent. “Yes,” she confirmed. “Brylee Ford was murdered.”
Guilt swirled within him. He felt responsible for Brylee’s death, and he wished that he could have done something to save her.
Then another thought occurred to him… a truth he hadn’t fully grasped until that moment. “I’m in danger. Real danger.”
He looked up at Lana, and she nodded.
“You are. But that’s why I’m here.” Lana brushed her hair back into a messy bun, the strands falling down to frame her elegant face beautifully, though her expression was set in a determined mien. “Now, go pack your stuff. Meghan says it’s time to move. The police in Brylee’s county would like to question you, and it’s going to be better for us to go to a different safe house afterward to decrease the likelihood that anyone can find you.”
“The police want to question me? Like I’m a suspect?”
“Of course not,” Lana replied. “They just want your statement so they can build their case against those who actually have motive.”
They packed and drove three hours, and then Trent spent another hour talking to police and their federal partners. He went over everything he could remember talking about with Brylee, including the connections to Lee Quirk.
Soon they were heading out of town, going east toward a new safe house, but they no sooner crossed out of the town line than Lana adjusted her rearview mirror, hit the gas, and instructed the car to call Meghan.
“What’s going on?” Trent asked.
She didn’t answer. Instead, she waited for Meghan to answer the call before she barked, “We’re being followed by what looks like three different vehicles. I’m going to do what I can to lose them. I just wanted you to know.”
“Be safe,” Meghan said before the call ended. She thought about asking for backup, but she’d already hung up and needed to focus on driving. Besides, it would look bad on her if she asked for help on her first job.
Trent stole a glance behind him and saw the headlights that were on their tail. He looked back to Lana, not knowing what to say. He feared for himself, but he also feared for her. It was one thing when protection meant hiding out in a house alone with her but knowing that she was risking her life to keep him safe was much worse.
Trent felt worthless as he wasn’t able to do anything to help. He could only sit there passively while Lana saved the day.
“We’re going to be fine,” Lana barked at him.
His head jerked to the side to look at her. She leaned forward in her seat, her hands gripping the steering wheel tightly, her eyes flicking up to the rearview mirror and then back to the road regularly.
“Maybe it’s the local cops?” he offered. “They could be making sure we get out safe.”
Her jaw set as she shook her head. “I don’t think any of them would be trying to ram into me,” she muttered as she jerked the vehicle to avoid the SUV revving up behind them. “Buck up. Things are about to get a little… intense.”
As soon as she ground out the word, the SUV slammed into the back of them. Lana groaned, slamming her foot down hard on the gas pedal so that they lurched forward. She jerked the steering wheel, sending them swerving across the road and hopefully out of the way of their attackers.
She didn’t quite make it, though, because Trent saw the lights of the SUV coming up from behind them. The large vehicle caught up with them in time to clip their back end and send their car into a tailspin.
The trees spun together outside of their windows, and Trent had been slammed up against the door, his stomach flipping at the whirring of colors around them. He slammed down on the window button, desperate for air and hoping not to vomit in Lana’s vehicle.
The wind tore at him, his glasses nearly ripped from his face, and they came so close to the edge of the road that he felt the whip of branches stinging his skin. He scrambled to roll the window back up, but he could barely right himself with the force of the spinning.
Lana grabbed his arm, pulling him toward her and away from the door. She leaned into the turn of the car spinning, pulling at it gently until they were broken free of their whirlwind and straightened back on the road.
“Holy shit!” Trent exploded.
Lana nodded, her jaw still clenched while she kept her foot down hard on the gas, the SUV still tailing them. “My thoughts exactly.”
She jerked the vehicle around a curve suddenly, so sharp that it rocked on two wheels and Trent was shocked that they were able to land back on the road and keep going. The SUV didn’t maneuver as easily, but they pulled through the maneuver, swerving behind them with just a few tree limbs going flying.
“I don’t think you’re going to lose them,” Trent muttered.
“Gee, thanks,” she huffed. “What should we do then? Pull over and surrender you?”
She fake jerked to one side before swerving down another side road he hadn’t even seen. There was an awful crashing sound as the SUV slammed into another tree, but Trent watched as they reversed and continued following Lana, this side now severely dented in.
He didn’t know what to say, so instead, he clung to the open window of the door, hoping that they would be able to do what seemed impossible. Maybe they would be able to damage the SUV enough to get away.
As they passed another dirt road, a car came flying down it, and Lana stomped on the gas, cursing beneath her breath. She tried to coax their car to go faster while the new vehicle whipped up beside them.
They both braced for impact, and Trent squeezed his eyes closed.
CHAPTER SIX
LANA
The car’s fuel light had turned on, and the front left wheel was wobbling, but Lana pushed the car as hard as she could.
You’ve gotten us this far, just a little bit more…
“Um, Lana?”
“I’m trying to focus.”
“Yeah, okay, but—”
She’d thought the impact would come from the back again, so the side impact more than startled her. Every muscle strained in her body to keep her composure. This is not what I thought I’d be dealing with on my first security mission!
She barely managed to correct the wheel and keep the car controlled. She hit the gas harder as the offender trailed back. “What the fuck was that?”
“A big problem,” Trent answered, shrinking farther into his seat. “All three of them.”
“Goddamn it,” she muttered. “Couldn’t they just—”