LITMIR.BIZ

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take it these belong to me and not some fictitious uncle.” Hunter plucked at the knit shirt he was wearing. “Are there more where this came from?”

      Nodding, Leah reached down and took the cardboard box from the bottom of her closet. “Not many,” she said as she handed the box to Hunter. “You packed most of your stuff for the trip to Orlando. I just left it there.” Unable to maintain eye contact, Leah turned away, then began searching through the closet until she found the spare backpack she was looking for. She threw it to Hunter, and while she made a trip to the bathroom for toiletries, and to change into a better-fitting pair of jeans, he began stuffing the backpack with the clothes from the box.

      “Time’s up,” Ray Harris announced when Leah returned. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

      With Harris bringing up the rear, Leah and Hunter headed down the hall. When they entered the living room, Lance Martin glanced their way. “Ready?” he asked.

      Leah shook her head. “What about my job? I can’t just disappear without telling them something.”

      “You’ll have to call and say that you’re resigning.”

      Leah glared at Martin. “I can’t just up and quit.”

      “Yes, you can,” the agent told her. “And after this is all over, the hospital will be apprised of the circumstances. Now, are you ready?”

      Leah shook her head. “I don’t care what you say, I’m not quitting my job. And one more thing—I’ve got to make sure my house is secure,” she insisted. “Make sure all the windows are locked, stop the delivery of the newspaper, have my mail stopped.”

      Martin rolled his eyes, then, with a sigh, he said, “Ray and I will check the house now—and later, we’ll take care of the newspaper and your mail. You and Hunter wait there.” He motioned toward the hall where Hunter had jumped Ray Harris.

      Within minutes, both agents returned. “All the windows are locked and the back door is secure,” Martin told her. With him in the lead and Harris bringing up the rear, they hustled Leah and Hunter to the car.

      Harris drove and Martin rode shotgun. Leah sat as close to the door as she could while Hunter sprawled out behind Martin on the passenger side.

      “So where is this so-called safe house?” Hunter asked once they were on their way, bumping along the narrow, uneven street that Leah lived on.

      Martin shifted sideways in the seat. “It’s just outside the city, near Kenner,” he said over his shoulder.

      “How long before we’re transferred to Orlando?”

      “Probably a day or two at the most.”

      Leah, still avoiding eye contact with Hunter for fear of seeing only condemnation, listened to his questions and the agent’s answers as they drove beneath the overhanging branches of the towering oaks that shaded the narrow street. As she gazed out the side window at the century-old homes they passed, her mind’s eye kept seeing the betrayal on Hunter’s face when he’d learned that she lied about their relationship.

      She should have told him the truth. Shoulda, woulda, coulda, she thought with sarcasm. And hindsight was a wonderful thing.

      Across from her, Hunter shifted in the seat. “Another question,” he said, directing his attention to Martin again and interrupting Leah’s self-flagellant thoughts. “How did you know where to find me?”

      Leah tensed as her gaze flew from the window to the agent.

      “We weren’t sure where to look at first,” the agent said. “The minute you disappeared from the hospital, we put a tap on your wife’s phone, and we also instructed the staff at the hospital to immediately report any inquiries made about you. Then, this morning, we hit pay dirt. Your wife’s phone call to the hospital was what tipped us off.”

      “Her phone call?”

      Hunter whipped his head around to glare at Leah. At the expression on his face, a cold knot formed in her stomach.

      “And just what kind of phone call did she make?” Hunter retorted, sarcasm oozing with each word as his eyes burned a hole in her that went all the way to her soul.

      Leah swallowed hard. Caught again. Yet another lie, another betrayal found out.

      “She was trying to confirm that you had been a patient there,” Martin answered. “For all the good it did her,” he added. “But it was just the red flag we’d been waiting for. We were dispatched immediately to bring you in.”

      “We’ve got trouble!” Harris interrupted in a tense, clipped voice. “We picked up a tail. The black SUV.”

      When Martin shifted his gaze to the vehicle’s side-view mirror, Leah heard a pinging sound. The rear windshield splintered and Leah screamed.

      Chapter 5

      Hunter grabbed Leah. “Get down!” he shouted. He shoved her down onto the seat, then covered her with his own body. Leah’s scream was muffled by the car seat. Panic and fear for the safety of her unborn baby streaked through her as she struggled to breathe beneath Hunter’s weight.

      “Damn Bureau leak,” she heard Harris mutter as she felt the car careen first to one side then to the other.

      Suddenly shots exploded from the passenger side of the car as Martin returned fire.

      More shots rang out from behind. Martin groaned then yelled, “Dammit to hell! I’m hit!”

      “How bad?” his partner demanded.

      “My arm! Can’t return fire!”

      “Hunter—the gun!” Harris floored the accelerator and zigzagged between the vehicles in his path. “Get his gun!” Harris shouted as horns blared and tires squealed.

      “Stay down,” Hunter told Leah. When he sprang up, reached over the seat and grabbed for Martin’s gun, Leah gulped in air and splayed her hands protectively over her abdomen. Just as Hunter latched on to the gun, another spray of bullets pelted the rear end of the car, and he ducked. Again Harris floored the accelerator. More horns blared.

      “Coming up to Valence Street,” Harris shouted. “They’re at least three cars behind. When I make the turn, I’ll slow enough for you both to bail out. Just pray that they keep following me!”

      “Take this.” Martin pitched Hunter his cell phone. “And keep the gun.”

      Only seconds passed before Harris yelled, “Get ready! Here it comes.”

      “Keep low,” Hunter ordered, his mouth inches from her ear.

      Fear within Leah increased tenfold as tires skidded and she felt the car lurch to the right as Hunter grabbed her arm with the grip of a vise. What if she fell? What if she lost the baby? Don’t think about it. Just concentrate on staying alive.

      As she tensed in readiness, out of the corner of her eye, she spied her purse on the floor. With her free hand she latched on to to it just as Hunter shoved open the door. He yanked on her arm, and the force of it propelled Leah sideways. Hunter jumped, pulling Leah with him. When they hit the pavement, Hunter’s firm grip was all that kept her from falling flat on her face. The second Hunter slammed the door shut, Harris gunned the engine.

      “Run!” Hunter yelled.

      Leah had barely regained her balance when Hunter jerked her sideways again. Half pulling, half dragging her, he jumped the curb, and Leah had no choice but to follow.

      “Take cover behind the tree!” Hunter yanked her behind the trunk of a huge oak off to the side of the walkway, then pinned her to it with his body. The rough bark bit into her chest, and she could feel every gasping breath that Hunter took against her back. Within seconds, they both watched as the black SUV streaked past, following the agent’s car.

      Before the agent’s vehicle had gone half a block, more

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