Bulletproof Badge. Angi Morgan

bathroom, covering his head more often than not. Just as he passed into the short hall, the gunfire stopped. He didn’t wait for the captain to begin firing. He kicked open the door and pulled Kenderly from the tub.

      “Out the front as soon as I give you the go-ahead.”

      They moved. She was silent. Oaks fired through the shattered kitchen window. The assassin ceased firing a moment longer.

      “Take mine,” Oaks shouted, throwing his keys to Garrison. “Phone’s busted. Call it in. I’ll keep him pinned down.”

      Garrison had a split second to follow or disobey orders. The small feminine hand latched on to his biceps reminded him they had a witness to protect. That was his first duty.

      Not to mention that no one normally argued with Aiden Oaks, captain or otherwise.

      Moving Kenderly’s hand to his belt, he pointed at her shoes. “Take those off and run beside me. We both get on the driver’s side in the street. Take these.” He handed her the keys. “Unlock the door while I cover you. I’ll drive. You’re in the back. Unless something happens to me.”

      She nodded.

      “Go!” Oaks shouted and fired.

      Garrison jerked open the door, searching for any accomplices. No shots this direction. They were still on the side of the house. He touched Kenderly’s hand, then they moved across the porch. He kept as wide a view as possible, turning, scanning. Then he saw the Tenoreno assassin to his left.

      “Run. Hit the unlock button.”

      She did, the alarm sounded, then he heard door clicks. They got to the far side of the car before shots were fired, but it was the captain out the front door firing at their pursuer.

      Both men took cover in the yard. The keys were very steadily placed in his free palm, then Kenderly got inside and lay across the floor. Oaks had their backs covered. He started the engine and got out of there as fast as he could. He tossed his phone in the back.

      “Dial 911.”

      He turned a corner, hitting the brakes to slow the car to a below normal speed and then hearing an “ow” from Kenderly.

      “What are you doing?” she asked leaning close to his shoulder. “Oh, the cops.” She could see the flashing lights heading past them and skidding around the corner. “Still want me to call?”

      With no more flashing lights in sight, he sped up and headed for downtown Austin. “Not if we don’t have to. Oaks will be fine. No reason to give the cops my number.”

      “What now?”

      If they were being followed, more traffic would help them get lost. He drove the car as fast as he safely could.

      “That’s a very good question. I can contact Oaks in a couple of hours to find out what story he spun.” And hope that he has a plan.

      “Maybe they caught Isabella’s murderer.” She sounded a bit frightened.

      He couldn’t see her face in the rearview mirror. He couldn’t hold her hand, needing both of his on the wheel. She might be scared. She should be, and he had to tell her straight.

      “It’s more likely he’s right behind us.” Garrison searched all the mirrors again but couldn’t see anyone following. “You should put on a seat belt.”

      Again with the silence, but she did as he’d suggested. Just ten minutes ago she might have been white-knuckled at his kitchen table, but she’d been talking faster than he was driving. Ready to help with a statement and volunteering new information.

      Statements? Where had the video tech crew gone? They should have been there about the time the assassin showed. Another question for Oaks.

      “I guess we can’t call your captain to find out what happened. Didn’t he say his phone was busted?”

      “Yeah. They’ll try to take him to the hospital. Don’t know which one, though.” Oaks would be okay. He was their only shot at keeping this operation alive. They just had to hang on until he could contact them.

      “Are we going to just drive around until he calls us?”

      He shrugged. He hadn’t decided where to go. He didn’t know of any rangers who were a part of this undercover operation. And then there was the leak. Somehow the assassin had found them. Garrison couldn’t believe it was on his department’s side of things, but he’d been taught not to rule out any possibility until he had proof.

      “I don’t think anyone’s following, but I still have no clue how that guy found us.”

      He stopped at a red light and the back door opened. He was ready to yell and his hand was on the handle, but in the blink of an eye Kenderly sat next to him.

      “Or how he did it so quickly? Do we still need to record my statement and open the box? Do we wait until your office can do that? Or can you use your phone?”

      “We can’t wait. I should get hold of a digital recorder and do this thing right. That includes a reliable witness.”

      “I have a friend who has several cameras. He’s an amateur photographer. Don’t cameras have a record button now? Will that work?”

      “As long as it embeds date information, stuff like that. It’s definitely better than doing nothing. He’d have to be willing to testify that we opened the case in front of him.”

      She waved him off like he was being silly. “No problem. He lives a boring life like me. I bet he’s hanging out somewhere on Sixth Street. All we have to do is hit a couple of bars with good music, and we should find him.”

      “Sixth Street?” Clubbing on a Friday night on the busiest street in Austin was a fate worse than... Okay, not as bad as death. “Can’t we wait for him to go home?”

      “Sure. He lives across the breezeway from me,” she said flippantly, knowing exactly what his reaction would be.

      There was no way he was parking this car in Kenderly’s lot. Between Tenoreno’s men, the police and their assassin all searching for them...that wasn’t going to happen. And Kenderly knew it without him saying a word.

      “Looks like we’re bar crawling.”

      * * *

      “I KNOW I’M going to regret this, but I am super hungry.” Kenderly hated bar food. It was greasy, normally cold and completely overpriced, but she was totally starving.

      “This is the fourth place we’ve been inside. Do you think he went home?”

      “Can I order something?” She hated to beg, but she was getting close to being that desperate.

      “I’d rather find this guy and not hang around here too long.”

      The toast at Garrison’s house had only reminded her stomach that it was empty. “Fine.” She shoved her hair away from her face.

      The bar was crowded and hot. A huge neon sign flashed “Keep Austin Weird” against a mirror, making her want to shade her eyes.

      It was hard to breathe at armpit level. For people who were tall, they never had a problem finding each other in a crowd. For someone just over five feet two inches, it was terrible. The last thing she needed was to become light-headed, but that’s exactly how she felt.

      Shutting her eyes for a second brought the gory image of Isabella and Trinity. She covered her stomach with one hand and clutched her mouth with the other.

      “Are you turning green or is it the lights from the dance floor?” Garrison tried to pry her hand away, and she stopped him. “Okay, that’s you. Bathroom is...this direction.”

      Her hero excused himself with each gentle shove to part the crowd. He got her to the ladies’ room in record time, cutting straight across the dance floor. And he didn’t stop there. Making more excuses, he cut in front of everyone, then