Hard Target. Barb Han

fact, she’d like to be able to forget it altogether. But both of their lives were in danger now, and he deserved to know the risk he was taking. “There was a man back in Mexico. They called him Dueño. He promised to...”

      Saying the words out loud proved harder than she expected. Tears pricked the backs of her eyes.

      Gray clouds rolled in from the coast as the winds picked up speed.

      The agent sat quietly, hands resting on the steering wheel, giving her the space she needed to find the courage to tell him the rest.

      “To find me no matter what. I know he has law enforcement on his payroll. I overheard them talking about it.”

      Agent Campbell started the ignition, and eased the Jeep into traffic. “They give any names?”

      His rich timbre was laced with anger. She could imagine how an honest man like him would take it personally if one of his own was on the take. “No. All I knew was that once I got away from him, I had to disappear. I couldn’t trust law enforcement or anyone else. That’s why I can’t let you take me in. I’m begging you to let me go.”

      Thunder rumbled in the distance.

      “Hate to believe agents are on the take.” He looked to be searching his memory as he narrowed his gaze onto the stretch of road in front of them. He muttered a string of curse words. “There have been a few articles in the paper hinting at the possibility. The department issued a warning. We’d picked up a few bad eggs during a hiring surge, but we’ve been assured they were weeded out.”

      “You take me in and he’ll get to me. He has people on the inside. I can identify him and testify. They’ll kill me.”

      “Slow down. I’m not going to let that happen. We can figure this out.”

      “They won’t stop until they find me.”

      “Which is why it’s a bad idea for me to let you go. At least while you’re with me, I can protect you.”

      “Can’t you tell your department you let me go?”

      “Why would I do that?”

      “Because you have to. I know what they wanted when they targeted me. There’s a fortune on the line.”

      “Hold on a sec. You led me to believe this was random,” he said. His eyes flashed anger.

      “I’m sorry. I lied. I wasn’t sure if I could trust you before.” She had to now.

      His grip on the steering wheel tightened. His gaze intensified. “What else?”

      “They wanted my passwords. I work at a computer company. We keep account information secure for big banking institutions. I’m sure they planned on moving money.”

      “Cybercrime can be harder to track if they know what they’re doing. Why didn’t you just give them the passwords and save yourself?”

      She deadpanned him. “I figured they’d kill me either way. Even so, I couldn’t give them passwords if I’d wanted to. I always change them before I leave for vacation. I didn’t have my new ones memorized.”

      “He beat you because he didn’t believe you.”

      “Not for a second.”

      “I’m assuming you have your codes written down somewhere?”

      She nodded. A thought struck her. “What if they get to my place and find them? I’m sure they knew where I lived.”

      Agent Campbell’s cell buzzed again. He put on his turn signal, moved into the left turn lane and then shot a glance at her before answering. He turned on his hazard lights, even though there were no cars coming.

      Thunder rumbled louder. A storm was coming.

      “Yes, sir, I heard from the agent.”

      There was a long pause.

      “No, I didn’t turn over the witness. I can run her in to make a statement.”

      Emily slipped her hand as close to the seat belt release button as she could without drawing attention. Her pulse kicked up a notch.

      A light rain started, nothing more than a spring shower. The glorious liquid spotted the windshield.

      She had enough sustenance in her to manage a good sprint. Would it be enough to get away? Her feet still ached and her head pounded. A good night of sleep, some medicine, and she’d recover. But would her body give her what she needed to get away now?

      Possibilities clicked through her mind.

      If she made a run for it, could she disappear in the neighboring subdivision? Maybe hide in a parked car?

      The capable agent in the seat next to her would catch her. His muscled thighs said he could outrun her if he needed to. One look at the ripple of muscles underneath his shirtsleeve said he was much stronger than she.

      Might be a risk she’d have to take.

      Stay there and she’d be dead in an hour if he followed through with his plans to take her to Homeland Security. One of the men in Dueño’s pocket would alert him to her whereabouts, and they’d be ready for her when she walked outside.

      The best chance she had would be to make a move right now while Agent Campbell was distracted by his phone call. If she were smart, she’d unbuckle and run like hell.

      “I didn’t say she was a suspect, sir.”

      Her heart jackhammered in her chest. Should she bolt?

      * * *

      REED GLANCED OVER at Emily. Her back was stiff, her breathing rapid and shallow. He covered her hand with his, and she relaxed a little. A smile quirked the corner of his lip.

      “I can take this one, sir. Not a problem.”

      Confident he’d convinced his boss, Reed ended the call. A rogue agent was a dangerous thing. Reed could personally attest to that.

      This one had involved his boss, who was being played. The agent who’d tried to get his hands on Emily wouldn’t be allowed to have his way.

      “Your boss wanted you to hand me over to someone else, didn’t he?”

      Reed nodded.

      “Could going against your boss cost your job?”

      He wasn’t sure why he chuckled. “Yeah.”

      “You’re willing to take that risk to help me?”

      “It’s my duty.” “Honor First” was more than words on a page to Reed.

      Emily leaned against the seat and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Then, what do we do next?”

      “Good question.”

      Reed checked the rearview and saw a truck screaming toward them.

      He banked a U-turn in time to see a metal shotgun barrel aimed at them.

      Emily must’ve seen it, too, because she yelped.

      “Get down on the floorboard. Now.”

      A boom split the air.

      Reed gunned the gas pedal, made a U-turn and then hooked a right, blazing through the empty parking lot. For a split second, time warped and the memory of being shot and left for dead blitzed him.

      A walk down Memory Lane would have to wait. He battled against the heavy thoughts, blocking them out. If he lived, correction, when he got them out of this mess, he’d deal with those. Yeah, right, like that’s going to happen.

      The reality was that he’d had plenty of time since returning to work to rationalize his feelings. Doing that ranked about as high on his list as shoveling cow manure out of the barn at Gran’s place. He took that back. Shoveling cow manure was far more appealing.

      Reed glanced