Page 24 of Peace Under Fire

He almost asked how she knew they were after her, but it didn’t matter. Her sudden appearance worked to his advantage. He needed to talk to her. Here was his opportunity. It didn’t matter why he was being followed—although he’d reserve judgement on that until he saw it with his own eyes.

“They’re parked at the back of the front parking lot, between the entrance and exit,” she volunteered.

That tracked. What she’d described was the position he’d choose.

“What does their vehicle look like?” he asked, struggling to focus past the pounding in his head.

“It’s silver. A four-door Honda Accord.”

Which were a dime a dozen and would blend in with the other cars on the road. The kind of car a professional would use so their presence wouldn’t stand out. Yeah, he was inclined to believe her. Or at least take precautions in case he had picked up a tail.

A door opened down the hall and a short, blonde woman in powder blue scrubs stepped into the hall. Radiology staff attire. But that didn’t mean someone wasn’t staged somewhere in the clinic to keep an eye on him. He relaxed as the woman turned and walked away from them.

They needed to get the out of here. But not through the front entrance. While the rear exit could be under surveillance too, it was unlikely with his truck parked out front and only two people following. Of course, that still left them with the problem of reaching his truck undetected. And his weapons were in his truck. If he made a run for his vehicle, and swung around to pick her up, that left her alone and vulnerable in the clinic. If they both ran for his truck, and there was a pair of men out there, they were likely armed and would take him out and grab her long before he could get to his own weapons.

The odds were against them.

“How did you get here anyway?” he asked. If she’d taken a cab, it could still be waiting for her.

“I drove,” she said.

She had? That surprised the hell out of him. She’d taken a bus or cab whenever she’d left the condo complex. Hell, he didn’t even know she could drive.

“We’ll take your car.” She’d arrived without drawing attention, and the men watching him wouldn’t expect him to swap cars. They might just have a chance to escape this damn place. “Where are you parked?”

“In the back parking lot, as close to the rear entrance as I could get.” She hesitated before shrugging. “I didn’t see anyone back there. And if there was someone back there, I’d think they’d have come after me by now.”

True. Besides, the back entrance and her car were the best options available. Once they were clear of the clinic, he’d contact Tex about rounding up some backup and a couple of weapons.

He winced as a sharp pain stabbed his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” she asked without that earlier sharpness. She sounded worried now. Sympathetic.

“Nothing,” he growled, preferring her earlier sharpness to this pity party. “We’ll take the stairs,” he told her. The elevator dropped its load in the lobby, close to the clinic entrance. With the lobby’s glass windows and doors, someone could easily keep tabs on the elevator with a pair of binoculars.

She nodded. “That’s how I got up here.”

The stairs were at the end of the hall, a good thirty feet past the elevator alcove. Squish stepped back, and gestured Mandy to take the lead. As she passed him, the smell of body odor got stronger.

It was the damndest thing. Even as rumpled and tense and smelly as she was, she still managed to stiffen his cock. What the was that about? He’d never found dirty clothes and unwashed skin sexy before.

It was three long flights of stairs down to the ground floor. Three long, painful flights of stairs. And not because of his head. Oh, no. Or at least not his thinking head. If he’d realized how the faint jiggle of Mandy’s ass as she descended the staircase would excite his cock and tighten his balls, he’d have insisted on going first. How the horny ol’ bastard between his legs could get all stiff and throbby in the midst of a migraine…

He scoffed beneath his breath—the damn thing had no sense of timing.

By the time they descended the staircase and entered the corridor to the left, it was a toss-up what ached more—his genitals or his head?

The corridor emptied into a small foyer ringed by windows and glass doors. Wheelchairs lined the walls. The exit was much smaller than the front entrance, but still full of glass. They’d be visible long before they stepped through the sliding doors.

“Hold up.” Squish increased his stride and drew even with her. Catching her hand, he drew her to a halt.

A hot prickle raced up his fingers and into his arm from the contact. The strange tingle was so startling he let go of her and took a step back.

Mandy stopped so suddenly her sunglasses slid down her face. She barely caught them before they hit the floor.

“What’s wrong?” she asked as she shoved the glasses back into place, but not before he’d seen the dark circles beneath her eyes.

“I need to scope out the parking lot,” he said, trying for a soothing tone.

---