Page 14 of Laura's Truth
“That makes no sense.” She grunted when he made a hard left and she slammed against the door. “I don’t have any enemies. No one knows me here. No one knew I was coming here.”
“Bull. I know who you are, Talbot. I’ve accessed your personnel file. I knew it was possible, being this close to Carpenter, that either of you might come poking around.”
“Impossible.”
“The Army would like you to think so.” He scanned the road, searching for the right diversion to lose the trail of flashing lights and sirens. He pulled around a slowing panel truck and did an illegal U-turn. “But we both know better.” When he was behind the state troopers on their tail, he pulled another left and eased into the delivery area behind a strip mall.
“What are you doing?”
“There’s no real cover out here and we need an escape route.”
“You’re paranoid. I can make this go away.”
“Next time I might let you try. This is just too coincidental for my comfort. Are you going to help here, or just let us get caught?”
“I’ve offered to talk it out. What more do you want from me?”
“Right now, I want directions. Options. Use the phone and find some place safe away from misinformed law enforcement and the assassins that are surely using them.”
Chapter 3
“Paranoid,” she repeated. “Take that exit, head into the residential area.”
“Wow.”
“What?”
“I didn’t think you’d be willing to steal a car.”
“I’m not,” she snapped. “When you get to the end of this street, make a left. We can head back to the Air Force base.
“No way. That’s suicide.”
She bit back the anger and frustration. Neither would help. She was in the car with a man who could be charged with several crimes—from more than one government agency, as well as the Army. “Do you want me to get us out of this or not?” There had to be a way out of this.
“Not if it means handcuffs and a jail cell for me.” He kept right on driving, doing at least ten miles over the posted limit on the neighborhood streets.
“If you’re so sure they want me, just let me out.” They were in serious trouble and she needed something from him. Something helpful. Any decent clue to his purpose so she could call in the right sort of assistance.
“I already told you, I need you alive.”
“State troopers aren’t going to kill me. And if anyone else is involved, I’m capable of taking care of myself.”
The derisive snort made his opinion on that clear. “You would’ve died in the churchyard without me. You nearly became a sad statistic at the airport.”
“Bull.” The man was a trial to her pride. Neither assessment was accurate. She wished now she’d handled things differently from the moment she’d spotted him in the market. No, from the moment she’d gotten the call from Ross.
“According to the official record,” he paused at the end of the street, gunning the engine to bolt through a nearly-red light, “I’m already on the hook for three dead soldiers. I didn’t do that and I won’t let them add you to the body count they’ve conveniently blamed on me.”
She didn’t believe him. All of the evidence pointed to his guilt in that incident. He’d helped her today, but her every instinct told her he had his own agenda, his own reasons for doing so. “You won’t get away with any of this.” If she could get him talking, Ross’s team would have time to investigate and together, they’d find a safe way out of this. A way that ended with Garner behind bars, serving out an appropriate sentence for his greed and misdeeds.
“Laura, I’ve survived for years undetected. That’s a pretty solid resume.”
The way he said her name had the hair rising on the back of her neck. “You’re wrong.” She cleared her throat. “Until now, the people with the best resources weren’t looking for you.”
“Being the not-so-dead man on the run, I respectfully disagree.”
“Whatever.” She pulled her gun from her ankle holster. “Start talking or I will make you stop so we can have a custody fight over who hauls you in.”