The Bodyguard's Assignment Read online

  Gunshots. In the plural, her dazed mind finally absorbed. She and Brady were still being fired upon.

  Shouts erupted on the street, and the scene became chaotic as frightened onlookers dove for cover. Someone screamed in agony as a stray bullet found a mark. In the pandemonium of thrashing bodies, Brady drew Grace to her feet and all but flung her toward the side of the building.

  “Keep low,” he shouted as he shoved her roughly toward the alley between the two buildings. He flattened them both against the wall, and with his weapon drawn, he chanced a glance around the corner. A chunk of the building disintegrated over his head, and he grabbed Grace’s hand. “Run!”

  He didn’t have to tell her twice. Grace sprinted up the narrow alley beside him, her long legs pumping full throttle. She wasn’t trying to keep up with Brady this time. She was trying to outdistance him if she could. Bullets whizzing overhead could do that.

  It wasn’t until they’d reached the end of the alley and a padlocked gate barred their way that Grace realized she still clung to the metal briefcase. Brady took it from her hand and tossed it over the fence. Then he easily scaled the mesh, reaching a hand down to pull her up. Her sleeve caught on a wire, and she ripped it loose, scrambling over the fence to land on her feet on the other side.

  But Brady collapsed to the ground, clutching his knee and writhing on the ground in agony. “Run!” he gasped. “Keep going.”

  Sparks flew from the fence as a bullet skimmed the metal. Grace ducked, grabbing Brady’s arm. “Come on!”

  Flinging off her hand, he fired several rounds into the alley, the sound almost deafening. Grace recoiled, her ears ringing.

  “Get up!” she cried. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “Go,” Brady said. “I’ll catch up.”

  He fired again as another bullet flashed against the fence. Grace lunged for the briefcase. She wasn’t about to leave it behind. The money inside would help her and her mother leave the country. Or at least, it would tide them over until she could contact her father.

  She turned back to find Brady struggling to his feet. “I thought I told you to run.”

  “We’re wasting time talking about it.” As another round hummed overhead, she grabbed Brady’s hand. This time, it was Grace who took the lead.

  Chapter Three

  By the time they emerged back on the street, sirens wailed in the distance. Behind them, panicked shouts and frightened screams melded with the sirens, the cacophony triggering a battery of memories for Brady, none of them good.

  Putting away his gun so as not to frighten onlookers, he limped down the sidewalk next to Grace. He could feel her trembling, from fear more than cold, he was fairly certain, but she probably wouldn’t admit it. She’d always been a little too independent for her own good. And a lot too single-minded.

  He urged her across Market, using one of the horse-drawn carriages for cover. They moved steadily beside it, keeping the carriage between them and the street. Brady kept hold of Grace’s arm, timing their stride to match the gait of the horse. As they neared the parking area where he’d left his rented truck, he pulled Grace into the shadows, glancing over his shoulder. He couldn’t see anyone following them, but he knew the shooters were still out there somewhere. He and Grace had to get off the street and fast.

  “My truck’s just around the corner,” he said. “We need to get out of here.”

  She nodded, too out of breath to reply. If they could make it to the truck, Brady knew he could get them out of here. He hadn’t lived in Dallas for nearly five years, but this had once been his town. He knew the back streets and alleys as well as he was coming to know the West Texas terrain. He wasn’t sure which turf was more dangerous.

  They made a run for it, and after unlocking the truck, he and Grace scrambled inside. Brady started the engine, reversing from the parking space almost before the doors had slammed shut. Within moments, they were merging with traffic on Commerce.

  Grace was silent for a change. Brady thought maybe she’d finally accepted the situation—he wasn’t leaving here without her—but when the interstate loomed ahead, she sat up and looked around in alarm.

  “Pull over.”

  He shot her a glance. “I don’t think so.”

  “I mean it, Brady, pull over. Let me out.”

  “Are you crazy? Have you forgotten what just happened back there?”

  “We were both shot at. Innocent bystanders were hurt, maybe even killed.” Her pale blue eyes looked haunted in the light from the dash. “I haven’t forgotten. But I still want out.”

  “Don’t be an idiot—” When he slowed for a traffic light, Grace opened the door. He grabbed her at the last minute, hauling her back in as he swung the truck to the curb. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

  He shoved the gearshift into park as she struggled to free herself from his hold. “Damn it, Grace, calm down. What the hell’s the matter with you?”

  She looked almost frantic, like a trapped animal trying to get free. “Let me go! I have to get out of here. I can’t go with you. I can’t leave the city. You don’t understand…”

  Her voice trailed off, and she glanced away. Her struggles had ceased, but Brady could tell that she would still bolt at the slightest opportunity.

  “I understand better than you think. You’re willing to risk your life for the sake of a story.”

  Her eyes glittered, with anger or tears, Brady couldn’t tell which. But he assumed it was the former, because he’d never seen Grace cry. Not once.

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said almost desperately.

  “Oh, I know. I know better than anyone what you’re willing to do for a story.” When she tried to jerk free of his hold, his grip on her tightened. “These men are killers, and I’m not just talking about back there. They’re brutal and ruthless, and they think nothing of destroying lives. Do you remember the mass graves that were uncovered in Juarez last year? The college students who were mutilated in Matamoros ten years ago because they saw something they shouldn’t have? Men like Kane and Rialto did that, Grace, and they have to be stopped. You have the power to put them away, but you won’t because it would compromise your precious exclusive.”

  He let her go in disgust, but the moment she was set free, she reached for the door handle again. Brady’s hand shot out and closed around her wrist, pulling her toward him, and for an instant, their gazes clashed—blue against gray. Her lips trembled, drawing Brady’s attention, and a memory whipped through him. He knew the feel of those lips, the taste of them. What they could do to him.

  They’d once been so good together, he and Grace, but that had been a long time ago. Too much had gone wrong between them.

  But as if to test his resolve, Grace lifted her hand to stroke his cheek, and her lips parted ever so slightly. She moved toward him, slowly, and then her eyes widened in shock as she felt cold metal replace Brady’s hand on her right wrist. In one swift movement, he clipped the other cuff to the arm rest.

  Grace sat frozen in rage. “You son of a bitch,” she finally sputtered. “This is kidnapping.”

  “You think?”

  “You can’t do this.”

  “I just did.” He glanced in the rearview mirror, then put the truck in gear and pulled back onto the street. Beside him, Grace yanked at the cuffs, her movements frenzied. “Give it a rest,” he said gruffly. “You’ll hurt yourself.”

  “Like you care.”

  Her face had gone pale with anger, making the blue of her eyes stand out starkly in the dash lights. Physically, she hadn’t changed much, Brady thought. She still wore her brown hair long, letting it curl naturally over her shoulders. The wind had whipped it about, and the tangled strands reminded him of how she used to look waking up in the morning. All that hair spilling down her naked back.

  Her legs, still slender and shapely beneath her jeans, stirred even more memories. Grace’s legs had always been his downfall.

  He tore his ga
ze away from her and tried to concentrate on the road as he entered the on-ramp of the freeway. Grace didn’t utter another word until they were heading west on I–30, toward Fort Worth. She stared sullenly out her window. “Where are you taking me?”

  “I told you. Someplace safe.”

  “Would you care to be a little more specific?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Yes, it matters!” She turned in the seat to face him, her expression earnest and desperate, her blue eyes dark with fear. “I can’t leave Dallas, Brady. Please. Just take me back. I’ll be okay. I know how to take care of myself.”

  “You still don’t get it, do you?” He scowled at the road. “This isn’t about you anymore. It’s way beyond that. I was sent here to protect you until you can testify against Kane and possibly Rialto, and that’s exactly what I intend to do. With or without your cooperation.”

  She sat back against the seat, looking drained. “Who sent you? You’re not a cop anymore. What are you? FBI? DEA?”

  “Something like that.”

  “That’s what you’ve been doing for the last five years? And here I was thinking you’d turned into some kind of cowboy.”

  He spared her a brief glance. “I have.”

  She gave a short laugh. “Brady Morgan, a cowboy? I find that hard to imagine.”

  “A lot of things are hard to imagine,” he said bluntly. “For instance, after what happened five years ago, I find it hard to believe that you wouldn’t be as eager as I am to put Kane away for good. But then, justice was never particularly a concern of yours, was it, Grace?” He sensed her tension, and almost immediately regretted his harsh words. But sometimes the truth hurt.

  “You don’t know anything about me,” she said quietly. “Not anymore. People change in five years.”

  “Don’t kid yourself.”

  She gave a defeated shrug. “If you could turn yourself into a cowboy—you, a tough-guy cop who grew up on the streets—why can’t you believe I could be redeemed?”

  THEY’D LEFT Fort Worth sometime ago, heading in a southwesterly direction on I–30. Traffic thinned once they got out of the city, but a light rain began to fall, and the way the temperature was dropping, Brady was afraid the highway would soon become a mess.

  He glanced at Grace. She’d fallen asleep a few minutes earlier, overcome with exhaustion, he suspected. She probably hadn’t slept for two days.

  He’d been pondering her question for the last several miles, and he thought he knew the answer. Why didn’t he believe that she could be redeemed? Simple. Because actions spoke louder than words.

  If she truly had changed, she wouldn’t think twice about turning over that tape to the police, about giving testimony that would put a ruthless drug dealer behind bars. But she wasn’t willing to do that, and so Brady’s conclusion was the obvious one. She was still the same conniving reporter she’d been five years ago. She was still willing to sell her soul for the sake of a story.

  He’d been well rid of her for the last five years, he thought grimly. Now, if he could just survive the next five days with her.…

  GRACE HAD no idea how long she’d been dozing, but she would awaken sporadically, shivering with cold. She was finally warm now, almost cozy, and she snuggled deeper into the folds of the blanket.

  Not a blanket, she realized groggily. Brady’s coat. He’d taken it off and placed it over her, and she wanted to savor that act of kindness. Wanted to believe that he was coming around, but she knew it was wishful thinking. He thought she was refusing to testify because she was holding out for a story. She might have done that once, but not now. She did remember Juarez. She did remember Matamoros. But most of all, she remembered Dallas, five years ago. She wanted to do the right thing, but her mother’s life was at stake. Grace could do nothing to jeopardize her mother’s safety, not even confide in Brady.

  Maybe he could help her, and maybe he couldn’t, but what he would most likely do was notify the authorities, whoever he worked for. And then Kane would know she’d talked, and Angeline would be killed. Maybe that would happen, and maybe it wouldn’t. But Grace wasn’t willing to take any chances, especially since she had no idea who Brady worked for. What she had to do now was get back to Dallas. Anyway possible.

  She studied Brady’s profile through slitted eyes as she pretended to sleep. A cowboy. Who would have thought it?

  His coat smelled of mountain air and wood smoke, and Grace, city-born and raised, was surprised to find that the scent stirred something primal and feminine inside her. She pulled the coat more tightly around her.

  He’d removed his hat, too, and she saw that he still wore his hair short, just long enough for a woman’s fingers. His jeans were the kind that rode low on his lean waist and fit deceptively snug over long, muscular legs.

  When Grace had known Brady five years ago, he’d driven a sports car, in keeping with his undercover image, but he looked at home behind the wheel of the truck. She could suddenly picture him on horseback, looking rugged and sexy. Fiercely masculine.

  A cowboy, she thought in wonder. Who would have thought it?

  Chapter Four

  Brady exited the freeway for gas. When he pulled into the lighted station, Grace sat up and looked around.

  “Where are we?”

  “Abilene.”

  Her gaze looked stricken. “That’s over a hundred and fifty miles from Dallas. Where on earth are you taking me?”

  “Don’t worry about it.” He opened the truck door, and a blast of frigid air filled the cab. “You may as well relax. We’ve still got a long way to go.”

  Grace handed him his coat. “Here, you’ll need this. It’s freezing outside.”

  He hesitated, then took the coat, slipping it on as he stepped outside. At the last moment, he glanced back in the truck. “We can get something to eat while we’re here. You hungry?”

  “Not really.” She rattled the handcuffs. “Any chance I could get a potty break?”

  Brady hesitated again. He didn’t trust her, not for a second, and his instincts warned him to wait until he’d finished pumping the gas so that he could go into the store with her. But she looked almost pained, and besides, the sooner they could get back on the road, the better he’d feel. Getting out of Dallas had been just a little too easy.

  He fished in his jeans pocket for the key, then leaned over and unfastened the cuffs. Grace massaged her wrist as she gave him a wounded look. “I’m not a criminal, you know. You don’t have to treat me as if I’m one of your prisoners.”

  “Then don’t give me cause to.”

  He watched her enter the well-lighted convenience store as he fitted the nozzle into the gas tank. They’d been on the road for nearly three hours, not making very good time. The road conditions were slowing them down. Although he’d seen no indication that they were being followed, he knew Kane and he knew Rialto. Neither man would go down without a fight, and that little shoot-out back in Dallas was just the beginning. They wouldn’t let Grace slip away so easily, and Brady wouldn’t be at all surprised if Kane’s men, maybe even Kane himself, were somewhere on the road behind them.

  But there were a lot of ways to leave Dallas, and Kane couldn’t have had all the roads watched. It could be that their luck would hold, Brady thought, as he studied the street. It could be that he and Grace would make it to the cabin in the Davis Mountains without further incident.

  But he wasn’t about to count on it.

  THE CONVENIENCE STORE had a sign in the window which proclaimed proudly: Abilene—Where The West Begins. Somehow the slogan deepened Grace’s urgency. They were getting farther and farther from Dallas, from her mother, and from the tape that could save her mother’s life.

  Shoving open the door, Grace walked inside. The store was warm and inviting, with well-stocked shelves of canned food and staples at exorbitant prices. At the end of the counter, a large, plastic cow commemorated the cattle drives that once ended in Abilene.

  As Grace made her way to t
he rest-room area, she resisted the urge to glance over her shoulder to see if Brady was watching her. She knew he was. Watching her like a hawk because he didn’t trust her. She could hardly blame him, but to handcuff her like a common criminal. To take her out of Dallas against her will.

  Grace realized her anger had more to do with fear for her mother’s safety than for what Brady had done. He was trying to save her life, and considering how she’d betrayed him in the past, his actions might even be considered noble. Right now, though, all Grace could think about was getting away from him. Abilene was a fairly large town. There’d be a bus station here, an airport. She could be back in Dallas in a matter of hours.

  Inside the bathroom, she took her cell phone from her jacket pocket and checked the battery. She still had a full charge, but it wouldn’t last long. She checked her voice mail. Burt had been trying to reach her, but that was it. No number or message from Kane.

  What if he wouldn’t leave a message? With the phone turned off, Grace would have no way to know he’d called, but what else could she do? Even if she kept the phone turned on, Brady would never allow her to answer it. Better to conserve the battery because her phone might later be her only hope of escape.

  Going back out to the store, Grace stayed at the end of the long counter, letting the plastic cow hide her as she glanced outside. Brady was still standing beside the truck, his gaze scouring the street as he filled the gas tank. If she was going to make a break for it, it would have to be now.

  “Excuse me,” she said to the clerk behind the counter.

  The woman was middle-aged, with droopy eyes and a wary expression. “What can I do for you, hon?” A badly chipped front tooth made her lisp slightly.

  “This is probably going to sound strange,” Grace said nervously, “but is there a back door I could use? I…need to get away from here.”

  She had the woman’s full attention now. Leaving her post by the cash register, she walked over to Grace. “You in some kind of trouble, hon?”