Page 11 of Serve ’N’ Protect

Again, he looked in the rearview. None of the cars behind them appeared to be following. “You can get up now.”

Slowly, she did. He felt the heat of her stare like twin laser beams singeing matching holes in his flesh. “You weren’t delusional,” she said softly. “Somebody really is trying to kill you.”

“Yeah.” How the hell did they find him, and so quickly?

The night they’d whisked him from a D.C. hospital, his friends Kade and Matt, along with Captain McMurray, had taken every possible precaution.

He moved into the right lane, heading for Leonardtown. Could be there was a leak, but he could count on one hand the number of people who knew where he was. Aside from his friends and his captain, the only others were John Freeman…and Cassidy. The first four he trusted with his life. Based on the “five seconds” he’d known Cassidy Morgan, he didn’t see why she would have dimed out his location to anyone. Besides, she didn’t know who he was and even if she did, she wouldn’t know who was trying to kill him. Hell, even he didn’t know.

Markus braked for the stop sign at the end of the exit ramp. When their gazes met, the most foreign thought hit him like a baton to the side of his head. He didn’t understand where the feeling came from, let alone why now and under these circumstances.

It was crazy, but for the first time in his life, his gut told him to trust someone he barely knew.

Chapter Five

Cassidy’s pulse had slowed, some anyway. “Who are you, and why is someone trying to kill you?” Markus didn’t answer as he turned onto Route 4. “I have a right to know.” Again, no response, other than a muscle ticking away in a jaw so sculpted it could have been chiseled from marble. “Regardless of what John said, if you’re a wanted criminal you can pull over right there”—she pointed to the state police barracks coming up on their right—“and get out.”

“I’m not one of the bad guys.” He blew past the barracks. “Trust me on that. Okay?” He shot her a quick look before returning his obsidian eyes to the road.

What have I gotten myself into?

Other than the occasional snort or huff from Ghost, the rest of the drive passed in tense silence. If he refused to tell her what was going on, there was no point in asking one of the hundred or so questions pinging around inside her head. Finally, he turned onto their road, Chesapeake Bay Retriever Lane, named after Maryland’s state dog.

Cassidy choked down a laugh. Funny how she’d referred to it as “their” road when Markus didn’t really live there. Given the events of the day, she suspected his time here was limited. Very limited. If bullets were following him, that would be a good thing.

When he parked in her driveway, it was impossible not to notice the two hulking black SUVs already parked in his. Even with the sun sinking fast, the darkly tinted windows would have prevented her from seeing if anyone was inside. “Friends of yours?”

“Yeah.” Markus shut off the engine and started getting out.

Cassidy opened her door. The second her foot hit the pavement, she hissed in a breath. All that cloak-and-dagger action had done a number on her leg, especially the part where she’d been shoved none too gently into her little bug like she was a piece of meat.

She stared at the hole in the hood near the front bumper of her bug. Then again, that shove might very well have saved her life. Speaking of which…

Oh. My. God. Someone had been shooting at them. Actually shooting. A gun. With very real bullets!

With one hand on the roof of her car for support, Markus flipped over the driver’s seat, allowing Ghost to leap out. Poor thing. First, he’d been forced to sit in the car for going on three hours. Then, he, too, had nearly been shot at. The dog ran to a boxwood and lifted his leg. Hopefully, that meant he hadn’t done the same in her bug. She hadn’t smelled anything. Yet. Doggie urine took time to ripen.

Sweat glistened on Markus’s forehead, and he swiped it away with the palm of his hand. Without thinking, she went to him and slipped her arm around his waist. “Let’s get you inside and lying down before you pass out.”

“Thanks.”

As he’d done before, he draped his arm over her shoulder and allowed her to assist him across the strip of grass that ran between their houses. God, his arm was long. And heavy. Like a twenty-pound weight resting between her shoulder blades.

When Ghost was finished relieving himself, he bounded alongside them and trotted up the front porch steps. In the few hours they’d been gone, someone had made quick work of boarding up the broken window. Either Markus had called a contractor from the hospital, or whoever had come in those black SUVs had taken care of it. Maybe they wouldn’t mind sticking around to fix her loose railing before it broke off. Fat chance of that.

She helped him up the stairs to the door. Before either of them could reach for the knob, the door swung open.

A good-looking Black man of about fifty, with piercing brown eyes, a buzz cut, and built like a tank, stood on the threshold. Whoever he was, Markus didn’t seem surprised that he was inside the house—the house she’d been sure to leave locked. Meaning, this stern-faced dude had a key.

The older man eyed Markus from head to toe then looked over Markus’s shoulder onto the street. “Get inside,” he bellowed, glowering at Markus and shooting her an equally disapproving glare. The second they were over the threshold, the door slammed shut behind them. “Did anyone try to follow you?”

“No,” Markus said, breathing heavier now. A not unsubstantial amount of heat emanated from his big body into hers, telling her he might be feverish again.

“Help me get him to the sofa,” she said, wondering who else was in the house. There were two SUVs outside, so there had to be someone else skulking around.

Sourpuss, as she’d mentally dubbed him, took Markus’s other arm and draped it over his shoulder, helping her get him into the living room. Together, they lowered him to the sofa. Only then did she realize someone had removed the stepladder that had been there earlier.

Ghost jumped up next to Markus and settled with his head in Markus’s lap. When Cassidy straightened, she gasped.