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She ran ahead of him down a set of stairs and into a tunnel he could tell she knew like the back of her hand. No flashlight or torch was needed. Claire reached back to take his hand, keeping him close and guiding him through the tunnel. They came up to the garage, and he pushed her behind him, taking his gun from the holster at the small of his back.
“You fucked me while packing a loaded gun?” He turned to look at her, nodding, and she grinned. “Surprisingly hot.”
He shook his head, climbed the ladder up into the garage and looked around to make sure it was safe. Fletch beckoned her to his side and headed toward the SUV, which he noted had been backed in.
“Please tell me the keys are in there.”
“And I filled up the tank just outside of town.”
She was amazing. Most women he knew would be falling apart if they’d been shot at, but not Claire. Not only was she cool under pressure, but she almost looked like she was getting a kick out of it. Fletch knew he’d been developing a major thing for her—even thinking about a future with her—but he was beginning to believe it was so much more than that.
“I’m driving.”
“I figured. I was going to give you shit about it, but I figure in this kind of situation, you’re probably more experienced than me.”
“Ya think? The way you operate, I doubt anyone’s ever given chase, either by foot or by vehicle. Although I know of more than one dragnet that’s been put out to catch you.”
So, there it was, the proverbial elephant in the room.
“That’s not all that impressive. They didn’t know who to look for, only what.”
He put her in the car and ran around to get in on the driver’s side. Leaning over, he kissed her hard. “We’re going to have a long talk about that,” he said as he let her come up for air.
“That button,” she said indicating the top button on the left of a set of two domino-like buttons with each domino having a green button and a red one. “Unlocks the garage and starts the doors to open. If you hit them at speed, they’ll release and open up wide. This green button is for the front gate. It’ll do the same thing. The two red buttons close the doors and the gate. If you don’t press the button that unlocks them, you’re not going to get through. I was assured that unless someone had a tank, they were crash proof.”
“I can see we’ll need to make some major improvements to my place in Devon.”
“Beautiful farm you have. All that fresh sea air.”
Had she just seen pictures or had she been there? She really was full of surprises. He hadn’t thought to check her movements throughout the day, which he now understood had been foolish on his part.
Fletch hit the ignition switch and as the engine came to life, he hit the correct green button and floored it. He pressed between her shoulders forcing her to lean over.
“Stay down until I tell you otherwise.” He was a bit surprised when he removed his hand, and she stayed in place.
The SUV’s powerful motor sent the vehicle careening toward the doors, which, as Claire had told him, flew open the moment the bumper hit them. They’d caught the hit team unawares as it took them a moment to turn from the house and toward the SUV as he roared up Claire’s drive to the highway.
One of the men got a shot off and it shattered the back window. High-powered ammo, just what they didn’t need. He turned off the lights in the car to make them a harder target to hit. The night sky was overcast and there was no moon or stars to illuminate the road or fields. He could only barely make out the dirt road in front of him.
He glanced in the mirrors, which offered no help at all and chose to focus on the road ahead. She must have realized what he was thinking and turned the rearview mirror so she could use it to see behind them.
“I’ll let you know if I see anything.”
“Good girl.”
She reached forward and hit the second button, two small lights on the ends of the gates lit up and gave him a great target to aim at as he shot out onto the road.
“Turn right.”
“Greenwich and London are to the left.”
“And so are a lot of innocent people, some of whom are my friends. What’s the address of the safehouse. I assume we’re heading there?”
“We are.” He gave her the address and she pulled up the navigation system. “You have to be in park to enter an address.”
“Not if your best friend is an electronics geek and disabled that little safety feature. If Carter doesn’t know how to do it for you, I can ask Mia.”
“Don’t be a brat, and don’t set Carter and Mia against each other. I have a bad feeling we’re going to have to get them to work together.”
