Free Walk the Right Road: The Complete Series by Lorhainne Eckhart Page B

her forward, one step from a jog. Her sandals flopped on the tile floor down the narrow corridor as she struggled to keep up.
    “Sam, what’s going on? What was that about drugs in your locker? I knew you were a cop, but I didn’t know… Hey, wait a second. Why’d he imply you were following me? Sam, slow down.” This was all wrong. Sam wasn’t supposed to be in trouble. It was her—all her. And that awful man, Dev, was trying to turn all this on Sam. “Sam, what’s going on? Why won’t you answer me?”
    Sam pushed open the security door, taking them into the main terminal. “Marcie, we need to get out of here now. Don’t say anything else until we’re in the car.”
    She caught a glimpse of his hard jaw. He looked around, maybe not conspicuously, but he watched for someone or something as he rushed her along. This wasn’t good.
    They were almost at the exit when two uniformed officers marched through the busy sliding glass door. Sam steered her into a crowded tour group and squeezed out the bank of doors a few yards away. Another NOPD car pulled to the curb behind a line of cabs. Sam propelled her into a lineup of travelers waiting for cabs and then crossed over to the parking garage.
    “Keep walking. Don’t look around,” Sam said. Marcie clutched his arm with both hands before she tripped while trying to keep up. He hurried her to the passenger side of his Camaro, opened the door, and pushed her in. “Put on your seatbelt.”
    Her hand trembled while she buckled up. Sam yanked open his heavy door and gunned the engine before his door had closed, backing out so fast that Marcie jolted in her seat. The tires squealed when Sam shifted gears. The speed with which he accelerated pinned Marcie back against the soft leather. She gripped the hard vinyl dashboard and stared through the thick windshield. Sam weaved in and around slower vehicles.
    “Sam, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?” And she was scared. It wasn’t just the questions surrounding what Marcie carried. Speculation about Sam’s own character and his link to drugs had been dumped right in the middle of this. A dirty cop . Wasn’t that what Dev had implied? This wasn’t reasonable, and only now did the implication sink in. His cheek twitched. He held his emotions so tight. His furious glance sliced a hole in her heart. Was she supposed to know the answer?
    “Sam, spill it. What’s going on? What did Dev say about drugs in your locker, and why did we have to leave so fast?”
    He focused on the road, continuing to swerve in and out of traffic. “Let’s start with one of your answers, darling. I suspect the police are interested in talking to you. And two, just so we’re clear, sweetheart, for some reason, I think you may be right. You’re involved in something. The guy on the video expected you, and I suspect the plan changed and you weren’t consulted. My guess, whatever you stashed in your backpack, these guys knew about it and were waiting. If it was drugs or other contraband, how the hell did you get it past security? And three, I’d bet my last dollar you’re a mule, darling. Just so we’re clear, I’m no drug dealer. Those drugs were planted in my locker. How Dev even found out about that…” He yanked the wheel so hard that Marcie’s shoulder bumped the door. Sam cut off a minivan, and the driver responded by blasting his horn.
    Sam’s lips thinned. He was furious. “I was set up. But you weren’t, and I sure as hell wasn’t following you for your backpack.”
    “I believe you. So why’d Dev imply you were somehow involved with trafficking marijuana? He didn’t come right out and say the words, Sam, but just the same, he suggested you’re a dirty cop.” She could see she had struck a nerve by the way his hard eyes fired back at her. “Don’t get mad at me. I’m just trying to find out what’s going on.”
    Sam shut down. His face could’ve been made of stone, for all the emotion it showed. She may have