Free Lethal Consequences by Elisabeth Naughton Page A

home free. Olivia slinked along behind him, careful to stay in the shadows as much as possible. Palms rustled in the warm breeze, and the scent of some kind of fruit wafted on the air.
    She tried to figure out what it was. Couldn’t. Landon wrapped an arm around her and hauled her close to him, and she stifled a yelp and fought to keep her footing.
    “There. Do you see that?” he whispered close to her ear.
    Olivia’s head felt like it was in a fog. She didn’t like being held so tightly or so closely. Especially not when her brain wasn’t working right. Not wanting to create a scene, though, she held still, peering through the darkness toward whatever it was he was looking at.
    The walls of the courtyard opened up to a vineyard, which spread out below them down a hill, the vines separated here and there by tall oak trees. She’d seen vineyards from the air when she’d flown into Barcelona, which meant they could still be in Spain. But they could just as easily be in France or even Italy at this point. The warm breeze told her they were still somewhere in the Mediterranean, but that didn’t mean much considering she knew virtually nothing about this part of the world.
    Her gaze scanned the horizon. She still couldn’t see what he was looking at. He held up a hand and pointed, and that’s when she spotted it. A utility vehicle. A cross between an ATV and a golf cart. Parked midway down the vineyard on a dirt access road.
    “What about keys?” she whispered.
    “There will be keys, don’t worry,” Landon whispered back. “We’re on a farm in the middle of nowhere. They’re not going to expect someone to steal it. You’ll be fine.”
    “Me?”
    “You can do it. Listen carefully. Wait for my signal, then head west.”
    “Which way is west?”
    He pointed right.
    Panic snaked its way through her chest. “Where will you be?”
    “Creating a diversion so you can get away.”
    Olivia didn’t like the sound of that. “Landon—”
    “Find a phone in one of the nearby villages and call your sister. Aegis will figure out a way to pick you up. And stay the hell out of sight. They’ll be looking for you.”
    They. She didn’t even know who they were.
    But before she could ask, reality slammed into her. He wasn’t coming with her. “Wait a minute. What are you—?”
    He turned her to face him, and his hands found her face, tipping her eyes up to meet his. Moonlight spilled over his rugged features, highlighting the crook in his nose, the jagged scar along the left side of his face, and the thinner scar near his jaw. “I’m sorry I got you into this. I’m sorry . . .” Regret reflected in his eyes. “Yeah, I’m sorry for a lot of shit, but mostly that. Drive hard and drive fast, and watch where you’re going because you can’t use headlights.”
    “Landon—”
    He let go of her, pushed away before she was ready to be released, and reached for the gun from his pocket. “Go now. And stay low.”
    Things were happening so fast, Olivia couldn’t process. “But how . . . ? You . . . How will I know what kind of signal?”
    “You’ll know it when you hear it.” He moved behind a potted olive tree. “Go now, Olivia.”
    Something in her chest pinched. Something that stole her breath. As she watched him slink away in the shadows, she had this terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach that she’d never see him again.
    She should be happy about that. She should be relieved. After everything he’d put her through the last few hours and everything she’d seen, he was the last person she should want anywhere near her. But she didn’t feel that way. No, the Landon Miller that Chantal woman had described, the one she’d claimed was an assassin, wasn’t this man. Not this one who was sacrificing himself to save her. A nobody schoolteacher from Nowhere, America.
    He disappeared into the darkness of the courtyard, and when she could no longer see him, Olivia turned back to peer out at the sleeping