Free No One to Trust by Katie Reus Page B

pulled through the intersection.
None of this was her fault. “You didn’t do anything—”
    The sound of screeching tires alerted him a
split second before a Bronco clipped the front of his vehicle,
sending them into a tailspin. His neck and shoulders tensed as he
gripped the steering wheel for control. “Just perfect,” he muttered
under his breath as he started to straighten them out.
    While he slowed and righted the SUV, sudden
sharp bursts of gunfire hailed around them. It sounded like hail
crashing down as rounds sprayed the bullet resistant windows. The
fist around his heart tightened as reality crashed over him. They
were under a full attack.
    Elizabeth screamed and ducked down in her
seat, sending the contents of her clutch purse scattering
everywhere.
    “Hang on,” he muttered, willing himself to
stay calm. If the SUV wasn’t armored, he’d be more worried.
    Gripping the wheel, he managed to keep moving
forward and stay focused on their surroundings. Getting boxed in
right now was not an option. Cars and trucks honked from all
directions. Even though they had a security team following them he
wasn’t worried about staying with them. His only priority was
getting Elizabeth out of there.
    He floored the gas pedal and shot through a
red light. Elizabeth was gripping the door handle with one hand and
the center console with the other as she crouched lower, but she
was otherwise unharmed.
    “Can you reach your cell phone?” he asked,
his heart in his throat. Elizabeth should never have been placed in
a situation like this and he hated the fear he saw on her face.
    She bent down to where it had fallen to the
floor and grabbed it. “Who do you want me to call?”
    “No one. Take out your SIM card and
battery.”
    She looked confused but popped the back of
the phone off. He glanced in the rearview mirror again. He doubted
anyone had planted a tracking device on his vehicle or even her
phone but he didn’t have time to check. And he wasn’t taking any
chances. She’d been at Orlando’s house long enough for one of his
men to have planted something on her so he’d rather be paranoid
than dead.
    When she’d done as he asked, he rolled down
her window a scant few inches. “Keep the SIM card, throw out
everything else.”
    She hesitated for a millisecond, but did as
he asked.
    He took an abrupt turn, earning a quick yelp
from Elizabeth. At least she wasn’t the crying, screaming type. Thank God. He couldn’t handle that right now and it would
just be harder on her if she lost control. So far she seemed to be
handling things okay but after the day she’d had, he just hoped she
wasn’t going into shock.
    “Where are we going?” Her quiet voice tugged
at his heart, making him want to head to Orlando’s and put the guy
out of his misery.
    “I’ll keep you safe. I promise.” It was all
he could offer. Right now he wasn’t sure where he was taking her.
Red Stone had a few safe houses located around Miami for emergency
situations but he wasn’t going to take her to any of them on the
chance that Orlando knew about them. It was unlikely, but with
Elizabeth’s life at stake, there was no room for error.
    He steered them down a few side-streets and
deeper into the heart of Miami. Bright blue, green and various
tropical colored houses flew by them. As he took another turn, his
death grip on the steering wheel lessened. There wasn’t anyone
following them that he could see. Even his security team wasn’t
visible. One of the guys had tried radioing him but he’d snapped it
off. It wasn’t far-fetched that one of Orlando’s men could be
listening in on the right frequency.
    Porter slowed and turned down a dead end
street. It was lined with old, one-story Florida homes that
displayed awnings and jalousie windows. Everything was so damn
quiet and peaceful it was hard to believe they’d just been under
fire minutes before.
    “What are we going to do?” Elizabeth’s voice
shook.
    “We’ve got to ditch