Free Saving Grace (Serve and Protect Series) by Norah Wilson Page B

could reach us almost anywhere, if they want to bad enough.”
    She’d thought she’d reached the limits of fear when the gunman opened fire from the school’s rooftop, but Ray’s words showed her otherwise. They flooded her nervous system with new dread, leaving an acrid taste it in her mouth.
    With sudden clarity, she knew she’d felt this way once before. Desperately, she grasped at the wisp of memory, but it was gone before she could trap it.
    “What kind of people are they, Ray?”
    “Connected people.”
    “The mob? Here in New Brunswick?”
    “Organized crime is everywhere, and Canada is fast becoming a prime location. Borders are porous, manpower’s stretched thin, and our banking laws are laxer than American laws.”
    Another silence. Grace turned to watch a man in a suit cross the parking lot, throw his bags in the trunk of his Saab and drive away. She turned back to Ray.
    “We can’t go home, can we?”
    Something of her desolation must have shown on her face, because his mouth softened.
    “I like our chances better if we stay on the move.”
    Grace digested that. “Is that why we’re here, to ditch the car in a parking lot that never empties?”
    “That’s right. With any luck, they won’t find it for a few days, or even weeks.”
    Weeks . “And now we beg, borrow or steal another vehicle and slip out of town?”
    “Bingo.” Ray flipped the glove compartment open and dug around inside, extracting a flashlight, some maps and a first aid kit. “Though borrowing is out. We don’t wanna lead men with guns to anyone’s doorstep. And we don’t have to steal. Not as long as we have this.”
    He lifted the shaving kit from the floor and dropped it on his lap with the other stuff he’d dug out of the glove box.
    The money! For the first time, Grace was grateful for the tremendous wad of bills. They could pay their way without leaving a credit card trail.
    Of course, if it weren’t for the damned money, they wouldn’t be in this fix.
    “So, what now? Do we rent a car?”
    “Buy one. To rent, we’d have to produce ID, credit cards, that kind of stuff. So we’ll buy a clunker. Something cheap but mechanically sound enough to get us around.”
    She frowned. “Won’t you have to register it, insure it and all that stuff before you drive it off the lot?”
    “With the right incentive, on top of no arguments on the grossly inflated sticker price, I expect a used-car dealer could be persuaded to delay the paperwork a while.”
    Grace blinked thoughtfully. “Half of this incentive now, half later, to make sure he doesn’t change his mind?”
    “Yep.”
    “And in the meantime, it’ll look dealer-owned. We’re just test-driving a used car.”
    “You’re pretty good at this,” he said. “Seems like your talents were wasted at that paper.”
    His praise caught her off guard. She ducked her head and laughed. “Yeah, well, that’s what I’ve been telling them for years, but nobody’s been listening.”
    Grace started as he put two fingers under her chin and tipped her head up to meet his gaze. His eyes were soft and liquid enough to drown in.
    “Well, maybe you’ll get a story out of this, hmmm?”
    Don’t , she thought. Don’t touch me. It hurts too much when you stop. Which you’ll do in about a millisecond when you remember what I did.
    Keeping her face carefully blank, she said, “Story? I’ll be happy if we can just get out of this without getting shot at again.”
    He pulled back, his eyes hardening. “You’re right. It’s time to move.”
    He climbed out of the car and she followed suit, grabbing her purse. From the back seat, he retrieved his gym bag. Removing his racquetball gear, he replaced it with the money, the things he’d scavenged from the glove box, and an emergency road kit from the back of the truck.
    “Got a pen in your purse and something to write on?”
    Grace dredged up a smile. “You might catch me without a lipstick or coffee money, but you’d never