Free Hot on Her Heels by Susan Mallery Page A

for a debt that could never be repaid?

CHAPTER FIVE
    D ANA SPENT ANOTHER NIGHT doing more tossing than sleeping. Shortly after five, she gave up the pretense and got in the shower. Twenty minutes later, she’d driven to Garth’s condo, mostly to pass the time. She had to follow him to work, anyway. Maybe a couple of quiet hours in her car would relax her.
    She parked where she could see the exit from the underground parking garage, tuned into her favorite talk radio and leaned back in her seat. She’d just gotten comfortable and was talking back to the radio host when a familiar BMW pulled out of the garage. A BMW that Garth had only purchased a couple of weeks ago.
    Even as she started the engine and began to follow him, she checked her watch. It was barely six. He didn’t leave for his office until seven. What the hell? He knew she would be escorting him to and from work, as she had all week. He’d never complained, never tried to avoid her. Until today. So where exactly was he going so early in the morning?
    Not work, she thought a few minutes later as heignored his usual turn and headed for the freeway. Bastard, she thought grimly, following him close enough that he could easily see her. Just let him try to shake her.
    But he didn’t try, nor did he acknowledge her. Instead he drove to a private airfield and parked. She pulled in next to him.
    â€œWhere are you going?” she asked as she got out of her car. She got a look at him and nearly lost her train of thought.
    Instead of the usual custom suit, he wore jeans, boots and a white shirt, all of which looked really good on him.
    â€œI have to take a trip,” he said. “I’ll be back this afternoon.”
    â€œDon’t for a second think I’m not coming with you.”
    He looked her up and down, as if he really imagined he had a choice in the matter.
    She knew he’d left an hour early deliberately to give her the slip. She wanted to complain that he should play by the rules, but there weren’t any. She was tailing him to annoy him. That hardly made them friends.
    The complication was Garth wasn’t quite as horrible as she’d first thought. There was also the issue of the kiss, but this wasn’t the time to bring that up.
    â€œYou’ll need a passport,” he said. “Sorry, that’s not my rule. It’s a government thing. I’d offer to wait while you go home and get it, but we both know I’d be lying.”
    She opened her purse, unzipped the concealed compartment in the back and pulled out her passport. “Anything else?”
    His expression didn’t change, so she couldn’t tell if he was pissed or not. As her understanding of him was confused by her reaction to him, she couldn’t make a guess, either.
    â€œYou’ll need a gun.”
    She didn’t doubt he was very aware that her jurisdiction ended at the border. Did she want to be armed in a foreign country?
    â€œI assume you have an extra,” she said.
    â€œOnly if you’re prepared to use it.”
    â€œTo protect myself or you?”
    â€œEither. I’m not expecting things to go that far, but I’m going in armed and if you’re coming, you should be, too.”
    â€œWhere are we going?”
    â€œMexico.”
    Across the border could be a fun and friendly place or it could be a war zone. It depended on their destination. Based on how serious Garth looked and his insistence that she be armed, she was going to guess they weren’t heading for a resort.
    â€œI’m prepared to use it,” she said.
    He motioned to the steps of the private jet.
    Five minutes later they were airborne.
    Garth watched Dana buckle herself into a leather seat. She didn’t look happy, not even when he passed her a case filled with handguns.
    â€œYou can pick first,” he told her.
    â€œDon’t do me any favors.” She picked up three different guns before picking a .45