Free Marie, Laura - Miss: Senorita and the Soldado [The Miss Series 2] (BookStrand Publishing Romance) by Laura Marie

death grip.
    I’m going to die, I’m going to die. Oh my God, he’s freaking nuts!
    “It’s nothing but empty desert, and if we follow this route, we’ll eventually see lights and the border station.”
    “The key word is ‘eventually.’ Oh my God!” Elloisa closed her eyes as the Jeep hit something but continued on its path. She held the metal, gripping anything for support and to remain inside the Jeep. Bump after bump, the Jeep bounced and creaked, making horrible sounds. The light to the right seemed to be approaching faster.
    “Who could it be? Maybe border patrol or something?”
    “Elloisa, there are bandits and scavengers all along this area. It’s a death trap for the unprepared.” He yelled over the roar of the engine as he continued to drive over the treacherous route they seemed to be stuck in.
    Elloisa felt her stomach tighten into knots. Her chest ached and her insides fluttered. She was going to die. She was never going to make it home.
    Suddenly, out of nowhere, they heard an engine roar. Then suddenly headlights appeared to the right of them. Gunfire filled the air, and bullets hit the side of the Jeep.
    “Get down!” Gustavo yelled as he shoved her head over his lap.
    He switched on the headlights and took off with the Jeep hopping and bobbing along the dusty desert.
    Bullets echoed through the air. Some hit the windshield and the dashboard, but amazingly not her or Gustavo.
    She held her head down and prayed to get out of this alive.
    Her face rubbed against Gustavo’s camouflaged-covered, ironclad thighs. They were hard as steel, and her insides tightened. She was surely losing her ever-loving mind. Bullets flew around them, and she heard the ones that hit the dashboard directly next to her face. And here she was thinking about Gustavo’s body?
    Suddenly, she felt the Jeep slow down and Gustavo hit the brakes.
    Before she could question his sanity she heard the shots. Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang!
    The engine roared and the lights froze.
    There was an eerie silence as Gustavo put the gun away, sat back in his seat, and resumed driving.
    Slowly, she lifted her head from his lap. As she began to look behind her, Gustavo placed his hand on the back of her head and tilted it towards the front of the Jeep. “Look forward.”
    It was obvious that he didn’t want her to see the damage. Elloisa was in shock. She had personally witnessed Gustavo’s intensity, capabilities, and training. From the time he whisked her away from the church, he had killed almost ten people in less than thirty minutes.

Chapter 5

    Mathew looked around the room at his family. Once he received word from John that Elloisa had escaped the Sintorez estate on her own without the agent, he notified his family. They had begun to develop a plan to go looking for her based on covert information from informants. John Falco had been dead set against this. He felt it could be a trap now that Elloisa had escaped from Armando. He was right, of course. No one could be trusted at this point. John had CIs that said Armando’s guard Ramos was on the hunt. The last phone call they received at four o’clock this morning informed Mathew that there was a small village torn up and numerous bodies found dead, both there and outside the border. There was no sign of Elloisa or a body.
    The sound of Mathew’s phone ringing brought everyone in the room to attention. He looked at his parents then answered the phone.
    “Hello.”
    “Mathew, I’ve got some news. Based on some intel, it seems our agent was able to track down Elloisa. It’s believed that they’re together.”
    “Really? And this agent is good?”
    “Real good. Considering that Sintorez sent Ramos out after her, she’ll need the agent’s help to escape detection and cross the border. But there is some bad news.”
    “What’s that?”
    “There’s a team of agents working on capturing Sintorez and monitoring his organization. They found out about the inside agent and about