Free Bulletproof (Unknown Identities #1) by Regan Black

pick her up?”
    “Go ahead and shoot. Good luck living through it.”
    “Who?” He cocked the hammer.
    “It was a blind bounty.”
    Amelia gasped, apparently all-too-aware that meant the price on her head had drawn out the hungriest and nastiest creatures humanity had to offer. Whoever posted the bounty wanted Amelia dead sooner rather than later. Skill hadn’t been a requirement. Only ruthless determination.
    Unfortunately for that someone, John had been called to stand in the breach.
    “You’re less than useless to me,” John muttered. The information about how the bounty had been listed was what he needed. He had contacts who would know and he had contacts who would just as likely strike next.
    The needle on the speedometer crept up again while the John weighed both sides of the issue. “None of that,” he said, tapping the gun barrel against the driver’s temple again.
    “Buckle up,” he said to Amelia.
    Eyes wide, she slid back and obeyed. As soon as he heard the click, John judged the traffic and distance. “Take the next exit.”
    The driver bitched about it, but he safely changed lanes. When they were in position, John pinched a nerve in the man’s neck and knocked him out.
    John rolled into the front seat and guided the car safely to the shoulder. Wrestling with the driver’s dead weight, he eventually managed to get the car into park.
    Amelia was out of the back seat and had the front passenger door open. “We’re dumping him I assume?”
    “Unless you want to try your hand at interrogation.”
    “No, thanks.” She reached in and tugged the man by the wrists while John pushed at his legs. When he was on the ground, she knelt at the man’s side.
    “What are you doing?”
    “Checking for ID.”
    “Hurry. I can’t believe we don’t have cops on our tail already.”
    “Interesting isn’t it,” she said as she pocketed the man’s wallet. “Let’s go.”
    John rolled the driver closer to the shallow ditch and slid through to take the wheel. When Amelia was beside him, he pulled back into traffic.
    “What’s next?”
    He spared her a glance after checking the mirrors. “Check the navigation. Let’s see where they planned to take you.”
    “My apartment.”
    “What?” It made no sense to him.
    “That’s the address listed here.”
    “The starting address?”
    “No,” she insisted. “The final address. The destination.”
    There was a symmetry to it he supposed, but he didn’t like it. “We’re not going back there.” Her neighborhood offered too many places for attackers to hide. It wasn’t worth speculating why this pair planned to end her there. “Check where else –”
    “Already on it.”
    He waited as patiently as possible under the circumstances while she reviewed how the pair of assassins had spent their time before they grabbed her.
    “They certainly had a bit of a tour. They started at the airport, drove through Back Bay near my apartment and all around my neighborhood. They went over to Chinatown. Huh. No surprise, they cruised by The Torch offices.”
    “No coincidence there.”
    “Doesn’t look like it.”
    He slid her a glance, recognized the meaning of her puckered brow and pursed lips. “What are you thinking?”
    “Boston is a busy town and those are some of the more common hot spots.”
    “You’re defending them?” He checked the mirrors, wondering what would come at them next. “That was a classic grab and they would have gotten away if I hadn’t been there.”
    “Yeah. I should say thank you.”
    His jaw clenched, molars grinding. “I wasn’t fishing for gratitude.”
    “I think they killed my contact.”
    John didn’t remember seeing any dead bodies aside from the cyclist. “Your contact was the person you spoke with?”
    “Who else?”
    He admired her tenacity despite the natural and man-made obstacles in her path. He took the time to inhale. Her vanilla-scented skin filled the car and assaulted his senses, but kept him from raising