Free Lost in Italy by Stacey Joy Netzel Page B

but he didn’t stop talking or walking. Smoke curled in front of her from the cigarette in his hand by her shoulder.  She lifted her hands to cover her face and sobbed harder.
    Trent’s lips pressed to her ear as two officers walked by.  “Not so damn loud.”
    She toned it down.  A moment later, his other hand cupped her cheek.  He halted and lifted her face to his, his thumb swiped across her skin to remove the moisture.
    What was he doing?  Why was he stopping?  They had to keep moving.
    Italian words spilled from his mouth, full of heartfelt emotion to match a glowing intensity in his hazel eyes.  Halli’s heart skipped a beat.
    “Shake your head no,” he whispered.
    She blinked.  From the corner of her eye, she noticed the men who’d passed them paused halfway along the corridor to watch their drama.  She did as Trent instructed and restarted the waterworks for good measure.  He hugged her close again, spouted more foreign lines with a consoling accent, and steered her for the door.
    The white little running man on the exit sign near the door beckoned.
    Halli fought not to run the last ten feet.  Almost there.  They were going to make it.  Just walk right out.  She couldn’t believe it was as easy as he’d said.  Then she noticed another sign posted on the door and tried to slow their steps.
    “That looks like a warning of some kind,” she whispered to Trent.
    “It’s for an alarm.”  He urged her forward.  “But it’s—”
    Halli sucked in a breath and planted her feet.
    “—not activated.”
    “How do you know?” she asked in desperation.
    “How do you think I got in here?”
    Trent reached around her and pushed open the door.  Halli cringed, eyes squeezed tight, expecting an ear-piercing warning to announce their escape.
    Silence.
    She opened her eyes again and breathed.  No alarm.  The sun was still shining, though it had started its evening decent in the brilliant blue sky.  She sniffed away any remaining tears and turned to smile up at Trent from underneath the baseball cap.
    A shout behind them wiped away her exhilaration a second before Trent’s rough shove propelled her the rest of the way through the open doorway.
    “Run!”
     
     
     

 
    Chapter 5
     
     
     
    Trent followed Halli out the door.  She stumbled and he grabbed the collar of his leather jacket to haul her up from her knees.  Too late, he remembered it'd only been draped around her shoulders.  The unexpected weightlessness threw him off balance, and he ended up a step ahead of her.
    He found his footing, reached back for the hand she stretched toward him, and jerked her back onto her feet.  To their right lay a residential area, and to the left, the many quaint shops and businesses that made the village so old-world Italian.  Tourists crowded the walkways during the evening dinner hour.
    Trent went left, half dragging Halli in his wake.  If they could get lost in the crowd, eventually they could circle around to where he'd parked his black Mercedes.
    Alrigo Lapaglia and two other men burst through the door seconds before Trent and Halli rounded the corner of the closest building.  She slowed up, but Trent pulled her forward.  “They're right on our tail, sweetheart, don't quit on me now.”
    “Where are we going?”
    “Anywhere but here.”
    Trent took every turn he could, dodging people and vehicles.  Twice they narrowly avoided being hit when he glanced behind to see how close their pursuers were.
    “You watch where we’re going,” Halli yelled over the ear-splitting screech of tires and blare of the horn after she slammed into his back the second time.  “I’ll watch them!”
    Working together, they made their way through town.  His lungs began to ache, his legs burned, and he could only imagine how she felt, with him yanking on her arm for the last five minutes.
    “I think we’ve lost them,” she panted a minute later.
    Trent eased up, glancing behind to reassure himself they