The Doctor's Defender (Protection Specialists Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

wouldn’t go over well. He gestured toward the covered window. “Too many places a sniper could take a shot from. The outside hallway’s too tight. A perfect place for an ambush. If we needed to escape, all anyone would have to do is pick us off as we came out the door.”
    A visible tremor worked over her. “I don’t know where we could go.”
    “The dossier said your parents have a home in Forest Park. The house is armed with a state-of-the-art alarm system.”
    She shook her head. “I would hate to put them in danger.”
    “It will be safer there.”
    “I don’t know...”
    He’d hoped to ease into this over Thai food. “It’s already been arranged.”
    Her eyes widened with outrage. “You’ve spoken to my parents?”
    “Trent is thorough in our protection.”
    She made a face. “Unbelievable.”
    “We’ve been here long enough. Do you want to pack a few things?”
    “What choice do I have?” Anger laced her words.
    Empathy twisted his stomach in knots. He knew firsthand how upsetting, annoying and humiliating it was to have someone else calling the shots. “It’s for your safety.”
    “Of course it is.” Though the words dripped with sarcasm, her posture was resigned. She returned to her room. A few minutes later she came out carrying a small suitcase. “I have some clothes already at their house.”
    “Do you want to keep the flowers?” he asked.
    She shook her head. “No. Let’s leave them in the lobby.”
    He wondered briefly if it was the flowers themselves or the sender she wanted to leave behind.
    He escorted her to his rental car, a black Suburban. The modern, everyday version of the layman’s tank. He did a quick sweep of the exterior before allowing her too close to the vehicle. Checked the undercarriage, made sure the doors hadn’t been tampered with. Standard operating procedure. When he was sure the SUV was safe, he helped Brenda into the passenger seat.
    As he drove he kept a vigilant eye out for a tail. Nothing. A half hour later they arrived at her parents’ Forest Park home. Behind a gated community, which provided twenty-four-hour security, the Storms’ residence was a large, gabled brick house with manicured hedges, Astroturf green lawns and flower beds with a kaleidoscope of colorful flora and visually interesting plants. A magazine-worthy home.
    “Nice place,” Kyle commented. A far cry from the double-wide prefabricated place he’d called home as a kid. “You grew up in this house?”
    “No. My parents bought this home after I’d graduated from med school.”
    “Where did you live as a kid?”
    She opened the passenger door. “Evanston.”
    “Did you go to Northwestern?”
    “I did. The university was practically in my backyard.” She climbed out of the vehicle and walked toward the house.
    Kyle grabbed her suitcase from the back and followed her to the front door. Humidity made his shirt stick to his back. He glanced around, noting the quiet street and the other homes visible over the hedges marking the property lines. The hedges weren’t exactly the best for security—too many places a bad guy could slip through undetected.
    He would have preferred a fence or a rock wall. Better yet, barbed wire.
    Brenda opened the door. “Mom, Dad, I’m home.”
    The temperature change between the outside and the inside was drastic. The sweat from the late-September humidity outside chilled on Kyle’s skin. Brenda rubbed her arms as goose pimples appeared.
    As they stepped around the entryway corner, a well-dressed woman hastily shoved amber pill bottles into the drawer of the side table. A gray-haired man lay stretched out in a recliner. He adjusted the blanket covering him over his torso and legs. If he was cold, why not turn down the air conditioner? The place was like a meat locker.
    “You’re here early,” her mother said, her voice sounding strained. Her red eyes made Kyle think she’d been crying recently. No doubt upset by Brenda’s brush with