Too Far Gone Read Online Free PDF Page B

“Whatever he was doing for or with those men, he didn’t deserve to be murdered.”
    A muscle twitched in Stone’s jaw. “All right. You have my word. I will do all I can to find the truth
while
protecting you. Put the wig back on. Grab the rest of your things and let’s move.”
    Lauren nodded, uncertain whether she should be grateful or terrified. She gathered her few belongings and pulled out her car keys as they left the room.
    “Give me your phone and your car key,” he said as they reached the stairwell.
    “Why?” She did not like the way he fired orders at her.
    “They can use either or both to find you.”
    Reluctantly she handed over the items, telling herself it was temporary. They moved down the stairs quickly and then took the motel’s side exit to avoid the lobby.
    “To the right,” he said. The lights on a Camaro flashed.
    The sleek muscle car suited the man perfectly, she thought as he loaded her bag into the back seat. “I’d like to get my phone charger from my car. I might not need it now, but there’s always later.”
    He heaved a patient sigh. “You get in, I’ll grab your charger for later—much later.”
    “Fine.” She climbed into the passenger seat annoyed that he couldn’t be bothered with a simple
please
. She felt like a boot camp trainee with orders being barked at her. “Sit down. Get in. Give me your phone and car key,” she grumbled.
    As he walked toward her car, he raised her key fob and clicked to unlock the doors. The lights flashed. An explosion rocked the parking lot.
    Lauren’s heart slammed against her ribs. The shock that followed came over her in a wave nearly as violent as the explosion.
    The driver’s side door of the Camaro opened and Mr. Stone dropped into the seat. “Buckle up. We’re out of here.”
    She wanted to ask questions, but she couldn’t speak. Instead, she watched the dark smoke from what had been her car rise into the morning sky. Her hands shook as she buckled her seatbelt. Her gaze settled on the man behind the wheel.
    She might be dead right now if she hadn’t listened to him.

 

Chapter Three
    Mike’s brain kept replaying the fireball consuming her car. Whoever had killed Trinity was serious about tying up loose ends. It didn’t matter that he and Lauren made a clean escape and were now pulling into the driveway of a Guardian Agency safe house. He couldn’t erase the image from his mind. As a SEAL, he’d seen plenty of bombs, before and after detonation, in training and in the field. He’d used explosives and understood the effectiveness as well as the irrevocable damage inflicted on property and personnel.
    He reviewed the whole scenario again from his arrival at the motel to their departure, and he couldn’t pinpoint a surveillance detail. Whoever had planted the device had been long gone when he arrived which told him someone had followed her to the motel from the police station. It was the only way they could have managed to plant the bomb so quickly. It would have been the perfect cleanup strike. Tie up the loose end without getting too close.
    “Where are we?” she asked. “Do you live here?”
    “This is an agency safe house,” he replied. “It’s fully furnished and completely untraceable. You’ll be safe here.”
    She peered through the windshield at the house. “Are you sure I shouldn’t call Detective Treadwell back?” She heaved a heavy breath. “I suppose on some level I knew he would try and pin this on me.”
    The lady still wasn’t convinced that going into hiding was a good option. Whatever her reservations, for now laying low was the only option. “Not yet. I’m considering a couple of angles we might take.” That should buy him some time. He needed to check in with Claudia. Something he should’ve done on the drive over, but making certain they weren’t followed from the motel had required his full focus.
    As if he’d telegraphed the thought, Mike’s phone rang while he maneuvered the