“Of course you can’t.” She started to pace back and forth. “It’s an incredibly delicate and dangerous situation to be in.” She wheeled around and stared at him. “Have you been undercover all this time, since the article?”
He nodded.
“That was years ago!”
“Assignments. More than one.”
“How close are you to finishing this?”
“I’m only missing the last piece of the puzzle. Then I can put this whole thing to bed.”
Andis Bamir’s counterfeit bills had stopped flowing. The operation had halted for some reason, which meant any chance at catching him in the act had disappeared. He’d been ready to call it quits when he heard Kayla’s name come up.
Kayla blew out a breath. “Conner, this is huge.”
“And I don’t want you getting caught in the middle of it. I don’t know what Andis wants with you. All I know is that it can’t be good. Tell the sheriff, and call your father. Get the Secret Service here to protect you. I don’t want you to take any risks.”
He could tell she didn’t like that, but he wasn’t going to give her the choice. Her safety was his top priority.
Conner took two steps toward her. “I don’t want you anywhere near Andis.”
Being here with her, knowing that Kayla knew the truth about the man he’d been pretending to be for months, Conner felt right for the first time since...he didn’t know when. Maybe since that night years ago when Kayla had been in trouble and he’d saved her from what that man had planned.
But Conner couldn’t be the person she’d known. Not here. No one could know that Conner. It was the nature of the job. Just the fact that Kayla knew the whole story made him feel like he was seeing the sun after a week of gray clouds.
“Wow.” The word was a low mutter as she processed everything she’d learned and the implications.
Conner looked up. There was so much in her eyes he didn’t know where to start. She cared about him; that was clear. He’d never met a more complicated woman, and he was about as straightforward as a man could be. It was probably good they’d never had the chance to be together. They’d likely have driven each other crazy.
He sighed. “I should le—”
The window smashed. A flaming bottle flew to the ground and burst open, spilling its contents across the floor.
Before the liquid could erupt into flames, Conner’s Secret Service training kicked in and he dove toward Kayla.
Kayla hit the ground. Conner landed beside her as breath burst from her lungs. Flames erupted across the room and Kayla screamed. Conner pushed up off the floor and then grabbed her. She wobbled on her feet for a second and had time to grab her phone but not her laptop bag before he pulled her toward the door.
They made it to the hall, but he headed for the back of the building. No one else was there except them, not anyone from the dentist’s office next to hers or the stores below. Thank You, Lord. There was no one else to get hurt, but there was also no one else who could call for help.
The men had come back, and now they were trying to kill them? What was going on?
Kayla raced after Conner. Halfway down the hall, another bottle came through the broken window at the far end. Conner shoved her to the wall and shielded her with his body. It was heroic, but it didn’t mean he actually cared about her. Secret Service agents weren’t paid for their feelings. They were paid to keep their charges from bodily harm. Still, she warmed at the care he was taking to make sure she wasn’t exposed—to be certain danger reached him first.
“He’s boxing us in. I’ve seen them do it before,” Conner yelled over the crack and hiss of flames. “Is there another way out?”
“The dentist’s office has a fire exit with stairs down to the ground floor.”
Conner pointed down the hall. “On the side?” She nodded. “Too exposed. Anything else?”
Kayla glanced around, as though the answer would reveal itself through the walls. “We should call the sheriff again and find out where he is. Give me your phone—mine is almost dead.”
He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. “My cover is blown.” He paused, his thoughts somewhere distant she wasn’t invited. “I guess the rules no longer apply.”
Kayla let her gaze roam his face, trying to figure out what on earth would possess a man to live the kind of life where he was constantly under threat of being killed.
She’d understood on some level before tonight that undercover work was dangerous for a law enforcement officer. But now that she’d seen what he lived with, Kayla didn’t know if she could stand that life. There were men and women who could, though, and she had so much respect for what they did.
“So what do we do?”
Conner glanced around. “We need a place to hide where the smoke won’t get us. We can call the sheriff from there. I just have to keep you safe until he shows up.”
“But not yourself?” He didn’t need to be safe?
“You know what I mean, Kayla. When I know you’re okay, I’ll make a break for it.”
Instead of dishing it back to him—and dying of smoke inhalation from standing in this hallway—Kayla grabbed his arm and dragged him to the kitchen. Conner shut the door and she got two bottles of water from the fridge. Then he soaked some towels and tucked them under the door.
She handed him a water.
“Thanks.” Conner drank half the bottle in one go and then pulled out his phone, thumbed buttons. After gulping down the rest of the water, he threw the empty bottle in the recycling bin.
Kayla looked around. “I think we should try to get out of here.”
“They started the fire to flush you out, and now they’re waiting outside. When you run outside, they’ll probably shoot you. That’s how this works. The fire gets you outside, and then they finish you off. If there’s time, they’ll dump the body back inside to destroy the evidence.”
“Wonderful. Unless...”
“What?”
“They’re trying to kill you. You said your cover is blown. Maybe they’re not after me anymore.” She saw the look he gave her and said, “Well, it’s possible. And either way we need to get out of here before we suffocate.” She grabbed his phone.
Conner’s eyes darkened. “That isn’t going to happen to you.”
“Because I’m in danger, and you’re going to save me?”
“Yes.”
“You know, normal people just call the police when they’re in danger.” She even dialed the numbers to prove it.
Conner didn’t react, though she knew for a fact she was funny. “You’re not normal people and neither am I.”
Kayla showed him the phone and pressed Dial. Just so he could see how normal she was. “I’ve been working very hard for the last few years to be normal, thank you, and you’re ruining—Yes, I need the sheriff and a fire truck. I’m trapped in my office.”
The same lady who’d answered the first time took her location and Kayla answered a half-dozen questions. No, they weren’t in danger of being immediately injured—though it would be minutes before their situation changed. No, they couldn’t get out.
When the woman tried