THREE #2
She glanced at Rome. He hadn’t spoken in at least five minutes. The man seemed perfectly content to stare at the road and brood while she was going slowly crazy trying to piece together what was happening to her.
“Are we going somewhere specific or is this a mysterious road trip where I don’t get to know the destination?”
Rome’s stare remained fixed on the road. “Naval base.”
She waited for more, but that was all the man had. Two words.
“That’s it? Just ‘Naval base?’ Not why, not what I have to do there when I should be working the evening shift?”
“Everything will be explained in time. You have to trust me, Stina.”
“Maybe I could learn to if you’d give me more syllables than a text message. Did you suffer some tragic injury to your personality?”
His eyes flicked from the road to the rearview mirror and back again.
Seeing she wasn’t getting anything more from him, her thoughts drifted back to the safehouse. Specifically to the moment she barged into his bedroom and asked if he had her panties.
Heat crept through her at the memory of seeing him shirtless. The man had the body of a god. Too bad he had the personality of a toad.
She studied him for a moment longer. Dark hair. Strong jaw. Massive shoulders. The kind of man who looked like he could singlehandedly carry a refrigerator.
He glanced in the mirror and back at the road again, a scowl settling over his face.
“Are you always this grumpy? Maybe you need to try those boxer briefs with the ball hammock. Seems like you need more support.”
His jaw worked but he didn’t look at her. For some reason…that disappointed her.
“Seems like you spend time thinking about things that aren’t your business.”
“Maybe they’d improve your attitude.” She wasn’t going to take his bad mood to heart. Life was too short to let some man with broody glares upset her.
“Nothing can improve my attitude.”
“Good point.”
For a second, she thought she saw the corner of his mouth twitch, then it disappeared so quickly she couldn’t be sure.
Rome checked the rearview mirror. Then checked it again.
She glanced in the side mirror and saw a black SUV that remained several car lengths behind them.
“Is that black SUV following us?”
“That’s our escort.”
She blinked. “We have an escort?” Her stomach sank. Through the dead body and the safehouse, and even Jolie telling her to go with Rome because she’d be safe, Stina didn’t want to believe anything could be that bad.
But having a black SUV escort them to a Naval base was definitely skidding into bad territory.
She settled deeper into her seat and tried to think of who wanted to hurt her enough to warrant a guard she never knew about. Maybe—
A vehicle shot through the intersection from the right going fast.
Way too fast.
Stina barely had time to register it before it slammed directly into the escort SUV.
She screamed.
Metal exploded with a shriek. Glass shattered.
She threw her hands over her head as if their vehicle had taken the hit. “Oh my god!”
Twisting in her seat to stare through the back window, she watched the escort vehicle spin out of control.
She screamed as the SUV bounced across the road, parts flying everywhere and smoke boiling from the hood. “Rome!”
“I saw it.” His voice was terrifyingly calm.
Then his entire demeanor changed. The man beside her vanished. In his place sat something far more dangerous.
“Tighten your seatbelt.” The command cracked like a whip.
With shaking hands, Stina obeyed as Rome hammered the gas.
They surged forward, and her stomach bottomed out as the road blurred and buildings flashed by. The speedometer climbed.
And climbed.
And climbed.
Rome grabbed his phone. “We’ve got a problem. Our escort just got taken out.”
A sharp tone cut through the line. “Status?”
“We’re mobile.”
“Keep driving.”
Rome swerved around a slower vehicle. “We’re heading to the base.”
“Get there. I’ll get you cover.”
The call ended.
Whatever all of that meant had Stina tightening her grip on the door handle. People only drove like this in the movies, but Rome managed it like he’d been born behind a steering wheel and belonged on a racetrack.
A shadow flashed across the windshield, and she leaned forward to look upward. Something streaked overhead. Not a bird. It was dark and mechanical.
The object banked right and circled before sweeping over them again.
A tremor ran through her. “Rome. Is that a drone?”
His gaze flicked upward, just once and returned to the road. “Yes. And it’s armed.”
“What?” The word came out higher than normal.
“Don’t worry—it’s friendly.”
“That thing doesn’t look friendly!”
“It’s ours, Stina. It’s protecting us.”
The drone continued circling overhead. Rome accelerated again.
Ahead, fencing appeared, tall and secure. Military.
Relief flooded her. “Tell me that’s the base.”
“Yeah.”
The gate ahead began opening.
Men moved into position near the entrance. Armed men. Lots of them.
For the first time in her life, she was happy to see guns.
Rome shot through the opening.
The second they crossed onto the property, Stina twisted around in her seat. The drone climbed higher, and the vehicle following them whizzed by as if they weren’t involved at all.
Stina released the breath she’d been holding.
The danger was behind them, at least for now.
Beside her, Rome continued staring into the mirror. His expression hadn’t changed. If anything, he’d gone even stiller.
That worried her.
Because if a man like Rome wasn’t relaxing yet, maybe the danger hadn’t turned away from the gate.
Maybe it had just found a different way inside.