Sophia froze as her gaze focused on the gun clutched in the man’s hand, pointing at the sky. How long would it be pointing upward?
As she scrambled toward the other side of the car, someone grunted. Gunfire ripped above her head. She flattened her body against the asphalt, the smell of oil invading her nose. The smell of gunpowder replaced it.
“Hey, hey!”
The male voice came from a distance but Sophia didn’t dare lift her head.
A rough hand grabbed her arm, and Austin’s harsh whisper grated close to her ear. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. What...?”
He practically yanked her to her feet. “Let’s go. Now.”
“But...”
He snatched the keys still clutched in her hand and herded her into the car from the driver’s side, coming in right behind her. She crawled over the console as Austin made it clear he was taking the wheel. He started the car, and she turned her head toward the passenger window.
A dark figure limped away between the remaining cars as a cop came running up the sidewalk, shining his flashlight into the parking lot.
Without turning on the headlights to the car, Austin pulled out of the lot on the other side of the officer’s probing flashlight. When he hit the street, he kept his speed slow and steady until he turned the corner. Then he accelerated until he reached the next major thoroughfare when he put on the lights and reduced his speed to the limit.
That’s when Sophia realized she was breathing in short spurts. The whole attack had gone down in a manner of seconds and she still couldn’t quite believe it had happened—except for her stinging palms...and the gun in the cup holder.
She rubbed her hands together, loosening bits of gravel into her lap. “What the hell just happened?”
“Are you absolutely sure you weren’t followed when you left the medical building?”
If she hadn’t fully absorbed the terror of the altercation in the parking lot before, it now hit her like a wall of water.
She gripped the edge of the seat, digging her fingernails into the nubbed fabric. “D-do you think that man had something to do with Dr. Fazal’s murder?”
“Of course. Could you have been followed?”
“I don’t think so.” She pressed her fingertips to her temples. “I watched, just like you said.”
He made a sharp right turn and her head bumped the glass of the window.
“Sorry.” He pulled the car to a stop along a side street near the MIT campus and jumped out.
With her head spinning, she tumbled out of the car after him. He was already on the ground, scooting backward beneath the car, propelling himself with the heels of his boots—cowboy boots. What kind of navy guy wore cowboy boots?
“What are you doing?” She crossed her arms over her chest, hugging Austin’s jacket around her body, noticing for the first time the fresh, masculine scent in its folds.
He swore and rolled out from beneath the car, clutching something in his fist. Hopping to his feet, he uncurled his hand. “They were tracking you already.”
Her mouth dropped open as she stared at the black quarter-size device cupped in his palm. “Why? What do they want from me?”
“I don’t know.” He tipped his hand and the object fell to the pavement, where he crushed it beneath the heel of his boot. “I don’t know what they wanted from Fazal. If it was just revenge they were after, they got that. They didn’t have to search his office. And why come after you?”
“Come after?” She fell against the back door of the car.
“I’m sorry, Sophia. Let’s get you home.”
“Home?” She shuffled away from him. “If they already put a tracker on my car, won’t they know where I live?”
“Not if they placed the bug at the office.” He kicked the pieces of the tracking device with his toe, scattering them into the gutter.
“Was that man in the parking lot going to shoot me?”
“I don’t think so.” He cocked his head to one side and scuffed the bristle on his chin with the pad of his thumb. “He could’ve taken the shot from farther away. When I saw the gun out of the corner of my eye, the guy didn’t have it raised and ready to shoot.”
“I suppose that’s something to be thankful for.”
“He could’ve wanted info from you.”
“But he wasn’t expecting you—or at least wasn’t expecting my date to be a trained...whatever you are.” She waved her hand up and down his body.
“SEAL.” He rubbed his hands on the thighs of his jeans. “I’m a navy SEAL.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You’re a long way from foreign soil where you usually do your thing, aren’t you?”
“I thought I explained to you that’s why I can’t come in contact with the police. It’s—” he shrugged “—unorthodox for us to operate stateside.”
“Unorthodox or illegal?”
“Depends on who you’re asking.”
She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “And that’s why we sneaked away under the cover of darkness and extinguished our headlights back there when the cop showed up?”
“I don’t want to have to explain anything. That’s not my mission.”
“This is a mission?”
“Did you think I was just dropping in on my old friend Dr. Fazal?”
Her nose stung with tears and she squeezed her eyes shut. “He was my friend...and so much more.”
He dropped his hand where it lay like a weight on her shoulder. “Do you want me to take you home?”
“Will I be safe there?”
“I’m staying with you—for now.”
She studied his strong, handsome face, and the question echoed in her head. Will I be safe there?
He blinked. “I’ll keep watch over you.”
Sighing, she hoisted herself off the car. “I suppose I don’t have much choice. I have to go home at some point, might as well be now.”
When they got back into the car, Austin turned to her. “You can call the Boston PD right now and let them know you feel threatened—that you think you’re being followed. They might step up patrols around your house.”
She chewed her bottom lip and traced the scratches on her palm. Have this navy SEAL, who’d
