Gabe (In the Company of Snipers, #8)(84)

Becker took hold of Gabe’s elbow, ushering him toward her. Gabe turned and leaned his butt against the side of the car. Becker opened the door and ducked his head inside. The darned guy smiled, as if he held all the cards. “Miss Sullivan. Are you currently associated or in any way in collusion with Gabe Cartwright?”

She nodded quickly. Nervously. “Yes. I am. He, umm, saved my life.”

Becker winked. Dang, his eyes sparkled with mischief. “Then maybe you’ll be the smart one here today. Where is Kelsey Stewart going? Do you know? Where did Zack Lennox take her? Some place safe, I hope.”

Shelby froze. Becker sure sounded friendly, and he certainly seemed to know everyone involved with Kelsey. But Gabe didn’t like him, and that was reason enough not to cooperate. She swallowed hard, fighting for enough saliva to make her vocal cords work. “I don’t know.”

Honestly, the guy had a smile as big as the sky and eyes as blue. He scrunched up his nose, arching one bushy brow. “Now how did I know you’d say that?”

He shut the door and crossed his arms over his chest, his legs spread wide, facing Gabe again. Shelby stilled to listen, but couldn’t make out one word.


Gabe kept shaking his head.

At last, Becker opened the door and ducked his head inside again. “Miss Sullivan, I’m going to take you and your friend to another location where we can discuss a few things before I decide what to do. I’m not going to have any trouble with you, am I? Tell me now, because I can certainly put you in cuffs if you’d prefer.”

She shook her head, trembling from head to foot. This was her first time in a police car, and her first time in trouble with the law. Me? In cuffs?

“I didn’t think so,” he purred. He opened the door wider and nodded for Gabe to enter. “You know the drill.”

Gabe ducked his head into the vehicle and dropped to the seat beside her. “You say anything?”

She glanced over her shoulder to keep an eye on Becker, still chatting with the police officers. “No. Nothing.”

“Good girl. Follow my lead. Stay close. Can you do that?”

“Y... y... yes.” Her eyes widened. The cuffs rested loose on his wrists. He’d escaped them already? Pure adrenaline pounded in her chest. He meant to make a run for it? Okay, but—darn. I’m going with him.

“Kiss me,” he ordered, and she didn’t think twice. Not anymore. He had a plan. All she had was a bad case of nerves. Her lips were on his mouth and her hands on the side of his head in less than a heartbeat. She offered everything with that kiss, her lips parted and her tongue seeking his.

A groan lifted out of his throat, along with muffled words she had to actually ease away from him to understand. “Sorry ’bout this, Shell,” he mumbled, “and we are definitely going to do this again later, but if you keep kissing me like that, I’m going to take you seriously and we’ll never get out of here.”

She tilted her head back, pleased to her toes with the rumbling baritone in his chest but needing to see his eyes. He was still licking his lips. And hers. You called me Shell. “Sorry. You said kiss, so I kissed.”

“No problem, but listen up, and do what I say. Your door isn’t latched tight. Kick it open. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Escape?” She hissed against his lips, her eyes wide and searching for any sign of Becker, afraid he might overhear.

“Don’t stop kissing,” Gabe urged, leaning forward. “Make it look good. They’ll think we’re off our rockers, but when I say go, let’s bust out of here.”

“Isn’t that breaking the law?” she asked, mumbling around his lips and tongue. Dang. If the guy wanted to escape, he needed to stop nibbling on her bottom lip like he was. Just his close proximity threatened her thin hold on composure, but all this mouth-to-mouth contact had her body on overload. Him being cuffed, and kind of, sort of, at her mercy, messed with her head, too. But running from the law with him right behind her from real live police officers and an FBI agent who had guns? Hottest damned thing ever.

“We can’t help Kelsey if we’re stuck in some FBI jail, can we?” Gabe gave her one last gentle bite. He slid the cuffs off of his wrists and dropped them to the floor between his legs. “Do it. Now. Go. Go. Go!”

She pivoted on her butt, placed one foot solidly to the door and gave it all she had. Adrenaline pounded every nerve. With her feet barely on the pavement, and Gabe’s right hand between her shoulder blades, he all but pushed her out of the vehicle.

And they were off. He had longer legs, but she had a head full of fear. Shelby couldn’t sprint the rest of the bridge fast enough. Her feet flew.

Thank goodness they were closer to the Lincoln Memorial end of the bridge, and they headed straight into the Fourth of July crowd of tourists. She dodged people and bicyclists. Gabe stayed beside her. Everyone stepped out of her way, probably to avoid the police officers behind them. Becker had to be right on their heels, too. The terror of being caught added speed to her feet.

I’m not going to jail for helping Kelsey!

“Head for the tour buses,” Gabe ordered.

I can do that. Shelby dodged into a gaggle of elderly passengers who’d just disembarked their tour bus south of the Lincoln Memorial. She ducked low and out of sight, blending in with the silver-haired crowd and ready to board that bus if it kept her out of the reach of the law.