Even though he didn’t doubt his ability to protect her, he’d had a team of guys assigned downstairs to cover the elevator entrance from the parking garage of his condo and two guys standing guard directly outside his front door. Not subtle and definitely not a long-term option but for now it was the only choice they had.
He had to keep Elizabeth safe.
And if he had his way they wouldn’t have left his condo for anything in the world. Anything except his younger brother’s engagement party. Porter and Elizabeth were both in the wedding—he as the best man and she as the maid of honor. There would be extra security at the party and it was a very low key affair, not highly publicized, so he wasn’t worried about anything happening on site. It was transporting Elizabeth there that had him worried. He didn’t like bringing her out in the open.
“Are you worried about tonight?” Her quiet voice echoed through the vehicle’s interior and he found her staring intently at him, her brown eyes wide. She wore her emotions so vividly, it pained him to see the worry in her gaze.
Hell yeah. “No. Security will be tight and we’re not going to stay that long. Just long enough to make an appearance, do some toasts and then I’m getting you out of there.” He’d expected an argument but when she simply nodded he realized how scared she must be.
Not that it was surprising, but after Grant had stopped by so she could look at mug shots—a fruitless exercise—she’d holed up in his guestroom the past couple hours working on her laptop. She’d been so wrapped up in her work he’d had to remind her when it was time to get ready for the party. At her parent’s house they’d briefly argued about her keeping her brother’s letter a secret from him, but he hadn’t had the heart to push her too much. Tomorrow morning they planned to go to Porter’s bank to see if it was the right bank for the safe deposit key. The ‘M’ engraved onto it was a very distinctive symbol for one of the biggest banks in Miami. Since he had a key almost identical to the one Benny had left, it was the best starting point.
If her brother had been smart, he’d have put her name on the account but until they got there they wouldn’t know. Whatever was inside that box—if anything—had better redeem Benny or Porter was ready to hurt the guy himself. Well, after Orlando Salas.
With Elizabeth so subdued and not even mustering enough attitude to argue with him—he found he missed her feistiness more than he’d ever admit to her.
“I hate that I’ve dragged you into this mess,” she said quietly.
Frowning, he pulled through the intersection. None of this was her fault. “You didn’t do anything—”
The sound of screeching tires alerted him a split second before a Bronco clipped the front of his vehicle, sending them into a tailspin. His neck and shoulders tensed as he gripped the steering wheel for control. “Just perfect,” he muttered under his breath as he started to straighten them out.
While he slowed and righted the SUV, sudden sharp bursts of gunfire hailed around them. It sounded like hail crashing down as rounds sprayed the bullet resistant windows. The fist around his heart tightened as reality crashed over him. They were under a full attack.
Elizabeth screamed and ducked down in her seat, sending the contents of her clutch purse scattering everywhere.
“Hang on,” he muttered, willing himself to stay calm. If the SUV wasn’t armored, he’d be more worried.
Gripping the wheel, he managed to keep moving forward and stay focused on their surroundings. Getting boxed in right now was not an option. Cars and trucks honked from all directions. Even though they had a security team following them he wasn’t worried about staying with them. His only priority was getting Elizabeth out of there.
He floored the gas pedal and shot through a red light. Elizabeth was gripping the door handle with one hand and the center console with the other as she crouched lower, but she was otherwise unharmed.
“Can you reach your cell phone?” he asked, his heart in his throat. Elizabeth should never have been placed in a situation like this and he hated the fear he saw on her face.
She bent down to where it had fallen to the floor and grabbed it. “Who do you want me to call?”
“No one. Take out your SIM card and battery.”
She looked confused but popped the back of the phone off. He glanced in the rearview mirror again. He doubted anyone had planted a tracking device on his vehicle or even her phone but he didn’t have time to check. And he wasn’t taking any chances. She’d been at Orlando’s house long enough for one of his men to have planted something on her so he’d rather be paranoid than dead.
When she’d done as he asked, he rolled down her window a scant few inches. “Keep the SIM card, throw out everything else.”
She hesitated for a millisecond, but did as he asked.
He took an abrupt turn, earning a quick yelp from Elizabeth. At least she wasn’t the crying, screaming type. Thank God. He couldn’t handle that right now and it would just be harder on her if she lost control. So far she seemed to be handling things okay but after the day she’d had, he just hoped she wasn’t going into shock.
“Where are we going?” Her quiet voice tugged at his heart, making him want to head to Orlando’s and put the guy out of his misery.
“I’ll keep you safe. I promise.” It was all he could offer. Right now he wasn’t sure where he was taking her. Red Stone had a few safe houses located around Miami for emergency situations but he wasn’t going to take her to any of them on the chance that Orlando knew about them. It was unlikely, but with Elizabeth’s life at stake, there was no room for error.
He steered them down a few side-streets and deeper into the heart of Miami. Bright blue, green and various tropical colored houses flew by them. As he took another turn, his death grip on the steering wheel lessened. There wasn’t anyone following them that he could see. Even his security team wasn’t visible. One of the guys had tried radioing him but he’d snapped it off. It wasn’t far-fetched that one of Orlando’s men could be listening in on the right frequency.
Porter slowed and turned down a dead end street. It was lined with old, one-story Florida homes that displayed awnings and jalousie windows. Everything was so damn quiet and peaceful it was hard to believe they’d just been under fire minutes before.
“What are we going to do?” Elizabeth’s voice shook.
“We’ve got to ditch this vehicle,” he said as he kicked the SUV into park. It was the best answer he could give her.
She wrapped her arms around herself tightly. “Okay.”
More than anything he wanted to lean over and comfort her, promise her everything would be all right—but now wasn’t the time. He glanced in his rearview mirror before he bent to grab an extra gun he kept stowed under the driver’s seat, but he froze. An SUV—not the Bronco that had clipped them—slowed then parked a few houses back. He twisted around in his seat. A man emerged from a vehicle carrying what looked like—his heart stopped.
Was that a hand rocket?
For a split second, Porter thought he was seeing things. He was in Miami, not a warzone. Without pause, he grabbed the gun then unstrapped Elizabeth’s seat belt and grasped her slim arm.
“What are you doing?” she shrieked and struggled against his unforgiving hold.
He knew her instinct to fight was kicking in because he was manhandling her. Instead of answering, he opened his door and forcibly dragged her across the console. Luckily she didn’t weigh much. “Run!” he shouted.
As they tumbled on to the sidewalk, he hauled her to her feet and shoved her toward one of the houses. Blood rushed loudly in his ears as he tried to get her to safety. He risked a glance over his shoulder. The guy had the weapon aimed, was about to fire. Porter wrapped his arms around her waist and tackled her to the grassy surface, using his body to protect hers.
A hissing sound streaked through the air then the SUV lifted a few feet off the ground, landing with a sickening boom. A ball of smoke and flames engulfed the vehicle and climbed into the night sky as parts and pieces flew in every direction, landing with loud thuds. The heat licked at his back, but adrenaline coursed through him.
Stay alive. Keep Elizabeth alive.
His thought process was simple.
Pinned beneath him on her back, Elizabeth’s dark eyes widened as she gaped at him. He quickly tugged her to her feet. Now she definitely wasn’t fighting him. She kicked off her high heels and they ran full force across one of the front yards. Once they rounded the one-story house, Porter jumped the chain link fence into a bordering backyard, then lifted her under her arms and slung her over. Now was no time to be gentle.
They needed to put distance between them and the man who’d just tried to blow them up with a hand rocket. Porter hadn’t gotten a good look at it, but it had looked like an AT4 or an RPG. Either way, they were in a very bad situation. Aim didn’t have to be exact with a hand rocket. As long as someone could hit in the general vicinity of their target, damage was guaranteed.
This just brought up a whole new mess of questions. Why would Orlando Salas send someone to come after Elizabeth with an RPG in the middle of Miami? Granted, Porter knew Orlando had connections to arms dealers—he did sell drugs after all—but this attack screamed desperation. Porter guessed it had something to do with whatever was in that safe deposit box. Which meant getting to it before anyone else was now paramount.
“We’ve got to find another car,” he said so Elizabeth would know he had some semblance of a plan.
“Yes.” She was panting next to him, but she kept up as they ran across the backyard.
Rounding the corner of another one story house, he motioned to Lizzy to keep her back against the wall. She complied without comment.
Hugging the wall, they inched along the side of the house. The fence didn’t extend all the way around the yard so once they had visibility of the front yard and part of the neighborhood, Porter pulled out his gun. He hated doing this, but it was the only way to stay alive.