CL Hart -From A Distance by CL Hart Read Free Book Online Page B

audible, but a millisecond before it was fired Kenzie saw the red line from the laser sight refracting on the car. Instinct took over and she tackled Cori to the ground just as the side window of the Honda exploded. "Stay down," Kenzie ordered as they huddled together, the shattered glass raining down upon them. Moving away from the side of the car, Kenzie brought her guns up and fired rapidly in the direction of the source of the laser.
    The loud noise of the big guns echoed through the neighborhood, filling the streets with screams from frightened people, including Cori who was crouching down, her hands over her ears, looking too stunned to move.
    "Open the car door," Kenzie yelled as she ducked down to reload.
    Cori didn't move.
    "Open the fucking car door, now!"
    Cori reached through the shattered window, unlocked the door and pulled it open. With the car door now open, Kenzie holstered one of her guns and pushed Cori forward. "Get in, get over, and get down."
    Kenzie picked up her duffle bag, and threw it into the back seat just as two holes exploded into the frame of the car. Kenzie hurtled into the driver's seat and then emptied her handgun at the muzzle flash in the shadows. Quickly switching guns, she holstered the empty one as she reached for the keys gripped tightly in Cori's hand.
    "Give me the keys," Kenzie demanded as she ripped them from Cori's fingers. Firing up the engine, she shoved it into gear and stomped on the gas pedal. The tires squealed as the small car shot backward out of its parking stall and into the street. Kenzie spun the steering wheel with one hand and the car bounced and slid sideways as she slammed it into a forward gear.
    Cori crouched on the passenger side floor watching as Kenzie maneuvered the car with one hand while reloading her guns with the other. "What was that?" Cori yelled over the noise of the car. "What the hell was that? What's going on?"
    Kenzie was too busy refilling clips and trying to drive to answer. Her eyes darted from her lap to the road in front, and then to the vehicles behind them. Kenzie shoved an ammo clip into the butt of her gun.
    "Somebody wants you dead. That's why I'm here." She holstered her gun and looked down at Cori. "Why would someone want you dead?"
    "You're here to protect me?" For a moment, Cori's face held a look of relief, but that soon disintegrated. "You're not here to protect me, are you?"
    To Kenzie it sounded like a rhetorical question, so she offered no answer. "Why would someone want you dead?"
    Cori rubbed at her face. "I-I don't know. No one... I'm just a student. I haven't been down here long enough to piss someone off that badly. I'm not into drugs, and my mother doesn't have any money, so there's no point in kidnapping me." She sniffed loudly as she looked around her at the shattered glass. "I don't know why anyone would want me dead."
    Kenzie was thinking about Cori's disclaimer as they approached Anillo Periferico, the main road that looped around Guadalajara. Studying every vehicle behind her, she tried to decide if she should go directly to the rendezvous point or follow a circuitous route to make sure no one was following them. The rendezvous point... What am I going to do with her? How am I going to explain her? Maybe I can smuggle her onto the plane. Yeah, right, and then what? I need to find out who wants her dead. Then what, LeGault?
    Cori, struggling to stay calm, said, "Excuse me."
    Her thought processes interrupted, Kenzie looked down at Cori almost as if she had forgotten she was there.
    "What just happened? What exactly is going on?"
    After a pause, Kenzie finally said matter-of-factly, "Someone just tried to shoot you." She reached over and brushed away some of the shattered glass. "Sit in the seat."
    "I think I know that, but why are they shooting at us?" Cori's voice reflected surprise and fear.
    Kenzie reached around into the backseat and unzipped her duffle bag. "Not us - you." Keeping her eyes on the road and behind