Page 49 of Secrets Along the Shore (Beach Read Thrillers #1)

Before crossing the road to the car, he scanned their surroundings.

No doubt more men would show up. The backpack still sat in the bathroom so they’d show up here.

But Tyler would make sure he and his targets were long gone first. He opened the car door for Elara and Rian.

The bag of stuff he’d bought sat on the sidewalk where he’d ditched it upon seeing the Rukas.

Stepping away from the vehicle, he retrieved the bag and tossed it into the back seat, then stood guard.

One hand on the door, he aimed his rifle down the road in the direction that the first batch of men had come.

Elara whispered to Rian before helping him into the backseat then slid in beside him. Once they were settled, Tyler shut the door and climbed in the front. He set his rifle in the passenger seat and started the engine.

“Where are we going?” Elara asked.

“Somewhere safer.” He pulled the car out onto the road and headed for the tall building he’d seen when he stopped while at the convenience store. The hotel would provide a decent place for them to stay until he heard back from Von. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

A five minute drive brought them to the hotel. Far from fancy, but it served its purpose. He pulled the vehicle to the back of the parking lot and killed the engine.

“We didn’t go very far.”

He shrugged. “We can’t leave the city. While we wait, you need to get some rest. Viktor won’t look here any more than he’d look somewhere else.” And probably he’d assume that Tyler would try to leave the city or find a better place to hide.

“But the hotel staff will be able to identify us.”

“No.” Tyler pulled out the cash he’d brought for the mission. He’d bribe the staff to keep quiet about him, but he’d make sure they never saw Elara or Rian. “Just stay put. I’ll be back in five.” He got out of the vehicle and headed into the hotel lobby.

His plan worked perfectly, and he got two rooms on separate floors. Now if the staff did talk, they wouldn’t know which room they’d actually be in, which would split up Viktor’s forces.

When Tyler returned, his targets sat silently in the back seat. Rian tore a chunk of a granola bar off with his teeth. Elara held the plastic bag on her lap. Her gaze lifted as Tyler slid into the driver’s seat and shut the door.

“Did you get a room? ”

He nodded, keeping his attention outside of the car. “We got two. One on the second floor, the other on the third. We’ll be on the second, closer to the stairs and to the ground. We need to stay quiet and keep you two hidden.”

“How are you going to do that?” Elara opened a bottle of water for her son and handed it to him.

“We’ll go up the staircase. Just keep your heads down in case there is a camera.” He doubted it, but he wasn’t positive. Glancing over his shoulder at them, he waited as Rian finished his last bite of the granola bar. “Ready?”

Elara nodded. “Yes.”

Tyler got out of the car again, this time with his M4, and waited for his targets to exit with their stuff.

Elara held her son’s hand in her left hand and the bag of food and medical supplies in the other.

Rian’s head hung. The poor kid had to be exhausted.

As soon as they got into the hotel room, he could crash on the bed and sleep for a few hours.

“C’mon.” Tyler led the way to the staircase and up to the second floor.

After checking the window in the door, he entered the empty hallway.

He stepped aside and held the heavy door for Elara and her son, then let it shut as he headed toward their room.

Pulling the keycard from his pocket, he held it to the sensor.

The door unlocked, and he shoved it open. After switching on the hallway light, he did a brief sweep of the room as Elara and Rian shrugged off their vests. Satisfied that the room was secure, Tyler lowered his weapon and made sure the door was locked.

“Take your shoes and jacket off, Rian. You need to sleep,” Elara said.

Rian pulled himself onto the bed with a quiet moan.

His head barely met the pillow before he was out.

Elara adjusted the blankets over his small form and pressed a kiss to his head.

She sighed as she sat in the chair in the corner near the bed.

Exhaustion lined her eyes. She’d been through much in the last hour.

As Tyler placed his M4 on the tabletop, he eyed the bloody spot in her hair.

She needed to have that looked at. Other than her moans of pain, she seemed alright.

But this chaos couldn’t be helping any. Almost as if she knew he was thinking about it, she touched the spot.

Pain flashed through her eyes. “I should probably clean it.” She dug into the plastic bag at her feet and grabbed the painkillers, gauze, and alcohol he’d bought.

He nodded once as he took a seat by the desk.

Elara disappeared into the bathroom down the short hallway. The gurgling sound of water followed the squeak of what Tyler assumed was the faucet handle. Pills rattled in the bottle. Her weak groan reached his ears.

Tyler rested his arm on the desk. If she needed his help, he’d get up, otherwise he wasn’t moving for a while.

His body hurt from the exertion even worse than earlier.

He might have been a little out of shape.

He’d trained as hard as he could, pushing himself during workouts, but he’d only done hard workouts for a couple of months.

Not to mention, he was out of practice. It’d been almost eight months since he’d last extracted a target.

Elara returned to her chair in the main room. The blood on her hair was cleaned off, but her thick brunette hair concealed the injury. Her gaze drifted to her son. “He could have been shot.”

“The odds were low. I kept you two behind me for a reason.” So he’d eat lead first. He stretched out his legs in front of him.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“For what?”

“For freaking out like I did. You didn’t need that. Rian shouldn’t have seen that.” She gestured to the boy breathing deeply on the bed.

Tyler wouldn’t deny that, but he didn’t blame her. “It was a bad situation. It happened unexpectedly. You’re obviously not cut out for this life or being married to a mobster.”

She swallowed hard. “I didn’t marry Viktor.”

Right. He’d kinda expected that. She’d been young and got caught in a mess she didn’t understand. At least she wasn’t tied to him through marriage or things might have gotten more complicated. Tyler nodded and glanced around the room. “Did you?—”

“I’m sorry about your friends.”

“They’re not my friends.” Or weren’t.

Elara frowned at him.

Had he answered too quickly? Maybe. But Adam had pointed out that developing friendships with him and the others was a bad idea since they could die at any moment.

And the CIA operative had proved that true.

Tyler swiped a hand over his face. Yeah.

He’d lost men again. But he couldn’t let it hurt the same.

If he got into this life, he’d face loss all the time.

He needed to let it go. The mission came first.

“You were upset when he died.”

“Adam has a wife.”

She nodded. “I heard. But you seemed quite upset at first.”

“It was unexpected, but I can’t fix it. Right now, I need to focus on my mission.”

“Me and Rian?”

“Yeah.” He met her gaze. “Getting you two home to Koen.” And he had a long way to go, because Von still hadn’t called him. Where was she?