Accidental Bodyguard by Sharon Hartley Page B

God. The demon car.
    â€œElectronically searched.” Jack shook his head. “Bugging your vehicle is the most obvious way to track your movements. Don’t you read the paper?”
    Claudia narrowed her eyes at his sarcastic tone, knowing he was parroting her words about the government. “I don’t have a bug sweeper. I wouldn’t even know where to get one.”
    â€œFortunately, I do. Where is the vehicle?”
    â€œIn Mr. Santaluce’s garage.”
    â€œThis will take some time. I’ll have to retrieve the device from the security office. Arm and rearm the security system each time I buzz.”
    Clutching her elbows, Claudia nodded and resisted the urge to beg him not to go. Despite all her precautions, Carlos had found her. Terror clawed at her insides, and Jack’s presence calmed her fear. Which made no sense.
    At the monitor, she watched him exit the gate and immediately rearmed the system. She moved away and began to pace. Now that Jack was gone, she needed to think.
    How could she trust a man she didn’t know? Sure, he seemed honorable, had been nice to her, but she knew nothing about him. And why should he trust her ? She’d lied her way onto the island, and he’d quickly sniffed out her deception. He’d seen right through her disguise and even the second lie, yet was still willing to help her.
    Why? Carlos had taught her everyone had a motive for everything they did. What was Jack’s?
    Of course he didn’t understand why she wasn’t in protective custody, but Jack had no idea what life was like with Carlos. No one did. Her husband had warped her somehow, created an inability to trust. He’d taught her a lot—mainly to rely on nobody. Nobody but myself.
    Too bad her brilliant plan had put her in a corner with nowhere to go.
    You are under my protection. She remembered Jack’s words, and they gave her hope. But the US Attorney had said the same thing, and his office had a leak.
    So why did she believe in Jack and not the feds? Because he was all sexy and gorgeous? Was her lustful nature about to do her in again? She didn’t dare trust herself when she’d made so many mistakes in the past. She had completely misjudged Carlos.
    Was she misjudging Jack?
    Right now she had no choice. She had to accept his help even if she didn’t trust him.
    And, yes, she wanted him to stay the night with her as Marsali had suggested he do...but only for protection. If he was with her, he couldn’t report to Carlos.
    She just needed to get over her attraction to Jack.
    * * *
    J ACK RAN THE sweeper wand around the body of Claudia’s rusted car and got a hit almost immediately. No question, this was how the Warriors had tracked her to Collins Island.
    He shook his head at Claudia’s ineffective method of cleaning her car. A visual search? She wasn’t a pro and wouldn’t know what she was looking for.
    Jack went through his options quickly. If he left the tracking device in place and got her off the island in a different vehicle, the Warriors would believe she remained here and still try to get to her. That solved nothing. If he destroyed the bug, they’d wonder why it had stopped transmitting and keep attempting to breach security.
    The best way to protect both Collins Island and Claudia would be to drive the car off the island with the device in place and working. He’d abandon the vehicle and let the Warriors track it down. The safest plan would be to drive it into one of the many canals in south Miami-Dade County so they couldn’t plant an explosive device that might injure some innocent citizen on detonation.
    Another option would be to inform the US Attorney’s Office and let them handle the mess they’d created. But how long would it take the feds to act? Would they require an act of Congress to amend the budget? He wanted that bug off his island ASAP and the Warriors looking elsewhere for a while.
    At