Page 27 of Tactically Acquired

“I thought you said your friend was going to be here?” Spencer whispered.

“He’ll be here.”

“We’re almost to the plane.”

“Just give it a minute.”

“We don’t have?—”

Tires screeched and gunfire tore through the air as a black vehicle screeched to a stop between the plane and the limo, effectively cutting us off. Men jumped from the vehicle, aiming their weapons at the limo driver. Spencer yanked me to the ground, throwing his body over mine in a desperate attempt to cover me.

My sunglasses slid off my nose, going cockeyed as the frames caught in my hair, yanking out strands from my ponytail. I was used to looking like a wreck since action movies didn’t allow for a flawless wardrobe. This would actually fit right into one of my movies. I giggled to myself at how great of a job Craig was doing at making this all so realistic.

“This was not what I had in mind!” Spencer shouted over the racket.

“This is perfect!”

“You’re fucking insane!”

I was still laughing when someone grabbed Spencer and then me, pulling me to my feet. I had to make it look like I was fighting being taken, so I thrust my foot down, stomping on the man’s foot with my heel, then elbowed him hard in the gut. The man was prepared and blocked my attempts, but I did manage to break free long enough to swing around and land one good shot along the man’s jaw.

“Son of a bitch!” I shouted as pain shot up my wrist. In the movies, I never actually hit anyone.

The man swept my legs out from under me and I landed hard on my back. My head slammed into the pavement, making me see stars. That was a little more than I was expecting from this particular kidnapping, but at least it was realistic. I rolled to the side, shaking my head as I watched Spencer fight off the man attacking him.

The man in the mask who had attacked me grabbed my arms and twisted them behind my back. In seconds, zip ties were locked in place and I was hauled to my feet. After a hard hit to the jaw, Spencer was on the ground with his face on the pavement as another man gave him the same treatment. I stumbled along to the SUV, barely able to hold myself up before I was shoved into the back.

Once the cool air hit my skin, I grinned, leaning back in the seat. Now that the kidnapping was over, we’d be on our way to the beach and five days of blissful peace. Spencer slid in beside me, his face swelling from where he’d taken a hit to the eye. I winced, wishing I could reach out and touch him, but with my hands behind my back, that wouldn’t be happening any time soon.

Both men climbed back in the front, shouting as they slammed their doors. Then we shot forward and swerved as they continued to fire out the windows.

“This was not what I had in mind,” Spencer grumbled.

“It had to look authentic,” I whispered.

“He fucking punched me!”

“Yes, but when we get to the beach, we’ll get to relax and unwind. You’ll see. It’ll all be worth it.”

“It better be.”

“Would I ever steer you wrong?”

He slowly turned and glared at me. “I prefer not to answer at this time.”

“Wow,” I huffed. “You think you know a person.”

Now that we were away from the airport and into traffic, I leaned forward and smiled at our kidnappers. “So, now that that’s over, when do we get these zip ties off?”

“Shut it, lady.”

“Ah, I see you’re not in on the game.”

The man turned, but I couldn’t make out anything other than the color of his eyes behind his mask. “The game?”

“With Craig. See, he staged this kidnapping so I could take a vacation. Well, both of us,” I smiled, nodding to Spencer, who glared at me in return. “See, we got roped into doing this movie, and since it wasn’t something we were supposed to have to do, I called Craig to intervene so we could get away. He was nice enough to have us kidnapped.”

“Good for you.”

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