Bodyguard: Ambush (Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

He trusted no one on his Cabinet to keep
     a secret. And if his government ministers had heard about the diamonds, then he was in
     no doubt that other more dangerous individuals would know too. Diamonds lured corrupt
     men like wasps to a jam jar.

‘ATTACK FRONT!’ shouted Jody as a
     car sped out of a side street and screeched to a halt in the middle of the road.
    Connor slammed on the brakes. Jody braced
     herself in the passenger seat, while Charley and Marc were flung forward, only saved by
     their seat belts in the back. Crunching gears, Connor battled to find reverse.
     He’d been driving only three weeks and the pressure of an attack was seriously
     testing his new skills.
    ‘
Come on
,’ he muttered
     in frustration, rattling the gear stick furiously. Finally he managed to engage reverse,
     looked over his shoulder and accelerated away hard. The engine whined in protest as the
     rev counter maxed out.
    Gripping the steering wheel tightly, Connor
     fought to maintain a straight line and keep on the road. Driving at speed in reverse was
     judged extremely dangerous – one tiny misjudgement and he could send the car into a
     fatal spinout.
    By now their attackers had jumped from their
     vehicle and begun firing at them. Connor’s car was going flat out,but reverse gear wasn’t anywhere near fast enough to
     escape an ambush. To do so, he had to change direction. Adrenalin pumping, he took his
     foot off the accelerator, wrenched the steering wheel hard to the right and applied the
     handbrake, all at the same time. His car went into a tyre-screeching 180-degree pivot
     and came to a tight stop. Releasing the handbrake, he floored the accelerator pedal and
     they shot off again, speeding away from the kill zone.
    Behind him, Connor heard Marc whistle in
     relief and Charley whisper, ‘That’s one hell of a roller-coaster
     ride!’
    ‘Well done, Connor. Aside from the
     poor gear change, that was a textbook J-turn,’ Jody commended, ticking off another
     box on her clipboard.
    Connor eased off the accelerator, pleased to
     have passed the first stage. As he continued down the road, he routinely checked his
     rear-view mirror in case the ambushers decided to pursue them. After three weeks of
     intensive lessons, he and the rest of Alpha team had completed their basic driving test
     and were on to advanced evasive driving skills. They’d been taught how to execute
     a bootlegger’s turn, drive safely at high speed, control a skid, push an
     immobilized vehicle out of the kill zone, and even force another car off the road in a
     pursuit. Now it was time to put their newly acquired skills to the test.
    Jody had explained that car travel was
     inherently dangerous. Compared to the security in place at a VIP’s home or a
     school, a vehicle was a mobile target. At these times, the Principal was at their most
     vulnerable to attack or kidnap attempts. This was why each member of Alpha teamhad to be able to drive with confidence and
     at high speeds. One never knew when they might have to take charge of a vehicle in an
     emergency.
    ‘Watch out!’ cried Marc, just as
     Connor turned a corner.
    Up ahead two cars were parked nose-to-nose
     across the street. There wasn’t enough distance to execute a handbrake turn. So,
     this time, Connor didn’t stop. He drove straight at the roadblock. He knew his aim
     would be critical. It had to be the front wheels of the blockading cars, otherwise it
     would be impossible to ram them out of the way. The cars’ front-wheel arches were
     solid and would give him the resistance he needed, as well as the angle of force to
     pivot the vehicles aside.
    When he was twenty metres away Connor
     purposefully slowed down, dropped into first gear, then accelerated hard. He had to hit
     the roadblock at just the right speed. Too slow and he’d get stuck. Too fast and
     he’d damage his own car.
    ‘Brace yourselves!’ he
     warned.
    There was a gut-wrenching crunch as they
     struck