Excerpt: 'Exit Strategy' by Lena Diaz

Lena Diaz joins HEA to share an excerpt from her new release, Exit Strategy, the first book in her new EXIT Inc. romantic suspense series.

About the book (courtesy of Avon):

When Sabrina Hightower awakens to the sound of an intruder, she figures he's there to rob her, murder her—or worse. She doesn't expect to be carried off by a muscle-bound stud with male-model good looks ... or that he came to rescue her.

Mason Hunt became an enforcer with EXIT Inc. to eliminate the bad guys—terrorists, militia groups, all those who would do America harm. But his latest target is innocent. If EXIT could lie about sultry, strong-willed Sabrina, what darker truths might they be concealing?

Going rogue in the rugged North Carolina mountains, Mason risks everything to keep Sabrina close, especially now that EXIT's lethal assassins are chasing them down. The heat is on ... but it's nothing compared to the slow burn of seduction.

Lena sets the scene for us …

Lena: After writing a family-centric series featuring good-guy heroes, with a heavy law-enforcement angle, I thought it would be fun to write something on the opposite end of the spectrum. My new EXIT Inc. series features bad-boy heroes who never met a law they wouldn't break. They do whatever it takes to keep innocent people safe, even if that means killing bad guys without the benefit of a judge, jury or trial. The moral and ethical implications are explored in-depth and ratchet up delicious tension between the heroes and their heroines.

I hope readers enjoy this roller-coaster ride and the touching love story along the way. The excerpt below is one of many action sequences in EXIT Strategy. Here, Mason and Sabrina are ambushed in the mountains overlooking a river. Outgunned and outnumbered, they have no one else to turn to but themselves as they fight for their very survival.

EXCERPT

"Come on!" Mason grabbed her around the waist and yanked her up, half carrying her around the front of the truck as another crack sounded. This one slammed into the front bumper right beside Mason's leg at the same time that a bullet pinged against the hood.

"There's more than one shooter." He yanked her around the other side of the truck and pulled her down in a crouch. The windshield exploded, raining glass down on both of them.

Mason covered Sabrina's body with his as much as possible and returned fire with his Glock. Bam, bam, bam! He shoved her down farther, then jumped up.

Sabrina grabbed her own gun and rolled away from him, aiming underneath the truck back toward where the shots seemed to be coming from. She fired several rounds, ignoring Mason's dark look as he shot toward the same trees and bushes.

He reached over the side of the truck bed and grabbed one of his black bags, dropping it to the ground. He reached over the side for the other bag but dove down just as another bullet slammed through the side of the truck.

Sabrina fired twice more at where she'd seen the last muzzle flash. The cowards who were shooting at them wouldn't show themselves and she didn't even know if she was hitting any of them.

Mason gave up trying for the second bag. "There are too many of them." One of the front tires blew with a loud pop and hiss. The truck bounced on its springs, leaning at an awkward angle. He grabbed the one bag and slung the strap over his shoulders, wearing it like a backpack. "Come on. We have to run for it." He grabbed her hand and pulled her up with him.

"Run?" she yelled. "Where?"

But he either didn't hear her or was too busy returning fire to respond. He popped the magazine out of his gun, slammed another one home, then shoved her toward the road. "Go, run. I'm right behind you!"

She took off running across the road, half turning to return cover fire for Mason, but he was too close and she couldn't risk taking a shot. He was on her like glue, spraying bullets as fast as he could squeeze the trigger while urging her to run faster.

Sabrina saw the cliff and suddenly realized what Mason was about to do. She desperately tried to stop but he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her forward with him.

"Mason, no, I can't swim!"

His eyes widened with alarm but it was too late to stop their momentum. Sabrina screamed as her feet met open air and they plummeted over the cliff toward the river below.

Find out more about Lena and her books at www.lenadiaz.com.