by J. M. Madden
Chapter 3
For some reason he thought she'd be harder to find. Parker looked up the glass and concrete expanse of her condominium complex. It stretched at least thirty floors into the air and looked to be impenetrable. Parker knew that that was deceptive. Every building had a way in.
He shifted in the seat of the rental truck, trying to ease the pain in his right thigh. When it was cold and rainy like this it seemed to settle into the metal in his leg, chilling him from the inside out. He had two plates, a rod, and eight screws holding the upper leg together and it always caused him aggravation. The smaller plate in his left leg, not so much. The left ankle was a little weaker than the right and if anything let him down, it would be that ankle. It had sent him back to the doctor time after time and if he continued to have issues he was just going to have the bones fused permanently. Maybe then he'd at least be able to get around easier. Less pain would be a plus too.
Yeah, he thought that, but when it came time to actually admit himself to the hospital he doubted he could do it. Too many nightmares there. He would deal with the pain.
A late model BMW passed him and pulled into the underground parking garage. Parker picked up his binoculars. They had a nice security set-up here. The driver's side window stayed up, so he assumed there was some kind of scanner for the car, or a high-def camera to read a pass. Something like that. It was all very contained. The one way, metal gate went up and the car pulled in, brake lights shining.
Parker glanced at the parking loop at the front of the tower. There was a valet stand there doing a pretty brisk business, probably for the high-end restaurant on the back side of the first floor. There was a brass sign tucked at one corner of the building with a chef's name on it he didn't recognize, but that didn't mean anything. He was used to burgers and take-out.
Andromeda had pulled in earlier in her blacked-out Range Rover. The glass had been tinted but it had been enough for him to see her face. She hadn't been smiling. She'd looked... distracted, or something. Definitely hadn't been watching her surroundings.
Seeing her again brought back a whole slew of emotions. Anger and disillusionment, need and at the bottom of it all, heartbreak. The two of them had been something special.
Parker watched the front of the condo for a couple of hours before he pulled away from the building to park a block away. Then he walked back toward the condo. If he could scout out the surveillance they had on the building he'd have a better idea of where he stood.
It wasn't as hard as he'd feared. Within just a few minutes he found a way in through the delivery door in the back of the restaurant, propped open for the smokers to get out then back in easily. Parking himself under a dripping tree, he staked out the back, watching for a chance to slip in. It didn't take long. One of the waiters propped the door with a rock, smoked two cigarettes then let himself back into the building, leaving the rock in the prop position.
As Parker circled the building he wondered how many other security issues there were.
Two more. One was an unlocked side door into the restaurant and the second was a faulty camera, looking at that door. Overall the entire set-up was well thought out and executed, but for human error. Mentally, he marked the spots in his mind and circled around, heading back toward his truck. His toes were frozen and his left leg numb. When it thawed out it was going to be damn painful.
Back in his truck, he started swiping through screens on his smart phone he found the app that his current boss at Lost and Found had created. It was a simple tracking app. All you needed was the serial number on the transponder box and you could look it up on the GPS. It was ingenious, actually, and Palmer deserved to be proud of what he'd created.
When he'd walked through the Prosecutor's Office parking garage earlier, it had be surprisingly easy to set the box into the bumper of Andromeda's vehicle. As he looked the location up now and saw the steady little red target, he prayed she didn't have another vehicle. Or that she'd taken a cab somewhere, which she'd been known to do.
Parker poked at the menu icon in the top right-hand corner and set an alarm. If her car moved more than fifty feet he would be notified. Tipping his head back against the seat, he closed his eyes. In his rush to get here, he'd lost out on some sleep.
When the text alarm on Andromeda's cell-phone went off at oh dark thirty, she had a premonition that it was going to be a bad day. Mike Maddox, her boss, wanted her to call him immediately.
"Cutting to the chase here," he told her quickly. "Your cop witness was just mowed down as he was walking to his cruiser in front of the police station. They think he'll be okay but he has a severe concussion, contusions and a broken shoulder. It was a late model sedan that hit him. One of the other cops got a partial plate so we're running it. If we find anything I'll let you know."
"This has to be the al Fareq case," Andromeda said quickly. "This is the third compromised witness. I need him under protection. I can't afford to lose any more people."
"I am aware," Mike told her calmly. "I've already got a call in for extra-duty officers. He'll be under twenty-four hour guard till next Wednesday. Where is your other guy?"
Andromeda sighed. "He's not far from here in German Village. I have to go get him before court. I think of any of them he'll be the safest because he's so far off the grid."
Zane Mackenzie was a mountain of a man with a dark auburn beard and arms that went on for miles. Quiet and observant, he'd become her prime witness. It also didn't hurt that he was a former Green Beret, retired after an injury. He'd mentally recorded details about the suspect that had basically given Andromeda her whole case.
Mac was a recluse, though, more comfortable with his books than dealing with the public. He liked to hang around East Whittier in the German Village neighborhood. There were several coffee and books shops around there. Though he'd agreed to be a witness in the criminal case, he wanted to fly under the radar as much as possible. He was not going to appreciate what was going on. He definitely would not appreciate being hauled in to be placed under protective custody.
Andromeda sat up in bed, the sheets falling around her. There was so much that she needed to do. "I'll be in at the office within the hour."
"I'll be there."
Andromeda bolted through her shower and got dressed. It was Saturday so she passed on the skirt suits and drew a pair of black pants from a hanger. Then a heavier maroon sweater. She had a pair of Bos and Company rain boots that would match the outfit fine and keep her feet dry. Last night they'd been damp, even though she'd been inside most of the day.
Letting the towel fall from her hair she started the moussing and styling process. Then she grabbed up her blow dryer. The short dark hair was styled within two minutes and she couldn't imagine what she'd done when her hair had been down to her waist. The years she'd wasted messing with it.
She packed her laptop into her bag and grabbed her coat from the hall closet, slipping it on. She would not get as chilled today as she had yesterday.
Charles was on duty this morning. She gave the monitor a wave as she headed down on the elevator, but wasn't in the mood to talk much. Instead she caught up on a few emails on her phone. Her head was down as she exited the elevator and she wasn't prepared when someone shoved into her. Clutching her phone in her hand she dropped it into her pocket as she looked up, ready to rip into someone. Andromeda had a split second to connect to a pair of dark eyes and a smiling face before she was instinctively jumping back from a vicious knife swing.
Her computer bag flopped against her hip and she put a hand on it to protect the laptop, panting in shock. Andromeda knew her mouth was hanging open, but she couldn't seem to get a firm grasp on what was going on. The dark-eyed woman in the black hijab lunged at her again, barely missing Andromeda's stomach with the glittering blade.
Andromeda kicked at the woman's hand, but she held onto the knife, swinging around and slashing backwards. That one caught in her coat and Andromeda staggered back. Her back slammed into the concre
te wall and the woman was on her, knife held overhead to plunge down. Gasping, Andromeda held her left arm up to protect her head and felt a scalding burn down her forearm, even through the leather of the coat. That was terrifying, and motivating. Balling her right fist, she plowed it toward the woman's face, but missed. Instead she grabbed the fabric of the hijab and pulled.
Her attacker screamed and fell away but Andromeda knew not to let her regain the advantage. Pushing away from the wall she balled her fist to punch her again, but her arm was grabbed before she could make contact. A much stronger force jerked her away and spun her to the concrete. She landed on her ass hard. A few yards away at the elevator doors a man in a knit cap was helping the woman up. They both turned to look at her. Scrambling to her feet Andromeda bolted for her vehicle. She knew the keys were in her pocket and if she could make it there she would be safe.
The boots weren't the best thing to run in but she made them work, her long legs eating up the ground. All those fucking hours at the gym were finally paying off. The car door unlocked as soon as she touched the handle and she lurched inside, jabbing at the button to start it. As soon as it caught she jerked the gear shift into drive. Something thumped against the hood and she looked up to see the woman standing in front of her vehicle with her arms spread, a maniacal smile twisting her lips. Was she trying to die?
The man slammed something black and hard against her driver's side window and Andromeda winced. Had that been a gun? If he broke the glass he'd be able to grab her. Pushing her foot onto the gas pedal she drove out of the spot. The woman in the hijab fell to the side, screaming unintelligible things at her, but she seemed to be okay. The man chased after her for several yards before she lost sight of him as she turned a corner. She paused for the sensor to read her vehicle to open the gate, but when she saw that man running up behind her she panicked. Flooring it, she rammed through the metal gate barring the exit.
Outside, there was another melee going on that she couldn't make sense of. It looked like several men, all with middle-eastern coloring like the two that had just attacked her, had piled onto one big Caucasian male. They had him on the ground and were pounding the hell out of him, it looked like.
Andromeda was torn. Had the man seen something and been trying to help her? Or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Her tires barked on the pavement as she turned onto the street and started away. Then she glanced into the rearview mirror.
One of the middle-eastern men held a gun out toward the man on the ground, then the man on the ground brought one out as well. The attackers scattered away when it appeared they were going to be in the middle of a firefight. Time stilled, and she stomped on the brakes. Desperate to derail what was about to happen, she blew her horn and slammed the vehicle into reverse.
The transmission whined as she floored the Range Rover into a controlled back up, targeting the standing man with the gun. He didn't even glance up at the car barreling down on him until it was almost too late. At the last possible moment, he glanced up. Even as he started to lunge away, the gun went off. Then a second gun went off. Even inside the vehicle she could hear the report of the weapons.
Andromeda jerked the wheel to the side, parking the Range Rover between the attackers and the man on the ground. She looked down at him, screaming for him to get up and get in. But some piece of her consciousness realized that she'd stepped into a time warp. She recognized the man like she’d spoken to him just yesterday, though it had been years. Parker Quinn lay on the ground, squinting in pain, black gun in hand.
Parker Quinn? Seriously? What the ever loving fuck was going on?
He scrambled to his feet, though it seemed like it took him a very long time. Was he in pain? Even as he lunged into the rear seat, she was already flooring the vehicle. It took him a moment to get all the way into the seat and close the door, but she didn't dare slow down to let him get situated. She stared at him in the rearview mirror though. Even as she drove like the devil was on her ass, she stared at her former lover in the back seat.
"Turn here," he snapped. "Right. Right."
Andromeda slammed on the brakes and cranked the wheel.
"Stop beside that gray pickup."
She followed the line of Parker's finger and stopped beside a non-descript Chevy truck. Tumbling out of her vehicle he keyed a remote for the gray pickup and reached inside. He pulled out a big tan duffel, shut the door, locked it and got back into her vehicle, this time in the front seat.
"Go!"
Andromeda floored it, terrified that any minute now she would see a car in pursuit.
For some reason she turned away from the prosecutor's office and headed toward High Street. There was plenty of traffic there and plenty of places to pull over and take a breath.
Parker was talking to her but there was a ringing in her ears that deafened her. She could see his hard lips moving but couldn't hear his beautiful voice.
Andromeda pulled into a Wendy's and parked her car, then let her head sag to the steering wheel as she caught her breath. Her heart was pounding out of her chest as she thought about what she'd just done. Yes, she'd been attacked but she had also attacked someone, struck her with a motor vehicle, committed criminal damage against her condo company, and committed a vehicular assault. Her brain shorted out and she knew she had to call her boss. And the condo company. How the hell had she gotten in this mess?
God, she needed to call Charles just to give him a heads up. Surely by now he'd called the cops? There were security cameras all over that building.
Andromeda scrambled in her pocket for her phone, but she remembered Parker. Twisting in her seat she looked at him.
Leaning against the door he scanned the area constantly, black gun still in hand. His big body was dressed in black from head to toe, but she didn't need bare skin to remember what he looked like. Stacked with muscle from his neck down, he was— and always had been— one of the most attractive men she'd ever been in the presence of. His deep-set gunmetal gray eyes regarded her thoughtfully as she caught her breath. "You okay?"
Andromeda blinked, wondering what crazy hell she'd managed to drop into. She nodded, but wasn't sure she was telling him the truth.
Parker grinned at her, his hard, angular face softening as he slicked his sweaty hair back with a hand. It was normally a buttery dirty blond, but right now, dark with sweat, it was almost a walnut color. "You kicked some ass back there."
Suddenly she was twenty-five years old and blushing from a compliment by a good looking guy in a bar. How trite was it that she met him when they were both out with friends? She hadn't really been looking for anything in particular, maybe just some attention and a good time. Unfortunately, the attention was easy to get— the good time, not so much.
She and two of her girlfriends had been leaning over a pool table, playing haphazardly. They hadn't actually been getting a lot of balls into pockets, but they had been playing. Andromeda had looked up and there had been a man staring at her. This man. He'd been a newly minted Navy SEAL, in Boston for some super-secret training. Within just a few minutes he'd managed to work his way close to the table. He'd teased her into playing a game with him and it had been daring and frightening and thrilling. Parker Quinn made her feel things that she'd never felt before and she'd gotten high just from being close to him.
Most of the guys she went to law school with had more money than brains, so to find someone that wasn't ruled by what his daddy wanted or what society expected was a scintillating change. And he was just young and brash enough to walk into a college bar and turn the girls on their heads.
There was a realness to him that had called to her.
And now, years later with so much mileage between them, he still called to her. Her eyes drank him in.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"I'm protecting you," he told her.
Andromeda barked out a laugh. "Okay, I must have missed that part. Are you serious?"
Parker
scanned the area, looking as dangerous as she knew him to be. "Hey, they were all heading in toward you and I sidetracked most of them."
One finger brushed at the blood at the corner of his mouth and she felt a little bad. He had been there.
"I can't believe what just happened."
"Well, we need to get you the hell out of here. It's not safe for you to be here."
Reaching into her center console she brought out a pack of baby wipes and plucked several from the package. "Look at me," she told him.
He turned his head to her and she started wiping blood away. Something seemed off about his face, but she couldn't tell what exactly. She looked at him, turning his head this way and that. There were some faint lines around his right eye.
"It's not going to even out," he told her finally. "I've had some damage to my right eye socket, so things look a little off."
Abruptly she pulled her hands away. "Oh, I am so sorry! I thought you had swelling but I couldn't see where."
"Don't worry about it. It's been a while. We need to get out of here," he reminded her.
Andromeda nodded. "I think you're right. I need to call my boss and tell him what happened."
As she drew the phone up, Parker pushed her hand down. "I think we need to get you out of Dodge first. If you stay, you're going to have to do a police report and all that shit. Let's get you out of town and then you can call. Once he understands it was for your safety it'll all work out."
Andromeda gave him a look out of the corner of her eyes. "Why are you here, Parker? And why are you trying to get me out of town?"
He grinned and shook his head slowly. "I knew you'd question everything. Let's just say that there are interests invested in keeping you alive. And they want these terrorists you're trying to convict as gone as you do. I'm here to make sure you succeed. But we have to leave. Your apartment is compromised."
Andromeda scowled and rested her head back on her hands. What a clusterfuck. She shook her head. "I don't have any clothes or anything with me. I can't just leave."