by Eva Chase
I hugged myself. “It is. I still don’t know why you want to know.”
“This man here,” he said, motioning to Jeremy’s back. “The one who pulled you out of the way of that truck. Did you talk to him very much afterward? Get his name, perhaps?”
My throat tightened. I didn’t know what was going on with Jeremy or exactly how I felt about it, but every bit of my being was blaring that this guy wasn’t just looking to have a friendly chat. This guy was the reason Jeremy had been worried about me leaving out the front door last night. For my safety, not just his.
“No,” I said without needing to think twice about my response. “He left pretty quickly after. I wish I could have talked to him to thank him.”
The lie spilled out as if I’d been telling them offhand my entire life. I didn’t think Malcolm looked suspicious. He nodded obligingly. “And you haven’t seen him again since then?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m sorry. What’s this about, anyway? Is he in some kind of trouble?”
“I’m afraid that’s a confidential matter,” Malcolm said. “But I assure you any other information you might be able to offer about him would be very helpful.”
Not helpful to Jeremy, though. I forced a smile. “There really isn’t anything I can think of. I hope whatever you need him for, you’re able to track him down.”
“If you do think of anything, please give me a call.” He reached into the pocket of his trench coat and pulled out a little silver case filled with business cards. He handed one to me. I took it, looked at the text without really seeing it, and stuffed it into my purse.
“I’ll do that. Well, I’ve got to be getting home. It looks like those clouds are going to burst any second now.”
“Of course. No need to keep you. Thank you for your time.”
I kept my steps relaxed and easy all the way to the bus stop that would take me home, even though my muscles were screaming to run. It wouldn’t have done me any good anyway. I still had to wait for the bus. And there wasn’t much I could do that would look more suspicious to that guy.
I definitely wasn’t heading straight to Jeremy’s after that conversation. What if that creep followed me there?
My heart was still thumping when the bus arrived. I huddled in a seat at the back, nibbling at my lip until I caught myself.
What had I found out, exactly? That guy was after Jeremy. Jeremy had known someone might come... but he hadn’t known for sure. I had to warn him.
I pulled out my phone—and hesitated. How had Malcolm been able to track me down anyway? My face was too blurry in that video for me to believe anyone could have identified me from it. I hadn’t told anyone about the near accident. Except the police, of course, but Malcolm hadn’t said he was with the police, hadn’t shown me a badge. He’d said he was investigating privately.
A prickle ran down my spine. He’d found out my name, where I worked, when my shift was ending—way too much information for comfort. If he could dig up all that after seeing one grainy video, who was to say what other measures he might be using to analyze the situation.
Could he be tracking my phone? I studied it, biting my lip again. If he was, he couldn’t have known that Jeremy was the same guy from the video. I’d never talked about the accident in my texts to Jeremy. It’d look like he was just a guy we’d hired for the shelter photos whom I’d happened to hit it off with.
That would change if Malcolm or whoever he was with saw me texting Jeremy to warn him.
I kept the phone clutched in my hand until the bus arrived down the street from my house. Thunder rumbled overhead. I hustled home as fast as my feet could carry me, and then slowed as I reached the shelter of the porch. As casually as I could, I took a quick look around the neighborhood.
There were cars parked in most of the spots along both sides of the street, like there usually were. I had no way of knowing whether they were all just my neighbors’ or whether someone might be watching my house.
But why would they? I was letting Jeremy’s paranoia infect me. They only knew about me from that video. I’d told Malcolm I didn’t know anything about the guy in it.
That didn’t mean he’d believed me though.
I shut the door behind me and leaned against it with a groan. I was just going in circles. I had to do something.
Phones could be tracked. Hell, a house could be bugged. I’d watched enough thrillers to know that. The only completely safe way to talk to Jeremy would be to meet up with him in person on some sort of neutral ground.
There. That would work. I just had to write a text that he’d understand was urgent but that wouldn’t look suspicious to anyone who might be monitoring me. Maybe it was crazy to think anyone might be spying anyway, but hell, a heck of a lot of crazy things had happened in the last day. At least this way I wouldn’t have to worry that I’d screwed things up.
My hands shook a little as I lifted my phone. Hey! I typed. Are you still in town? I’m feeling an urgent need for a cup of coffee. And with better company than I’ve had so far today.
Did that hint at the problem enough? I frowned at the screen, debating whether to add more.
Before I could decide, Jeremy’s response popped up.
Same place as before? I’ll see you there.
No questions, no hesitation. He must have picked up on my cues. I swallowed hard and glanced toward the living room window.
All these cloak and dagger efforts wouldn’t do Jeremy any good if I led Malcolm straight to him anywhere in town. But I could use the same strategy he had last night. Slip away out the back. I wavered, and then set down my phone. Too easy for that to give away my location.
Thankfully, the fence around my backyard was only a low chain-link one I could easily clamber over. I skirted the toys scattering the Millers’ yard and ducked down their driveway, speeding up to a jog when I reached the street beyond. Now that I was on the move, I wanted to put as much distance between me and my house as possible. I was getting pretty good at this ninja stuff.
Same place as before, Jeremy had said. We’d only gotten coffee at one place.
When I’d wandered around enough to completely muddy any trail I might have left, I hopped on another bus heading back downtown. If anyone had tracked my movements that far, they’d have thought I was batshit insane.
I still wasn’t completely sure they’d be wrong.
When I got to the coffee shop, Jeremy wasn’t there yet. Rain started to patter down outside—lightly, but another rumble of thunder told me there was plenty more to come. I went up to the counter and ordered a cappuccino like I had yesterday, just to have something to do with my hands. Gripping the mug, I picked a table off in the corner, away from the other patrons. And then I sat down to wait.
11
Jeremy
Rain drummed against my umbrella. My gut twisted as I came up on the coffee shop. I scanned both sides of the road as I ambled up to it. No black sedans hissing along the wet street. No figures suspiciously lingering on the sidewalk. But I didn’t feel all that reassured.
I might be making something out of nothing. Maybe that text from Grace had been just a friendly overture. But it hadn’t fit the note we’d left things on last night at all. The Grace I’d been getting to know wouldn’t have made an invitation like that without checking that I was okay. She wouldn’t have made a snarky remark about other “company.” Which made me particularly worried about what other company she might have been forced to deal with today.
The second I walked into the warmth and sweet smells of the cafe, my gaze shot to Grace. I’d found her attractive from the start, but since that kiss it was like every nerve in my body hummed to attention at her presence.
She was sitting at one of the smaller tables, her shoulders a little hunched. Her face was wan but lit up when she saw me. The knot in my stomach tightened as I hurried over.
It was my fault she looked that nervous. I should have put her off from the start, stopped her from getting tangled up in
the mess that was my life. But instead I’d let my heart—and my dick—call the shots, and now here we were.
I didn’t bother to order anything, just sat down across from her. “Hey,” she said quietly, peering at me as if she was searching for something in my eyes.
With a little jolt, understanding hit me. She’d found the video. She’d watched it.
She knew.
My stomach clenched for a totally different reason. I wet my lips and leaned my arms on the table. I wasn’t going to bring it up unless she did. “I got the impression from your text that there was something urgent you wanted to talk to me about.”
“Yeah.” Grace stared at me a second longer, and then blinked, her gaze twitching away. “A guy came up to me in the parking lot outside the shelter today. When I was leaving, about an hour and a half ago. He showed me the video of the crash. Asked me if I knew anything about you.” She hesitated. “He already knew my name. I’m not sure how.”
My back went rigid. Less than twenty-four hours. That’s how long it had taken them—whatever group this guy who’d hassled Grace represented. And no wonder. If they had her name, they probably did have access to police files. My fake ID was the only thing that had stopped them from showing up on my doorstep.
So far. It was my turn to study her. “What did you tell him?”
Her gaze came back to me. She raised her chin. “That I’d hardly talked to you after the crash, and hadn’t seen you since. It seemed weird, and I didn’t like the vibe I got from him. And I know you were worried yesterday...”
There was a question in her tone as she let the sentence trail off. I made myself ignore it. My heart was thudding. So all our fears had been valid after all. Someone was still keeping an eye out for people like me and the rest of my family, even thirty years after my parents had escaped them. Someone who’d go to a heck of a lot of trouble to track us down.
Those people knew more about me than I knew about them. I tapped my knuckles on the tabletop. “What did he look like? Did he give you his name?”
“He was maybe mid-forties. Reddish blond hair, blue eyes. Average height, I guess. On the thin side. And yeah, he said his name was Malcolm Finch. Even gave me a card.”
She fished around in her purse and produced a pretty bland-looking business card. I took it from her, flipping it over to the side with the text. Malcolm Finch. AP Enterprises Corp. A phone number. That was it. But it was enough.
My breath hitched. What were the chances that the AP in AP Enterprises didn’t stand for Alpha Project? No way was that a coincidence.
It wasn’t just some group still around thirty years after Mom and Dad’s escape. It was the exact group they’d escaped from. It had to be. Still around, and still tracking down every talented person they could find.
“Jeremy.” Grace’s voice came out quietly. She reached across the table and rested her hand against mine. Her gentle touch brought me back to earth. “Why would anyone be after you?”
I sucked in a breath. “I think it’s better if we don’t get into that. Is there anything else I should know about this Malcolm guy?”
She started to shake her head, but paused. “He was driving a black sedan.”
Shit. It had been them last night too, then. The DMV info Liam had been able to pull hadn’t revealed anything useful, a name on the registration that hadn’t connected to anything suspicious, so I hadn’t been sure.
I pushed back my chair. “I should go. Don’t worry about me. And thank you for asking me to meet you and for telling me all this. You might have saved my life. So I guess you don’t have to feel you owe me now.” I managed a crooked smile.
Grace frowned. “Go—you mean leave the city?”
“I don’t think I have much of a choice at this point.”
Her fingers tightened around my hand. “Do you want to go?”
Not when she was looking like me like that. Not when the grip of her hand reminded me of how she’d held on to me as we’d kissed.
I shoved those memories aside. “It’s not about what I want. They’re already here. Even if you don’t tell them anything, it’s probably only a matter of time before they follow one trail or another to me.”
“Because of what you can do.”
My body balked. I’d never talked about my abilities outside my family. “Let’s not get into that. All you need know is that I don’t really have a choice here, Grace.”
“Of course you do,” she said, her voice rising. She caught herself and lowered it again. “You’ve built a life here, haven’t you? Are you really going to spend the rest of your life upheaving everything any time you’re worried you might be in trouble? How is that even really a life?”
Maybe it wasn’t one. I couldn’t say I’d built much here. But that didn’t matter. “You don’t know these people. You don’t know what they’re capable of.”
“Do you?” she demanded. “Have you ever tried to stay?”
My mouth opened, but what could I say to that? I’d never even stayed this long before.
“You should stand up for yourself,” she barreled on. “Fight for yourself. Not just run away. You can’t let them chase you off like that.”
My hands clenched. Her coffee cup jittered an inch to the side. Grace’s mouth snapped shut. She stared at it, and then at me. I closed my eyes, inhaled, exhaled, and said as evenly as I could, “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She winced. A pang of guilt hit me, but it was true. Maybe I didn’t have any direct experience with the Alpha Project people, but my parents’ stories had told me enough. They were dangerous. Ruthless. It was me they wanted. If I was gone, then at least Grace would be safe.
The question slipped out anyway. “Why does it matter to you so much anyway?” I asked. “You hardly know me.”
Grace sucked her lower lip under her teeth. She looked away for a moment. A shadow crossed her expression, so dark I almost wished I could take back the question. Then she turned back to me. Her voice came out barely above a whisper.
“I know that you’re the only person I can think of still living who’d willingly put his life at risk to save mine. You leave, and I’m back to having no one who’d bother.”
The emotion in those words squeezed my heart. But I’d already made enough mistakes listening to that part of my body. I gritted my teeth and pushed myself to my feet.
“I’m really sorry about that. I mean it. But it’s not just my life I’m worrying about now either. I’ve got to go, Grace. Thank you again for the warning.”
When I got home, the first thing I grabbed was my burner phone. This time it was Mom who picked up my parents’ line.
“They caught on really fast,” I said. “The Alpha Project people. They’re already here trying to track me down.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Mom said in her usual brash tone. “Slow down and start from the beginning. What exactly have you seen and heard.”
I gave her the quick version of my trip to Grace’s neighborhood last night and what she’d told me just now. Naturally the first thing out of Mom’s mouth when I finished was, “It sounds like you really like this girl.”
“Mom. That’s not the point. AP—Alpha Project? They’ve got connections in high places if they’ve already gotten to Grace. They must have accessed the police records.”
“I think you’re right to be concerned,” Mom said. “But if their connections could have led them straight to you, they’d already be at your apartment. Grace didn’t tell them anything. So take a moment and breathe. We’ll get through this, like we’ve gotten through everything the last thirty years have thrown at us.”
But some of those escapes had been a nearer thing than others. I shoved my hand into my pocket, closing my fingers around the shard of glass so hard the worn edges bit into my skin. “You can’t really be suggesting I stay here now.”
“If you think it’s really best that you leave now, then get yourself out of there. But whenever we move, there’s a chance of
getting detected then too. Abandoning ship creates a little chaos, and chaos is more noticeable than calm. You’re my son, but you’re also a grown man—I know that. I trust your judgment. If you think it’s possible the situation will blow over, that they’ll give up and move on, and you want to stay… I’m not going to order you to leave.”
So the decision was on my shoulders. Where it should be, really. After I hung up the phone I stalked to the bedroom and back again. Paced in front of the door for a few minutes debating going straight down to the parking garage and peeling out of this city.
Did I really want to go? No. Of course not. I’d come to love the dry heat and the rocky terrain, the majestic forests and the starkness of the desert. I knew where to find good food in the city. I knew where to go if I was bored. The apartment might be bland, but it was more comfortable than plenty I’d lived in before. Had I built much? No. I had gotten comfortable, though.
And there was Grace. Who was I kidding? She was more than a big deal. I hadn’t felt this way about anyone in... maybe forever. When had I ever let anyone outside the family get this close to me?
She couldn’t have a future with me, whether I stayed or not. I was just putting her at risk being around her. She was already at risk. That Malcolm guy had approached her once. What would the Alpha Project assholes do to her if they got frustrated with my trail gone cold and decided there had to be something else she could cough up about me?
Could I really leave her here to face them alone? That was what it came down to, wasn’t it? I’d stuck her in the line of fire, like a shield between me and the people after my family, and now I was going to abandon her to them.
I rubbed my forehead. No, I couldn’t do that. She deserved better. So much fucking better.
But what was the alternative? Staying and hoping that the Alpha Project people would give up?
I guessed they’d have to eventually. They’d assume I’d left town and leave, too. They couldn’t follow every lead they got forever. As long as I kept the same low profile as always, maybe I could stay at least long enough to make sure they didn’t go after Grace again. I owed her that much.