The Marked Star

by Vicki Hinze

  “Which is why I didn’t.” Wisdom shone in Lizzie’s eyes. Wisdom and mischief.

  “She smells like violets.” Elle crooked her head. “I’ve never smelled violet perfume.”

  “Sometimes she smells like lavender. That’s when she’s missing Scotland, she says.”

  “Is Nora from Scotland?”

  Lizzie nodded. “She talks about it all the time. Well, when she’s in the mood.”

  “You spend a lot of time with her, then?”

  “While my mom’s at work.”

  “Lucky you.”

  “She’s really smart. People don’t get it, but Nora knows everything.”

  “I think you’re pretty smart, too. You do get it.” A kindred spirit. Elle staved off a smile. “You are okay about coming with us until Nora feels better, right? I apologize, Lizzie. I should have asked you first.”

  “It’s fine.” She nodded. “Nora’s not going away forever, is she?”

  “No, just resting until she feels better.”

  “Promise?”

  The plea in that request squeezed Elle’s heart. Lizzie already feared her mom wouldn’t come back and now she worried about Nora.

  And apparently, Nick picked up on that, too. “Nora will be fine, Lizzie. And so will you.”

  “Okay.”

  “And you’re right about Dr. Talbot waiting at the car,” Nick told her. “Jeff’s going to get Nora into the house, unless the doc thinks she needs the ER. If he does, he’ll tell Jeff.”

  Elle smiled. “Excellent. All the bases are covered then.”

  Lizzie twisted her lips, thinking. Finally, she said, “Nora’d have to be half-dead to go to the hospital without a fight. But I don’t think she needs it. She’s worn to a frazzle, pure and simple—that’s what she said. I figure, she just needs rest.” She looked up at Nick. “Thank you for taking care of her.”

  Sam returned—and shot Lizzie a look, daring her to find fault with his execution of his knightly duties.

  She ignored him, asked Elle, “What’s that?”

  Elle looked to the table. “Oh, that’s a begonia.” The scent filled her nose. In all the ruckus over Nora, she’d forgotten about it. “A lady gave it to me.” Elle looked at Nick.

  “What lady?” he asked. “Can you point her out?”

  “She left. I don’t know her.” He’d introduced her to nearly everyone in the room, but that woman hadn’t been among the guests then. Lizzie stepped away to talk to a girl she clearly knew well. “She was about the same age as Annie,” Elle told him. “A Louis Vuitton fan.”

  “Louis who?”

  “Never mind,” Elle said. “She wore a blue dress.”

  He persisted. “Did she say anything to you?”

  “She enjoyed my new song.”

  “Is that it?”

  The tension in him washed over Elle in waves. “No.” She leaned close. “Take care, Elle. These days, you never know who’s watching you.”

  “Oh, man.” Nick whispered. “We need to go—now.”

  “Why?”

  “You’re in danger here.” He spotted Lizzie and called out. “Lizzie.” He motioned her over.

  “When she said that, I got a funny feeling,” Elle admitted. “I came to tell you, but then Nora…”

  Nick interrupted, agitated and not hiding it. “The flower carries meaning.”

  A signal, or something? The muscles in her torso clenched all at once. “What is it?”

  Dread filled his eyes, his voice. “Beware.”

  Chapter Five

  Elle half-turned in the passenger’s seat of Nick’s sedate sedan. The air-conditioning felt delicious in the hot car. “You buckled up, Lizzie?”

  “Yes.” She darted her gaze anxiously from Elle to Nick. “Where are we going?”

  “Good question.” Elle smiled. “I don’t know.” She glanced at Nick. “Where are we going?”

  Clearly, from that forced lilt in her voice, Elle would also like an answer. Nick pondered, then gave her one that should stifle more questions he wasn’t yet prepared to answer. “PSC has a lodge north of the village.” He diverted focus. “There’s an arcade in the basement, Lizzie.”

  “I like games.”

  “Sam does, too. There are plenty of them—and other things you’ll enjoy.” At least, Nick hoped she would. The guys really enjoyed their time at the Lodge—when they weren’t being shot at, of course. But none of them were little girls.

  “It’s remote?” Elle asked in the direct manner he’d come to expect from her.

  Not at all diverted. Best he could do was accept it, and answer what he could. He draped his arm over the steering wheel and nodded.

  “So it’s remote, isolated and easier to protect than in a populated area like the tourist-filled village.”

  Before he could answer Elle, Lizzie popped a similar question, only she was even more blunt. “Is it safe?”

  Odd question for a kid, and a little insulting. Would he take them there if it weren’t safe? He swallowed the irritated bubble and didn’t press her. She’d earned a little leeway with everything going on in her life lately. He needed to learn more about that—and he would, in due time. But right now wasn’t it. He had to focus to be sure they didn’t pick up another tail. “Yeah, it’s safe. I designed the security myself. You don’t have to worry.”

  Elle dropped her voice so only he could hear. “Is there a reason Lizzie might worry?”

  “Seems like,” he said and shrugged, signaling Elle he presently didn’t know any more than that.

  “Did Sam check it, too?” Lizzie sounded small, vulnerable. “Does he say it’s safe?”

  Nick thought Lizzie hadn’t much liked Sam but, like him or not, apparently his opinions carried weight with her. Probably his size. Big man. That likely inspired trust in a little kid. Made her feel safe around him. “Actually, he did—and so did Mark and Ted and Joe.”

  “I like Joe.”

  No surprise there. Nick grunted. It was a rare female who didn’t like Joe. He had a gene other men were missing or something. Even young girls like Lizzie weren’t immune to his charm.

  “Joe’s a good listener,” Elle said, glancing back at the girl. “Nick’s very good at designing security systems, Lizzie. He checks everything over and over and then checks it again. I’ll bet his system is perfect.”

  “Is it?” Lizzie asked Nick. “Perfect, I mean?”

  Elle’s praise surprised him, though he’d have traded it all for one Joe kind of comment. “Nothing’s ever perfect,” he honestly admitted. “But everyone looked hard and no one found a flaw in it, so I guess it’s as good as systems get.” He pulled out of the resort and turned left onto Highway 98.

  “See, Lizzie. No one found a single flaw, and they’re all very good at finding flaws. It’s their job. So this place is safe.” Elle motioned to a cluster of flowers near the base of a stone fountain marking the entrance to a gated community, Sea Breeze. “Oh, look at those irises. Aren’t they gorgeous?”

  “Uh-huh. I like flowers.”

  “Me, too. What’s your favorite?”

  Tapping his earpiece—the guys had been silent—Nick marveled at how easily Elle adapted. She accepted she’d been warned and, even after all she’d been through, she made small talk to comfort a scared kid. Impressive woman. But then she’d always been impressive. That was the problem with her. Beauty and leaving him breathless, he could handle. But her character and compassion? Impossible to blow off.

  “I forgot the name of them,” Lizzie said.

  Traffic was heavy. It would be on a warm and sunny summer afternoon. The beach with its white sand was a huge draw that made the village a beacon to tourists. Frankly, Nick preferred being there in winter when Seagrove was a sleepy little village. Peaceful and calm…and NINA wasn’t there, stirring up trouble.

  “What do they look like?” Elle asked.

  “They’re pink. That blue pink not red pink,” Lizzie said. “And they grow in bunches that look like
cotton candy. I love cotton candy.”

  Elle laughed.

  That chiming tinkle grated on him, seeped under his skin, and that irritated Nick more. The woman unnerved him. Why did he let her get to him? How could he not let her get to him?

  Clueless on that, he glanced into the rearview and spotted a green Chevy he’d seen just outside the gate at the club. His attention riveted. It could be a coincidence, just a car that happened to be going in their same direction. Highway 98 was the main thoroughfare in the village… Still, he kept an eye on the car, and checked further back in traffic, spotting Joe on his Harley and Sam in his mud-spattered white truck. Relieved that they were close, Nick gripped the wheel. Sam hadn’t wasted any time catching up to them. That, too, was telling on just how much weight they put on the “beware” warning.

  Joe’s voice came through Nick’s earpiece. “You’ve got a tail, bro.”

  “Green Chevy?” Nick murmured.

  Elle must have heard him and quickly said something to cover his voice so Lizzie wouldn’t notice. “They’ve been to the beach.” She pointed to a cluster of people crossing the street, wearing flip-flops and swimsuits and hauling rafts and brightly colored beach bags. One man dragged a wheeled cooler.

  “Yep.” Joe said. “It’s falling in right behind you now.”

  “Picked it up just outside the club.” Nick glanced back.

  “Red light!” Elle said sharply.

  Nick hit the brakes.

  The green sedan rammed into the rear of his car.

  Lizzie screamed.

  Elle glimpsed her, the people in the sedan—a woman and a man driving who had dark-hair and glasses and sat half slumped over the steering wheel. Was he unconscious? “Lizzie, you okay?”

  “I’m scared.”

  “Are you hurt?” Elle persisted.

  “No.”

  She pivoted to look at Nick. “What about you?”

  “Okay.” He held his forehead.

  “What’s wrong with your head?” Elle asked. “Did you hit it?”

  “Yeah.” He shook his head as if to clear it. “I’m a little woozy. Just need to close my eyes a second and I’ll be fine.”

  The woman got out of the car behind them and ran up to Lizzie’s window. She motioned and Lizzie lowered the glass. “Is everyone all right?”

  Lizzie raised onto her knees. “Nick’s woozy.”

  “Is your driver unconscious?” Elle asked.

  “No, he’s fine.” She began backing away.

  Elle could see the man still slumped. He was definitely not okay. “Nick…” Blood tricked from between his fingers. “Nick, you’re bleeding.” She pressed the handkerchief he held over the cut harder to stem the flow. Lizzie said something to the woman and she back to the girl. Elle felt grateful. She’d really rather Lizzie not focus on the blood. “Move your hand and let me see.”

  He grumbled. “It’s a…scratch.”

  Elle looked. “It’s more, but it doesn’t need stitches.” She pressed the handkerchief back in place, plucked some tissues from a box on the console and dabbed at the blood trickling down his fingers.

  “Lizzie okay?” His gaze collided with Elle’s.

  Elle looked back, checked. The woman was heading back to her car. Lizzie was on her knees, staring out the back window. Following the woman visually, Elle stilled. The woman shoved the driver of her car over and got into the driver’s seat. Recognition lit. “Hey, it’s her. Nick, it’s her.”

  “Her who?” He didn’t open his eyes.

  “The lady at the reception who gave me the begonia.”

  The green sedan backed up, pulled up onto the median dividing the highway, then sped away, leaving half its tires on the asphalt and churned smoke in its wake.

  “Why’d she do that? Is that man with her dead or something?”

  “No, Lizzie,” Elle assured her. “She told you he was fine. Everything is fine.”

  “She ain’t driving like everything’s fine.”

  Elle couldn’t disagree so said nothing.

  Sam and Joe pulled up next to Nick and screeched to a stop. “Everyone—“

  “We’re all okay,” Nick said. “No thanks to me. I got distracted.”

  “Not your fault, bro.” Joe disputed him. “I watched it. The hit was deliberate.”

  The beachgoers stood gathered on the side of the road watching. From their high-pitched comments, they agreed. The green sedan’s driver never hit the brakes. He wanted to hit them.

  Sam pulled out his phone and reported the incident. Elle thought he’d been calling the police until Sam said, “No, Tim. Intentional.”

  Joe stepped between Sam and the car, then spoke to Nick. “You okay to drive?”

  “Yeah. My head’s clear now.”

  “Get to the Lodge. Too exposed out here. We’ll catch up.”

  Nick nodded, told Lizzie to buckle up, and took off.

  When he turned off 98 and headed north, Elle finally stopped rattling inside and found her voice. “Do you know what that was all about?”

  “Not yet.” Nick spared her a glance. “But it’s likely that accident is what you were to beware of—at least, I hope it was and there isn’t something more coming.”

  “These people, whoever they are, aren’t through with me, are they?”

  Smart and she cut to the chase, not dancing around on heavy topics. He respected that about her and found it immensely appealing. He hated that as much as her laughter. The last thing he needed was to find anything else about her appealing. “Not yet.”

  Her expression crumbled. “If I’d known, Nick, I never would have involved Lizzie. I—I—“

  “You didn’t know.” He had, but hadn’t told her. If anyone was to blame, it was him. “We’re okay.” He said it and hoped it proved true. He and the team would do everything in their power to make it true, but what had happened to Mark’s pseudo-sister Jane proved definitively that there were no guarantees. Sometimes you can do everything right and still fail. Still, Elle’s distress ripped at his heart.

  She didn’t quite meet his eye. “I should have considered it possible, and I didn’t.” She folded her hands in her lap, laced her fingers and squeezed. “I thought if Lizzie were with me, you wouldn’t kick me to the curb again—“

  What? “I have never kicked you to the curb.”

  “You left me.”

  “I finished the job I was hired to do and went home. I wasn’t with you, so I couldn’t have left you much less kicked you to any curb, Elle.”

  She stiffened. “I wanted you to stay. You knew I wanted you to stay.” Pain flooded her voice. “You didn’t even say good-bye.”

  He hadn’t. And it’d been deliberate. If she’d asked him to stay, he doubted he’d have had the resolve to go. Not that he’d ever admit it to her. Only by sheer force of will was he able to admit it to himself. “You were a kid—my client’s daughter. Think about that.”

  “I was eighteen.”

  “Exactly.” He frowned. “Thank you for proving my point.”

  “Whoa.” Lizzie chimed in. “Are you two married?”

  Elle sputtered.

  Nick groaned.

  “Are you?” Lizzie persisted. “Because you sound—“

  “No, we’re not married.” Elle snorted. “We’re not. . .anything.”

  Great. Now she was frosted. Nick started to defend himself, then thought better of it. Some arguments, no matter how logical or reasonable, a man just couldn’t win. He clamped his jaw shut and seethed at the injustice. And he had to put up with this.

  Indefinitely.

  Omega One’s assignment rang in Nick’s ears. His own think steel followed.

  Remarkably often, the team’s phrase worked, giving them that last little push they needed to make the impossible happen. But with Elle?

  Was there enough think steel in the world to get through this with her?

  Not at all sure, Nick hunkered down, checked the rearview, and just kept driving.

&nbs
p; Chapter Six

  Everyone in the car eventually settled down. The adrenalin rush wore off and all that had happened to Elle since Thursday when she’d been abducted replayed in her mind. Who was after her? Why? And what had happened to her during those two missing days?

  Obviously she’d traveled from London back to the States. But it was unnerving to remember nothing of it. Those men clearly had administered some kind of amnesia drug. But what kind? What side-effects did it have? Any lasting impact? That, she didn’t know and wouldn’t know until the tests Tim did on her blood came back from the lab. To be living her normal life, just walking down a sidewalk one minute and thrust into danger and this drama the next rattled her to the core. Ending up here with Nick rattled her just as much if not more.

  She’d trusted Nick from the very beginning. That was rare for her, and while he’d been reserved and distant, at least now she thought she had an insight as to why. She was younger than him and he’d viewed her as a kid and the boss’s daughter.

  Ironic. Her whole life she’d wanted to be recognized as her parents’ daughter, and the one time she actually is, it’s an impediment. And, of course, Nick being Nick, he didn’t need three strikes against her to count her out. He was more than satisfied with one, much less with two. Someone had burned him badly long before she’d come along.

  Elle gazed out the window. Trees lined the two-lane road. They were twisted and gnarled pines mostly, with a few magnolias and a stray oak or two tossed in. The road dipped and rose, gentle hills. This was Florida but it didn’t look like the sandbar state she’d imagined it. It was quite lovely, actually. Lush and green.

  Twenty-five minutes after the northbound turn, Nick slowed down and made a right onto a dirt path she missed seeing from the paved road. How he’d sensed it there, she had no idea. Must have clocked it on his odometer or something. “Are we there?” she asked him.

  “Almost.”

  He drove another five or six minutes down the smooth path. That it wasn’t rutted from weather surprised Elle. A lake appeared on her right, and they crossed a little wooden bridge. It didn’t feel full of thumps like a wooden bridge should. Nick and the guys had somehow reinforced it. Knowing Nick, it lifted or sank or twisted away to prevent anyone crossing it that he didn’t want crossing it.