“Just like that?”
He nodded. “The Institute could send someone not only to cover your shifts but someone qualified to sweep your home and bar free of all those bugs. They’ll put it all back to normal.”
“Right now, all I’m committed to is going with you and meeting this guy who you think will convince me of this crazy story. So let’s leave the rest for later.”
He nodded. Dammit, he did keep putting his foot in his mouth.
“You don’t care if I tell my friends where I’m going?”
“Genet’s people already know the Phoenix Institute is involved. He will guess that’s where you are, so there’s no point keeping it secret. But at least there, you’ll be protected twenty-four/seven. And, as I said, it won’t be for long.”
“Because you’ll get to Genet first.”
“Yes.” Philip grinned.
Del closed her eyes. “You should scare me, Drake. I don’t know why you don’t.”
Shit. He didn’t want to scare her. Ever. “You have a soft spot for oddballs, I think, if I’m guessing right from the bar clientele.”
“Odd, yes. Crazy, no.” She snorted. “Who’s this amazing person who’s going to convince me the story is true?”
“His name is Alec Farley. And he’s a lot less scary than I am.” In some ways.
Philip supposed it depended on how Del reacted to Alec’s fire. Beth had been entranced in so many ways by Alec’s power. Another person might see its destructive ability or panic at the sight of the fire. Del seemed calm enough to handle it. He bet she would take it in stride, as much as possible.
They arrived at the entrance to Bar & Grill from the opposite direction of where they’d left. Del had had him circle the lake. There was no sign of the van and no sign of the man Philip was sure he’d killed.
Del stared at the spot in the road that was stained with a dark liquid.
“You were right. They grabbed him and ran off.”
Philip nodded. “They don’t want police involvement.”
“Neither do I,” Del muttered. “If what you said is true, I want these guys dead.”
She clenched her hands into fists as the Charger descended over the dirt road into the bar’s parking lot. She was so calm, so collected, even when people were pointing guns at her.
But she wasn’t calm about her rape.
“I’ll do what I can to make these guys dead for you,” he said.
She snorted again. “I think that was supposed to comfort me.”
“Yes.”
“I’m not sure what’s worse. That you offered or that it made me feel better that you offered.”
Clearly, he needed to stop talking.
Tammy was waiting in the parking lot next to Del’s Focus. He parked, closed his jacket to hide the Sig Sauer and helped Del out of the car.
“Where did you put the gun I gave you?” he whispered.
“Glove box.”
He nodded.
“Del!”
Tammy rushed forward and hugged her friend. The two women stood locked in an embrace for several seconds.
No wonder Del wanted to return. She was cared for here.
Tammy broke the hug and stepped back. “Are you all right? What happened?”
Philip looked around, finally registering something. Del’s car was parked in the lot. That wasn’t where it had been left. He pointed at it. “How did that get back down here?”
“Mike found the keys in the middle of the road, near the open driver’s side door. He moved it back here before I could tell him to leave it for the police.”
“Did you call the police?” Philip asked.
“Not yet.” She glared at him. “And who the hell are you to ask the questions, anyway?”
“He saved me, Tammy.”
Philip stayed on guard while Del told Tammy the full story. Around him, the parking lot grew darker as the sun began to set. Night would offer more cover to Genet’s men. He wanted out of here as soon as possible.
“And you don’t know why the men in the van wanted you?” Tammy asked after Del was finished. “You really should let me call the cops.”
“I am the cops,” Philip lied. “Well, of a sort.” He popped his trunk and pulled out his fake FBI badge from a duffel bag. He presented the badge to Tammy.
“I see. Why are you involved?” She didn’t seem impressed by the badge.
Del took a deep breath. “He thinks the man responsible for my…” Her voice wavered. She cleared her throat and started again. “He thinks the man who raped me came back for the child.”
“We’ve been tracking this suspect,” Philip said. “He’s a very dangerous man with a lot of resources.”
“Oh,” Tammy said.
“Agent Drake wants me to go with him to a safe house for a few days, until he can arrest them,” Del said.
She caught his eye. Philip nodded, relieved she was going along with the story.
“I can send someone out to cover her shifts,” he said.
Tammy asked to see his badge again. Philip let her hold it. It would fool an expert. It should, given that identity had been one of his best covers. “We should go as soon as possible,” he said to Del.
“I just need one thing from upstairs. Be right back.”
And she was gone before he could object. What if someone was waiting for her up there?
“Is there any way someone could have gotten into her apartment without being seen?” he asked Tammy.
Her eyes widened. “This guy wants her that bad?”
“Yes,” Philip snapped. “Now, tell me if anyone got past you to the upstairs.”
“No way. And that’s the only entrance too.”
Except for the roof. Philip watched the second floor. The lights went on as Del presumably went into her home. Women and clothes. He sighed. He hoped she didn’t plan on spending forever packing.
“So, tell me, Agent Drake, is this car standard FBI issue?” Tammy asked.
She was still suspicious. Philip forced himself to pay attention to the woman. She was close to Del. Always possible she was in it with Genet. Not likely, but possible. He judged Tammy to be about fifty, with that look and air of confidence he often noted in mothers who had grown children.
Too bad his own mother never had it.
“I’m the kind of agent who is used to working anonymously,” Philip answered.
“The Charger’s not anonymous,” Tammy said.
“But, as you said, it’s also not usually connected with the FBI.”
Del’s figure was silhouetted in her window, then the light went out.
If she wasn’t down in twenty seconds, he was going up.
“You’re taking her to a safe house?” Tammy asked.
“Yes. She’ll be able to call and check in, if that’s what worries you.” He looked up and saw a hawk caught in the rays of the setting sun. It could be the same hawk that he’d seen with Del. He considered that a good sign. Hawk had always been his favorite name. Well, until…
Del came out the door with just one small bag, but she was followed by several of the regulars. She reached Philip before the crowd caught up.
“Mike’s been talking to them about finding my car,” Del said. “Tammy, I am not telling them about the rape.”
Before Del could say anything more, the older barfly reached them. Jake, Philip remembered. From what he’d observed, the man had developed a fatherly attitude to Del. He was going to ask a lot of questions.
“Just what’s going on?” Jake demanded, pointing at him with a bony finger.
Careful, old man. You stick me with that finger again, I’ll break it.
“Jake, it’s not your business.”
“Guy shows up, buys everyone a round, you leave right after him, your car’s abandoned, then you come back looking freaked out, and now you’re leaving with him again?” Jake shook his head. “I ain’t buying that. What’s wrong?”
“Not your business.” Philip said the words lo
w and with emphasis. He wanted to scare this one into silence.
Jake backed off a step, to the safety of the others who’d come out with him. Philip recognized Tammy’s son, Mike, Mike’s crush, Jessica, and two of the younger barflies.
“What’s she to you?” Jake asked.
Philip glanced over and saw Del grit her teeth. She’d told Tammy a version of the truth, but he saw that she never, ever wanted to reveal the rape to anyone else.
If that was what she wanted, he would give it to her.
He put an arm around Del’s shoulder. “She’s the mother of my child.”
Jake gaped. Tammy, who knew part of the truth, glared at them. Del rested her head on Philip’s shoulder. Grateful, he hoped, though he’d created another mess.
“You ain’t been around,” Jessica said.
What a unique bunch of defenders Del had. “No, I haven’t been, and that’s my own damn fault. I’m trying to fix it now.”
Del put an arm around his waist. His pulse jacked up, even more than during the chase. He was used to people trying to kill him. He was less used to feeling this way. He’d tamped down on the lust while dealing with Tammy. Not anymore. He was sensitive to Del’s every movement. He supposed it would be too much to cup his hand around her neck and kiss her in front of everyone to prove the lie. He’d love it. She’d hate it. She had made it clear she considered him little above a maniac.
“We need to spend time together to sort it out.” Del glared at them. “Without a freakin’ audience, okay?”
Jake threw up his hands in defeat and headed back inside. The crowd followed him. Philip breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t let Del go. Neither, he noticed, did she let him go.
Tammy turned to them. Del slid away from Philip, and the moment was gone.
“What made you say that?” Del snapped.
“It seemed the quickest way to get rid of the crowd.”
Del looked away. Obviously, lust wasn’t a two-way street.
Tammy shook her head. “The minute I walk in there, they’re going to ask me about you, Charger. What the hell am I supposed to tell them?”
He shrugged. “Make something up. I don’t care.”
“Just tell them it’s personal, please?” Del asked.
Tammy nodded. “You call me,” she told Del.
Del shoved her hands into her pockets and nodded. Tammy turned around and trudged into Bar & Grill.
Del stared at the big, painted “Bar & Grill” sign for almost a full minute.
“I wish I had a place where I felt so at home,” he said.
She shrugged and then tossed her bag at him. He caught it against his chest.
“Let’s go, Dad,” she said.
He didn’t respond to the jibe and started the car. As he turned off the emergency brake, he noticed that Del took a photo out of her coat pocket.
“What is it?”
“The reason I’m going with you.”
She handed it over. It was a black-and-white photo. Most of it looked like gray blobs. But he could make out the head clearly enough. And the hand and fingers. The baby’s ultrasound photo.
“He’s sucking his thumb.” Huh.
She nodded.
Philip pulled out of the parking lot, a curious lump in his throat. What if his lie had been the truth? There was a one in three chance that his sperm had been used to create the baby.
This boy could actually be his son.
“Don’t get any ideas about anything. This kid is mine.”
“Of course.”
He turned and drove up the long, dirt driveway to the intersecting road where Del had been ambushed. As he turned, he spotted nothing. So far, so good.
“Your son wouldn’t want me as a father anyway. Not my specialty.”
She smiled. The light hit her eyes, and suddenly she seemed much younger and so very familiar.
He knew her. He just didn’t know where he knew her from.
“Ah, you’re okay for a crazy person, Drake.”
“Nicest compliment I’ve had in a long time.”
Chapter Ten
To Del’s relief, the car ride was quiet save for Drake’s phone call to this Alec Farley that mostly consisted of one-word answers on Drake’s end. Her newly appointed protector did ask about someone named Dr. Cheshire. Del repeated the name a few times in her head, so she’d remember. If she believed this crazy story, maybe he was one of those involved in her rape. Medical rape, she thought, to be more accurate.
Medical rape that had resulted in some stranger’s child inside her. She stared out the window into the dark.
The night descended around them, and she fought to keep her eyes open. She wanted to stay awake to know where she was going. But between Drake’s route on back roads, the overcast sky and the lack of streetlights, she had no idea where they were headed.
They’d been driving for about thirty minutes when Drake drove past a gate that opened automatically for him and pulled into a parking lot at the place he called the Phoenix Institute. The building looked like a corporate conference center or even a hotel. There was a central tower of at least ten stories. Lights were on in the room at the top and in the circular entrance on the ground floor, but otherwise it was dark.
She blinked her eyes as she adjusted to the bright lights in the parking lot. Most of the lot was empty, with the exception of a Porsche, a Hummer and a Range Rover to her left. The Honda sedan on her right looked oddly out of place.
Drake walked around the car and opened the door for her. He offered her his hand. She hesitated a moment, then clasped it with relief. She’d never get out of the car without help.
Her back muscles were stiff, her feet swollen, and her energy had completely drained away. Given how she’d sweated during the car chase, she probably smelled like a locker room. Drake gave no sign that she reeked but he did notice her lack of balance. He held her by the elbow to steady her.
“Were you hurt earlier?” he asked.
She felt the warmth of his hand and the strength of his arm around her waist. He killed someone today, she thought. Yes, protecting me, she told herself. It wasn’t like she was an innocent. She rode around with a shotgun in her trunk. She had little respect for the niceties of the law.
Still, someone who killed like that should make her uncomfortable. She shouldn’t want to curl up against him. She shouldn’t wish that their dance hadn’t been interrupted by real life. She wanted to put them back on the deck, with him humming a classic. A perfect moment, spoiled now, like most of her perfect moments.
“I’m fine. All they did was grab me from behind. They didn’t even hit me.”
She couldn’t shake the feeling she knew this man. Maybe tonight, as she closed her eyes, it would come to her. She must have liked him whenever they met, though. That might explain her ease with him.
Her head drooped. She let it rest on his shoulder. Around them was silence. He cleared his throat. “I could carry you, if you like,” he whispered in her ear.
Oh, she would like. She smiled. “No, I think I can manage. I just needed a moment.”
Taking her at her word, he let her go. Now she wished she’d answered yes. He grabbed her duffel bag from the backseat, giving her a nice view of his backside.
“How tired are you? Do you want answers now or after some rest?”
“Now.”
“That’s what I thought.”
He tossed the duffel over his shoulder and offered her his arm again. She took it, curling her hand around his forearm. “Who the hell are you, Drake?”
“Good question.” He tilted his head down toward her face.
“You’re good at not answering questions.” And now he was so close that she thought he was going to kiss her. She thought she’d let him.
“I know.”
She would definitely let him. “Is Alec Farley going to be better at answering questions?”
He straightened and the opportunity for a kiss vanished. “Much better.”
> “See, you can give a straight answer when you want.” She touched his cheek. “Thank you. I don’t think I said that enough.”
He cleared his throat, and when he said, “you’re welcome”, his voice seemed raw. He’d been deliberately charming earlier. A role to play. This, she thought, was no role.
“It’s safer inside. We should get moving,” he said.
She nodded. He led her inside the circular entrance at the bottom of the tower. She noticed the smell first. It was like a combination of cinnamon and another sweet spice. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, feeling more relaxed by the second. She tightened her grip on Drake’s arm.
When she opened her eyes, she took the circular lobby in. Unexpectedly, it was decorated in a Japanese style. There was a pond with a small, burbling fountain in the middle. The running water added to the atmosphere and made her think of an exotic health spa.
“This is a beautiful place.” She stepped away from him and pointed at the windows. “I love the bonsai planters on either side of the glass.” The three shelves of each planter held a miniature bonsai tree.
“My daughter decorated it.”
His voice had gone flat, back to soldier mode, and he’d moved away from her when she’d taken a closer look at the bonsai trees. She frowned. What had shut him down?
“Your daughter did this? You just said parenthood wasn’t your specialty. And you couldn’t have a kid that old!”
He shrugged, refusing to meet her gaze. “She’s my foster daughter.”
“Somehow, I don’t think that explains everything.” Talk to me, Drake. Better yet, he should take her arm again.
“No.”
He stood at attention, rigid as a stone. If she hadn’t just seen him relax, she’d never have thought this man could be funny or charming or someone who could dance with abandon, like he had with Jessica. And this because she mentioned something to do with his daughter?
His foster daughter. Maybe there was pain associated with that. God knew there were subjects she’d never talk about.
She glanced around the lobby again. There seemed to be six…no, seven hallways leading away from the lobby.
“Which one?”
“None—you’re going upstairs to the main penthouse.”
Phoenix Legacy Page 9