“I don’t need to buy a phone anymore, but I’d still like you to stay somewhere safe while I go home and grab my stuff. There’s a coffee shop over there. Can you go read a paper for twenty minutes?” He wrote down two numbers on a receipt and pressed it into her free hand. “If I’m not back in half an hour, call my CO. I’d rather not involve him until we know what’s going on, but you say my name and he’ll come and get you. Then call Rik. He’ll find a way to keep you safe.”
Another nod, and she sprinted across the road, ball cap firmly in place, their shopping bag dancing in her hand. He faded into the shadow of the building behind him, watching for a few moments, then turned and headed for the building behind his. A rarely locked door connected the underground parking garages. He took the stairs up, listening for shifting movements above and below, but there was nothing. He eased the stairwell door open, reassured himself his hallway was empty, then let himself into his apartment. He went first to the small safe in his bedroom, removing his emergency stash of cash. Then he retrieved his loaded FN57, the spare magazines for that as well as for the Glock 29 on his hip. He grabbed a backpack, stuffed some clothes in it, and since he was standing at his dresser, the box of condoms he kept in his top drawer.
Don’t even think about it.
I’m not.
You’re a douche—
The burner phone vibrated in his pocket, cutting off his inner quarrel. He glanced at the time and headed for the door. He’d have to talk on the run. He checked the peephole before shouldering his way into the hall. “What did you discover?”
“Not a lot yet, but what I did, I don’t like. Where are you?”
“Leaving my apartment now.”
“Is she with you?”
“No. Heading back that way now.”
“So, that message…”
Drew didn’t want to know how Rik had accessed it. “Can we figure out who sent it?”
“Yes, in time. Why would someone want to have access to her phone?”
“What kind of access?”
“The message was a Trojan horse. It delivered a tracking app that connected with the GPS in the handset, but also gave the receiver access to the camera and internal memory.”
Drew punched his way into the stairwell and took the steps down two at a time. “Can you tell if it’s still in my car?”
“It hasn’t moved.”
“Just a matter of time, though, right?”
Rik was silent at the other end of the line for a moment, then exhaled slowly. “If a senator is involved, I’d imagine yes.”
“I need to keep her safe, man.”
“I can help with that. You have passports?”
“I do. I think she does.”
“They’re not necessary to get here, just to get home again. I’ll text you details.”
“Got it. Hey, and Rik?”
“Yeah?”
The thought of Annie losing any memories of Kevin… “Can you back up her phone? Photos, text messages, that sort of thing?”
“Already on it.”
“Thanks.” He emerged back into the early morning brightness. “Don’t look at any of it.”
“See you soon.”
Her booth provided a clear sight line to the front door and a quick exit out the kitchen. She’d paid the waitress for a cup of coffee she hadn’t touched and now flipped through pages of day old newsprint she wasn’t reading. Drew would be back any second, she had no doubt. This was all a complete misunderstanding, and there was no reason for panic to be winding its way around her chest and up her throat. Stripping her mouth of all moisture and making her so lightheaded she could barely think straight.
The deep breathing exercises her grief counselor suggested were hard to harness, but she focused on counting each breath, in and out, and slowly logic found traction. Drew was the only person who knew where she was, exactly. If someone wanted to find her, a prank phone call would be a bizarre and convoluted way to do that when her office hours were posted on the university website and her home address was listed probably everywhere. Unless they didn’t want to find her, but test her. Had running to Drew been a mistake? No. Call from Kevin, go to his best friend. That made sense, and didn’t make her look suspicious.
She wasn’t suspicious, for heaven’s sake. She’d put together a dossier on Rob Harris and not once had she made the possible connection that Drew pieced together in a matter of moments. Now that he had, it seemed pretty obvious, but stranger coincidences surely existed.
The junior senator from Texas, Robert Harris III was no Machiavellian character. Maybe ten years away from the White House, but more likely a strong Vice Presidential candidate at some point—ambitious but not cut-throat. Annie hadn’t needed to do any research on his son, but like Drew she vaguely knew he was nine years old. There’d been some coverage of the family on the campaign trail.
Her pulse picked up. Oh, what she’d give for her iPhone right now. Now that this boy was more than an abstract reality, she ached to know more about him.
When Drew strolled in, a backpack slung over his arm, she almost surged out of the booth. He slid in across from her, shaking his head at the waitress to decline a cup of coffee.
“I need to find a computer—” she started.
“We need to leave the city,” he interrupted. “Wait, what? No, you can’t.”
“Drew, hang on. I want to…” Be a creepy Google stalker? “I just want to know a bit more about the boy. He might be my flesh and blood, for goodness sake.”
“No. We can find out more when we get to a secure location.”
“Maybe we could go to an Internet cafe. Just for a few minutes.”
“Not going to happen, sugar. I need to get you locked down and off-grid for a couple of days while we sort this out.” He wiggled the burner phone. “I spoke to Rik again. He’s got a plan. Let’s go.”
Locked down and off-grid? Hell no. “Excuse me?”
Drew leaned forward over the table, looming large over her. The brim of his matching baseball hat shadowed his eyes but she didn’t miss the serious glint. “We have a plan. Let’s go.”
She matched his pose, the brim of her hat bumping his. “Go where?”
“Not sure yet. Do you have your passport?”
“I don’t need a passport to go to the base.”
“I told you—can of worms.”
“But we can’t just…what about you? Aren’t they expecting you today?”
“I called in sick.”
“Why?” She shook her head. Could SEALs even do that? It was Friday, wouldn’t that be suspicious?
“Keeping our options open. We’ve got the weekend to deal with this now.”
“I don’t think the…” She glanced around and lowered her voice. “I don’t think the senator is a threat to me. I need to find out more about his son.”
“Sure, we can do that. Once we get away from here.” He curled his hand over hers, the warm reassuring slide of skin on skin wicking away the top layer of her resistance. “Annie, I only have my gut to go on here, so I can’t tell you why I think we need to lay low for a bit…you’re just going to need to trust me.”
She did. Even if it was a wild goose chase—or a wild goose run—Drew wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her. Worst case scenario, she’d spend a day or two in a quiet location with an overprotective, super good-looking bodyguard. Maybe there’d be a swimming pool and she could ogle him from afar.
“This is crazy,” she whispered. “Where are we going?”
He grinned. “I have no idea.”
Chapter Four
‡
“What the hell do mean, you have no idea?” Annie stared across the table at him and he resisted the urge to grin again.
“Rik’s making arrangements. Do you have your passport in your purse?”
Shock rolled over her face, her eyes going big and wide for a second before she closed them with a sigh. “I thought you were joking! This is ridiculous. Seriously, your
solution is that we skip the country?”
“It would be easier to secure you offshore, yes.” He resisted the urge to touch her again. “Look, I get that this is bizarre for you, but it would just be for the weekend. Long enough for Rik to work his connections and figure out what’s going on. Because something is going on. Your cell phone was hacked to use the camera to spy on you.”
“I don’t understand…someone’s been watching me?”
Drew didn’t blame Annie for looking at him like he was certifiable. He needed to work on his sales pitch, although he hoped he’d never have this conversation again.
“Drew, this is insane. You can’t…Hell, I don’t even know what your plan is, but we’re not getting on a plane and running away.”
“We’re not running away.”
“Then what are we doing? We need to get to the bottom of this!”
“Sugar, that’s not what I do.”
“It’s what I do!”
He gave her his best hairy side-eye.
“I’m a researcher.”
“You’re a historian.”
She pursed her lips and sniffed sharply. “Look, before we go all random commando, maybe we should just do a little more digging—”
“You’re not an investigative reporter or a federal agent.” He held up his hand. “I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be involved in sorting this shit out, but staying here runs contrary to what I do.”
“Which is what?”
“I keep you safe, sugar. With my life, if it comes down to it.”
“That’s really not—” This time, Annie cut herself off. The blood drained from her face and he felt the air around them still as she froze for a second, then leapt up. Without looking over his shoulder, he snatched his backpack and followed her as she ran through the kitchen past a surprised line cook. “Back door?” she yelled at the man flipping eggs, and he pointed to her right.
Drew managed to grab her arm just before she launched herself out the door. “Annie!”
She spun around, landing hard against his chest. Her words spilled out in a breathless rush. “Two guys in suits talking to a cop at the front of the diner. I can’t be certain, but I think I saw them on campus yesterday. Might be nothing, but now I’m okay with fleeing.”
“Really?”
“Who knows?” Panic edged into her voice.
“I do. Let me go first.” He cracked the door, grateful to see it emptied onto a side street, not an alley. Across the way was a clothing shop, and down the block sat an idling cab. “Come on.”
He grabbed her hand and they took off for the taxi. He resisted the urge to just pick her up and sprint. Behind him, the door slammed shut, and he didn’t hear it open again before they reached the car. He whipped open the door, surprising the driver mid-bite. “Sorry to interrupt your breakfast, bub, but I’ll make it worth your while. Go in any direction.”
The man hesitated, and Drew was tempted to pull out a gun, but knew a fifty would be more convincing—and less likely to get him arrested. Annie gasped beside him as he dug out his wallet, and a quick glance over his shoulder told him they had company. He flipped two bills over the front seat. “Take us ten blocks away from here and pretend you dropped us somewhere else, okay?”
The car jerked forward, turned right, and headed east for a few blocks before turning suddenly into a parking garage. “There’s a stand of cabs up one level, in front of a hotel side entrance.”
Drew clapped the driver on the shoulder and muttered a quick thanks under his breath. They tumbled out and ran for the stairs, not stopping until they were secure in another backseat, this time heading to a small airstrip northeast of the city. Annie glanced at him nervously when he gave that direction to the driver, but Drew just eased back on the seat and pulled her close against him. She gasped almost inaudibly but didn’t resist the tug. He laced one hand into her hair, ignoring how the slide of the dark brown strands against his fingers made his dick take notice, and brushed his lips against her ear. He kept his voice low, a whisper just for her. “This’ll be easier if we act like we’re on a spontaneous weekend getaway.”
She twisted in his arms, bringing her face in line with his. Her lower lip trembled almost imperceptibly, but steely conviction pulsed through her gaze. “You’re crazy.” Her tongue darted out of her mouth and left a glistening trail along the heart-shaped curve of her upper lip. He stared at that spot a beat longer than he should, and when he glanced back at her eyes, the heat there surprised him.
“We don’t need to…” he muttered gruffly, but his protest trailed off as she wiggled closer.
“It’s a good thing you’re cute,” she whispered against his mouth as she pressed her lips against his. She held the simple kiss long enough to make it look good, and it took all of his restraint not to take over, to open up and make her breathless for a whole other reason. She hummed a happy little noise and slid her lips along his jaw, taking her turn at the secretive whisper. “Because this would be a total chore otherwise.”
Her cheekiness in the face of potential danger completely undid him, and laughter boiled up and bubbled over as he held her against him. “Key take-away from that, sugar, is that you think I’m cute.” The snort in response set him in his place more clearly than a cold shower, and after that little exchange, he needed both. Annie Martin was far too sexy when she wanted to be.
He did a subtle sweep of both the driver and the available mirrors, but nothing caught his attention. He pulled out his phone and texted Rik, letting him know they were headed to his first directed location.
Annie watched in disbelief as Drew spoke quietly with the man at the counter, then grabbed her hand and pulled her through the glass doors to a small jet waiting on the runway. The clock on the wall told her it was ten minutes to eight, and she dwelled momentarily on the fact that she had office hours later in the morning. Skipping work was not in her nature. Of course, neither was running from the authorities or kissing someone like Drew.
Kissing Drew.
It had been the adrenaline rush—there was no other explanation. When he said they needed to act like they were going away for the weekend, she’d gotten caught up in the role play, and it was exhilarating. The playacting, not the kiss. No, there was nothing to like about kissing Drew, who’d probably tongued his way through more than a couple Tijuana weekends. Not the delicious scrape of stubble against her lips, or the hissed intake of air as she moved along his jaw. Definitely not the way his hand tightened in her hair, his fingertips stroking her scalp with erotic promise. Her body’s pitiful reaction to the brief caress was simply a sign of her weakened defenses, given all that was going on.
At least he hadn’t read anything into it. He’d just laughed and settled back against the seat, and damned if curling up into his hard warmth hadn’t been just as nice. She really did feel safe with him.
Safe from outside threats, at least.
On the plane, he pressed her into a leather seat and stowed his backpack above them before stripping off his sweatshirt and filling the space between her and the aisle with way too much flexing muscle and yummy soap smell for her to handle without breakfast. Or a reality check.
“Do you want a drink? We won’t be leaving for a little bit yet.”
“Where are we going?” Her voice cracked. “And yes, water or maybe Coke would be awesome.”
“I’ll raid the kitchen. Be right back.” He slipped away and returned with two of each. He cracked open his can of cola and she did the same. “We’re hitching a ride to New Orleans, because that’s where this plane was already going. From there, we’ll fly to Miami if the pilot has time, or maybe rent a car if he doesn’t.”
She glanced around. They were alone on the plane, but she couldn’t bring herself to raise her voice above a whisper. “Whose plane is this?”
“It’s a charter. Rik knows the owner of the company.”
“I’m starting to think I’m going to owe this guy an awful lot at the end of this adventur
e.”
Drew ducked his face, grabbing her gaze and holding it. “This is nothing for you to worry about. Rik doesn’t offer anything with strings attached. He’d move mountains for Kevin’s sister, you hear me?”
A sentiment that should make her feel better, but it didn’t.
There was no comfort in the sad reality of being an orphan. Having two real-life superheroes rescuing her from the jaws of some unseen danger only underlined the fact that she didn’t have a big brother anymore. That her parents were gone and she was on her own when the chips were down.
She winced at herself for drifting into maudlin territory. Besides, she could handle—
“Hey, what’s that face all about?”
She blinked at him, embarrassed that her thoughts had played out so obviously. “Nothing.”
“Don’t buy that, sugar. No secrets, remember?”
Who was he to ask that of her? She bristled. “No secrets about Kevin, or the mysterious phone call, sure. I really doubt you want me to unload my feelings on you.”
He lifted one eyebrow ever so slightly and quirked his lips. “Don’t be so sure.”
Maybe if his response wasn’t so cocky, so casual, she’d believe him. But his smirk left too much room for him to walk away after she’d unburdened herself of her deepest, darkest fears. A harsh laugh burbled out. “You’re a grown man who plays video games and flicks away fuck buddies like they’re nothing. Now I’m supposed to believe you’re sensitive?”
She regretted the words as soon as they spilled out. Drew’s face closed up tight, and he took a long drag of cola before nodding. “Fair enough.”
“Drew—” But her apology was cut off by heavy footsteps on the stairs, and they were joined by a burly man in a suit carrying an overstuffed briefcase. He nodded to them, unperturbed by other passengers on his flight, and took a seat toward the back.
SEALs of Summer: Military Romance Superbundle - Navy SEAL Style Page 53