“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “You must feel like you’ve been betrayed by everyone you’ve ever trusted.”
“That’s nothing new,” he said, his voice hard and cold. “My only regret is that this time I had to involve someone else.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that I hate like hell that I’ve put you in danger.”
“No, why did you say being betrayed was nothing new?”
He paused, leaving the silence pulsing with tension. “Ancient history,” he finally said, his voice distant and cold. “Nothing to do with you.”
“You don’t trust me, do you?”
His hesitation lasted just a moment too long. “I trust you,” he finally said. His words almost sounded grudging.
“Because you have no choice.” She noticed that he didn’t look over at her.
“I don’t have a choice right now,” he finally agreed. “But once we’re out of Midland, all bets are off. I’m sorry, Ellie. It’s nothing personal. I can’t afford to trust anyone. If I do, and I make a mistake, my information dies with me. And Montero will have died for no reason at all.”
“I understand,” she said, staring out the windshield. And she did. She was just surprised that it hurt so much.
There was no reason why it should, she told herself. She had no relationship with Michael Reilly, other than that of hostage and kidnapper. She tried her best to ignore the memories of that morning, when they’d woken up in the same bed. She was certain Michael had already forgotten all about it. She was an inconvenience and he was in a hurry to get rid of her. When he left her behind it would be the last time she saw him. Unless she had to testify at a trial, she thought grimly.
“So where are we going now?” She tried to steady her voice, horribly afraid that Michael would hear the hurt she felt.
“I have to check on Montero’s girlfriend and kid. I need to make sure they’re safe.” His mouth compressed into a tight line. “They might be in trouble if the cops think Gloria knows something.”
“Surely these cops wouldn’t hurt a baby and a woman who isn’t involved?” Eleanor whispered, horrified.
“You’re not involved in this mess, either. But they’d kill you without even thinking about it if they caught us.”
She pushed away her fear, unable to think about herself. “But a baby? They’d kill a child?”
“They might leave the baby alone,” he conceded. “The kid is barely a year old. He couldn’t testify against them.”
“That sounds so cold.” She shivered in spite of the heat pouring through the open windows.
“That’s reality, Ellie,” he said. “You’re not in the library anymore. Life isn’t like those books you read, where the good guys always win and everything works out in the end.” His eyes were chips of ice in a face as unyielding as granite. “Kids and innocent women get killed and there’s not a damn thing anyone can do to stop it.” He took a deep breath. “I’m not sure I even want to try anymore.”
The silence vibrated between them, thick and heavy. “This is where we have to be careful,” he said after a few minutes, his voice still strained with tension. They were leaving the run-down industrial part of Midland behind. As they got closer to the center of the city there was more traffic and more people.
And a cruiser approaching them from the other direction.
“There’s a police car,” she said. At the same instant Michael began sliding down in the seat.
“I see it.” His voice was grim and cold. “Make sure you’re about two miles over the speed limit.”
She checked her speedometer and pressed lightly on the accelerator. They passed the cops in a small burst of speed, and she watched in the rearview mirror as the squad car left them behind.
“They’ve turned a corner,” she finally reported.
But he didn’t sit up on the seat again. “You’re going to see more of them before we get out of town. Don’t look at them, don’t speed up or slow down when you see them. Just keep driving as if you don’t have a care in the world.”
“I’ll try.”
“I know.”
She thought his voice warmed, but she didn’t dare look down at him. Another police car approached, and her heart pounded as if it wanted to jump out of her chest.
She forced herself to keep her eyes on the road instead of looking at the cruiser. Time expanded and slowed down until if felt as if she were standing still, certain the cops would look over and identify her at any moment.
When the police car was safely past, she drew in an unsteady breath. Her hands squeezed the steering wheel so tightly that they began to cramp. When she wiggled her fingers, Michael glanced over at her.
“Turn left at the next street,” he said gently. “You’re doing just fine, Ellie.”
She moistened her lips and tried to speak in a normal voice. “Where exactly are we going?” Her voice came out shaky and weak.
“Not much farther. We’re only a few blocks away.”
He directed her around a few more corners until they drove down a quiet side street lined with apartment buildings. Although they were old, most of them looked cared for. Several people walked down the sidewalks, and cars lined the curb.
“Park here,” he said when they approached an open spot between two vehicles.
She eased the car into place, then looked at him. “How do I turn it off?”
“You don’t. We may need to leave in a hurry.”
They sat in the car, listening to the engine chug, as seconds stretched into minutes. Michael raised his head just enough to scan the area, and finally he sat up. “I don’t see a thing. I’ll be right back.”
“Aren’t I going with you?”
He glanced at her, his hand on the door, and his face softened. “You have to stay in the car. We can’t leave it running in this neighborhood or we’ll be stranded without wheels when we come out. You’ll be fine. Pretend like you’re reading one of those books of yours and don’t look anyone in the eye. I don’t see any cops nearby.”
Before she could ask him anything more he opened the door and eased himself out. Moving stiffly, he hurried into the alley between two buildings and disappeared.
The car chugged steadily as the minutes ticked by. What would happen if the police were waiting at Gloria’s apartment? Michael could be walking into a trap.
Admiration fluttered through her. He had to know it was a possibility. But he’d chosen to come here, anyway. He’d chosen to make sure an innocent woman and child were safe.
She looked in the direction he’d disappeared, but didn’t hear or see anything out of the ordinary. Heat shimmered off the vinyl upholstery, and muggy summer air surrounded her. But as she waited for Michael to return, she shivered with fear.
MICHAEL WAITED in the shadow of a two-flat while he surveyed the back of Gloria’s building. Heat rose from the concrete and swirled around him, the smoggy heat of summer in the city. He ignored the sweat that trickled down his back, ignored the stinging pain when it washed over his wound. He focused all his attention on his surroundings.
Birds chirped and the voices of children playing rose from a yard several houses away. Somewhere a car door slammed and a mother called for her child. All normal sounds of a neighborhood.
He strained to hear anything different, anything out of the ordinary. But there was nothing unexpected. Sooner or later he was going to have to step into the open and walk up the back stairs of Gloria’s building.
Bracing himself, half prepared for a hail of bullets, he walked through the alley and opened the gate to her backyard. He climbed up the stairs and knocked on her door, praying that she would answer.
“Detective Reilly.” Her voice came from the shadows on the other side of the screen door, but she made no move to open it for him.
“I need to talk to you, Gloria,” he said urgently. “Will you let me in?”
“You killed Rueben.” Her voice was raw with tears and grief.
; “It wasn’t me,” he said, pressing his palm against the screen. “I didn’t kill him. But I know who did. And you and Rueben, Jr., could be in danger.”
She made no move to open the door. “Why should I believe you? The police came last night and told me what happened.” She bent her face to the head of the baby draped over her shoulder.
“Do you have any idea what Rueben was doing for me?” Michael asked.
Slowly, reluctantly, she nodded. “He talked about it sometimes.”
“The men who killed him were the men he was watching. They set it up to make it look like I killed him. And I’m afraid that they might come after you and Rueben, Jr., next.”
“Why would they bother with us?”
“Because they’re afraid of what Rueben might have told you,” he said grimly. “You need to get out of Midland for a while.”
“Is that why you’re here? To tell me to leave?”
He drew in a deep breath, feeling anger, regret and grief churning in his stomach. “That’s part of the reason. I’m sorry, Gloria. More sorry than I can tell you.” He paused and looked at the child on her shoulder. “You and the baby were the most important things in the world to Rueben. All he ever talked about was his plans. He wanted to be there for you, for the baby. He wanted to watch his son grow up. And it’s my fault that he can’t.”
The woman moved closer to the door. “It’s not entirely your fault,” she said. “Rueben chose to work with you.” Her voice thickened. “It was a blow to my heart last night when the police told me you’d killed Rueben. He was so proud to be working with you. And he trusted you. I thought you’d betrayed him.”
“I cared about him,” Michael said quietly. “He was trying hard to make something of himself, to get away from the gang and make you proud of him. I wanted him to make it. I wouldn’t have done anything to hurt him.”
Gloria stared at him for a long moment, then fumbled with the door and pushed it open. “Come in, Detective Reilly.”
Michael stepped into the kitchen. “Please believe me, Gloria. You have to leave town. I would take you with me, but it would be too dangerous for you. Is there someone who could help you?”
“I’ll go to my mama,” she said, and Michael sent up a prayer of thanks that she apparently believed him.
“Does your mama live in Midland?”
“Of course.”
Michael fumbled in his pocket for his wallet and pulled out all the money in it. “You can’t do that. Take this money. Go to St. Louis or Chicago. Anywhere you have family or friends you can stay with for a while.”
“I can’t take all your money.” She looked at him, her gaze proud. “What will you do without cash?”
“Let me worry about that.” He grabbed her hand and wrapped her fingers around the bills. “Just get your things together and leave, as soon as possible. And don’t tell anyone where you’re going.”
She glanced past him out the door, then looked him in the eye. “You took a chance by coming here.”
“Rueben, Jr., already lost his father. I won’t let him lose his mother, too.”
She watched him steadily for a long moment, then nodded. “Rueben said you were a good man. He was right. Thank you, Detective.”
“Call me Michael,” he said, his voice rough. Her dignified words made the guilt even heavier inside him. “We’ll talk again when this is all over.”
“Be careful, Michael,” she said softly. “Rueben said this city needs more police officers like you.”
He slipped out the door and hurried down the steps without looking back. It would be a long time before he forgot the vulnerability of the dark-haired baby cradled in his mother’s arms, or the grief etched on Gloria’s face. And it would take even longer for his guilt to ease.
He slipped back into the lane then hesitated. An unwelcome thought crossed his mind. What if Ellie wasn’t there? What if she’d simply driven away and left him stranded?
She wouldn’t do that. He scowled to himself as he edged toward the front of the building. Why the hell wouldn’t she do that? He’d taken her hostage and she finally had a chance to get away. She’d be crazy not to take it.
When he reached the end of the alley and saw the car sitting patiently at the curb, blue exhaust billowing into the air, something shifted deep inside him. Ellie believed him. And more important, she trusted him. Another tiny gate in his heart creaked open.
It terrified him.
The fact that she’d waited for him strengthened the bonds that were already growing between them. He’d fought his whole life against bonds, against feeling a connection with another person. The only person he’d let into his life was Charles Wilson. And fear that Ellie was worming her way past his barriers made Michael edgy and anxious.
He reached the car and pulled the door open. She looked up at him, her eyes lighting with relief. Scowling, he tried to ignore the answering joy in his own heart that she had waited for him.
He wanted to joke the feelings away, to ease the tension that suddenly brewed between them. “What’s the matter, Slim? Didn’t you have anyplace better to go this morning?”
CHAPTER EIGHT
ELEANOR’S HEART SOARED as Michael slid into the car, only to crash again at his flippant words. What did she expect? she asked herself fiercely. Did she really think he was going to go all mushy and sentimental on her?
Not likely. His smart remark was probably as close as he would come to thanking her for waiting for him.
“I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” she replied, trying to keep her tone as flip as his. “There’s nothing I like better than hanging around with the criminal element.”
A brief flicker of regret passed across his face, then he settled lower in the seat. “Let’s hit the road.”
She wouldn’t speculate on that regret, she told herself resolutely. That route led only to grief. Instead she tried to focus on their dilemma.
“Was your snitch’s girlfriend there?”
“Yeah, she was.”
Eleanor couldn’t read anything in his shuttered face. She waited a moment, then said, “And?”
“And she’s going to leave. I gave her money and told her to get out of town. I think she believed me when I told her she could be in trouble.”
“She could have come with us.”
He shook his head. “Too dangerous. Much better to split up.”
Obviously he didn’t want to discuss what had happened in the woman’s apartment. And why was Eleanor surprised about that? Michael had made it more than clear he wasn’t interested in sharing anything with her.
She watched the street signs flashing past, trying to ignore the pain welling up in her chest. She should have left when she had the chance, she told herself harshly. What kind of an idiot waits in the car for her kidnapper to come back?
The kind of idiot who believes him. And now she was just doing her civic duty. That’s all that was going on. A ridiculous attraction to a kidnapper had nothing to do with it. She wasn’t stupid enough to think anything could come of it.
“Where do you want to go now?” she asked, her tone abrupt.
He glanced at her, but didn’t say anything. After a moment he looked away. “Stop here for gas, then head south out of town.”
A few minutes later, they were on their way again.
“Can I ask where we’re going?” she asked.
“We’re aiming for a small town that’s a couple of hours away. I’m going to leave you someplace you’ll be safe. I don’t want you involved in this mess any longer.” His voice was sharp as he pressed his lips together. “And I don’t need the hassle of worrying about you.”
His words were like a slap, and she stared blindly out the windshield as she pressed down on the accelerator. “Fine,” she said, her voice cool. “The sooner I’m away from you, the happier I’ll be.”
A beat of silence filled the car, then he sighed. “That’s not what I meant, Ellie. I don’t want to leave you behind. I want you with
me. I need to make sure nothing happens to you. But I have to concentrate on what I’m doing. You’re a distraction I can’t afford.”
“I’m a distraction?” She narrowed her eyes and allowed her temper to dispel the hurt his words had caused. “Was I a distraction when I got the supplies we needed to take care of your back? Was I a distraction this morning, when I bought you a shirt so you could be seen in public? I’m not some stupid piece of fluff who doesn’t know her left hand from her right. I thought I’d helped you.”
“You have helped me,” he said, his voice quiet. “More than I had any right to expect.” He shot her a quick glance, then looked away again. “And I think you know damn well what I mean by a distraction.”
Her nerves jumped and her heart began thumping in an erratic rhythm. Surely he didn’t mean that she, personally, was distracting him. In a male and female kind of way.
“You don’t have to waste your charm on me,” she said, tamping down the hope that was trying to take seed in her heart. “I already told you I believe you.”
“Are you always this prickly?” he murmured without looking at her.
“I don’t try to pretend to be someone I’m not,” she said, staring out the windshield, her eyes fixed on the road in front of her. She fought the tears that threatened to fall. “I know exactly who I am.”
“And that is?”
“An ordinary woman who lives an ordinary life.” Not someone a man like you would ever be interested in.
“There’s nothing ordinary about you, Ellie. Believe me.” A hint of laughter was back in his voice.
“Thank you for the compliment,” she said tightly. She knew what it meant. It meant the same thing as “she has a great personality.”
“Where exactly are you taking me?” She hoped he would think the quiver in her voice was due to fear rather than her roiling emotions.
“I’m taking you to a friend’s house,” he said. “Someone I trust completely. He’ll keep you safe.”
“What if the police follow us?”
“No one’s seen us in this car or they’d have tried to stop us by now. Once we get out of Midland we’ll be safe.”
Two on the Run (Harlequin Super Romance) Page 9