Hidden Impact

by Piper J. Drake

  “That a promise?” He shot her a playful glance and returned his attention to driving.

  Reservations about comparing herself to Jewel evaporated, at least for the moment. She liked his kind of play. “Maybe. Depends on if you’ll return the favor.”

  Not hard. But the idea of his teeth grazing her skin, gently pressing against her... Her breath quickened and her nipples tightened under her shirt.

  “I’ll be sure to remind you about this mutual promise.” He continued to rub his thumb ever so lightly across the back of her hand. The sensation didn’t fade or lessen in impact.

  He gave her one more squeeze and released her hand. “In the meantime, I’ll tell you why an experienced person doesn’t hurry up just to wait in every situation. It’s a waste of energy better spent when you actually need it.”

  “I can see how that makes sense.” She considered for a minute. “You’ve been in situations where you had to do it. It mattered a lot.”

  “People’s lives depended on it,” Gabe agreed. “If I didn’t have enough in reserve to do what had to be done—”

  “You would have found it.” Maybe she shouldn’t have cut him off. Still... “I’m probably naive and I definitely don’t know what you’ve faced overseas. But I can’t imagine you not giving every last drop of energy you had to doing the right thing.”

  And she meant it. It resonated inside her. And maybe she was a little afraid of her own truth because she believed it so completely.

  “I’ve failed.” His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Don’t make me out to be infallible.”

  She was brushing off on him. He was far more educated than he’d seemed at first, with an extensive vocabulary. But she noticed, and liked, the way he only flexed his way with words around her. At least, as far as she knew.

  “You’re human.” This time she reached out to him, tentatively touching his thigh with her fingertips. His muscles bunched under the fabric of his jeans. “And we make mistakes. But it doesn’t mean you don’t give everything you have.”

  Faith. She had it in him. At least to do the right thing and help her. But she wasn’t sure about what would happen once they’d reached their currently mutual goal. Then it wouldn’t be about doing the right thing anymore. It’d be a choice.

  What she was hoping for, she didn’t have the courage to ask.

  Gabe sighed. “Don’t make me a hero. I’m a man with a set of skills and eventually, I need to earn a p—”

  Something popped. Loud. And the car’s forward motion jerked. Instead of slamming on the brakes, Gabe cursed and kept his foot on the gas pedal. Or at least she assumed so since they weren’t slowing down. As the car’s forward motion steadied, Gabe let the car decelerate and flipped up the turn signal as they pulled over.

  His expression was grim as he yanked up the parking brake. “Stay in here for now. Keep the window cracked so you can hear me and be ready to get down if I tell you to.”

  Ice shot through her. “What happened?”

  “Could be a normal tire blowout.” He unbuckled his seat belt. “But in case it isn’t, be ready to do what I tell you. No questions.”

  “Okay.” Fear started to trickle in and she reined in the flurry of what ifs until Gabe could tell her what happened. Like he said, it could be a normal flat tire.

  “While I’m checking this out, call the team.” He opened the car door. “Whoever is on watch will answer. Tell them we’ve made an unplanned stop. They’ll send someone out to give us support.”

  She fumbled with the phone and called the number listed as “Centurion-Seattle.” It was that or “Centurion-DC” so she figured she’d picked the right one.

  “Yeah.”

  The sound of Victoria’s voice was all the trigger Maylin needed to spill the message. Victoria listened until Maylin finished.

  Her response was succinct. “Sending Lizzy.”

  And then Victoria ended the call.

  Maylin lowered her window a crack and called out to Gabe.

  “Got it.” He didn’t even pause as he answered.

  He had his gun with him. Actually he had more than one. He hadn’t flown with them, but he’d taken the time to pull on his shoulder harness when they’d gotten back to the car. Maylin had wondered if he had a favorite and he’d gruffly told her she watched too many TV shows.

  All of which were flashing through her very overactive imagination as he worked his way around to the passenger side. He was scanning the area around them, and Maylin looked out too. They were isolated here. It was one of those short stretches of highway lined with trees, hiding the nearby houses and businesses from view. She wasn’t familiar with this highway, though, so she had no idea how deep the stands of trees were. Could be a short walk before you’d end up in someone’s backyard, or it could be surprisingly longer. Hard to tell as you got closer to the state parks and reserves.

  He seemed satisfied for a moment and crouched down to examine the tire. He scowled.

  “Out. Out of the car.”

  Maylin scrambled to undo her seat belt. It stuck. She took a deep breath and tried again. And one more time. It wasn’t releasing. “I can’t.”

  Fear filled her. She wanted to shout at him to get away and to help her at the same time. But mostly, she wanted him away. He could help An-mei.

  He was on his feet and at her door so fast she didn’t see him move. He yanked at her door but it wouldn’t open. Both of them looked at the lock. It was popped up, appeared unlocked. Maylin tried the door from her side. It wouldn’t open.

  Tā mā de.

  He cursed too, out loud. It was weird to hear, calm and cold but still explicit enough to make her blink. “Get your window down as far as you can.”

  At least they both knew the window was working, since she’d cracked it when he first stepped out of the car. She pressed the button to lower it in a careful and deliberate motion, afraid it might jam or something if she hit it. Probably stupid, but hell. This was not the time to be breaking things in a rush.

  The window lowered smoothly. As soon as he could get over it, Gabe leaned in with something dark in his hand. He pulled her seat belt away from her chest and hooked it with the thing he was holding—a utility knife with a seat belt cutter. The fabric of the seat belt parted easily. He did the same at her lap instead of wasting more time to pull it loose. So glad he hadn’t had to use an actual open blade. What if she’d twitched?

  “Just put your arms around my neck and let me pull you out. Watch your head.” Gabe coaxed her to him and tightened his arms around her torso as she leaned toward him. As soon as he had her out the window and set her on her feet, he grabbed her by the hand and yanked her into a run.

  She ducked her head and watched the ground. At this speed she didn’t have much time to watch where she was going, but she did her best not to trip as they reached the tree line. Last thing he needed was for her to slow them both down.

  He pulled her down behind the large trunk of a tree.

  She crouched in the shelter of his arm, trying to make herself as small as possible. Her throat burned from sucking in air as they’d run. Her mouth had gone dry. She could blame that on either the run or fear. She’d settle on the former since the latter wasn’t something she had time to contemplate. Instead, she worked on settling her churning stomach and hoped her heart wouldn’t beat its way through her sternum. If they needed to run again, it’d be best if she could catch her breath.

  Long seconds went by. Shivering against him, the rock solid strength of him anchored her, helped keep panic at bay. She’d expected something to have happened. Maybe a loud boom.

  She lifted her head. “Wha—?”

  BOOM.

  The sound of the explosion reached them first. Cursing, Gabe tucked her close against him as a concussive shock wave passed right throug
h the tree—and them. She felt it deep in her chest, like being right next to giant speakers at a dance party when the DJ had gone crazy with the bass. Wildlife in the surrounding trees called out in alarm, and leaves fell all around them.

  As suddenly as it came, it’d passed, and Gabe was easing up his hold on her. “Are you all right?”

  She nodded. He scowled. She cleared her throat and gave him a verbal answer. “Yes. I’m all right.”

  He gave her a terse nod and then turned his gaze toward the car. Peering around the trunk of the tree, fear came crawling back up from the bottom of her belly and she tasted bile at the back of her throat.

  It was like someone had gotten under the car near the front tire and shot a rocket up into the passenger side. Fire and smoke filled the interior and a hole had been blown through the roof of the car. Chunks of twisted metal and what might have been parts of the seat poked out through the new sun roof.

  Her seat. She’d been sitting there, trapped by the seat belt.

  Her lungs seized and her stomach churned. She turned away from the car, away from Gabe, and threw up.

  Gabe’s big hand was rubbing her back in soothing circles. He was helping her hold her hair back too. She didn’t care. She heaved and heaved again until there was nothing. Then her stomach cramped and she gagged on the taste of bile.

  “Easy. Try to breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth. Go ahead and spit out the taste if you have to. We’ll get you water as soon as we can.” Gabe’s voice as he spoke to her was soothing, low, but changed pitch to sharp and demanding as she heard him dial his phone and start talking. “Lizzy? ETA? Going to need cleanup.”

  Maylin couldn’t hear Lizzy’s response, but she couldn’t stand bent over any more. She straightened, using the tree trunk for support, and sucked in more air. She looked around the tree and saw smoke billowing from the top of the car. A few flames still licked the inside of the car cabin.

  Thank goodness she had the loaner phone and wallet with her in her pockets. Her duffel bag was in the car. She was going to need more clothes.

  The trivial nature of the thought caught her and a giggle bubbled up in her throat, gained momentum, and she clamped her hands over her mouth hard to stop herself before she escalated into full-on insane laughter.

  Hysteria. Had to be.

  “Meet us about a half mile north of current location. Track our GPS signal.” Gabe ended the call and dropped his phone into his pocket.

  “You can do that? Even on the way?” Maylin blurted out the questions. Too much adrenaline, no more filters.

  Gabe hugged her to his chest for a split second. “With the right tech, yeah. It’s why I had you leave your smartphone back with Marc and gave you the temp. C’mon, we’re walking.”

  Walking was good. Way better than running. “Well, yeah, I figured you had to be in a sort of control room or central computer hub to do it, though.”

  He shook his head as he led her on a path parallel to the road, inside the tree line. “There’s an app for that.”

  She choked out a laugh. “You didn’t just say that.”

  “It’s true, though.” He glanced at her and gave her a small grin before returning his attention to their surroundings.

  “I don’t remember you having this much of a sense of humor the last time a car tried to kill me.”

  “The last one was trying to run you over. This one just tried to launch you into the atmosphere.”

  One foot in front of the other. Putting distance between them and the smoldering car was a good idea. There was no use getting freaked out about him saying it out loud if she’d already survived it. “It’s worse when you say it out loud.”

  “I didn’t until we were away from it.” His voice had gentled, a note of concern.

  “I know.” And she bit her lip. “I’m sorry. It’s like I’m just saying anything crossing my mind right now. Words are just popping out left and right and there’s no stopping them.”

  “Not a bad thing.”

  “Easy for you to say. You’re experienced with this. Do you ever get used to it all?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer so she kept talking, keeping her voice low even though he’d have told her if he needed her to be silent. “It happened and I saw where I could’ve been sitting. Only I’m not and I am very glad to be walking here.”

  “Absorb it all later,” he advised. “Here. Now. You act. Listen to what I tell you to do and trust your gut. You’ve come through this great so far. Keep doing it.”

  “Really?” She had an inane moment imagining herself as the first victim to die in a bad horror movie.

  “Yes.” He paused. “Don’t get cocky.”

  She smiled. And tripped.

  His hand around her shoulders kept her from falling flat on her face. She kind of wished she had, so she could hide her burning cheeks.

  “All right? You didn’t hurt your ankle, did you?” He didn’t stop but he’d slowed down.

  Last thing she wanted to be was dead weight. Ignoring the very minor twinge in her right ankle, she paced him. “No. I’ll try to keep a better eye on where I’m putting my feet.”

  “This is far enough anyway.” He pulled her into the shelter of another tree. “We’ll wait for Lizzy to pull up.”

  The tree line was closer to the road here, and she could see buildings through the trees all around them. A sound barrier picked up where the trees left off some ways ahead of them.

  She took a good look at Gabe then, the tension in his jaw. “You are mad.”

  “Not at you.”

  “What, then?” She tilted her head until it rested against the inside of his shoulder. He’d told her to leave his arms free when they were outside. Even if he had one around her now, she didn’t want to hang on to it in case he needed to let go of her in a hurry. So she wrapped her arms around herself to avoid the temptation of holding on to him.

  “I should have checked the car more closely before we got into it.” He scowled. “I didn’t anticipate them finding my car, tampering with it.”

  His phone rang.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Hello.” Gabe had an idea of who it might be, but since the caller came up as unknown on his phone, he’d wait to see if life would surprise him.

  “Still ever so warm and charming when you answer your calls, I see.” Jewel’s voice came across the line.

  Nope. Not this time.

  “Still doing your dirty work from a distance,” he shot back. Gabe, one. Recent life surprises, zero.

  At his side, Maylin stared at him with narrowed eyes. It wouldn’t take her long to figure out who’d called, if she hadn’t already.

  “Oh, you enjoy my little present? I had one of my colleagues pop it into the tire for you as a teaser and leave the main gift right where you’d see it.” She laughed. “How far are you from the car at this point?”

  Far enough away to have survived the blast, as she obviously knew. No need to give her any more detail, but he scanned the surrounding area for more gifts.

  Seeing the damned second detonator hadn’t been a surprise after the initial blowout, but he hadn’t been prepared for the shot of fear that cut through him as he’d glanced up to see Maylin watching him from inside the car. Getting her out had overridden any other thought in his head.

  “Did you have your new boy toy tamper with the car door and seat belt, too? Or were those personal touches from him?” It’d be good to know. Gabe planned to hunt the bastard down for this, but it never hurt to know exactly which parts had been the other man’s idea.

  Maylin’s lips pressed together in a grim line. She motioned for the phone and mimed her talking into it.

  He gave her what he hoped was a quelling look. Her eyes narrowed even further and he wondered just how badly he was go
ing to pay for that later.

  “I might have given him some helpful ideas, but the final touches were all his.” Jewel had to be aware of Gabe’s intentions. Still, she’d thrown the other man under the bus, and she might not even warn the guy unless she liked him. It was one of her habits Gabe didn’t miss.

  “The detonators are your guilty pleasure.” Gabe wondered what she wanted, following up with the call. Maybe her colleague hadn’t managed to tail them close enough to confirm whether they’d been caught in the explosion or not. She did like to confirm just how much damage she’d done with her handiwork. “Never saw a vehicle you didn’t want to explode.”

  “This is true. I do like to make things go boom.” He could picture the slow smile spreading across her lips. A long time ago he might’ve grinned at the thought, but now only a slow burn of anger built. He and she had been in solid sync once upon a time. Not anymore. “But I don’t want your little galley cook dead yet. I just want to put a touch of proper fear into her. She was much too confident when I had the pleasure of meeting her.”

  He wrapped his arm around Maylin tighter. If Jewel was set on killing her, he’d go under and take Maylin with him. Once they were away, no one would find them.

  “Really, Gabe. You are so very serious. It’s why I sent you those presents. Without me around, who would keep you guessing?”

  Maylin muttered against his shoulder and lifted her fist to give him a solid thump on the chest.

  There were going to be dire consequences for keeping her out of this conversation, and he must be going insane, because he was pretty sure he was looking forward to them. He grinned. “Is that what you’re doing?”

  “Hmm.”

  “What do you want, Jewel?” Not likely to tell him, but the cat and mouse game had gone on long enough. He was done.

  “This was a reminder for you too, in case your short time out made you forget.” Jewel’s voice had become hard, the words concise. “I can take out the older sister at any time. Keep her under control. Have her quit looking for her sister and there won’t be any more problems.”