Deadly Testimony

by Piper J. Drake

Her brow furrowed with her concentration and a stray strand of hair fell forward. It was entirely possible the server had offered to come back simply because she was a beautiful customer. She didn’t seem to consider the possibility and he found it entertaining.

  Kyle poured a small cup of his first coffee—a variety of bean from Jamaica—and savored it sip by sip, settling in to enjoy this simple thing. It helped him compartmentalize, gain distance from the fright of fleeing the apartment that was supposed to have been his safe house. In a way, it helped him organize the jumble of questions in his head. He’d give her a minute or two to accomplish her tasks, then he’d ask her what their next steps would be. In the meantime, he could enjoy the view too. Her look of concentration was very appealing, especially the way her lips pursed as she read the screen.

  Isabelle, he’d found, tended to be more forthcoming than Austin or Weaver, most definitely more communicative across the board than Decker. She seemed to be of the opinion the more he knew, the more likely he would be to take action when she needed him to.

  He was most definitely inclined to agree.

  The laptop only had a portion of Isabelle’s attention though. She was still glancing up every few seconds to assess who was coming and going from the room. What each person was doing. Her eyes even took on the far-off look of someone staring out beyond the windows to anything outside.

  Doing his best to maintain his calm, he went for what he hoped would come out as a light tone. “Are we expecting company?”

  “Mmm.” She continued to type away at her laptop. “Always expect the worst company. That way, if they don’t show up, you’re pleasantly surprised.”

  It occurred to him then, she might be prepared for a fight. Here, in a public place. She’d placed her backpack on the seat between them and the main compartment remained open. Her duffel bag was on the other side, also open. She had easy access to any weapon she’d brought with her. If he recalled, she had at least one impressively large firearm.

  The legalities of it all boggled his mind.

  “What about our friends?” The idea of saying their names out loud twisted his gut. There’d been a reason they’d run in the first place. He’d only heard Isabelle’s side of the terse exchange but none of it had sounded good.

  Her fingers paused on the keyboard and she lifted her head, pinning him with the full focus of her attention. “From what I could learn, they are not in the best shape but they’ll be okay. In fact, they weren’t absolutely sure we needed to move at all.”

  Indirect. But at least she was giving him answers. If he wanted more he’d have to be every bit as circumspect. “Will we be chatting again with them soon?”

  Isabelle’s lips curved in an approving smile. That mouth of hers was ever so enticing. “Not yet. But things are up in the air. I’m sure we’ll catch up with them once everyone has had a chance to rest for the afternoon.”

  Kyle raised an eyebrow at her. “So it’s just the two of us.”

  And not a private place in sight to take advantage of the situation. Yet.

  “For a bit.” She lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Consider it an opportunity to spend a few hours being people we usually aren’t.”

  Her message was clear. He grinned. Because it was the perfect opening to take her hint well past the intent and he absolutely wasn’t going to pass it by.

  “Well then,” he drawled as he stretched his long legs under the table and lifted his arms to rest along the back of the booth bench. “I think that’s a great idea.”

  She harrumphed and returned her attention to her computer screen yet again.

  Oh no, he had his equilibrium back now and he was more than ready to prick her temper a bit.

  “Tell me, who would you be if you weren’t you for an afternoon?” He leaned toward her and brushed the stray lock of wavy dark hair from her cheek.

  She batted his hand away and turned toward him, mouth open to deliver some retort.

  He darted in, capturing her mouth and whatever heated words she’d planned to give him. He guessed he was risking physical injury but he hadn’t died yet and she was supposed to be his bodyguard so she couldn’t kill him for daring.

  * * *

  Anger surged and battled with her short-circuited libido. He’d caught her by surprise but that was no excuse for letting him inside her guard.

  No. She was pissed at herself because she’d been imagining exactly what kissing him would be like.

  And now she was.

  And melting into his arms wasn’t in the plan.

  But his lips on hers felt damned good. It’d been a long time since chemistry with a man sizzled this way. So maybe a little melting was called for.

  His lips brushed over hers and his tongue flicked out, teasing her lower lip.

  Hell, she wasn’t going to think about this. At least she wouldn’t for the next few seconds. She opened for him.

  He deepened the kiss at her invitation, his tongue sweeping in to explore. She met him halfway and tasted him in return. The man was a very, very good kisser.

  When they parted, it was slow and reluctant. She drew in air through her nose and let it out slowly through her mouth, struggling to pull her scattered thoughts together. Warily, she scanned the room. The habitual check gave her a chance to get back to intelligent thoughts without looking him in the eyes. No new people had entered. None had left either. Not a single person seemed to have noticed the public display. Thank God.

  Her cheeks burned and she cleared her throat. “That—”

  “Was nice.” Kyle’s voice had deepened a note or two to a husky tenor.

  Yes. “Not the point.” She probably sounded like a bitch but she needed to be firm. “It shouldn’t happen again. It’s too distracting.”

  There was a beat of silence. “May I take that as a positive reaction to the kiss in general?”

  She scowled at him, trying to cover her discomfiture He kept knocking her off balance. Other men would’ve been more butt-hurt over her assertion. It made it easier for her to do her job.

  A tiny part of her warmed though.

  “What would you do next?” She tossed the question out in an effort to move the topic along to something else, pulling up a list of her private notes on her laptop.

  He shifted in his seat and leaned toward her again. “After a kiss?”

  “No.” She lifted her hand and tapped his chest with her fingertips without taking her gaze away from her screen. “After leaving a place in a hurry.”

  “Why?” He sounded genuinely puzzled. “I honestly haven’t rushed out of a place in quite that way.”

  She snorted. “You’ve never had to make a break for it? Ever?”

  A pause. “It’s been a long time.”

  An image of a much younger version of him running popped into her mind. There might have been amusement there, but she thought she heard an underlying bitterness. Layers. The man had too many of them and she couldn’t understand why she had the urge to explore.

  “I’m guessing whoever is after you has studied you and had time to observe your protective detail too. At least enough to recognize the pattern of their circuit.” She might’ve been identified already as well and she’d include it in her planning. Chances were good they didn’t have enough information on her yet to predict her moves. Especially since they were currently in the wind. “I’d like to have an idea of what you’d do on your own so I can take a guess at where they’d be looking for you.”

  “Ah.” He sat back. The air in the sudden space he’d left was still warm with his presence. “I’d find temporary accommodations, probably with a passing acquaintance. It’d seem unwise to go to my own flat.”

  She thought about the brief hesitation before he mentioned an acquaintance. Uh-huh. “You mean ‘lady friend’?”

 
Even that was indirect. Unusual for her but no need to make assumptions or get judge-y.

  Fabric rustled as he shrugged. “Some are actual friends, others are more temporary associates with a practical price tag attached to the pleasure of their company.”

  She nodded. The weight of his stare increased as he studied her but she wasn’t going to give him any of the expected reactions.

  “Most women seem to react less than favorably when I admit to seeking out company.” There was a question underlying Kyle’s statement. Not too probing.

  Because he wasn’t interrogating her or making stupid assumptions based on whatever his idea of what most women would think, Isabelle continued running her searches and responded to him. “I’ve heard some people refer to my line of work in the same general context as prostitution. People can be capable of committing some incredibly awful things to each other. In comparison? A few hours of sexual gratification seems closer to the positive side of ways to earn a living.”

  She’d had people tell her what she’d done was worse than exchanging sex for money. Considering how many times she’d been deployed, how often she’d had to do things no one talked about when they returned to Stateside, she’d be inclined to think so too.

  “Agreed.” Kyle sounded impressed.

  It startled her, the way his comment came on the tail end of her line of thought. The idea of him having such a negative opinion of her unsettled her too, twisting her gut uncomfortably. She shouldn’t care. She’d made a habit of not.

  Something about the discussion niggled at her and she gladly followed that line of thought as a distraction. “You’re circumspect. I can understand referring to it delicately in a larger group. But it’s just me and you here and you’re not paying me for polite company. There’re people out there who’d call a prostitute a lot of other things besides ‘passing acquaintance’.”

  He was silent long enough for her to look over at him. When she did, his expression was uncharacteristically serious.

  “Words like whore. Slut. They’re powerful.” There was sadness in his eyes until he closed them and shook his head. “They don’t just hurt when one person throws them at another. They can be labels. Other labels—like call girl, escort, courtesan—might be kinder but they carry as much judgment with them. They can haunt a person and follow them from day to day, place to place. If enough people throw them at a person, those words become a part of perceived identity. Even if money exchanges hands in return for sexual favors, I don’t assume it has anything to do with who the woman actually is.”

  She considered him for a moment. He’d known someone or maybe more than one person in such a position. It was personal for him somehow.

  “A lot of ways to hurt a person.” She found herself turning her body to face him, opening up her posture as he bared a part of himself to her. Somehow this discussion had gone dark and she got the impression he presented the lighter persona to avoid this part of his personality. Hell, if she was any good at being funny, she’d do it too.

  He nodded, still caught up in his mood. “Indeed. In any case, you have your answer.”

  She pushed her laptop over to him. The screen displayed a map of downtown Seattle. “Any of those locations shown here?”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Is this to determine where to go or where not to go?”

  She tipped her head to one side. “It’s sort of a balance. The trick is to not be quite where they expect you to be but close enough that they’ll overlook you as they try the next likely spot.”

  “And you have a way to manage this?” There was definitely amusement in his voice now.

  “I made several reservations at varying types of hotels under pseudonyms.” She tapped the map on the screen. “Once you answer my question, I’m going to pick one. I’ll check back in with the rest of the protective detail just before we leave. Once I do, we move and don’t stop until we’re established securely in the new location.”

  Whether she’d share their exact location was something she’d decide later. A lot of it depended on the details of the shooting on Weaver and Austin and any theories they had on how they’d been targeted.

  Chapter Eight

  As they entered the lobby, Kyle paused to watch a family and their dog waiting on the nearby sofas. The dog was well enough behaved, sitting patiently near the adults, and it was on a leash. The family was all dressed in identical T-shirts and obviously visiting on vacation.

  Most definitely a family-friendly atmosphere but he was pleased to see the decor remained elegant and sophisticated. Often, family-friendly places attempted to create an almost cartoon-style atmosphere to entertain the younger demographic.

  He turned his attention back to the dog. It had an endlessly patient expression for a canine. Considering the bounding energy of the children running laps around the sofa, the pooch probably needed quite a lot of that particular virtue.

  Isabelle paused to follow his gaze. “Not a big fan of dogs? Seattle is a fairly dog-friendly city.”

  Kyle shook his head. “I’ve spent most of my life here in the United States but it still catches me by surprise to see pets out and about with their owners in public spaces.”

  “Yeah?” Isabelle nudged him with a shoulder to continue forward to the front desk. “Some cities are more pet-friendly than others.”

  “Where I spent my childhood, dogs were not commonplace pets in the household.” His childhood wasn’t filled with fond memories either but it had never occurred to him to want a dog the way some of his classmates had when he’d entered school in the United States.

  His mother had been afraid of any pet larger than a hamster, really.

  “Ah. We do make way for a lot of lifestyles here.” Isabelle kept him close to her side as the desk clerk turned his attention to her. “Hi. Checking in?”

  The man gave her a friendly smile. “Of course. Name?”

  Isabelle didn’t hesitate. “Reyes. Two guests.”

  Kyle kept his expression bland, his gaze wandering to fish in the bowl behind the front desk and reading the sign next to it. Isabelle turned, her dark gaze scanning the lobby and the area beyond the front doors while the clerk found their reservation and prepared their room keys. While she was scanning the room, he caught the eye of a young lady behind the desk.

  The pretty employee smiled as she turned toward him and he pointed at the fishbowl. Then glanced significantly at Isabelle and winked, placing his finger over his lips. The young woman’s eyes widened with comprehension and she smiled, nodding.

  Kyle grinned as the woman stepped over to the clerk’s side, whispering discreetly.

  Once they received their keys and headed to the elevator, Kyle waited for the elevator doors to close before he asked his questions. “What happened to the reservations at the other hotels?”

  “Standard operating procedure. Safeguard will monitor and adjust the other reservations under the naming convention I use for a delayed check-in each night until I check in and confirm we don’t need them. It sounds excessive but we’ve negotiated corporate rates so it isn’t as expensive as it sounds.” Isabelle explained, watching the elevator floor indicator light up each number in turn.

  “All as a matter of practice, no unnecessary communication.” He leaned back against the wall. “You must have amazing administrative support. Or is there a different title for that position in your organization?”

  She shrugged. “Our operational support personnel are very good at what they do. Most of the time, I make the initial reservations but they manage it from there. They do a pretty good job of adapting to the way each of the resources in the field does things. Sometimes what we do requires us to go dark for undefined amounts of time. Keeping tabs on the reservations gives Gabe an idea of where we are without us having to report in but outside groups would have more trouble tracking the informati
on.”

  “And yet you share this procedural detail with me.” Kyle wondered about the increase in information sharing. “You were not as forthcoming with Decker right before we left the café.”

  Kyle hadn’t overheard Decker’s side of the conversation and the exchange had been terse. She’d basically let Decker know they were alive and headed for a more secure location. Nothing else to give them away.

  “He didn’t need to know. You’re more likely to cooperate with me if you understand my logic.” She made the statement and he didn’t refute it. It was an accurate assessment of his temperament and he rather appreciated her acknowledgement. “In any case we’re fairly familiar with all of the hotels in the downtown area. This one is more of a boutique, not too mainstream. I’ve never stayed here personally but I also figured you’re more likely to stay put in accommodations you like.”

  He smiled. “True. And if it helps, I’ve never stayed here either. It seems to be one of the better choices for families.”

  “Yes.” Isabelle tensed as the elevator doors opened, pushing him back against the wall and out of view until she was satisfied the hallway was empty. “Let’s get you into the room and take next steps.”

  “Under other circumstances, I’d be very happy to be pushed up against an elevator wall by a woman and rushed to our hotel room as soon as we arrived to our floor.” Kyle paused. “I can’t say I’m not happy, but I imagine I won’t enjoy it as much as I have in the past.”

  She might have rolled her eyes if she hadn’t been maintaining vigilance. “Room. Now. Smart mouth, after we’ve got you secure again. Maybe never.”

  He grinned. She’d been maintaining a distance from him the entire circuitous route down to the waterfront and back up the streets to arrive at this hotel. Every instance of contact had been deliberate, as if she’d thought carefully about whether she wanted to make it.

  Perhaps he shouldn’t have kissed her back at the first coffee shop. But he wouldn’t regret it. Her lips had been soft and the kiss had been hot. Both qualities he enjoyed in a first encounter. He’d pursue further if she gave him any sign of it being welcome.