Protect Me

by Selma Wolfe

  Her gaze snagged on a black and white picture that looked like it was torn out of a newspaper. It wasn’t hung or pinned to the wall, it was just sitting carelessly on top of the printer. But there was no dust on it when Hope lifted it with gentle fingers.

  Two familiar faces stared out at her and she had to fight down an audible gasp. It was a picture of her and Rick on that yacht, snapped from a distance. There was a caption underneath that read: Billionaire Rick Stone’s new playmate?

  Hope wondered that too. She set down the picture and pulled up the trapdoor without another glance back.

  Rick wasn’t in the tunnel, and he wasn’t in his lab either, and Hope was very grateful that she always carried a light on her person. By the time she climbed back up out of the tunnel she was starting to feel a threatening buzz of panic around the edges of her thoughts.

  She gave the room a last look before she headed back out, and this time she noticed a particular book sitting on Rick’s nightstand. Hope wasn’t given to indulging inexplicable urges, but nevertheless she was across the room and had the book in her hands before she’d really thought it through. Since the book was already in her hands, she idly flipped it open, thinking that perhaps she’d leave a note for Rick between the pages. The pages came apart to “I would always rather be happy than dignified” and a plain piece of paper scribbled over with looping black handwriting.

  We have your lover. Come to 354 West Farthing St at 10:00 tonight. Tell no one or your lover dies.

  As smoothly as the mechanisms of a clock, Hope’s brain switched into security mode. She flipped over the paper, but the back was blank. She looked carefully through the book and shook it out, but there was nothing else. Nothing but this note.

  Rick.

  Years of practice were more than adequate for Hope to tamp down the panic that threatened to rise inside her, but it was so much more difficult to do for Rick than it was for herself, or for any other client before him. Of course it was. Rick refused to conform; refused to be like anyone or anything else she’d ever known.

  A fresh wave of panic threatened to well up in her. Hope reached out and grabbed the back of a nearby chair and squeezed until the wood creaked in protest.

  Meanwhile, half of her mind coolly carried on making plans. The smart thing to do would probably be to phone the police, but Hope had no mind for technology. If she tried anything sly, she’d be taking the risk that the kidnappers meant their threat. Not a risk she was willing to take.

  She’d let Rick walk out the door after he’d all but laid his heart at her feet. He probably thought she didn’t even care. Why hadn’t she been kinder, braver? Why couldn’t she have just admitted what she wanted? Was she really so afraid of change?

  Boran might be an acceptable risk. She wouldn’t call him herself, but Trinity probably wouldn’t question her too hard if Hope asked her to relay a message. The more people you added to a situation the more difficult it got, but you didn’t walk into the mouth of a lion without rigging a few traps yourself.

  All those old sayings were intensely irritating and undeniably true - you really didn’t know what you had until you lost it. If she could just get him back safely, Hope wouldn’t hesitate. She knew what she wanted now. She wanted Rick. It wasn’t like her old life was anything to miss - she had enjoyed her work, but it had been so long since she’d really cared about someone that the awareness of Rick being gone felt like a clawing wound had opened up in her chest.

  Rick would probably happily throttle her for it, but Hope was more than willing to give up his secrets if it would keep him alive. She didn’t know what to look for, but Hope felt qualified at least to grab something from the lab that looked important.

  She grabbed the note. Grabbed the book. Grabbed Rick’s cell phone. She walked over to the printer and stared down at the newspaper clipping. In the picture Rick was grinning at her, crooked and honest. Her own face was smooth and expressionless, obscured by dark sunglasses and loose strands of hair blowing in the sea breeze.

  Hope left the picture lying there and walked out. Before she’d even gotten out of the room she was on her cell phone, making another call.

  “Boran. I need a favor…”

  Over the phone Boran sounded sympathetic, and more importantly, bored. “Yes, of course, I will come help,” he said with a wry twist to his words. “My employer was not too pleased after the events of the other night.”

  Hope winced, though it wasn’t really her fault. Still, prevention was everything in the executive protection industry. It didn’t really matter whether or not it was realistically your fault. Unless your employer was in love with you, the cynical part of her mind noted.

  “Sorry about that,” she said, which was appropriately noncommittal.

  Boran brushed it off good-naturedly. “He was a nightmare anyhow. I’ll be there soon, and you can fill me in on the rest of the details.” She told him only that there was a problem and she needed backup. Just in case someone was listening. It wasn’t much of a cover, but she had to do something.

  By the time Boran promised to be there soon and Hope got off the phone, she was halfway through the house. She finished her walk-through without any clues and walked outside. The garden was empty except for a breeze that swayed the flowers and hedges toward her. The lovely scent was overpowering; Hope sneezed and beat a retreat to the front of the house.

  She ran a hand over the front of the cherry red car she’d driven Rick in. There was nowhere else to go unless she wanted to retrace her steps. For the first time, her heart threatened to fail her. She stared down at the copy of Jane Eyre that she was still clutching in her hand.

  The purr of an engine reached her ears and Hope looked up.

  It was a sleek black car that was deceptively simple; the paint job was probably worth more than her life. Hope watched it pull in smoothly behind red car and strained her eyes to look past the tinted windows. She walked around to the driver’s side of the car.

  This wasn’t Boran, she knew that.

  The car door opened.

  “Hey, I was wondering if - WHOA, okay, I know I was kind of an ass but can we, uh, can we talk about this?” Rick craned his neck to look wide-eyed over his head at the downward arc of the book Hope was holding frozen in midair.

  Her body responded before her mind did and she let the book drop to her side; stepped back and stared.

  “You weren’t an ass, a little pushy, but - oh my God you’re alright.” A rush of relief so intense it was almost sickening rushed over her. The book dropped from her hand and she lunged forward into Rick’s arms. She flattened her body up against his, pressing as close as possible. One of her hands wound into his hair while her other hand grabbed a handful of his expensive shirt to keep him close. She was probably wrinkling and stretching the material irrevocably, the rational part of her mind noted. She didn’t care. She didn’t let go.

  After a moment where the only sound was Rick’s steady pulse thrumming against her ear where it was pressed into his neck, Rick clasped Hope to him with a hand curled around her waist and ran the other one firmly down her back, steadying her. “Did I miss something?” he said quietly into her hair. “Sorry I left, I just… needed to blow off some steam. You know.”

  Well, she did now. Never one to waste words, Hope fished the ransom note out of her pocket and held it up. Rick studied it.

  “That’s strange,” he said. “Isn’t it? Why would they threaten you and not me?”

  It was a good point. Hope reluctantly pulled her face away from the crook of his neck to read the note over again.

  “Maybe… maybe they were going to kidnap me?” she hazarded. Rick looked doubtful.

  He opened his mouth to reply, but before he could get any words out, they both heard the roar of another (much less expensive) engine coming up the driveway and sprang apart. “Ah, that would be the backup,” Hope commented as she watched Boran pull in and park carefully. Her heart rate was only now beginning to slow.

  R
ick smiled down at her. “So you wanted me back?” he teased.

  Hope didn’t even try to hold back her own smile.

  There was the sound of a car door slamming, and they both turned to see Boran clamber out of the car and fix his sunglasses on his face. He walked over to them with an easy, confident stride. The familiarity of his dress and walk helped settle Hope’s nerves, too. She even gave him a quick smile. Boran raised his thick eyebrows behind his sunglasses at her, and she stifled it. The happiness didn’t leave her though, especially when Rick reached around to settle a hand at the small of her back, keeping her close. It probably wasn’t very subtle, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.

  Boran stopped in front of them and gave them both a respectful nod. Then he looked between them.

  “Well, I’m not seeing a problem so far,” he said dryly, and Rick laughed.

  A few minutes later the three of them were settled at the kitchen table staring at the note.

  “It just doesn’t make sense,” Rick said.

  Boran bit his lip. “Well…”

  “Maybe whoever wrote this is just trying to psych us out?” Hope guessed.

  Rick frowned. “You found it in my room, didn’t you? Maybe the note was meant for me.”

  Boran nodded enthusiastically. “Hey, that’s an…”

  “You think?” Hope asked skeptically. “I mean, would it really occur to you to worry about me getting kidnapped?”

  “I’d mostly worry about your poor kidnappers,” Rick grinned.

  “Doesn’t it seem…” Boran started to say, when there were footsteps at the door.

  Trinity stopped in the doorway and planted her hands on her hips.

  “Did I miss the call for a family meeting?” she teased, setting her head to the side and letting her eyes twinkle at them.

  Hope was so pleased to see her, so pleased that Rick was safe, so happy with life in general for not totally crapping over her, that she jumped out of her chair and gave Trinity a hug.

  “Goodness,” Trinity laughed and hugged her back. “I guess I had good timing.”

  Hope drew back, slightly abashed. Boran was staring at her with his eyebrows raised high, though he said nothing. Rick was beaming like the sight of her happy was the best thing he could think of. Maybe it was.

  She went back to her place at the table just as Boran pushed his chair back and stood up. He gestured toward the door.

  “While you fill in your friend, I’m just going to hit the bathroom. If that’s alright.”

  Hope nodded and Trinity immediately stole his seat, staring curiously at the paper on the table.

  “There’s a ransom note, but nobody’s been kidnapped,” Rick explained.

  Trinity quirked a grin at Hope. “Bet you were having a right old conniption.”

  “Hey!” Rick objected, though he looked amused. “You don’t know. I could have been ready to grab a white horse and go all prince charming to rescue Hope from the clutches of… um…”

  “Yes, that’s another problem.” Hope tapped a finger against the paper, serious once again. “We don’t know who these morons are, and I’m not sure we need to find out. I think we should just call the police and read the crime report later.”

  Both Trinity and Rick looked doubtful. They exchanged skeptical glances and Hope’s heart sank in her chest.

  “What if they really do have somebody?” Trinity ventured. “They might hurt the person.”

  Hope raised her eyebrows. “Who? We’re all here. Who could they possibly have?”

  There were footsteps at the door, and Hope glanced up at Boran, who looked sheepish.

  “Got lost,” he explained. “Great place, but…”

  Rick’s phone started ringing.

  It all seemed a little anticlimactic, to have him pulled out on business after Hope had thought he was gone. But it was certainly better than the alternative, she thought as she watched Rick fumble the phone out of his pocket and frown at the screen.

  “You should probably answer that,” Boran said helpfully. Rick was too laid back to give him a dirty look, but Hope and Trinity weren’t. He winced. “Sorry. I just meant - don’t feel like you’re being rude. After working for that guy, I know how it is. You’re busy.”

  Rick grinned a little and put the phone up to his ear. “Hello?”

  Trinity turned to her and said something, but Hope couldn’t hear it. All of her focus zoomed in on the way that Rick’s eyes widened minutely and his hand froze in place at his ear.

  She was on her feet before she realized it, and Rick didn’t even look at her, which confirmed all her suspicions.

  Trinity opened her mouth to ask another question and Hope held up a hand for silence. She didn’t have to say anything to Boran; he had heard the same thing she had, the sound of a slide being pulled back rather than a muffled greeting on the other end of the line.

  “That isn’t - ” Rick tried to say, and then cut off the words. “Yes,” he said tightly. Another man might have taken a white-knuckled grip on the table or be pacing around the kitchen like a caged tiger, but Rick had no tells other than the minute tightness around his eyes and mouth. If Hope hadn’t known him so well, she wouldn’t have known this call was anything out of the ordinary.

  Rick nodded, one of those futile gestures that everyone uses. “I understand. I’ll be there.” The other end of the call apparently cut the line, and he calmly pulled the phone away from his ear and set it down on the table. He stared at it.

  “What happened,” Hope said flatly, more a command than a question. Rick’s gaze flicked back up to her. His eyebrows were knotted together in a frown. He looked genuinely worried. Hope didn’t feel too great herself, but it was hard for her to work up much fear with Rick and Trinity sitting whole and well in front of her.

  Rick brought up a hand and rubbed at the line that creased his forehead with the heel of his palm. He grimaced into the motion. “They think - you’re right, Hope, they had accents, kind of thick and guttural and almost German. And they’ve gotten everything backwards. They said I couldn’t trick them. That they knew we - you and me - were a front. They knew who my real lover was.”

  He looked up and met her eyes. “Hope, they have Iseul.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “Aw, shit,” Hope said without thinking.

  Thankfully it seemed to break the tension for Trinity and Rick; the two of them blinked and then started laughing in that way that had nothing to do with humor and everything to do with just needing an outlet. Over their heads, Hope and Boran traded worried looks.

  When the giggles trailed off, Rick looked up at her again. The worst of the fear had bled away from his expression, and had firmed into determination.

  “What do we do now?” he asked her.

  Indecision wasn’t one of Hope’s flaws. She drummed her fingers along the table and felt the pieces of the puzzle come together in her mind with a cold kind of pleasure. “Trinity was right. They do have somebody, so we can’t risk calling the cops. These guys are skilled enough to have broken in twice that I know of. They could have a plant of some kind, or just be lucky, or be computer hackers with access to the panic room feeds. They could monitor if we’re calling out, or what the police station is doing. We just don’t know.”

  “That’s not really how hacking works…” Rick murmured. Hope glared at him and he smiled a little. “…I mean, excellent plan, Patton. Carry on.”

  An edge of a reluctant smile rose up at the corner of her lips in response. But she was worried too, and not just for Rick’s sake, or for the simple sanctity of human life. People decided they were in love after a day all the time, and it didn’t seem all that unreasonable to consider someone a friend after just a day. And Hope had connected with Iseul.

  She wasn’t going to give up on her new friend so easily.

  “What we’re going to do is split into teams. Boran and I will go to West Farthing and do our damndest to get Iseul out of there intact. Rick and Trinity will
stay here, monitor the phones, and be prepared to call the cops if we’re not back in time, or we send up the flares.” Hope gave a satisfied nod and clasped her hands behind her back. “Got it?”

  “I don’t know, Lasser…”

  “Are you out of your fool mind?”

  “That’s hilarious, do keep it in mind for when you make the real plan.”

  Hope scowled at the three dissenters and propped her hands on her hips. She leveled a glare around the entire table. Trinity looked taken aback, so Hope dialed it down a little. Boran’s expression didn’t change. Rick just smiled grimly.

  “Keeping in mind that Boran and I are the only ones with any practical experience, what exactly is the problem you all seem to have?”

  Her words seemed to make Trinity pause. No such luck with Rick.

  He laid his arms on the table and leaned forward. His dark eyes caught hers. It made her feel guilty to find him so attractive when worry was shadowing his face, but Hope just wished…

  Well. She wasn’t really in the business of futile wishes.

  “If you think I’m going to let you walk into a trap like that, you’re crazy,” he said.

  “And what would you prefer we do? Leave Iseul at the mercy of these upstanding citizens? Risk her life by passing the buck to the cops?”

  Rick grinned, like he was in on the joke.

  “Of course not,” he said. “I’m going to walk into with you, is all.”

  Boran and Trinity slowly turned to look at him. Hope resisted the urge to bury her face in her palms.

  “Of course,” she echoed. “Well. Nothing can go wrong now, can it?”

  Hope stared out the passenger window and counted to ten.

  Maybe she’d feel less irritated if she did it again.

  Maybe the next time.