Carter’s eyes narrowed as his chin dipped down. He opened his mouth, ready to shout, but stopped when Rhys suddenly stood up, positioning himself between her and Carter.
“That’s enough,” Rhys practically growled.
A tense silence filled the room as the two men stared at each other. Tessa looked back and forth between the two, uncertain who was going to win this showdown…or why Rhys was standing up for her at all.
Sure, they’d shared a moment earlier, but this guy was his boss.
In the end, Carter was the one to back down. After a couple of seconds, he turned and, without a word, moved back to the fireplace. The tension didn’t exactly dissipate though. A blanket of heavy silence fell across the room as everyone stared at each other.
Eventually, Jake leaned forward in his chair. “Hell, I don’t know why we’re even fighting over this,” he said. “Everyone knows Anders Boyd isn’t winning any humanitarian awards. He’s always cared more about money than people.”
“We can protect you, if you trust us,” Charlie chimed in. “You don’t have to be scared.”
If only things were that easy.
“You don’t understand.” Tessa shook her head.
“So, help us understand,” Carter said. For the first time he didn’t sound like he was chastising her.
Tessa looked up into Rhys’ ice blue eyes. The man had risked his life for her. He’d patched her up when she was hurt. Even now he was protecting her from his friends. The least she owed him was the truth.
Unfortunately, that was the one thing she couldn’t give. Not the whole truth at any rate.
But maybe she could give him something better—a chance to save his own life, and his friends’ as well.
“I’m not frightened for my own safety. I’m frightened for yours.” She tore her gaze away from Rhys’ long enough to glance at everyone in the room. “For all of yours.”
“Explain,” Carter said gruffly from his post in front of the mantle.
Tessa saw Rhys’ jaw tighten. “Please,” he added.
“The day that I tossed all my years of work into the SciGen incinerator, I destroyed every link to the project…except one.”
“You,” Rhys said. His chest expanded as he drew in a long breath. “You’re the last link.”
Tessa nodded. “That’s why I risked escaping. If Boyd ever hopes to resurrect the project, he needs me alive. He may make me wish I were dead, but he will never kill me.”
Rhys’ shoulders visibly stiffened. “He is never going to touch you again.”
“You can’t know that. I know how ruthless he is, and how determined,” she said. “That’s why I can’t risk talking to anyone about the project. That’s why I don’t want you digging into my work. I can’t risk making any other links for Boyd to track down.”
“I’m not afraid of Boyd,” Rhys said.
“You should be. The longer I’m in the wind, the more desperate he’ll become. He’ll come after all of you, and the more you know, the less likely he’ll leave you alive.”
“We know how to take care of ourselves,” Jake said.
“I’m glad you’re so confident, but that’s not a risk I’m willing to take. I refuse to have your lives on my head.” She looked past Rhys, up to Carter. “So, it seems that you and I actually agree on something, Mr. Macmillan. I don’t believe you should take this case either.”
The lines around Carter’s eyes tightened as his chin tilted down. She’d seen the same look on more than one face over the past few days. He was studying her, trying to figure out her motives, gauging the truthfulness of her words.
Tessa stayed still in her seat, her gaze never wavering.
“You’re right, Dr. Rosenthal. We do agree on something,” Carter said finally. “I’m afraid I can’t have your life on my head either. I’m assigning Rhys as your personal security detail.”
Tessa’s brows shot up. “But that’s not necessary. I already told you, I’m the one person that Boyd is never going to kill.”
“You’re right,” Carter said, giving a single nod. “He’ll do much worse, and, despite what you might think of me, I can’t allow that to happen.”
Tessa opened her mouth to argue, but snapped it closed just as fast. She could tell by the stubborn set of Carter Macmillan’s chin that she wasn’t going to win this one. Not with words anyway.
Fortunately, there were other ways.
“If you insist,” she said. “But if you’ll excuse me, I’m getting tired. I think I’m going to go lie down for a while.”
She propped her hands on the arms of the chair and lifted herself up.
Rhys wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “I’ll help you,” he said.
“I can make it on my own,” Tessa said.
Rhys gave her a skeptical look. “You’re sure?”
She certainly hoped so, because she needed to go a hell of a lot farther than the bedroom today.
“Positive,” she said, taking her first, slightly unstable, step. “Maybe you can walk your friends out instead. I’m sure they need to get back to the office.”
She paused and turned toward Carter as she passed him. He gave her another openly assessing look, one that made it clear he didn’t trust her at all.
Maybe the man wasn’t a total idiot after all.
***
“Well, that could have gone better,” Charlie said the moment that Tessa disappeared behind the bedroom door.
“It was successful enough,” Carter said, keeping his voice low. “We know a lot more than we did an hour ago. Boyd is after a weapon. Something big. A game changer.”
Carter started toward the kitchen where they would have more privacy. They all followed. Rhys stayed in the doorway where he could still keep an ear tuned to the rest of the house.
“Was,” Charlie said. “Tessa said she destroyed all traces of the thing.”
Rhys’ back teeth ground together as Carter and Jake both turned to look at him, waiting to see if he would say what they had all seen.
“She showed signs of deception,” Rhys admitted. There was no use denying it. The woman was a terrible liar. “But that doesn’t mean that she has the weapon that Boyd is after, or that she has any plans of selling it.”
“Why else would she lie?” Charlie asked, hopping up to sit on the kitchen counter.
“I don’t know,” Rhys said. He remembered the honesty shining in her eyes as she pleaded for him to believe that she hadn’t willingly created something deadly.
That wasn’t all that he’d seen there. She might not be telling him the whole truth, but she wasn’t lying about fearing for everyone’s life. He’d seen the desperation in her face, the worry, bordering on panic. The same frantic mix of emotions that she’d shown last night before trying to claw her way out of his car.
“I need you to find out what the good doctor is still hiding,” Carter said. His eyes narrowed. “Can you do that?”
Rhys stiffened.
Of course, he could. Carter knew that better than anyone. The man had seen Rhys pull information out of dozens of tougher subjects. What Carter was really asking was if he would.
“Do we have a problem?” Rhys asked.
“You tell me, Rhys. That was one hell of a good cop/bad cop show you put on a minute ago. So convincing that you almost fooled all of us.”
Rhys lifted his chin and met Carter’s gaze. His loyalty had never been called into question before. He didn’t like the feeling.
“Last night, a broken and bloody woman collapsed in my arms and I had to carry her away from a man I thought was my friend,” Rhys said plainly. “So, yes. I am committed to uncovering the truth. Probably more than anyone here.”
“Good,” Carter said, crossing his arms and leaning back against the kitchen counter. “I’ll expect a full report soon then.”
“It might take a little time,” Rhys said.
“We don’t have time.”
“Then we’ll make it,” Rhys said, his voice tigh
ter than he’d like. “I won’t get anything out of Tessa if I question her directly.”
Carter’s shoulders pulled back. “Have you tried?”
“I don’t have to. I know what Dylan did to her. I saw how she reacted when you confronted her.”
“But I’m not you,” Carter said. “You can make anyone talk.”
“Yes, I can,” Rhys said, squaring his shoulders. “So, let me do my job.”
Carter’s eyes narrowed at the challenge, but Rhys didn’t back down. Eventually, Carter gave a reluctant nod.
“Fair enough,” he said. “You have until Monday. If there’s no progress by then, we switch to more traditional means.”
Five days. That should be more than enough time. Both for Tessa to regain her strength, and for him to find out what he needed.
“If that’s settled, then I think that Dr. Rosenthal is right. We should be getting back to the office.” Carter moved toward the back door. “I’ll have Jake swing by with a week’s worth of supplies tomorrow.”
“Sounds good,” Jake said, helping Charlie down from the counter.
Rhys paused at the screen door as he heard a rustle deep inside the house.
“Until then we’ll have to come up with a plan to slow down Boyd,” Carter said, as he started down the back steps toward where his sports car du jour was parked. “Charlie, you can start digging into that Project Exodus that she was talking about. I’ll have Mason start looking into SciGen financials.”
“Where are you off to, Rhys?” Charlie asked when he made a sharp turn at the bottom of the stairs.
“Perimeter check,” he called out as he turned the corner of the house.
***
Tessa stood with her ear to the bedroom door, waiting for the house to go quiet. She’d been there for a while now, listening to the constant muffled hum of voices. After a while, she’d even cracked the door, hoping to catch a little more of what they were saying, but no luck. They were too far away—in the kitchen by the sound of it—and deliberately keeping their voices down.
It didn’t take a PhD to figure out what they were discussing.
One look in Carter Macmillan’s eyes and Tessa knew that he hadn’t taken a word she’d said seriously. The damned fool would never back down. He’d just keep digging until he found something that would put him and his whole team in danger.
Including Rhys.
Which meant that Tessa had to make sure there was nothing for him to find.
Of course, that would be a hell of a lot harder if she never had a moment alone to make her escape.
She was just about to admit defeat and give up when she heard the squeak of a door hinge swinging open, then closed.
Then silence. Nothing. Not a footstep. Not a sound.
Everyone must have gone out back. She strained to listen and, sure enough, she could just barely hear them talking outside her window. They had to be headed for their cars.
Which meant this was her chance.
Tessa turned around and grabbed the bag that was sitting on the bed. She didn’t know if she would get far enough to use the change of clothes, but figured she was better safe than sorry.
Speaking of which, it would be good to have some protection, just in case. Jake’s knife was still where she’d dropped it on the floor. She bent over to pick it up, and red-hot pain sliced through her side. Tessa hissed in a breath as she straightened up.
Damn it. Rhys was right. She was in no condition to leave.
But she didn’t have a choice. This might be her only chance. She had to seize it.
She tucked the blade inside the bag and hobbled out of the bedroom door.
Hopefully, everyone would stay busy planning her future long enough for her to get a decent head start. She didn’t need much. Even ten minutes would be enough.
It was still morning. With any luck, that meant the neighborhood would be quiet and she could slip in between the cover of houses until she reached downtown. Then she could head straight for the bus. She didn’t have any money, but she wasn’t above panhandling. She didn’t need much. Just enough to make it to San Jose.
After that it didn’t matter what happened to her.
Tessa knew it wasn’t a great plan. There were a million ways for it to go wrong, for someone to see her slinking around and call the cops, for Rhys—or, God forbid, one of Boyd’s men—to find her, but it would have to do.
She didn’t dare try to run down the hallway. She’d never make it more than a couple of steps. Slow and steady would have to win this race. Right now, it was enough that her knees were strong enough to hold her upright.
Tessa focused on that only bright spot as she forced one foot in front of the other all the way down the long hallway. She was almost afraid to breathe until she reached the front door, certain that at any second Carter Macmillan was going to come in through the back and catch her red-handed.
Tessa let out a sigh as she finally made it to the front of the house and wrapped her fingers around the doorknob. She turned it and threw it open.
And stopped cold.
Her heart jumped up into her throat at the sight of Rhys leaning against one of the painted wood beams that held up the covered porch. He slowly lifted his head as Tessa gasped.
“R-Rhys,” Tessa stuttered. “What are you doing out here?”
“Waiting for you,” he said as he pushed off the railing. His expression was flat, not showing even a flicker of anger, or disappointment…or surprise.
Damn it. She’d been so close.
Tessa staggered back a step, moving deeper into the house. Rhys followed.
“I…I can explain,” she said.
Of course, she couldn’t. Not in a way that would make anything better, at least. Tessa had the terrible feeling that she’d crossed the closest thing she’d had to an ally in this whole mess. After this, there would be no more understanding gazes, no more calm reassurances. Just demands that she couldn’t meet.
“No need to explain.” He followed her inside the house, and turned to close the door behind him. “I knew you were going to try and run the moment Carter officially assigned me to look after you.”
Her mouth fell open. “How could you possibly know that?”
“Because I’m very good at reading people, Tessa.” He turned to face her. The look in his eyes was direct, but without judgment. “I know when they’re lying. I can tell when they’re hiding something. I can even see when someone is so terrified of their own secrets that they’re willing to run away from the people that are trying to help.”
Tessa swallowed down past the lump in her throat. Surely, he couldn’t tell all of that just by looking at her. She shuffled back a few more steps until her legs hit the back of the couch.
Rhys didn’t follow her this time. He just watched her with seemingly endless patience with his hands clasped in front of him.
“What if that person is afraid that no one is listening to her? That they’re all putting themselves in danger by protecting her? That the only way to keep them alive is to run as far away as she can?”
The words tumbled out of Tessa’s mouth, each one more frantic than the last.
Rhys held her gaze for another moment, studying her face. Then he took a slow step toward her, moving at a non-threatening pace until he was only a few inches away.
“I would remind her that the people helping her have done this sort of thing before,” he said, placing a calming hand on her shoulder. “That this is what they’ve been trained for. That this is what they do.”
His eyes never left hers as his hand slid down her arm until it reached the duffel bag in her hand. Gently, his fingers wrapped around hers, peeling them back until the straps slipped from her grasp. The bag fell with a thud to the floor.
“Then I would explain again how good I am at my job,” he said.
Tessa blinked, not realizing until that moment how caught up she’d been in his gaze. So much, that she’d almost let him seduce her into a sense of calm when
she should be fighting for her freedom.
“What do you mean by that?” she asked.
“I know that’s not the only reason you’re running, Tessa,” he said without hesitation. “There’s something else you’re not telling me.”
Tessa started to shake her head, but stopped almost immediately. It seemed there was no use denying it. If Rhys was as good as he said he was—and he certainly seemed to be—then he would see right through her lies.
Her heart pounded anew.
“Are you going to try to make me talk?” Her voice shook. It was certainly what his boss wanted. Of course, Tessa didn’t think that Rhys would be anywhere near as cruel as Dylan in his interrogation, but the thought of enduring another round of questioning still made her recoil.
“No,” he said. “Never. That’s a promise. I’m here to protect you, Tessa. Not hurt you. I would never force you to do anything any more than I would let you put yourself in danger.”
“So, what are you going to do?” she asked.
“Stay with you. Help you heal. Make sure that you’re safe,” he said.
“And what about my…secrets?” she asked, raising a brow.
Rhys let go of her hand. He turned and started toward the kitchen.
“You’ll tell me when you’re ready,” he said.
Tessa cocked her head to the side. She stared at his back as he walked away. She didn’t understand. That was it? All he had to say?
That couldn’t be it.
She held on to the back of the couch for a long moment, wondering what to do. She could simply pick up the bag and try again. The door was right in front of her.
But deep down she knew it wouldn’t do any good. Rhys would simply come out and calmly bring her back inside…where she was safe.
In the end, her curiosity won out. She shuffled across the living room to the kitchen archway. She found him pulling plates and pans from the cupboards.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Making you breakfast,” he said without turning around. “I figured you had to be starving.”
He was right. She was, though with all her troubles, she’d pushed food way down the list of worries.
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