Never. He remembered every minute detail of Jenna’s face...and body.
“Uh, I’ll just carry him to the lodge, if that’s okay.”
“It’s okay with me.” She shrugged. “And Gavin is friendly. He’ll go with anyone.”
Double ouch.
They climbed the stairs to the cafeteria situated in the resort’s ski lodge. As Cade suspected, the après-ski crowd filled the restaurant, bodies, equipment and winter clothing taking up every spare inch of the place. He saw a few empty tables, but he didn’t want to split up from Jenna while someone grabbed a table and someone else grabbed the food.
“What sounds good?”
Jenna tipped her chin at the counter for Italian food. “Gavin likes pizza and there should be some pasta there, too.”
“Italian, it is.” Cade continued to hold Gavin so he could point out what kind of pizza he wanted, while he and Jenna decided on some pastas and sauces.
Jenna carried one tray with Gavin clinging to the pocket of her black jacket, and Cade gripped the other tray while negotiating the tables scattered around the cafeteria.
He zeroed in on a table by the fireplace where a set of parents and two kids were gathering their jackets and gloves. “Are you leaving?”
The dad handed a plastic tray to his son. “Yeah. Crazy in here, huh?”
“Crazy.” Cade nodded. He pulled out a plastic chair for Jenna with one hand as he set the tray down with the other. Gavin crawled into the chair next to his mom’s.
After several minutes of settling in, Jenna went for the throat. “So why are those people after us and what are you doing here?”
“Nothing like getting right to the point.” His gaze flicked to Gavin, picking slices of pepperoni off his pizza and lining them up on his plate.
“I’ve been with you for almost an hour, and I still don’t have answers—not that I expect many.”
“I can’t give you the details, Jenna. Just know you and Gavin have been on my radar ever since...”
“Ever since you left us.”
He hunched over the table and whispered, “You know I didn’t have a choice.”
“I guess that’s my fault. Should’ve never run off to Vegas with a drunken SEAL.”
Cade’s pasta slid down his throat the wrong way and he choked. He chugged half his bottle of water to wash it down. “I was not drunk. I knew exactly what I was doing.”
Her lip trembled and she dabbed at a strand of cheese hanging from Gavin’s chin. “That makes it worse. You knew you could never have a wife...a family, and you went ahead and married me, anyway.”
“I didn’t realize the full extent of the danger. When Jack Coburn recruited me...”
She smacked the table and the salt-and-pepper shakers jumped. “If I hear Jack Coburn’s name one more time, I’m gonna puke.”
Gavin had jerked when Jenna hit the table, but now a big smile split his pizza-stained face and he giggled. “Mommy’s gonna puke.”
This time Cade snorted water out of his nose. Eating with these two was hazardous to his health...almost as hazardous as his job was to theirs.
Smiling, Jenna swiped a napkin across Gavin’s face. “Not really, silly.”
She wiped the smile off her face just as quickly. “Why now, Cade? Did they step up their efforts to find us or did they just get lucky? Is there a fresh, new reason why we’re back in their sights, or have we always been there?”
“It’s not safe to tell you, Jenna.”
“You mean it could actually get worse than living on the run, looking over my shoulder, being separated from...my family?”
Her words stung, but in a way she’d been right. It was all his fault. If he hadn’t met her in Coronado, if he hadn’t fallen for her harder than he’d ever fallen for any woman before, if he hadn’t wanted to make her his wife, she’d be living a normal, happy life with some other guy. A safe guy.
She sighed and tossed her napkin onto her plate. “If you’re not going to come clean, let’s blow this joint.”
“Okay, I suppose we should stop and get Gavin a car seat before we head to our next destination, right?”
“Next destination? And where would that be?”
“Someplace safe.”
“We can’t get a car seat at this time. Any store here that would have them is too far away and probably closed.”
“I guess we’ll have to keep him hidden.”
She shoved back her plastic chair so hard that it almost hit the floor. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
They dumped their trash in the can and stacked their trays on top. Nobody gave them a second look—a typical family on a ski vacation.
The light flakes of snow had dissipated, and the night sky had cleared to a deep midnight-blue so sharp it looked as if it could shatter into a million pieces.
Jenna opened the back door and tucked Gavin into the corner of the seat, snapping a seat belt around his waist. “Just this once you go without a car seat because we don’t have one and it’s too late to buy one.”
Gavin yawned and nodded.
Jenna hung on the car door. “Am I sitting up front this time?”
“Not a great idea just yet. Why don’t you snuggle up with Gavin in the back? I have a couple of blankets in the trunk.”
She gave an exaggerated sigh, but he didn’t believe for a minute she would be all that comfortable riding out of town shotgun.
He gathered one of the blankets from the trunk and tossed it onto her lap.
Cranking on the engine and the heater, he adjusted his rearview mirror. He hoped he hadn’t made a mistake hanging around town.
He turned back onto the one highway in and out of Lovett Peak and the car rolled smoothly over the newly plowed asphalt. Traffic began to back up, and he slowed down, trying to peer ahead at the commotion.
When he curved around the next bend, he swore under his breath.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s a police stop.”
“What does that mean, a police stop?”
“The police are stopping cars, Jenna.” He swiveled his head around to the right, but no escape magically appeared. A solid barrier between his lane and the oncoming traffic put an end to any ideas of a wide U-turn in the middle of the highway. The cops would be all over some car trying to avoid the stop.
“D-do you think it’s a drunk-driving stop?”
“Could be.” Cade slid his gun from his inside pocket and stored it beneath his seat. “Is Gavin sleeping?”
“Yes.”
“You need to cover him and yourself with that blanket. If you can get down on the floor of the car, that’s better.”
The rustling in the backseat told him Jenna had complied with no fuss. Then it hit him. She was accustomed to looking over her shoulder. Thanks to him.
She asked in a muffled voice, “What are they doing?”
“Shh. Waving most people through. I think we’re okay. No more talking.”
Despite the snowdrifts on the side of the road, a trickle of sweat rolled down Cade’s spine. One cop per lane ducked toward every window, said a few words and waved the driver through. He was up in two more cars.
He blew out a breath and rolled back his shoulders. He stretched his lips wide to practice a smile.
Rolling to a stop, he buzzed down his window. “What’s going on, Officer?”
“We’re looking for a woman with a child.”
Cade peeled his tongue from the roof of his dry mouth. “Missing persons?”
“Ah, persons of interest.” The cop flashed his light into the car, and Cade tensed his muscles.
“Did you do some skiing?”
“No. Just visited a friend.” Cade loosened his clammy grip on the steering wheel.
The beam of light intruded into the backseat and Cade held his breath.
“Sir, what’s under the blanket on the floor?”
“I have a blanket on the floor?”
“You do, sir, and I’m going to have to
ask you to show me what’s underneath.”
Cade’s calf ached as it hovered over the accelerator.
“No problem.”
He reached for the keys as if preparing to shut off the ignition. Instead, he jammed his foot down on the gas pedal, and his car, with its 450-horsepower engine, lunged forward with a squeal and a roar.
Chapter Three
Jenna clutched Gavin to her body as the car seemed to leap from the road. Any second she expected bullets to shatter the back window.
“What’s going on? Are they coming after us?”
“Keep down.”
The car took a curve and it felt as if it were balancing on two wheels. “My God, what kind of car is this, the Bat Mobile?”
“Close. It’s designed to outrun any cop car in the nation.”
“And is it fulfilling its promise?”
“Just about.”
Jenna strained her ears but couldn’t detect the sound of a siren over the roar of the car’s engine. “Are they after us?”
“Sort of.”
“Why would they be looking for me?”
“You sure ask a lot of questions. I’m in the middle of a car chase here.”
“Should’ve asked a few more questions in Vegas.”
“We got this. Although they’ll probably call ahead for backup, so we’re going to have to ditch the car.”
“Now?”
“Not right this minute. Don’t worry.”
“Don’t worry? You’re kidding, right?”
The car turned off the highway, and Jenna lifted a corner of the blanket. The lights of the highway had disappeared and the car skimmed through the darkness.
“Where are we going, Cade?”
“An abandoned warehouse. The car will fit and no one will be the wiser, especially those cops I just left in my dust.”
“We’re spending the night in an abandoned warehouse?” She threw off the blanket and pulled Gavin back onto the seat. How he’d slept through the Bat Mobile’s flight over a barely paved road, she had no idea.
“Would you rather be in a jail cell with no protection?”
She would’ve scoffed at the notion that she had no protection in a cell at the police station, but she knew Cade’s foes better than that. They’d probably been the ones who’d notified the police to look out for a woman and child in connection with Marti’s murder.
She peeked out the window at the black night. The stars sparkled in the clear sky, but the sliver of moon cast only a stingy glow on the snow.
The stealth car cruised down the unplowed road, its back end fishtailing here and there when it hit a patch of ice it couldn’t handle.
A hulking shape loomed ahead, and Jenna shivered instinctively. It wasn’t exactly the Hotel del Coronado, where she and Cade had spent one glorious, sun-washed weekend.
The car jerked to a stop and Cade rocketed from the front seat, clutching his gun in one hand and a set of keys in the other.
He unlocked the front door of the warehouse and rolled it open as it squealed in protest. He slid back into the car and eased it through the gaping entrance. Then he made a U-turn and parked the car facing the doorway. Ready for blast-off.
Jenna scooted out of the car and hugged her new jacket around her body. “Why did you happen to have a key to an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Lovett Peak?”
“Don’t ask.”
“Oops, I forgot.” She hunched her shoulders. “It’s freezing in here.”
“I’ll get the heat going in the car, and I have a second blanket in the trunk along with some water and snacks.”
“Is being a spy sort of like being a Boy Scout? You’re always prepared?”
“Something like that.” A grin split his impossibly handsome face, a face she’d never been able to vanquish from her mind. “I’m glad to see you haven’t lost your sense of humor.”
“You think I’m joking?” She shook her head, but the truth had slapped her in the face like a snowball. She hadn’t felt this alive in three years. Even before Cade had been recruited for Prospero, his crooked smile and flashing dark eyes had spelled danger and she’d fallen hook, line and sinker.
Her wealthy parents had spoiled her, with stuff not attention, and she’d spent her childhood and teenage years acting out, trying to get them to react. They never did.
But she wasn’t a spoiled, flighty girl anymore. She had Gavin, and she couldn’t afford to live dangerously...or any more dangerously than she’d already been living.
Cade crouched by the open door and tucked the blanket around Gavin. “I can’t believe he slept through that.”
“He’s accustomed to upset and upheaval.” A second later she felt a stab of regret at her words and tone, as Cade’s face, full of wonder over his son, darkened and creased.
“It’s no way for a kid to live. He needs stability and Little League games and a best friend.”
“Are you going to tell me why we’re in danger now? More danger? You owe me that much, Cade.”
Cade squeezed his eyes closed and pinched the bridge of his nose, looking older than his twenty-nine years. “They think I have something, Jenna, but I don’t.”
She squeezed past him and sat on the backseat, her legs dangling out of the car. “Who are they, Cade?”
He shrugged as if the they didn’t matter. “An arms dealer named Nico Zendaris—the same man who put a target on my back after my first mission with Prospero. A band of engineers from nations hostile to the United States got together and developed something that’s very bad news for us. Zendaris laid claim to the plans for the weapon’s prototype and now those plans are missing. Zendaris thinks I have them.”
“What are the plans for?”
“I’ve told you too much already.”
She’d get that out of him later. “Why does this arms dealer think you have the plans?”
“Because I did have them.”
She pressed her hands against her bouncing knees. “What happened to them?”
“Someone stole them.”
“And he doesn’t believe you?”
“Not a chance.”
“He will when the person who stole them makes a move. The thief stole them for a reason—money, power, influence. He’s going to tip his hand soon.”
“But right now it’s better for that person to let everyone believe I still have those plans.”
“And now Zendaris knows about Gavin.”
“That’s right.”
“He’s leverage, isn’t he? I’m fairly dispensable, but if they get their hands on your son, they have you right where they want you.”
“I wouldn’t call you dispensable, Jenna.” He brushed her cheek with his knuckle and she shivered for a different reason than the chill in the warehouse. “Unfortunately, I can’t give them what they want.”
She snorted. “You wouldn’t even if you could.”
“I’d do anything for Gavin.” He tweaked the blanket around his son’s legs. “I gave him up to keep him safe.”
“You wouldn’t give up your job for the same reason.”
Cade clenched his jaw and the easygoing man she’d fallen in love with in San Diego morphed into the tough-as-nails Navy SEAL she’d caught rare glimpses of once they’d gotten married.
Had she pushed him too far?
He shoved away from the car and the cold air rushed in. Despite what her mind screamed, her body craved the warmth of his touch, his nearness, his protection. Because she was tired of doing it all on her own.
The car bounced as Cade opened the trunk. He strode back to the gaping door and dropped a blanket into her lap. “You two huddle up back here. I’ll run the car intermittently. Don’t want to die of carbon monoxide poisoning in an abandoned warehouse.”
And just like that, the precariousness of their situation stabbed Jenna right through the heart.
“What about you?”
“I’m good up front.” He slammed her door and crawled into the driver’s seat. T
hrusting the second blanket between the two front seats, she said, “You can have this. Gavin and I can share, and we have body heat to warm us up.”
Cade’s dark eyes glittered, sending butterflies to her belly and warmth to her cheeks. Just mentioning body heat had them both thinking about the warm summer days in Coronado when they’d made love on the beach, in their private hot tub and in an intentionally stalled elevator.
“Keep it.” He turned on the lights over the rearview mirror, placed his weapon on the console and dragged a crumpled magazine from beneath the front passenger seat.
Okay, maybe she was the only one thinking about those warm summer days.
Sighing, she pushed her new brown hair out of her face and curled up next to Gavin, pulling the extra blanket over both of them. She’d never get to sleep with her husband flipping pages of a magazine two feet away from her.
She shifted Gavin’s head onto her chest and dabbed at a line of drool on his cheek. Yanking the blanket over her shoulder, she rested her chin on top of Gavin’s bristly hair and closed her eyes.
She couldn’t sleep but drifted into a land of daydreams where she, her husband and her son lived in a small house with a white picket fence and a dog stationed in the front yard. A smile played across her lips as she indulged in the impossible scenario.
Just as she began to think she might actually doze off, sedated by happy, if unlikely, dreams, a loud thwacking noise had her bolting to an upright position.
“What the hell is that?”
Cade tossed his magazine to the floor of the car and grabbed his gun from the console. He aimed the barrel at the roof of the car and grimaced.
“It’s a helicopter...and we’ve got company.”
Chapter Four
“Grab Gavin.” Cade tilted his head back and forth, following the sound of the helicopter as it swooped toward the roof of the warehouse and then began descending for a touchdown.
Had they given up their search by car and brought in the big guns? Unfortunately, this patch of land had just enough room to put down a chopper.
Jenna had scrambled from the car, clutching a bundled Gavin to her chest. “There are a bunch of barrels over in the corner.”
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