by Dale Mayer
“Well, we can arrange the shower at the hotel, but I don’t know about the change of clothing,” he said. “That’s the information I gave the cops, so we need to be there.”
“You need to be there,” she said. “I don’t. I can go back to my place.”
He just glared at her, until she raised her hands in frustration, then surrender.
“Seriously? Fine,” she said. “Can we at least run past my place, so I can pack an overnight bag?”
“We can do that,” he said. “We’ll grab a cab.” She groaned, and they quickly hailed one. She gave him her address, and they headed off to her place. As she sagged in the front seat and stayed quiet, the cab driver looked at her.
“Bad day?”
“The worst,” she replied. When he pulled up in front of her place, Shane paid him and said, “Can you wait here for a few minutes? We’ll be heading to a hotel.” The cab driver agreed and put the light on, and they quickly headed up to her apartment.
As she walked through the apartment, Diesel asked, “How long have you been here?”
She followed his gaze to the stacks of boxes in the corner. “Obviously not long enough to unpack yet,” she said. “Six weeks.”
“Wow,” he said. “Will you stay?”
“I don’t think so,” she said. “As much as I enjoyed the job, I really missed California. New York is such a massive city, and yet, well, I always feel alone.”
“Seems like a good time for a move,” Shane said.
“That’s what this move to New York was about,” she said. “I guess I didn’t tell you about that, but I was just tired of the same old thing all the time.” As she walked into her master bedroom, she passed a pile of unpacked boxes there as well. Shaking her head, she grabbed her overnight bag and quickly packed a few outfits. She looked around to see the guys checking out every nook and cranny in the apartment and said, “I haven’t even had a chance to really move in,” she said, “let alone get settled.” She looked up at the two men, then smiled and said, “Come on. Let’s get out of here. Otherwise I’ll want to shower and get changed right here. If I do, you’ll probably have to pack me out of here on your shoulder.”
“Okay, but Diesel’s packing you this time,” Shane said with a chuckle. “Let’s go,” he murmured, slinging an arm around her neck.
“You’re sure I can’t just get a quick shower here?” She tried again, looking around the small apartment that still didn’t feel like home.
“Nope, sorry,” he said. “Let’s go.”
She groaned and let herself be led out of her apartment. Back outside, they headed to the cab. They got in, and Diesel gave the driver the hotel address. As they headed out, she twisted around and said to Shane, “How long do we have to stay at the hotel?”
“I don’t know,” he said, “but at least tonight.”
She shrugged and said, “Fine. That won’t kill me.” She sighed, settled back, and wondered at the direction they were going. As she turned to double-check with Shane, it occurred to her the driver seemed bigger than she remembered. Just as she started to speak, the window between the front and back seat abruptly closed, and all the locks snapped shut. She twisted to look at the cab driver. “Seriously?”
He looked at her and said, “Just sit there and be quiet.”
“After what I’ve been through today,” she said, her temper getting the best of her, “the hell I will.” She reached out and smacked him hard across the face.
Immediately he pulled the handgun from his waist and held it up against her face. “I said, sit down and shut up.”
She glared at him. “Fine. I’ll sit,” she snapped. “But, Jesus, this is really not the time to piss me off.”
“Shut up!” he roared.
“What do you think will stop these guys from taking you out?”
“It’s bulletproof glass,” he said. “Now sit there and shut up. I’m not telling you again.” She turned and stared forward, but inside she was fuming and terrified. “What’s this all about?”
“You got out of the office building,” he said, trying to steer while talking to her and managing the handgun, “and I was asked to replace the other cab with my own,” he said. “I often do special trips for people.”
“What? You just happened to be handy?”
“Actually I was on call, like a backup.”
“That’s nice,” she said snidely.
As they came up to a red light, he looked like he would slow down to take a turn.
Immediately she grabbed the wheel and yanked on it hard. The vehicle spun around in the middle of the intersection, and she started hitting him with all her might. Because she was half climbing all over him, he couldn’t get the gun in position to hurt her. He reached up to grab her by the neck, but, before he had a chance, she punched the lock button, unlocking the doors. Then she punched him as hard as she could in the face.
Blood spurted from his nose, and she tried to jerk back from his grip, now pinching the upper part of her arm. Just as he got his other arm free, the driver’s side door popped open, and, in no time, Diesel and Shane had pulled him out and tossed him to the ground in the middle of the intersection. Immediately the gun flung free, and the man scrambled after it. Shane punched him once and then again, and the gunman went down in a heap. Shane walked over and kicked the gun away from his body and stood over him, pulling out his phone.
She had no clue what was going on, but she admired his technique. She would have to work on hers.
Shane glared at her from outside the cab. “What the hell did you think you were doing?”
“Improvising,” she said, with a shrug. Diesel laughed. She looked at him and said, “At least one of you has a sense of humor.”
“Well,” Diesel said, “if you were mine, I’d have turned you over my knee and gave you a spanking.”
She looked at him, shocked. “Damn good thing I’m not then,” she said in an ominous tone, “because anybody who thinks that’s a good idea won’t do well with me.”
“I was kidding,” Diesel said, “but you had to know Shane would be unhappy about what you just did.”
“Why?” she said. “At least we’re not all locked inside a damn taxi right now, being taken to God-only-knows where,” she said. “In case nobody noticed, I’m a little tired of being ordered around today.”
“Got it,” he said, with a smile, and she glared at him suspiciously. He just turned and motioned toward Shane, who stood there still glaring at her, his hands on his hips.
She hopped out of the cab and immediately put her hands on her own hips, imitating his posture perfectly. “Come on. You know I won’t be the one who sits there and follows orders,” she complained.
Rolling his eyes, Shane pinched the bridge of his nose. “You could at least try not to get yourself killed.”
“Well, obviously you guys wouldn’t be any help,” she said. “What was I supposed to do?”
He stared at her, shaking his head. “You never change, do you?”
“Am I supposed to?” she asked, and he heard a little bit of insecurity in her voice. He sighed, then opened his arms, and she ran into them. He closed them around her immediately and held her tight. “You always got into trouble at every turn.”
“I also get out of trouble, thank you very much,” she said.
“You’re also damned lucky sometimes.”
“Well, obviously I picked a time when I knew his hands would be busy,” she said. “You should be nice to me, since I did get us out of that ugly situation.”
“Oh, yeah,” he said, “I’m really happy about it. Now, do you think you can stay out of trouble long enough to let us check this guy over and make sure he doesn’t pull something else?”
“Not to worry,” Diesel said. “I just patted him down. No ID on him. Lots of cash in his back pocket, but, other than that, there’s nothing.”
“Anything in the cab?”
“No registration papers and the license plate doesn’t belong
on it either.”
“Figures.”
In the meantime, the cops finally arrived, as the traffic had slowly been going around them, but they were definitely a hazard. When they tried to explain what had happened, they just looked at him in shock. “What?”
Then she said, “We were the ones in that office-building-hostage thing that just happened,” she said, the words all tumbling out.
Shane pulled her back into his arms, held her close, and said, “Just stay calm.” Then he explained everything to the officer, who just shook his head.
“Jesus,” he said, “can you guys just get to the hotel and stay out of trouble?”
“Maybe,” she said, lifting her head away from Shane’s chest. “Will you provide any security to keep us out of trouble? We took a cab. That’s all we did. We took a cab to my place to pick up some clothes, and then we were supposed to go back to the hotel. That’s it,” she said. “So how the hell is that our fault?”
Shane squeezed her shoulders and said, “Sorry, guys. She’s a little overwrought.”
The officer looked at her like she was a time bomb. She just rolled her eyes. Shane glared at her and said, “Calm down, would you please?”
She sighed, then slumped against him and nodded. “Okay, this is your show,” she said. “But you’ll have to get me something to eat soon.” She yawned and snuggled in close. He sighed and said, “Any chance you guys could give us a lift to the hotel? We stopped at her place to pick up a change of clothing, and the cab switched while we were inside. We said we’d be available to answer more questions, but we got held up.” He then provided the name of the SWAT leader from the telecom building task force.
Nodding, the officer said, “Come on. Get in the back of my cruiser here.” Shane led her to the police car, and the three of them piled into the back. She never said another word, until they were outside the hotel.
Looking up at the third-rate hotel, she smiled. “This is all you can afford, huh? I guess they don’t pay you that well for those missions.”
He just sighed, shaking his head. “We were trying to avoid calling any attention to ourselves. We’re not trying to impress anyone or to make a statement with our lodging choices anyway.”
She looked at him sideways. “Yeah, so how’s that working out for you?” At that, Diesel laughed and laughed. She glared at him. “What’s so funny now?”
“You two,” he said. “You’re really great together.”
“We’re not exactly together-together,” she said.
“He knows that,” Shane said. “He’s probably figuring out why we aren’t.”
“Well, I probably irritate you way too much,” she said. “And, in all honesty, I kind of irritate myself. So I’m not sure what to do about that.”
“Well, you could just get along in life,” Shane said. “You don’t always have to be at the front of all the trouble.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice,” she said, “if such a thing were even possible. But remember. I just came here to do a job. I didn’t have anything to do with starting that mess at my office. That was all on you, buddy.”
“I know,” he said, “and I thank you very much for your assistance.”
“Right,” she said, hearing the overly patronizing tone in his voice. In no time, they make it up to their room. She sat down on one of the two queen beds in the room, then looked around and said, “We better not be here for the whole night,” she said, “because there isn’t room for all three of us.”
“Yes, there is,” Shane said. “One of us will always be on watch through the night.”
“Oh, good,” she said. “I really need to get some sleep first, but then I can take a watch.”
“You’ll get to sleep all night,” Shane said. “We’ll handle the watch.”
“No, really. I’ll take a watch.”
“No.”
She glared at him and then gave in. “Right. Now you’ll say, ‘This is what we do,’ right?”
Diesel quietly chuckled at the way she dropped her voice and changed her posture to imitate Shane.
“Do you really want to argue over this?” Shane asked her.
“No, I guess not,” she said, “but seriously, can we get some food? I’m starving.”
“Yes, we’ll get some food,” he said. “We’ll order room service.”
She wrinkled up her face at that. “Yeah, I can just imagine what the kitchen in this place looks like. I think there was a pizza place around the corner, maybe a steakhouse. Can we leave?”
“No.”
“Steak from takeout would be cold and overcooked,” she said, “but pizza on the other hand …” And she waggled her eyebrows. “Come on. We have a long history of sharing a pizza and talking all night.”
“Yes, we do,” he said. “Go get your shower, and we’ll see what we can come up with.” She grinned, then snagged her overnight bag and raced into the bathroom.
Diesel looked on, shaking his head. “Man, I don’t know,” he said. “I think the two of you are a perfect match.”
“Hell no,” he said. “You heard how it is. Trust me. We do much better not together.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Diesel said. “I don’t think you’ve ever given it a chance.”
“Did you see her in that cab?” he said. “I damn near had a heart attack when she reached over and smacked him the first time, much less when she grabbed the steering wheel, jumped on top of him, punching him in the face.”
“I did too,” Diesel admitted. “Is she always that hot-tempered?”
“Yeah, but she’s also very good-hearted. She would say that she only loses it when people need it.”
Diesel snorted at that. “She’s something,” he said. “When she snapped at that cop, I thought she might talk us right into handcuffs.”
“I know it,” he said, laughing at the memory. “Like I said, she’s generally pretty good with it, but she’s been under a lot of stress with this hostage deal.”
“You think?” Diesel said. Then he added, “What’s it gonna be? Pizza or steak?”
“Well, I was hoping for a damn steak,” he said, “but she’s right. Steak should be served sizzling hot, and we won’t get that from takeout, and, now that she mentioned it, we might save ourselves a gut ache by skipping room service.”
“So …”
“Pizza it is,” he said. “We need to just find one nearby that delivers.”
“No problem,” Diesel said. “There’s one across the street.”
“Oh, good,” he said, “one of us can just walk across and grab something, instead of delivery.”
“Why don’t I go over and take a look,” he said.
“Would you mind?”
“Hell no,” he said. “I’m just as damn tired and hungry as the two of you. I’ll go get some food, and, maybe by the time I get back, you’ll have both showered, so I can hop in.”
“We’ll make it happen,” Shane said and smiled, as Diesel headed out.
Chapter 4
Shelly stood under the hot water, letting it sluice down her back, easing some of the knots of stress that had settled into her shoulders and the back of her neck. She wanted to stay here and not move again. She’d prefer a soak in a hot tub after a good steak and a glass of red wine, but, since those options weren’t available, she better get moving. She stood there for a moment longer and scrubbed her hair.
She was in rough shape by the time she finished. She was tired from the heat, exhausted from the events of the day, and felt her energy waning. Finally she shut off the water, wrapped up in a towel, and just sat on the end of the bathtub for a few minutes. By the time she dried herself down, she felt a little better.
Just then came a knock on the door, and Shane called out, “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said with a sigh. Moving quickly to her bag, she slipped on underclothes, then threw on an oversize T-shirt and a pair of leggings. As she opened the door, she finished brushing out her hair and said, “So
rry. I’m taking a long time.”
“It’s all good,” he said, his gaze searching her face. “I’m just worried about you.”
“I appreciate that,” she said with a bright smile. “It’s been a rough day.”
“That’s an understatement,” he said with a nod. “Bet you never have to experience a workday like that again.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Not likely.” Taking a deep breath, she continued, “The problem is that I saw at least four of them. And they all know who I am.”
He nodded slowly. “I was wondering if you connected those dots.”
She glared at him and said, “I know I’m not in your field and don’t have experience with all this cloak-and-dagger stuff, but I do have a brain. Since they made a point of leaving no other witnesses alive, odds are they won’t leave a loose end like me out here. Hence the cabbie.”
“Unfortunately you’re absolutely right,” he said boldly.
She winced. “You could go ahead and sugarcoat it a little, you know?” she said with a groan. “You never have been one to mince words, have you?”
“You want me to lie to you?”
“Of course not,” she said. Tossing the hairbrush into her bag, she gave the ends of her hair one last squeeze before hanging up the towel and stepping into the other room. “It’s just so depressing,” she said.
“We’ve not yet heard from the police or Gavin on how the building sweep went down or how badly the ones Diesel and I took down were hurt.”
“You’re right, thank you. We’ll know more before long, I’m sure. Are we really staying here?”
“Well, I was contemplating another room, if that would make you feel better. We gave the fake cabbie this address, but he’s in custody.”
She immediately shook her head. “Oh no, I’m fine with all of us bunking in here, if you guys don’t mind an extra houseguest.”
“We’re fine with it,” he said and gently squeezed her shoulder. “You did really well in there today.”
She looked up at him, and, in spite of herself, the tears came to her eyes again.