Ally had no idea how long it took Carter to drive back to downtown Sacramento. Time had become fuzzy the moment that he’d pressed down on the accelerator and sped down the street where she’d grown up. She could vaguely remember him roaring past her old elementary school before getting onto the freeway. After that everything was a hazy blur.
Her mind felt numb. She stared out the window, but her eyes didn’t take in the scene whizzing by. The only images that floated through her brain were of shards of broken pottery and glass. A million pieces of ceramic littering her mother’s floor.
What had happened last night in Harvey Price’s office was jarring. It was frightening and adrenaline-filled. But this—strangers sneaking around her childhood home and riddling it with bullets—felt so much more personal. This was an attack, not just on her, but on those she held dear.
Slowly, the skyline changed, shifting from wide-open sky to soaring towers of metal and glass. Ally registered that they were back in the heart of the city, but she didn’t turn away from the window until Carter made a sharp right turn and everything went black.
Ally sat back in her seat as Carter took them down into an underground parking lot.
“You back with me?” he asked.
“Yeah. I think so,” she said, rubbing at her eyes with the heel of her palms. “Where are we?”
“My office.” He pulled into an empty spot. “But don’t worry. We won’t be here long.”
“I wasn’t worried,” Ally said as Carter stepped out of the car. She followed him as quickly as she could. “Should I be?”
He didn’t answer her, but disappeared through a door marked Stairs.
Great. That was very reassuring.
Ally didn’t even think about turning heel and running for the hills the moment he was out of sight this time. If anything, she hurried her step to catch up with him.
Oh, how things had changed.
She still wasn’t sure that she trusted him, not completely, at any rate.
She wasn’t always this suspicious. Of course, she’d never been one to buy into conspiracy theories either, but watching a politically-connected confidential informant blow up on television had her re-examining some of her beliefs. She guessed a couple of assassination attempts could do that to a girl.
Right now she couldn’t see any other option than sticking with Carter.
That didn’t mean she didn’t have questions for him. Now that her mind was recovering from the shock of being hunted like a wild animal, she had plenty of them.
Starting with why he had stubbornly refused to turn his back on her for even a second at her parent’s house, but was now bounding up the fire stairs three at a time and leaving her in the dust.
Unless…
Ally dug inside her purse. Her hand frantically skimmed over the bottom of the bag searching for that slim, cold piece of metal. Deep down, she knew she wouldn’t find it.
He’d taken the flash drive. Probably slipped it from her bag while she was still in shock.
See. She wasn’t paranoid. The son-of-a-bitch wasn’t trustworthy.
And now he had the drive that she had risked her life for…twice.
Ally took off up the stairs. She might not be ex-Special Forces, but she was damned motivated. She caught up to him before he hit the second floor.
“Y…you…you.” Ally sucked in a huge lungful of air. She might have been angry and indignant, but she was also terribly out of breath. Fury, it seemed, could get you up three flights of stairs in a hurry, but it didn’t do a damned thing to change how out of shape you were.
“Me,” Carter said, pushing open the door and stepping into the hallway. Directly across was a set of massive wooden double doors with the words Macmillan Security etched across in gold.
Ally rested her hands on her hips and bent over desperate to catch her breath before chasing after him again.
He, of course, strode on without her.
It looked like breathing would have to wait. She wasn’t about to lose sight of him or Harvey’s flash drive.
“You took the drive out of my purse,” she accused loudly as he entered the office.
The receptionist behind the desk shot her a strange look before looking to Carter. He nodded in greeting, but kept going. The woman went back to work without giving Ally a second glance.
Apparently, this kind of thing was just another day in the office around here.
“I did,” he said, striding down the hall.
They passed a few partitioned office spaces. More than a couple heads turned as they walked by. Ally recognized one of them from the night before--the blonde guy with the ice blue eyes. The look he gave her now wasn’t any warmer.
Ally turned her attention back to Carter and sped up.
“So you admit that you stole it?”
He glanced back at her. “I never said I stole it. We agreed to bring it here.”
“No,” she shook her head vigorously, refusing to let him off of the hook. “We agreed that I would bring it here and let your people work their strange magic on it. I never agreed to you rummaging through my purse, and cutting me out.”
Carter stopped suddenly, and Ally had to act quickly not to run straight into him. She managed, but just barely.
Now she was just awkwardly close, her body just inches away from his. She craned her head back as he spun around.
Heat that had nothing to do with outrage began to burn her face. Yeah, she was way too close.
Ally stumbled back.
“I’m not cutting you out, Ally,” he said.
“And why should I trust anything you say?” she asked.
Carter arched a brow. “Maybe because twice now I’ve thrown my body on top of yours to shield you from bullets.”
The heat of her blush intensified. And it wasn’t helping her pride any that he had a point.
“T-that’s not the most terrible reason I’ve ever heard,” Ally said, her voice sounding squeaky and small, even to her own ears.
“Oh, honey, do not let him sweet talk you,” a cheerful feminine voice said from nearby. “He uses that line on all the girls.”
Ally turned her head to the right, and saw that they had stopped directly in front of an open office door. A cute young woman with bright copper hair was seated on a swivel chair in front of a row of computer monitors. But she wasn’t looking at any of them. The stranger’s eyes were shamelessly fixed on her and Carter like they were the day’s entertainment.
Ally turned back to Carter. “Who is that?”
“That is our resident magician.”
The woman stood up and waved. “Charlie Keswick.”
Ally found herself waving back. “Ally Weaver.”
“Oh, I know who you are,” Charlie said with a smile. “I like you already. I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone with the guts to go toe to toe with the Captain here.”
Guts, eh? Ally’s chin lifted a notch as she felt a little of her pride slip back into place. “Thanks.”
The bit about knowing her was a little odd, but Ally figured that Carter had to get his information from somewhere. That somewhere was apparently Charlie.
“No problem.” Charlie shifted her gaze over to Carter. “Speaking of you, Captain, what magic do you need today?”
Carter dug into his pocket and pulled out the flash drive. He tossed it Charlie’s way. Ally watched as the woman snatched it out of the air. She bit into her lip, desperately trying to resist the urge to go and wrench it from Charlie’s fingers.
Charlie flipped it over in her hands. “What’s on it?”
“That’s what we need you to find out.”
“Ooh, a mystery.” Charlie spun around in her chair, wasting no time plugging the drive into one of her computers.
“I need the results ASAP,” Carter said before turning and continuing his walk down the hall.
“You always need everything ASAP,” Charlie shouted after him.
Ally lingered by Charlie’s open door.
“Promi
se me you’ll be careful with that,” Ally couldn’t help saying.
Charlie swiveled her chair around. Fortunately, she didn’t look the least bit offended. She met Ally’s gaze with nothing but compassion in her eyes.
“You went through a lot to get this little thing, didn’t you?” Charlie asked.
“Yeah,” Ally said, even though she had a feeling that Charlie already knew the answer. “And I wasn’t the only one.”
“Then I promise you. I’ll treat it with the care and respect it deserves,” Charlie said without a trace of humor in her voice.
Ally gave a slow nod. She believed her. More importantly, she felt a hell of a lot more comfortable about leaving the flash drive behind.
She finally turned to try to catch up to Carter, but found her way blocked by a giant.
Okay, he wasn’t really a giant, but he might as well have been. The scowl that he wore dissipated any of the warm fuzzies she’d just received from Charlie. He reminded Ally of an ancient Polynesian warrior, the kind that would gut you for showing the slightest sign of fear.
“E-excuse me,” she said, trying to step past him.
He pinned her in place with his narrowing gaze. “Who are you?”
Hell, even his voice was terrifying.
“I-I—”
“She’s Ally Weaver, Bowie, and she’s here with Carter,” Charlie called out without bothering to turn around. “So mind your manners, and let her pass.”
The giant named Bowie gave her one more glower before stepping to the side.
“Thanks,” Ally muttered as she hustled down the hall. She could feel the man’s gaze following her the whole way, but she didn’t dare turn around.
At the end of the hallway she found a door with Carter’s name on it. She cracked it open and found him standing behind his desk, staring at a computer. He didn’t look up as she slid inside. She rested her back against the door as it closed.
“I never thought I’d say this, but I’m glad I found you,” she said.
“It’s not the best idea to get lost in this office.”
“About that,” Ally said. “Time to ‘fess up. What is it that you guys actually do around here?”
“I told you. Security.”
“Well, yeah…” She kept her hands flat on the door as she leaned into the room. “But there’s security, and then there’s security.”
The hint of a smile lifted the corners of Carter’s lips. “And which one do you think it is?”
“Well, since I had the pleasure of meeting Iceman and Bruiser last night, and I just had a terrifying run in with a wall of muscle who’s named after a kind of knife, I’m guessing it’s the latter.”
His amused smirk grew, even as he stood up to his full height and crossed his arms in front of his wide chest. “And does that make you trust me more or less.”
She was saved from having to answer by a knock on the door.
“Come in,” Carter called out.
Ally stepped to the side, and watched as the smile fell instantly from Carter’s face. The door swung open and a tall handsome man with light brown hair and sapphire eyes stepped inside.
The stranger looked her way and cocked his head to the side giving her an honest smile.
“You must be Miss Weaver,” he said. His voice was pleasant, masculine, but not so threatening that her first instinct was to run and hide. He offered her his hand. “I’m Mason Wright.”
“Please call me Ally,” she said, taking it.
“It’s a pleasure, Ally.” He held on to her hand a second too long. His eyes lingered on hers as well, and Ally found herself smiling back in a way that bordered on flirtatious.
“Do you work here?” She couldn’t help but ask. This guy, Mason, was polite and likable, pretty much the exact opposite of every other male Macmillan employee she’d met so far.
“I do,” he said.
“I would caution against falling for his charm, if I were you,” Carter said from across the room. “Mason here could put a bullet in the dead center of your forehead from two hundred yards away.”
Mason flashed her an aw shucks smile. “But not without good reason,” he added.
“Good to know,” Ally said.
She looked over at Carter. His easy posture from a moment ago had turned defensive.
For a second, she wanted to believe that it was because of the attention Mason was giving her, but that was silly. It couldn’t be.
“Did you need something, Mason?” Carter asked.
Mason’s spine straightened. In an instant, both men were all business. He nodded at Carter. “Just came to tell you that the cops are at the door.”
“That was faster than I expected.” Carter swore under his breath as he quickly shut down his computer. “Who is dealing with them?”
“Jake’s at the door. I’m guessing he can tie them up there for a couple more minutes at most.”
“Jake?” Ally asked.
“Bruiser,” Carter clarified.
Mason chuckled. “Bruiser…I like that.”
“I’m going to have to get Ally somewhere safe. I don’t trust Fuller not to have a mole or two in the department. If the police take her down to the station, she’s as good as dead.”
Ally swallowed hard. That sounded bad. Really bad. What did somebody do when they couldn’t trust the police? And why hadn’t Carter told her any of this until now?
“Where are you going to take her?” Mason asked.
Carter shook his head. “Not sure yet. But I’ll let you know as soon as I do. Keep communication to secure channels only.”
“Done.”
Carter grabbed his keys off the desk and came over to Ally’s side. He made a show of linking his hand in hers.
“You’re in charge while I’m out,” Carter said.
“The boys are going to love that.”
“They’ll get over it,” Carter said, leading her out of the office. “Just don’t let the place burn down while I’m gone.”
“No promises,” Mason replied.
***
Carter Page 7