Turning to her window, Susan watched the world go by. The radio was off as they bumped along to an undisclosed location to meet with a person whose name couldn’t be revealed.
Susan’s lips went dry. She didn’t like the idea of surprises with all the talk of a vigilante on the loose. Feeling her bundle of nerves only ball up tighter inside her stomach, Susan had to let Samantha know of their change of plans.
Keeping Damien in her peripheral, Susan unclasped her clutch and removed her phone. She wasn’t surprised Damien didn’t react. Without wasting a second, Susan tapped at the screen with her thumbs.
With DB now. Going to lunch. Don’t know where. Oh, and I found this…
Susan attached the photo she took of Ronald Hyland’s business card, along with the notes Damien had jotted down. If anything, she hoped Samantha would know what they meant. Then she added, also a pacema—
Attacking like a shark shooting out from the deep abyss, Damien’s hand landed on Susan’s, cutting her off before she could finish typing. Susan startled with surprise. His fingers closed around her phone. With her thumb near the send button, she tapped the screen just before Damien stole her phone away from her.
“Excuse me?” Her lips parted.
The corners of Damien’s glimmering eyes crinkled. “I need you here.” He held up her phone. “Not here.”
“I was here,” she spun her index finger around in a circle, indicating her presence in the car, “until you disappeared.”
Damien chuckled. “But you’re not present when your attention is on your device.”
She sighed and flashed him a look of disbelief. Only a second ago, she was a ghost to him. Now she was at fault for ignoring him? What was this guy’s deal?
“Damien, please. I have a business to run.”
Still driving, he asked, “When’s the last time you unplugged?”
Forever ago, Susan thought. “I’m a small business owner, I can’t afford that luxury. Now, can I please have my phone back?”
Damien shook his head no. “Today, you do have that luxury.” He stuffed her phone inside his left breast pocket, making it clear the conversation was over.
Susan couldn’t make up her mind about him. One second he was hot, the next he was cold. Worse, she swam in perpetual doubt when having to remind herself that Damien could potentially be the murdering psychopath everyone was chasing.
Susan said, “Then at least tell me where you’re taking me.”
Damien turned his head and grinned. “To lunch.”
“Yes. You’ve said that already.” Susan was growing frustrated. “Does this place have a name?”
Damien said, “It’s a place I’m sure you’d like.”
“How do you know what I like?”
The vehicle slowed to a stop when approaching a red light. Angling his body toward hers, he reached up and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Susan’s heart fluttered inside her belly the moment her breath hitched. His touch was gentle. That was perhaps what scared her most. There was too much unknown to trust who this guy really was and what his underlying intentions were.
“I know that you like seafood over steak. Prefer lattes to espressos. Most of all, I know you’ll never say no to Mexican food.”
Susan was breathless as she stared into his gaze. “How do you know so much about me?”
The light clicked to green. Damien continued to stare. “There is a lot I know about you.”
The car honked behind them. Damien eased off the brake, applied pressure to the accelerator.
“You’ve done your research.”
Damien flicked his gaze to her. “I like to know what I’m getting myself into.”
Susan raised her eyebrows. “And so do I.”
“I’m still not telling you where we’re going.”
Turning her head away, Susan knew exactly where in the city they were. The sun was shining bright between scattered cloud cover, and everything was fine except for what she didn’t know about the man she was with. That kept her on an uncomfortable edge.
Ever since meeting him, Damien had a stalkerish ability to be everywhere. He seemed to know what to say and how to phrase it to get the response he needed. But knowing her personal likes and dislikes was a new line he had crossed. Susan didn’t like feeling so exposed. It wasn’t information that could just be pulled from an About page on her website. He knew details to personal likings that only her friends knew. How did he learn so much about her? Why did he act like it wouldn’t scare her?
Susan slowly turned her head and glanced at his breast pocket. Damien’s narrowing eyes were flickering between the mirrors. He was watching something—perhaps making sure they weren’t being followed. Susan needed to get her phone back but didn’t know how. She still couldn’t believe he had taken it—the one thing that she had to defend herself with.
When they arrived to Maya’s Cantina, Damien said, “It’s no Rio Grande, but I’m hoping you’ll enjoy the food nonetheless.”
Susan’s palms were sweating with nerves when suddenly Damien slammed on the brakes, tires squealing. Susan’s seatbelt caught, digging into her chest when she palmed the dash as she braced herself against the sudden impact tossing her body forward. They had nearly collided directly into the front end of a shiny new Ford Explorer that was now staring them down.
Damien tipped forward, leaned over the wheel, and said to the driver of the other vehicle, “Well, you going to move or what?”
Susan stared into the vehicle but couldn’t see through the intense glare reflecting in the glass. “I think he wants you to move first.”
Damien grumbled a few choice words. They were both surprised when they saw the passenger door swing open. A man with a high-powered camera lens stepped out and immediately began snapping pictures of her and Damien.
“Oh, you got to be kidding me.” Damien rolled down his window and started yelling at the man to stop.
The man’s arms were covered in tattoos, his black shirt tight against his chest. “You Damien Black?” he asked, still snapping pictures as he approached Damien’s door.
Damien’s eyebrows were pulled together in a perfect V. “Who wants to know?”
Hiding behind his camera, the shutter kept clicking. “It’s him,” he called out to the black SUV.
Susan didn’t have a good feeling about this. “Let’s just leave.”
Damien shouted through his window, “What’s this about?”
“The vigilante who’s come to Denver.” The man lowered his camera just a bit. “It’s you, isn’t it?”
“Why would you think that?”
“Because you teach people how to hack.”
Susan had a sudden loss of appetite. Wishing she had her cellphone, she tapped Damien on his arm, watching with her heart knocking in her chest as the driver of the SUV stepped out.
Damien put the car in reverse but found himself boxed in as another mid-sized car sat behind him waiting to park. They were trapped.
Susan locked her door and said a quick prayer. The driver strode toward them, hiding beneath a baseball cap and mirrored sunglasses. Susan swore he was staring at her. Suddenly, he shifted direction and went straight to Damien’s window.
They stared at each other for a long pause before the stranger said, “I know who you are and what you’re planning to do next.” The man glanced to Susan. Susan couldn’t see his eyes, but his glare could be felt. Susan’s limbs were shaking as she gulped down a couple of breaths and remained quiet. The man turned back to Damien. “I also know he’s paid you lots of money to protect him. But his time is up. You just wait and see.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Damien responded.
A small smirk curled the corners of the stranger’s lips. “I thought you might say that.” He pushed a tiny square of folded paper through Damien’s window. Damien pinched it between his fingers and continued staring at his own reflection in the stranger’s sunglasses. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have t
o get out of someone’s way.”
Susan watched the two men load up into the Explorer and back away in the same direction they had come from, disappearing behind the restaurant. Damien was staring at the note when she asked, “What was that about?”
Damien’s face was pale as a ghost. He unlocked his phone and made a call. Susan heard the line click over. Damien said into the phone, “There’s been a change of plans. We need to meet now.”
Chapter Seventy-One
I hadn’t heard back from Susan. Her phone kept going to voicemail each time I called. Something wasn’t right. I regretted my decision to use her to draw out Damien Black’s location.
“Susan. It’s me again. Call me back,” I left in another voicemail. “I want to ask you about the images you just sent me.”
My stomach was hard as a rock the moment I killed the call. I went back to staring at the photo Susan sent, trying to decipher her message that seemed to have gotten cut off.
…also pacema
I swept my gaze up and stared ahead while I tried to guess what it was she was trying to tell me. My windows were cracked, but the inside of my car was heating up the longer I sat without running the engine.
Her sudden disappearance sparked dozens of visualizations about what Damien might be doing to her now. I didn’t want to think about any one of them, but the thoughts wouldn’t stop. I wished it was me with him—it should have been me. It was impossible not to assume Damien had caught her taking this photo—sending this message—and learning we were on to him.
I dropped my gaze back to the image. The note seemed personal and I wondered how Susan managed to get it without Damien seeing. She was taking so many risks. I hoped they weren’t all in vain.
Then it hit me.
Pacemaker.
Was that what she was trying to tell me? That Damien was working on hacking a pacemaker? If he was our guy, whose was it? And why did Damien care? I immediately thought back to my visit with Ronald Hyland. It had to be him. Perhaps that was why I thought he had a heart attack right in front of me. His heart was failing him and his pacemaker gave his heart the jolt it needed to stay ticking.
But there was still something else that I couldn’t ignore.
Damien Black having Ronald Hyland’s business card was one thing, but having King’s name on that same note was troublesome. Especially with Cecelia Garcia saying Joey could be targeting the detectives who took something from him. It was clear both King and Hyland were likely targets, but who would Loxley go after first?
I needed to make sure King saw this.
I fired off a quick text message and he called me back almost immediately.
“Did you look at the image I just sent you?” I asked.
“Where did it come from?”
“Susan sent it.” Everyone was a possible target. No one was safe. But I reminded King how I was convinced Hyland was next to die. He saw it, too.
“Have you spoken to Susan? Is she still with Damien?” He was traveling the same single conclusive path as I was.
It was rare for King to sound panicked, but in that moment I could hear his heart racing. I didn’t know—didn’t know anything except for what I just sent. “I can only assume she is,” I said.
“Christ, he’s going to kill Hyland,” King muttered into a static filled line. Then he told me about his visit with Joan and how Damien was seen with Hyland this morning.
“What time was that?” I asked. King gave me an approximate time. It was before my own visit to Hyland’s offices. If Damien was planning to kill Hyland, why didn’t he do it then? Or did he try when I was with Hyland at his office and failed? Then King let me in on the reason he was panicked.
“Ronald Hyland recently had a pacemaker installed.” King instantly confirmed my assumption about what I thought Susan was trying to tell me. “If Loxley is planning to kill him, that’s how he’s going to do it.”
I shared the last half of Susan’s message, the part that got caught off. If King had any doubts before, he didn’t now.
“Sam, we need to learn where they are.”
“Susan isn’t answering. I’ve called a dozen times. She went silent after she sent me that photo.”
King didn’t say it, but I knew he was afraid of what might happen to Susan. “Keep trying,” he said. “If we can let Black know that he’s of interest to us, then maybe we can get Susan out of there before anything happens to her.”
Suddenly, Hyland’s Tesla appeared at the parking garage exit. His driver was behind the steering wheel, but I could see Ronald’s silhouette in the back seat.
I turned the key and listened to my engine’s belts whine. Following Hyland, I said, “There is a way I might be able to stop this.”
Chapter Seventy-Two
There was only one thing on Susan’s mind as Damien led her into the upscale restaurant in south Denver by her arm. She had to get her phone back, and do it soon.
Keeping stride with Damien, Susan noticed he was playing with the pacemaker still hidden in his pants pocket. Everything seemed to be spiraling out of control, and Susan swore she was at ground zero of whatever was about to happen.
“Who are we meeting here?” Susan asked the moment Damien reached for the door.
Based on the sudden change of plans and Damien’s earlier phone call, they were likely not meeting who he’d originally planned. Either way, nerves were high and tensions were tight.
“You’ll see soon enough,” Damien said under his breath.
A group of three exited the restaurant as they entered. Susan studied her surroundings. There was a handful of white-collar business professionals eating at the bar, a dozen others scattered around various tables amongst the socializers and afternoon crowd lingering in a cool environment to escape the afternoon heat.
“Mr. Black,” the hostess said cheerily. “Right this way.”
Susan didn’t react to how the hostess seemed to have been expecting him, but the fact that she never once glanced or acknowledged Susan’s presence only made her even more nervous than before.
Damien never shared what was on the note that was given to him by the driver they’d nearly collided with in the Maya Cantina’s parking lot. Was it paparazzi? A freelance journalist wanting to get in on the vigilante hype? Susan didn’t know. The entire situation was odd, and her nerves were still crackling with enough electricity to light up the darkened room they now meandered their way through.
The hostess led them to a private room in the back. “Your guest should be arriving momentarily.”
Susan was hugging her body when she stared in Damien’s direction. “What are we doing here?” she asked as soon as it was just the two of them. “I thought you wanted to take me to lunch. This seems like something else entirely.”
Damien paced back and forth on the opposite side of the long rectangular table. Susan watched as he kept glancing toward the entrance before finally falling into a chair somewhere in the middle. He filled a glass with the pitcher of ice water and proceeded to chug it until the last drop. Damien was still rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet when Susan heard her phone hum.
Without looking at her, Damien pulled her phone out from his breast pocket and glanced at the screen. Susan waited for a reaction—some kind of facial expression to let her know who was calling—except Damien gave her nothing. He tipped his head back, closing his eyes as he inhaled a deep breath of air.
With a beating heart, Susan stared at her phone, planning how she could take it back without him noticing. It seemed like an impossible task, one in which she needed to complete.
Quietly, she floated to where he was sitting and gently gripped his shoulders. Beginning to massage out the tension, she asked, “Why are you so tight?”
Damien dropped his chin to his chest and groaned.
“You’re not the vigilante.” Susan wasn’t sure what to believe, still thinking that if it wasn’t Damien who was killing these people, then perhaps it was his student Marion. “T
he media spins stories to increase ratings. Trust me, I know. This will eventually blow over.”
Damien lifted his head and turned his gaze to meet with hers. Susan’s breath caught in her throat. “It’s too late,” he said.
Susan’s thumbs stopped pressing into his muscle tissue. “Too late for what?”
Damien’s eyelids went half-mast as he gently shook his head. Suddenly, Damien’s eyes clicked wide open and Susan felt his body stiffen as he stared toward the door. She turned to see what he was staring at and immediately recognized the titan of cyber security, Ronald Hyland.
Susan’s lips parted as they both watched Hyland make his way to the back room.
It couldn’t be coincidence, Susan thought. The note. His business card. The reason Damien couldn’t tell her who they were meeting with. But did Damien really expect Susan to have Hyland convince her to trust him enough to take him on as a client?
Susan removed her damp hands from Damien’s shoulders. He stood, and she took a single step back.
Ronald Hyland was unbuttoning his sport coat when he entered the private room. He barely noticed Susan, instead focusing his energies on Damien. They gripped hands with a tight squeeze. With a tiny wag of his head, Hyland motioned for Damien to follow him to the other side of the room so they could talk in private.
Susan stood quietly with her hands clasped over her stomach, trying not to look in their direction when she heard Hyland whisper, “What is she doing here?”
Susan didn’t know what to do. It was obvious Hyland knew who she was, but how? She stared at the table, wanting to steal her phone while keeping an ear on their conversation. They whispered in hushed tones, making it impossible for Susan to hear what was being said. When she thought no one was looking, she lunged her hand forward, swiping her phone off the table and taking it back into her possession.
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