"We're going to make a run for it. Stay between the cars and the hedges lining the road." That would give them much-needed cover. But would it be enough? "Black truck, five spaces to the right of your car. Stay down and in front of me."
"But—"
"Argue later." He shifted his weight off her and pushed to a low crouch, waiting as she slowly did the same. "Ready?"
Gray eyes met his, filled with an emotion that knocked the breath from his lungs.
Trust.
Fuck. How the hell could she trust him when she didn't even know him? When she had never even met him before tonight? Maybe she really was as naive as he'd first thought. Naive? Hell, she was worse than naive, she was as innocent and trusting as a small child.
And this was not what he needed. Not now.
Fuck it. He'd worry about it later, after he got them out of here.
If he got them out of here.
He grabbed her arm and eased her to her feet, pushed her in front of him, using his own body to shield her. "Now! Run!"
She ran.
Chapter Four
Lidiya leaned against the leather seat and stared out the tinted window. Her heart was still racing, a fast thawump-thawaump-thawump that beat in time with her shaking hands and arms and legs. She had no clear memory of running, just a faint image of hedge leaves slapping at her face and shoulder as she weaved behind the parked vehicles. There was a raw burning sensation in her right calf that made her wonder if she had scraped her leg against a bumper or license plate or something similar. Or maybe she had scraped it when John—Chaos—had pushed her into the truck and over the console before diving in after her. The sensation didn't hurt, it was just there, a slightly annoying reminder of their frantic dash.
A reassuring sign that she was still alive.
There had been no more shots. In fact, the frantic dash to safety had been eerily quiet, which made her wonder if the man steering the large truck along dark roads she didn't recognize had overreacted. Maybe it hadn't been a gunshot at all. Maybe her window had been defective and simply cracked for no reason at all.
Except it hadn't cracked, it had exploded. The rational, logical part of her brain reassured her in calm tones that windows didn't explode without a reason.
And she'd been standing right next to it, only inches away.
She swallowed back the sharp tang of fear coating her mouth and turned to study the man sitting only a foot away. His left arm rested against the doorframe; his right hand curled around the steering wheel. From what little she could see in the shadows, he seemed relaxed. At ease. No different than any other man out for a casual drive.
It was nothing more than an illusion. The tension radiating from him washed over her in giant waves, silently battering her and feeding her own tension. Everything about him—from the way he had so thoroughly frightened her thirty minutes ago to his unnatural silence now—unnerved her.
She turned away and went back to staring out the window as the silence wrapped around her. A minute went by, then another, before the silence became too much for her to bear.
"Where are we going?" Lidiya congratulated herself on keeping her voice calm and steady. The words didn't waver at all, didn't hitch in her throat or trip over her numb tongue and lips. They weren't loud, barely more than a whisper, but she could hardly be blamed for that, not after what she'd just been through.
Another long minute went by and Lidiya wondered if maybe she'd spoken too softly. Maybe he hadn't heard her. "Where—"
"Someplace safe. For now."
A whisper of danger skipped along her neck and arms, momentarily chilling her. For now. That didn't sound promising. That sounded...ominous. Dangerous. Threatening.
She straightened in the seat and forced a bravado she didn't feel to her voice. "I think you should take me home please."
His head swiveled toward her and even in the dim light, she could make out the surprise that flashed in his blue eyes. Then he turned back, that startling gaze once again focused on the twisting road stretching out in front of them.
Cold sweat broke out on her palms and she ran them along her pants to dry them. Had she been a fool to trust him when he told her to run? Had she made a mistake in trusting him, period? A heavy weight settled in her stomach, knocking the breath from her. She pushed it away, squared her shoulders and told herself not to panic. Panic would accomplish nothing.
She had panicked two years ago, choosing to run and hide instead of confronting the threat head-on, and she'd been looking over her shoulder ever since. She'd stopped living, had done little more than simply exist these last two years, all because she had panicked and locked herself in a prison of her own creation.
She couldn't do that again. Wouldn't do it. That was why she had reached out for help. Why she had asked Chaos to meet her tonight.
Only she had made a mistake, she knew that now. He couldn't help her. He obviously didn't want to help her. She could only hope that her instincts hadn't been so damaged and warped that they had inadvertently led her into even more danger.
"John, I need you to please take me home now."
The truck made a hard left turn, the sudden movement throwing her against the door. She scrambled against the seatbelt, tried to right herself as the truck bounced along a rutted road. Gravel crunched and popped under the tires as the truck lurched forward, never losing speed—
Until John slammed on the brakes and shoved the gear shift into Park.
Fresh fear washed over her and she fought against it, fought to keep calm and keep her wits. "John—"
"My name isn't John."
"But..." The word faded into the silence. Lidiya swallowed, eased her hand along her left side, her fingers searching for the seatbelt release. Could she jump from the truck before he realized what she was doing? She had to, it was her only hope, and even then, escape wasn't guaranteed. She would have to start running as soon as her feet touched the ground. He wouldn't be expecting her to run. That might work in her favor, buy her a few seconds or maybe even a minute, just enough time to reach the thick growth of trees so she could disappear. And then—
She didn't know, couldn't think past that.
Her fingers brushed against the buckle. She took a deep breath and started talking, hoping to mask the sound of the release. "You said your name was John. That you were Chaos."
"No, I said John was a ruse."
"You're not Chaos, are you?" The latch released with a click that seemed to echo around them but maybe that was only her imagination because he didn't move, didn't even glance down. He just sat there, one hand loosely resting on the steering wheel, the other casually covering the gear shift.
Lidiya shifted, trying to figure out how to disentangle herself from the seatbelt, get the door open, and jump to freedom all before the man next to her noticed.
It was impossible. She couldn't do it.
She had to do it.
"Yes, I'm Chaos. Jesus. I told you that already." He turned away from her, his left hand reaching down between his seat and door. Lidiya took advantage of his distraction and flung the seatbelt off, reached for the door handle and pushed it open—
Then stopped when he grabbed her left wrist, turned her hand over and slapped something into her palm. "You might want to take this before you go running off."
The words—tinged with laughter—froze her in place. She looked down, surprise filling her when she saw the flashlight resting in her outstretched hand. And not a small flashlight, either. This was a big one, maybe a foot long and heavy enough that if someone swung it and was lucky enough to hit someone else in the head with it, they could do some serious damage.
Her gaze darted to his, at the amusement dancing in his eyes as he watched her.
"Don't get any ideas. You're not fast enough. You wouldn't be able to get a good swing in anyway, not in here. And I doubt you could put enough strength into the swing to do more than piss me off."
She narrowed her eyes, thought about hitting
him with the flashlight just to prove him wrong. "How did you know?"
"Because you were a little too obvious unlatching the seatbelt—which I heard, anyway. You should have released it while we were still moving." He removed his own seatbelt and climbed out of the truck. "Go on. If you really want to run, I'm not going to stop you."
Lidiya looked out at the dark night, at the overgrown trees and thick shadows that could swallow a person whole before they even realized it. She swallowed, turned in her seat and frowned as the man opened the back door and rummaged behind the driver's seat. "How can I trust you not to stop me?"
He looked up, his gaze meeting hers through the space between the two front seats. Several long seconds passed in eerie silence before he looked away.
"You can't trust me. At all." There was a hard edge to the clipped words that should have frightened her. Instead, she found them oddly reassuring. Was it the hint of regret in his voice that she thought she heard? Or was it something entirely different that she didn't quite understand? Whatever it was eased some of the knots in her stomach. She relaxed her grip on the flashlight and leaned against the seat.
"I don't know what to call you."
His gaze jumped to hers for a brief second then moved back to whatever he was doing. "You can call me Chaos, just like you have for the last eighteen months."
"But that's not your name."
"It's what people call me."
"But it's still not your name."
He shot her another look, this one filled with impatience. His full mouth pursed in irritation and he muttered under his breath but still didn't answer her question. A few seconds later, he tossed a bundle of rags at her, hitting her in the face with them.
"Take everything off. Clothes. Shoes. Jewelry. Watch. Everything."
"What? I most certainly will not!"
He slammed the back door then moved around to the driver's side and leaned across the seat. Determination flared in his eyes, followed by a silent warning that let her know he wasn't playing games.
"Who else knew where we were meeting tonight?"
"No one. What does that have to do—"
"Someone found out where you were. That means they either hacked into your system—"
"I would have known if that had happened—"
"—or they followed you—"
"I don't think—"
"Or they're tracking you."
Lidiya opened her mouth to disagree then quickly snapped it shut again. Tracking her? No, impossible. There was no way for anyone to get to her or her personal belongings to place a tracker. She didn't go anywhere, rarely left her apartment at all. Tonight had been the first time she'd gone out in months. She didn't need to go out, she had everything delivered...
An icy finger of dread crept along her spine and pebbled her skin. Was it possible?
Maybe.
No, it couldn't be. If they had somehow gotten to her packages, it would mean they knew where she lived. And if they knew that, there would be no need to track her.
If they knew that, she might not even be here now.
Another shiver crept along her spine. She did her best to ignore it, her best to convince herself—and Chaos—that he was jumping to conclusions.
"Someone must have followed me. I'm not being tracked." Even that didn't make sense. How could they follow her unless they knew where to follow her from? They couldn't, not unless they knew where she lived—which took her right back to her other thought: if they knew where she lived, she wouldn't even be here right now.
She raised one hand to her head and pressed her fingers against her temple, trying to stop the headache dulling her thoughts. She needed to think, needed just a few minutes to get her thoughts in order to try to make sense of everything that was suddenly happening entirely too fast for her to follow. But she didn't have those few minutes. She didn't even have silence because Chaos was talking again.
"You'll have to excuse me if I don't take your word for it."
"But I'm not—"
"You asked me for help. Fine, I'm willing to hear what you have to say. But that means taking you somewhere else and I absolutely will not put that location at risk." He reached around the steering wheel and pulled the keys from the ignition, grabbed her small purse from the console, then stepped back. "Everything off and into the bag."
"But—"
The door slammed, cutting off her objections. She stared at the pile of rags he had thrown at her. Not rags—clothes, along with a small nylon bag of some sort. A long sleeve t-shirt. A pair of black leggings. A pair of socks. Women's clothes. Did they belong to his girlfriend? His wife?
Did she really want to know?"
She ignored the odd little jump in her stomach, clenched her jaw, and methodically removed her clothes. The sweater first, followed by her bra, which was quickly replaced by the shirt Chaos had given her. It was just a bit too snug, pulling tight against her chest. She thought about putting her bra back on then decided against it. The interior of the truck was dark, he wouldn't be able to see.
Except he would then he'd make her take it off, anyway.
A sense of unreality washed over her. Was she actually sitting here in a dark truck parked along a back road in the middle of nowhere, changing clothes under orders of a complete stranger? Yes, she was—which told her more than she wanted to admit about how frazzled she was. How desperate she was.
Lidiya hesitated. If she refused, if she opened the door right now and told Chaos he could keep his girlfriend's clothes because she wasn't changing, what would he do? Get angry? Hurt her? Leave her here to find her own way back?
No. He'd probably just shrug then climb into the truck and take her to the bar without a word and she'd be right back where she started, with no idea where to go or what to do short of running away and disappearing again. As much as she hated herself for asking for his help, she was smart enough to know she needed it. She dealt with computers and codes and systems. Yes, she was level-headed. Methodical. Analytical,
And completely ill-equipped to handle the potential danger she'd run away from two years ago. Running away hadn't helped then and it wouldn't help now, not as a long-term solution. She needed Chaos's help, or someone like him...only she didn't know anyone else like him. She didn't really know anyone else, period.
Including Chaos.
The sobering thought stayed with her as she kicked off her shoes, removed her socks, and shimmied out of her slacks. She hissed as the material scraped against her calf, reigniting the annoying burning sensation and briefly distracting her from everything else. She didn't bother to look down at it, certain it was nothing more than a scrape. There wasn't anything she could do about it anyway, not now. Not here.
She tossed the slacks onto the console beside her then reached for the leggings, struggling to straighten them out so she could push her feet into them. The leggings were soft and—thankfully—stretchy because whoever they belonged to was at least a size smaller. She lifted her hips from the seat and worked the material up to her waist, wiggling and shimmying and tugging until they no longer felt like they would roll down her hips when she moved.
Satisfied they were as in place as they could be, she leaned over and slipped the socks onto her bare feet. She grabbed her clothes and carefully folded each piece then placed them in the bag. Her watch and necklace followed. Lidiya stared at the bag in her lap, wondered if she'd ever see the items again.
Yes, of course she would. Chaos was just going to look them over. As soon as he discovered there wasn't any tracker, he'd give them back.
A knock on the window made her jump. A second later, the door swung open. Chaos shot her a quick glance and grabbed the bag from her lap, hesitated and did a double-take when he saw the silicone band around her wrist.
"I said everything."
"The band stays with me."
"Dammit, Lee—"
"It stays with me. There's no chance it has a tracker on it, I never take it off."
"N
ever?"
"No, not for the last two years."
"Not even to take a shower?"
"Well, yes, but—"
"Then it goes." His hand closed around her wrist, his fingers sliding over the band and tugging. Lidiya jerked her arm away and slid across the seat, prepared to jump over the console to get away if she needed to. The band snapped and came apart, separating at the connection.
Chaos stared at the mini thumb drive attached to one end of the bracelet then swore beneath his breath. His gaze slowly met hers, filled with silent question.
Lidiya hesitated then slowly reached for the band, expecting a struggle for it. Chaos surprised her by letting her take it—but his intense gaze never wavered, not even after she secured it around her wrist and looked away from those searing blue eyes.
"You going to tell me what's on it?"
"No. Not yet." Maybe not at all. If he helped her...she might. It was possible he would be able to help her without knowing everything. If that was the case, she had no intention of opening the door to a past that so many people had fought to keep closed.
If it turned out that he needed to know...well, she would decide how to proceed when that happened. Until then, it was still her secret to keep.
For now.
She straightened in the seat and nodded toward the bag. "Don't you need to look everything over?"
"No." He shoved her small purse on top of the clothes, turned and swung the bag over his shoulder, then threw it. It sailed through the air, landing just inside the dense growth of trees before disappearing from sight.
"My clothes!"
"This area is under surveillance. If nobody shows up in a day or two, you'll get them back."
"You're just going to leave them here? You're not even going to check?"
"I don't have time to check, not the right way."
"But—" He slammed the door closed, once again cutting her off before she could finish talking. She watched him walk around the front of the truck, clenched her jaw in irritation when he opened the driver's door and jumped inside. He stabbed the keys in the ignition and started the truck, slid his seatbelt in place then looked over at her.
The Warrior: DERRICK (Cover Six Security Book 4) Page 4
