Reluctant Protector

by Nana Malone

  A heavy thud jolted the car to the right and had him cursing enough to make his father blush as he swerved. Just what he needed. He carefully applied pressure to the brake as he prayed the damn thing had a spare.

  He pulled over on what might be considered the shoulder if he used enough imagination. The moment he stepped out of the car, sheets of rain assaulted him, drenching the front of his shirt. “Perfect. God Damn perfect.”

  Using his keys to pop the trunk, he jogged around the back to lift the lid. The door wouldn’t budge. He planted his feet and used more shoulder strength, but his feet slipped on the mud. Maybe his duffle had jammed the damn thing. Patting down his pockets, he groaned. His cell phone was in the trunk along with his notes from the interview. “Of all the freaking days to deal with this kind of shit.”

  Bracing his legs, he grimaced as his muscles bunched. This time the trunk popped open.

  With no light to aid him, the trunk looked like a black hole. Reaching in, he groped for the latch to the spare tire. His fingers came in contact with something soft and cold. Frowning, he reached in further and immediately wished he hadn't. Something frozen, but smooth like an—arm. Yanking his hand back, he staggered away from the car. No. It couldn't be. “Get a hold of yourself, Seth. You've been reading too much Stephen King,” he mumbled. Regardless of what his rational mind told his body, he still approached the car with caution.

  Heart hammering like a thousand stampeding stallions, he reached in again, mentally preparing for something icy and clawed of the alien variety. He patted down the whole trunk with his hands but found nothing. Like a deflating balloon, he slowly let the breath out of his lungs. Driving around in the dark in the middle of the woods was doing a job on his psyche.

  He hauled out the tire, the jack and a flashlight and got to work. For good measure, he scanned the trunk using the flashlight, but still nothing. “Time to go on vacation, Buddy. You’re losing it.” And that wasn't an exaggeration. Seth had been skating by for the last month. Time to get his act together. He would turn over the Gentech story and be on his way. No need to go looking for trouble.

  He changed the tire as best he could with the slick equipment. He hauled the flat back to the truck and levered it into the trunk. As he closed the compartment, something glacial grabbed his hand. “Holy fucking shit!” The bellow came from that dark space inside all human beings that know true fear.

  “I'd shut up if I were you. You’ll give away our position. My guess is they have guns trained in our general direction, but it sounds like they don’t have our exact location. We need to keep it that way.” A dark haired woman lay on her side in the back of the trunk.

  “What. The. Fuck.” Seth's breathing was ragged and sharp. His heart no longer galloped, but whizzed with the alacrity of a high speed train. Absently, he wondered if he would have a heart attack. His brain kicked into overdrive, spinning with questions. Who was she? How had she gotten into his trunk? When had she gotten into the trunk?

  She climbed out, slowly unfolding her limbs as if she were injured. “I guess you didn't hear me when I said to shut the hell up.” She stretched her legs and arms. “I'll explain later, Seth. We don’t have time for questions right now.” She eyed him as if assessing him. “We have two options. Run, or stay and fight. I don’t know how many guys are out there, but you can be sure they have night vision goggles. How are you in a fight?” Her tone was matter-of-fact. Weary even. As if climbing out of trunks was normal for her.

  Seth blinked. She was the woman from Gentech. Her hair was dark now, but those pale, winter-green eyes, he’d never get them out of his mind. Man, she was small, maybe five feet two if he was generous. And she asked him if he could fight all the while talking about men with night vision. “What the fuck is going on? What the hell are you doing in my trunk? There are easier ways to get a date, you know.”

  She expelled a sharp breath. “My name is Cassie Reeser. There are men in the woods looking for me. They won’t hesitate to shoot you as collateral. Now, I ask you again. Can you fight?”

  Seth opened his mouth, but before he said anything, twigs snapped behind him. Whirling around, he scanned the woods. He couldn’t see anything but looming darkness and shadows.

  “Too late, Seth. They're here. Get in the car. Try to make yourself as small as possible.”

  Seth whipped back around. She didn’t look crazy. But then, beautiful women never did. “You think I should get in the car and hide while you stay out here and what? Protect me?”

  She shrugged. “Suit yourself.” Lightening quick, she moved around him and shoved him against the car just as the first gunshots pierced the frigid night air. His teeth clattered together and his bones shuddered.

  Chapter Three

  Every muscle in Cassie’s body screamed for relief. Thanks to her unsuccessful attempts to push Seth, her abilities weren’t at full strength. Her dumb luck, Romantic Comedy guy was also her way out of hell. It wasn't his fault he was caught up in this mess. She was the one who said enough was enough. Seth had just been her exit strategy.

  She and Annabel had planned this escape for months. Her ticket to freedom was supposed to be Symcore’s CEO, Bill Matheson. Not some innocent reporter. But she’d reached the parking lot and the mid-sized, green rental was the only car there. She had no choice. It was either climb in or go back to her hell hole.

  The first gunshot pierced the night and Cassie reached for her power and focused on the men in the woods. She had five minds to choose from, the strongest standing next to her. She chose the weakest of the four men.

  Turn to your partner. Level your gun. Shoot him. At first the Tracker’s mind resisted the suggestion. She pushed harder. You want to shoot your partner. He treats you like an idiot. You'll be better off, and then you will be in charge.

  He scanned the forest looking for the source of the suggestion as he put up mental barriers. But even as he searched for the source of the command, he leveled his gun and fired at his partner. Seth dropped beside her just as the Tracker in the middle sagged to the ground with a thud.

  She snatched Seth by the collar, and dragged him around the back of the car. “How bad are you hit?”

  “Shit, that burns.” Seth clutched his shoulder.

  Cassie probed the wound and he hissed. “I think we were lucky and the shot went through and through. I'll take a better look when we get somewhere safe.” As another bullet dinged one of the doors, she ducked her head.

  Seth's eyes bugged. “If you think I'm going anywhere but a hospital, you're sorely mistaken.”

  She was in no mood for stubborn. “Well, I would love to take you to the hospital, but as Trackers are following us, and now they know for sure I stowed away in your car, you’re a target and the hospital's not safe.”

  His eyes fluttered closed. He kept them closed so long she feared he passed out. “Seth, stay with me. I need you awake. I will take you to a hospital as soon as it’s safe.” Desperation tried to tug her into the dark abyss of panic, but her training kept her mind calm. “I won’t forgive myself if something happens to you.”

  His eyes remained closed. “That’s because this is your fault.” His voice was tense, but droll. If he had the energy for sarcasm, the prognosis was good, though she had to do something. Using the car bumper as a shield would only hold so long.

  “Okay, look. We’ve got some cover here, but it’s only temporary. These idiots are shooting in the general direction of the car, but eventually one of us will sustain a more permanent wound.” She eyed the steep hillside. “Do you think you can make it up the hill when the time comes?”

  Seth dragged in a labored breath and tried to sit up. The rain plastered his shaggy hair against his forehead. “Yeah, sure. But the deal is, I'm not moving from here until I see some cops and an ambulance. I have this funny thing about being shot at. I like the people responsible to go to jail.”

  Just what she needed, a comedian. “That’s all well and good, but if you don't start working with me,
you'll be dead, and then no one's going to drop the soap. These boys aren't fooling around.”

  He still gripped his shoulder and his eyes were hard and laced with pain, but the corners of his lips twitched at her joke. He levered to a sitting position. “Let's get to safety first, and then I'm calling the cops. I don't know what they want from you, but I think we need some help of the ‘protect and serve’ variety.”

  They could argue the point later. “Fair enough. Okay, there are four of them. One of them is already down. I don’t know if they radioed for reinforcements yet, so we need to move fast.” She pulled a gun from the back of her waist band. “Do you know how to fire one of these?”

  Seth frowned. “Are you shitting me? I usually wait until a woman cooks dinner for me before I shoot someone for her.”

  Cassie shook her head. “I don’t actually want you to shoot anyone. I just need you to provide cover until I can distract the other guys.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Just how do you plan to distract them? Are you on some crazy Xena, Warrior Princess kick? I gotta tell, you that’s kind of hot.”

  Cassie fought a smile. “You'll see.” She trained her attention on Tweedle Dumber and burrowed into his mind. She got too much residual interference at first, so it wasn't a clean job. She probed with a question. How many men have they sent? How did you find me?

  She experienced brief resistance, but then the answer came. They had followed her GPS unit. After a little more probing, she garnered the location of her tracking chip. She wouldn’t be able to remove it on her own, but that was another problem for when she and Seth were safe.

  She pressed Tweedle Dumber to aim his weapon at his nearest companion. That’s it, pull the trigger. Pull the trigger, pull the trigger. You’ll be happier when you pull the trigger. She held her breath, waiting to see if the suggestion took root. This batch of Trackers was not as dumb as the usual lot. They had stronger wills. When the gun fired, a brief ppphft filled the air then the man in the middle collapsed.

  Two down, two more to go. Knowing her brother, Cassie assumed they weren’t armed with bullets. Peter wanted her back, not dead. Maybe stun guns, more probably Nisulin bullets. If those overgrown meatheads had real bullets, then they were meant for Seth. She shivered. One person already risked their life for her. She wouldn’t put Seth in the same predicament. No one was going to die today.

  Seth groaned next to her. “Cassie.” He breathed heavily. “My arm is burning. What the hell did they shoot me with?”

  She didn't take her eyes off her targets. She preferred not to kill them if given the choice. But she couldn’t control both of them. Not with her energy so low. “I wish I knew. Just help me and I'll get you safe.”

  Tweedle Dumber shook of her control and howled when he tripped over the hulking body at his feet. Rage contorting his face, he spun and shot in their direction again. This time, Seth ducked.

  “Promise me you'll tell me what you did to piss them off so much when we get out of this.”

  “I'll think about it.”

  The men would be at the car in another twenty feet. Seth had their only weapon. She would have to fight hand-to-hand. Tweedle Dumber had at least sixty pounds on her, but thanks to her increased strength, maybe she could pull it off. She was weak, but she was still stronger than an average man. She leveled her gaze on Seth. “Remember what I said. Shoot in the general direction of the guy on your left behind the boulder.”

  Seth nodded. “What are you going to do?”

  She winked at him. “You'll see.”

  Seth aimed with his wounded arm and braced the weapon with his right hand. Her gun was loaded with lead bullets, so she prayed he had aim like the A-Team and couldn’t hit a target as big as the Grand Canyon. She was confident she could put the Trackers out without killing them. “Nice and easy, shoot one round, then wait fifteen seconds and repeat. Get as close to him as you can without actually hitting him. Keep doing that till I tell you to stop.”

  He nodded, rain hitting his face at an angle.

  “Ready, aim, fire.”

  As Seth squeezed off a round, she sprang from her position, running for the tree line. Even though the rain wasn’t on her side, the darkness was.

  Cassie stalked around her target and struck him from behind. His howl of pain pierced the night. Quick as a flash she retreated behind a tree. Another shot cracked in the distance and she sprang again, this time delivering an elbow to his sternum. Another shot, another blow, this one to his groin. As he crumbled, she used his downed body as a vault and landed behind him locking his neck in a sleeper hold. If she tried this in a fair fight, she wouldn’t have been able to bring him down. He was a big boy, with thick muscle cording his neck. At six feet two, he had a foot on her.

  She cinched her arms around his neck and held on tight. She urged him to do what she wanted. Go to sleep buddy. This will all be over in a minute. Go to sleep. I'm not going to hurt you. When he crumpled, she released him.

  Bracing for the migraine that accompanied her attempts to mind-push Seth, she reached out to him. It's okay, Seth. Stop shooting. I've got him. The lance of agony through her skull made her knees wobble. Note to self. No mind pushing on Seth. She couldn't afford to be incapacitated. Picking up the specialized gun, she admired the handle. “Tsk, Tsk, Peter, with your biometric trigger.” The gun would only fire for the owner. Shrugging, she wrapped the downed assailant’s hands around the handle and aimed at the remaining mercenary.

  Eyes closed, she adjusted for the wind and slanting sheets of rain, and then pulled the trigger. But not before he got off another shot toward Seth.

  Seth cursed and Cassie fired another shot for good measure, wishing the gun she had was filled with lead. Seth didn’t deserve to be caught up in her nightmare. And she didn't know what the Nisulin would do to him. Maybe nothing. Maybe slowly kill him.

  She sprinted to the prone mercenary. Patting him down, she searched for a radio. When she found one, she cursed. She had no way of knowing if he called for reinforcements or radioed in Seth's car. They would have to ditch his vehicle.

  After checking the Tracker’s pulse and nudging him to make sure he was out, Cassie sprinted to Seth and found him slumped by the car, hanging onto the door handle for support. “Seth, are you okay? Were you hit again?”

  His nod was slow and lethargic. “Yeah. Upper thigh. Never been shot before today and that’s saying something. I meet you and I’m hit twice.”

  She didn't have the heart to tell him that this probably wouldn't be the last time, now that he was saddled with her. She put his good arm over her shoulder and supported his weight as she walked him to the tree line. He wasn't as heavily muscled as the mercenaries, but he was tall. Concentrating on the car, she sucked in air. She repeated what had always been whispered to her back at the labs. A calm mind is a focused mind. It wasn’t brute strength that moved mountains, motivation did. With her deep even breaths, she pushed the car, first inches, then feet.

  “What. The. Fuck.” Seth huffed beside her.

  She glanced up at him. “Please be quiet. I need to concentrate if I'm to get the car down the rest of the hill.”

  “What? How are we going to get away? I doubt I hit that dude. They'll come to and eventually kill us.”

  She angled her head toward the hill behind them. “We’ll use their car. Now, shut up.” She tried again, but couldn’t move the sedan any further. “Damn. I’ll have to do this the old fashioned way.” She eased Seth back against a tree. She pushed the car to the ledge before turning back to him. “What do you absolutely need out of the car? I'll get it, but we’ll have to carry it up the hill and you’re injured.” And so would she be once they got to the car. She had to get rid of her tracking chip.

  He stared down at her like she had three heads and Cassie lamented how much easier this would be if she could mind push him. “I need my cell phone, wallet, keys, and laptop.” He frowned. “There’s also a first aid kit in the emergency kit in the trunk.”


  Cassie left him to retrieve his things. Shoving everything into her backpack, she also grabbed a change of clothes for him and T-shirt for herself out of his duffle. The items were heavier than she hoped, but he would need non-bloody clothes if they wanted to avoid suspicion. She slowly went back to him. How the hell was she going to look after both of them? Worse, how the hell was she going to get rid of the tracking chip in her shoulder? The easiest way to disarm it was to shoot it. But that would require a steady hand, and she didn't think she could manage it. She looked over at her companion. In the dark shadows, with his drawn down brows and scowl on his face, he looked like a menace. But she was the menace. And Seth was the kind of guy to balk at shooting her. The way he refused the gun gave her the impression he wasn’t a fan of them. But first they had to move.

  Cassie eyed him when the gun trembled in his good hand. She slung the backpack over her shoulder, then relieved him of the gun and tucked it back into her waist band. “Are you ready to do this?”

  He stumbled a few feet. “Do I have a choice?”

  “Not if you want to live.”

  “Then by all means, lead the way.”

  Chapter Four

  Seth awoke to a dull, throbbing ache in his shoulder and leg. As he cracked his lids, his body said, “Hey now, big guy, clearly you can’t take care of yourself, so we're taking over,” and refused his commands to move. But he had something to do. Something to remember. He forced his lids open and a dark-haired goddess filled his line of sight. The moment he aimed his gaze on those haunting green eyes, a horrible flash of violence and gunshots slammed into his consciousness.

  “Good, you're awake. I need you to sit up so I can check your wounds.”

  He blinked away the nightmarish visions. Her voice was familiar, feminine, but strong. The lilting quality made him tingle.

  “C'mon, Seth. I know you'd rather sleep right now, but I need to check your wounds and see if that shoulder of yours is healing. Then we need to do something about your leg.”