by Becki Willis
Kenzie managed to wiggle her arm underneath herself and pull the camera case to one side. Without the camera biting into her, she was now pressed flat against the cold, hard slab of rock. With her lungs captive between the stone and the man, her breathing was constricted. The dank smell of earth and moss mingled with the spice of Travis’s cologne, making her light headed in the tiny space. Having his hard, lean body pressed along her back did not help.
She turned her head just enough to look up at his, surprised to find his face so close. Borrowing an old, corny line, she joked in a whisper, “Is that your gun, or are you just really glad to see me?”
“Both,” he whispered back. The glimmer in his dark eyes made it difficult for her to even swallow. She wondered if the sound of her hammering heart would echo against the rock.
She felt Travis suddenly stiffen as his head swiveled away, turning toward the road. All she could see was the back of his head. Studying the short blond strands in the darkness, she realized two things: he had taken his hat off, probably hiding it down among the brush, and, most importantly, he was protecting her body with his, putting himself between her and whoever was out there.
His warning was barely audible, little more than a thought expelled on a breath. “Don’t move or make a sound.”
Kenzie froze beneath him, detecting the sound of shuffled feet nearby. A painfully long moment stretched into two. She thought she heard the rustle of clothes, followed by a snapping twig and the slap of limbs brushed aside. Travis lay perfectly still, his breathing slow and calculated. Kenzie concentrated on making her breath sync with his, finding that the steady rhythm calmed her frayed nerves.
As another ten minutes drug slowly by, Kenzie’s body screamed in protest. She tried to distract herself from the pain of the unyielding stone. Everything on her body ached as she mused about being truly caught between a rock and a hard place.
Even the hard place – Travis’s body – was causing her pain, as his belt buckle and various items bit into her flesh. She concentrated on making out the different shapes to distract her focus from the pain.
That was definitely his gun; knowing he was armed made her feel better, although just his presence alone made the world of difference.
His cell phone was in his shirt pocket. Was hers still on vibrate? She wondered. Now would be a terrible time for her phone to ring, but even the silent vibration might echo along the rocks.
The distinct impression of loose change felt embedded into her leg. She suspected that was a quarter lodged sideways, digging into her flesh.
And those painful little items were his keys. Thoughts of other keys – one sewn into a blanket, the other hidden in the nearby rocks – occupied her mind for several minutes before she became increasingly aware of another item, hard and warm, pressing into her upper thigh.
Maybe, she mused with a smile, he really was glad to see her. In another setting, the night had the ingredients of a sensual feast — moonlight, muted music, dim lighting, a handsome man pressed close. Too bad this recipe was one of danger.
There was another rustle from down below, and the sound of someone moving out of the tunneled underbrush. With her line of sight still blocked, Kenzie could only imagine that the man came out quickly, then paused to catch his breath and get his bearings. She heard the beep of electronic buttons, then a low, abrupt voice.
“I lost her…. How the hell should I know?… Yeah, I’m on it… Alright, already.” He was clearly irritated as he ended the call and cursed. Kenzie could hear him shuffle away, but another five minutes passed before Travis stirred, rolling away from her body.
“I think he’s gone,” he said, his voice still a whisper. His eyes flicked over her as she dared to stretch from her cramped position. “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”
“It couldn’t be helped.” Even her vocal chords felt squashed.
“Let’s get down from here so we can at least stretch.”
“Then what?” she asked, but she was already scrambling to crawl out of the musty crevice.
With lithe movements, he slipped his legs over the ledge and quietly dropped to the ground. “Take my hand,” he instructed in a whisper. “The concert is winding down. We’ll wait here, then slip out with the crowd.”
Once in an upright position, Kenzie discovered that her legs were reluctant to support her weight. She braced herself against a chest-high rock, waiting as circulation returned to her lower extremities. Bending down to massage her legs, she tried to hurry the process as she whispered, “When did you get here?”
“Right after the concert started. By the time I found you, so had the other guy.”
“Who-Who was it?” She was almost afraid to know the answer.
“Don’t know,” Travis said, his eyes scanning the darkness beyond them. “Whoever he is, he’s good. Never got a clear look at his face. He slipped in and out of the crowd like a pro.”
Fear pricked at her skin, covering it with gooseflesh. Someone from the mafia, no doubt.
“Why are you here, Travis?” she asked bluntly, finally able to stand up straight. “Did the Rangers send you?”
He shook his head. “I’m still on sick leave.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Two reasons.” He took her by the arms and shifted their positions, so that he was facing the road and any approaching danger. His eyes were still probing the darkness as he elaborated. “I wanted to know you were safe. They were able to get to Foto while he was in custody. They might get to you, too.”
“Th-They?” she asked on a gulp.
Travis looked down into her eyes as he told her honestly, “The mafia.”
Kenzie stared up at him, soaking in the knowledge that her life might be in danger. She had suspected as much, but his presence made it real. She met his gaze straight on, drawing strength from the hands still resting on her shoulders. After a long moment, she asked the second reason he had come.
Without warning, his grip tightened and he pulled her close against him. His mouth came down in a searing kiss. It was a full moment before Kenzie thought to respond. As her arms snaked up to circle his neck and her fingers found the smooth edge of his hair, his arms slid slowly down her back, molding her to him. One large hand splayed high on her back, pressing her chest into his, while the other slipped low, settling just above the curve of her buttocks. He kissed her with such thoroughness that when he finally lifted his head, she clung to him to keep from melting into a shivering heap at his feet.
Behind her, sounds of the dying concert drifted through the air. A round of cheers and vigorous applause broke out, pulling a smile from Travis’s solemn face. “Never quite had that reaction before,” he said.
Mesmerized by his kiss, and now enchanted by his teasing, Kenzie could think of no smart reply. She stared up at him and blurted honestly, “I don’t know why not.”
His chuckle was low and slightly embarrassed. He held her for a few seconds longer before dropping his arms and returning to business. “Showtime,” he informed her. He bent to get something from the ground as he told her, “We need to change your appearance. I want you to take your plaid shirt off and tie it around your waist. Can you put your hair up somehow?”
One moment he was kissing her senseless, the next he was barking out orders. Frowning at the sudden transformation, Kenzie let her irritation show on her face as she shrugged out of her shirt. She wore a respectable tank top beneath it, but was self-conscious of the way it hugged her full figure and left so much skin exposed along her chest and shoulders. She grumbled as she tied the arms of the shirt around her waist.
“Like my butt’s not already big enough, without a plaid flag hanging off it,” she muttered, cinching the tie with more gusto than necessary. It was her own circulation she was cutting off, after all. She blindly groped through her camera bag until she found a hair tie. Pulling her dark curls up high on her head into a ponytail, she wound the elastic band around a couple of times to secure it in place. “Why are
we doing this, by the way?”
Instead of answering, he reached for her camera bag. “Let me take this. We’re just a young couple at a concert. Date night.”
She looked up in surprise, noticing he had changed his own appearance with just a few minor adjustments. His blue denim shirt, a few moments ago primly buttoned and tucked into the waistband of his jeans, was now opened and hanging free of his belt. His undershirt glowed white in the moonlight and the brim of his cowboy hat, now back in place atop his head, sported a down-turned dip in the front. To complete the casual look, the inside hem of his jeans were tucked into the tops of his cowboy boots. He had even found an empty beer can to hold in his hand.
“Wow,” Kenzie whispered. In spite of her irritation, she was impressed with how easily the man could adapt. And even though it was a look totally foreign to the lawman, she had to admit it looked good on him. “You look so different.”
“That’s the plan.” He hoisted the camera bag onto his shoulder, adding to the persona of an avid fan, eager to get a picture of the aging rock band. “More people are starting to come out of the concert now. We’ll slip in among them, as if we had been in here making out.”
With an arm thrown around her shoulders, Travis staggered out of the shadows, pulling her along with a lingering kiss. Kenzie put her arm around his waist and managed a giggle as she stepped out of his kiss.
“Aw, come on, where you going, baby?” he asked, a slur in his words as he pretended to stagger after her.
“I think you’ve had too much to drink. I’d better drive home.”
He pulled her back against him, nuzzling her neck as they blended into the crowd. “You’re doing great,” he said lowly. “My truck’s in the parking lot to the left.”
“My car’s down the hill on the right.”
“Which we’re leaving here.”
“But I can’t! It’s not even mine, Craven left it for me.”
She felt him stiffen beside her, but he continued to nuzzle her neck. “If someone was following you, they probably know what you’re driving. We’re taking my truck to your hotel. We’ll get your things and find somewhere else to stay for the night.”
“But-”
He cut off her protest by stopping abruptly in the roadway. Someone bumped into them from behind, then apologized with a chuckle when Travis swept her into his arms and pulled her close. “No ‘buts’,” he whispered. “That’s the way it goes down.” She bristled and would have argued, but he kissed her until she forgot what she was objecting to. By the time he released her, she was the one to appear intoxicated as they wound their way down the road and into the parking lot.
Crawling into the cab of the pickup truck and settling in the middle of the seat, Kenzie scanned the area behind them. “Do you think he was still watching? Do you think we fooled him?”
Travis got in behind the steering wheel and started the motor. “He was looking for a single woman taking pictures, not a woman with a date who couldn’t keep his hands to himself.”
Makenna stiffened. He had only been playing a part when he kissed her. Why hadn’t she realized that? She heard her phone vibrate and dug through her camera bag to retrieve it. Glancing down at the message, she raised worried eyes to Travis. “It’s Craven. He wants to know how tonight went and if I’m enjoying the Hummer.”
Travis gave a grunt. “Hummer?” he asked skeptically. As he pulled out of the parking lot, disapproval crept into his voice. “You don’t have to answer, you know. It’s not like he knows whether or not you’ve read the message.”
“But I know.”
“Do me a favor; just wait to answer about the Hummer.”
Something in his tone put Kenzie on the defensive. “Surely you don’t think Craven has anything to do with me being followed! That’s preposterous!”
Travis divided his attention between the rear view mirror and the road in front of them. When he finally answered, his quiet words rendered her without a comeback.
“You’re the one who mentioned the possibility, not me.”
Chapter Ten
Travis took a roundabout route to her hotel, making certain no one followed. He pulled up to the back of the establishment and left the truck in a no-park zone, right in front of the back entrance. Using her room key for access, they slipped into the building, took the stairs up to the third floor, and cautiously stepped into the hallway. When he proclaimed the coast was clear, he motioned her forward and they hurried inside her hotel room.
The darkness that greeted them alerted Kenzie to troubles.
“Travis,” she said lowly, as he crowded in the doorway behind her. “I know I left a light on.”
“Stay beside me,” he murmured. He gently shoved her against the wall and covered her body with his as he switched on the light, gun already in hand.
“Oh. My. Gosh.” The words slipped from her mouth on a whisper.
Strewn about the room, her clothes littered every surface possible. Many of the outfits were ripped or slashed; others were merely crumbled and discarded. Her suitcase was up-ended on the floor, a deep slash across its top. A lacy pair of panties dangled off the bedside lamp, its matching bra strung out across the pillows. The pillows themselves were all slashed and losing their stuffing.
But most disturbing of all was her little red teddy, laid out perfectly in the middle of the bed. A long, jagged piece of a broken mirror stabbed through the lace, right where her heart would be.
Travis made quick work of securing the room before he allowed her further inside. While she stood in the middle of the room, traumatized that someone would invade her privacy and make such a silent but effective threat, Travis moved about swiftly, gathering her clothes and piling them into the damaged suitcase. He moved into the bathroom, where all her toiletries huddled in a massive jumble in the sink. In less than five minutes, he stuffed personal items into her overnight bag, filled the suitcase with clothes, and pulled her toward the door.
“Can you carry your overnight bag?” he asked, draping it over her shoulder.
“Of course. But we can’t just leave –” Her eyes were still wide with shock.
He cut her off without apology. “Follow directly behind me. Keep your hand on my belt so I’ll know you’re there and won’t be distracted by looking back. Got it?”
“Travis, we have to call the police!” she said frantically.
“We have to get out of here,” he corrected her. “When I say the coast is clear, we’re going to run to the stairs. We’re going to hurry down, you’re going to keep your hand on my belt, and we’re going to jump in the truck. You’ll get in first, slide over, and I’ll be right behind you, just like in the parking lot. Got it?”
“I-”
“Got it?” His tone was firm. He bent down so that he could look her eye-to-eye. “Look at me, Kenzie. I need you to focus. Do you understand what we’re going to do?”
She nodded, her movements jerky. “Stairs. Hand on belt. Jump in truck.”
“Okay. Ready?” When she nodded, he picked up her hand, placed it on the back of his belt, and waited for her to thread her fingers through a loop before he opened the door and cautiously looked out into the hall. “Now!”
Within minutes of their arrival, they were back in the truck and putting distance between them and the trashed hotel room.
“Where will we go?” Kenzie asked. Her eyes were finally losing their glazed expression.
“You were flying home tomorrow, out of Denver?” he confirmed.
“Yes.”
“Then we aren’t going to Denver. Maybe we’ll go to Boulder. There’s plenty of places there we could stay for the night, try to figure out what’s going on.”
“Okay. Good.” She nodded, thankful to have some sort of plan. She was still sitting in the middle of the seat. “I’m scared, Travis,” she admitted in a whisper.
He took his hand off the steering wheel and placed it on the leg resting beside his. Squeezing gently, he told her in a reassurin
g voice, “I’ll take care of you, darlin’. I don’t plan on letting anything happen to you.”
“I know. I trust you.” She wound her hands around his arm, hugging it to her as she laid her head against him. “But I’m still scared.”
***
They reached Boulder less than an hour later. Kenzie did a quick search on her cell phone and found a decent hotel with vacancies. Within a few minutes, they checked into a room with two queen beds, the only option available at such late notice.
When Travis swung her suitcase onto the luggage frame, her eyes immediately went to its slashed top. She traced the vicious mark with a trembling hand.
“I know tonight was just a warning. Just a scare tactic.” Even her words held a tremble. “They had no way of knowing it, but the funny thing is, this very suitcase held the secret they are after. It’s a good thing I had the envelope with me.”
“What are you talking about?” Travis frowned.
Kenzie moved away from the suitcase, running her hands through her hair. She pulled it free of its bindings, shaking out the long dark masses as she paced alongside the bed. Travis waited patiently as she untied the shirt from her waist and tossed it aside. His eyes flickered over her, taking in her wild hair and her form hugging clothes, but she was too distracted to notice the appreciation in his gaze. Finally she spoke.
“The day I left home, my mother gave me an envelope. She told me to never open it, never tell anyone I even had it. She called it insurance, so I assumed it was a policy of some sort. Quite frankly, I forgot I even had it. It was still inside this old suitcase from when we moved into our apartment. The wheel was broken on my new luggage, so at the last minute I switched suitcases to bring on this trip. Anyway, last night I found the envelope.” She took a deep breath and plopped down on the mattress. She raised solemn green eyes to his. “I think this is what the mafia is after.”
