“I figured that’s what you were doing while I met with Tushar and Lawson by the car.”
Dade started a leisurely stroke up and down her arm. “Yes. So, we agreed on a few things. Only two people are going to know what’s going on—Tushar and Ryan.”
She lifted her head. “Not even Emily, Trish, or Temple?” Temple was in charge of the entire project. How could they keep her out of the loop?
He shook his head. “Nope. Just the two of them. We don’t want to take the risk of a single human knowing where I am. The fewer people involved, the better.”
“Okay.” If he cut her out of this equation, she would absolutely lose her shit. “Keep going.”
“Ryan is going to come on Monday. He’s going to give me the cure for AP12 and then follow that immediately with the stem cell treatment. After he leaves, we’re going to take the Jeep and head west. We can look at a map and plan the details together.”
At least he hadn’t insinuated even for a second that she wasn’t included. Thank God they were past that. “An adventure.”
“Yep. I thought we could meander toward the ocean at first and then pick a spot at our whim.”
“You mean you don’t want to hop a plane to Jamaica or Hawaii?” she teased.
“We can do that later. But let’s get a few weeks under our belt first.” Code for wait and see if the stem cell transplant is working.
She nodded. “Sounds good. So we need to pack our things and be prepared to leave in a few days.”
“Is that okay?” he asked, still stroking her arm.
“Yes. Of course.”
He slid his hand up her arm and lifted her face to meet her gaze. “You don’t have to do this, you know.”
She groaned. “Dade…”
“I know. I know. You’re tired of me bringing this up. This is the last time I’m going to mention it. You have other options. You could go back to the bunker Monday and go on with your life, for example. I’ll be fine.”
She glared at him.
“Or you can go with me and hold my hand while I silently freak out with worry every day, waiting to see if the stem cells do their job.”
“That’s the only option.”
He pulled her chin closer. “I love you.”
She smiled, emotion bubbling up from inside again. Overflowing. “I love you too. We’re in this together. For better or for worse. I’m not leaving you, so don’t mention it again.”
“Deal.”
She needed to move away from him before she started crying. The last thing she wanted was for him to have to watch her cry all the time. She would have to figure out a way to keep it tamped down, especially if he got sick. It would be hard, but she would do it. “I’m going to take a shower now,” she whispered. “Fix me something to eat. I’m hungry.”
“Yes, boss. I’m on it.”
As she padded to the bathroom, she glanced back over her shoulder to find Dade propped up on an elbow, watching her. She paused, capturing the moment in her mind. He looked happy, his lips curled slightly in a smile, his eyes filled with emotion. His hair was a rumpled mess, and his chest was broad and defined.
He looked like a man who just had the most satisfying sex. Hopefully, he felt that way too.
Yeah, this was going to be hard, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Chapter 18
On Monday morning, their bags were packed and loaded in the Jeep before Ryan pulled up to the cabin. He had a surprising number of items in his hands as he came inside.
“What’s all this?” Blair asked as he set everything on the kitchen table.
“I’ll explain.”
Dade set his hands on the back of a chair and perused Ryan’s assortment also. He reached for a hard-sided, gray case that looked like the cross between a small suitcase and a briefcase. “Please tell me this is what I think it is.”
Blair imagined it containing weapons or some important secret government documents.
Ryan nodded. “If you think it’s a portable blood tester, then you’re right.”
“Awesome.” Dade popped the latches on the case and opened it to reveal a variety of lab equipment Blair couldn’t identify if her life depended on it. Except it was possible Dade’s life might very well depend on it, and she would need to know how to use it eventually. She had wondered how they would know if the stem cell transplant was working.
“A group at Caltech invented it a few years ago. It’s amazing.”
Dade was grinning like a kid with a new toy train—a scientist’s version of a cool gadget.
Ryan had also brought in several other bags which he proceeded to open. When he unfolded a kit that looked like it was intended for surgery, she winced. “What’s all that?” She sure didn’t want to find out she would need to use it at some point. A blood draw and testing equipment she could handle. A scalpel—never.
Ryan ignored Blair and looked at Dade. “I’m going to swap the tracker out.”
Dade swallowed and slid into the chair. “Swap it?”
Ryan nodded. “Too many people know about it. You might as well be a green dot moving around the country. But I’d still like to be able to find you if needed, and reaching you by phone won’t be easy, so I’m going to put a new one in. I’ll be the only person who knows about it.”
Blair’s spine tingled. This sounded serious. “How big is this tracker?” She winced.
Ryan glanced at her. “It’s no big deal. It’s much smaller than you would think.”
Blair lowered herself onto a chair across from Dade, partially because her legs were shaking. She wasn’t ordinarily a queasy sort of person, and she acknowledged she would probably need to get over any aversion to needles ASAP, but Ryan was holding a knife in his hand.
She shuddered to imagine a world where someone in the government or inside the bunker would actually hunt Dade down and kidnap him or worse. Even though her job had been to protect him from exactly that for all this time, it still seemed inconceivable.
Dade reached across the table and grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze. Her fingers were cold, a fact she only noticed because his hand was so warm. She missed his touch immediately when he drew his hand back. His gaze was on Ryan. “Did something else happen?”
Ryan sighed. “Someone leaked details about the next four members of the team already, and they aren’t even going to be fully awake for two more weeks. Extensive details. Their families. Their previous addresses. Everything.”
“Damn.” Ryan flinched. “You must be pulling your hair out.”
“I am.” Ryan faced Blair again. “It’s only a small incision. Not a big deal. But if you don’t want to watch, you could go in the other room.”
Blair glanced at Dade’s arm. “I’ll be fine.” At least she hoped so.
Ryan set Dade’s wrist on a small towel, cleaned the spot with an antiseptic, and then used the tip of a cotton swab to apply something else.
“It’ll numb the area a bit.” He didn’t wait long before he picked up a small scalpel and then gripped Dade’s arm tightly to keep him from flinching while he made a little incision.
Surprisingly, Blair didn’t look away. She was intrigued.
Dade winced, but otherwise remained still.
Ryan set the knife down and picked up some tweezers. “Might sting a bit. Hold tight.” He squeezed Dade’s arm, stuck the tweezers into the tiny cut, and miraculously pulled out the smallest silver square imaginable. “Got it.” He was pleased with himself.
Blair was shaking her head. “That tiny thing is a GPS tracker?”
“Yep.” He set it on the towel and then picked up a matching square she hadn’t even seen with the tweezers and tucked it into the incision. Holding the small cut closed with one hand, he put a butterfly bandage over it and then grabbed a piece of gauze and pressed it against the wound.
Dade cleared his throat. “How many people know you just did that?”
“Three.” Ryan dropped the first tracker in a baggy and se
aled it shut.
Dade nodded. “Let me guess—Temple, Tushar, and Trish?”
“Nope.”
Blair flinched as she realized the correct answer. “Dade, Ryan, and Blair.” She spoke of the three of them as if they were not the people in the room.
Ryan nodded. “She’s quick.” He handed the baggy to Blair. “Put this in your pocket, guard it with your life, and leave it at the first motel. I made you a reservation.” He handed her a piece of paper. Scrawled across the top was the information for the motel. “It’s in your name. Check in. Go to the room. Hide this chip under the bed. Bury it in the carpet where a vacuum cleaner can’t reach. Then leave.”
Dade leaned back in the chair, releasing the pressure on his arm. “You’re serious.”
Ryan nodded. “I trust absolutely no one. I don’t know who the fuck is finding you guys or how they’re doing it, but this is now a dead end. If anyone ever finds you, then you’ll know I personally had to be the mole.”
“What about your dad? Surely you’ve spoken to Tushar.”
Ryan shook his head. “We talked. We agreed I would make the arrangements and not even tell him. At first I worried what would happen if anything happened to me, but then we decided it didn’t matter. The two of you know how to get in touch with anyone at the bunker at any time. You don’t need someone on the inside with the specifics. After you leave that motel, even I won’t know where you are. I’ll only activate that new tracker if it becomes necessary for me to find you.”
Ryan dug around in another bag and pulled out a throw-away phone. “I got you this to start with. They’re inexpensive these days. I’d advise you not use it unless it’s an emergency. Memorize my number, the bunker, Temple’s, Tushar’s. Don’t program anything. If you need to call me, throw the phone away after and get another one.” He handed them a list of numbers. “You know my regular number. I added a new one for a phone no one knows I have. As long as I can keep that one a secret, we’ll be able to use it.”
Dade stared at the list and then looked up again. “You won’t be able to reach us, then.”
Ryan nodded.
Blair realized that was why Ryan had put the new tracker in. He would never have a phone number for them, but he could find them anyway if there were an emergency. Hell, he could easily locate them with enough accuracy to know what hotel they were staying in and call the front desk.
Dade inhaled long and slow. “So let me get this straight. We’re going to leave here in the Jeep and drive to this motel and plant the tracker. You’re thinking people will watch our location for a few days and assume we stayed at that motel to wait and see which way my health turns.”
It wasn’t a question. Blair realized Dade was simply spelling it all out.
Dade continued. “And the Jeep?”
“Leave it at the motel. I’ll send someone to get it later.”
Blair had so many questions, she didn’t know where to begin. “How are we going to get another car? Won’t anyone be able to track us by tracing our credit cards?”
Ryan pulled out a thick folder from another bag and slid it across the table.
When she opened it, she gasped. Driver’s licenses. Passports. Credit cards. Everything John and Stacey Jones could possibly need for their trip. Her hands were shaking. “Jesus.”
Dade leaned closer. “John and Stacey Jones?” He chuckled. “How original.”
“How popular,” Ryan pointed out. “Do you know how many people have those names in the US alone?”
“I can imagine,” Dade responded. “And the money? I assume you transferred it to John’s account?”
“Yep.” Ryan reached across and pulled a sheet of paper from farther down the pile. Bank account information. A joint account in the name of John and Stacey. “I suggest you look into bitcoin and set up an account. It will make it easier for you to make purchases without being tracked.”
“What the hell is bitcoin?” Dade asked.
Blair nodded, trying not to freak out. “I have a basic idea. We’ll figure it out. But jeez, this is serious.” She met Ryan’s gaze. “Why? I thought we were just going on a little vacation. How could anyone possibly care where we are or who we are?”
Ryan shrugged. “You have to ask that question? You were there when Emily got kidnapped. You got shot, for heaven’s sake. And then my parents. We hid them on a ranch in Montana. So few people knew about that it was crazy. And yet, people tracked them down. They could have been killed.”
Blair knew all that. She shouldn’t find any of these plans to be excessive or unreasonable. She simply hadn’t thought it through entirely. She should have. She was a freaking bodyguard. Dade’s bodyguard. But somehow she’d gotten so wrapped up in her personal feelings for the man she was supposed to be guarding that she lost sight of the big picture. She felt like a fool. “You’re right.” She sighed.
Everyone was silent for a few moments.
Finally, she spoke again, her mind clearer, more focused on the safety aspects of this adventure. “You’re leaving out some details.”
Ryan nodded. “After you leave the hotel, you’re on your own. Do whatever you want to do. Pick someplace safe to lay low. Move if the hair stands up on the back of your necks. Don’t call in until it’s necessary.”
Dade studied or pretended to study the contents of the folder.
Blair knew what Ryan was saying. And one look from Ryan told her they were on the same page. There was more to this plan. Two paths—the one in which Dade lived and the one in which he did not. It would be up to Blair to communicate with Ryan and let him know which route they were on when they knew for sure.
She shuddered.
His eyes searched hers again until she nodded. What he didn’t say was call me when you know, but she heard him loud and clear.
Ryan opened another bag and pulled out several more items. Among those items was a syringe like someone would use for an immunization and an IV bag filled with a milky substance that had to be the stem cells. “Ready?” he asked Dade.
Dade closed the folder and passed it to Blair. “Ready as I’ll ever be, I guess. Where do you want to stick me?” His voice was light as he attempted to joke.
Ryan swabbed Dade’s biceps and quickly injected him with the cure for AP12 that could also kill him.
Blair held her breath, her mouth dry as she watched the clear substance created to heal…and inadvertently harm. She hated that stupid shot and what it stood for.
“I’d rather you lie down for the stem cells,” Ryan said. “It will take a while. About an hour.”
Dade nodded and stood. Without a word, he headed for the master bedroom.
Blair followed and began fussing around, propping him up with pillows because she didn’t know what else to do.
Ryan said nothing as he put an IV into Dade’s arm and then attached the small bag of stem cells. This substance wasn’t as ominous as the shot. Stem cells could do no harm. The question was how powerful were they, and could they save his life?
After attaching the bag to the headboard to keep it above Dade’s body, Ryan put everything away. He looked down at Dade and touched his arm. “Good luck, man. We’ll all be rooting for you. I’m sorry we didn’t have better odds to work with. It wasn’t for lack of trying.”
“I know,” Dade whispered. He reached with his free hand and grabbed Ryan’s wrist. “Thank you. For everything. You did your best. The rest is out of our hands.”
Ryan turned away and left the room without another word.
Blair leaned over and kissed Dade on the forehead. “I’ll be right back.” She followed Ryan to the kitchen. “I assume Dade will know what to do with that?” She pointed at the gray case.
“Yes. And there are instructions. Don’t worry about it for a few days. I put a chart in there telling you when to test and what to look for. Wait forty-eight hours before you do it the first time. But you won’t know anything from that first test. It will just give you a baseline. Two days later you can repeat
the test and compare the results. And so on.”
“It’s not rocket science, is it? Either the blood cells are increasing or they’re decreasing.” She didn’t know if they were looking at white or red or what, but it didn’t matter. She understood the gist.
“Exactly.”
Blair walked him outside to the car. Emotions welled up in her throat. She had no idea when or if she would ever see Ryan or anyone else again. She wasn’t sure what to say. “My apartment… This cabin? My things?”
“I’ll handle it. Emily will help me. No one is going to touch anything for the time being.”
She nodded. Ryan had thought of everything. “I may never return.”
“I know.” He pursed his lips, clearly fighting the same emotions she was experiencing.
“Tell Emily how much I appreciated her friendship these last few months.”
“I will. She knows.”
Blair leaned her forehead against Ryan’s chest and as he pulled her in for a hug. He didn’t say it would be okay. It might never be okay. There were no guarantees. When she lifted her face again, he searched her eyes. “You clear on everything?”
“Yes. I can handle it. Use cash. Buy a car. Leave the Jeep. I’ve got it.” She was rambling through the obvious parts.
“You’ll call me on the burner phone.”
“Yes.” When I know… When my life takes a sharp turn for the better or the worse.
“There’s more to say.”
“I know that too.” He had a plan for after. After they knew.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope, handing it to her. “These are some instructions for later. You can decide if you want to keep them to yourself or share them with Dade. You know him better than anyone. You’ll know…what he can handle or wants to hear.”
She nodded, swallowing back emotion.
“You’re in love with him.”
A tear escaped her eye. She pulled her lips between her teeth and bit down, nodding.
Reviving Dade Page 16
