Never Say Necklace (Love on the Run Book 1)

by Jaclyn Hardy

  Braden quickly retraced his steps, heart beating wildly. Making a mental note that he better learn to read maps more accurately, Braden followed the footsteps left in the dirt and stopped, preparing himself for a standoff. He crept forward and took a step into the doorway, holding his gun out. He promptly dropped it with a cry of surprise.

  “Carlie?”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Carlie dropped the bag she held in her hand. “Braden! What are you doing here?” She snatched up the necklace and bent down to grab the bag. She wasn’t about to let him have what she’d worked so hard to find.

  “I could ask you the same thing.” Braden took in the room around them. “So your relatives live in pyramids?”

  “This was the work you had here in Egypt? Were—were you spying on me?” Her heart beat rapidly. She’d really hoped that he was there every day because he liked her, not because he was trying to steal her secrets.

  “No, I went to the lab . . . it’s not like that.” He stepped forward and stopped when she pulled a gun out of her pocket. He held his hands up. “Look, I was given this assignment. I didn’t steal anything.”

  “You’ve been in the lab every day. You’re trying to tell me that you didn’t get the information from my laptop that way?” She watched his every move, making sure he couldn’t attack without her knowing it was coming. She was surprised to see him blush and shift uncomfortably.

  “Look, I just wanted to talk to you and I didn’t have the nerve to do it. I didn’t take anything from you. But I need that necklace. If I don’t take it back, I’ll lose my job.”

  Carlie laughed. “I don’t think so. I did the research myself. This is my discovery.”

  “And you discovered it. Now please just let me have it. We can take credit together.” He eyed her gun and crept closer.

  A loud click sounded behind Braden. Carlie gaped at the man standing in the doorway, holding a gun aimed at Braden. He was large and well-built, but he had a mask on so they couldn’t see who it was.

  “Necklace, now.” The man held his hand out.

  “Get in line.” Carlie backed up, keeping her gun trained on the man. She had to get out of here without injuring her or Braden. She shoved the necklace in her pocket and slipped her bag over her shoulder.

  “I don’t think you’re getting the hint. I get the necklace or neither of you will leave here alive.” The man pulled out another gun and aimed it at Carlie.

  “Now let’s be calm about it. She was here first. She should keep the treasure.” Braden talked quietly and took a step toward Carlie.

  A shot rang out, and Braden dropped to the ground holding his leg.

  “Give me the necklace.” The man pointed the gun at Braden’s chest.

  Carlie shrieked. “What did you do that for?” She pulled out the necklace fingering the delicate carvings on the back of the clasp that held the Peridot stone in place. She’d searched for this necklace everywhere, and she didn’t want to lose it now that she had it. She glanced over at Braden to see him holding his leg.

  She held it out to the man before she could change her mind. “This is mine. I’ll let you have it for now, but I will get it back.”

  “Not if my boss has any say in the matter.” He held out his free hand, keeping the gun pointed at Braden.

  “Carlie, it’s a trap. Don’t give it to him.” Braden tried to stand.

  “I don’t have a choice.” She tossed it to the man and watched him leave—taking her life’s work with him.

  Carlie knelt down next to Braden. “Let me see your leg.”

  Braden hissed as he stretched his leg out in front of him so Carlie could help roll up his pant leg. “Please tell me you know what you’re doing.”

  Carlie examined the wound, then rummaged through her bag to find bandages. The bullet had gone in to his calf muscle and she couldn’t see it to pull it out. “We need to get you to the hospital.”

  Braden clenched his jaw. “Why did you do that? You had the necklace in your hand.”

  Carlie ripped the bandage and pushed it against Braden’s leg. “We’ll just have to go after him and get it back. Did you recognize him?”

  Braden shook his head. “No, you?” He gasped at the pain as Carlie tightened the bandage.

  “No, but we can assume he’s with the mole. Otherwise he never would have found this place.” She put the rest of her supplies in her bag and stood. “Think you can walk?”

  “I should be fine.” He stood and gasped again. “Okay, maybe not, but I don’t have much of a choice. Let’s get out of here.”

  “Good idea. We’re going to have to go the long way, though. They’ll be watching the secret entrance. Plus, I worry about you crawling out of the sand with that wound.” She helped him up and helped him out of the room.

  “We should just have to go up a couple floors before we find someone.” Braden limped along beside Carlie.

  “Yes, and pray that we don’t run into anymore traps. I don’t imagine they’d make this much easier to get through.” Carlie paused at a corner and peeked around it to make sure no one was coming before she continued.

  “I’m sure we will. I almost went off a cliff back there.” Braden’s breaths came in gasps.

  Carlie stopped. “A cliff? Where?”

  “You took a right after the hallway of death, and I took a left like my map indicated. I was lucky not to fall in.”

  “Weird. That wasn’t marked on my map either.” She started walking again. “Let’s get up this flight of stairs and then you rest while I find someone.”

  “You’re just going to leave me here?” Braden asked. He grunted as he took another step.

  “Do you really want to walk up stairs right now?” Carlie raised her eyebrow.

  “Well, no.” He groaned. “I need to sit.”

  “Okay. I’d leave a weapon with you, but I don’t know what I’ll find on my way out.” She bit her lip. He really didn’t look good from what she could see in the dim light.

  “It’s fine. I have a gun in my bag. Just go.” Braden sat down and leaned his head against the wall.

  “Just don’t die on me, okay?” Carlie took her flashlight out and ran down the halls, avoiding old bones. She turned the corner to find another “hallway of death” as Braden had called it.

  She looked around to find something to throw, but nothing was close by. Okay, so this time she’d run for it. She took a deep breath and sprinted. She could feel the arrows and darts fly past her. One tangled in her pony tail.

  Carlie dove the last few feet and rolled, hearing loud thunk above. She lay there for a moment to catch her breath before standing. The thunk had come from a large knife that had embedded itself into the wall. Her heart beat rapidly as she turned and continued running. That was way too close for comfort.

  After making her way up two flights of stairs, Carlie was able to get enough of a signal to call for help.

  “Hey, Ed? We’ve been compromised. I need help to get us out of here.”

  “On it. Closest contact I have is about twenty minutes away. Did you get the necklace?”

  Carlie could feel tears welling up. “It’s gone.”

  Ed swore. “Be outside the pyramid in thirty minutes. We’ll deal with the necklace later.”

  Carlie put her phone in her pocket and went back down to find Braden. Common sense told her she should have just blended in with the crowd, but she didn’t trust anyone in the pyramid. Any one of them could have been with the guy who’d taken the necklace.

  “Hey, help is on the way. We have to get down a hallway and up another flight of stairs. Think you can make it?”

  Braden’s breathing was ragged as he tried to stand. “Let’s go.”

  Carlie put her arm around him and helped him along the hallway. Most of his weight was on her, so they had to stop a few times for both of them to rest. She helped sit on the bottom step of the staircase. Noise from tourists sounded above their heads.

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can
, okay?”

  Braden nodded and leaned back against the wall with his eyes closed. Carlie hoped it was just the light of her flashlight that made him look so pale. She checked her watch and took the steps two at a time, then blended in with a group until they go to the exit. A helicopter landed near the entrance and a man jumped out to meet Carlie. Ed had several contacts all over the world and she hoped this guy was one of them.

  “You Carlie?” he asked.

  Carlie nodded.

  “So tell me again why we’re here.” He glared at her.

  “Someone was injured on assignment. We need to get him to a hospital.”

  “I thought you were on this assignment by yourself.” The man still stood in one spot.

  “I was. It’s a long story, but right now, this guy needs our help. Come on.” Carlie ran for the entrance, slowing as she made it to the door. No need to cause a scene. She turned to find the man standing within inches of her. He grabbed her arm and leaned in close.

  “Where’s the necklace?” he asked.

  “It’s being taken care of.” She pulled her arm out of his and kept going. Once they hit the hallway, Carlie shuddered at the knife sticking out of the wall.

  “What do you mean?” the man stopped when they got to Braden. “Who is this?”

  “This is Braden. He is a colleague of mine who was apparently also sent on a mission to find the necklace. He was shot when we wouldn’t hand it over.”

  The man cursed under his breath. “We’re going to have to carry him up. He’s in no shape to keep walking.

  “I’m fine,” Braden insisted, but he collapsed again when he tried to stand.

  Carlie shook her head and grabbed one of his arms. “Don’t be macho. It doesn’t work for you.” She hoisted his arm around her shoulders and helped get Braden out of the pyramid. So much for a quiet escape. The necklace would be long gone by the time they got help. She squelched the annoyance and concentrated on getting out.

  By the time they reached the entrance to the pyramid, Carlie was breathing heavily and they were doing more dragging than assisting. Braden had passed out a few times and Carlie had to use her canteen water to keep him awake.

  “So where’s the helicopter?” Carlie looked around, blinking in the sunlight. It was nearly sunset, but after being down in the dark for so long, what was left of the sun was almost blinding.

  “There is no helicopter. We have to go by car.” The man talked into a radio and watched the road in front of him.

  “What do you mean, no helicopter? That’s how you got here, right? Did they just take off without us?” The annoyance that had been pushed down earlier returned full force.

  “You didn’t get the necklace. We had to abort the mission.” The man shrugged.

  “What do you mean? Who aborted it? You didn’t even know I didn’t have the necklace until we were down helping Braden.” Carlie ground her teeth. She dropped Braden’s arm and barely noticed when he flopped down to the ground.

  “I had my phone on. Frank heard you and aborted it. I’m sorry.” The man looked down at Braden, eyebrow raised.

  Carlie got up in the man’s face. “Are you kidding me? I did the research. I planned the mission. I set everything else up. You can’t just ditch me here.” Carlie knew she was throwing a tantrum but she didn’t care. She had every right to be angry. She clenched her fists, trying not to throw a punch.

  “Yes, well, they want to be paid, and you failed.” He gave a mock salute. “I’m outta here. Good luck, Ms. Anderson.” He jogged the other way and hopped on an idling motorcycle.

  Carlie growled and bent down to check on Braden. He had dropped back into unconsciousness at some point during their argument. She ran to a security guard. “Excuse me? My friend needs help. He’s been injured.”

  The guard spoke into his radio and jogged over to Braden. “What happened to him?”

  “I . . .” How would she explain a gunshot wound when they’d just come from a busy tourist area of the pyramid? “I found him like this. He needs help.”

  “An ambulance should be here soon.”

  “Great. Thank you.” Carlie backed tried to slip away to go after the necklace, but the guard grabbed her.

  “You need to stay with him. You’re the only witness we have.” He glared at her until she sighed and sat down on the one of the steps.

  Carlie tried to find any information out on her phone, but the signal was poor, and things had gone silent. Her team wouldn’t respond to her, which made sense. They couldn’t stay in contact if she’d just botched the mission.

  It was another twenty minutes before the ambulance showed up. She watched helplessly as the medics loaded him onto a gurney.

  “He’s going to need the bullet taken out of his leg. His name is Braden. I didn’t catch his last name. I’m sure his phone has plenty of contacts on it.” She backed away. His normally handsome face was ashen and he was sweating. Carlie turned away but stopped when the medic grabbed her arm.

  “Excuse me, miss, but you have to come with him.” He gestured toward the ambulance. “You can’t just leave him in our care.”

  Carlie’s jaw dropped. It was one thing to have to wait with him, but going to the hospital with him? That was going overboard. “I have nothing to do with him. I have people to catch.”

  “We need more information, and right now he’s unconscious. Now, unless you’d like to be charged with shooting him, I suggest you come with me.”

  Carlie glanced behind her in the direction the guy had taken off on his motorcycle and sighed. “Fine. Don’t expect me to pay his bill, though.” She climbed in the ambulance next to Braden and watched the pyramids fade in the distance as they drove toward the hospital.

  This was not how this find was supposed to go.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Braden woke with a gasp. The pain in his leg throbbed through his body and joined the pounding in his head. Where was he?

  He slowly opened his eyes to find himself in a hospital. The walls were a light yellow color and the sanitary scent of cleaners was strong. A machine beside his bed beeped along with his heart rate. Windows lined one of the walls and paintings of the pyramids and sphinx adorned the other walls.

  Carlie slept in a chair under the window, her hair covering her face. Even when she snored, she was beautiful. Braden grabbed onto the bars on each side of his bed and pulled himself up.

  “Ah, Braden, you’re awake.” The nurse bustled over and checked his blood pressure. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’ve been better. How long was I out?” He reached over to the table next to him and picked up the bottle of water to took a long drink. He was still groggy, and the last thing he remembered was standing to leave the pyramid.

  “You came in last night.” The nurse turned and put her hands on her hips. “Now, would you like to tell me how you got a bullet in your leg?”

  “Didn’t she tell you?” He nodded toward Carlie, who was still sleeping.

  “Yes, but we wanted to hear it from you too.”

  Braden went through what had happened and the nurse stared at him for a moment before turning away.

  “Very well.” She wrote something in the chart at the end of Braden’s bed and went to the door.

  Carlie groaned and sat up in the chair. “Oh, you’re awake. You okay?”

  “I’m doing pretty good considering.” Braden waited for the nurse to leave the room before continuing. “Hey, I can’t even begin to say how thankful I am that you stayed with me. It must be killing you not to be going after that guy.”

  “You have no idea.” She stood and stretched. “Now that you’re awake, I’m going to see if they’ll let me out of here.” She went to the door and Braden strained to hear what was going on.

  The voices rose and Carlie slammed the door before dropping into the chair. She ran her fingers through her hair and suddenly stopped, looking up at him. Her face colored and she hurried over to the sink.

  “They won’t let you
go?” Braden asked.

  “No. I can’t go until you assure them that you’ll pay your bill.” She bent down and splashed water on her face.

  “I’m sorry. But it’s not so bad, right? I don’t bite. Well, not usually.” Braden grinned, but stopped when he caught her glare.

  “My team dropped me. I’ve worked on this for years, and my team dropped me because I couldn’t get the stupid necklace.” She kicked the chair, then sat down, leaning her elbows on her knees.

  “If it makes you feel any better, I’m probably off my team too.” Braden cringed. Okay, so its was probably a little early to be joking about that. He’d hoped to work for the agency long enough to get the money to pay for his own team.

  Carlie glared, but Braden caught the spark in her eye. “You lost me my life’s dream.”

  “I know. But doesn’t it give me any points for saving your life while getting shot?” He would have gladly taken the bullet again if it meant saving her.

  “I suppose.” Carlie was silent for a moment, so Braden leaned back and tried to go back to sleep. Carlie sighed. “I need to get out of here.”

  He opened his eyes. “I know. I’m sorry. I’ll do what I can.”

  Carlie leaned forward and opened the blinds. She unlatched the window and opened it. “You don’t have to.” She grabbed her bag and stuck one leg out. “I’m glad you’re okay, Braden.” She swung her other leg over the ledge and slid out.

  So much for keeping him company. Moments later, voices sounded outside his room. Braden swore and pushed himself out of bed, careful to stay off the injured leg. He hopped over and snapped the window shut before closing the blinds, then hopped back over to the bed, quickly covering his legs with a blanket just as the door opened.

  “This is Dr. Stewart. He performed the surgery on your leg. Why don’t—” The nurse broke off. “Where is Ms. Anderson?”

  “Who—oh, her. She’s in the bathroom.” He was relieved the door was closed, or that could have been very awkward.

  “That bathroom is just for you.” She frowned.