Romantic Times
Page 17
Big, oily waves of blue surrounded her. She felt hard hands jerk her back into an open locker. She fought, shoving the Mace above her and spraying hard. Someone called her name while her neck burned.
And then she collapsed.
Chapter Seven
“Maddie, can you hear me?”
Her throat burned. She felt as if a truck was backing over her head.
“Open your eyes and talk to me, damn it.”
Coughing, Maddie forced open her eyes. Gabe’s face, very worried, loomed over her. “What?” she croaked.
He took a slow breath, and the heat of his body washed over her. His finger brushed her cheek. “How many fingers?”
She squinted up through the blurred lights. “Twenty-five.”
“Funny, Einstein. Answer the question.”
Maddie focused again. “Three. And a half.”
“Excellent.” He moved his hand, brushing a strand of purple hair from her face.
“What happened?”
“We got the roommate.”
“Don’t understand. What roommate?” Sound came back slowly. Maddie saw two police dogs and a man carried away under armed escort. “Who… was he?”
“Kade. He was dressed in a Blue Man costume, watching everything we did. He worked birthday parties and special events here in the hotel. The costume made a perfect disguise. How did you spot him?”
Maddie didn’t have a clue. Mostly it had been instinct. And the lights, of course. “Not sure. Just luck.”
“Close your eyes and rest. You’ve had a busy day. A medical team is headed up.”
“Don’t want to… rest. Want coffee. Breakfast too. Eggs. Biscuits and gravy. Chocolate cake.”
Gabe muttered under his breath. “Forget the coffee.”
“Kiss my—ashes,” Maddie answered shakily.
“Anytime you want,” Gabe said. “You name the place. I’ll be there.” His lips grazed her forehead. Maddie thought he said something else.
But she was shaking now. And she couldn’t seem to focus. Her eyes closed. Dimly she felt Gabe’s arm slide under her shoulders.
Breakfast would have to wait.
*
Gabe watched the team work over Maddie. “She’s good, Teague. But she’s way too young for this work.”
“She’s almost twenty. And she probably has more street sense than either of us,” Izzy answered flatly. “Don’t worry about Maddie Munro.”
“Take care of her. I’ll be keeping an eye on both of you.” Gabe pulled on his pack and frowned. “What about those lights of hers? Is it new technology I should know about?”
Izzy’s face was unreadable. “Don’t know what you mean.”
“Like hell you don’t.”
“Listen, Gabe, you know I can’t discuss this. Let it go. Maddie is… different. She is as smart as they come, but her life has always been complicated. Better not get involved.”
“But I am involved. And I’ll be in touch.”
Gabe watched a gurney roll down the hall and wondered at how small and fragile Maddie looked beneath the white sheet. The purple hair made her look young and hard at the same time.
It wasn’t over, he thought.
Not even close.
Chapter Eight
Maddie listened to the whine of the airplane motors, feeling anxious the way she always did when she flew. The medicine she had been given at the hospital helped. So did her exhaustion after the briefing that afternoon.
But she couldn’t relax. The report was done. Izzy was wrapping up the final details.
And she was here staring out the window. Thinking about Gabe.
He hadn’t said goodbye. When she woke up, he was gone. No word, nothing. And that made her angry, as well as impossibly empty.
Let him go, Maddie girl. He’s way beyond your league.
Izzy leaned over and set a brown paper bag on the armrest beside her. “Stop muttering under your breath. We aren’t going to crash.”
“Tell my stomach that.”
“Focus on something else. Read a book on that new tablet I got you. Take up knitting.”
“I’m considering it.” Maddie wasn’t joking. There were cool things that she wouldn’t mind making.
“I’ll believe that when I see it. Meanwhile, this is for you.”
She frowned at the bag. “What is it?”
“Beats me. Open it and find out.”
She pulled off the tape and unfolded the paper and immediately was hit with dark aromas. Light citrus mingled with clove and smoke. Coffee.
“Gabe left it for you. He was sorry he couldn’t hang around.”
Maddie swallowed, cradling the bag with fingers that trembled just a little. “He told you that?”
Izzy nodded. “He said not to take it out until you were in the air.” Izzy rubbed his neck. “Gabe is important, Maddie. And the life he leads is complicated. Maybe I should say the lives he leads.”
“I got that idea. But it’s no business of mine.” She didn’t let go of the bag, with its rich, seductive smells. The cold feeling of emptiness began to lift and she could almost hear Gabe’s laughter as he thought of her opening the gift. “None of my business at all.”
“You sure about that?”
“I just told you, didn’t I?”
Izzy watched her face. “You did a good job back in Vegas. We couldn’t have wrapped this up so fast without you. The Senator sends his thanks.”
“Hoorah.” There was no warmth in her voice.
Izzy shook his head and turned away, typing the last of his report.
When Maddie looked down there were no lights on her arms. They were gone in the aftermath of the confrontation, maybe lost in her general exhaustion.
Fine. One less thing to worry about.
She watched clouds race past the small window and yawned, wondering where Gabriel was and what her next job would be. She wondered whether Lyon would be part of her work when she got back to England.
She blew out a breath. And then she saw the little brown envelope taped to the side of the bag.
“Why don’t you read it?” Izzy murmured.
“Go away, Teague.”
He laughed and went back to his typing and Maddie opened the card slowly, not sure what she expected to see or even what she wanted to see.
The letters were bold and black, racing across the plain brown paper.
Don’t drink it all at once or you’ll end up back in the hospital.
Maddie bit back a laugh.
He knew her too well already.
Stay safe, Maddie Munro.
I’ll find you. One day when you least expect it, I’ll be there. You can make us coffee and see what comes next.
Because whatever this is, it’s not over.
Maddie really did laugh at that. The sudden sound of her own laughter made her feel giddy and complicated and unbelievably alive.
The lights swirled up then, wrapped along her wrists and over her arms. The colors and texture were different now, she realized. Darker. More complex.
A new tendril of patterned lines appeared, working its way amid the others, restless and complicated, twining with the old. Maddie gave up trying to control it and simply enjoyed the beautiful, swirling patterns.
Maybe that was part of life.
Or maybe it was growing up. Maddie didn’t know where she was going, but she knew this thing.
Gabe would be back.
She would savor his coffee while she watched and waited.
And she was going to enjoy every moment of this crazy, unpredictable journey of discovery that lay before her.
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