He was taken aback for a moment. He reached into a drawer and withdrew several pieces of paper. “This is the best I can offer, ma’am.”
Nicole’s eyes shifted to see a voucher for the food court, as well as offers for a free drink and free movie on her next flight.
There wouldn’t be a ‘next’ flight for her because someone was going to find her. When she turned, disappointed, with her fist clenching the gratis amenities, she swallowed hard, nearly choking on the breath that stuck in her throat.
For, across the way to her left, she made out two of the suited dark thugs she’d seen in the office at Terratech and to her left, there sat Nick.
She decided no matter what, he was the least of the two evils. Sure, he was military trained and could easily overpower her if she didn’t have the element of surprise. The thugs… well, she figured they had firepower, a taser, hell, a vial of something to inject by needle—something—to render her useless.
She zeroed her eyes on Nick and marched straight across the terminal to where he sat.
“Well, if it isn’t the world’s biggest cock nozzle.”
Nick looked surprised for a second, but quickly adapted and let out a laugh. “That’s original.”
“You aren’t.” She glanced over her shoulder at Humpty and Dumpty. They hadn’t seen her yet, so she had to make this quick. She extended her hand out to Nick. “Hand it over.”
“Hand what over?” he mocked a bit too sarcastically for her taste.
“You know goddamned well what I’m talking about. I want my stuff. My bag, my purse, everything that was in it including my computer and passport.”
He shook his head and sucked air through his teeth to show his disappointment. “You really need to be more careful, Nicole. You need stuff like that when you travel.”
She wanted to scream at him and attack him with her fists, but that would have called too much attention to them. “I’m not doing this, Nick. I don’t know what your game is or who you’re working for, but give me my shit back. Now.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
God, why did he have to smile at her so wickedly? Was this some sort of fucking game to him? Was this how he picked up women? She didn’t have time for this.
“Look, if this is your way of flirting or wanting to see me again… okay, I forgive you. Just give me my stuff, we’ll exchange digits, and pick this up another day. Right now, though, I have to get out of here.”
Nick flattened his mouth. “I don’t think so. We have some things to talk about.”
She turned back to the goons. Her luck was going to run out and then what?
“Another time. Now, Nick.”
“No, Nicole. I don’t think so. You’re in some deep shit. I’m afraid I can’t let you get on that flight to London tonight or any other night.”
Her breath hitched, threatening to strangle her on the realization of exactly was happening right before her.
“You…”
He stood and took a step toward her. “Nicole, let me explain…”
She put her hand up. “No, I don’t think you need to.”
Nick wasn’t just some random guy who’d bumped into at the airport. He wasn’t some mysterious traveler who happened to get seated next to her on the flight. In first class. Like that could really occur… an accidental upgrade next to the perfect, sexy, gorgeous con man!
“You’ve said and done enough, Nick. If that’s even your name.”
“It is,” he said firmly, advancing another step on her.
God, she couldn’t believe this. Here she was running from trouble and there she’d gone and fucked it. Invited it. Willingly. With her legs wide open.
“We’re done here, Nick. Just fuck off and leave me alone,” she snarled out at him, backing away from him.
However, he took three strides and firmly took her by the elbow, pulling her toward him in what might appear to be a lover’s welcome to passersby. To Nicole, all she could feel under the light jacket Nick was holding was something firm, hard, and steely.
This time, it wasn’t his cock.
No, something else was cocked and jabbed into her side.
24
Nick
Nick hadn’t merely been sitting across from Nicole all this time. He’d been watching her and monitoring the perimeter around her. Not only was he following her, but he believed he’d sensed out four others there to observe her, or worse.
She was feisty, headstrong, and pissed at him—rightly so—but, right now, he needed to protect her and get her away from here. He couldn’t let her know he was on her side, though. Not yet. It went against his code, his assignment, and his directives, but this time, he had to listen to his instincts. He needed her to think he was a threat, so she’d behave.
“A shortened M16 carbine is usually my weapon of choice, but right now, I have a .38 special pointed directly at your kidneys. If you don’t do what I say, one well-placed shot will obliterate your insides. There won’t be anything left for the ER doctors to reassemble,” he said low and harsh into her ear.
He felt her stiffen and then tremble in his grasp and felt horribly guilty for causing her so much pain. It was necessary, though, to get her to follow him to safety.
“Do you understand?”
She gasped and then nodded her head.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Nicole. You have to listen to me, though.” He nudged her with the barrel of the gun for effect.
“Okay. Yes. Whatever, Nick. Just don’t—”
“Shhh…” he hissed in her ear. Acting as if they were nuzzling together at the gate, he began to slowly lead her away. He’d seen a gate nearby that was closed off due to painting and construction. Thick tarp hung from the ceiling to conceal the mess from travelers. It was the perfect place to get her to so he could explain everything.
“Keep walking,” he said. “There are two men at one o’clock. Definitely ex-Special Forces.” When she went to look, he tightened his hold. “Not good guy ex-Special Forces. Mercenaries. I’ve run into them before.”
“Isn’t that what you are?” she asked weakly.
“Just keep walking.”
“Are you all with the other guys?” she asked.
“Which ones?”
“The big dudes over there.” She motioned with her head. “They were at my office back in Silicon Valley. They must have followed me here, but then you’d know that, wouldn’t you?”
“It’s not like that, Nicole.”
He steered them away into the crowd of passengers and then ducked into the gate area undergoing renovations. He pushed her in slightly and removed the gun from her back. Securing them inside the tent, he looked back at her just in time to see her small, white-knuckled fist close to his face.
“Christ. What the fuck, Nic?” he grunted out after her punch made contact with the cartilage of his nose. It barely stunned him. Shaking it off, he wiped at the slight blood that trickled from his right nostril. “I guess I had that coming.”
“Damn right you did,” she snapped.
“Just so you know, that tickled.”
When she came swinging at him this time, he was prepared. He blocked her advance and captured her wrists. He maneuvered her left arm behind her. He was only trying to hold her off so he could speak, not actually hurt her. But fuck, she had a fight in her. Nicole was doing her best to twist away. She got loose for a split second and managed to reach for a paint roller that was nearby.
“Just hear me out, for fuck’s sake!”
“Like hell, I will.”
She swung hard at him, but he ducked to the ground, rolling to one side before getting to his feet when she tried to smack him again. The third time she wielded the faux weapon at him, he grabbed the end of it and captured it from her. He pinned her against the wall, holding the roller across her chest.
“Goddammit, Nicole. I’m on your side!”
“No, you’re not,” she cried out. “Why would you do what you
did?”
Because he had been doing his job. What he’d been assigned to do. The directives. The instructions. All of it guided his life. However, this wasn’t right. This time… something more was going on, and he knew it, without a doubt. He couldn’t just tell Nicole he was going on a hunch. He had to take measures to protect her, protect himself, and find out exactly who was behind all of this.
And, with forces in the airport recognized by him as “unfriendlies,” he had to get them out of there and fast. He couldn’t do that, though, with her trying to take his head off.
She struggled against him, but it only put her breasts closer to his face. He resisted the urge within him to bury his face into the valley between them and get lost again. No time for that.
Firmly, he leaned on the roller, holding her in place and preventing her from moving or fighting more. “I admire your tenacity, but listen to me. I’m not here to hurt you.”
Her eyes burned with what looked like hatred. “Why should I believe you?”
“Because it’s true.”
“You did hurt me, Nick.” She gave in a bit and slumped against the wall. “You fucking hurt me a lot just banging me like that, stealing my stuff, and then disappearing.”
He let out a sigh. “I also slipped something into your drink so you’d sleep.”
She rolled her eyes and laughed. “Of course, you did.”
“Look, I was assigned to follow you. Just follow you. Nothing more than intel.”
She bit out, “Oh, so fucking me was a bonus?”
Nick wasn’t letting her get away with that. “Entry into the Mile High Club was your idea, sweetheart, and you know it. Cut the crap. This isn’t some bar pick up or game. People want you dead.”
This stopped her struggle. “For real? I thought I was being paranoid.”
“This is real.”
“Ohhh. Okay.”
“Listen. There are, at least, four operatives out there looking for you. I can get you to a safe place, but you’ve got to trust me. We can figure this out together, okay?”
Her eyes filled with tears and she started shaking again. Nick didn’t want to, but he pulled her into his embrace and comforted her, telling her it would be all right even though he wasn’t sure about that himself.
“Trust me,” he repeated.
“I don’t really have a choice, do I?”
He snickered a bit at her tenacity. “No.”
“What do we do?”
Handing her his jacket, he said, “Here, put this on.”
It literally swallowed her whole when she fed her arms through the sleeves. He bent down and retrieved a painter’s hat from off the floor and passed it to her, as well.
“Put your hair up in that.”
She didn’t argue at all and did exactly as instructed.
“Where are my things?” she asked as she tucked the last of her brown tresses up under the unfashionable workman’s cap.
Nick screwed up his mouth. “Collateral damage.”
Her hackles were up again. “Everything?”
“Sorry. Part of the assignment.”
“Even my passport and phone?”
“Everything, Nicole.”
Hands on her hip, she snarled out, “You owe me a new Galaxy, asshole.”
“Noted.” He couldn’t stop himself from grinning at her.
He peeled the tarp away and checked the area. “Okay, we’re clear. Stay close to me, don’t make eye contact with anyone, and don’t say a word. Am I clear?”
She nodded obediently.
25
Nick
Together, they moved out into the shifting traffic of bodies rushing through the G Terminal. He slipped them out of the gate area as she dragged her rolling suitcase along. A group of high school athletes was up ahead of them, bunching together and causing a bit of a bottleneck for them to get around. The area was cordoned off to specifically guide the walking pattern a particular way. However, more and more people started to pile up like an accident on the highway. Nick kept his eyes moving about, making sure nothing suspicious was in their wake or up ahead.
“This isn’t right,” he said to her.
“What do you mean?”
He glanced over his shoulder. That was when he saw them. The two ex-military guys he’d never seen before were now advancing on them. It was the determined expressions on their hardened faces that gave them away. And those dead eyes he’d seen in his own face. Gripping his duffle bag on his shoulder with one hand, he took Nicole’s elbow with the other. That clunky case she pulled along was noisy and annoying as fuck, drawing attention to them at a time they needed to disappear through a group of teens all dressed in blue sweat suits. Probably young athletes.
“Excuse us,” he said, pushing forward.
“I beg your pardon, young man,” an older woman raised her voice to him. “Wait your turn. These kids are away from home for the first time.”
He gritted his teeth and cursed under his breath. The goons were closing in. If he weren’t careful, Nicole would be in jeopardy. For all anyone knew, she still had the data drive, which made her a moving target.
“Really, ma’am, we need to make a connection,” Nick said, rudely pressing forward.
“Well, I never!” she sang out, trying to shame him. “This is why you don’t come to New York City.”
The men were getting close, weaving through the jammed crowd toward them. Nick couldn’t let them get too close.
“We’re going to have to make a break for it,” he said to Nicole.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because two fuckers with guns are right behind us,” he said a bit too loudly, but he’d wanted to make sure Nicole understood the situation.
Sadly, she wasn’t the one who reacted. It was the team mom.
“They have guns!” she screamed out upon hearing Nick’s words. “Everyone! They have guns!”
“Who does?”
“Where?”
Screams.
Chaos.
Bodies hitting the floor.
Security personnel flying into action.
“Help us! Please! Help!” the visiting woman shouted out.
Nick almost laughed at the sheer panic she caused. The thing was, he was also enjoying the distraction. The teens scattered like mice in the light. Nick propelled Nicole forward past the mom who grabbed at both of them as they tried to get by.
“Stop them!” she yelled at the top of her lungs.
“We aren’t the problem, you stupid bitch!” Nicole roared at her.
With that, the woman swept her arm over Nicole to hold her back and, in the process, knocked the painter’s hat off her head.
“That’s her!” one of the goons shrieked from only a few feet away. “Get her!”
Nick unceremoniously knocked the mom down to the airport floor and continued away from her, yanking Nicole along with him. Something stopped them, though. Her suitcase. It was caught on the woman’s leg, and she was holding on for dear life.
“Ditch it!” he instructed boldly.
“My clothes are in there!”
“Who cares? Leave it!”
“But… my vitamins and my—”
“I don’t give a shit. Let it go.”
Nicole screwed up her face and finally did as he said. They drilled their way through the teens and other passengers to slip down the staircase next to the elevator leading to the baggage claim.
As they ran by, Nicole tugged off the navy windbreaker and tossed it to the ground. Nick understood she was immediately trying to change her appearance so they’d blend in.
“There, that way,” he said, steering them through a maze of discarded baggage carts near one of the luggage carousels.
He stopped briefly at the flight from Omaha and snagged a black roller board.
She smirked at him, but kept quiet, and followed him outside to the curb.
They stopped for a second while he checked out the area and what the best option was
for them. He knew exactly where he needed to go, he just had to figure out how to get there.
“What’s the plan?” she asked.
Nick saw the sign for car service pickup and hustled them along. He hadn’t realized it, but he’d been holding Nicole’s hand firmly since the team mom had lost her shit. He’d feel bad later for having face-planted her into the floor, but it couldn’t be helped. People were after them. This action was warranted.
Now, he had to make tracks out of the airport and lose the tails as fast as he could.
Across the street and in the car service area, Nick shifted his eyes for an easy target. He saw a Middle Eastern man in a tailored black suit holding a sign that read, “M.D. Fargo.” He walked them over and put out his hand to the driver.
“Hi there! I’m Mark Fargo. I believe you’re here for me.”
The man smiled and motioned him to a perfectly clean black Lexus SUV. “Welcome to New York, Mr. Fargo.”
Nicole scolded the driver. “That’s Dr. Fargo,” she added.
Nick tried not to snicker, appreciating that she was cooperating. “That’s okay, dear.”
“I’m terribly sorry, Dr. Fargo. That wasn’t in my notes. Please, have a seat and make yourself comfortable.”
Nick let Nicole climb in first while he handed off the contraband luggage to their driver. When the man reached for Nick’s duffel, he shook his head. “I’ll keep this one, thanks.”
The man placed the suitcase in the rear of the SUV and then closed the door automatically with a sliding click. Same with the passenger door. Nick was pleased to see the windows were tinted enough to where no one could see who was inside, yet he could make out what was going on. The driver was apparently checking in with his base to let them know he had his passenger pickup. That was when Nick made his move.
“Hold on,” he instructed.
Stepping hurriedly over the console, Nick took a seat behind the wheel, put the SUV in drive, and hit the gas.
“Nick! What are you doing?” Nicole shouted.
“Don’t you mean Dr. Fargo?” he said with a snicker.
In the rear view mirror, Nick could see the poor schmuck driver awkwardly running after him, waving his hands. Again, Nick would feel bad about it later, hoping the guy didn’t lose his job for being outsmarted.
Protection Page 14
