by Kim Falconer
It took me a while to collect myself. ‘Cate? You okay?’
She leaned back in her seat. ‘Yeah. You?’
‘Peachy.’
‘I’m going to kill you, Sykes!’ Joey tried to tear out of his seatbelt. His movements were frantic and it took a few goes to release the catch. If I hadn’t been so freaked, I would have laughed.
‘Joey, calm down!’ Cate looked more scared now than when we were being chased. ‘No one’s hurt!’ Her voice cracked. A trickle of blood ran down her face.
‘What about my goddamn truck?’ His voice was breaking up, he yelled so loud.
I unbuckled and picked up the laptop. Water from the spilled flowers ran off it. I didn’t like the chances of it ever working again. ‘It’s called insurance.’ Too bad I didn’t have any, but I knew Joey did.
‘Will he come back?’ Cate asked, her voice a hoarse whisper.
‘We don’t even know if that was your attacker,’ Joey said. ‘Right?’
‘You must have thought so when you panicked …’ I snapped back.
Joey was out of the truck and straight to my door. He yanked it open and I backed up against the other side. He didn’t seem scared of me now. ‘You freak!’ he shouted. ‘Were we even being followed?’ He spat a string of oaths. ‘It’s not like a white BMW is rare.’ He stared at me, panting, then slammed the door and went back to the driver’s seat. Joey tried to start the engine, but it didn’t turn over. ‘Damn you!’ He smacked the wheel.
I was pretty sure he wasn’t talking to his truck.
‘You’re paying for this, Sykes! Every cent.’
Cate sucked in her breath. ‘Oh, thank god!’
I looked up. A black Cadillac Escalade pulled off the road in front of us. ‘Who’s that?’ Joey and I asked at the same time.
‘Our boss.’
Daniel Bane stepped out of the car, calm and classy in slacks and a white dress shirt, dark shades. ‘How’d he show up here?’ I wasn’t big on coincidences. This was just weird.
Cate checked her watch. ‘On his way to the Ranch, I imagine. They have four p.m. meetings every Tuesday.’
‘You his secretary now?’ Joey asked.
I have to admit, I had the same thought. ‘What’s the Ranch?’
‘Headquarters for the Poseidon owners. They …’
‘Stay here.’ Joey was out of the truck before Cate could finish. What a dick.
‘You’re bleeding,’ I said to her.
She turned the rear-view mirror toward her and pushed back her hair. ‘I think that happened when we conked heads.’
‘Sorry.’ I leaned over the seat and rummaged in the glovebox for a tissue to mop up the blood. The smell of it was strong with the windows up, air con off. I sat back and cracked my window open, letting in the highway smells, and a bit of onshore wind.
‘Thanks.’
Joey and Daniel were bending over to look at the tyres. No doubt Joey was giving him the ‘Ava has paranoid schizophrenia’ rave. Great. When they stood up, Joey took out his phone and started tapping in numbers, shooting death-threat glares at me. Daniel put his hands in his pockets and caught my eye. He was at the door a moment later.
‘Hi, Mr Bane,’ Cate said, still blotting blood. She had suddenly gone all chipper. ‘Great timing. I don’t know what we would have done.’
‘Call a tow truck, I imagine,’ I said under my breath. Did she know how hard she was flirting? With the boss?
‘You’ll need a tow, by the look of it.’ He was staring at the smashed flowers over the floor.
‘We had some casualties, but thanks for them.’
I scooted over when he made to jump in. A hint of fine cologne preceded him.
‘Are you recovering, Ava?’ I couldn’t read his expression behind the sunglasses.
‘She’s much better,’ Cate answered for me. ‘Aren’t you?’
I opened my mouth to respond.
‘Of course, we had a bit of a freak-out here.’ Cate talked over me. ‘Ava’s being stalked.’
Bane frowned. ‘So Joey said.’
Rourke’s caution about keeping this to myself was flying out the window. ‘I’m not sure. Maybe it was nothing.’
‘Nothing?’ Cate’s voice squeaked. ‘Not what you said when the white beemer was about to ram us.’ She smiled at Bane. ‘We’re so lucky you came along. Joey’s not very good in a crisis.’
When had Cate become such a suck-up? I turned to Bane. ‘You were on your way to where?’
‘A meeting at our head office,’ Bane said. ‘It’s a property a few minutes up the coast. We call it …’
‘The Ranch,’ Cate said when he paused.
‘We do.’ He smiled at her. ‘I saw trouble and pulled over. What a surprise to find it was you.’
‘Total surprise,’ I said. Didn’t quite trust it, but Bane gave me a half smile and, yeah, it seemed genuine. He was a helpful guy.
Cate dropped the sugary grin when Joey headed back to the truck. I couldn’t work out if it was conscious or not.
He hopped back in the driver’s seat. ‘Tyre’s shredded. Front fender’s bent, too out of shape to change, and I might have blown a head gasket.’
I wanted to say tough luck, but my civility was in place. ‘Sorry.’ Maybe I had panicked, but I was sure we were being followed.
Joey grumbled. ‘Tow truck’ll be at least an hour.’
There goes my lecture.
‘I can give you ladies a lift,’ Daniel said. ‘No need for you all to wait.’
Cate’s face lifted and fell again in the space of a second. ‘I’ll stay with Joey, but Ava should go with you.’
‘What about your meeting?’
‘They can’t start without me.’ He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his hands. ‘Perks of being the boss.’
‘Right.’ I checked the time on my phone. ‘Lab started five minutes ago.’
‘A ride home then?’
‘Thanks. That would be great.’ Last thing I wanted to do was sit here and exchange insults with Joey for the next hour. Currently he was pointing out every white beemer that roared past. ‘Are you coming back to mine?’ I asked Cate.
‘I’ve the next few days off.’ She yawned as she spoke. ‘I’ll stay at Joey’s.’
Of course. ‘Try and get some rest.’ It would give me time to make sense of her career ambitions at Poseidon. ‘Call me after you’ve had a good eight hours.’
Joey grunted something unintelligible, followed by an ‘Ava Sykes, you owe me’ look.
I grabbed my pack and laptop, leaving the broken flowers for Joey. ‘Thanks for the ride.’
He turned away, and Cate rolled her eyes. I guess my tone lacked sincerity.
The highway traffic rushed by as Daniel led the way to his car and opened the passenger door for me. Did this guy grow up in some E. M. Forster novel? The smell of leather hit as I sat in the cushy seat. Daniel’s door clicked closed and the sounds of traffic all but vanished. He flipped on the air con before starting up the engine. The sun baked in, but the stifling heat vanished in seconds. ‘Nice ride.’
‘Buckle up,’ he said as we pulled into traffic. It was still awkward with one arm. I didn’t stop him when he reached a hand over to help.
We headed south on 405 while Daniel asked questions. Rapid fire. It was like talking to Rourke. No, I didn’t recognise the man who attacked me. No, I couldn’t confidently spot him in a line-up. Of course I have self-defense skills. No, there was nothing that stood out about the attack. Like a blue ribbon I’m not supposed to talk about.
‘And this BMW?’
‘They were following. That’s what it felt like. Maybe I panicked.’
He listened in a calm, generous way. But, the contrarian in me was not put at ease. If anything, I felt more wound up. By the time we reached East 101–299, I wanted to bolt. Daniel stopped in front of my apartment and shut off the engine. Bad sign.
‘I can walk you in,’ he said.
‘I’ll be fine.’ I unbuckled
and clicked the door latch. The car started beeping and Daniel turned the key to full off.
‘What’s your security like?’
I glanced at the building and the no longer monitored, not-so-hidden camera. ‘Fort Knox.’
‘If you want, I can check.’
‘Not necessary, but thanks.’ A green Subaru cruised past. Rourke was looking after my ass. I turned to go. Foot out of the car.
Daniel touched my arm. ‘We should talk.’
I had to pull my foot back in so I could turn to look him face on. ‘Are you going to fire me, after all?’
Daniel repressed a smile. ‘Hardly. How about we talk over dinner? Tomorrow night, eight o’clock?’
My forehead creased. Dinner? With the boss? The weird thing was, part of me wanted to say yes. Definitely wasn’t listening to my own advice. ‘I train tomorrow night.’
‘In that condition?’ He nodded at my arm sling.
‘I’ll be ready for a light workout.’
‘Friday then?’
‘My shift starts at nine.’
He exhaled. ‘Are you avoiding me?’
I bit my lip. Why wasn’t I saying a simple, clear, thanks but NO? The aware part of me waved a warning flag, but something I couldn’t put my finger on kept me from fully acting on it.
‘I’m concerned about what happened to you, Ava,’ he said when I didn’t answer. ‘If you haven’t realised by now, I take a strong interest in all my people.’
People?
‘Your safety is of the utmost importance to me.’
‘I can handle myself.’ I opened the door and stepped a foot on the pavement, shocked at the monumental effort it took to get my ass out of the car. Moving away from him, up to the sidewalk, seemed to help.
‘You can handle yourself?’ His brows went up, no doubt taking in my battered condition. It did weaken my argument. ‘Dinner, Friday at seven?’ He was persistent. ‘It’ll be very casual. Before work.’
I could just imagine what ‘casual’ was to a man in Armani. I wouldn’t have anything to wear. ‘I’ll text you.’ Yeah, I had put his private number in my phone. Judging by his expression, it wasn’t the answer he expected. ‘Thanks for the lift.’ I closed the door before he could say anything else, and headed up the steps. Daniel Bane didn’t drive away until I was in my apartment. A true gentleman.
Once inside, I went through the four rooms of my apartment, flipping on lights: lounge, bed, bath and kitchen. Clear. The familiar scents of home, a mix of kitchen spices, vanilla candles and a hint of gun oil, made my shoulders relax. It also made me hungry. In the fridge was a rubber-banded bunch of droopy kale, two eggs and a black banana. I tossed the kale in the sink, rinsed out the blender, and then checked everything with the Geiger counter. A pinch of radioactive isotopes was supposed to be good for the immune system, but that was CHI Tech talking, not me. There were enough things to worry about without starting to glow in the dark, a real possibility with five melting reactors spilling contaminants worldwide, not including the old Fukushima Daiichi, which no one in the world seemed to know how to shut down, even after all these years.
The Geiger read within the normal range, my sieverts measuring 1.1 mSv/y. Excellent. I cracked the eggs with one hand, peeled the banana, added ice, kale and a generous shake of salt. Yeah, I loved my sodium chloride and trace minerals. So what? My phone beeped before I could hit frappe on the blender. Probably Cate, bored out of her mind waiting for the tow. I answered. ‘Cate!’
‘How was the ride?’
The way she said it … the tease. ‘I’m his employee. I have integrity and I’m sure he does too.’ I frowned at that.
‘Ava, you only live once.’
‘He’s not my type.’
‘Too rich, too smart or too good-looking?’ Cate laughed and I could hear traffic roaring by in the background.
‘Too …’ I was going to say, too much my boss, but my mind fogged up and nothing came out. I rubbed the back of my neck.
‘Tow truck’s here. Gotta go.’
‘Get some sleep.’
‘Yes, Mum.’
I tapped ‘end call’ on one device and hit frappe on another.
The mixture whirled into a creamy green liquid. I poured the smoothie into a tall glass and downed it in long, appreciative swigs. My phone beeped again, a text message this time. I wiped my mouth and smiled. Cate wasn’t going to let this go. But when I checked the screen, one message flashed, unknown number. Not Cate. I tapped it open.
Ice ran through my veins as I read the single, backlit sentence.
Enjoying the green smoothie, Ava?
The phone fell from my hands.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The air in the kitchen felt thick and smelled of sour sweat.
Mine.
It was him, and he could be anywhere. Watching me. The idea took hold, like fingers around my throat. I tried to reassure myself, but it didn’t work.
I sucked in shallow breaths, picked up the phone, blocked the number and turned it off. Like that’s going to make him go away. A noise jolted me from my thoughts. Someone outside, in the hall? I looked over my shoulder, waiting for a knock, or maybe for the door to be kicked in. Nothing. I checked out the window for parked cars. No drivers casually reading the newspaper. Not that I could see, at least. The view was limited by the maple. Listening for footsteps, I strained until I started to shake. Calm down! It was no time to lose it. I grabbed my water bottle and had a swig, eyes darting around my apartment. What if he is already inside? I went to the gun safe and grabbed my .32 NAA pistol.
The bathroom, bedroom and hallway closet were still empty. All clear. No one appeared to be watching the place, but then, if they knew their job, I wouldn’t see them. Didn’t see the green Subaru either. I forced myself to pick up the phone again, and turned it on. ‘Call Rourke,’ I whispered into the mouthpiece. He didn’t answer. The call went to his front desk and I asked to have him paged. Why hadn’t he called me back? I put the phone down and checked the hall again. I started when it rang, adrenaline shooting through me. ‘Rourke.’
‘You in trouble, Ava?’
‘No shit. He’s watching me.’ My calm and quiet attitude was out the window. ‘I have a freaking text message to prove it.’
‘Your attacker? He’s in the building?’
‘Maybe. What do we do?’ I was hyped up anxious, but I did want to catch this guy.
‘Hang on.’ He barked out orders and was back to me fast. ‘Lee’s coming. Let him in.’
‘Who?’ On autopilot, I buzzed open the entrance to the building.
‘Your tail. He’ll take you someplace secure.’
‘But we could …’
‘Ava, not going to risk it, not until you’re healed and can protect yourself.’ There was another pause. ‘Lee’s at your front door. Hall’s clear. You can open it.’
I did, keeping Rourke on the line. The guy looked casual in a Hawaiian shirt and jeans, but he had his gun drawn, eyes scanning. If anything, it made me feel even more nervous.
‘Stay here, ma’am.’ He started checking the rooms.
‘Ava?’ Rourke was in my ear. ‘Did anything happen on the way home?’
I thought of the high speed car chase, being run off the road, Joey’s truck. ‘We were followed, but he has my freaking phone number, Rourke. He knew what kind of smoothie I was drinking.’
‘Are you sure it’s the man who attacked you?’
‘Who else could it be?’
There was a pause on the other end. ‘You were followed?’
‘By a white BMW.’
‘Catch the plates?’
I pressed my palm to my forehead. ‘Nope.’
‘See the driver?’
‘Male. Short hair. Tinted windows. Nothing distinct.’ In other words, no war paint.
‘Unlock your phone. I’ll pull the text data and send it to forensics.’
‘Can we trace him?’
‘Not after he’s hung up, but we can loca
te the nearest tower, and with the time stamp, possibly narrow it down.’
I removed my password protection so Rourke could download the text time and my GPS. ‘Now what?’
‘We’ll pull the security from your building. Who’s on live feed?’
‘It used to be A&R but, you know … this is South Gate.’
‘Damn. Never mind. I’ll run it myself.’
‘Thanks.’ My voice came out thin and high.
‘I’m going to send the mugshots. Maybe it’ll jog something. You need to stay somewhere else for a few days. I can tell you’re …’
Freaked out of my mind? ‘How did he find me?’
‘Calm down, Ava. Think of who you can call, but don’t do it until you’re on the road with Lee, in case the apartment’s bugged.’
‘Right.’ I looked out from a fog of paranoia, gun still gripped in my right hand.
‘Lee’ll let me know where you are. Don’t worry. No one can follow him, if he doesn’t want them to. Pack some things and go.’
‘Thanks.’ I tapped off. My adrenal glands were about to detonate. Lee double-checked my room, the bathroom and broom closet, and the hallway. Clear. I threw some things into my backpack, then opened the gun safe, retrieving the .32 NAA holster. It strapped neatly to my left ankle. Lee looked on, expressionless, in full sentry mode. I locked the safe and grabbed my toothbrush, reading tablet and gi, the standard white martial arts kimono I trained in, and my black belt. Cate had done laundry, so I threw a stack of it into my pack as well, and a box of contacts. On top went deodorant, tampons and organic herbal face cream. It would have to do. ‘I’m ready.’
Lee ushered me out under full armed guard. The sun was going down, the maple leaves dark and glittery, shadows as long as the street. I couldn’t imagine what the neighbours were thinking. Once on the road, I exhaled and told him where we were headed: UCLA student housing on Westwood Plaza. He turned in the complete opposite direction. I guess he knew his job. Meanwhile, I was on my phone, telling it to call Tom, my ex. We’d dated, sort of sporadically, in my sophomore and junior years. He was still a good friend. One of my best. I’d get an earful about the dangers of my work, but that was okay. I was confident he’d put me up, even though we hadn’t talked for a few weeks.
