Run, Hide

by Carol Ericson

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at your grandmother.”

  Patrick collected the cards from the oracle deck and stacked them next to his grandmother’s elbow, resting on the table. She appeared to be asleep.

  “She doesn’t take offense when her readings upset people, but you need to be careful. She picked you out of the crowd.”

  Squeezing Jenna’s shoulder again, Cade asked, “What does that mean?”

  The man shrugged. “She felt your aura. She wanted to warn you. She does this to earn a few bucks, but she’s never wrong.”

  With trembling hands, Jenna dug into her bag. “Money. How much do I owe you?”

  Patrick waved it off. “She wanted to read the oracle deck for you.”

  “I insist.” Jenna peeled a twenty from her roll of cash. “Is this enough?”

  “That’s fine, but the highest form of payment for my grandmother is that you heed her words. That’s why she singled you out.”

  Jenna shoved back from the table and the dozing woman. “Believe me, I’m heeding.”

  Moments later, Jenna tucked Gavin into his new used car seat and slammed the back door.

  Cade pinned her to the side of the car, one hand on each shoulder. “That fortune-telling mumbo jumbo is nothing we didn’t already know. Don’t let it upset you.”

  “But she could feel the danger coming off me. She couldn’t even see me and she felt it.”

  “Maybe she is for real, but that doesn’t change a thing. We know Zendaris is after Gavin. We know you’re both in danger.”

  Cade spoke the truth. What did it matter that some Native American shaman had confirmed what she already knew? Danger swirled around her. Any shaman worth her salt should be able to sense that a mile away.

  She blew out a breath and sagged against the car. “You’re right. Hearing it spoken aloud like that and by a stranger gave me the heebie-jeebies.”

  “I get that.” Then he leaned in and kissed her on the mouth, short and oh-so-sweet. “We can get to the Prospero outpost by nightfall if we get moving. Lunch on the road.”

  Cade circled the car to the driver’s side, and Jenna had to peel herself from the car door. That man’s touch still worked magic. The old woman could just as well have been warning her about Cade. He posed a grave danger and had the ability to take something precious away from her. Her heart.

  * * *

  CADE SLID INTO THE driver’s seat wishing he’d kissed her longer and harder. She needed it after that soothsayer had spooked her.

  He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I’m going to go ahead and let the outpost know we’re on our way.”

  “You have the phone number for some outpost in the middle of nowhere?”

  He slid the phone open and tapped out a message on the tiny keyboard. “We use a message center. I let them know I’m on my way in, using the outpost’s code, and the message gets relayed to the outpost.”

  “You guys are almost as good James Bond.”

  He picked up a pen in the console. “But this pen is just a pen.”

  They’d fallen back into their teasing banter, and she’d taken a break from accusing him of abandonment every ten minutes. Progress. Now how could they get from here to forever after?

  Several minutes later his cell phone buzzed and he checked the display. “Confirmation.”

  “So they know we’re on our way and will be rolling out the red carpet?”

  “They’ll be expecting us, anyway. They know you’re with me and maybe can start working on relocating you and Gavin to a safe place.”

  Jenna sighed and he held his breath, but she didn’t respond further. Did she really believe she and Gavin would be safer on their own without Prospero behind them?

  Maybe not on their own, but safer with me.

  The thought slammed against his brain. He knew he could keep his family safe, and he owed it to them. Jenna may have stopped blaming him for running out on her and Gavin, but he hadn’t stopped blaming himself.

  Was he putting them in jeopardy again by dumping them off on Prospero? It felt as if he was abdicating his responsibility.

  Cade shook his head. Emotion could cloud your judgment. The nameless, faceless techs and analysts with Prospero would be able to make the right decisions based on facts.

  Jenna touched his arm. “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive?”

  Before he could answer, his phone buzzed again. He squinted at the display. “It’s Jared.”

  “Jared Douglas from your team?”

  “The one and only.” He answered the call because he’d answer any call, any time from J.D., Gage or Deb. “Hey, I heard you were out of the country.”

  Jared’s voice crackled over the line. “I am. I saw your message come through. You’re on your way to the Arizona outpost with your family?”

  “Yep.” Cade punched the button for the speakerphone. Jenna had more at stake than he did and deserved to know everything.

  “Give my best to Jenna.”

  “Do it yourself. You’re on speaker.”

  “Hey, darlin’. Do you still hate me?”

  She rolled her eyes at Cade. “Nothing personal, J.D., but you spent more time with my husband than I did after we got married.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, we had a sweet honeymoon in Afghanistan. But you can have him back.”

  “Don’t provoke her, J.D. She’s not the same sweet girl she used to be.”

  “I could’ve told you that. The minute I met her, I could tell that little filly was going to take you for a ride.”

  “Okay, cut the cowboy act, J.D. I know you didn’t call just to hear my dulcet tones.”

  “Just wanted to tell you, I heard from Gage recently. He’s following a lead on Zendaris.” The line hissed and buzzed as if for emphasis.

  Gage Booker had been their other Prospero Three team member, along with the first female agent, Deb Sinclair. The four of them had been responsible for torpedoing Zendaris’s first big arms deal.

  “How close is he, J.D.?” Cade reached over and squeezed Jenna’s fingers. “We need to bring him down now more than ever.”

  Jared’s voice faded in and out. “Did you hear me? Gage is working on an informant, someone who worked for Zendaris in South America.”

  “Does he have the informant in hand?”

  Dead air met his question.

  “J.D.? Does Gage have the informant?”

  “Not yet.”

  “He’d better get on it. We all know how quickly Zendaris’s former employees disappear.”

  “Don’t I know it. Gage knows it, too. He’s treating this one with kid gloves.”

  “The sooner we nail that SOB, the better for everyone.”

  “Especially if those plans for the anti-drone fall into his hands again.” Jared coughed, or was it the phone again? “No word on the plans yet, huh?”

  “Disappeared like one of Zendaris’s former employees.”

  “I wonder why they haven’t...”

  J.D.’s last words were garbled, but Cade filled in the blanks and his muscles tensed. “Are you accusing me of something, bro?”

  Even through the static, Jared’s voice took on an edge. “You know me better than that. I’m just sayin’...”

  “What? What are you saying?” His grip had tightened on Jenna’s fingers, and she squirmed out of his hold. “What are you trying to tell me, J.D.?”

  “Watch...back. Zendaris...not...only one after...”

  Chapter Eight

  Jenna couldn’t breathe. J.D.’s words had left them hanging. The line had gone completely dead.

  “What did he mean? What was he trying to say? Zendaris is not the only one after the plans or not the only one after you?”

  “You heard as much as I did.” Cade wiped his brow and turned down the heater in the car.

  “Does he believe other arms dealers might be after you?”

  Cade gulped some water from the bottle in the cup holder. “It’s like your fortune-tell
er, Jenna. J.D. didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know. People are after me. People are after you and Gavin. We need to watch our backs. That’s why we’re going to settle you in a safe location.”

  “Maybe Gage Booker will get lucky with this informant.”

  “Gage was born lucky. If anyone can get a line on Zendaris, it’s Gage.” He touched her smooth cheek. “Then this relocation can come to an end, and we can start our life together.”

  She pursed her lips and turned up the radio. They’d have to discuss that further—and riding in a car on the way to some Prospero stronghold was not the time or the place.

  The dry landscape unfolded before them as they rolled down the highway. They’d stopped for a lunch of fast food, which Gavin had devoured as if he hadn’t eaten in days.

  When Cade turned off the highway, Jenna sat up and peered into the darkness that had fallen over the desert like a curtain at the end of a play. “Are we here?”

  “Almost.”

  “Then what?”

  “We can get some rest, and then Prospero will start working on new identities for you and Gavin. They may have already started. Beth Warren is one of the best researchers in this area. She’ll find a place where you two can blend in and stay safe.”

  “That’s if I agree to go.” She clenched her teeth and hardened her jaw. “I’m not under arrest or anything. I can do what I want.”

  He drummed his thumbs against the steering wheel. “Of course you can, but you’ll do what’s best for Gavin.”

  “And that is?”

  “Taking him to a secure location.”

  “Where would that be?” She glanced over her shoulder at her sleeping son. “I’ve been looking for that place for three years.”

  “That’s what we’re going to figure out. Let’s leave it to the professionals.”

  Cade drove in silence for several more minutes and made another turn. The headlights of the car picked out a squat building that could blend in with the golds and russets of the landscape during the daytime. The building seemed to rise from the sand. Low lights illuminated the narrow windows, which glinted in the oncoming lights.

  Jenna tapped the window. “That’s the outpost?”

  “It is. You’d be amazed at what goes on in there.”

  “They still can’t locate Zendaris.”

  “We can leave that to Gage.” Cade aimed the car down a long dirt drive toward the building, and the tires crunched and crackled. “They have a different mission here. They’re not after Zendaris. He’s out of their scope.”

  “Apparently he’s out of everyone’s scope.”

  “Not for long. We’ll get him. He wants those plans back in the worst way, and he’s going to make a mistake trying to get them. When he makes that mistake, Prospero will be there, and if Gage gets an informant, we’ll be there even sooner.”

  He pulled around the back of the building where a few other cars were parked and stopped next to a Jeep.

  “Are you sure they know we’re coming?” Jenna studied the back of the building, unlit and unwelcoming.

  “I got the confirmation that they received my message.”

  As Cade got out of the car, Jenna turned in her seat and grabbed the toe of Gavin’s boot. She jiggled his foot up and down. “Hey, sleepyhead. We’re here. Wake up.”

  Gavin mumbled and rubbed his eyes. “Are we eating?”

  “Again? You’re an eating machine.”

  Cade swung open the back door. “Are you ready to come out of there?”

  Gavin nodded and Cade released the buckle, peeling the straps from Gavin’s shoulders. Cade scooped him out of the car seat.

  And hitched him up on one hip...like a natural.

  Jenna ground her teeth together. She had to stop thinking like that. Tomorrow morning, he’d be sending her and Gavin packing. For their own good, of course.

  Cade stepped away from the door and tilted his head back, waving at the eaves. He winked at Jenna. “Camera.”

  The heavy door clicked and a piece of the door slid up, revealing a compartment. Cade rubbed the palm of his right hand against his jeans and placed it inside the cavity. A row of lights blinked red and then turned green.

  The door clicked again, and Cade produced a card from his pocket and slid it into a slot next to the compartment. One more click and Cade pushed open the door.

  “High tech.” Jenna raised her brows as she brushed past him into the building.

  The heavy door slammed behind them, leaving them in a short, dark hallway lined with closed doors.

  Cade drew his brows over his nose. “Where is everyone?”

  Jenna shuffled closer to Cade and curled her hand around Gavin’s leg dangling against Cade’s thigh. “Is there usually a welcoming committee?”

  “I’ve been here only once before, but typically the agents working at these outposts pop their heads out because they don’t get many visitors.”

  As if on cue, one of the doors swung open and a young man wearing wire-rimmed glasses peered around its edge. “Agent Stark?”

  Cade crossed his arms. “Is that protocol around here? Shouldn’t you make me identify myself?”

  The man’s face reddened and he blinked. “Yeah, sorry. We don’t get a lot of agents out this way. I’ve seen your picture before, and I did notice your palm print verified.”

  “Were you watching me on camera to make sure it wasn’t someone else placing my dead hand on the reader?”

  Jenna sucked in a breath. She hadn’t thought of that, but apparently the bespectacled man had.

  “Yes, I was watching you on camera from the minute the car pulled into the back lot.” He stuck out his hand. “Horace Jimerson. Everyone calls me Jim.”

  “Cade Stark, and this is my wife, Jenna, and my son, Gavin.”

  The men shook hands, and then Jim offered his hand to Jenna. He squeezed her fingers in a bony grip and she hoped he didn’t plan to apply the same pressure to Gavin’s little hand.

  But he patted Gavin on top of the head instead. “If you’re hungry, we have a communal kitchen in the back.”

  “Is Greg Miyata still stationed here?”

  “Miyata? Yeah, he’s still here.”

  “Good. I was hoping he could help with the resettlement of my wife and son until this thing gets sorted out. Is Beth Warren on the job yet?”

  Jim slipped off his glasses and wiped the lenses on his wrinkled shirt. “I’m afraid I don’t know much about the specific plans. Zendaris, right?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “That means I really don’t have any of the details, Agent Stark. You field ops are hush-hush about that guy.”

  “Call me Cade.” He took a turn around the hallway, his gaze skimming past all the closed doors. “So where’s Miyata and the other techs?”

  “Miyata’s out right now—overnight assignment at the border, and Sonia Pacheco, the only other tech here, is sleeping. She had the early morning shift.” Jim glanced over his shoulder into the room behind him. “I need to get back to something. The kitchen’s at the end of the hall. Help yourself. You and your family can have the sleeping quarters in the last room on the right. Miyata will have more information when he returns.”

  Cade hoisted a groggy Gavin in his arms. “Get back to work. We’ll figure it out. Will Miyata be back tomorrow?”

  “Should be. I’ll join you in about an hour.” Jim almost jumped at a beep from one of the computers behind him.

  Cade trudged down the sterile hallway with Jenna close on his heels.

  “This is a strange place.” She sidled closer to him, which he didn’t mind in the least. “Do the techs live here?”

  “Yeah, they live here, but they’re not chained to their desks. They’re close enough to the border that they probably make runs there for assignments.” He pulled open the door at the end of the hallway and a strong smell of antiseptic cleaner made his eyes water.

  Jenna wrinkled her nose. “At least they keep it clean.”

 
Cade settled Gavin in a chair at a small table in the middle of the white-on-white room, and he immediately sank his head into his folded arms.

  Jenna crouched beside him, running her hand over his close-cropped hair. “Do you want a snack before bedtime?”

  Gavin answered by burrowing his head farther into the crook of his arm.

  Pausing with his hand on the refrigerator, Cade said, “Should we try to entice him with some food or put him to bed right now?”

  “I think he’s okay where he is.” She joined him at the open fridge. “I can use one of those diet sodas.”

  “I can use one of those beers.” He wrapped his hand around a frosty bottle and twisted off the lid.

  “It’s kind of creepy here, isn’t it?” Jenna snapped the tab of the can and slurped at the foam that bubbled to the rim.

  Cade dragged his gaze away from her puckered lips. “It’s isolated, but we passed a town on the way in and Phoenix isn’t far.”

  “Maybe Gavin and I should hide in plain sight.”

  “What does that mean?”

  She pulled out a chair next to Gavin and dropped into it. “I always stuck to smaller towns, but maybe blending into a big city would work better.”

  “I don’t know.” He leaned a shoulder against the fridge. “I think your instincts were right. Strangers stand out more in small towns. In a big city, anyone could move in and out of the neighborhood and you wouldn’t be able to keep track. Beth will have it figured out.”

  Scooting her chair back, she rested her head against Gavin’s, light against dark. “I’m tired of thinking about stuff like that.”

  He shrugged off the refrigerator and squatted between his wife and son, wrapping an arm around each of them. “I know. This is going to end soon. I can feel it. And then...”

  She turned and pinned him with her blue gaze. “And then what?”

  He fell forward on his knees and cupped her face in his hands. “And then we’ll be together, like we were always meant to be.”

  He kissed her mouth harder than he’d intended, but she didn’t back away. When had Jenna ever backed away from anything?