“Greg used to work with my mother when she needed some scientific expertise for her job. He became a family friend,” she explained after clearing her throat. “When he found out about my research, he reached out and helped me connect with my current lab and secure start-up funding. He’s had an integral part in how I got to where I am now.”
“Sounds like a good man to have on your side,” Jonathan observed. Kate nodded.
“One of the best!”
Greg put his hands up, smiling.
“And here I thought I was just coming to deliver a package, not have my praises sung among the smell of roasting coffee beans and budding writers working on their screenplays.” They glanced over to a younger man with bright blue hair, head bent over his laptop and two empty coffee cups next to him. Kate couldn’t help but laugh.
“So, is what you do as secretive as what Kate does?” Jonathan asked. Apparently he could curb his curiosity for only so long.
“Not particularly,” Greg said with a grin. “I used to be an adjunct professor at Harvard—science was my game—when I decided I’d like a change of pace. I’m a business consultant now, with an unperturbed affinity for scientific pursuits on the side. That’s to say, I dabble in lab work here and there, and am occasionally hired as an adviser on more complicated projects.” Greg shrugged. “Mostly boring work, I’m sure, especially compared to the life of a bodyguard.”
Jonathan cracked a smile.
“It has its moments. The travel is great and the people I’ve met have been—” he gave Kate a pointed glance “—interesting.”
“I’d imagine so! It sounds like a dream job for some.”
Jonathan’s smile at talking about his job—one he seemed to hold very dear—lost some of its mirth. The corners dropped slightly.
“It used to be mine,” he admitted. “But, actually, this is my last field contract.”
That caught Kate off guard.
“You’re leaving Orion?”
Jonathan shook his head.
“I’m not leaving Orion unless Nikki Waters tells me to,” he said with a laugh. “Until then she’s agreed to help find me a job at the office. One where I’m not constantly traveling.”
“Roots,” was all Greg said, as if all of his wisdom leaked into the one syllable. Jonathan nodded. The two men shared a look of what Kate believed to be understanding. She, however, hadn’t yet caught the meaning behind it. If Jonathan loved his job so much, why give it up for a glorified desk job?
“So does that mean you have someone back home you’d like to grow those roots with?” Kate’s idea about questioning why a seemingly driven man like Jonathan would give up fieldwork came to a screeching halt. Since she’d met the bodyguard, she hadn’t once asked him about or even pondered his relationship status. She hadn’t seen a ring on his finger and had assumed he wasn’t married, but beyond that she’d not thought about it. Not even when realizing how attracted to him she was.
Jonathan’s weakening smile found a dose of strength. It grew alongside a sinking, cold feeling of disappointment in Kate. Why?
Why did it matter if he had someone back home? He was her bodyguard, nothing more.
“Sadly, no. Aside from friends, it’s only my roots that will be growing.” The cold in Kate’s stomach found a spot to settle. Greg’s eyes swept her expression and once again she hid behind her coffee cup.
“I’m sure you’ll find someone to share your life with,” Greg said. Then, with another loud hoot of laughter he added, “And if not, you could always get a dog.”
Both men burst into a fit of laughter. One Kate found herself joining in on. She’d been unsure of how this meeting would go. Greg was and always had been a nice man. However, like her, there were moments when he’d become clipped and detached, his thoughts trailing back to whatever project he was currently on. Kate was glad Jonathan was able to meet the carefree and personable Greg Calhoun. For some reason, she found she wanted the bodyguard to like him. And vice versa.
“Well, Kathryn, it’s only fair I reiterate the same question to you,” Greg said once their laughter had died off. “I know we talk a lot, but it’s been a while since the topic centered on anything other than work. Are you still dating that man? What’s his name?”
Kate felt her cheeks heat. She cast a quick look at Jonathan, who seemed to be paying rapt attention. His dark blue eyes were honed in on her face. She guessed she wasn’t the only one who had been in the dark about the other’s romantic attachments.
“If you mean Caleb, and I’m pretty sure you do, then no,” she admitted. “We didn’t make it past year two of the project.” Three years later and she hadn’t dated, let alone been interested in, anyone since. Though she thought she had filled Greg in on the matter since then, she wasn’t surprised she hadn’t. When they spoke on the phone it was all about research and data and theories. Not their love lives. She shrugged before either man could comment. “More time to work, if you ask me.”
Greg reached out and patted her hand against the coffee cup again, mouth opening to say something she’d bet would be profound, when Jonathan spoke up instead.
“You know what they say about all work and no play.” Kate’s breath caught just as Jonathan gave her a wink. For a moment all she could do was stare.
“I like you, Jonathan,” Greg said. “Which is another reason I hate to say I need to leave.” He started to stand and Kate and Jonathan followed suit. “I’m currently working on a project that requires my close attention.”
“Well, thank you for coming to meet me,” Kate said, reaching down for the silver case. “And thank you for working on this.”
The three of them walked out to the sidewalk, the morning light making Kate squint as her eyes adjusted. The case was hardly heavy in her hands. Her mind had already begun to form a mental picture of what it looked like. While she’d more or less created it, she’d never seen it take a physical form.
“It was nice to meet you, Jonathan,” Greg said, pausing for a handshake. “I wish you luck with growing roots, and also for keeping up with this one.”
“She’s spirited,” Jonathan said.
Greg laughed.
“Bingo.” He turned to Kate and enveloped her in a quick hug. “Your mother would be so proud of you,” he whispered in her ear. “As am I.”
“Thank you,” she said, a different kind of warmth spreading through her. “That means a lot.”
They parted and he gave her one last pat on the hand.
“Let me know if you need anything, and good luck with the convention.” He gave a small nod to Jonathan, who returned it, and then started to cross the wide crosswalk toward a parking garage. Jonathan began to turn in the direction of the hotel when Kate remembered a question she needed to ask.
“Wait, I have to ask him for the code on this thing,” she said, motioning to the case. Greg was already halfway across the street, surrounded by pedestrians. The Walk sign was still white.
“Greg,” Kate called as she and Jonathan hit the crosswalk. He heard them and turned, pausing his stride.
Even though he didn’t know why she’d called him, there was a smile pulling up his lips.
It was bright and happy and genuine.
Then the screaming started.
Chapter Ten
The car lurched forward without any indication that it was going to stop. Not even as the front bumper connected with a man and woman midstep. They didn’t have time to scream as they were run over, but the pedestrians around them didn’t let that stop them from yelling in terror.
The car, a few feet to their right, was merely slowed by the people it had hit. Jonathan tried to look into the driver’s side through the windshield but didn’t have time to focus on the face behind the wheel. The sound of a revving engine mixed with the screaming around him.
Like the fight between him and the thug during his last contract protecting Martin, Jonathan would later realize what happened next might have gone a completely different way. If he hadn’t moved slightly ahead of Kate, right in between her and Greg, he never would have had enough time to pull her out of the way. As it was, he was lucky. He pivoted and slung his body into hers. His height and muscle—and her sheer surprise—knocked the two of them out of the way just as the car continued through the crosswalk.
Arm over Kate’s chest, they hit the asphalt hard. Pain burst in his side and elbow as they took the brunt of his fall, but Kate wasn’t as lucky. Amid the cries around them, he was able to hear Kate’s own cry of pain as her head whipped back against the road.
“Are you okay?” Jonathan yelled out, already scrambling to stand. Lying in a crosswalk while people were getting run over wasn’t something he wanted them to do. Kate shut her eyes tight with another cry of pain. Her hand flew to the back of her head, and when she pulled it away it was bloody. He turned as another wave of screaming intensified. The car’s back bumper was only a few inches away. They’d just missed being run over. “Kate?” he asked, turning his attention back to her, wanting to get her away from the carnage.
“My head,” she said, reaching out to take his hand. He got her to her feet, barely steadying her before she yelled again.
This time it wasn’t in pain.
“Greg!” Kate rocketed around Jonathan, stumbling once before making it to the man. He lay crumpled on the asphalt, unmoving and bloodied. Jonathan hurried over just as Kate dropped to her knees beside the man’s head.
The car that had inflicted the damage had finally stopped, ramming into a parked car waiting for the light to change. It was immediately swarmed by angry bystanders while others were seeing to those who had been hit. From a glance around him, Jonathan counted five people lying on the ground.
Kate grabbed Greg’s wrist, checking for a pulse. A woman who had missed the car’s path through the crosswalk caught Jonathan’s attention.
“He didn’t go under. He bounced off the side.”
Jonathan knew that was good. Better than being run over and crushed. But the way Kate’s entire body fell as she fished for the man’s pulse made him believe maybe that one saving grace hadn’t been enough.
“No, no, no, no, no,” she whispered in quick procession. “Please, Greg, please!”
Jonathan was about to kneel to check the man out when a yell grabbed his attention.
“She’s running!”
He turned to watch as the driver got out of the car and punched the first person next to her door. She threw another few hits to get the people around her to step back long enough to make a break for the sidewalk. It was then that he got a good look at her.
It was the woman who had been following them the day before, arm bandaged and expression determined.
Jonathan half expected the man who had left the letter to get out of the passenger side to join her, but the door never opened.
“It’s her,” Jonathan yelled to Kate, rage building in his system. Surely it was no coincidence she of all people had driven a car that nearly killed them.
No, it couldn’t be a coincidence.
Kate looked up to see what he meant and realization washed over her face. That was all Jonathan needed to get ready to chase down the woman. She was a deadly threat. One who could answer a lot of their questions.
“Don’t leave me!”
Every muscle that had been ready to spring to action hardened. Jonathan turned back to Kate. She held Greg’s hand in hers while the other rested under the side of his face against the asphalt. She wasn’t crying, but the way her beautiful dark eyes reached out to him let him know that she was close. “Please, stay with me.”
It was in that moment that he knew there was no other place he wanted to be.
He pulled out his phone and took a picture of the driver booking it away from the crime scene. A few bystanders were giving chase while he spotted a couple of drivers who had been waiting in line doing the same thing he was doing, taking quick pictures that would hopefully lead to an arrest once she was caught. With this many people eager to find her, Jonathan doubted her escape would be easy.
“It was the woman who followed us yesterday,” Kate said as Jonathan crouched next to her. He nodded and watched as anger flashed across her face. When she looked down at Greg, it seemed to dissolve a bit. “He’s breathing. I’m afraid to move him, though.”
On a reflex he didn’t know he had, Jonathan put his hand against her cheek, cradling it softly. Slowly she dragged her dark eyes up to his. The smile that graced her lips for only a second was small.
And then it was gone.
“It’ll be okay,” he said. “I promise.”
Sirens could be heard in the distance. The crying and yelling still sounded around them. The woman and those chasing her were out of sight. Someone had turned off the car, but its exhaust created a nauseating smell in the air. Jonathan kept looking into Kate’s eyes as she held a man she cared about deeply, praying he’d be okay.
For the first time since the accident, he realized the silver case hadn’t left Kate’s side. She’d kept it with her through it all.
What was in it?
And why was it worth killing for?
* * *
THE POLICE ARRIVED FIRST, then the ambulances. Jonathan, along with two others who had witnessed the entire thing, gave their statements first while EMTs rounded up those who were badly hurt.
Kate didn’t leave Greg’s side until the EMTs came for him. She quickly recalled his medical history and her fear that he had internal bleeding as they wheeled him to the vehicle. When they asked if she’d be riding with him, however, she said no.
“I’ve already called a close friend of his,” she said. “He’ll make it to the hospital before you will.”
Kate clutched the silver case while she watched the ambulance take off. Jonathan was shocked she had declined riding with him, but before he could ask her reasoning, an EMT caught her attention.
“Miss, you’re bleeding.” The young man motioned to the back of Kate’s head. It prompted her to look down at her hand, where the blood from a little while ago had dried.
“It’s just a superficial wound from hitting the asphalt,” she said, dismissively. The EMT wasn’t having any of it.
“Can I have a look?”
“It’s fine.”
The EMT smirked.
“Then you won’t mind me having a quick look if it’s no problem.”
Jonathan couldn’t help but mimic the man’s smile. He got her there.
“Fine,” she huffed. “Let’s get this over with.”
They followed the EMT back to an empty ambulance, where Kate perched on the lip of the vehicle. Jonathan was able to get a good look at her as she waited while the man did a quick examination.
The white blouse she wore was covered in dirt and grime, as were her navy dress pants. He even spied a tiny hole in the knee of one leg where she’d been resting on the ground next to Greg. Along with the blood on the back of her head, there was a patch of rubbed-off skin on her elbow where she’d hit the ground trying to get away from the car. Her hair was ruffled while her bangs had a gap in them where she’d rubbed her forehead due to the stress of everything. Her cheeks were tinted and her lips were still red, but her eyes had changed. While they had been playful during their talk with Greg in the coffee shop, now they were sharp. And angry. Not at the EMT poking at her head or Jonathan for hovering, but at the cause of what had happened.
The woman who had driven the car.
The man who left the bloody letter.
The same two he had suspected of following them the day before.
“Ow,” Kate exclaimed, turning back at the EMT. “Watch
it,” she warned. Okay, so maybe she did have some anger for the man.
“Sorry,” he muttered. “The cut isn’t that bad back here. You don’t need stitches, but it will be sore for a while. And, I’ll state the obvious, you probably have a concussion and should go to the hospital to get it checked out.”
The EMT stood back and swept his hand out to show he meant she should ride with him to the hospital. Kate didn’t care. She got down and flashed him an apologetic smile.
“I’ll be fine,” she insisted. “Thanks for the concern.”
The EMT looked to Jonathan.
“Are you sure, Kate?” he asked.
Kate nodded.
“When I was in college, I got into a car accident and had a bad concussion.” She pointed to her head. “While I have a headache, this isn’t bad. I just want to go back to the hotel now.”
Jonathan wanted to push more, but he couldn’t make her go to the ER. He looked back to the EMT.
“Sorry, man, but thanks for checking her out.”
The young man shrugged and went back out into the still-lingering crowd. Jonathan and Kate finally made it back to the sidewalk in front of the coffee shop. As they started their trek back, a coroner’s van split the crowd in the street.
They paused in a moment of silence.
“This shouldn’t have happened,” Kate whispered when they started walking again. Jonathan kept his body between hers and the street. She kept the case between the two of them. He wondered if she’d let it go even once since leaving the coffee shop. “I just don’t understand,” she added. “I mean, if that’s the same woman, then surely this all can’t be a coincidence. Did you tell the cops about her and the man from the hotel?”
Jonathan nodded.
Be on the Lookout Page 7
