I tossed him a smirk. What the hell did he think I saw? A pending explosion. I was still a little embarrassed about clinging to his presence when we’d showered, but I hadn’t run into his room because I missed him. “Three men. One was carrying a bundle of…wrapped bricks? Plastic explosives. I saw wires attached and just had a gut feeling. The first guy entered her place and the other two fiddled with their phones in the hallway. Then all three started to walk back down the stairs, and I saw one holding a remote kind of thing—a detonator.”
My expertise of weaponry and tools of mass destruction was limited to the news and action movies. I didn’t know how to explain to Luke that I’d just felt the need to get away, that my instincts were demanding imminent chaos. I was just glad I’d listened to it.
“Explosives.” He rubbed at his mouth, something I’d already picked up on as his tell. I’d known him for less than a quarter of a day and I already knew that much about him. Seemed frivolous to what I should know about a prior criminal. Don’t ask me what I wanted to know about him.
“Why would…” I thought to ask why the man had said to shoot him, not them. Both of us were involved and fleeing. Actually, if Michael was sending backup after us, I was the one in more trouble. I’d whacked him out cold, not Luke.
“Don’t mince words with me.”
A direct individual. I liked it. Maybe that meant he didn’t care for BS. “Why’d he tell the other guy to shoot you?”
Did Luke still have a beef with the law? Was he still a suspect or target in a criminal investigation? Maybe he’d lied—perhaps he really was a fugitive. Of course I’d manage to get involved with Rosa’s ambusher and a fugitive. Just my luck. I’d go from my Notting Hill kind of life—minus Hugh Grant, and the celebrity, and… okay, just the bookstore part—to a Mission Impossible type of chaos.
“Because I was the more dangerous one?” he suggested.
Well. All right. Luke was damned fierce and strong to have matched Michael so long in a fight. But in the alley, he was the slower of the two of us. More injured.
“Because I’m a bigger target?” he offered at my silence.
Again, a valid point. He was taller, broader, and packed with muscles. I squirmed in my seat, shooing away my vulnerability in size alone. I had no business contemplating the sexy package that made up the dark-eyed enigma sitting shotgun to me.
“But—” The tranq gun. There. That was what stuck in my mind. Baldie had pulled out a tranquilizer. For me? What, was Michael some kind of specialty man who partnered with Animal Control?
Jesus. None of this made sense.
“Wonder what was in it.” I recalled Luke saying that before he’d showered.
He’d been curious about the syringe he’d found in Michael’s pocket. I was too. A syringe and a tranq gun?
They meant to take me alive? Had they intended to sedate me and take me hostage? Kidnap?
“Come on. I said no mincing words. What are you thinking over there?”
I glanced at him studying me for a change, not roving his steely stare at our surroundings. With my attention back on the road, I frowned. I wasn’t so much thinking as I was wondering. Questioning. Worrying, well, of course I was. I was a worrywart by nature and tonight was a catalyst of astronomical concern.
“I…don’t know. What kind of cop carries sedatives around, if that’s what those were? Why did he send normal-looking, non-uniformed minions in his wake? Why was he even at Rosa’s to begin with? Where—” I grunted at my ramble, taking a breath. “I’m confused.”
“Makes two of us.” He slumped in his seat, seeming to take refuge the further we sped along on the highway. “We’ll just lay low for the night and try to figure this out.”
I saw the reflection of his hard expression in the window as he faced the dark scenery. “Maybe it’ll be easier to think in the morning.”
And it might be even easier to comprehend this mess with some answers. Life was full of questions until the day we died. I could be a nosy and curious girl like any other could be, but the kinds of things I usually wondered about were solved with a simple phrase entered into Google’s search bar. I did, however, have unique access to investigative skills of a higher power.
“I could, uh,” I started and twisted my grip on the steering wheel, “I could ask a buddy for help. To find some things out for us.”
“I’m going to stand by my original assumption that you’re not a moron and know you’re not talking about calling the police.”
I deadpanned at the nearly empty lane ahead. Asshole. No shit we couldn’t seek the proper authorities for help. I’d killed—no, did I really kill?—one of their officers.
I’d never needed to ask for this kind of assistance before, and honestly, it intimidated me. Everything within cyberspace dynamics fell into my mass ignorance, so many things way over my head. But Zero, the owner and landlord of my duplex, he’d be the exact opposite of going to the law. More importantly, he’d be even better than going to any legal official for answers. Best of all, he was my friend. Friends helped friends.
“Who do you have in mind?”
“A hacker.”
He rolled his hand, prompting me to continue.
“He’s some kind of independent security consultant and does…”
God. I didn’t even know how to explain what he did, technically. In general, Zero did whatever the hell he wanted. Our friendship was a perfect symbiosis of two weird introverts who realized the need and desire of some human interaction. If he didn’t get too computer geeky on me, and if I didn’t ramble off about books and literary themes, we were best friends.
“He’d be happy to look into some things for me. Us.”
“Like finding Rosa?”
That, too. “Yeah…” I was hoping Zero could concentrate on the deadlier parts. Like Michael’s reach as a cop. If Luke and I were going to show up on the FBI’s most-wanted lists. What charges I had waiting for me at arrest…
Finding Rosa would help. She should be the one to tell us why any of this was happening. I hoped. I’d never been wanted or on the run before. Now that I suddenly was, I’d prefer to be informed of the facts I was up against.
“Then call him.”
I wanted to huff. Like I needed to ask him for permission? Deciding I was acting petty, I dug into my bag at my side and retrieved my phone. When I’d gotten this smartphone, Zero had commandeered it to rig it with security measures and add some cool apps that helped with its overall functions. In the contacts, he’d listed himself as Awesome Landlord, what I always used, and as Z, which he’d explained as his work line for emergencies.
I guessed I was about to hire him. Not that he’d ask me for money.
He answered on the third ring, already having turned down the jazz he always had on in the background when I’d normally call. “If you’re calling me on this line, I’m not sure I even want to know why.”
“Hey there, Z.”
“Don’t hey there me, sister. This isn’t typical of you. First you bug out of town without many details. Then there’s—”
Luke had leaned in like he wanted to listen, even though I held the phone to my left ear. “Put it on speaker,” he whispered, his hot breath tickling my skin and feathering my hair.
I screwed up my face at his interruption. What, he didn’t want to be left out? Well, I could sympathize. I’d gotten him tied up in all kinds of hell tonight. I didn’t want to think he insisted on hearing this convo because he didn’t trust me, but why should he? He barely knew me. Still, I was driving and I had nothing to hide.
“Hang on,” I told Zero. I thumbed the screen for speaker and set the phone on the console between the seats. “Start over. On speaker now.”
“Huh. Someone there with you?”
I couldn’t meet Luke’s gaze and said, “I’ll, uh, get to that in a minute. What were you saying?”
“Just commenting on how suspicious I am. You’re a creature of a remarkably boring routine. Earlier, you left
town at the drop of a hat. Then there’s some gorgeous man letting himself into your place.”
I gaped. Someone broke in? “Who?”
“I dunno. You got a new boyfriend you’ve been hiding from me?”
“I haven’t even been dating anyone since that Silly Putty incident.”
Zero chuckled. “Girl, that was like five years ago.”
Heat flared on my cheeks and I narrowed my eyes as I drove. “Someone let himself in? When?”
What were the odds someone was breaking into Rosa’s home and mine? Miles apart?
“I didn’t see a key, but he didn’t bust the door down. Seemed casual about it. Maybe ten minutes ago? As soon as I saw it on the lobby feed, I was gonna call you and see what was up.”
Luke commanded my attention for a second and he pointed at the exit sign. I nodded. “You and I are the only people who have access to my house.”
“That’s what I thought. Then here you are calling my burner phone.”
Ah. That was why he had two numbers. Given his field, it didn’t surprise me he was obsessed with security.
“So I know something’s up. What’s going on?”
I rubbed at the back of my neck, despising the prickle of anxiety choking me and the tension of stress settling in now that the adrenaline faded. My stomach clenched uneasily—a roller coaster kind of funkiness.
“I don’t know…” I muttered as I exited the highway.
Luke hadn’t spoken yet, even though Zero somehow suspected I wasn’t alone. I appreciated that he didn’t ask for my companion’s identity. Luke was another mystery I’d like answers to. But I’d prefer the words from his mouth, not Zero’s hacking skills.
“Someone attacked me at Rosa’s apartment.”
“Fucking hells, girl,” Zero said. “You okay?”
I figured I would be. Physically, at least. Never minding the headache taking over. “Yeah. But—”
“You go to the cops?”
“No!”
Zero didn’t immediately reply to my outburst. Luke pointed directions at the intersection I’d stopped at and I turned.
“A cop did it—ambushed me.” I think. I couldn’t dismiss the muddle in my worries. Would a cop have a syringe and an associate with a tranq gun? I still had Michael’s leather case in my bag. The ID couldn’t lie. Michael was a cop. I didn’t have enough reason to think otherwise. “Can you get his wallet thing out?” I asked Luke.
“A cop attacked you? Before you took his wallet?” Zero asked as Luke dug into my bag. “And who are you talking to? Where are you? Never mind. I’ll ping your specs after we hang up.”
Luke scowled at those words as he flipped open the credentials case. He held it up for me to see and I read out the details, volleying my attention between the road and the ID. “Can you please look into him? Or see if there’s anything about me in some kind of police database?” How long did it take for that kind of an alert system?
“Like an APB? Are you driving?”
At Luke’s last pointed finger, I pulled into a driveway of what looked like a vacant home. “I was. We’re going to hide for the night.”
“We’re?” Zero’s yell screeched from the phone on the console. “Who the hell are you mixed up with, Cassie?”
Luke shook his head and I tried to ignore the knots in my stomach. Why would he want to be unidentified? From the cops, sure, but why couldn’t I tell Zero he was with me? I wondered, again, what he was hiding. For all his secrecy, though, I knew I could trust him. He’d saved me, after all. That had to count.
“I said I’ll tell you later.” There. At least I wasn’t going to be kotowed and remain mum about Luke because he wanted it that way. And now Zero knew for sure that I wasn’t alone.
For better or worse.
Chapter Six
Luke
One hour later, Cassidy once again pulled her economy car up in the house’s driveway. I couldn’t wait to get out and at least stretch my tired legs. Our detour after arriving was necessary though.
Zero—what the hell kind of name is that?—instructed us to some key points that I hadn’t considered. I didn’t know what to make of Cassidy’s confidant and landlord. I’d never heard such a deep, booming tone from a man before, especially not one that contradicted itself when the man spoke in an ulterior feminine and hipster way.
I was impressed, though, for his foresight and probable obsession with security. I liked to think I was well-versed in street smarts. Zero was formidable in his knowledge, too, showing street smarts in a virtual world. Details the common citizen wouldn’t normally consider.
First, he’d told Cassidy to write down one number. A new contact for another burner phone Zero had in his possession. The fact the dude had not one but multiple disposable devices told me he was either way into conspiracy stories or just that anal about contingencies. Then, she was instructed to destroy her phone. While he told her the steps, I followed suit as well. Less room for error.
Without our devices, we were left with no choice but to obtain new ones at the drugstore-turned-mini Walmart in the small town. Cassidy had taken the cash from Rosa’s bedpost and insisted on purchasing everything. New cheap phones, some protein bars, water, and a few other items. I grabbed some more painkillers and Icy Hot because if I wasn’t aching now, I’d be stiff in the morning.
We came back to the house and Cassidy texted Zero her new number. He commanded her not to use the phone for its internet capacity. No Googling. No searching. Nothing. Not like we could anyway because Dale’s newly purchased empty house had no WiFi for a decent connection.
She kept that second call on speakerphone, which I appreciated. I hated being in the dark. Her inclusion wasn’t the only thing that impressed me. She said not one word about me being with her, keeping my presence a secret.
She didn’t need to. I wasn’t afraid of telling her who I was. I might have done some shitty things in my past, but that was it. Those times were in the past, where they belonged. I was proud of the person I was becoming. Yet I hated the idea of her asking Zero to check up on me. To search for facts about me. Words and reports on paper had the tendency to be uglier than personal confessions. If she wanted to know about my time behind bars, and the events that put me there, I’d tell her myself. I could sense from her guarded reactions that she was curious.
We sat in the car, waiting before we entered the dark house. The nearest neighbor was a half-mile away, and I took faith that the isolation would be to our benefit. I knew nothing about this place except that Dale intended to flip it for a profit. For Jonah to flip. That was his business outside of the gym—renovating houses for profit. I was his foreman.
“Why can’t I look up anything?” Cassidy asked.
“Because if you look at or for something that might be a target, they’ll follow up to your IP and your location. That’s why we started fresh with new phones. Nothing to follow. Blank slate.”
“But—”
“Whatever you need to know, ask me. I’m now your Google.”
She glanced at me watching her.
“Like seeing why a cop is after you isn’t mystery enough,” Zero quipped.
“And looking for Rosa.”
“Yes. That too.”
Still, she seemed to struggle with something on her mind. “Well, we can’t just stay here, and if we—uh, if I’m heading anywhere, it should be with a purpose.”
“Don’t come home,” he warned. “Not ’til we know what’s up.”
“No. I won’t.” She met my gaze as she spoke, seeming to have overcome some slight hesitation. “But I’m going to take a picture of a key. I have no clue where it goes. Well, it’s a bank key, but I don’t know where the place is. Could you check it out?”
Zero sighed, patiently, but the annoyance was there. “Sure. I love laundry lists as much as anyone else.”
“Sorry, Z. I’ve never asked you for this kind of help—”
“And I’m not happy you are now. Not that I won’t help.
But that you’re in any kind of trouble. I can’t rush these things. Being sloppy won’t be good for either of us.”
“I don’t want you to put yourself in harm’s way.”
Zero’s giggle—yes, a giggle from such a masculine tone—had me arching my brows. “Girl, you don’t want to know the half of what I deal with. Besides, anyone trying to trace me is gonna be routed to my IP address.”
“At home?” Cassidy furrowed her brow.
“To a remote location in Indonesia.”
I nodded. Guy had some skills at aversion, at least.
“I’ll text you what I find. In the meantime, just be safe. You’re not alone…right?”
She swallowed as she stared at me, her tired eyes drowning me in some heady connection I had no chance running from. “No.”
“Someone I’d trust?”
Her smirk had just enough sass I almost smiled. “Now that’s asking something. But…yes. He already saved my life once tonight.”
I refused to break eye contact with her. So much gratitude and respect in her stare.
They hung up and she turned her attention to the house.
The affection and concern Zero held for Cassidy was apparent in his words. If I had a friend like her in my life, I’d want to know she wasn’t alone facing unknown risks and dangers. Still, she didn’t mention me.
“Thanks for not…”
Hell, I had nothing to hide. I was a free man again. Had been since I was released. Only tonight, when Cassidy had crashed into my life, was I bound to something or someone again.
“For not telling him to poke around about me.”
She huffed. “Figured it might be a sensitive topic.”
Astute. “I’m not running from the law.”
“Really? Fooled me.”
I could get addicted to this kind of spirit. “Well, before I met you, I wasn’t.”
She shrugged. “I wouldn’t have even known what to tell him. Do a background check on some hot, tough man named Luke who lives next to my mom?”
That pinkish flare on her cheeks probably meant she regretted all of her words there, or maybe her description of me.
Seek: Project Xol Page 5
