She stood, hands on her hips. “Look, he knows my birth name and the word I use with my father.”
Spencer crossed over to the window and peered out the corner, trying not to be obvious. “There’s a man on the roof across the street.”
“Yep,” Mike agreed. “There’s another one on the corner. Black jeans. Jacket. It’s too warm for a jacket. He’s hiding a weapon.”
“How many others are there?” Damon asked.
“Four total that I’ve spotted.”
“How many men do you have?”
“Just me and my partner. We work in pairs. He was in an apartment across the street, but now he’s pulling an SUV up to the rear entrance of this hotel.”
“Shit.” Damon ran a hand through his hair.
Olivia went to the couch and the kitchen counter to grab their weapons. She handed one to Damon and tucked the other in the small of her back. Next, she grabbed a light jacket to cover the gun, just like the man across the street. She was grateful Damon had at least given her a verbal lesson on how to shoot, but she sincerely hoped she wouldn’t have to put her classroom knowledge to the test today. “Let’s go.” Someone needed to make a decision. It seemed Damon was leaving it up to her.
Her gut told her to trust this guy. If they were wrong, they might be fucked, but they might also be fucked anyway. If he was not who he said he was, he had still found them, and he was standing in their hotel room.
Damon nodded. Spencer headed for the door, backpack on his shoulder.
“We’ll take the stairs,” Mike said, as they followed him down the hallway. He didn’t make any move to indicate he meant them harm. He didn’t even glance back as he ran down the stairs and out the rear door of the hotel.
As he’d insinuated, there was indeed an SUV waiting by the curb. “Declan’s behind the wheel. He’ll get you someplace safe.”
Damon jerked to a halt and looked at Mike. “You’re not going with us?”
Mike shook his head as he pulled the gun from his jeans and nodded toward the corner of the building. “I’m going to keep you from being followed.”
Olivia grabbed Damon’s arm and tugged him toward the vehicle. “Unless you’ve got a better idea, let’s go.”
Damon was frowning as he opened the rear door and ushered Olivia and Spencer toward the back seat. He jogged around to the driver’s side next.
Olivia had no idea what he was doing, but in seconds, he conned the driver into moving to the passenger seat, and as the bulky man climbed awkwardly over the console, Damon slid in.
Moments later, they sped away from the curb.
“You have a plan?” Damon asked, glancing at Declan.
“Yeah, to drive the fucking SUV.”
“Well, we are low on trust and high on adrenaline right now, so give me some directions and let me drive.” Damon took the next turn and headed away from the hotel. He glanced in the rearview mirror. “Seat belts,” he demanded.
Declan braced himself as he pulled on his own seat belt. “Just drive. After we get some distance, then we’ll figure out our next step.”
“Fair enough.” Damon drove faster than the speed limit, and he took several turns, but kept moving in approximately the same direction.
Declan had his gaze on the passenger mirror, but he suddenly twisted around to look out the back. “Fuck. We’re being followed.”
Spencer grabbed Olivia’s arm, steadying her as she leaned too far his direction. “Hold on to the seat.”
She nodded and grabbed the back of Damon’s seat as he took yet another turn, sharper this time.
Spencer turned his neck to look out the back too. “He’s right, Damon. Black Crown Vic. Tinted windows. Two men. They aren’t even trying to remain inconspicuous.”
“I see him.” Damon jerked the wheel and took another side street. “You okay, Livvy?”
“Sure. Great. I’ve been wanting to go for a drive.”
Damon shot her a quick smirk over his shoulder and returned his attention to Declan. “Now what?”
“Get on the highway. I’d be surprised if anyone has the balls to start shooting or do anything dangerous in a residential area. Blue Cell isn’t known for coming out of the shadows.”
“How do you know so much about them?” Spencer asked.
“Been tracking them for years.”
“You work for my father?” Olivia asked.
“Yep. Those fuckers are elusive, but occasionally we get a bead on them and follow them.” Declan shot a look at Spencer. “You know the drill. You worked for them. They set up shop in out-of-the-way locations for a few weeks at a time. When they get nervous, they move.”
Olivia looked at Spencer, who nodded. “He’s right. That’s how they operate.”
Declan continued, “Sometimes we would find them, but they often remained one step ahead of us. Never got our hands on a single one of those fuckers. This is the first time I’ve personally been this close.”
“How the hell can my father afford to pay a whole network of people to track Blue Cell and provide protection for me?”
Declan looked out the back of the car again, and then he met Olivia’s gaze. His eyes were a dark brown. Intense. Angry. His jaw was set. Wrinkles running from his eyes spoke of years of frowning. “I’m with SURVIVE.”
Olivia gasped.
Damon shot Declan a glance as he came to a stoplight he couldn’t avoid.
Declan continued. “For this particular assignment, I’ve been taking orders from your father, but no one pays us directly, ma’am. We’re underground.”
Olivia shuddered. She didn’t even want to know where SURVIVE got their money.
“You’re telling me SURVIVE has been after Blue Cell for years?” Damon asked.
Declan nodded. “A core group has been following their movements for nearly two decades, even before they were known as SURVIVE. At this point, the organization is huge. I don’t know how many people work for them. We’re scattered all over. We’re made up of former military, government, law enforcement, even civilians.”
Declan twisted back to look at Olivia again. “Your father contacted our DC branch as soon as he picked up your tracking device. We didn’t realize at first that your group was also hooked up with SURVIVE out of Montana. But now everyone is on the same page.”
Damon pulled onto the highway and picked up speed, his gaze constantly jerking to the rearview mirror.
“I’m watching them,” Declan declared. “You drive. Get in the left lane. Don’t follow the speed limit. If the police get involved, even better.”
Damon pushed the pedal down, and Olivia was thrust back in her seat. “Why are you helping us?” he asked.
“Dude, I do what I’m told. When someone calls, I don’t ask questions. SURVIVE vets everyone thoroughly. They know who to trust and who to be leery of. If they ask me to do a job, I show up.”
Damon nodded.
Olivia looked at Spencer. He was white, and his jaw was locked, teeth clenched. She wasn’t sure if he was scared or untrusting. Either way, he was stressed.
“He’s gaining on us,” Declan declared. “Pick it up, man. You wanted to drive. Now do it.”
Damon growled at him. “Did you think I was going to take a stranger’s word and get into a car with another stranger, letting you hold all the cards?”
Declan grinned in his direction. “Yep, but I see you’ve got balls. I like it. Smart move.”
Damon jerked the steering wheel to the right and swerved around a slower-moving car in the fast lane. When he pulled in front of the sedan, the Crown Vic following them sped up significantly and came to their side.
“Fuck,” Declan yelled just as a shot rang out.
Olivia screamed.
Damon swerved to the left, swiping the concrete barrier. “Jesus, I thought you said these guys didn’t like to draw attention to themselves. We’re on the goddamn highway in the middle of the fucking day.”
Declan didn’t respond, but he did roll down the win
dow, holding his weapon up, aimed at the Crown Vic.
“Olivia, get down. Spencer.” He swerved again, scraping the concrete in a deafening roar. “Fuck.”
Another shot hit the rear of the SUV.
“Fucker’s going for the gas tank,” Declan shouted as he lined up his gun and returned fire.
Olivia held her hands over her ears. Spencer’s palm was on the back of her head, holding her down low. Her heart was racing. These people were very desperate if they would go to this much risk. Which one of the three of them was the intended target?
She knew without voicing that question what the answer was: her. She was the link. It made no sense at all, but somehow it was dire enough that she be eliminated. Maybe they figured out she had the key. She wasn’t sure of anything, but clearly Blue Cell didn’t care if they killed three other people along with her.
“Can we get off this highway?” Spencer yelled.
“Not while I’m trapped against the goddamn guard rail,” Damon shouted in return, swerving right and then left again.
Olivia gritted her teeth to keep from screaming. It wasn’t helping anything. She needed to let Damon concentrate, and he couldn’t do so while she was distracting him.
Another shot rang out, loud. It had to have come from Declan.
Spencer’s face came down between the seats close to hers. “I’m gonna help Declan. Stay down.”
She grabbed his wrist. “No. Don’t.”
He shot her a smile. “I have to, baby.” And then he leaned over, pulled his gun from his jeans, and left her alone, crouched on the floor.
Olivia squeezed her eyes shut while the men shouted over one another, the SUV jerked around the highway, and more shots filled her ears.
“Everyone hold on,” Damon screamed.
Olivia grabbed the bottom of the seat in front of her, but she was still slammed into the door as Damon jerked the wheel to the right and rammed the other car.
She heard a loud crash.
“Son of a bitch,” Damon yelled. “We’re causing other accidents.”
That scared the hell out of her. If she died because these stupid assholes thought she knew something, fine, but she hated thinking about the lives of innocent bystanders who just happened to be driving on this highway.
Sirens filled the air. The blessed sound of sirens. She never would have expected to hear that noise and be grateful in her life.
“They’re getting off,” Declan shouted.
“I’m going to follow them,” Damon returned.
What the hell?
“I like how you think,” Declan added. “There. Go right. Jesus, those guys are crazy.”
“Which way do you think they’re going?” Damon asked as the car slowed down.
“There. To the right again.”
Olivia lifted her head enough to see out the windshield. The Crown Vic was in front of them now, and the tables had turned. Damon was in pursuit.
The sirens were louder. She could see the reflection of flashing red and blue lights in the windows.
“Stay on them,” Declan ordered. “If they get away, we’ve got nothing.”
“I’m trying.”
Spencer grabbed Olivia’s hand. His window was open a few inches, and the gun hung from his other hand. He was shaking. She knew he’d been the one to fire off several rounds.
“You’re a good shot, Spencer,” Declan praised from the front seat.
“Got lucky a few times.”
Had he hit anything?
“Shit, he’s going right again.”
Olivia braced herself as the SUV took another sharp right.
Declan leaned out the window and took another shot at the back of the sedan. The rear window shattered. “Take that, fuckers.”
Olivia watched as the passenger turned around in his seat and aimed at them. She screamed and ducked down lower again.
The next shot shattered the windshield, and Damon lost control for a moment.
Olivia was scared out of her mind that he’d been shot. “Damon!”
“No one was hit,” Spencer told her. “Get lower.”
She was already in a ball on the floor. Fuck this. They were after her, and she was being a pansy while everyone else fought for her life. Finally, she tugged the gun from the back of her jeans and rose to the seat.
“Livvy! Dammit. Get down,” Damon yelled.
She ignored him, scooted into the center of the back seat, took aim through the front of the SUV, and fired off a series of rounds into the rear of the sedan. The car swerved to the left and then the right. Finally, it jumped the sidewalk and slammed into a traffic pole.
Damon had to jerk the steering wheel to the right to avoid rear-ending the stopped Vic.
Police cars skidded to a stop behind them.
“Jesus, woman,” Declan declared, “I think you shot the driver in the head.”
“I wasn’t fond of him,” she responded, but her hands were shaking.
Declan lifted his gaze to Damon. “Go. Hit the gas. Get the hell out of here. Now.”
Damon’s mouth fell open, he glanced in the rearview mirror, and then he slammed on the gas and sped through the intersection.
Olivia, shocked beyond words, twisted around to find the two officers from the squad car approaching them on foot, guns drawn. They didn’t stand a chance of catching up now that they weren’t in their cars.
“Why the hell are we fleeing the scene?” Spencer asked.
Olivia blew out a breath, still watching as one of the officers scrambled back toward their car while the other approached the Crown Vic. “Because we don’t have time to make a statement, and we’re dead on arrival if we let them take us in.”
Spencer ran a hand through his hair. “Jesus,” he breathed.
This time Olivia took his hand in hers instead of vice versa. “Get us out of here, Damon,” she said, her gaze on Spencer.
“Working on it, babe.”
Chapter 17
Damon winced as Olivia dabbed a cotton swab on the cut on his left arm. She’d pulled a shard of glass from his biceps a moment ago, having determined no major artery had been severed and it wasn’t that deep. “Jesus, that hurts.”
She smiled at him and then pressed a gauze square over the puncture wound. “It’s not deep. Hold this a second.”
He set his fingers over the gauze and watched as she pulled off some tape and attached the edges of the makeshift bandage to his arm. The second she was done, he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her between his legs. He pressed his face between her breasts and inhaled her scent. He didn’t give a fuck that several people were watching. Nor did he care that Spencer set a hand on both of them and leaned in to join the group hug from the side.
Damon took a deep breath and lifted his gaze. They couldn’t stay here long. It wasn’t safe. He glanced around at the three people bustling around the kitchen just as the front door flew open and Declan stepped inside. “I ditched the SUV. Got another car. Let’s go.”
One of the men reaching into the fridge grabbed several bottles of water and handed them to Damon’s crew as Olivia stepped away from him and Spencer righted himself. “You all are welcome to stay here. You don’t have to rush off.”
Damon stood. “No. Declan’s right. We can’t be sure we weren’t followed. It’s not safe. We’ll get going. Thank you so much for your hospitality.”
As soon as they had shaken the police, Damon had slowed the SUV down to keep from drawing more attention to them. They’d been leaking gas, however, and there were bullet holes in both sides of the SUV.
Declan had gotten on the phone in seconds and secured them a safe house nearby. Ten minutes later, he dropped them off and left to ditch the SUV.
He’d been gone only about thirty minutes, long enough for Olivia to tend to Damon’s arm with the supplies their hostess provided. The woman looked at them sorrowfully as she took her husband’s hand. “You be careful.”
“We will, ma’am,” Spencer assured he
r. “Thanks again. We really appreciate the food and the water.” The woman had prepared them some sandwiches, which she’d handed to Spencer in a grocery sack.
Damon took Olivia’s hand and followed Spencer and Declan out the front door. “Where did you get a car so quickly?” he asked.
“You don’t want to know.” Declan climbed into the driver’s seat this time.
Damon didn’t argue. He handed Olivia off to Spencer at the back door and climbed into the front passenger seat of the presumably stolen white Tahoe.
Declan took off without another word.
Damon waited until he could breathe easily before he spoke. “Now where are we going?”
“I’m going to drop the three of you off someplace safe and then a new pair of people are going to guard you for a few days until we figure out what to do next.”
“Someplace safe…” Damon murmured. Right. Like that existed. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes for a moment, wondering if he would ever in this life be safe again. And what about Olivia and Spencer? He’d grown to care about them a great deal in the last few weeks. He didn’t want them to live their lives on the run either.
Declan leaned to one side, removed a hand from the steering wheel, and pulled his cell from his pocket. He flipped it open. “Hello?” His gaze went to Damon and then to Olivia. “Yes, sir. She’s fine.” He glanced at Damon and then handed him the phone. “It’s Ash.”
Olivia gasped and leaned forward.
Damon couldn’t imagine why Ash wanted to speak to him instead of his own daughter. “Sir?”
“Is she okay?”
“Yes.”
Ash sighed. “I was scared out of my mind.”
“Me too, sir.” Damon turned to face Olivia, holding her gaze as she leaned so close she could hear her father’s voice. “Can I put you on speaker? I’m in the car with Spencer and Livvy.”
“Yes. That’d be nice. Then no one has to repeat anything.”
Damon hit the speaker button and held the phone between them all.
Reviving Olivia (Project DEEP Book 7) Page 17
