She glanced around her safe haven again. It was one room, the back wall with a kitchen that had a sleeping loft over it. It had a tiny bathroom as an addition off the back corner. It was good they couldn’t stay. It would be a tight fit for the two of them. Gage was so large. He took up a lot of room. Suddenly, the idea of being stuck with him in the tiny space seemed unbearable.
“What about driving?” she asked
Gage shook his head. “We wouldn’t get very far before the storm hits, and I don’t want to be stuck on the side of a highway in Alaska. There’s no upside to that, and we can’t wait it out here either. Whoever tried to kill you earlier will find out soon enough they didn’t get the software. They’re oh-for-two if they don’t know already. Then they will come looking for you here.”
“So, what are we going to do?” The panic bubble that had subsided earlier was back, clawing its way up Dani’s chest.
Gage cocked his head, and his eyes narrowed. “Did you hear that?”
Dani shot off the sofa. “What? Are they here?” Her heart hammered in her chest.
“What? No. Relax.” Gage was using his phone again.
Dani fell back onto the sofa and wiped her palms on her jeans. Get it together. Normally, Dani could take the punches because she’d had a tough upbringing. But being stalked because of her project was a whole new experience, one she hated.
She was helpless, or that’s what it felt like, and that was not something Dani had ever let herself feel in the past. Not being in control of the situation was hard enough, but being out of options was a brutal reality she was refusing to acknowledge.
“Okay, grab your stuff. We’re out of here,” Gage said as he moved toward the door.
Dani stood and grabbed her backpack. She slung it over her shoulders and then grabbed her duffel bag. “Where are we going?” she asked, but Gage was already out the door. “Wait!” she called as she ran after him. She went out the door and closed it after her. Gage was moving quickly down the driveway toward the street. He checked both ways, which must have been clear because he glanced back at Dani and motioned for her to catch up.
“I have to say good-bye to Mrs. Williams,” she said as she caught up to him.
Gage’s jaw tightened, and his eyes narrowed slightly. “You have precisely two minutes.” He held up two fingers as if to emphasize his point.
Every cell in Dani’s body urged her to tell this pain-in-the-ass man to fuck off, but she clamped down on her tongue and walked around Gage to go up onto the front porch. She needed him to protect her so she could finish the software and help Carly. Carly. If it wasn’t for her, Dani would have been… Well, she didn’t know where she would have been, but it wouldn’t be here. Most likely dead on a street somewhere. And Carly needed her.
When she knocked on the front door, Mrs. Williams opened immediately. “Come in and have some cookies,” Mrs. Williams said as she stepped back into the living room.
“Uh, I can’t. I, um, just wanted to say thank you and good-bye.” She held up the key to the garage apartment.
“You’re leaving? Where are you going to go, and how are you going to get there with the storm coming?” Mrs. Williams stepped back into the doorway.
“Yes, time for me to go,” Dani said, ignoring the rest of the questions she didn’t have answers to. “Thanks for renting me your place.”
Mrs. Williams wrapped her in a tight hug. Dani went stiff and swallowed hard. She hated being hugged. She didn’t like being touched in any way. But this woman had been kind to her, so she made the effort to relax and gave her ex-landlord’s back a couple of awkward pats.
Mrs. Williams let go and stepped back. “Girl, you ever need a place, you come back. You always have a home here.”
Dani swallowed hard again, but this time she was trying to dissolve the lump that was in her throat. She just nodded.
Gage spoke in a quiet voice, “Mrs. Williams, chances are excellent some men are going to come looking for Dani. Tell them the truth. She did live here, but she left. Do not lie to them. Do not try and cover for Dani in any way.”
“But I—”
Gage shook his head. “If you lie to them, they will hurt you. They’ve already killed one woman today, and they won’t hesitate to kill another. Do you understand?”
“Please,” Dani said, her eyes pleading words she couldn’t speak. I don’t want anything to happen to you.
Mrs. Williams nodded. “Don’t you worry, Dani, I know how to take care of myself.” She smiled then and gave Dani’s arm a squeeze.
“Let’s go.” Gage turned and left the porch. Dani nodded one last time to Mrs. Williams and followed Gage down the steps.
Chapter Five
Gage threw Dani’s stuff in the back of the rental Jeep except for her backpack, which she insisted on keeping with her, and then climbed into the driver’s seat.
“I thought you said we weren’t driving” Dani fastened her seatbelt.
“We’re not.” Gage maneuvered the Jeep away from the curb and headed down the street. He turned right at the end of the block.
“Where are we going then?”
Gage ignored her and glanced down at the map on his phone. He made another turn toward the downtown area. All this time he thought he was tracking down some geeky coder, and instead it was some black hat hacker he’d been hired to protect. He clamped his jaws together and curled his hands tightly around the steering wheel. His desire to break something was extreme. Fucking hackers. They’d cost him his career and his best friend’s life.
“What’s going on?” she demanded.
The edge in Dani’s voice was unmistakable. He quickly glanced in her direction. Her foot was tapping a steady rhythm on the floor mat and her hands were curled into fists. Great, she was getting really pissed. He didn’t have time for this shit. He wasn’t handholding some hacker, no matter how cute she was.
“Hey, asshole! I’m talking to you.”
Just as Gage’s head whipped around in her direction, there was a loud popping sound. “Damn!” he roared as he fought to keep the Jeep on the road.
“What was that? Are they shooting at us?” Dani hunched down in her seat.
“No one is shooting at us. Jesus!” He shook his head. “I hit a pothole, and now we have a flat.”
He pulled over to the side of the road and brought the SUV to a stop. They were in an industrial looking area, not far from the docks. The warehouses were covered in rust and one set of doors hung of their hinges. There was no one around and nothing was moving.. Gage didn’t want to spend any more time than necessary here.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Well, at least you’re finally listening to me. You need to tell me what the fuck is going on. I’m not just going to sit here and let you make all the decisions about my life, so fill me in or I’ll get out now.”
Her hand was on the door handle. One look at her face said she wasn’t joking. He didn’t need this shit right now. Not at all. When he bit his tongue to stop himself from telling her to get out, he tasted blood.
He looked at his watch. “We don’t have time for a discussion now. I’m not sure what’s going to happen just yet. I have a call into Drake for some help. I’m hoping he or Janet, his assist—”
“I know who Janet is,” she said while rolling her eyes.
Gage clenched his teeth. She had no idea how close he was to leaving her in the Jeep and just walking away. If his brothers weren’t depending on him to complete this job, he’d be gone.
“As I was saying, I’m hoping they can pull some strings. If they don’t come through, we’ll probably have to drive to the next town and wait out the storm. So cross your fingers and stay in the Jeep. I have to see if we have a spare tire.” Gage opened the door and climbed out.
He heard her ask, “Cross them for what? What’s Drake—”
He slammed the door. If she hadn’t distracted him, he wouldn’t have hit the damn pothole. Pothole, hell, it was a damn crater. He went around
to the back of the Jeep and pulled the cover off the spare.
At least they had one. Most rentals didn’t. Then again, he was in Alaska. The roads were tough here. He imagined people got a lot of flats.
He opened the back and heaved up the cargo floor to get out the tools to change the tire. It was damn heavy with all the stuff on it, but he wasn’t wasting time taking everything out.
She started yelling at him over the back seat. “Don’t fucking ignore me. What is Drake—”
He slammed the back closed. She was cute when she was angry, her dark eyes snapping at him. Well, she’d have to wait. He wasn’t saying anything until he knew for sure. If she got her hopes up, and it didn’t work out, he had a feeling he’d never hear the end of it. If her outburst was anything to go by, she wasn’t the forgiving type.
He fervently wished his brother Logan was here. He was great at dealing with people. Gage could do it, but he had his limits. He smiled. But then his limits were far greater than his brother Mitch. Mitch was way too take-no-bullshit for his own good.
Gage went around to the rear passenger side tire and bent down. He worked as quickly as he could, but they were losing time.
Finally, he was finished. He put everything back in the Jeep and closed the back door. He walked around to the driver’s side, took a breath, and squared his shoulders before opening the door, preparing for the onslaught.
Silence greeted him as he slid into the driver’s seat and took a quick peek at Dani. She sat stone-faced, staring straight ahead. He started the Jeep, and after putting on his signal, pulled out and continued toward their destination.
Dani turned on the radio and switched it to a local channel. Surprised, Gage’s eyebrows went up. Music?
“The weather report comes on every hour at ten after the hour,” she said.
He swore silently. She’d noticed his surprise, and he’d had no idea she was paying attention. Not good. He was all over the place and unfocused. Too much time traveling and not getting anywhere over the last while. Sure, that was the reason. It couldn’t be the hundred-and-twenty-pound curvy distraction seated next to him.
But she was a hacker. Better remember that. He took a deep breath. Mistake. Damn. She even smelled good. Some sort of wildflower scent and mint.
He cursed again, aloud this time. Dani looked over at him. She was stiff against the seat, and her hand still lingered on the door handle. There was no doubt in his mind she would jump if he did the slightest thing that she found threatening.
Note to self—move slowly like she was a wounded animal. The last thing he needed was for this girl to start working against him. He had problems enough with the bad guys, whoever they were.
Work the problem. That’s what the navy had taught him. Just focus and work the problem. He took another deep breath. Even though the AC was on high to keep them cool, he opened the window just a bit to chase away Dani’s scent.
It still grated on his nerves they had no clue who was behind all this. He thought by now, for sure, he and his brothers would have figured it out. Work the problem.
Doubting himself and his brothers didn’t help. He peeled his fingers off the steering wheel one at a time and tried to relax them. He needed to focus on the job at hand. He could fix problems. “Did you see any of the men in the vehicle that hit the woman? Or do you have any idea who is after the software?”
“Nope to both. I assume it’s someone Drake pissed off.”
The announcer’s voice cut in at the end of the song. “Well, folks, it looks like the storm isn’t too far away now. There are reports of the rain starting just outside of town. So batten down the hatches. The temperature has already dropped about fifteen degrees since this morning.”
Gage looked out the windshield. The sky was filled with dark purple clouds, and the wind was picking up. He glanced at his phone again. They had maybe fifteen minutes to get to their destination or they were screwed.
He made another turn and saw out of the corner of his eye that Dani’s hands were clenched into fists again. At least she’d stopped asking questions and taken her hand off the handle, but she was still stiff in the seat. Life was no picnic for her at the moment.
Stop. Don’t even think it. He didn’t need to solve this woman’s problems despite his instincts. He needed to take care of his brothers and the family business. Solve his own problems.
He glanced over at Dani and shook his head. He was not taking on another extracurricular project, no matter how cute she was. She was trouble, and he didn’t need any more trouble in his life. It was his job to protect her and get her to New York. Whatever her issues were, she’d have to figure them out herself.
Gage checked his GPS once more. They were almost there. A text popped up on his screen. “Yes! Janet came through.”
His gut loosened a bit. They had a way out of town. He made the last turn into a parking lot on the pier. He parked the Jeep in the first empty slot he found. They had about ten minutes to make it.
“Grab your stuff,” he said as he opened the door and hopped out of the SUV. He put the keys under the mat. He’d call the rental company when they were safely back in New York. Once their pursuers discovered that Gage was helping Dani, they would track his movements, and he didn’t want them to know they’d left town or how they’d done it.
When Gage opened the back of the Jeep and took out his large duffle bag and his backpack, he realized Dani was still sitting in the passenger seat. “What are you waiting for? We’re out of time. Grab your stuff. Let’s move.”
Dani turned around and looked at Gage over the backseat of the Jeep. “Not ’til you tell me what’s going on. How are we getting out of town?”
Her voice had cracked, and she looked pale. What was up with her? He tensed. Something was off. “We’re leaving on that. He pointed directly in front of her. Just then the huge cruise ship gave a long pull on the horn. When it stopped, Gage said, “And we have to move, or we’ll miss it.” He heard Dani’s voice but couldn’t make out her words. “What?”
“I’m not going!” she yelled.
“Right. Don’t forget your backpack,” he said, and then he closed the tailgate. He picked up all the bags and started walking toward the ship. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that she hadn’t been kidding. She was still sitting in the car.
“Fuck!” He dropped the stuff in the middle of the pier and walked back to the Jeep, his jaw clamped so tightly his teeth ached. Work the problem. He opened her door and said, “Want to tell me what the fuck is wrong?”
Dani looked up at him defiantly. “I don’t like boats.”
“I don’t like broccoli, but that’s life. Get out of the car and let’s go. We’ve got two minutes to board.”
“I. Don’t. Like. Boats.” She glared at him this time.
“I. Don’t. Care.” He spoke exactly as she had. He reached around her and undid her seatbelt. “Get your ass out of the car and over to the ship. This is the only thing that’s leaving this city today. We need to be on it because the men chasing you will not be on it. They will have no way of reaching us. They will not be able to find us. We, as in you, will be safe. Now get your ass moving.” He stepped back and waited for her to get out the car.
She sat where she was, unmoving. Gage felt his temper snap like it was a rubber band that had been stretched too far. He leaned closer.
“I spent the last couple of weeks running all over the world, tracking you down, following all the false trails you left, because I was hired to keep you safe. It was a colossal waste of my time,” he ranted.
“Now, I’m exhausted and very pissed off. I haven’t seen my bed if far too long. So you need to tell me anything that is relevant now and stop being any kind of secretive. I have zero patience for your bullshit. And remember, your life depends on me.
Dani remained silent.
“So, get. Your. Ass. Moving,” he roared.
Her eyes snapped, shooting sparks in his direction. He’d be six feet under if she could
kill with a look. He hated being mean, but he just didn’t have a choice. She slowly moved out of the car, but once she shut the door, she stopped.
“What now?” Gage was fuming. It took all of his willpower not to throw her over his shoulder and make for the gangplank.
“Boats…I don’t do well on boats.”
He stared at her. Was she kidding? What the hell was her problem? He studied her face. Her eyes were changing. She wasn’t angry any longer. When she glanced at the ship, her face got paler. Her breath was coming in short gasps. Fear. She was afraid. She’d hid it before, but it was now written plainly on her features. Her eyes were darting all around, and she kept rubbing her palms on her thighs.
“First, it’s a ship not a boat. Do you get seasick? Is that the problem?”
Her nod was slow in coming. She was biting her lip now.
He sighed and counted to ten. It wasn’t just seasickness. Her fear was too great for that, but he just didn’t have time to coddle her. Whatever was going on was going to get them both killed if he couldn’t find a way to get her on that ship.
“Look, you’ll be fine. Cruise ships are a very safe way to travel, and they have massive stabilizers so you won’t even feel the waves. It’s a hell of a lot better to be puking your guts up than being dead, so pick up your stuff and move.”
He turned around and walked back to the pier, grabbed his bags, and kept going. If she didn’t want to come with him, then fuck her. He was done.
Right. He hoped his bluff worked. There was no way in hell he could leave her behind. He wouldn’t do that to his brothers. He wouldn’t be the one to wreck the business their father had built.
Chapter Six
She watched Gage’s back as he walked across the pier toward the walkway up to the ship. Fuck him! She hated him. It was easy for him to say “come or die,” but for her it was the same thing. She glanced over at the side of the pier. The water was black, and she was sure it was very cold. It didn’t matter that it was summer. The ocean was always cold to her. Cold and deadly. Images of her foster mother flashed behind her eyelids. The woman would laugh and laugh and then force Dani into the water again. Dani’s entire body shook with the memory.
Hit and Run: A Thrilling Novel of Romantic Suspense (Callahan Security series Book 3) Page 3
