Around-the-Clock Protector (9 page)

A chill ran down her back and she fought the urge to look behind into the darkness. “Okay.”

“Hang tight.” Carson pushed the panel, letting in a breath of fresh air, but the panel closed just as quickly and she regretted that she hadn’t asked for the flashlight.

Ava hunkered down, refusing to let the tight
quarters and her rising panic get the upper hand. Carson had said he would return for her and she knew he would.

But what if he didn’t? What if there were threats out there he didn’t know about?

Worry sliced through her. What would it hurt if she waited outside in the dark? The lookout was somewhere in the backyard, according to Carson.

If she stayed next to the exit panel she’d be well out of the Russian’s territory.

A wave of dizziness washed over her, making her stomach pinch. She was going to be sick. She had to get out of the claustrophobic tunnel before she went berserk.

Desperate for escape, she reached out and pushed the panel with her hands.

It gave against the pressure and popped open an inch.

She put her eye to the crack and stared out into the night, ignoring the thud of her heartbeat. Taking a deep breath of fresh air, she worked to keep her nerves under control.

The quiet residential street appeared deserted in her limited field of vision; she needed desperately to breathe.

Pressing forward, she squeezed out of the opening and closed the panel. Being crouched next to the wall made her feel a lot less like a sardine in a can.

Her head cleared.

She relaxed, looking up and down the street. Nothing. No sign of movement.

The thump of footfalls to her right in the driveway sent sudden terror streaking through her.

Was it Carson?

She didn’t know, but she sure wasn’t going to wedge herself back in the tunnel. Her best option was to follow the fence to the corner, then bolt across the street and take cover among a row of parked cars. Beyond that lay a park. She could hunker down there until the danger passed.

Armed with a plan, she crept along the brick fence, listening as the footsteps stopped.

A row of mature trees inside the yard offered additional protection as she reached the end of the fence.

Ava hesitated, listening for the sound of pursuit.

Slowly she straightened under the protective canopy of branches and leaves to get a better view.

There was 150 feet of open territory between her and the cars. Plenty of time for the Russian’s lookout to get a bead on her.

Anticipation pricked her nerves as she focused on the location she planned to target.

In one fell swoop a strong arm locked around her body. A hand clamped over her mouth and she was lifted into the tree above.

Scrabbling for footing, she found a tree limb as
her captor pulled her against his chest and went still higher in the dense leaves of the maple.

Ava closed her eyes as her captor’s familiar scent invaded her senses.

He’d found her out.

Carson pulled in a breath and surveyed the area through the leaves of the tree. He watched a man climb over the fence at the northwest corner of the yard, an assault rifle in his hands.

“Don’t move or make a sound,” he whispered in Ava’s ear, satisfied when she nodded. “There’s a sniper heading our way.” He felt her shudder against him and tightened his hold on her.

The adversary wore night-vision goggles, but they were safe in the tree, high above his line of sight.

Beads of sweat welled on Carson’s forehead as he removed his hand from Ava’s mouth and followed the sniper’s movements across the yard before losing him in the shadows at the end of the house less than fifty feet away. He waited for the sniper to reappear and discover his dead comrade lying under the maple tree.

Carson took aim with his weapon, his muscles knotted with tension.

The sniper materialized at the corner of the house.

Carson watched the sniper’s head movements as he looked back and forth, scanning the yard for signs of movement through the night-vision goggles.

The sniper moved into range, spotting his comrade. He rushed forward.

Carson squeezed the trigger twice in rapid succession.

The sniper dropped.

Carson let out the breath he’d been holding, but didn’t release his grip on Ava. “I told you to stay put. He could have killed you,” he whispered against her ear, sucking in the scent of night air on her skin. Longing invaded his body.

“I couldn’t stay in that dank tunnel another minute. I was going to be sick.”

“That dank tunnel was the only protection you had.” Anger pushed his words out, making them sound harsh in his own ears.

“I know,” she whispered.

His anger evaporated, but the desire stayed.

“We got one sure thing tonight,” he said, trying not to enjoy the feel of her next to him in the tree.

“What’s that?”

“We know what’s under your skin.” Carson sobered. There wasn’t a chance their pursuers would stop until they recovered the chip from her.

It would help if they knew who’d planted it, but the information was still locked in her head.

Carson scanned the area.

Satisfied it was safe, he worked his way down out of the tree and waited for Ava, who stepped from branch to branch. He reached up and helped her down.

Taking her hand, he took one last look around and moved out of the shadows, making for the sidewalk on the other side of the street. Slowing his pace, he took up a nonchalant gait next to her.

“Just a couple of lovers out for a late-night stroll?” she asked beside him.

“Something like that. Running could draw attention. That’s the last thing we need right now.” He made for the car he’d acquired and opened the passenger door for her. She climbed in. He went around to the driver’s side, eyeing the street with caution.

He climbed in and shoved the key into the ignition. The engine fired up.

“A key? I’m impressed. Where’d you get this one?”

He threw her a sideways glance. “A company motor pool garage. I took it from the key box. No one is going to miss it until the day after tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” There was confusion in her voice. Hell, he’d lost track of time himself.

“Fourth of July holiday.”

“Oh.”

The silence was deafening as Carson put the car
in Drive and pulled away from the curb. He waited until he’d turned the corner before he flipped on the headlights.

“It’s okay. After what you’ve been through the calendar hardly seems relevant.”

“My parents used to take me to the national mall every Fourth for the fireworks.”

He homed in on the melancholy in her voice. “Our firecracker fix was the city park.”

“Where’d you grow up?” she asked.

“A little town outside Dallas called Wylie, near Lake Lavon.” Those were the good times, Carson decided as he let the memories slip through his mind. As opposed to the bad times, which were too numerous to count.

He turned down the street one block over.

“Where are we going?”

“Dr. Resnick said you might have some recall if you were exposed to familiar places. I thought we’d take a swing past your house.”

“My house?”

He braked at a stop sign and looked over at her.

“You don’t live far from here.”

She turned wide eyes on him. “I can’t even remember the address.”

“I’ve got it right here.” Digging in to his pants pocket, he pulled out the mangled business card she’d given him four months ago, glad he hadn’t followed his gut and tossed it into the trash.

He handed it to her, and this time she took it.

Ava straightened the card and stared at it. The telephone number was familiar, but the address wasn’t. “You’re sure Resnick would want me to go here?”

“It’s worth a try. Right now we’ve got nothing on the bogeys that keep tracking us down.”

She didn’t get anything, not so much as a hint of recognition from the address—811 Ohio. Maybe actually seeing the house would produce results.

“Your parents took the information you were still alive pretty well.”

“Considering they had to hear it from a Russian agent who was assaulting them. Yeah.”

“You never contacted them after you escaped in Seattle?”

“I guess not. Weird, huh?”

“Doc Resnick said the blocks would prevent you from recalling simple information, like phone numbers.”

“My dad and I are close. He’d be the first person I’d contact in a crisis.”

“You must have spent most of the time running, or someone would have recovered the chip from you.”

Ava’s heart rate kicked up. “The memories are spotty. I don’t know how I managed to survive.”

“Is there any way your father could be involved?”

Anger gripped her body and she turned on him. “No way! He’d never hurt me.”

“Sorry. I had to ask. Whatever is going on, there’s someone on the inside calling the shots.”

She tried to make sense out of what he was saying, and let her ire deflate. If only she could remember who’d been in the limo that morning.

“Any idea how we’re going to remove the chip?”

“Yeah.” Carson took a left onto Ohio.

“I’m going to get in touch with Doc Jacobs tomorrow morning. You’re going to need a local and a skilled hand to get it out.”

“What then?”

“We find someone to run an analysis on it. If we can determine what’s on it, we’ll have a better chance of discovering who implanted it.”

Ava nodded.

Carson glanced over at her in the confines of the moving car. She was tense. He could see it in the set of her shoulders, and he wished he could help ease her worries somehow. The stress couldn’t be good for her, or the baby.

He slowed the car and pulled in next to the curb across the street from her small cottage-style home, with a For Sale sign in the front yard.

The neighborhood was quiet. He scanned the street, convinced they hadn’t been followed. Still, he’d use extreme caution just in case.

“There it is.” He pointed.

Ava stared at the quaint house, searching her
mind for any sort of recognition. “It’s perfect. I’d live there.”

“You do live there. I looked out that window the morning you left. Do you remember?”

“A curtain. I remember seeing a curtain move.” Sharp pain throbbed in her head. Fighting a wave of nausea, she closed her eyes. “Can we go inside?”

“Do you have a key?”

“I’m fresh out.”

Excitement puckered her nerves as she climbed out of the car and met Carson in the street.

“Take it easy. We don’t want your neighbors to think the place is being broken into. The cops will be all over it.”

She contained her energy, taking his hand as they walked across the dark street. Pausing, she stared at the For Sale sign in the front yard, feeling a measure of sadness.

“I should have asked my parents about the house. What if I don’t live here anymore?”

“Relax.” Carson’s nerves felt frayed. “I’d bet they just put it on the market. It’s got to be empty.”

Ava was silent as they walked up the driveway and around to the French doors in back.

Carson put his pack down on a patio chair and dug out the flashlight.

“Same chairs, just as I remember.” Taking a step
forward, he turned on the light and shone it into the vacant house.

The flashlight beam illuminated the interior, casting strange shadows on the furniture.

Ava stood, her face inches from the glass as she stared inside. Brief flashes of memory zipped through her head. Doing dishes at the kitchen sink, flipping on the TV, running up the stairs—but nothing about the damn limo.

“Anything?” Carson asked.

“I have great taste.”

He turned off the light, and her hope went out along with it.

“Can we go? I don’t feel so good.”

“Headache?”

“Yeah.”

“Resnick said you’d experience them.”

Carson took her hand again, giving it a squeeze. She’d had enough trauma for one night.

Ping!

A bullet shattered a pane in the French doors.

Ava screamed.

He pulled her down onto the patio deck and un-holstered his 9 mm.

Staring into the darkness, he tried to pinpoint where the shot had come from. His guess was a bank of trees directly behind the house.

“Let’s get out of here.”

Grabbing her hand, they bolted for the corner of the house.

A shot drilled into the siding just above their heads.

“Run!” Carson yelled as he thrust Ava into the driveway and squeezed off two shots, aimed at the bank of trees.

A flash of return fire shone against the darkness, nailing the shooter’s location.

Carson steadied himself against the corner of the house and took aim.

Pop! Pop!
He fired two rounds.

A groan sounded in the night somewhere near the edge of the lawn.

Carson pulled back, almost catching Ava as she raced for the car parked in the street.

They jumped in.

He fired the engine and stomped on the gas pedal. The tires spun, grabbing asphalt as they shot away from the curb.

He didn’t slow until they reached the end of the street.

Feathering the brake, he whipped around the corner, making sure they weren’t being followed.

“They’re everywhere. Where are we going to hide?”

Carson considered their options, finally landing on the only one he had left.

“We’re going to McLean.”

The air in the car became charged. “You said—”

“I have a safe house there. I always figured I’d be better off sitting on the CIA’s doorstep in a crisis.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“How about a late-night dinner? I promised Scott I’d take care of you.” Changing the subject seemed to relax her.

“Red meat, please,” she said.

He looked over at her and smiled. He didn’t understand pregnancy—in fact, he didn’t know a damn thing about it—but he was willing to learn.

Carson scanned the main drag and spotted an open fast-food joint. He pulled into the parking lot and rolled around to the drive-up window, where he ordered burgers, fries and drinks. “You need to get some rest.”

“Your total is $13.68, sir. Please pull forward to the first window.”

She looked at him for a moment and he witnessed a flash of fear in her eyes. “That’d be good. My ankle is swollen. I need to get off it.”

Did she trust him to take care of her? Apparently not, judging by the night’s events.

Carson let up on the brake and pulled up to the window. Digging out his wallet, he paid for the food and accepted the take-out bags from a teenager.

He passed the food over to Ava and pulled out of the drive-up window and out into the street.

“We’ve got to come to an agreement.” He resisted
the urge to rub the back of his head where she’d clobbered him less than two hours ago.

“I want to make it out of this thing alive and I know you do, too.” He glanced over at her, trying to gauge her acceptance of the situation. “My neck’s on the chopping block, now that I’ve chosen to hang on to you. My director is going to be all over this by morning. Once he demands I complete the mission and bring you in, and I don’t comply, I’ll be declared rogue.”

“You’d do that for me?”

“I already have, but you have to trust me, Ava. No more surprise attacks. I can’t protect you if you won’t let me.” He narrowed his eyes, watching her face register emotion. Worry, guilt and finally resolve.

“I’m sorry for taking you out at the doctor’s office. I don’t know why, but I needed to get to my parents.”

“I understand.”

“No more escape plans. I promise. Cross my heart.” She made an
X
gesture on her chest and he accepted her promise for the time being.

By tomorrow there’d be a pack of CIA agents raining down on them like a hailstorm, and he was determined to make sure Ava and his child weren’t in the deluge.

C
ARSON TURNED
on the light and stepped into the tiny apartment. He searched all rooms before giving Ava the okay to enter.

The place cost him a small fortune every month, but it was off grid and untraceable, a fact that could keep them both alive.

Ava came in out of the hallway with the food bags in her hands. Her face was drawn with exhaustion, her steps sluggish.

A twist of worry knotted his stomach.

She was tough, but the need to protect her from further harm morphed into an overwhelming desire to hold her.

Carson shoved the feeling aside, closed the apartment door and secured the dead bolt before turning back into the room and dropping his pack on the couch.

“Let’s eat.”

She’d already taken the food out of the bags and was arranging it on the tiny dining table in the corner next to the galley kitchen.

He pulled out a chair and sat down, feeling the stress in his body dissipate.

He opened his burger and bit into it, watching her devour her food like a hungry lioness. He needed to take better care of her. Three square meals a day, plenty of water and the vitamins Doc Jacobs had given her.

“Scott gave you some prenatal vitamins.” He stood up, grabbed his backpack off the sofa and opened the bag. Reaching in, he pulled out the box
of pills and brought them to the table. “Probably better with food.”

Ava took them in one hand, then laid them on the table. “Thanks,” she said between bites.

He had to smile as he watched her pop the last of her burger into her mouth and chew. “You weren’t kidding about that red meat thing, were you?”

She grinned at him and he felt his heart rate pick up.

“That was spectacular.” She leaned back in her chair and wiped her mouth with a napkin. “I can’t keep running. How long before my body decides enough is enough and takes it out on my baby?” Ava blinked, her eyes glazed with tears.

“I’ll be here.” He fixed a stare on her. “I’ve got a stake in what happens to you, and our…child.”

He moved toward her, intent on alleviating her concerns, even though the same worries pounded in his head.

“Take it easy.” He wrapped his arms around her slender body, feeling her tense, then relax. “It’ll be over soon.” His own words echoed in his ears as he pulled back and stared into her eyes. “Get some sleep. We’ll regroup in the morning.”

She nodded, then reached up to smooth her hand down his cheek.

Desire, hot and unreasonable, turned his blood to fire in his veins. He stared at her lips, unable to deny
the attraction that sizzled between them like lightning to ground.