Bound by Danger (16 page)

“Yes, well, Bill didn’t want to have to carry you if you became indisposed again.”

“I thought
you
would have wanted the honor.”

He chuckled. “I’m the boss, this trip. I hold your hand…he gets to do the hard labor.”

Her lips curved up slightly. No matter how mad she could be with him, he never failed to amuse her.

“Okay, so we’ve made it to DFW so far.” He patted her hand. “First leg of our journey. They should let us right through.”

Even so they had to wait for a boy of about thirteen to clear his pockets in front of them when he set off the alarm. He tugged at a condom and held it up. The alarm rang again. “It’s not metal,” he whined.

The security officer explained, “Explosives are made of the same kind of plastic.”

Dave chuckled and squeezed Deidre’s hand when she tsked. “Better to be safe than sorry,” he whispered to her.

The security officer waved them through, but before the group could leave the area, the officer said to another passenger, “Sir, can you show us your weapon isn’t loaded?”

Deidre, Charlie, and the agents watched the passenger pull his hunting rifle out of its bag. With the weapon raised at the console’s window, the man clicked the trigger. The gun discharged, breaking the window. Several passengers at the Delta flight counter fled for cover.

Armed military surrounded the area with M16s pointed at him.

“It’s all right,” the security officer said. “The weapon’s not loaded, any longer. Sir, you can go after we get some information from you.”

Dave motioned for his team to get to their flight pronto.

Deidre looked up at him. “Dave, that is your real name, isn’t it?”

“Most assuredly, from birth on.”

“Well, Dave, what is going on?”

He pushed her wheelchair to the airplane. “From what we can gather, the literary agent received a manuscript that endangered his life. We only assume this of course, since someone murdered him. Then three more of the editors who worked for him were killed. Charlie was the only one innocent of any of the charges preferred against the others.

“We assumed because of this, whoever murdered the others wouldn’t bother with Charlie. We thought that’s what linked them together…the criminal conspiracy. But since Charlie had worked for them—to be on the safe side—we’d provide him protection just in case. Then when we trailed him here, and he set up housekeeping with you, we had to protect you, too.”

She knew Dave was too good to be true. He wasn’t really interested in a long-term relationship with her. The notion sickened her.

Dave glanced back at the other agents, then helped Deidre into her seat. So that only she could hear, he leaned over and whispered, “My boss wanted to remove me from the case early on. Marilyn told him I’d become too personally involved.”

“And not that she was with Charlie?” The woman really riled her. If anyone should have been removed from the case,
that
woman should be.

Dave smiled. “Charlie’s having a good time with Marilyn. The attraction is mutual. I doubt it will last long though. With you and me, that’s a little different, Deidre.”

“I don’t even know who you are.”

Dave waved for a stewardess. “Can my girlfriend have some bottled water? She needs to take her medicine.”

Who did he think he was, calling her his girlfriend like that? She was his
job
at the moment. When the case was through, he’d be off protecting some other damsel in distress.

“If it didn’t hurt me so much to move around, I’d hit you, Dave Carter.”

Chapter 12

“Caruthers,” Dave corrected Deidre.

“Are you sure?” What other untruths had he told her, all in the line of duty?

Dave motioned to one of the other men. He leaned across the aisle. “Can you get Deidre a couple of pillows and a blanket from the overhead bin?”

“Sure thing.”

Deidre studied Dave’s dark eyes as they smiled back at her. “Are you really the boss?”

“For this mission. But of course, I have another that I answer to.”

“Where are we going?”

“To a safe house. It sits on a tree-lined lake in New Hampshire, and you can swim. I even brought your bathing suit.”

“But things have changed between us.” She couldn’t believe how all alone she felt, like she’d been a bottle filled with effervescent fluid, happy, perky, and full of life and all of a sudden the fizz had spilled out. Why hadn’t she seen it could all end with Dave so suddenly like that?

He struggled with the lid to her medicine bottle. “I should have told them you didn’t need a safety cap.” He handed her the medicine. “So how have things changed between us?”

She washed the medicine down with a gulp of water. He covered her with the blanket and situated the pillows behind her neck to keep the strain off. She sighed deeply. He was ever attentive as usual despite not being the kind of man she thought he could be for her. “Well before, you were a reporter, and I was kind of getting used to the idea.”

He gave her a fraction of a smile. “I thought you didn’t like reporters.”

“I didn’t.”

“And now?”

“You’re just doing your job.”

He leaned back against his seat, his gaze never leaving her. “I don’t think you really believe that.”

“You probably trained at the same school as Marilyn, learned all the right things to say, the right moves to make—”

Dave laughed heartily. “Not exactly.”

“Then you come by it naturally.”

He stroked her fingers and she shut her eyes. His touch made her tingle all the way to her toes.

“Next stop, Boston.”

His lips touched her cheek in a tender caress, and she smiled. Now she almost wished he
had
been a reporter. He could have continued to live next door, even shown her how to waterski. No telling what else. “What will your co-conspirators say about their boss kissing the woman he’s supposed to be protecting?”

“All in the line of duty.”

“That’s what I thought. Nothing personal.”

He chuckled. “Okay, I’m not winning this conversation.”

She raised her brows. “You’re not supposed to. You’re not even a reporter.”

His fingers wrapped around hers and held them securely. “Rather, your knight in shining armor.”

“I bet you say that to all the women.”

He chuckled under his breath.

***

Dave leaned against his headrest as Deidre closed her eyes. His boss would surely have him reassigned if he knew how Dave felt about Deidre. Dave didn’t care that the other agents talked about his relationship with her. They knew the love bug had bitten him, and whenever they could, they’d rib him about it.

Dave glanced at the seat across the aisle. Sure enough, Bill watched Deidre as her head leaned against Dave’s shoulder. He smiled at Bill and waggled his brows. They’d had a bet. Dave wouldn’t last a day trying to protect Deidre before he turned her over to Marilyn, and he took the watch for Charlie. Well, Dave had won that bet, without a doubt.

Now he just had to keep her safe and convince her they were meant to deepen the relationship and go from there.

***

As soon as they arrived at the Boston airport, Deidre knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Every redheaded man she saw made her take a second hard look and her palms already sweated. She was certain she spied the same man three different times.

Dave made her ride in the wheelchair all the way to the SUV which gave her the chance to really watch for the man she knew would kill her if he could. It wasn’t because she knew anything either. He was going to kill her because of what she’d done to his raccoon friend. She sensed all the agents in the world couldn’t protect her.

From early on, she’d learned when she had her visions, neither her parents nor her brother could solve the dilemma. She was on her own. Leading the redheaded man away from her brother to ensure his safety became her first priority.

When they arrived an hour later at Swanzee Lake, four SUVs drove into the treed lot. Like ants piling out of a waterlogged anthill, agents hurried out of the cars and inspected the house. Given the all clear, Dave opened the car door for Deidre.

She smiled to see the wrap-around porch on the one-story woodland home.

“Not bad?” Dave helped her up the steps to the wooden porch.

“If my boss could see me now having a welcome vacation away from him.”

She plunked herself down in a seat as the pine needles fluttered slightly in the breeze. Through the filtered shade of the trees, the small lake sparkled. “I want to go swimming.” The redheaded killer wouldn’t come for her right away. She might as well enjoy her “vacation” until then.

Dave placed his hands on his hips. “Your back is still hurting, you’re on medication—”

“I just want to float in the water. If I hurt too much, I’ll come in.” She loved how he stepped right in to protect her.

“All right.”

Charlie headed for the glass patio door. “Sounds good to me.”

“Are we going to have a whole swimming party?” Deidre allowed Dave to help her up, and she winced slightly with the effort. Her injuries hurt mostly when she tried to stand or lay down. He furrowed his forehead with concern. She squeezed his hand. “I’ll lie down after a bit.”

She tried not to flinch every time the pain streaked across her upper body. Most people wouldn’t have noticed, but Dave seemed to note every move she made. It wasn’t going to be easy getting out from under his watchful eyes.

Within a half-hour, Deidre and Charlie floated in the water, their arms dangling about inner tubes. The afternoon sun rested high in the sky as a slight breeze rippled the water. Dave sat on the pier jutting slightly into the lake while the other agents kept an eye out from the house or patio.

She sighed. The beach at Lake Belton and frolicking with Dave was fading into a distant memory.

No words were spoken for the longest time, then Charlie whispered, “I’m sorry, Deidre, for getting you into this mess.”

“Charlie, I’d love to see my boss’s face if he witnessed me floating in a New Hampshire lake, wearing my new blue bathing suit.”

He grinned at her. “You always know how to turn a black moment bright.”

She smiled. She was glad he thought so. The last few weeks at work hadn’t been the highlight of her career. This break was really just what she needed. Only not having to face a redheaded terror would have been even better.

She closed her eyes and saw the redhead in a vision with his back turned to her. He liked guns. Unless she could get close enough to him to disarm him, or she could get hold of Dave’s gun, she figured she didn’t have much of a chance.

Then a notion occurred to her. License to carry a concealed weapon. Of course Dave had a license. He was a Fed. She paddled her tube around slightly to get a look at him. He smiled at her. He must have been watching her the whole time. “Aren’t you supposed to be making sure nobody comes to get us?”

“That’s their job.” He motioned to the men behind them. “I’m here just to see you have a great time.”

“I told you he had a hankering for you,” Charlie said.

Deidre splashed water at him, and he chuckled. “Do it again. My shoulders were getting a little hot.”

“No, it hurts too much.”

Dave stood. “Maybe you ought to lie down and rest a bit.”

No, she didn’t want to lie down and rest. She wanted to laze around all day and night floating in the water with her cheek resting against the black tube. Then again, she needed to rest her back so she could face her assailant on better terms. “All right, help me out.”

As Dave helped her through the water up to the embankment, she felt her toes squishing in the slimy kelp. She wrinkled her nose. “Sugar white beaches. That’s the next place I want to go.”

“Coming, Charlie?” Dave helped Deidre dry off. He dried her legs, then worked lightly on her shoulders and back. She smiled, catching his eyes riveted to the top of her bathing suit once again. She reached for the beach towel, and he grinned at her, then wrapped it around her shoulders.

He hadn’t needed to help her up the stairs, but he didn’t seem to want to give up the closeness either. She didn’t mind. She enjoyed smelling that heavenly male scent of his, and loved the way his warm breath caressed her neck when he leaned close like this.

When they walked into the house, Dave led her to one of the bedrooms complete with its own bathroom.

She folded her arms as she considered the sleeping arrangements. “There are only four bedrooms. Where is everyone going to sleep?”

Dave pointed at the twin beds. “One for you, and one for me.”

“Shouldn’t there be a female agent on the job?”

“There is. We drew straws. Marilyn got your brother.”

“Twin beds in there, too?”

“They can always be moved together.”

She smiled. “All right. I need some privacy for a moment while I change out of my wet bathing suit.”

“I’ll be right out here. You can step into the bathroom. The window’s too small for anyone to crawl in or out of.”

She brushed past him to pull some of her clothes out of her bag, then slipped into the bathroom, closed the door, and out of habit, locked it. After resting her clothes on the tank top, she glanced down at her feet and legs dripping with dirty water from the muddy lake bottom.

She climbed into the shower and ran the water for a quick rinse off in the dinky stall. After washing the mud from her skin, she rinsed out her bathing suit and hung it on a cord strung across the back of the shower. She dabbed shampoo on the palm of her hand, but before she could apply it to her hair, she heard a strange noise…really faint at first.

Then it grew into a distinctive rattle…not a baby’s kind of rattle, but the kind of shaking sound a western diamondback rattler might make as it readied to strike.

Deidre turned off the shower. Silence.

Then she heard laughter in the living area…Marilyn’s and Charlie’s laughter.

“Everything all right in there?” Dave hollered.

“Yes.” Her voice sounded meek. Would her words attract the snake? Rile him more? Make him return from wherever he came from?